Mom and Christy let me take pictures of some of the more settled spaces.

The metal chickens on the wall above the sink make them both very happy. They are old, family chickens.

This turtle spoon holder has been around forever too. If you look close in the top photo you'll see him on the left side of the sink. I don't think they put dirty spoons on him any more – he just stands watch over the counter.

Christy's bedroom is about unpacked. Having some pictures on the wall makes it feel like home. And she's using a quilt I gave her many years ago on her bed. It's from way back in the day when I was still hand quilting!

And mom has her sewing machine set up in the office. I learned to sew on that machine and she gave it to for several years. I pieced on it until I started machine quilting. This is not the original cabinet. It wore out. This is a cabinet to an older Singer that I refinished years ago.

Do you see the tin to the left of the sewing machine. That's mom's button box. I can remember playing with the buttons from that box when I was a bitty girl. It's funny the things that are most important – the chickens, the turtle, the button box – those are some of the things that spell home.

In other news, Christy fell over the weekend and probably broke some more of her hand. The last time this happened, just a few weeks ago, she went to the ER and ended up in a splint until later in the week when she could get in to the doctor. This time she opted to forget the ER (too expensive, too much poking, too awful when you feel bad) and I splinted it. To say it hurts is an understatement (not from the splint, she says mine was better than the last one). This morning I'm trying to get her in to see a hand doctor, before or after dialysis. She has surgery on something else tomorrow – unless the broken hand prevents it. That would be bad too. It would be so nice if my sister could catch a break.

We have a Salvadorian restaurant in Sherman – La Placita. It's in an old gas station and it is a hopping place at lunch time. I went for the first time today with Steve, Chris, and the kids. It was a celebration of being practically done with the fence. It was busy and we had to wait a bit for our order. I tried to be patient, but it's hard when you are light-headed. Chris is a way better person-who-is-waiting:

He refused to smile. Guys are so like that. If you have had boys you know they often put on their 'game face' for photos. But his game face is very nice so that's OK.

Do you see the painting on the wall above Chris and to the left? It was bad, but I grew to really like it. And the lettering on the wall is practically nautical – not at all like the rest of the place. But nice!

Elanor had just gotten a new haircut so I took her picture:

I do wish I photographed half as well as my granddaughter! Jack decided he needed a picture of his hair too:

Don't you love the curls? Lunch finally came. We had pupusas – think of a pita that is made from corn meal stuffed with cheese and/or beans and/or meat, etc. They make everything on site and my oh my it's really good. And inexpensive.

I got the internet to work at mom and Christy's. It's nice to be connected – in so many ways.

We moved mom and Christy on Tuesday. It was an 11 hour day. And it was HOT. This is the day the countertops went in and the cable guy did his thing.

Wednesday (can that just be yesterday?) the plumbers came to hook up all the sinks. Two plumbers for 4+ hours each is not a cheap deal but what are you going to do? There was unpacking and cleaning the duplex to fill the day. Steve and I both went back at 7:00 PM to help Chris with the fence building.

Today, 6 weeks from the day we closed on the house, we have about finished 'combat' operations. (That's what Steve called it.) We put up a wall of shelves in the garage and got the last of the pile off of the floor and in some semblance of order. The washer and dryer are hooked up. This afternoon I helped Chris with the fence.

The house is on a slope so the fence is not a straight run. It looks really good. Here's a better shot of Chris, the fence-maker:

Inside the fence feels nice (below). The backyard feels bigger rather than smaller. I didn't promote the change from the original chain link to this fence, but I was wrong. This is better.

Do you see that tall light pole in the photo? I've never seen it before and I've lived in this neighborhood for 18 years! Tomorrow I'm going to have to figure out where it lives.

Don't know what's going to happen with the stump/table. My guess is that the pink and blue paint is going to have to go when the weather is cooler.

The other thing that is happening is that the sprinkler system is going in. They are having to hand dig the trenches in the back because the electric, gas, cable, and who knows what other cables are buried in the back. It's slowing the crew down but that's OK. Mom and Christy are in no shape to drag hoses around and Texas summers require more watering than I could keep up for them.

I should have taken a photo of some of the dying trees in town. Big ones, little ones, natives and exotics – there are a lot of brown leaves. I don't know if any of the trees will be coming back in the spring.

Tomorrow I may be moving some boxes so they can unpack but I think my life is coming back!

