My Current State

It's spring break here, so I am in a bit of a sweet spot.  I had the opportunity to travel to Florida and may regret that I did not take it.  That's not like me to not seize a beach opportunity, but we are heading to the beach later this year, and even though the price was right, I did not have the funds readily available, so I did not jump on the chance.  Julia, however, did.  This is quite a strange spring break.  Wyatt is the only one home with me, and he is not into doing anything fun.  The weather has been beautiful for the past two days despite predictions to the contrary.  Those predictions kept me from pursuing a trip I really wanted to a nearby horse park.  Tickets are sold for two day passes and as it appeared that we would not have two consecutive days of pretty weather, I missed the opportunity.

As far as Dad's estate goes, I am in a sweet spot as well.  His taxes are complete.  The completion of the taxes stopped the process of carrying that estate file literally everywhere I went.  I never knew when I would have to access something from the file, so I just took it everywhere.  We are far from finished.  His house needs to be sold, and I need to hire a contractor to do some work on it first.  We have made two trips over to the house to purge and claim Dad's personal property, and there is still much work to be done.  I am confused about his military records. I have submitted forms to get his medals reinstated, but I just received the same forms in the mail again.  Apparently, I have to do something else to get the Bronze Star replaced.  I have yet to figure that out, but that does not have to be done right away.

I do so wish Dad had another year with us.  He would get to see Logan, my nephew, graduate high school.  Dad really stepped in and helped my sister lots when her husband died, and her boys were particularly close to him.  I would like one more vacation with him, but I guess no matter when it happened, there would always be the one more thing we wish we could do.  I remind myself that he is better than okay right now and would not come back here for anything or anyone.

So this is what has been happening:

My inheritance - one thing I have always wanted is a hutch for my dining room.  When we met to make our picks from Dad's belongings, my big pick was the dining room furniture.  I ended up with my mom's China too.  I never bought China because I could not choose a pattern when I got married. I never cared for my mom's pattern, but ironically it is very similar to the pattern I ultimately decided I liked and would have bought if the funds had ever been there.

I have my paternal grandma's antique dishes, so I have them displayed in the hutch along with Mom's China.  These dishes have been in a box in my basement since I received them. The girls and I have taken a few pieces out for tea parties over the years, but they were mostly just stored.  We ate on them as a family for Valentine's Day and will likely eat on Mom's China for Easter. 

Mom's China

On a hunch, I went to the cemetery to see if Dad's marker had been placed.  It was there, but there is a major problem. For some reason they changed Mom's birthdate.  I pulled the paperwork to see if I signed off on it, and sure enough I did.  I tried to get everything right and blew it on this one.  However, the cemetery blew it too.  I could not change anything on the form that they called mandatory, and that included her birthdate. Because it was correct on her marker before, I did not even think to look it over carefully.  I worked very hard to get the wording correct on the part we could control and had several people review it.  I was sick when I realized the mistake and knew I would have to make it right even if it cost $2k.  However, the cemetery owned their part in it and said it would not be a problem to fix it.  I don't know how long that will take or if they will notify me when it gets fixed, so I will see this summer, I guess.  Everything else is exactly as we wanted it, so I hope the fix does not mess up something else.  I know my parents do not even care about this right now, but I could not let it stay like this.  We had no choice on Mom's name.  We were able to add her middle name when Dad died, and the marker changed, but Mom never used her first name and would have rather had her maiden name on the stone.  We had no choice in that, so I hope that the birthdate gets worked out.

Julia keeps sending pictures like these.  They say the water is the most beautiful they have ever seen.  So Julia is grounded once she returns for flaunting it.

I love this one for so many reasons.  I love to see my nephew with such a big smile on his face.  I just wish the picture was not blurred.

I started spring break by making a door wreath.  When we bought our house, our realtor made a beautiful summer wreath for us.  She knew I loved dogwoods, and it was full of silk dogwood blooms.  After ten years of seasonal use, the wreath was beyond the point of needing to retire.  I have wanted a new one for a while now and could not stomach the cost of a wreath.  I have yet to decide if this needs some embellishments - a starfish? an initial? flip flops? flowers? a bow?  I will let it be for now until I decide.  

Just some notes on wreath making - 1. it's not cheap, there's a reason that these things cost $60+

2. working with burlap is messy - it shed everywhere.  I was covered in it as was the chair in which I was sitting.  I think I even inhaled it. 

3.  I think I will pay the $60+ in the future if I want a new wreath.  Then again, after having done one, maybe I will be better at it next time.  That is if I want another burlap wreath.

Andy keeps saying it looks country, and that makes him happy since he's from the country.  I am not sure "country" is the look I was going for, but I do like it. 

On Sunday we journeyed to a college town.  Savannah's best friend is a cheerleader for the first time in her life fulfilling a lifelong dream, and her team had a showcase before heading to nationals.  She invited us, so we went.  Emily did great.  She's really got those sharp movements down, and she's a flier doing some great stunts. Savannah was unable to attend the showcase, so we met her afterward for dinner at a wonderful African restaurant.  That's some comfort food there!  Savannah just cut all her hair off, and I am loving it!

I keep saying that someday Savannah will write a book called, "An Abundance of Emilies."  Since preschool she has had four best friends named Emily - not all spelled with the traditional spelling.  I have to say that they have all been top-notch girls.

That's all for now.