He just worked on the floor today. He didn't get as far as I had hoped but we'd rather have it done well than done fast. He was working out from the outer wall which is where one set of cabinets will go so that area needs to be perfectly level. That took him some extra time. He said he'll be able to progress faster tomorrow. Today he laid 21 tiles I think. They're 12x24 so he put down about 42 sq ft out of a total of 237 sq ft, in addition to what he put down yesterday (maybe about half that) so I think we're around 25% done but I didn't actually measure exactly.

He said he will be working late tomorrow but then will be off on Friday because he has a graduation to attend. He will come by for a short time on Saturday because the spacers between the tiles need to be removed once they're set.

Even though only about 1/4 of the floor is in place, we can at least get a much better idea of how it will look in the room and we're happy with it.

Over the weekend we found and ordered the light fixtures for the bathroom and over the kitchen table. The kitchen one really took some work as there are literally hundreds of options to choose from. It's quite insane. Yesterday we placed the order for the cabinet hardware. We haven't bought it yet but we know which kitchen faucet we want. The only major things we still need are the bathroom sink and faucet, the backsplash, and a paint color.

Our contractor called out yesterday because his back was acting up. We actually kind of appreciated having a down day ourselves. Having someone here working 9-5 is a little strange and just kind of throws off everything.

Today he started on the floor. I didn't realize how time consuming the process is at first. He started along the outside wall and every tile in contact with that wall needed to be cut to size and some needed to be shaped around the door frames. He also explained how important it is to get that first section set perfectly straight because the rest of the floor builds off of that. By the end of the day, we had 16 inches wide of tile in place down the length of the room. He said the middle of the room will go much faster until he reaches the opposite walls. I'm thinking that by end of day tomorrow we will probably have the majority of the floor in place but we shall see.

Until you start on a project like this, you really don't appreciate how many decisions there are to be made. There are really only about 10 main things to decide: floor, cabinets and hardware, countertop/sink/faucet, backsplash, paint, lighting, and appliances. The problem is within each of those items there are at least a dozen and up to hundreds of individual options. We went to 6 lighting stores I think and browsed multiple online suppliers before finally settling on the celing fixture we bought. Cabinets come in many different colors and finishes, multiple door style options, many varieties of size and configuration, etc. Years ago, life was far simpler but we as a society have made things far more complicated in the name of capitalism and consumerism and individualism. When we were growing up and visit friends and family, most people had relatively similar stuff in their homes. There weren't a zillion choices like there are today. Now, it's fairly rare to see the same things twice since there are so many options to choose from.

Today he did more finishing work on the drywall, joint compound, tape, etc. He patched some damaged studs by the sink and put up the drywall on that section of wall once he did. Then he turned his attention to the floor. Instead of a traditional mud bed under the tile, they now use a product called Ditra which is a plastic rolled out material that is much faster and easier to use. Roll it out, cut it to fit with a utility knife, and then the tile goes onto that (I don't know the whole process yet since only the Ditra is down currently). Not only is it fast and easy, he said it also provides a bit of cushioning to the finished floor which reduces the risk of tile breakage. A mud bed is solid rock so there's no shock absorption to protect the tiles.

My wife and I went shopping for lighting today again. We saw a couple of possibilities for the bathroom but not really anything we liked for the kitchen. Then we spent time at home online looking for options and found a couple that we like. No decisions made yet.

We still haven't ordered hardware for the cabinets but I think we've settled on the one we're going with. I just need to contact the cabinet place and order them.

The plastic barriers came down today which makes a big difference. Our kitchen has a doorway into the living room (where our temp kitchen is), the sitting room (where we hang out and watch TV and stuff), and the family room (where I do my reselling stuff and leads into the garage). The living room doorway was completed blocked with a solid plastic sheet. The other two doorways had zippered access It was rather annoying but kept the dust under control. Now it's all back to normal access which is very nice. And we're parking in the driveway again. Progress is happening day by day.

Yesterday he put up most of the new drywall except for around the sink and the ceiling section. Today he took care of the ceiling. He had to cut out and replace a water pipe there because it hung lower than the ceiling (there used to be a soffit there which we removed). He did the spackling of the new drywall as well, did the corners, etc.

The dumpster just got picked up a few minutes ago. We were glad to see that go. Now we can use our driveway again.

