Well…that was pretty crappy…didn’t sleep much at all on my first night in the new bedroom but I don’t think that has anything to do with it….haven’t been sleeping much lately but I don’t feel too badly so I can live with it…I feel kind of adrift with getting the major project done and planning to take the summer off…if we ever have a summer…looking out into the middle of May, it is going to be like March with temps in the 40’s for highs and I don’t remember this type of crap for a long time…we get one day around 70 Saturday and the back into the 40’s again until about the 20th of May…where the hell is spring? Not having one this year I guess….so, back on the bike indoors today and in thermasuit if I want to go out for a ride but may not with the wind forecast to be blowing 20-30 and that is just a bit much…I am going to run out to Lowes this morning to see if I can get a short piece of tubing to fix my fence…I do have a piece of dowel that I took out of the closet that I can sub in there short term if I have to so I may take the rivets out and put the new corners on….and I do need to get started on the outside and get my veggie seeds planted….so, I do have things to do today…and I may continue to take the front bedroom apart so I can start in there….so much for the summer off….more later…..

Well…the third Wednesday of every month is a good day usually, and today was okay…reached a financial goal with the latest SS cash dumped into my account and now I have enough to survive for two years if it comes to that…if I stop working on the house and don’t spend any money, that is….but that really is the plan for the summer so I can reach the next goal by September…I do need some months that I don’t spend hundreds on the house but with no projects planned until the end of summer, it’s doable…I did start taking the other bedroom apart today after I moved into the restored one and I don’t know why…I guess I just need to have something going on…I did get out for a bike ride today in shorts and that was a bit cold without gloves…even forgot to put my riding half gloves on so my hands hurt like crazy without the padding in them…and I think I’ll keep doing the inside rides for the next month or so until the weather warms up…I mean come on…40’s in May? That is the forecast after the one warm day Saturday and I am getting really depressed about it…oh,well…going to run over to Lowes tomorrow to see if they have any shorter pieces of fencing that I can buy instead of the 10 foot long ones that everyone carries…and then I can fix the gate out front so it doesn’t look like crap with the bottom frame piece rusted out…and I’ll probably start on tilling the garden and mixing in the manure to get ready to plant…and I’ll have to get the seeds going in cups downstairs again so they will be ready…damn, still busy with not even working on the interior of the house….

Well…I think I’m still holding the fact that my brother died at arms length by immersing myself in the routine of life….but it doesn’t seem right somehow that I’m doing the grocery run, moving into my new bedroom, and cleaning…and life goes on as before and he’s gone…hmmm…but I know it has to so here goes…again….I did sleep okay last night and didn’t get up til after 6 so that is a win for how badly I’ve been sleeping lately….one funny thing came out of moving into the new bedroom yesterday…I have been calling it the “big bedroom” for a while now but yesterday I got out the tape measure to find out just how much bigger it is…and it’s only one foot longer than the one I’m using now…and, with the design of the house, it is the same width but it just feels bigger with the 8 foot ceiling in there that is not hidden by a crappy dropped ceiling like the room I’m using now….houses were different back when this one was built and bedrooms were to sleep in and that’s what they were built for…not the palatial all purpose rooms they are now…and that’s fine…I really don’t want or need them to be bigger…would rather the space be used for the rest of the house and even 1100 SF is fine for one person living alone….not much to do today…just need to get back on the bike downstairs today even though I may try to get a ride in outdoors, too, and then the grocery run and moving the bed and nightstand into the new bedroom…and I need to cook today since the big ham is almost ready for the freezer and I have chicken and burger thawing for the next few days of meals….more later….

Well…after doing all the work on the new bedroom and getting the rug this morning, about an hour ago I decided to start moving stuff in there and it went really easily moving the dresser…just put a couple of the sliders under it that my daughter gave me and picked up one end and slid it right in there…then I cleaned it up along with the chair and tv so now I’m ready to move the nightstand and bed in there tomorrow and the move will be complete…it is nice to have a finished room to live in and I even got a notice from amazon that the blinds I ordered will be here sat morning so I can install those and get rid of the newspaper that I have on the window…so finally, the work that I had scheduled to do first but got sidetracked by the kitchen and bathroom is done….almost, and tonight will be the last night in the small bedroom…and done before my plan of the end of May so that is cool….and that will be my only job for tomorrow and then a week off to work on the yard….

