Well, the mortuary people have cashed my check, so I hope this means the death certificate correction has been sent to the proper authorities. The appraiser has been at my Mom's house and it turned out to be about what we were told it would be. I can't believe a house with only one bathroom and an unfinished attic would sell for that amount, but property values are high in New England. I don't see how people afford to live up there: their salaries are either very high or, again like the guy in the commercial, "I'm in debt up to my eyeballs."

But then I don't know how people afford to live down here either without living somewhere that's more than an hour's commute from work. Folks must be making six-figure salaries (or a cohabitating couple must be making that together); James and I together fall very short of that mark. That's one of the reasons we were attracted to the homes in Trellis Oaks; they were actually of what is now around here at a "reasonable price" and they're a few miles closer to work (although to get to the freeway there are more surface roads, which would probably make the commute the same or even longer). Plus the benefits of living in Smyrna. I would love to live somewhere around Perimeter Mall, or in that same area south of the Perimeter (I-285, which circles Atlanta), to be "between things" and closer to work, our vet and trivia. But the property rates are $$$$ in that area. (I have a house in Brookhaven that I'm just crazy about: it's done in stonework and is roomy without being a McMansion—and, I confess, one of the reasons I love it is because it would look fabulous being decorated for autumn, Thanksgiving, and Christmas... But knowing that neighborhood it's probably at least in the $500,000s.)

I am crossing my fingers that Eddie will be able to get the house. I know he will be respectful of the neighborhood (since he lives there) and my godmother and Dotty next door. If I have to give it up, I would be glad that it went to him. I hope some other kid has a chance to grow up there and have as nice a time as I did. (He/she won't have Tom's Superette and the Gansett Bakery and the sound of the train in the distance and a cool historic fence from the 1920s...but, oh, well, times change...)

Speaking of Trellis Oaks, I was looking at the floor plans again last night and I did notice that none of the kitchens are very big; they're certainly not for gourmet cooks, that's for sure. If we were to move there all of James' kitchen gadgets would have to be pared down. Of course we have some we can already get rid of, like the two hand food mills he doesn't use anymore since we got the Magic Bullet. If nothing else, we could do as my mom always did and keep extra supplies downstairs. Certainly the turkey roaster and other holiday things could be stored elsewhere.

Huh! I don't think I've ever mentioned the Magic Bullet. One of the channels up in Providence has paid programming at eleven a.m. during the week. (You know, the scary thing about these paid programming gigs is that they're almost all so well-produced these days that some of them are more entertaining than prime time programming.) We usually click them off, but we were interested in this Magic Bullet gadget when it came on. It's basically a small food processor that can also be used as a juicer or a blender. James had a small food processor that someone had given to my mom but she didn't use, so she gave it to him. The motor burned out a bit after Christmas and he really missed it, but we never got around to buying another. The Magic Bullet was being sold for the same price as the small processors in the stores around here, and if you bought one you got a second one, so we chanced it and ordered one that day. James loves it. In fact one of the first things he did with it was make frozen lemonade. Del's makes a kit you can buy to make their frozen lemonade at home. The Magic Bullet ground the ice to just the right consistency. All it was missing was the small pieces of lemon peel in the mix.

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 8:23:00 AM

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