Working Wednesday, May 3, 2023

~ Jenny

It’s May. I mean I’m grateful for spring, but that was fast. And now I’m spring cleaning, although it really more death cleaning, cleaning to move, so it’s radical. Not just washing sheets, throwing sheets out. I have my tribe coming on Friday–best friend, daughter, therapist (she volunteered) to help Junk Doctors fill a big truck and leave me lighter and freer. It’s terrifying.

What terrifying work are you doing this week?

96 thoughts on “Working Wednesday, May 3, 2023”

  1. I am doing nothing terrifying. Last week was the dotter’s birthday, so yesterday we went to Home Despot – I mean Depot. I allowed her a small budget for plants, which she only exceeded a bit, less than 50%. I’m going to need to make a post – “Woman at Work III” – with pictures of the trellises and flower beds and fenced-off dog run and all her efforts outside the house. She protests that it isn’t just “Woman at Work,” she has a Significant Otter who is equally responsible for the Grape Outdoors. I know there’s a fancy-schmancy name for outdoor stuff, but it isn’t on the tip of my tongs.

    Yes, there’s grapes growing, too. Included in the arborea from HD were pots of cucumber and jalapeño seedlings, and she has plans for pumpkins. Lots and lots of pumpkins. And of course there’s my hydroponic contributions.

      1. Why pumpkins ? Is she planning to make squash blossom soup? We grow pumpkin and zucchini vines along a fence for that purpose.

        We did once grow them in a pot at the edge of the lawn but they grew at the pace of nearly a foot a day (I am not making this up—I would put a stake at the edge and take a picture and a week later they were nearly 7 feet further across the lawn) and covered most of the back lawn and when they were past the pizza oven and at the compost bin with more nutrients I felt I had to warn the neighbors. We started calling it Audrey 2 after Little Shop of Horrors. We had lots of amazing soup that year but the lawn was destroyed. So now we grow them on a fence. The supply is much smaller but the lawn is safe.

        When I tell this in person I usually use my Anna Russell voice to say “I’m not making this up you know”.

        1. This is so very true. If you plant one pumpkin seed, you will soon have a field of pumpkins and nothing else in the yard. And the leaves themselves are quite huge and softly prickly.

          1. I may have on occasion, described the dotter as just a little bit goth. Certainly, if you looked at the pictures in the Woman at Work posts featuring her interior decorations, you’d have noted a great many skulls and skeletons of creatures great and small. Her favorite color is flat black. How that relates to pumpkins is that Halloween – not Thanksgiving, not Christmas, nor any of the other holidays that you might be given time off for – Halloween is her holiday. Pumpkins are decorations for her holiday. Also for autumn in general.

            She also has squash and zucchini plants. And a peach tree and a pear tree.

            I will pass on the concerns for growth and overgrowth.

          2. Gary, let me know if you also want a squash blossom soup recipe. Tbey are also excellent in scrambled eggs and quesadillas and if you only harvest the males it doesn’t reduce pumpkin production

          4. I bundled these comments up in an email and sent them to the appropriate descendant. I, me, myself am not at all fond of pumpkin-based cuisine. If dotter asks, I will ask. Thank you for the offers.

          5. Squash blossoms taste nothing like pumpkins. Which may disappoint the dotter.

  2. I think death cleaning is an excellent thing.

    I spent a week helping my friend empty her dad’s house. He’d had the house for nearly 60 years. It was very hard work emotionally and physically.

    I am not attached to things and I recycle, donate and get rid of stuff I don’t need on a regular basis but now I am even more determined that when it’s my kids’ turn to empty my house, they won’t have to go through what my friend went through.

    1. That’s one of the many reasons I’m being savage about this. Mollie has no need of most of this stuff, hell, I have no need of most of this stuff, and when I told her she didn’t have to help because she’d been dreading it, she told me that what she’d been dreading was clearing out the house while mourning me; if I was standing there saying, “Throw that out,” she’d enjoy it. I hadn’t thought of it that way.

          2. And the glasses in the new pic have a distinctly Cranky Agnes look to them.

      3. “Clearing out the house while mourning me!” That perfectly describes what I did after my dad died. It would have been fun to do when he was there to tell us stories and memories about the stuff.
        We are finishing the backsplash in the kitchen which is the last major project in the house. Yay!