I changed the HVAC filter yesterday, which I meant to do a week ago and really should have. It was FILTHY. Totally covered with a thick layer of dust and debris. I'm sure our AC efficiency was horrible with the filter completely clogged like that. I'll change it again in a week. All of the dirty work is done. Maybe once the kitchen is finished, I'll look into having our ducts cleaned.

Yesterday morning I filled the hole in the lawn left from removing the basketball pole. Of course it was raining all morning but it's done and no longer a huge safety hazard.

We still need to finalize our cabinet hardware decision. We also need a new light fixture over the kitchen table and one in the powder room. We've been browsing but haven't settled on anything yet. Those are last minute finishing items but we still need to get them. We also need to find a sink for the powder room. We want to do a pedestal sink instead of a vanity but it's a small room so the standard pedestal sinks are a few inches larger than we need. And we need faucets for both sinks. I think DW found a kitchen one she likes. We haven't really looked for the powder room yet.

I'm not sure what he has planned for tomorrow as I didn't get to talk to him before he left today, but it's continuing to come together step by step.

Nothing huge to report today though a lot was done. He finished all of the floor plywood in the bathroom and last section of the kitchen. He put up more insulation on the outer wall. I'm not sure what else got done. Tomorrow he will do the heat guard where the oven is going, start putting up new drywall, and also finish some of the plumbing. I feel like starting to close up the walls is a significant step in the process. The motor of the old bathroom exhaust fan died so he's trying to find a replacement that fits so he doesn't need to replace the whole unit (which involves cutting a hole in the ceiling to get it out). He told us today that the dumpster is getting picked up on Wednesday so we'll get our driveway back which will be nice.

Unrelated to the kitchen job we also had a concrete guy come out today to remove the basketball pole next to the driveway. It was there when we bought the house. We used it a little in the past but haven't for 20+ years at this point. We just never bothered to get it removed until now. The concrete footer was super deep. I'll have to run over to Lowe's in the morning to get a couple of bags of top soil to fill the hole as that was the only thing the concrete guy doesn't take care of but I'm fine with doing that part myself.

Today was the last of the demolition. He removed the old floor from the powder room along with the vanity and toilet. He did find a leak around the toilet and some condensation around the air vent so he's got a fan going to dry those out over the weekend and he'll need to repair some of the subfloor on Monday.

We bought our floor tile today! That was exciting. We went back to the original place we had shopped, found one we liked, and it turned out they didn't have enough in stock to do the job. We went to one other place and found nothing. Stopped back home and had lunch and then went to a third place and that was the winner. We found one we really liked there. Bonus was it was nearly half the price of the original place. They have it all in stock so we bought it and they will hold it for us until our guy is ready to pick it up, probably by sometime next week.

The cabinet guy called our contractor today and said the cabinets won't be in until 6/27 but that gives him plenty of time to put up the drywall and install the floor. And I'm sure there's some other stuff he can work on in the meantime.

As he was leaving today, he said we're moving into phase 2 now that the demo is done. It's been 9 working days so far and I feel like it's moving along nicely.

The main focus today was on the electrical work. Our contractor and the electrician were here working on that all day. We now have the cutouts and wiring for the new recessed lighting. 2 lights on each side over the counters, 1 in the middle, and one over the sink. That should give us much better coverage than the old single fixture that was in the center of the room (and there was a light over the sink). Before no matter where you were standing the light was always behind you which made the counters be in shadow.

He installed the wiring for the oven and microwave and a new outlet for the fridge which is also moving. One light switch on the wall between our kitchen and family room had to be moved to the other side of the wall because it would be in the way of the fridge now. We did confirm that we'll be losing one wall outlet because our new counter and cabinets will extend further along the one wall than the old ones did. That's okay because we almost never used that outlet anyway. I occasionally plugged in the vacuum there but there are several other places to do that. A side bonus is that in the course of everything, they had to pull out the outside outlet that shared the wiring and will replace that with a new modern weatherproof outlet.

While the electrician was doing his stuff, our guy was working on the water pipes installing new PVC. He also insulated the outer wall. Our house was built in 1964 so it had minimal insulation. This will make the room much more weather resistant. The old tile floor was always cold in the winter but should be a lot warmer now without cold air coming in through that wall.

The plan tomorrow is to do the last of the old floor demo in the powder room. I'm not sure why he left that but he had some good reason.

My wife and I will go to the tile place tomorrow and hopefully make a final floor selection and get that ordered. As soon as that comes in, the contractor should be ready to install it. This weekend we need to shop for a bunch of stuff like the faucet, the bathroom sink and toilet, a couple of new light fixtures for over our table and in the bathroom, light switches and plates, and other little stuff like that.

