When you get into a situation that is too hard for you to handle alone, sometimes you ask me for help.
And I willingly give it.
And it makes me feel good to help.
So, why, when I get into a situation that is hard for me to handle alone, do I resist asking you for help?
Do I really think I don’t need it?
Do I think you won’t give it?
Do I not want you to feel good for helping me?
Hmmmm.
TTYL,
Linda
Trillium Woods is nearly full to capacity and there is a waiting list of people wanting to move here.
So it’s time to add on. The new addition is known as building five. We live in building four. Building five is on the opposite side of the common areas from us and we are fascinated at the process used to construct this building. So Dave goes to various view points and takes pictures to share with me. This post will be picture heavy but it is all about the construction so, if that does not interest you, feel free to skip this blog. Click on pictures if you want to enlarge them to see them better.
One of the first things they did was post a picture of the plan on a window on the second floor where sidewalk superintendents are most likely to gather.
They framed pads in the garage and the foundations for the walls. The odd blue machine then poured cement into the framing to make solid footings.
They used the same process to make the underground garage side walls: framing them vertically then pouring concrete into them.
Then they installed scaffolding to build up concrete block walls for the apartments.
They waterproofed the outside of the garage walls which will be buried under landscaping when everything is done. And installed columns which will hold up balconies.
While we are still outside, let’s look at the street in front of our complex. They tore it up to install water and sewer lines to the new addition so the road was closed for a few days. Vehicles coming from the south that didn’t understand that the road was truly closed north of our driveway had to use our front driveway to turn around. The work was finished much quicker than predicted, though, so the loss of use of the through street was minimal.
Back to the interior–If you look very closely at the pad you can see bolts installed in the concrete where columns go. A crane lifted the precast columns and moved them inside where a crew on the ground made sure they were aligned properly and one in the lift insured each column was perfectly vertical. Repeat down the length of the wing.
If you look closely at the previous picture, you will see protrusions on the sides of the columns. Those are to hold up beams that go between the posts, once again using the crane to move them into place.
Then the crane lifted what we called platforms, having no idea what the technical names are for any of the parts. The platforms were placed between the beams and the walls to form the floor making sure to leave the openings for the elevator shaft and the stairwell.
Then a different type of concrete truck arrived. This one lifted in buckets of cement that a crew used to fill the gaps between the planks followed by using a huge squeegee type tool to spread a layer over the planks to make a seamless floor.
In the meantime, another crew was laying more concrete block to build more walls. This is a wing that protrudes eastward from the north/south one we’ve been viewing. It will have the main entrance to the new assisted living wing. State regulations have changed since Trillium Woods was built so we can no longer have assisted living mixed in with the independent living apartments. Assisted living needs to be a separate, licensed facility now. So this section of the first floor of the addition will have its own front door with its own address. North of that will be another wing offering memory care apartments (a special type of assisted living) in a secure area with its own courtyard. Those white panels are part of the roof over our existing drive-up front door and the new assisted living front door will be in that big hole in the inside corner of the wall facing us. All that dirt area will become a new parking lot that shares our current driveway.
Both of the assisted living facilities will be on the main floor. Independent living apartments will then be built on the second through fourth floors which will connect to the existing building through a wall that is currently under construction right beside the wall of the existing building.
So, watching the whole addition being built of concrete explains something I often wondered about. The instructions in case of fire are to stay in your apartment with the door closed unless there is smoke in your apartment. And the one for tornadoes is to stay in your apartment in an interior room away from windows. So far, there is nothing in this construction method that can burn or is likely to be blown away. We are as safe as safe can be.
The current goal is to build the rest of the exterior walls and get the roof on before winter hits. That may mean we can’t actually watch the interior construction. Boooo.
Unless we can go through the connecting door after the crew leaves at night and on weekends. We’ll have to wait and see how that goes.
TTYL,
Linda
A friend just wrote about changing his own brake pads with much success.
He reminded me of another blog friend who says, “You don’t need a mustache to do that.”
It amazes me the things she is willing to tackle and how well she then does them.
Her oldest daughter is now an airline mechanic.
In Hawaii.
Hard to beat that.
TTYL,
Linda
If you sit back and look at the mess your home has become it can be overwhelming. You feel like there’s way too much to do. So, you decide to have another cup of coffee instead.
I suggest you simply do one thing a day to get rid of all that stuff.
Day 1: Create a donation station. Ours is a box in the coat closet. That’s where we put anything that has at least has a little value to it that we want to leave our home.
Day 2: Open your kitchen utensil drawer and gather any duplicate items plus any one use items you don’t really use. Put them in the box.
Day 3: Open your closet and remove anything that still has the tags on it. Put them in the box.
Day 4: Go back to your closet and remove anything that’s stained or torn. Put them in the rag bag or trash. No one else wants to wear them either.
Day 5. Go to your entertainment center and find any games no one ever plays and put them in the box.
Day 6: Go to your desk and throw away any pens that don’t work then decide how many of those left you actually use and put the rest in the box.
Repeat with dresser drawers, kitchen cabinets, book cases, etc.
Be sure the contents of the donation box actually get donated every now and then.
Decluttering does not have to happen quickly. Any progress is good. The load gets lighter every day until one day you realize what an amazing thing you have done.
TTYL,
Linda
That’s what many people say minimalism is about.
You must only buy quality things so they last.
But we are old. How long must things last?
When we needed to buy new furniture in 2012 we bought it all from IKEA.
Our daughter does not want to inherit our furniture even if it was, once again, the good stuff.
So why spend money on it that would be better saved to support our quality of life instead of quality of stuff?
TTYL,
Linda