    2. Our family went through cleaning out a family member’s home after his death and it was so difficult emotionally. We are planning a move in a year and I’m just getting started with offloading so many things. I actually enjoyed having a team of efficient folks come to empty out the first round of things. It was like magic. Pricey magic, but worth the end result.

  3. What was terrifying was arriving home late last night from North Carolina after a triumphant sales pitch (well, we’ll see; it’s all happy talk until someone signs on the bottom line) to my husband who has been throwing up for three days, to my nephew’s girlfriend that lives with us who has been hacking up a lung for five days, to our dog Pixie who has been throwing up and …emitting other indescribable things less suited for a public blog…and I think has swallowed something metallic and is not eating, and to a leak in our living room ceiling under the bathroom. Pixie is the priority so getting her to the vet asap this morning.

    5. I hope everyone is over whatever it is soon, and you get good news from the vet for poor Pixie, and the leak gets easily fixed. Poor pup!

    6. Vet took X-rays and there’s no blockage. He also did a blood test so results tomorrow but says it’s probably a bug or something she ate. Gave her IV fluids, an antibiotic and a stimulant plus special food but she’s not eating anything. Seems perkier though. Anyway, $800 later…wow, I wouldn’t spend that much on fixing my husband’s stomach.

      1. Good news on the X-rays. IV fluids are magic. Thanks for the update.

      3. Glad to hear that! But yikes, any one of those crises would suck, the lot together sounds terrifying.

    7. At least the humans have (probably) not eaten anything that will require a Foreign Body Exploratory. Best wishes for all. Sending you strength vibes.

  4. Had hip replaceement surgery last Thursday and did not have the ‘absolutely painless recovery’ that a few of my friends promised me who have had the procedure done. I’m better now, but nowhere I thought I would be pre-surgery. Everyone (PT, surgeon’s office) telling me I’m right on target but wish I had heard the bad news ahead of time. I would have continued with the surgery, but a little reality/preparation would have been nice.

    3. Your friends told you that rehab from a joint replacement was “absolutely painless”? What drugs were they on and where can I get some?I know 2 people who were so overdue for knee replacements that the relief was profound, but even they had a lot of work in PT to become fully mobile.

  5. My terrifying work was finally ending both my 35 year career as jewelry maker (on top of running the shop, which I quit doing a year ago, and writing, which I expect to continue) and pulling my last things out of The Artisans’ Guild where I’ve been selling them since my friend and I started the shop in October 1999. Truly the end of an era. I donated some of the leftover jewelry to my local animal shelter since they’re having a Mother’s Day craft sale fundraiser this weekend, and the rest will slowly get put up on Etsy. It was hard, but it was time.

    On the good terrifying side, I handed in my next Llewellyn book and as soon as this next round of construction (electrical and redoing the driveway–will take all week) is done, I hope to get back to actually working on a novel.

  6. I just started working on a move to Philadelphia, so I’m joining buy nothing and buy/sell groups to start gathering things for my first solo apartment in a really long time (though I might see if I can get a roommate to keep costs down — another thing to decide). I’m also starting to work on my resume and trying to figure out where small furniture makers post jobs (if anyone has any insight, I’d be much obliged!), and I’ve been looking at apartments on websites just to get a sense of what I’ll be working with. I’ve been alternating between being terrified and being excited because it’s a ton of change, but I really enjoy living on my own and running my own household (I’m currently living with my mom, which I am eternally grateful for, but we both agree it’s time). Scary but exciting.

    1. I might walk in to a local small furniture maker wherever you are and ask them where to look for jobs in Philadelphia. There may be magazines for the trade or something that they would be happy to tell you about.

      1. Thanks! I’m going to reach out to a Philly woodworker who’s a friend of a daughter of a friend of my mom’s and see if he’d be willing to answer some questions about the Philly woodworking scene in general (where to look for jobs, what the payscale is, whereabouts they’re located if they’re focused somewhere, etc.), but it might come to that in the end. My first couple of woodworking jobs were got just by cold emailing woodshops to see if they needed a hand

    2. Nice! My sister is in Philli at Temple. I will ask her if she knows of anyone who does that kind of work.

      1. Much appreciated! That’s one of the areas I’m checking out housing, but it seems like there’s a lot that’s geared specifically towards students (understandable, really)

    3. My nephew took a fine furniture building program at Buck’s County Community College a few years ago. Perhaps they have a placement office that might have some resources you could use.

