The Last 2 years

So it has been a long time since I entered a page to this blog.  Which means it's about time.  So much has happened in the last few years and the last few months.
After my mother died my friend and I started renovations on my mother's house.  We removed all the kitchen cabinets, sink etc - all but the fridge.  We put in new floors in 2 rooms and cleaned and resurfaced the wood floors - ourselves.  It took almost 2 years, and when it was finished I moved in with my cats (a month before hurricane Irene hit New England which is another story).  Then we started work
on my house.  We stripped down most of the inside.  I'm good at that, but when
it came to refinishing the inside, Larry of course did about 90% of it with me as
the carpenter's helper.  It was long, tedious and grueling work.  When it was finished we put it on the market to sell.  That took another year or so with price reductions because the housing and real estate market dried up.  Last Friday
we closed - partially until the home equity loan is paid from the proceeds of the
sale.  But at this point the buyers are committed and can't back out.  From that
money I'll being paying Larry for his work - he never asked for money, but I
wouldn't be an honest person if I never gave him a cent for all he did.  So
that will take a large clump, but it has to be done.  If I had sold it "as is" I
wouldn't have made any money on it.  So I'm relieved, and accepting the
lower amount.

 There are still some repairs that could be done to this house (my mother's)
esp. to 3 of the windows.   But that is another issue.

I am glad that this is about over.  The electric and water have been changed to
the buyers and we have a few papers to still be signed and then I'm getting my check.