Well…have been looking halfheartedly at the news this afternoon and with the happenings of yesterday, I just can’t get worked up enough about politics to even think about doing one of those…so, what to do? I really don’t want to talk about my brother, either, so I think I’ll just noodle a bit and see what happens…it looks like my lawn has started to grow enough so that I’ll have to mow it here in about a week or so and that will be good since I’ll use the catcher to pick up the small sticks and leaves for the first mowing and put them in one of the big bags for yard waste if I have any of them…will have to check in the garage to see before the grocery run tomorrow….I did get out to get an area rug for the bedroom this morning…got a nice 5×7 one in shades of grey that go well with the new wall color and have it unrolled on the floor in there so it will flatten out before I start to move in there later in the week…but I need to let the paint smell go away a bit first or it will bug the hell out of me trying to sleep…I’m not sure if they got the color right for the paint in there…it seems like a shade darker than I wanted but I love the way  looks so no big deal…but I am going to take the can and color chip in to depot tomorrow morning so they can check it to see if I’m right or it’s just my eyes…haven’t done much today but clean and I’ve take the shop vac apart to try to get all of the plaster dust out of it with some luck but I don’t think it will ever be clean again…and I did get all of the tools put away and the work box put downstairs and have the dining room table cleaned so I can make a pizza later in the week…still need to vacuum and wash the floors tomorrow and I will get back on the bike tomorrow since I skipped today…but right now Man U is going to lose to Liverpool so I think I’ll start watching that….more later?

Well…not sure if things have changed but it feels a little like it…but the mundanities of life go on as they have forever so here we go…have been up since 5 since I couldn’t sleep any more and feel a little worn out so I may take the day and think a bit….I did get the bedroom painted yesterday and it was supposed to be the end of the work for the summer since I had estimated it was going to take me to the end of May to finish it and the bathroom….but it is still 5 weeks until then and I could possibly get the dining room painted…it took the full gallon of paint to do two coats on the bedroom and I was happy I was able to stretch it and get it done so I think it will take more than that for the dining room…we’ll see…I may take a run out to ollies to look at area rugs this morning since I can get a 5×6’7 one for only 29 bucks and that will cover a lot of the ugly floor in the bedroom and then I can use it for a pad under the downstairs bike if I get carpeting put in the bedrooms…but that will make a hundred bucks I’ve spent in the past few days and I need to stop spending for  a while….the damn weather is going to suck after three good days and we will be back in the 40’s for a week or so and I still think there will be no spring this year…I did get the manure I need for the garden and need to work it into the soil as soon as it gets warm but need to remove the weeds that have grown in the garden soil first….and I think I’ll spend 20 bucks and go out to get the tubing I need to fix the front gate but I want to get the old corners off first and I can do that this week….not much to do today…just want to take some time to reflect a bit and use this as a catch my breath day….it’s weird how things turn….more later….

Well..I knew this was coming but it doesn’t make it any easier….my brother Mike died this morning….just talked to one of my younger sisters and she passed on the news….hadn’t seen him in quite a while but he was still my brother and that means something…will write more tomorrow after I try to get my memories straight….

Well…okay, just got off the phone with my brother the realtor and he talked me down from the doom and gloom that had descended on me from finding out about the rentals across the street….he doesn’t think the new rentals will have any effect on the worth of my house since the neighborhood is over 50% rentals already and feels that the studies I read didn’t deal with that fact but were looking at the effect of rentals on an all owner occupied city…and he said he thinks he would list my house for 139K and we’d get that price or more for it after the work I’ve done to make it nicer…so, I guess I will have a place to live for the summer and I can take the summer off as I had planned and can plant a garden and keep working and enjoying the lakes and bike rides…I may even be able to sleep tonight which I haven’t done since Friday….now I need to do some introspection to figure out why I reacted so strongly to something I can’t control….and revel in the idea that I’ve made 50K on this place in 14 months instead of losing money as I had feared…and I can enjoy the final season of “Better Call Saul” that starts with two episodes tonight….damn, I feel better…