Just the Facts

Going to my son's house was a nice little mini-vacation. I had to cut it short by a day because I had a pre-op appointment sprung on me, but at this point, I really want nothing more than to get this knee taken care of, so I simply returned a day early.

I got there Thursday, and the youngest girl was so excited to see me. The first thing she wanted to do was to show me her bedroom. She has made the move from a crib to a regular bed. Plus...there is a fish named Lucy sharing the room and this is something that I needed to see right away. Her vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds since I saw her last, and that part is fun too, holding actual conversations with her. 

I met the oldest girl at the bus, and there was joyous shouts of "Grandma!!!!" and wide flung arms. 

The guest room is new too. It used to be the nursery, but now that 'baby' has moved down the hall, to the room directly across from her sister's room, which is where the old guest room used to be. New paint, new furniture, new art on the walls, new bedding and curtains. I was the first guest to use it, and it was a very comfortable room.

The competition was a long day, but fun, and another gold medal came home. She thinks that she is rich. 

The following day was too short, but I was on the road by noon. It was a windy day, and the trip was exhausting. Truck traffic was heavy and the wind was causing the trailers to veer. I hate that. I got home by six and was in bed by nine. 

The pre-op stuff went well. I have a knee replacement 'what to expect' meeting on the 8th, six days before the surgery. 

It was a beautiful day today. I spent the afternoon in the sun planting flowers at the new house. The cats meet us at the house now that the weather is nice. Spaying is in their near future. 

Tim got the bathroom ceiling painted, we got the paint for the walls. He decided against the darker wall color and we went with a lighter gray. Compromise is everything. 

Home again, home again. Stir fry for supper, 

Our local news had a reporter who was one of 100 reporters invited to tRUMP's first hundred days press conference. It was easy to see why. He interviewed Marjorie Taylor Greene to get her take on tariffs and the 'under represented people of Pennsylvania'. He talked about 'illegals'. He was enthusiastic. There was one side to all this controversy as far as I could tell. 

Meanwhile, the tariffs have resulted in a 49% drop in Chinese imports alone. This is expected to have a ripple effect. Layoffs at the docks, followed by layoffs for long haul truckers. They are predicting COVID level shortages on store shelves by the end of May. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/economics/product-shortages-empty-store-shelves-loom-falling-shipments-china-rcna202812

All properties in our county are being reappraised for tax purposes. We got our first appraisal back. They have determined the property value has increased seven-fold, which is crazy. This is an 1104 square foot house, two bedrooms, one bath. The average price for houses here is $87 a square foot. This is not a luxury house by any means. $138.000 is crazy. 

So that was today. Still burned out.

Yet another customer service adventure.

We have the grinder pump ready to go. Tim has to pick up 50 feet of 3-12 wire...or is it 12-3 wire? Once that's hooked up to the breaker box, our drains are ready to go. The water has been hooked up for some time now, but it has not been turned on in the house. Tim did not water coming in until there was a way for it to drain out. 

We're going great guns on the bathroom. We have gray tile for the floor and I finished putting it down today. The tile for the shower is 12 x 24 large ceramic tile that is lightly veined in gray, like marble (but it is not). The only thing that we need to buy at this point is the white beadboard for the bottom half of the wall and a quart of dark gray paint for the upper wall. The picture is not our bathroom, but just an picture shamelessly stolen to give you an idea of the look. 

We bought a MOEN shower/tub assembly. Tim opened the box to install it. Much to his surprise there were no instructions. I went online to their website. It asked for the model number, which I put in. I received a 404 message. Thinking that I had typed something wrong, I verified the number, typed it in again, and got the same message. Page not found. 

Looking around on line, I discovered that I was not the only one with the issue. So...I called the help line. 

Predictably, all their operators were busy.

They gave the option of holding (approximate wait time was given as 4 minutes) or leaving a number for call back. 4 minutes did not seem bad, so I continued to hold. After 5 minutes, I received another message, giving me the option of holding (approximate wait time: still 4 minutes) or leaving a number for call back. I left my number. 1 hour and 22 minutes later, I hadn't gotten the promised call back. I went on their website and filled out a form. Model number. no instructions, can't access instructions on line, please advise. But when I hit send, it gave me a message. I needed to include a picture of the item. Since I was in the car, and the faucet was on the kitchen counter, I had to wait a few minutes, but as soon as we got back to the house, I took a picture. Before I could hit send, everything was lost. Just disappeared.

Tim said disgustedly, "Forget it. We are returning it." 

Because I am a stubborn woman, I tried their customer service line once more. There was a one minute wait this time, and so I waited. My call was answered. I explained the problem. 

"No," she said. "We do not include instructions in our products anymore. They are available on line."

"But I keep getting the 404 page not found response," I explained. "We're putting a bathroom together, and I just really want the instructions...that's all we need."

She asked for the model number. I gave it to her. She asked when it was bought. 

"Last week, at Lowe's," I said. 

"Do you have proof of that?"

I was a bit flabbergasted. This was an expensive faucet. It was not a clearance item. They had the item set up as part of a display on the way, and Tim had selected it from the display. It was one of several of the boxed items on the shelf.  

She jumped on my hesitation. "Do you have a receipt?" 

"Of course we have a receipt," I answered, and I was starting to get irritated. "Do I have the receipt with me right now? No. But this is a faucet purchased last week from Lowes!" 

She got irritated right back. "I'm trying to help you and I am trying to determine if the item is under warranty." 

