Teri Parris Ford's Blog

Eternal Summer Week 8

On Thursday Erika and I spent time together looking at homes and just enjoying summer, then on Friday Monika and I spent most of the day driving to Song of the Morning in northern Michigan. We've been helping out to prep for a festival this coming weekend with lots of time in nature. So far I've paddled a sink hole, Lake Michigan and rolled down the Pigeon river in an inner tube. It's been a blast. Mostly I've enjoyed my time with Monika- everyone at SOM loves her so much. I'm only here as her assistant. 

Eternal Summer Week 7

I got back to Rochester last Wednesday and enjoyed a few days of summer fun, going to the pool, bbq-ing, early morning walks and late night tv shows. I spent most of the day on Saturday doing yard work, weeding, trimming, etc. On Sunday we started working on the upstairs flooring. Jim does the hard work of removing carpets while I sweep up and help with removing staples. On Monday I started laying down the vinyl planks. The work seems to be easier and a bit faster as I am now quite experienced after doing the downstairs area. I put flooring under all the appliances in the kitchen and cut my thumb pretty badly moving the stove. I am pretty proud of the great work I did around my angled island. I finished the dining room, kitchen, living room and hallway today. I am leaving for Madison tomorrow and spending next week in Michigan with Monika. I will have to finish the bedrooms upstairs in August. I will have to figure out what to do about the stairs in the entry way. I was thinking of tile but memories of my mom's tile stairs gives me second thoughts. If not tile, then either wood or more vinyl? I will happy when the flooring is finished and I can start working on other projects-- there is always plenty to do!

Eternal Summer Week 6

Well, I was back in Madison to close out Erika's condo. We had the official closing on Monday, but spent the weekend moving and cleaning. In the 3 1/2 years Erika lived in her Fitchburg condo, she had collected quite a bit of stuff. Much of her things were donated or stored since she is moving into my fully furnished condo. Thankfully we have a big basement! Between my and Erika's moving, there has been a lot of clearing and cleaning in our family, which I think is great. Since my parent's death, I have made great efforts to live with less and it's hard. I have made daily trips to St. Vinnie's donation center this week. On one trip I took 8 old suitcases--in one I found a brand new swatch watch I purchased 20 years ago in it and I remember going crazy looking for it! I ordered a new battery for it and will let Monika sport it.

I capped off my time in Madison with an evening out with Monika, dinner out and a show at Overture! I love it when Monika invites me to Broadway shows. It was a great evening. I woke up the next morning and finally got my bed strapped to the car. Once in Rochester, I stacked it on top of the bed we already have but will eventually bring that one back to Monika, who purchased it while living in Norfolk in Virginia-- so yes, our beds have done quite a bit of traveling.

While I am really looking forward to settling down in MN, I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of back and forth to WI as we prep the condo for sale and Erika begins to look for a house to purchase. My list of things to do is crazy long: remove old drywall in basement (red room), add french drain to corner of condo, replace basement window, work on garage entry, fix kitchen flooring (loose), paint behind the fridge, all new trim downstairs, finish upstairs closet (shelf, rod, patch), paint both stairwells, finish fireplace curtain, landscaping. << all that is before meeting with the realtor!

Eternal Summer Week 5

I am finally back home... home is now Rochester. It feels like home now. I still have a few things in Madison to bring over, but the majority of my things are here. There is still much to do to make it more mine but the process will be ongoing maybe until I die.

We drove back from Virginia on Sunday-- always the best day to travel across the US-- and arrived in Madison in good time but left for Rochester the next morning. Monika needed help removing the upstairs bathroom vanity which she is single handedly re-doing (just paint and fixing up in general) before Erika moves in. Monika is extremely thorough in her work, making sure to move big items to paint behind (something I don't always do). I will go back to Madison later this week to help her finish it up. Erika closes on her condo next Monday and begins her search for a new home in Madison, which will be difficult for her budget. Luckily she has time-- still, the market continues to be crazy. I am hoping to sell my condo while the condo market is still inflated in Madison. Between the two homes (Madison condo and Rochester house), I have my hands full with things to do.

Quite honestly, I have not felt any time of "leisure retirement" time on my hands yet. I started getting the shaky eye thing in May and it still comes and goes as my stress level increases or ebbs. This summer is significantly more stressful between both me and Erika moving and all the changes included in my retirement. I hope things will settle by the time school starts. Still I have made time to sit by the pool every so often. Luckily I have found an outdoor pool here in Rochester. It isn't as nice as the Shorewood Pool but it's just as restorative.

Eternal Summer Week 4

We left for Madison on Saturday to pick up a bunch of Jessi's stuff and then on to Virginia on Sunday to spend the week's at Jessi's place while she was away in England for a wedding to watch her cats and enjoy the beach. We enjoyed a couple of days with her before she left. I love kicking off my summer at her place in order to get beach time in, especially now that I don't have time on the west coast anymore. I think I still love the Pacific Ocean a bit more (not as many jelly fish and more dolphins) but the Atlantic is warmer. Since arriving we have gone a long walks every morning. The last two summers I have come, I have not had any time with Jessi as she had been deployed. It is so nice to have her state side and enjoying a bit more time on her hands. She only has a couple of years left of her Naval obligations but will have to decide whether to re-up or start over. I'm just hoping she stays close to a beach (selfishly). 

Whenever visiting Jessi's home, I try to get out into the yard to pull weeds and pretty things up. Usually Jessi has a few projects for me as well to keep me busy but I've been so busy since school got out that is really nice to have some down time, so other than ocean walks and playing with cats, I don't have a lot of stuff on my list of things to.