I realized I haven't updated this week. Things are rolling along. We did order the cabinets and appliances. Our guy ran into an issue with the old flooring which took him an extra couple of days to deal with but it's all done and he's actually putting down the fresh plywood as I type this. We will probably order the flooring in the next couple of days. Until he was sure how things would end up, we couldn't commit to porcelain tile vs luxury vinyl but all is good and porcelain tile will work.

He took down the old drywall yesterday and put up fresh drywall in the space where the pantry is going. The rest has to stay open until the electrician does all of the new wiring but the pantry space needed to be closed because the air return for the HVAC is in that wall and he wanted that sealed up so it wasn't getting a bunch of dust in it. I think the electrician may come tomorrow but he hasn't said for sure yet. Oh he also took out the old pipes to the sink (I'm not positive why they needed to be replaced but they did). He also has to lower the drain because the new sink will sit lower than the old one.

It's nice seeing construction happening instead of destruction. Just having a fresh plywood floor looks much better than what was there this morning. Once the tile comes in he will install that, which needs to be done before cabinets and appliances can go in. So right now the next step is doing all of the electrical work. The oven is moving to a different wall and we'll have a built in microwave so he has to wire all of that, as well as move some outlets and do the recessed lighting in the ceiling.

Our kitchen remodel started today. The fridge got moved into the living room where our temporary kitchen is. So far, he has removed almost all of the cabinetry as well as the wall oven/microwave and the stovetop.

The first unexpected problem has arisen too. Woo hoo. When he removed the dishwasher, which we were planning on keeping because it's not that old, he discovered that there has been a slow leak somewhere. The flooring beneath it is wet and there is mold or something growing around the casing of the unit. As it turns out, we have seen a tiny bit of water in the basement recently but it's right by a window and right next to our extra fridge and freezer so we couldn't tell where the water was coming from, and it was intermittent and very minimal. So the good news is we found the source of the leak. The bad news is it means we have to add a new dishwasher to the list. Yes we could try and figure out what's wrong with this one but I have zero faith that they'd be able to do that and I don't want to reinstall it only to have it fail soon after and damage the new kitchen.

One thing that is kind of neat was seeing the likely original 1964 wallpaper and the original floor tiles.

We have an appointment tomorrow morning to actually order the cabinets. We're also setting up a time to go to the appliance store to order the oven, microwave, and now dishwasher.

We met with the cabinet guy yesterday and dove deeper into the details of what will likely go where and what types of cabinets, drawers, and pullouts make sense for each. We also browsed hardware options and have a pretty good idea of what we like when it comes time to pick them.

At this point, we just need to clean out the kitchen and set up the temporary kitchen area in the living room. We've already done some cleaning out but can't finish until this weekend since we'll be using the kitchen until Monday night. I'm going out of town Wednesday and Thursday but once I'm back, we'll focus 100% on getting the house ready for work to begin on Tuesday.

I also need to clean a bunch of stuff from the family room where I do my reselling business. Materials are going to need to be stored there while the work is under way. I'll shift my focus to there once he actually starts in the kitchen. I also need to get back to cleaning out the garage. I had to pause that as I was prepping to take my next china selling roadtrip to NC tomorrow. There are currently 25 cases of china packed and stacked for that so with all of those in there, I couldn't really work on other things.

I'm sure the job will be super disruptive to our routines but I'm actually looking forward to it getting started. I'm just afraid of what problems he will discover along the way once he starts opening up walls and removing the existing floor.

We had already done one round of materials shopping but hadn't made any final choices. Today we went back to the countertop place. We thought we had decided on one last time but once we got home with the sample we decided it wasn't right. After browsing the warehouse again, we chose a new one for sure. Very different than what we had thought we would go with but we both liked it better. They even measured it and roughly drew out where the cuts would be made.

Then we went to the flooring/tile place and tentatively chose a backsplash, though we want to add some accent tile to that which we haven't looked at yet. And we made a possible floor tile selection. Until our guy tears out the existing floor, we can't be 100% sure if we can use porcelain tile or if we'll need to go with luxury vinyl.

We also made an appointment to meet with the cabinet guy again on Monday to start fleshing that out in more detail. We can't order anything until we have final measurements but we're pretty close to final now, close enough to start shopping seriously.