We watched Jaws Sunday night in the pool. Elanor enjoyed it – although she did get a little unnerved when Quinn got bitten in half. Before the movie, we talked a lot about what was to come, the shark was a machine, there would be fake spurting blood, the music was spooky… overall she took it all very well. I admit it, when my kids were little I let them watch way more violence than sex. Chris, Jeff, if you are reading this feel free to back me up here. they turned out just fine!

Christopher shared this trailer with me and I think it's fun enough to post. It's entitled "Must Love Jaws". I know Jaws and am of a certain age (55) so what struck me duriong the movie were all the 1970s era parts of this movie. The hair, glasses, interiors – it was a kick!

Paint, he's been stripping paint. My mom now has our bedroom furniture. It was hers first. She bought it in 1950ish. She and daddy used it for a long, long time and then we got it. We used it for a long, long time. Mom asked for it back and we said OK. She bought us a replacement dresser and chest.

To buy something new (that we would have liked) was going to cost more than $1500. Antiques are cheaper and we like them better anyway. This is what I found. This is so not our style but it's the same 1950s vintage, the drawers all work, it doesn't smell funky, and each piece is a little bigger than the ones we had before. That's a plus.

Steve spent more time than I did stripping the paint off. I mostly ran the hand sanders. So much so that if I think about it I can still feel the vibration in my hands. (That may not have been smart.) Anyway, we both worked in temps well above 100 for many hours. I started applying Watco today.

Watco has been around forever. It's a wiping stain and finishing oil in one and its easy to use, looks good, lasts forever. What I found out immediately is that the white paint permeated the wood. Where the paint is in the grain, the stain doesn't take as well.

You know what? We are both so hot, and so tired, that we've decided that we might be able to make this look work. I may hit it with a glaze once we have it inside. I'll post photos of the drawers in place later so you can see.

The ends of both the dresser and chest are masonite which was a surprise. They won't stain. I'm either going to paint them or cover them with wallpaper. I think I can turn this bad surprise into a good surprise. I've already spray painted those fancy, not-our-style handles green. I think they are going to be way fun!

In other news: Tomorrow is the main move for mom and Christy. The countertops go in, Mom and Christy go in, the new fence is going up, and the cable is being turned on. Who knew it would all happen at once!

Just so you know that I am not completely altruistic I want to show you my newest toy work related computer purchase:

This is an 11" MacBook Air. The bitty one. I bought one of the very first Airs, skipped the 2nd generation, and now I have this great new toy business laptop. Tonight I'm going to work on setting it up. I also recently updated my iPad to the iPad2. The new one is not that much different from the original but mom and Christy needed a new computer and I hope my original iPad will be perfect for them. It was the best reason I could come up with for upgrading :-). You may not know this about me but I am a Mac early-adopter. Well, not always early, but a soon adopter.

And as I write this I'm listening to the news about the current market crash. It reminds me of when my dad died. After he died I walked around for several days amazed that life just kept moving on. Right now I'm too busy to spend a whole lot of time stewing over this latest turn of events. I think that most of us will just keep putting one foot in front of the other and, God-willing, it'll work out for the best. I'm going to applique (after I set up my computer) to stay sane and do the best I can to live a worthwhile life. I'm sure you all will be doing the same. Knowing that, I feel just fine!

We finished our work on the inside of mom's house! Except for one bit of touch-up on one wall but at this point that hardly counts. We both worked most of yesterday and today at mom's house or at our own house.

I believe I told you that I'm giving mom back the bedroom furniture she had for much of her life until she gave it to us. 'Our" furniture is now in her new bedroom and mom is so very happy. Steve spent most of today stripping paint from our 'new' dresser and chest of drawers. It got so hot the stripper quit working so he'll be back at that early in the day on Sunday. (Tomorrow we go north to visit Steve's mom and dad.) I cleaned our house and ran numerous errands while Steve sweated. I had the easier job.

The countertops go in on Tuesday, the plumber comes on Wednesday and I think mom and Christy will be in the house by Wednesday afternoon. There will be more moving on Thursday but the end is in sight. Oh happy, happy day!

Jan Krentz shared this link and I want to share it with any of you who haven't seen it. I want to see these places! (I want to think about filming myself so that I can make one of these fun videos.) I'm looking forward to traveling again. Life is good!

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

Rick Mereki has more videos and they are probably equally fun but I have not had time to watch them. Click here for more.