That's tough, Tom. Points for putting yourself out there though!

Yes. Easier said than done. It sounds like you have some other good options coming up.

So, I, like, pretty abruptly quit my job.

I have to say that every time I decided to quit my job it was the right decision. May things fall into place properly for you now.

This year's fall leaves are nothing short of spectacular. Last year was very disappointing, as they just seemed to fade away and die, but this year they are making up for it.

Yesterday was spent with my sister cleaning out her basement. Her furnace died so we are working on clearing a path for the old oil tank and furnace to get out and a new one to go in. We filled 38 big green trash bags plus various other containers and loaded my nephew's pickup truck, which DH took to the dump this morning. We'll work on it again today. She has a guy coming for an estimate, and she didn't want to terrify him. This is my hoarder sister. She probably hasn't gone into the basement in a decade, as she doesn't do stairs, and the outside entry has been sealed off for a long time. Most of the 35 bags were clothing that was piled up from when she used a laundry chute from upstairs. We cleared a lot! She also did some work in her main upstairs entry area. I'm hopeful she will be encouraged by how much we accomplished and might let me work over the next month to do the same in her main living area. Yes, we wore masks and gloves down there because the mold was significant.

Made it to the surgical pavilion on time, filled out all the paperwork, waiting for Mom to be called. They will apparently text me status updates, which I appreciate

Sending all the surgical~ma.

Her surgeon is in another surgery, the nurse thinks they may get to her within the next hour, then an hour for the surgery and an hour of recovery. Cutting off the cast presently!

Hope it goes smoothly for your Mom today, -t.

That sounds like an intense project, Laura, in a lot of ways. Your sister is lucky to have you.

It is really serendipitous that the furnace went while both of us are up here. (Brendon does the heavy lifting) Today she found out that for the new gas system she needs two more vents upstairs, which means way more clearing. This is really awesome since it forces her into this. She was tossing stuff yesterday without even opening and looking through stuff. If she hasn't seen what is in an old suitcase in a decade or two she doesn't need it. Striking while she is in this mindset. It may not last, but I think she sees getting her house in order is possible and not so overwhelming with my help. I'm feeling optimistic.

Glad to hear that, Laura

Waiting for the next status update at a coffee shop.

$60 for two sandwiches, two coffee and one cookie. I don’t know whether that’s because Everything is Expensive Now, Walnut Creek is expensive, or this coffee shop is pricey, but dang.

Yes to all three.

Yikes! I hope they were at least tasty.