  7. I’ve been writing for the day job. More census comments , this time for an advisory meeting, and for a grant proposal. My husband snorts when I say I now work part time. I also have been stepping up the work on the commitment ceremonies, and planning more travel . We are going to Santa Barbara in August for my aunt’s (technically my uncle’s ex) 80th birthday party. So now it’s time to book that travel.

    The really fun work has been planting the annuals in the front yard. I have my own idiosyncratic principles for the secret password, which includes overcrowding plants to minimize weeding (I don’t mulch). So that’s a lot of planting. We have a wonderful local garden store, in two locations, which is all organic. Sunday I sent DH out with a strict shopping list for a few more plants but he couldn’t find everything I needed at the closet store, so I went alone to the other one Monday. 80 more plants now await planting, and that doesn’t include the zinnias and nasturtiums that I will plant from seed.

    The other thing I did recently was order a Croquembouche. This is taste testing for the August party. Daughter doesn’t particularly want a wedding cake, and instead we are ordering cannoli and tiramisu to honor her Italian heritage. Then I learned that a local baker makes croquembouche which I have always wanted to try, and which is traditionally a wedding cake. It’s not really part of our heritage (I do have French cousins) but it would be so much fun. So we are trying a small one to celebrate my and DD birthdays in May. If it tastes as fun as it looks, it goes on the menu.

    And I have made plans to see two sets of friends that we haven’t seen in a while. Between health challenges and my job change I realized we haven’t seen several good friends in a while so I’m trying to fix that.

      1. I think we could all figure that out. No worries, Debbie. I was going to mulch a patch of dirt, but then I saw the bunnies and birdies wallowing in it. It’s their spa! So I’m leaving it, for now. It may help them rid themselves of fleas, and probably eases the itching from moulting. The bunnies’ fur looks awful, right now, but it will improve as the moulting process goes on.

  8. You’re moving, Jenny? How did I miss this? I mean I’ve been knee-deep in life over here but still, you’d think I’d pick up on that!! Where are you going?

    2. I don’t see how you missed it, Kate, I’ve been bitching about it for months.
      Moving to PA, near my dear friend, Pat Gaffney and civilization. It’s time.

      1. What time, specifically? I mean, do you have a moving date? During which we won’t expect to hear from you and will think good thoughts on your behalf?

  9. My terrifying work was seeing my PCP, at last, and finding out that, even in her office, my BP was entirely acceptable. It usually spikes a bit there, due to the BP cuff phobia. She said my usual pulse was low enough that it would bottom out with a Beta Blocker, so she prescribed a different anti-anxiety med for my cataract surgeries. “Bottom out” is an interesting term for near death! She wrote a letter to the cataract surgeon explaining that I have “White Coat Syndrome, without hypertension”, and what she had prescribed. I then rescheduled those surgeries, and rescheduled my new crown appointments. The med will probably make me sleepy, and it lasts for 4-6 hours. She wants me to try it out while I’m in the presence of my son, so I’ll try to spend an afternoon in his house while he works at home. By mid-June, I should be able to see well, and chew well!

    1. My mother recently went through a pair of cataract surgeries and I am not entirely certain which *type* of surgery but seems to have been a lens implant sort of thing?? In any case the goal was to achieve complete removal of cataracts *and* vision correction. It’s been a week since Eye 2 and she says she can see without her glasses (including reading) though not with perfect clarity yet. She has astigmatism which is expected to require corrective lenses, but they’re not re-assessing until the eyes are healed, i.e. 4-6 weeks. She has also reported transient blurriness, transient visual ‘fog,’ transient sensation of pulling in one eye. As to the procedures themselves, she reported very low stress as much care was taken. The biggest difficulty she had was with cold exam rooms. One nurse, perhaps more attentive to older patients, had a heat wrap for Mom’s arm on a day when a blood draw was required, which helped enormously with ‘finding’ a vein in her skinny little arms.

      Best wishes for trouble-free procedures and perfect results for you!

      1. Why not a whole-body heat wrap? says this perpetually cold but not skinny old lady.

      2. Thanks for your best wishes and the descriptions of post operative effects. Yes, they make a very small cut (shiver) in the eye and use a laser to break up the cataract. Then they use a teeny tiny vacuum to remove it, and insert a folded lens, which comes open inside the eye in the pocket where the cataract was. It should go well. The anti-anxiety pills I got have one small side effect: possible sudden death from improper heart rhythm.😱 I hope that’s only for people who already have heart problems. These things are such a gamble! They do keep operating theaters very chilly, for some reason.

