Old Stuff

 Not much done today. I took Tim's spring gobbler from the freezer, and fixed that today. The leftovers are simmering gently away in a roaster over night to be turkey and gravy hot sandwiches tomorrow. The left overs from that will be made into a turkey pot pie and we will hopefully be done with that turkey. 

I worked on my plants. I vacuumed. Put laundry away. Dishes and kitchen and just stuff. 

I also did some very painful Market Place stuff. Broke my heart a little to do it. The renovation is a 100 year old house. There had been a large hole in the roof and so the weather had gotten in and destroyed the rafters in the attic, and then continued down to destroy the bathroom. From there, the water worked its way into the kitchen directly below. We gutted the bathroom and the kitchen right down to the studs to assess the damage, and after substantial structural repair and a new roof, we are ready to think about how we will be putting those rooms back together. 

One wall of the kitchen had a gorgeous to-the-ceiling cupboard. We discussed that for quite some time. First we toyed around with getting cupboards that would blend with that piece. However, the kitchen is small, and a kitchen will sell a house. It will also be a dealbreaker. 

You can make a small kitchen functional. We've done that before. But this cupboard. It was shallow, only about 9 inches deep. It had no counter space. It was beautiful, but when counter space is at a premium, that beautiful thing quickly became something that we were struggling to work around. It took up the entire wall. We toyed with removing the doors and having new bases made, but the doors were odd sized and the height was wrong. And do you know how much it costs to have bases custom made? (Answer: Lots. Lots and lots!)

On top of everything else, we pulled the cabinet away from the wall. It had no left side. It had no back. It was just built right up against the walls, which was sometimes how things were done back in the day. So it sat there while we tried in vain to figure out how to incorporate it into the house. 

We gave up. So I put the doors on Market Place, offering them up for free, and it was a heart breaker, because I truly do love those doors. So did Tim. The very first response we received was from a woman who flips furniture, painting things, making fancy pieces, and she makes a good living at it. I don't begrudge her that, but as silly as it sounds, I wanted my homely doors not to be repurposed so much as given a chance to be used just as they had been used all along. 

Another woman said, "I love these. I will figure out something to do with them."

A third woman said, "Are these still available?" I sent her a private message. "It sounds very stupid, but what are you going to do with the doors?" And she said, "I have an old work shed that we are fixing up, and these would look perfect..."  I messaged back, "They're yours." It makes me feel a bit better about getting rid of them, knowing that they will continue being functional cabinets in an old building, maybe even for another hundred years.

Tim went out hunting today. While I was in the shower, I saw I had a voice mail and his irritated voice said, "I'm not leaving a message. Call me." 

So I did.

My call went to his voice mail. 

I texted. "Hey...I think you forgot to take your phone off of do not disturb after church on Sunday. I'm trying to call." He does this pretty much every week. 

Nothing.

I figured he was busy. Maybe he got a deer. Maybe he needed me to bring him lunch. I didn't have a clue. 

And it irked me. 

He finally got home, and he was grumpy because he hadn't seen anything. He was probably hungry too. I said, "I tried to call you back. I couldn't get through. Check your phone to see if it still set to 'Do Not Disturb'. He said, "I checked. I didn't see any calls from you."

Sigh.

"Check again, because I called." 

He took his grumpy self off to be grumpy. I continued on with supper. Later tonight, he was once again, complaining about a problem with his phone. I said, "Give it here." I fixed his problem. I also noticed my phone calls to him listed there just as plain as day, and so I checked his settings.  Sure enough, he still hadn't taken his phone off Do Not Disturb. 

I thought of us. He's forgetful. I've got a cataract. Both have ears that don't work as well as they used to, and I'm gimping around on a knee that needs surgery, but am trying to hold off because we're still paying off his medical bills. I don't drive at night these days... and....and suddenly, without warning, I just felt very old indeed. 67 isn't old. My gosh. And then there were big old tears rolling down my face, because suddenly, it occurred to me that maybe I'd gotten old without noticing. 

I'm sitting here in my dark and quiet office and I'm not quite sure what I feel tonight.