It is a fun process but also very stressful trying to visualize how everything will look once you put it together. You're only working with photos or small samples and things can look a lot different when an entire counter is there or a full floor.

Hi all. I haven't blogged for a long time but it occurred to me that the blog would be a better place to post about this than the forums.

We have been in our house since 1994. The kitchen was remodeled 2 years before we bought the place. Coming from where we were (a rowhome in Philadelphia) we thought the kitchen was great. Bright, roomy, lots of counter space, etc. After living here a while, we came to recognize some of the issues with it. The layout created a pinch point between the fridge and counter so we're always in each other's way. The previous owner did the work himself and used economy grade supplies so a lot of things just weren't done well and things haven't held up great. So we finally decided it was time to start fresh.

We have a good friend who does kitchen and bath remodels for a living. We've seen a lot of his work and know he does a quality job so we are using him. We've been refining the design and browsing materials but we're now getting ready to actually start the job. He begins on 5/27. We don't have the absolute final design quite yet because until he does the demo, he won't have exact measurememts, but it should just be minor tweaks from what we have.

We've looked at cabinets but haven't finalized those yet since we need the exact measurements. We looked at countertops a few days ago but want to go back for another look as we think we've modified what we want as far as color is concerned. We checked out flooring in a very general way but until we settle on the countertop we can't decide on the floor.

We've been working to clean out the cabinets and the basement storage area where things will go while the kitchen is under construction. We can't totally empty things out yet since we still need the kitchen for 11 more days.

I will try to remember to update along the way.

I wrote a long post earlier today and when I hit submit it disappeared so I'll try to recreate it (and I'm doing it in my word processor this time just in case).

It's not quite time for the year-end wrap up post but figured I'd give some updates.

All is going pretty well. I'm finishing up my first full year of “semi-retirement”. I'm really not sure what else to call it. I went per diem in August 2022 meaning I no longer have a set schedule or required hours. Technically I am required to work 24 hours every 12 weeks but unless I consistently miss that mark, nobody will say anything. I've mostly worked 8 hrs/wk this year, some weeks 4, a couple of weeks 12, and several weeks zero. My plan for 2024 is to cut back to 4 hrs/wk. I just chose my January shifts yesterday so 16 hours scheduled for the month.

My wife is doing well and finally back in good health. Not 100% and never will be after 2 back surgeries and a lung surgery but her most recent labs had her inflammatory marker (C-reactive protein) normal for the first time since this began in early 2021. She has been crocheting up a storm, did quite well at a local craft fair in October, and has made numerous other sales, especially to our daughter's co-workers who keep ordering stuff from her.

Our daughter is enjoying her job and they love her. She's gradually taken on more responsibilities and helped them streamline workflow and improve processes.

My mom turned 93 in August. She's having more trouble with her back and an MRI in October showed a new herniated disc. She's had a couple more epidural injections since then but those really don't help. The only thing that helps a herniated disc, other than surgery, is time. It can take 4-6 months or more for those to heal. It's made it harder for her to manage and we finally increased her aide to 3 days a week and we are going over there more frequently to help out.

My ebay business is cruising along well. I have a running thread on the forums where I give monthly totals and periodic updates if anyone wants details. I enjoy going to the estate sales and finding treasures that I can flip for good profits. This year I had several of my all-time best sales so I must be on the right track.

Between my wife's health and my mom's, we didn't do any major traveling this year. We did try to do a number of day trips and earlier in the year a few overnight getaways. We have a trip planned to Riviera Maya in late February. I'm hoping things are stable here and that we are able to go as scheduled. It's a group of us going to celebrate a friend's 50^th birthday.

Speaking of birthdays, my wife turned 60 last Sunday and we had a party for her the day before at a local distillery that we really like. The 3 of us along with 14 friends had a good time celebrating her.

The other thing we did this past week was sign up for new health insurance through the ACA. The premium will be about $1,000 less than we've been paying on COBRA though the out of pocket costs will be higher so that will be offset somewhat.

I'm looking forward to tallying up the year-end numbers for our portfolio, our spending, my ebay business, and everything else. At this point, I've got a pretty firm grasp on it all already but want to see the final numbers.

I guess that's all for now. I'll post again in January with a full 2023 wrap up.

I'm not very good at this blogging thing.

