For now, It's all about Juta

My mother-in-law, Juta, has finally moved into our house. We moved her stuff here in May, but she's been in the hospital, then in rehab, since then. Tom brought her home about two weeks ago. It's been interesting having her here. Since Tom works M-F all day, and I don't, I am the nursemaid.

I really don't mind. Honest. I want her to be comfortable. And I want her to consider this her home now, but that will take time.

I, also, am adjusting. I have more chores to do, but that's not a big deal. What's harder for me is getting used to not being alone at home most of the day. I love my alone-time! So, once Juta is settled for the day and doesn't need anything for a while, I spend much more time in my sewing room. Which is good, actually, as I'm getting some projects finished!

So, we've been getting to know each other more. I think Juta is funny about some things. She is reticent about asking for things, but will not get anything herself, because she feels as though she is a guest here, and guests don't just poke around the kitchen.

We watch some TV together, and she always has a comment about how people act. "Why do people have to wave and yell like that?" she asks while we watch the fans huddle around the barricades outside the "Today Show" studio. "Why do the kids have to run around like that?" she asks while we watch the scene in "Marley and Me" where the family moves up north and the children, who have grown up in Florida, gleefully burst out of the house and into their first snowfall.

I guess in Juta's universe, everyone is dignified, children are constantly restrained and no one acts improperly. Otherwise, "you make a fool of yourself!" (Emphasizing the "self" with a commanding and dismissive head-nod). It's a brave new world for her. It just makes me chuckle...

One thing that is driving me nuts is what to do with all her stuff? Our garage is full of it. We had planned a garage sale, but that's been postponed a number of times for various reasons. The main one being we really just don't want to deal with the sorting and the tossing. But--it'll get done and we'll have our garage back, finally.

Finished Floor and Tummy Troubles

Yay..our floor is finished! We worked on it again Sunday, and even though I was relegated to sitting in my chair on an ice pack, Tom was able to finish the project.

So here are some pictures looking toward the back door and towards the den. I LOVE IT!!!

Unfortunately, Beau has a bad tummy again today, so I'm staying home with him. He needs to go out about once an hour. Poor doggie. I have a pic of him heading for the door. And Georgie, too, sitting on our new birch floor. He blends right in--I have to watch so I don't trip over him!

New Floor!

Tommy and I started on the new floor today. We went to Lowes and bought a miter saw (which it was my job to cut the boards--SO FUN!) and rented a floor board nailer and we got home and got started.


So--there are pictures of the floor (and cabinet door) before we started; Tommy removing baseboards, me sweeping to lay down the underlayment; installing the first row (I used a DRILL!); the first row finished and the floor at the end of today.


Oh--and Georgie would not walk on the new floor at first. He ran back and forth, almost as thought he was going to jump into into a lake. Too funny. But Beau did, and so Georgie finally did, too. So I took his picture. Tomorrow we begin again.

Mother-in-Law Update

Tom and I went to visit his mom at the rehab center today. And we took Beau the Dog--she liked that.

I can tell she's getting much better, since she asked about how all of our pets were before she wanted to know how I was doing. This always makes me chuckle.

But--she is getting stronger. She has PT each day, and is now able to walk with her walker a little. Last week, she was barely able to get out of her chair, so it's progress. Here's a picture from today. Maybe in another few weeks, she'll be home.

Thus begins the kitchen nightmare

Well, this weekend we plunged headlong into remodeling/rehabbing/re-going crazy. We were planning to replace the floor...eventually, but the dogs had other plans. Each time they were left alone in the house, Beau and Georgie would claw at and chew the vinyl flooring. It started at the door, and they made it almost to the fridge on the other side of the room.
The floor looked awful and we were very embarrassed every time anyone came over, so...we started ripping out the floor in earnest.
Under the vinyl was a plywood subfloor. Tom ripped up the wood, and under that we found...tiles. Tiles laid in the 50s, judging by the pinkish color and sparkles in them. Tiles with thousands of staples in them...from the wood atop it.
And all those staples had to come out.
And once we pulled the staples out, a task that turned into an ordeal lasting almost the entire afternoon, the 50s tiles came up easily. Revealing more tiles. Tiles from the 30s, I'm guessing, from "that green" color in them.
You quilters know what green I'm talking about...:) They are covered with the discolored glue, but I spotted that green.

Anyway, under those tiles is the original wood sub-floor, so we're
just going to leave those tiles alone, and install a new wood floor on top of them.

Just Tom and me.
Oh my aching back...

Georgie meets Mickey!

When we moved Juta's belongings to our house, her cat, Mickey, came along. Since then, he's been hiding in the basement. We put his litter box down there, along with his bowls (so the dogs don't eat his food!) and he's been doing fine.

Last night while we were in the living room relaxing, he decided to make an appearance. He came up the stairs, walked into the room, and promptly jumped up on Tom's lap! Just like that! Beau has met Mickey a number of times, but Georgie has not. He was very surprised and interested to have this new critter in his house. Of course, Georgie immediately wanted to play! He got in his play posture, barked a little and ran around the room. Mickey wasn't having any of that, but at least he didn't run off.

So--they finally met. Pretty soon they will be best buds, I'm sure.

Fleas and Birthdays

This last weekend was busy, busy, busy!

Saturday I got together with my BFF Jeanne (http://jeanne-justjeanne.blogspot.com/) and we went to the weekly flea market in Princeton, WI. It was fun to spend a whole day together. We met in Lodi, then drove together. The market was fun! I didn't buy anything too exciting, just a cute little hand-painted plate (left) and some spice mixes. Jeanne bought some neat things, too. I can't mention all of them, as one is a surprise for one of her family members who may just be reading this (I doubt it, but ya never know). We also managed to hit a couple of browsing shops, and two quilt shops on the way back to Lodi. The weather was wonderful, and it was a great day!

Sunday Tom and I went for a short bike ride. Boy am I out of shape! We rode around the neighborhood, which I discovered is quite hilly. Ugh. But--I made it--and I only had to stop once on the long slow hill on eastbound Loomis Rd. south of Grange. I haven't ridden in over two years, thanks to my bad back. So this was exciting!

After that we had breakfast out in the yard--Tom made delicious pancakes.

Then we got all cleaned up and drove down to Evanston, IL, to help celebrate the birthday of one of our dear friends, Mike, along with his wife, Mari-ann and another friend, George. We all met at Mike and Mari-ann's house and took a limo ride downtown to have dinner at Trader Vic's, an old school Chicago restaurant. The ride was very fun, the food and drinks were fab, and the company was top-notch. (The birthday boy is on the right.)

I even survived the two tiki cocktails I had! And this pair of Tiki salt-n-peppers found their way into my purse! They must have a mind of their own!