Birthday Girl!

Yesterday, we headed to Savannah's college town to treat her to breakfast.  Between our weekend plans and her weekend plans, it was the only time we could celebrate her 21st birthday.  

At 21 Savannah is just weeks away from finishing her junior year of college.  She's on track to finish an architecture degree in a year.  Savannah loves the color yellow and being a little different from everyone else.  She works really hard at school and is in the top 20% of her class.  Her birthday weekend included participating in a fashion show for a medical fraternity  She's a pancreas and a liver (I think?).  I hope she sends pictures :) 

Savannah's birthday week did not get off to a great start.  Her laptop had been in for repair for 11 days, and she was notified that it was not worth fixing.  After trying to work through her classwork on slow computers in the labs and facing final reviews, it became an emergency to replace the laptop.  Andy drove up to meet her on Monday to address that situation.  UGH!  Fortunately, she did her homework before he arrived and found an option that met the necessary specs on clearance.  For the record a laptop on clearance is still pricey.  

Savannah is living with three roommates in an apartment.  I do believe that she has permanently moved out of our home.  The program she hopes to complete for grad school is out of state, so we will see how that works out.

All the kids came to celebrate their sister.

Savannah is legal now and started the day with a mimosa and was not even carded - LOL

Andy rocked new Elton John style sunglasses, and the kids loved them.  You never know what fashion statement Andy is going to make.

Zach and Julia had to try on the sunglasses.  They both looked really good in them.

Our time with Savannah was short as Andy had to play drums for a very special celebration and needed to get there for the run-through.  We were running late to get him there when we were rear-ended on our way out of town.  The other driver took off, but we got his plate number.  It's just a fender-bender, and after the last several weeks that have included the overwhelming situation at my parents' house, an expensive unexpected car repair, replacing a laptop, and a really discouraging work situation, we just kind of shrugged our shoulders and said, "this is no big deal."  If the vehicle were newer, I probably would not have felt that way, but I am just hoping to eek two years out of it, so there's that.

We made it back to our home town and celebrated a very special five-year-old.  Lizzy is small but fierce, and she has the most awesome parents who have walked her through an 18 month cancer journey.  We raised a hallelujah to a great God who has carried them through.  Lizzy's mom thought of everything planning the party - a time of worship with a band, a bouncy house for the kids, balloon animals, a chocolate fountain (Lizzy's only request), snow cones, cotton candy, and treat bags.  It was a grateful celebration with people who love this family so much.

So it was an eventful day for the Pages on the day Savannah turned 21, but it was a day worthy of celebration.  We always have perspective on this date as Savannah's paternal grandfather died in an accident on her fourth birthday.  That was a repeat of history as my paternal grandfather died suddenly on my 11th birthday. Savannah's life is very much worth celebrating, and it was an honor and bonus to celebrate another amazing girl on this day.  If we are friends on Facebook, don't miss my link to Lizzy's story.  It is truly worth the read.

Burning the Candle at Both Ends

It's been a little rough here, so I haven't posted because breathing is more important at the moment.


Remember my last post where I talked about the contractor who left some damage at Dad's house?  This is our situation:

There is stain everywhere - on newly painted walls, trim, fireplace surround (that makes me the maddest), outdoors on the covered porch entrance, on floor transitions etc.

He got fired, and someone else was hired to do the job, and the floors are now beautiful.  We have been over there working to get the house on the market.  That original contractor has set us back more than four months, and the work is overwhelming.

The week prior to spring break, I either worked at the house or had something else on my plate every night.  Keep in mind that I get up at 5:30a.m. for work.  I left that house twice in tears because I was so overwhelmed which is not like me.  I was so tired that I made some pretty big mistakes at work.

Plan A for spring break was to spend 10 hour days at the house.  I started Friday night by buying lots of paint and supplies and taking it over there and prepping walls.  I couldn't spend much time there on Saturday or Sunday because of other obligations, but I did spend a few hours there each day and then spent 8 hours there on Tuesday.  When I left that Tuesday, I had painted three closets and some trim.  I decided I would not return for at least a week.  That was almost two weeks ago, and I have yet to go back.

It is frustrating because what we thought was almost finished is not.  The trim had not been painted, and that's a big job.  The rooms that were painted need to be repainted because of the contractor, and the realtor pushed for a different color, so now even the rooms that were okay need to be repainted.  We find additional damage that has to be fixed every time we are there.  For example, the blinds have stain on them, so they have to be taken down and scrubbed.  Tessa has been working through that back-aching process.  The banister had to have all new balusters because they were popped into place by the original contractor without being set.  The second contractor just left them out.   Then we learned that the holes were drilled incorrectly into the banister, and now a brand new banister may have to be replaced.


Every time the realtor walks in the house, she gives me another to-do list - most of which would not be a big deal if we weren't having to repaint the house.  The probate expires on April 30th, so I will have to make yet another trip to the courthouse to extend it.  If it wouldn't mean going through the process and paying fees again to name another executor/executrix, I would hand this over to someone else.

I am still trying to decide if I need to take a personal day and just put in a full day of work at the house since it is so difficult to get this done on weeknights and weekends with everyone working various schedules.  My goal is to paint the pantry and the two remaining interior doors that I have not gotten to.  I am hoping one of my siblings will be able to finish the trim. We know we have to hire a painter, but painting the trim is more than half the cost of paying a professional.

Now that the weather has turned, we have to add keeping up with the yard to the list of things to do.

It is daunting and impacting life on many levels. Yet I still go to worship where God speaks through ministers who say not to give up and that God sees me.  I think my two week break is enough to get me back in action, but I have a busy week ahead and a really busy Easter weekend.

stain on walls

odd, uneven, looks like spilled stain on floors, glaringly obvious - this was before another contractor fixed the damage

stain on walls

What?!

new quarter-round that was not stained to match the floor as contracted and did not go to the end of the wall

stain around banister

This is when I went to paint interior doors after the  floors were fixed.

Polyurethane on new kitchen floor 

A good thing - view of the gazebo that Mom really wanted.  I wish we had used it more.  It's perfect right now, but the house backs up to a farm, and the gazebo is harder to enjoy during fly season.  The deck and gazebo stain is the handiwork of my brother.

a treasure-one of Dad's bibles - He color-coded his underlining which was done free-hand - He probably did 20 bibles like this -start to finish.