Life is cruising along okay. Since my last post in February, my wife was in the hospital again in March for a flare up of the infection around her spine. She had surgery to remove the hardware put it last year in case that was the source of lingering infection. She then did 9 weeks of IV antibiotics (as well as having a drain in the abscess for 6 weeks) and is now on daily oral antibiotics for at least a year. She has been seen by her spine surgeon, 2 different cardiothoracic surgeons, a neurosurgeon, and her infectious disease doctor. Everyone agrees that surgery to get to the abscess isn't indicated. With the hardware out, they feel her body will resolve what remains. She's getting labs every couple of weeks and has a CT scheduled for August. The really good news is she feels terrific, the best she has since the whole back issue started in fall of 2021. She's not 100% yet but she's doing PT and getting back to the gym and overall feels pretty normal.

I continue to work per diem, mostly doing 8 hours a week in the form of 2 four-hour shifts, usually Saturday and Sunday mornings but occassionally a weekday shift. I like the weekends best because the pay is much higher.

I'm still actively selling on ebay. Year to date I've had sales of about $6,000 gross/$4,000 net which is ahead of my goal of $500/month net. I logged my 4th highest sale ever a couple of weeks ago selling an item for $477.77 that I bought a week earlier for $8. Back in March I had my 3rd highest sale at $499. I go to one or two estate sales nearly every week and really enjoy that.

We had a big household expense this week. Our dryer started making a weird noise a few days ago. I opened it up yesterday to see if it was a DIY project I wanted to tackle. I didn't definitely identify the issue but I think it is a problem with the drum rollers. Fixing those means fully disassembling the unit, taking off the belts, removing the drum, etc. I just don't want to work that hard on a 10-year-old dryer so I agreed it was time for a new one. Of course, DW figured we should buy a new washer while we're at it. That's just as old, or maybe older, has rust around the top of the tub, and sometimes doesn't drain right after a cycle. I've DIY'ed that one before to fix something else (door switch assembly) so it's about time. We headed to Lowe's today and bought a new set. All in with delivery and removal and hoses and such, it came to about $1,500. We went with the pretty basic ones, not the ones with all the fancy electronics and stuff. Those are supposed to come on Thursday. While we were there, we also bought a new water cooler. Ours is pretty old and the great feature of the new one is that it is bottom-loading. I don't have to carry and flip the bottle onto it anymore, which occasionally results in some water spilling around it. That was another $200.

Otherwise things are doing pretty well. My mom is still plugging along at almost 93. Slowly declining which is hard to watch and deal with but such is life. Our daughter just celebrated 1 year at her job. She's stressed a lot which has been aggravated by her therapist being on maternity leave the past few months. Thankfully she starts back in therapy in 2 weeks. I'm hoping that gets her back on track fairly quickly.

That's enough for now. I'll try and update more regularly. I just forget about doing it.

I realized the other day that I haven't posted for quite a while. Apparently it's been 4 months. Oops. Life has been rather crazy, both good and bad.

At the beginning of August, I switched to per diem status at work. That means I no longer have scheduled shifts (or guaranteed hours). I am able to look at the schedule, see open shifts, and pick them up when and where I want to. I've basically been working two 4-hour shifts a week since then. It's very nice. Four hours is easy even when the place is crazy. I only take 9-1 any day or 1-5 on weekdays. I don't take 1-5 on weekends or 5-9 on weekdays so I'm not there for closing. One of the things I really hated about the job was the stress and pressure to get done on time when we were swamped with patients so I just decided I'd never take those shifts again if possible.

Open shifts are predominantly on the weekends, which is fine with me. Saturday and Sunday don't hold any magic for us. I'm just as happy being off during the week when everyone else is working. The added benefit to taking weekend shifts is that the hourly rate is 10% higher and there is a incentive bonus on top of that since they have so much trouble filling those shifts. I end up making about 37% more per hour from weekend shifts.

My wife is doing fairly well with her recovery from her back surgery and lung surgery. Still not 100% but much better. However, she developed another problem that is probably related. I'm not sure how much I've talked about this in the past but my wife is a childhood cancer survivor. She had a tumor behind her left eye when she was four that was successfully treated with then-experimental radiation. It cured the cancer but damaged the surrounding tissue as well as her left eye, which eventually got removed when she was 20 (there's more to the story but not relevant here). Anyway, she developed an infection of the skin of the eye socket. It didn't fully respond to 2 or 3 rounds of oral antibiotics. Then she did 2 weeks of IV antibiotics which finally took care of the infection but the whole episode with the skin swelling and irritation resulted in a tear in the skin that can't heal. So on 12/7 she's having surgery to get a skin graft to fix that. The surgeon expects her to be in the hospital for about a week. I'm super worried about that going well so lots of stress here lately.