      3. Cataract surgery involves removing the natural lens in the eye, which has become obscured by the cataract, and replacing it with an artificial one. This is fixed focus (a natural lens changes shape as you focus near or far), and so you have to choose what correction to have – usually for distance. (There are bifocal options, and maybe other sophisticated ones – I’m just keeping it simple.)

    2. Jan, I too have the dreaded BP cuff phobia. Years ago when doctors took blood pressure via a manual BP cuff it wasn’t so bad but when they changed to the automatic one, I freaked. Once, when I was in hospital, the nurses kept trying to take my BP and my panic attacks got worse and worse until eventually I stopped breathing. Had to have my heart re-started again. Some doctors in the past have treated me like I’m a drama queen. I’m far from it! Anyway, after reading your message all I can say is, I feel for you and hope the meds work.

  10. Woof, Still setting up SM for the release this summer. Nothing like flogging oneself mercilessly to a bunch of strangers to make one feel insignificant. Although it’s actually going ok. Weirdly. If I continue gaining people at the same rate, I should have at least 1k IG Bookstagram followers, which should really help with ARC distro. Have only just set up FB and GR. Twitter tomorrow. Patreon for the ndp once I’ve got a cover and some interior graphics. It’s a lot, and I finally am understanding why so many people don’t set this stuff up before the pub. Or even for a year or more afterwards.😓

    Jenny, good on you for cleaning out early. I spent 6 months cleaning out my grandparents’ home, and gosh it was sapping. It took me about a year to fully recover.

  11. It’s Tony n’ Tina Tech Week. Show runs Friday. I’m doing two songs, dance numbers, etc. Actual work itself is a lot of drama and hell.

  12. Gardening, weeding, seedlings about to break forth, building a raised veg garden bed, replacing the soil in the containers, etc., etc., and bought two plants for the balcony which has a third of the railing up. H takes his time, the job done to measure and level and solid. Engineered to perfection. Morning coffee and toast in the sun, yeah. Usually take granddaughters to the garden shop. Interesting picks, usually by colour.

  13. This week’s ‘work’ (outside Day Job) was dealing with various recordkeeping updates, paying bills, and making some decisions about things to do or not do in the long lead-up to expected cross-country move.
    Also finished Chapter 5 of the new novel.
    Also accidentally did three more hours of yardkeeping last weekend because conditions were ideal. Then it had to go and rain again, so I’ll have to cut the @&%$#! hell strip again soon.

  14. Jenny, your therapist volunteered? Are you going to kidnap her and take her with you when you move?

    1. My therapist and I have a very close relationship (g). I think she just wants to be here in case I melt down, or possibly to see Krissie and Mollie again, they’ve both come to therapy sessions with me. It’s more of a party thing.

      1. Gosh, that’s a nice reminder that therapists are people too. 🙂 I think the idea of a therapist is kind of distant and evaluative, whereas the actual therapists I’ve met are not that way at all.

        1. Her favorite thing is when I say, “Fuck you, Jamie” because she hits too close. I had a T-shirt made with that on it, but then Covid hit and we started meeting on Zoom so I just showed it to her. I figure I’ll eventually put a pillow in it so she can put it on her couch so that people who are stressed can just pick it up and show it to her.

          2. I made my voice teacher (and best friend) a pillow that said,”Fuck Them If They Can’t Take a Joke” , but he had to turn it backward whenever his high school student and her mother came for a lesson. I think I may have to make one for myself if my arthritic thumbs will cooperate.

