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No longer on the river and, again, an empty nester. Back to living on Fleming Island and making some more friends!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Maybe no one will notice...

....that I missed a day again! When I got home from dinner with Martie last night, I was just so bushed, going to sleep took precedence. My night's sleep Monday was quite short due to a rather upsetting Board meeting so it took me a while to fall asleep. Plus, add to that, the "Roseanne" episodes were on in which Dan came home from an extended stay in CA with his mother. He was behaving differently but no one can put their finger on it, until his sis-in-law overheard a phone conversation with a someone in CA who was not his mother. Oh oh....When Dan was telling Roseanne about it, he said he has a feeling that something was missing from his life, an emptiness, and that he has met someone. For some reason these couple of episodes bother me. Before he is exposed, they celebrate Christmas, a lovely one, because they had recently come into lottery money. For the first time they did not have to hock anything to buy socks for their son, stuff like that. Roseanne presented Dan with an envelope on a silver tray, their mortgage, paid in full, plus a lighter. He ceremoniously burned the mortgage and then cried like a baby in her arms. Dan remembered buying the house with Roseanne so many years ago, all the struggles they have been through together, etc. Now they have money, the struggles have subsided, and he is out the door for a younger woman he met in CA. He also swore he did not sleep with her. Not to be a spoiler, in the next episodes, he leaves home but never leaves town, and begs to come back home. Their daughter goes into early labor and delivers their grandchild, who nearly died. At one point they join hands and say a rather lame prayer, but a prayer nonetheless, asking 'God' to help the baby. The near death of their grandchild brought them back together.....
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So, my point was, I had troubles falling asleep and then was awake about 6:15 to the dulcet tones of a washing machine running. I am so paranoid about hearing water these days. It must have been from upstairs, and now I was wide awake. Which is why I was so tired last night. For lunch Joanne wanted to meet at Ichiro on Wells Road because they have such great fried rice. They do!!! We had a great lunch together, talking real estate and catching up on the family news. She always has so much on her plate, so to speak, making my existence seem like a Sunday school picnic. (Having been involved in these picnics actually makes me want to find a better analogy!!!) One of her most recent horrific events happened at work, in the bathroom. She had used the handicap-fitted bathroom stall in the office building, placed her lipstick tube on the sink, and then the sink fell to the floor and shattered. Yikes! A piece of the porcelain flew up and hit her in the eye. It sounded like a horrible explosion, of course, and she came out with blood on her face. Her broker took her to the hospital and the eye was saved. She still has troubles with it on occasion, as though a piece of the glass remains in it. Such is the life of poor Joanne!
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On my way home from the restaurant, to-go box in hand, I stopped at Winn-Dixie to pick up light bulbs. Mike and Andy were at my house working on the laundry room floor, and I asked Mike to look at the light fixture in the Timmy closet. He told me he had noticed it was not working properly, sort of making a sizzling sound when turned on, and thought it might be the bulb. I picked up a pack of bulbs besides soda and a half loaf of bread. Mike had also gotten a bulb but neither of them made the fixture not buzz. It was determined I must buy a new fixture and I am quite comfortable doing so. All we need now is an electrical fire, right?
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The first order of business for Mike was to take my washer and dryer from the laundry room which really had me in a sweat. I showed them how to shut off the water in the two bathrooms, gingerly closing the ball valves, leaving the faucets totally alone on the wall. Instead, they disconnected the hoses from the washer itself, and then did the faucets. No incidents as far as we know.....The floor looks great in there, with Andy even running the new floor into the little cabinet built-in the room. No more exposed wood, either, as he rigged a scrape piece of the flooring to cover it. Nice! It tell you what, he is a fiend with the saw!
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The BOD meeting that I attended on Monday night covered much discussion and decision making by the officers regarding the forensic plumbing inspection that needs to be done to determine what controls what and which valves need to be replaced yet, etc. While I agree we need to know this in order to avoid an accident like mine occurring again, it scares me have to pieces thinking that folks are going to be monkeying with these possible hair-trigger valves, have one break with no one way to make it stop. Short of cutting off the water supply to the entire compound, which includes hundreds of homes, several businesses such as hotel rooms and the Club dining room....there would be no way to control the flow. A distinct diagram would need to be drawn showing the stack cut-off valves found in the first floor units and have ready access to them in case of emergency. It was just by deductive reasoning that Butch located a second cut-off valve in Gus's 1st floor unit, by climbing under the corner kitchen sink and using a wrench to turn it. That scared him, too, because what if it went kaphooey??? So, it will be like playing Russian roulette when that project is tackled. The committee, of which I am not part, must get three bids, and find three plumbers who are willing to work in this building. That is why most folks use Butch, who is not a licensed plumber, to do their work, he knows the idiosyncrasies of the building, and usually does not have a problem.
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BUT, the water discussion and its resolution is not what overly stressed me. No, instead it was topic not on the agenda but brought up several times during the meeting. A lady who now owns two units in the building is making a fuss about her former friend's white painted doors which face north, visible from the neighboring River House. There are also white windows on the 5 1/2 floor lofts, which I never really noticed until it was pointed out to me. This Owner is demanding compliance with the By-Laws that doors and windows be bronze, or she will put in white ones, basically, just to be a snot. Screaming and hollering ensued, filthy language exchanged, resulting in the former friend being shown the door. I sat there like a deer in the headlights, horrified by this display. Ellen did her best to calm the situation, did a marvelous job for a while, but it seems there must be some underlying problem between these two that manifested itself in window color. The only good thing about this upset is that it takes everyone's mind off of the water leaks for a while!
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Well, it is time for me to get up, showered, and dressed for the day. At this writing I have no specific plans to go out and about, but you never know...Today I will put the finishing touches on the church newsletter and get it ready to send off. Pastor sent me a few things to add, which helps with content. This weekend is the Worship Conference at Christ the King, Palm Coast, and I look forward to that as well as the overnight stay with my friend, Bonnie, now of Palm Coast. She is in the Church Secretary Union with Linda and me, and Linda is sending her me her proxy vote in case we need it for anything!