Moving Day

Everything is ready for us to move out of our home.  We have rented a friend's home that is about to be torn down.  It's very small but we don't need much for a family of three, a dog, a guinea pig and a goldfish.  We rented some furniture from Rent-A-Center, brought one TV, and one desktop and one computer from home.  The furniture will be arriving at noon at the rental home.

I  was so tired from having pneumonia, and everything else, I could only pack one room per day.  And the first two days of this week, I slept and didn't do anything.  Feeling better now after nearly 5 days of antibiotics, but not very energetic.  Nevertheless, I have packed up almost everything in the house.

We also rented a Pod to put the upholstered furniture it.  That came yesterday and some friends helped us move the heavy stuff. Thank you for the Vances!

Our remodel consists of the kitchen and informal dining room, dining room, laundry room, all of the bathrooms, entry way, hallway, and hallway closet - in short, half the house.  I'm allergic to dust  and mold, so there was no way that I could stay in the house, besides the fact that the water would be turned off in the kitchen and bathrooms.

But I was still behind on my packing.  I had packed almost everything, but I still had 4 hours to go.

How do I know that?  Because we were supposed to be packed and ready at 9 am this morning, and we weren't ready until 12:30 pm.  That's when we packed the last box.

Meanwhile, the contractors at 9am and were knocking out walls, cabinets, dry wall, etc. while we were still packing.

Thanks God for my contractor, Salvatore Caruso!  He worked around us and when he saw that I was freaking out (probably because I hadn't had any breakfast), he sent his son to get coffee and croissants for us!  I really needed that boost of energy.  Thank God for Sal!

He has designed a beautiful home for us!  Our home is 60 years old and the kitchen is original and falling apart: tile is chipped and cracked, ceramic sink is chipped, grout and tile are falling off, cabinets doors have been painted so many times that I can no longer close them. We bought a fixer-upper and although we knew we had to remodel the kitchen at some point, I knew that was going to be a big expensive job.  So we chose make do with the kitchen and to put money into making house more efficient.  We had to fix the foundation and arrest the descent of one weight bearing wall.  The HVAC had problems when we bought the house, and that had to be replaced.  Five years after we the bought our home, it needed a new roof and we also put in solar panels and a new electrical box.  There were leaks in various places and we knew we needed a repipe, and we did that.  We also added insulation to make the house more energy efficient.

But how to pay for the remodel?  Turns out that having terminal cancer make that easy.  There is a silver lining in every cloud! I am now able to pull money out of my IRA without a penalty.  And since I'm not going to have a long retirement, I may as well use the money now and leave a beautiful and functional house for my family.  However, IRA withdrawals come out as ordinary income, my husband is still employed and I don't want to pay any more taxes than I have to.  So we elected to pay for it out of our investment account, with capital gains rate, which will save us about 5-10% in taxes.  My husband can treat my IRA as his and that makes it beneficial to do that.

Tonight we are in are new pied d'terre.  Tiny, but cozy.  Now I can get some much needed rest and recover from the pneumonia, radiation and chemo.

Pneumonia

Went to the track to walk 3 miles last Friday.  I was winded after 1 mile.  Sweating bullets.  What is wrong me?  I just felt off.

Afterwards went to my motor therapy appointment.  This is so weird.  They want to make sure I won't fall down.  Right total knee replacement and right side motor deficit.  OK.  Passed this test with flying colors.  But now they put me in a harness and are making me try to match the moving square.  I was never very physically coordinated to begin with and this is difficult for me. I go one way and that square goes a different way.  I hate this.  More exercises, but can't do deep knee bends. Maybe a pilates ball?  Need to strengthen my hips and back.

I went to a spiritual talk Friday evening with the mom's from my son's school.   Love Fr. Timothy, but I thought he was going to give a 10 minute speech, but it turned into an hour and a half.  I was coughing the whole time (quietly, I hope, but probably not quite). And I kept falling asleep.  Very low energy.  Ugh.  Poor Fr. Timothy.  I was a terrible audience!

Today I had an appointment with my chemo doctor.  She kept listening to my chest.  Apparently the prophylactic antibiotics (because I was on steroids for so long) didn't work, and I have a full blown case of pneumonia.

Well, that explains a few things!  Why I couldn't walk three miles and why I have been coughing so much.  I had no idea that I had pneumonia! 

Steroids make you feel great.  You want to clean your entire house in ten minutes.  However, the side effects are horrible.  Loss of long muscles (quadriceps), and the possibility of pneumonia, among others.  I can't get out of a chair without pushing myself up with my arms.

Time to rest.  Hopefully I will feel better.  But I'm packing the house up, and we are moving out to a rental home on January 17th for the duration of the remodel.  No rest for the weary - or sick.

Remodeling

Zajda Glass Studios

We are in the process of getting the plans together to remodel part of our home.  The kitchen has cracked tile, the grout is coming off, and the cabinets have been painted so many times that they don't shut any more.

When we bought our home in 2007, we knew we need to fix it up.  The roof had five years left on it.  The house was almost 50 years old and needed to be repiped.  It needed insulation in the attic.  It needed a new HVAC system.

Years ago, I made a list of what we needed to do to the house.  At every opportunity, finances permitting, we did something to improve the house.  We put in a new HVAC system.  We repiped.  We added insulation in the attic space.  We added GFIC to every outlet in the house. We replaced the electrical panel in preparation for a new roof and solar panels.  We replaced the cabinet in the master bath.

I knew that remodeling the kitchens and bathrooms would cost a lot of money, so we put off doing that until last.  We had to make the home functional first.  We also had to bring the cost down of our utility bills - heating and cooling, as well as our electricity. For a long time, we didn't have any furniture in the living room.

When I got the bad news last October, I made a list of what I wanted to do with the time I had left.  The estate planning came first as did the funeral arrangements.  After that, I wanted to do a house remodel and leave Duane and our son with both a functional and beautiful house.  So I hired an architect and general contractor.  We now have plans for the remodel, which will begin on January 17th.

Today we met with Peter and Nancy Zajda of Zajda Glass Studios, who is going to do some stained glass for our front door.  I have kept their card for the last 15 years because I always knew that I wanted the Zajdas, who do beautiful work, to do our front door.  We picked out glass and I believe that the window will look beautiful!

Walk to End Hunger

A friend of mine, Christine, asked me if I was ready to do a 5k.  We had already walked about a mile around Almaden Lake Park.  My knee needs exercise, and that means walking.  So, I figured why not?  If I'm going to do a half marathon, I better start walking now.

So we all signed up for the Walk to End Hunger.

I'm still on the steroids, so I still have moon face, and my weight is up.  A girl needs to get her exercise!  Two more weeks and I will be off the steroids.

I guess this is my first race.  (Well, I did the San Francisco Halloween run 5K, in costume, about 30 years ago.  I went as a file folder, complete with paper clips and post it notes.  That was so hard to run in!)

What a beautiful day for a walk!  Fred pushed the stroller, Christine and I walked about an 20 minute mile, and Duane was so slow that he dropped out.  Really?  Ufda!

I finished in just under a hour.  (Christine could have gone faster, but she stayed with me. That was nice!)  Not too bad for someone who has just been through the ringer.