  15. I am trying to figure out 4th of July crafts and decor that I don’t hate. Now that I have the consignment booth, I feel the need to make things for the seasons. I’m not much of a primitive person, and I don’t want to tap into the elements of nationalism that head toward the extreme. Even Martha Stewart doesn’t seem to have much for that holiday in her old magazines…

    1. How about the image of sparklers? Fun, very visual, and linked with 4th July temporally but not necessarily.

  16. Finished post-production on four Zoom video interviews for Book Bale, the small press/indie partnership launching in June. One was a bear. Had to re-record and splice all my questions to fix bad lighting. Took days to match the original and figure out how to overlay visuals so as not to lose anything important. Now I’m working on sample intros and outros for the owner entrepreneur and his lead creative.
    Meanwhile, I’m prepping for the release of “Siren Bridge” from Falstaff Books on May 25. It’s complicated. This is the comic fantasy western novella that was pulled in November, because it went to pre-order with the wrong cover. Now Amazon thinks its already been released, and the publisher is kind of distracted. He’s one of the writers for Shingles, The Movie, a low budget comedy horror film just released on Amazon Prime.
    When I can, I’m running off to the local coffee shop to spend a couple hours pounding out the first draft of the sequel, Sawbone Farm. That’s unquestionably the fun bit, though I confess, I’m looking forward to watching Shingles too. I know a third of the writers and one of the producers. They’re wonderful goofs.

  17. I’ve been doing lots of sowing & planting, and trying to protect everything from slugs and birds. Also loads of editing of old research projects. I’m nearly done, though remembered some Word files I need to incorporate.

    So more editing this next week – should get back to updating my manual for digital imaging. More gardening between showers. And I’m hoping to make a treasure map if it’s wet on the coronation weekend; if it’s fine, I hope to go exploring with my camera.

  18. I’m writing my MFA thesis, due on Monday. (Ahhh!!!) It’s about where romance writers learn their craft knowledge. I already interviewed some amazing romance authors (thank you, Jenny!!) so now I’m shaping it all into a paper.

    I’m also surveying romance writers on how/ where they’ve learned to write romance, so if any of you would like to answer a 12 question multiple choice survey, the link is here: https://forms.gle/dqwEsdxkV1NN3p3i8.

  19. Good luck with the move. How many things have you found that you thought you’d got rid of years ago?

    I’m trying to finish a crochet blanket. My neighbour loves the pattern and colours, so I might make her one too.

    1. I’ve found a lot of things that I’d forgotten. Not so much that I thought I’d gotten rid of. Generally, I just get rid of things.

  20. Been working on The Weeds and am down to really once section of the yard left, which is fortunately in the shade since it’s 90F again today. Also got the garden planted over the weekend (hooray) and just have pumpkin starts left to get in the ground. Or in the straw bale, I’m doing some that way to see how it goes. I like the idea of a fall display that grows itself.

    Tomorrow it rains so I am going to put my feet up and read. But hey the garden is looking great and I have a summer of fresh produce to look forward to.

  21. I’m walking around the yard looking at flower beds, I wrapped up some poppy seeds damp paper towels to sit in the fridge for a month to stratify, a term that is new to me. By some I mean several thousand, since I bought the big bag, a whole ounce! I scattered some wild flower seeds, with sand a some soil, so I feel I have finally made that step. Of course, nothing may happen.

    Talked with the Home Depot guy for an hour figuring out some new shade for our southeastern-facing windows, we need more insulation from the sun in the summer. We’ll see if they fit, fingers crossed.

  22. I’ve got to mow the lawn (wildflower/weed patch) again. If it dries out enough. The growth is terrifying.

    Also take and write minutes for this evening’s board meeting. It’ll either be a terrifying meeting or a slog.

    Does anyone feel lighter getting rid of stuff? I’ve felt that way when I’ve removed a lot of stuff from the premises. (I need to feel that way again.)

    1. Every time I’ve embarked on a serious decluttering project it’s because the Stuff was literally oppressive. A mental and emotional weight. Getting rid of it – when I’m ready – feels good.

  23. I’m at the cataract doctor’s office right now so I’m working on waiting patiently. They did tell me that he was super booked up today so it’s not a surprise.

  24. I’m just working vicariously by appreciating all the work everyone else is doing, while I’m not doing anything. Okay, I’m slogging along, but I’m at the point in the manuscript where it feels like I write a million words (slight exaggeration), and I’m still stuck in the middle.

    I seem to be coming out of the winter doldrums though (I like cold weather, but not the lack of sunshine), and finally layered/basted two baby/lap quilts that I meant to finish in January. Still need to quilt and bind them and make another one for a baby due next month (the basted ones are for a baby born this past December and something else yet to be determined).

    And I got paint chips to decide on the color to paint my kitchen cabinets, and picked the one I want, so now I need to actually get the paint. And find someone to unscrew the doors that I can’t reach (which is all of them). And do the prep work. And do actual painting. Soon-ish.

