Deferred Maintenance

That might be another way to say procrastination ‘R us.

For me, 2013 is a year best forgotten. The personal tragic events of last year are still unpleasant and too fresh to allow them to be forgotten easily. Hopefully, time will allow healing.

These are all judgments and opinions, of course, but I noticed my first thoughts that pop up when things don’t go my way, are usually negative and include expenses I haven’t saved for. The pressure of not having enough starts me spinning out of control and into a panic. I don’t know about you, but that isn’t my finest moment usually.

My wife and I were homeowners for 35 years. After her terrible accident, we short-sold our house losing our nest egg and moved into an apartment. During the course of working through the details of the sale, our realtor said, “ the problem with this house is deferred maintenance.” She was referring to all the odds and ends you’d love to have done to upgrade from kitchen appliances and carpet; to all wood floors; to new bathrooms and landscaping.

We did quite a bit to maintain the house. It isn’t like we neglected it. We added a new roof, new fence, new furnace and new dishwasher. We spent too much, in my opinion refurbishing the deck and landscaping.

On a positive note, Kevin, Natalie and my granddaughter are moving to North Carolina as Kevin evolves from a Captain in the U.S. Army to a captain of industry in the financial business. Kevin will make the best of any situation, regardless of circumstances. We were lucky to have a month to have Kevin and his family close by. It's back to cross country trips for a while.

Michelle and her husband, Jason continue to do well and have a lively family life.

March madness

My daughter Michelle passed her RN exams and is comparing offers from several different employers. Since she is starting at the bottom, the jobs are not the greatest but she is at least getting Registered Nursing job interviews. We are very proud of Michelle and her success is well deserved.

Brian, on the other hand, was laid off from Kohl’s and is back searching for employment, possibly in security.

 Kevin is teaching at the University of San Diego and finishing his MBA while he waits to find out what his next duty assignment will be. He and Natalie love and nurture my granddaughter Hannah who is four months old.

Shelley has a lot on her plate in her new position at work and her knee is healing well. I lost a few pounds after taking a new medication. I had to stop the medicine though because it has some pretty harsh side effects.

I have been slow to write something for this blog since I am avoiding negativity as much as I can.  Terrible things have happened across the country. Our legislators want their own way no matter the cost.

It takes “Shooting yourself in the foot” to a whole new extreme. Gun control advocates and the NRA have had more exposure at every turn.

I saw a couple of the year’s Academy award winners and thought they both deserved nominations. Daniel Day-Lewis was also eloquent in his acceptance speeches too. If you like history, you’ll love Lincoln. Zero Dark Thirty was also an excellent film, very well done and quite entertaining. I observed that Quentin Tarantino is still producing and receiving awards for the films he makes. It is somewhat consoling that not everybody likes his work. Argo was good but too much Ben.

Thankful for the approaching New Year

Daughter Michelle and Jason King were married on July 15, 2012. 

Shelley had a complete knee replacement on September 18^th providing her with 6 weeks of rehabilitation time from work. It was a considerable amount of exercise, walking and icing her knee. She also has physical therapy a couple of times a week.

A Joyous greeting to our grand-daughter, Hannah Marie Filer. Mother Natalie and father Kevin are also doing well after a successful labor and delivery November 8^th in San Diego.

Shelley and I visited the southern California Filers for 5 days beginning on November 1^st. I got to see the Air and Space Museum, Sea World and had lunch at Ocean Beach with Shelley, Robin, Paul, Steve, Natalie and Kevin.  A final vacation before Shelley has to go back to work. But the baby was late.

We were very lucky to visit when we did because we had so many get-togethers with family members. In addition to a new baby girl, Natalie has also successfully completed her Masters degree in Psychology. Kevin, not to be outdone, is finishing his MBA from the University of San Diego.

Michelle is finishing her Nursing program at the JC and will be pinned mid December and Brian is working at Kohl’s.

We flew Alaskan Airlines out of Santa Rosa on a turbo prop at 25000 feet. My left ear is still recovering. On final approach to San Diego I noticed a circular building with the title Air and Space Museum as we flew over and just filed it away. Kevin lives about 20 minutes from the airport and he picked us up and we visited their house and said hello to everyone, had a great dinner and left to check in at our hotel. It was after 10 pm and we had to unpack for the night and the next day.

Paul asked if I had ever been to Sea World and we agreed to an afternoon visit after a tour of the Air and Space Museum. San Diego has been synonymous With the Navy and Marines for a century and we visited an outdoor memorial to Bob Hope next to the USS Midway where SDSU would play Syracuse in basketball a few nights later. We gassed up at the Marine Recruitment Center and toured the Naval Training Center which has been decommissioned and converted to commercial businesses. The Central building is now a meeting center and museum. The Air and Space Museum is also thanks to the Navy and it houses a real F-18 Blue Angel and much more. Sea World is a place in San Diego where you can pay $70 to get splashed by a killer whale. The pet show stole the show. Ordinary dogs, cats, birds, pot belly pigs, emus and kangaroos perform. 

Lucy, I'm home.