Pentagenarians & Beyond: W/B 7/11

[JoanC]

Valerie,

The steps are inside. It hurts her to stand only on her left leg and she has trouble raising her right leg to get to next step. She has a drop foot on right side. The home was built as a spit foyer and you go up or down at the entry. We have since made it a trilevel and the family room is even with the entry. I should have added a bathroom to the 20' by 20' family room that is also right off the pool. It could have been made into her bedroom. Although it would have wrecked the flow of the house. The family room was the garage and we built a garage in front of it. It works great as a family room but the bathroom addition would have been a lot more than an elevator.

I'm actually thinking the elevator will be a good idea. We don't really need the hall closet and the door in the living room shouldn't affect furniture placement.

Even if I could find a nice place for her to stay, all the holidays are at my house. She still couldn't come over when she eventually can't climb stairs. I still think she will be able to get up stairs for a while as long as she doesn't get weakened (sp) by the heat or staying out too long.

She only gets out about once a week but it would be nice if she could come down to the family room. Elliot is always asking her to come see something. She just looks down from the top.

After she gets over the soreness from being pushed and pulled, I told her she has to start lifting weights (soup cans) and walking more.

Even more reason to stay in shape.

Joan

 

[Josie]

Hi Ladies,

Sorry for being AWAL for a while. I have been asked to work full time due to a shortage of personnel. Three of our fund managers left and we have to absorb their accounts. I will also be supervising all of the fund managers and will be training the new ones. I will only be working full time until the end of September.

I did my weight training on Tuesday and Thursday and I will be spinning and weights tomorrow and a 30-40 mile ride on Sunday. I hope the weather won’t be too hot.
We have had a couple of very hot days, but today is overcastted.

Joan, I'm so sorry about your poor DM. It is hard getting old.

Garance, have a great trip!

Hi to Deb, Valerie and Cathy.

Josie

 

[Traildoggie]

Oh shoot, a split! those are tough, I realized how troublesome they can be when a friend bought one. I'd never seen a house where you came in and had to go up or down before!.

You don't need to be old to have issues with stairs, even temporarily. Wow, that's a lot of $$. is this one of those elevators that goes up the stairway itself? there are probably several kinds.

You're brave.... I'd never let my MIL (or mother for that matter) live with us. guess I'm not that family oriented. my grandmother lived with us when I was growing up and it created a LOT of strife, I swore I'd never do it no matter what.

Hi Josie, saw a lot of bike riders on the north cascades hwy this weekend and thought of you. It's a very scenic ride with good weather. and probably never too hot.

 

[JoanC]

My husband has always said he could never have his mother living with us but he gets along with my mother. She has lived with us 33 years. In the early years she cooked dinner, grocery shopped and took care of my two kids. I told her I probably would have to take care of her when she was old so I wanted to get some use out of her before then. It has worked out to all our benefit so it doesn't seem fair to kick her out now. Even after the kids went to school she did all the running around, made deliveries for my business and answered business phone when I was gone.

The elevater is a true elevator. You could walk straight into what is now the coat closet and come out the side on the 2nd level. The chair that runs along the steps takes up too much room and we couldn't open the front door.

One half of the lower level was the family room,a small bedroom and a bathroom. We turned that into the master bedroom with a fireplace,a huge bathroom and a huge walkin closet. The other half is my office so my commute is pretty fast.

 

[fox2star]

Saturday

Good morning all,

Not much going on here, DH left before dawn to go fishing. I didn't even hear him get up or leave. Very pleasant sleep last night. Only HouseMax and agility class on for today. We are having the AC installed Monday, Tuesday and if not done, finishing up on Thursday next week. It is very expensive, but we want to enjoy it while we can. Us and the next owners of this house!

Garance, sending you Happy Vacation and Safe Travel vibes.

Valerie, yes, it's the humidity that is the killer. Anyone can take 78 degrees but 78 degrees with 75% humidity is killer.

Joan, I agree on the problem getting too big of a unit. I called the guy yesterday and talked to him about it. He said he doesn't think the ones he is putting in will be too big, but if afterwards we have any issues, he will replace them, refund the difference at no charge etc. I would certainly hope so! The elevator in DH's building was installed after the fact. Is is kind of like an open closet, it has a gate, you get in and it just rises to the next floor. Hard to describe, but the owner of the building had to put it in, since it is a medical building and he needed a way for people to get to the second floor. It is right outside DH's waiting room. Hard to explain. His waiting room is on the second floor open balcony kind of thing.

Josie, I don't think I ever realized you worked part time before. At least the full time is short.

Have a great day!

 

[drover]

WHEW!! BUSY WEEKEND! dil & g/kids here, son out-of-town. everyone just left, trying to get house clean and get in a weight w/out.

bbl hopefully

 

[Traildoggie]

Deb the issue we have with the air is that bedrooms are upstairs, and we have numerous skylights so the upstairs heats up while main floor is quite cool and where the thermostat is. the basement is always cool, regardless. and generally don't sleep well over 60 degrees. anyway, just saying... that air flow in the house and sun exposure all add in to what size unit you need. Hope this works well for you, we never regretted it for a second. plus, ours cut our winter heat costs by half.