  25. I’m working this week from Daytona Beach – I mean really, the hotel is right on the sand. It was nice to walk along it the first night, and last night we saw dolphins cavorting along the shore. Of course, most of the day is inside, wearing a sweater to defeat the aggressive air conditioning. I keep thinking about Tammy’s comment about the weaponized AC! I know that it is harder to cool a hot building, and easier to just keep things cooler to combat the heat, but I’m glad I brought that sweater!

    Last week I sent the baby blanket off to my niece and got the most adorable photo of her baby wrapped up in it! What a wonderful trade!

    I’ll go home tomorrow and get back to my usual life!

  27. Husband arrived in Tanzania early this morning so I have the house to myself for three weeks, which should allow me to get at the windows that I haven’t washed yet without having to move him first. (He has a perfectly good office, but prefers to work from a chair in the family room.)

    It has been chilly and rainy the last week and half which has delayed ouside window washing, and planting. Plan for the rest of this week is windows, herb garden in deck railing boxes and a small amount of mulching. Plan for the following two weeks are more gardening and mulching (assuming that weather cooperates) and priming and getting a start on painting the porch railings the were replaced back in March!

  28. Think I might have a breakthrough. For the last three months I’ve been trying to write my way into my next book (I’m a dyed in the wool pantser) but it wasn’t working. Wrote chapter 1 and three different versions of chapter 2, but none of them worked. Dead end. Usually I get half an idea, a fully formed protagonist and off I go. For some reason, this time, it’s not working. However, last night, while tossing and turning in bed, I came up with a glimmer of an idea. Now to sit down and write a 4th version of chapter 2 🙂

  29. I went back to see the new eye doctor for a second round of tests. I also got to ask him some follow up questions about his previous remarks regarding sunscreen that had been bothering me all week. I wasn’t supposed to meet with him today, but he heard me asking the techs for explanations and made time to explain himself further. The good news is that I no longer think he is the crackpot I thought him last week after he told me that switching to organic sunscreen (if I insisted on using it at all!) would solve all my problems and I should buy that at Whole Paycheck or Amazon. The bad news is that it may take a long period of trial and error with swapping or discontinuing every thing I use in my eyes or on my face to figure out what is causing the irritation. An optometrist I like and respect recommended this guy and prior to today’s conversation, I was having a lot of difficulty seeing why.

    1. FWIW, check anything you’re using around your eyes for retinol and its derivatives. Speaking from experience here. About three years ago, my eyelids started itching and burning and turning red. The only thing I could apply to the area was plain Vaseline or mineral oil. Initially, I thought it was a forced change in my contact lens solution. (My beloved Lobob Optimum stopped production in 2019, but I had stocked up when Rite-Aid closed, so I didn’t run out until 2020.) I hadn’t changed any of the products I’d been using on my face or around my eyes for decades. It couldn’t be that!

      It was. Specifically, it was the eye serum. Apparently, once age thins your skin to a certain point, the skin starts reacting badly to retinol and similar products. My eyelids had simply reached that stage and wanted no more of it. I switched my brand (I now use Tatcha’s Silk Peony, but everybody’s mileage is different) and it’s been fine ever since. Didn’t need to change any other products.

      So that’s where I’d start. Check everything you’re using around your eyes. If you can handle it, try lubricating the skin in your eye sockets with Vaseline for three days. If that tames the irritation, read the labels of the relevant products in your local drug store or talk to the staff at one of the big make-up stores or the beauty counters at a local department store. They frequently know more about skin sensitivities than the doctors who are supposed to treat them.

  30. I helped my partner clear out a bunch of his parents’ stuff. He moved into their house when their health got bad and the stuff had been sitting in a spare room for years since. We both felt lighter afterwards.

    And last night I worked out how to paint a bush-clad hill. I’m very pleased, especially because my first try looked awful and I sat there and whimpered at the canvas and thought “I can’t dooooo this”. And then I did this.

    But the terrifying work this week was moving my mortgage to a new bank, where I got the deadline wrong and had to organise the legal side of things to happen in about half the time it normally takes. There was a freaky couple of days when I thought it might not be possible – and missing the deadline would’ve cost about $9000. But the bank was helpful and I found a very obliging lawyer who got everything sorted in a rush, so it worked. That lawyer’s a keeper.

Comments are closed.