On the happy side, both DW and DD got new cars recently. My wife's 2011 Sienna was not aging well. The pain on the roof was very worn, some rust had started in a few spots, and the moulding around the windshield and a couple of other places was rotting away. She bought a 2019 Subaru Forester from Carmax 2 weeks ago and is very happy with it. DD had a 2010 Hyundai Accent. Not a ton of miles but also starting to have a series of issues - broken hood release, dying power window motor, issues with the stereo, etc. All fixable things but we didn't feel it was worth puttting $1-2,000 into a 13-year-old car. Plus we really liked the idea of her having some of the newer safety features. So she got herself a 2018 Hyundai Elantra from Carvana. It was pretty neat doing everything online and having them deliver the car to the house.

I'm still hard at work with ebay and have been doing very well. I'm enjoying going to the estate sales pretty much every week, the yard sales during the season, and getting stuff for free online that people are giving away. Year to date, I've grossed just over $12,000 with profit of just under $9,000 which I'm very happy with. My goal was to earn at least $500/month profit and I've actually averaged over $800.

I think that's the big stuff that's been going on lately.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and wonderful holidays.

DW went down to get the laundry on Thursday and the freezer was beeping which generally means we left the door open... except the door was closed. So the temp was too high for some reason. She opened it and things were still frozen but a couple of things weren't as solid as they should be. I told her to just crank up the temp setting and leave it be (I was at work).

Of course, that didn't solve the problem. We moved some stuff into the upstairs freezer and the little freezer in the bar fridge but we will end up having to trash a bunch of stuff ($$).

I went online today to shop for a new one. Found one I wanted at Lowe's but the website showed it wouldn't be available until September. Fortunately, I knew that the website isn't always accurate, so I took a ride over to their nearest store. They didn't have one but their system showed that another area store did. I went there and sure enough they had one in stock.

I bought it right away. I even signed up for Lowe's credit card because it saved me $100. The soonest they can deliver is Wednesday but we're fine without it until then.

Just $700 we weren't expecting to be spending plus the cost of replacing the food that we lost.

It's always something.

We did something today that we haven't done for 25 years - bought a new bed. DW has been wanting a new mattress for ages but I've put it off because I'm cheap and sleep just fine on the one we have. However since she hurt her back in October, she hasn't been able to sleep in bed. She just can't get comfortable and it doesn't give her enough support. She's been sleeping downstairs on the loveseat propped up with pillows. Not a good long term solution. We were hoping she'd be better by now but since she's not, it was time to go another route.

She did a bunch of research and decided on a hybrid memory foam/spring mattress. The main thing would be an adjustable base so she could raise the head of the bed rather than propping up on pillows. Honestly, I'll like that too as watching TV in bed or even doing stuff on my phone means propping up awkwardly which tends to hurt my neck.

We headed off to a local shop today. They were still running their Presidents Day sale. We tried several options and agreed on one and placed the order. It should be delivered on Tuesday. We got split twin XLs since we have a king bed but need to be able to adjust them independently so she can sleep propped up and I can sleep flat. Of course, that raised the price, but it's the only workable solution.

After lunch, I made a pot of chili as we were out. That will be dinner tonight and 5 containers went into the freezer.

Ebay has been busy. I'm up to 82 active listings. My 90-day sales total is $1,039. My current goal is to make at least $200/mo after expenses and YTD I'm already at $505 so I should have no trouble passing $600 before the end of March. I already have $21 in bids right now.

Although the primary goal is to clear out the basement and garage, I've also started going to estate sales, being very selective in what I buy to resell. Two weeks ago, I went to my first one and bought 6 items for $14. I've already sold 2 for $40. Thursday I went to one and spent $3 for one item which I sold last night for $25. Not a bad track record so far.

I realized I haven't made a post since I arrived in Florida. I did leave a week ago Tuesday and arrived Wednesday evening. I had a nice drive down and even got to detour in North Carolina to visit my cousins who just moved there a couple weeks earlier from Connecticut. I got to see their new house and have dinner with them.

