Rearranging

Here are some highlights of the past month. I don't have any pictures so this will just be a report.

Before my Dad moved to the Veteran's Home, he had been up to  Salt Lake and brought home boxes of his younger brother Jack's. They were filled with pictures and documents etc.... and Dad wanted to post them all on Family Search. He entered the Vets Home before he was able to return them. I got in touch with my cousin Ali and she arranged for me to take all of this to their former neighbor who agreed to store them until she could make a trip there from Oregon. 

Fred and I drove up on a Friday night to Provo. On our way we stopped in Cedar City for a Del Taco dinner. We ate in the car. While I munched on my churro, a chunk of my baby tooth broke off. It left a very sharp edge. It was annoying all weekend. We stayed the night in a hotel in Provo that night. The next morning we met Craig and Lynette in Sandy for breakfast at Big Bear Diner. After breakfast, we drove the three plastic tubs to their neighbor. We stopped at a DSW shoe store and I bought two new pairs of shoes. I've decided my feet deserve comfortable shoes and the cost is no longer an issue for me.

When we got home on Saturday night, I took a nail file and filed off the sharp point of my tooth. That made things so much better. I got to the dentist on Thursday and it was decided that I needed a crown on that tooth. Dr Baker did a better job than Smiles Restored did on my other crown a few months ago. His office was able to make the crown the same day. My jaw was sore for a couple of days. 

 My Dad called Fred one day and asked if we still had the box for his tv. Fred asked why - are you moving? That is how we found out that after all these months it was finally determined that he could not afford to live in the Vets home.  Last weekend when I locked my keys in my car when I went to visit Dad, I ended up waiting for Fred at the little restaurant across the street from the Vets Home. There I met Tomas who knows my Dad from their days as ordinance workers in the temple. It just so happened that Tomas and my Dad had been talking on the phone and Tomas offered him a bedroom in his home. So that is where Dad is moving. He made no indication that moving back with us was a consideration.

So next Saturday he is moving in with Tomas. A nurse at the Vets Home said she would like to help him move and she has a truck and trailer. Fred and I went on Saturday to meet Tomas while he had a window visit with Dad. We drove Tomas to his home (mobile home) so we could see it. Tomas does not have a car. He rides his bike and also lives on the bus route. His home is very humble and I mean that in a nice way. It is a single wide and it is crowded. He is Mexican so it definitely has that feel to it. Dad's room is smaller than his room at our house. He and Tomas feel confident that they will get along just fine. Dad says it's like meeting a new missionary companion. I would say this mobile home definitely fits that category. Tomas feeds seven stray cats on his porch. The home is old and the yard is a wreck. It's obvious that Tomas is busy at work all the time. He has two jobs. Four days at Harmon's grocery and two days at the Icebox restaurant. I thought he was the owner of the Icebox when I met him last week.

I'm definitely concerned whether my Dad will be able to do this. Tomas talks non-stop. I hope it works out because Fred and I have switched gears completely. They do not include my Dad. Of course, if it comes down to him coming back we will do that. I honestly don't think he wants to.

We are in constant motion with planning for our new home. Yesterday Fred sat down and made me these scale maps of our livingroom and bedroom in the new home. He can visualize things by marking our current home with blue tape to see how things fit. I told him that I can't do that. So he made me these paperdoll models to play with. This is how I think things will fit. The bedroom does not allow for much different. The livingroom probably has lots of options.

Our two little end tables don't really have a place to go. I think at least one of them I'll put by my bedstand in the bedroom. I need more space for my night time stuff. I really didn't want to set the couches in the middle again. I think it makes the room look and feel crowded. The piano is the extra furniture piece that hogs up the wall space. I'd like to just have the reclining love seat and a sofa. If we can get rid of the little loveseat - that would open things up. 

So now we are in the organizing and purging mode or I should say Fred is. We are both talking retiring sooner than we had planned. Like maybe next October for me. Fred by this spring. Fred will need at least 6 months to really get things done. We need to get the backyard finished. He has the office, garage and the hall closet to go through. We want at least three months to do all the things we have wanted to do, but haven't because we haven't had enough spare time. I'm tired of getting up at 6am and going to work. I've almost been feeling like I want to quilt or do sewing projects. How scary is that??? 

We shall see how things unfold in the next little while with my Dad. See if it will really work out for him living with Tomas.