Sounds like one hella DIY party!
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Hahaha, I forgot that yesterday was my anniversary for 32 years w/out drinking alcohol. I donāt count licking the measuring spoon after using it to put vanilla extract into whatever I may be baking.
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Iām proud of you. That is a long time. (hug)
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Wow, 25 years! Thatās great.
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My son got sober with me; studies on fetal-alcohol syndrome came out not long after I quit. I didnāt drink a LOT when I was preggers; but when Iād been without one for a few days after giving birth, I asked one nurse about it and she said it was okay, and that ābeer is great for your milkā. He was about eight months old when I quit.
I almost wrote this one down, just to see what it looks like, lol!
Thanks so much!
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Well, I am not a rock star yet.
But I had a rehearsal tonight with a band. I didnāt tell but two people IRL and no one on the 'net till afterward (Iāve only told one person on FB!). And now here, lol.
It went really well. Bass, drums, guitar, and me. Some CCR. Some Stones (I need to learn moreā¦which I guess I can, but Iām not singing āBrown Sugarā.); I can sing āUnder My Thumbā and change the pronoun, yay!; um, kind of a smattering. They learned āPenthouse Pauperā even before I met 'em.
The guitarist is from my old 'hood, Morningside, in Detroit, about 12 or so years older than me, give or take. All are very nice men, and good players. The basement was total early-mid-1960s suburban (and not flooded!) basement.
I got to improvise and really let go, even though I was nervous. It lasted about an hour. I go back next Tuesday night.
I am not going to delude myself about become a star of the magnitude of Janis Joplin, or even Bonnie Raitt. What I want the most is respect and admiration for my talent. Money comes next, and THEN stardom of a small-grass-roots magnitude.
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Playing pinball today and 2 boys watched me, āWow, sheās really amazing. Look how many points she has!ā And I wasnāt even having an especially good game!
Plus I got 2nd at the pinball tournament.
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Welp, I got my total cholesterol down from 271 to 205! My LDL was 178 and now itās 134.
So no statins for me, yay!
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This has been a looong time coming. A few years ago, I had no credit record whatsoever. I was raised never to buy on debt, or use credit cards, or take loans. Buy only what you can afford and save up if you want something more. Pay all your bills on time, all that good respectable stuff. (Stuff that leaves you screwed in the modern debt-based economy.)
May 2019, a friend and I were talking about that and decided to get a secured store card with Amazon. About a year later, Feb 2020, I got a secured Discover card. Both became, after a year or so, unsecured actual lines of credit. I now have a āGoodā credit rating. Nice!
My wife contacted a real estate agent about a year and a half ago to talk about what we could get and what weād need for that. So weād have a target for price range and down payment needed. I started pumping as much as I could into my investment accounts and 401k so we could have something for a down payment.
Early August, a house went on the market on a Thursday evening. Friday, my wife decided to take a trip to go look at it over the weekend and that Sunday night we put in an offer which was accepted by lunchtime on Monday. House was on the market a total of 1 business day.
But that was just the beginning. Followed by months of red tape and phone calls and inspections, appraisals, negotiations, lawyers, insurance, etc. And everything was slow because of the pandemic and everyone being booked out months in advance.
Now, as of yesterday evening, we are finally cleared to close. For the one house in the entire region within our price range. We even negotiated $7,000 off the asking price - in this crazy real-estate market!
This time next week, I should be a homeowner! (Well, a mortgage-ower, anyway.)
I didnāt think this would ever actually be possible, let alone happen. As late as yesterday afternoon, I had to call them and was convinced that they were going to say the deal was off because of some detail or other. Instead they talked me through getting the final paperwork in and then told me now itās done, everythingās approved. All thatās left is the actual closing itself.
Iām giddy. And have a lot of packing to do. (I put it off because I never really thought this would actually work out.)
Our new place has solar for both electricity and hot water and geothermal for heat, and itās right in town in short walking distance to everything. Weāre between a school, the paramedics, and the hospital, so unlikely to lose power or water or anything. Itās a small plot and small house, but with several porches and decks, small garden areas, and finished attic and half-finished basement. Itās almost perfect for us. Better than we couldāve hoped for.
Iām so excited!
From being homeless, sleeping in abandoned buildings with no electricity, heat, or water to this. Itās been such a ride. Iām just flipping out thinking about it!
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ZOMG, you luck-outs!
Congratulations are so in order!
Is that a sign at the far-right of the frame, or something else?
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Congrats! And so much greenery! So good.
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Yes, on the far-right is the Black Lives Matter sign. 
Thereās another sign obscured by the bushes, but I donāt remember what that one is; think it was just the real estate agentās sign.
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Such a cute house!!! Congrats!
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Yay!
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That place is really cute! Looks like they have some nice pollinator-friendly landscaping, too.
Iāve noticed at our house, having that porch on the second story is a blessing in the summer. For some reason, the mosquitos donāt spend as much time up there, so lovely for enjoying those warm evenings.
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Well, I dunno if anyone remembers - so much has happened since last June, right? - but I had a problem with my MI Medical Marihuana caregiver, whoād flown to CO and couldnāt help me then.
Since I have to reliable means of income, I depend on the kindness of my friends. But one can only push that so far. So I texted him a little while ago and threatened to report him to the MI Dept. of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA). THIS time I got a response. Heās got COVID, but will bring by two ounces next week.
Iām not worried about catching it - he can leave it on my doorstep, or throw it to me. And I was honest with him; I told him I really didnāt want to report him, but if I had to I would. It would be a bit of a red-tape hassle, but certainly it would be worth it.
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I went to the doctorās yesterday and had some bloodwork done. One of the parts of my care plan that Iāve been putting off is going to the dentist. But my healthcare plan sends me a gift card if I complete tasks that are a part of my plan; however, even that wasnāt enough, along with monthly robocalls reminding me about dental coverage, to get me to go.
It was pain, simple as that, which finally got me to make an appointment, which I had today. Very nice place, definitely a āchainā dental office, but the people know what theyāre doing and are courteous and friendly. They also arenāt out to put one on a guilt trip for not going to the dentist for at least eight years. I swear, dental assistants at one time were nuns who left the order, but never lost theirā¦uh, habit of inflicting guilt.
The bad part is that I have to have six teeth extracted, all in the back. But my insurance covers that, plus getting a partial. The only thing we have to wait to find out about is the deep cleaning, which has to be done first before anything else, natch. I should know about that in a week or so.
All in all, it wasnāt as bad as I thought it could be.
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Extractions are no fun, but itās such a great relief when the pain and sharp bits are gone!
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To me, itās sad that Iām more relieved about insurance covering the extractions than about about having them.
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