Since arriving, I've been working every day to clean out the house. I've taken out 7 or 8 bags of trash, about 6 bins of paper for recycling, and packed 10 cartons of documents to be shredded. I've also sold his tool chest, tool boxes, and most of the tools, a mini bike, and just tonight sold his floor jack on Marketplace. Oh and I've taken half a dozen boxes of stuff to the thrift shop along with 6 garbage bags of clothing plus several suits and some assorted loose items.

I think I'm pretty much done with the debulking. I've been through every drawer, cabinet, closet, and file. Although it's been time consuming, that was the relatively easy part as it didn't involve too much in the way of personal or sentimental stuff.

Now I'm getting to the harder part with the more personal items. A lot of that will end up being transported home with me. There are a bunch of things that need to either be sold or donated. I'm sure I'll do a mix of both. I'll need to decide what to do with furniture - sell or donate. I'll probably at least try to sell some of it and if I don't get any bites fairly quickly, I'll give it away. There is a large local thrift shop that will pick it up.

I'm not sure how long I'm staying. I finally got the death certificate on Friday and have an appointment with the lawyer on Monday to start the probate process. I'm not sure all that's involved with that or whether or not I need to physically be here to do anything.

There are 2 cars, one antique and one regular, that need to be sold. I've been doing some word of mouth advertising for the antique but if nothing comes of it in the next couple of days, I need to actually start listing that at a few sites. The regular car will be no problem as I'll probably go to Carmax, Carvana, and the dealership and take the highest offer. I don't want to get rid of the car until we're pretty much done as we may need it to get around if I drive home and fly back.

I guess that pretty much sums it up for now.

Now that the funeral is behind us, it's time to start dealing with everything needed to settle his estate. I'm expecting to leave for Florida Tuesday morning and get there Wednesday night (I'm driving).

Until I have death certificates, I can't address any of the financial stuff, so I'll start cleaning out the house, getting rid of trash, shredding unneeded papers, donating clothing and other items, etc. Once I have the certificates, I can start closing credit cards and bank accounts and getting assets transferred into my name. I will schedule a meeting with his attorney and give his financial advisor a call. I've already spoken to both of them. The advisor manages his retirement accounts and I'm the beneficiary so that stuff should be simple. No probate needed. Other stuff has to go through probate.

I got the first tiny piece of the inheritance - he had $85 cash in his wallet. Woo hoo.

Also in his wallet are two gift cards that they get as part of their HOA dues in his community. They are good at the clubhouse cafe (which has been closed for COVID) and at one local restaurant. I checked the balances and between the two of them, there's over $190 credit. I guess I know where I'll be eating regularly when I get down there.

I have a lot of work ahead of me and I'm sure some of it will be emotionally difficult, especially dealing with some of the more personal items, but I'll work my way through day by day. I'll be there by myself so I won't really have any distractions. I figure in the mornings, I'll start in the garage and crawlspace before the temperature heats up for the day. Once it's too warm, I'll focus on the inside stuff - clothing, kitchen, home office files, etc. The thrift shop where everything will be donated is just a few minutes away so I'm sure I'll be making multiple trips there. They will pick up but I'll save that for big items like furniture. I'm certainly capable of hauling bags of clothing and small household items over there myself, plus it will give me a reason to get out.

I suspect I'll be blogging more going forward so I'll update as I have new info.

Home: We haven't needed to do the plumbing repair I mentioned previously. Actually the pipe doesn't seem to be leaking anymore. I know sometimes when you first repair a pipe it takes a couple of days for everything to settle and there can still be a slight drip until it does. So far, so good.

However, we were waiting for a siding contractor to come out and repair a minor issue on the side of our garage. Well, that took a bit too long. Friday night there was a bad windstorm and it ripped about 1/3 of the siding off the wall. We were out of town but I was able to get a friend to come over, clean up the mess, and drive in a few nails to stabilize the remaining siding. Now we're waiting for the siding guy to come out and replace the whole wall.

The reason we were away last week is that we were in Florida visiting/helping my cousin who is dying. He is not doing well and will probably pass relatively soon. We got home care started to go along with hospice which I had set up when I was there in February. We came home on Sunday but we're already talking about having my wife go back down and stay there until the end whenever that may be. Once he dies, I'm going to take a leave of absence for a couple of months to clean out and sell the house and settle his affairs.

Work is going okay. The site where I work is closing at the end of the month and I will be moving to a new location. I'm not thrilled about that but it does have some advantages. The biggest one is that I'll be at a 2 provider site instead of working alone. That will be a nice change. And a lot of days, I'll end up seeing fewer patients. The new site is busier but not more than twice as busy as my current site. So for example, I might see 26 patients in a day while they see 42, meaning each provider sees about 21. And it's just nice to not be alone and actually be able to take a 10 minute break for lunch or dinner instead of having to squeeze something in between patients. I'll start at the new site on May 31.

Not too much else happening. A number of things are kind of in a holding pattern pending my cousin passing. Both personal plans and financial stuff (I'll be getting an inheritance when he dies).

So that's about it for now.

I was just reading another blog post about homes being money pits. I completely agree.

On Saturday, I was cleaning the drain in our bathroom sink, something I've done dozens of times. This time, when I was done and stepped away, I saw a stream of water coming from the drain pipe. A closer look revealed a small hole in the pipe. I grabbed a bucket and sopped up the water with a towel and put a call into our handyman. He said he could come on Monday.

He did come and fixed it, but his fix is less than perfect. There is now a very tiny bit of water leaking at the end of the pipe that he installed. There also seems to be a tiny bit coming from the cold water shutoff valve. The pipes are all quite old so I'm not surprised.

Bottom line is we're really going to need to have a plumber come out and replace everything going to and from that sink. Of course, when they built houses years ago they often didn't install shutoff valves or even access panels. Replacing the plumbing will mean cutting through the closet wall to access the pipes leading to the bathroom, turning off the water to the whole house, installing shutoff valves, then doing the actual plumbing work in the bathroom. I have no idea what that will all cost but I'm sure it won't be cheap. Yay.

We're almost halfway through the month so I thought I'd post a quick update.

Our federal tax refund arrived on Wednesday. $518, so not a huge amount but I'll take it. Our state refund is bigger - $3,000 - but that always takes longer.

We aren't eligible for stimulus money but our daughter is, so that's nice for her. She is also due federal and state refunds. She filed last week so should have that money soon.

I sold the JETS shares I bought after last March's crash. I made an 81% profit which was nice. I'm still holding the AAL I bought but will probably sell it this week. It's at its 52-week high and I want to trim our stock allocation anyway.

DW gets her 2nd vaccine on Tuesday. Once we're both fully vaccinated, we may consider returning to indoor dining. One nice thing is that we will no longer need to wear masks to visit my mom since she had both of her shots already.

My cousin with cancer is doing okay. Things seem stable at the moment. He is on hospice service now which is good since he lives alone and we're 1,200 miles away. We're glad to know someone is checking in on him regularly. He also just started getting Meals on Wheels. He's had a couple of them so far and says they're very good. He really isn't a cook so having those on hand for an easy, balanced, nutritious dinner is great.

I've got PTO coming up starting 3/20. We were supposed to be in Florida that week but the event got cancelled due to COVID. No big plans, though DW and I were talking about tearing up the carpet in our bedroom so we'll probably do that. I'm hoping the floor isn't in too bad of a shape when we do.

The siding on the wall of our garage is coming loose. I contacted a couple of contracters to come out and take a look. Both are backed up for weeks so hopefully it doesn't get worse before one of them is able to get to us.

Otherwise, we're plugging along. I was spending a lot of time playing with retirement calculators and figuring out where we stand. I've pretty much determined that once my cousin is gone and his estate is settled, I should be good to drop down to part time. Right now, I'm figuring on remaining full time through the end of 2022 and maybe transitioning at that point. We shall see how it all plays out. How the market performs is a factor, too.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

We're having one of those days here.

My wife started getting more serious about her sewing business a couple of months ago. She updated her website. We had a friend design a new logo. I then designed and we had printed business cards. I also printed hang tags to put on her items. She reconnected with a shop owner who is selling her items on consignment, and she has already sold a bunch of things. That's all good.

Today, my task was to update the hang tags with a different email address. In the process of doing so, I suddenly realized that on everything we had done so far, a word was misspelled. Ugh. Business cards. Hang tags. Some product labels. All wrong. Several people had reviewed those designs multiple times and somehow none of us had noticed the mistake until I caught it today.

So now my job is to fix it all. Our friend is going to fix the logo. Then I'll use that to fix the hang tags and we'll have to order new business cards. Fortunately, I printed the hang tags myself in small batches and we got the business cards online for about $20. So not a big financial loss but a huge pain in the butt.

Oh, and one more thing. My wife went to cut some fabric on her Cricut and apparently chose the wrong setting which resulted in the machine cutting through the cutting mat.

I hope you're all having a better day.