I said, "I am not calling about a warranty. I am calling about instructions." 

She made some spluttery noises, and I said, "You know what? Forget it. We'll return the item to the store. I'm done here." 

And I was. 

I got an e-mail which included instructions along with the disclaimer "While these instructions are not for the assembly that you have, you can use them for your product." Except they didn't answer Tim's questions about our installation.

I replied to the e-mail, stating that the product was being returned and that we would never buy a MOEN product again. 

The reply came quickly: they offered us 75% off our next MOEN product. 

Yeesh. Marked as spam and deleted.

I'm all packed and ready to get up early tomorrow. I'm headed east for 4 days with my son and his family. I had to cut a day off the end of it, because of an unexpected appointment with the orthopedic surgeon, but I'm looking forward to this more than I can say. 

Good night!

My town: 

The Allegheny River is running pretty high. 

When we move, the town nearest to us has a post office and a church. Not sure how many people live in the town, but the population of the township is 450 people. 

What's Shaking?

 It has been an aggravating bunch of days. The new washer we installed was 'walking'. Vibrating itself right out of its place. We have never had a washer do that before. We thought we had the problem fixed by putting a rubber vibration absorbing mat underneath it. We were in a hurry, things to do, places to be, holiday weekend, etc, and then we received a phone call the next morning that the door wouldn't open. A mechanical issue on top of everything else?!!!! It was a brand new $1800 washer! 

So...although we were headed out of town, we turned around and went back to her house to assess the situation. 

The part that wasn't relayed in the telling of the story is that the door wouldn't open because the damned thing had 'walked' once again, and pinned the front of itself against a door molding. 

We simply didn't have time to trouble shoot it and spend a day working on it, so I said, "We're going to have to do this after the holiday. Can you do without a washer over the weekend, while we figure out what we're going to do next?" 

She said that she could. 

That thing has been hanging over our heads all weekend. We've installed many washers in many places, and we've never had this.

Today is Tim's birthday. He wanted to go have lunch at his favorite little restaurant in Pleasantville. They are only open until 2, but we had that darned washer to figure out and a carload of tools, since he wasn't sure what we would actually need to solve this problem, if we could even solve it at all. 

My guess was that it was not level. It's a front loader which we have not got a lot of experience with. Maybe they are fussier than top loaders. Tim was reading up on it while I was getting ready to go this morning. He said, "They say that there are four packing bolts that have to be removed. If they are not removed, it will cause a serious vibration." 

Now...surely it could not be that easy...

But...I am happy to say that it was. He sat down with the owners manual, read where they would be found, climbed back there to have a look, and lo...there they were. He removed them, Deb tossed her weekend of laundry in and we started up the machine. This time, we waited. We sat right there and watched it through the whole cycle until it began to spin. 

Smooth as silk. 

If we said it once today, we've said it a dozen times..."Oh, I'm so glad that washer is figured out..." and we are. Best birthday present ever! It was sorted out so quickly that we met up with my sister and brother in law and had lunch out. We ran to the Mennonite Grocery and picked up a few things, and then came home. 

It's been a quiet night. Tomorrow, we'll hit the road running once again. We're putting the bathroom together, which is exciting. The Township employee is coming to put the electronics back in the grinder pump for the sewage system (each property has its own grinder and pump which pushes everything into the main line). Since our property sat vacant for some years, the electronics were removed and will be replaced Wednesday morning. We will be able to hook our drains into the system. Yay!

Tim has this crazy idea that we can get the bathroom done before my knee replacement, and I can recuperate there. I don't know if all that can happen before the 14th of May, but we'll see. We've got all the stuff to get it done. 

It would be nice. 

You know what else is nice? We've got a ten day forecast and no snow predicted! 

Our Easter was nice too. I hope yours was as well.

Good Friday

 We headed up to Levi's to buy some lumber to finish Tim's shed for "that which is of vital importance and cannot be gotten rid of. And furthermore, it can't be stored in the garage because...just because". 

We started out of town and the new washer we installed yesterday had a door that would not open. So. We turned around and went back. 

We got that sorted. 

We turned around and headed back into town, but there was a big sale going on at one of the historic houses going out of town, and Tim saw a cabinet that might work in the basement for small things"That are of vital importance and cannot be gotten rid of. And furthermore, it can't be stored in the garage because...just because."

It turned out that the cabinet would not work because it did not have shelves.

Luckily, it was not a wasted trip...he found a turkey hunting vest that came with a free hat. He also found a ceramic coated cast iron skillet that I did not want but he did. 

I wandered off, looking and did not see anything that I really wanted. There was a lot of art, and there was a painting of the Battle of Bunker Hill/the Death of General Warren, which, of course, is the man our town is named for. I played his grieving mother at a historical presentation once. 

But while the house we live in now is grand enough to pull off a print like this in an ornate frame, it would probably look kind of silly in our rustic little cabin. Plus it was $75. Those two things. 

There was a lot of gorgeous furniture, but I went right on by. Because I know I've got gorgeous furniture to get rid of. 

And while I was being so sensible, I walked past table after table of interesting things, and I noticed this tote which contained a 12 place setting of these. And I told myself quite firmly that I needed dishes like I needed a swift kick in the pants. But I couldn't help noticing that they matched the kitchen. They were marked $5 for all, which I was sure could not possibly be correct.

While I was staring at them, having a very sensible conversation with myself, Tim walked up with his turkey vest and the ceramic coated cast iron skillet which I had specifically said that I did not want, since I have a nice cast iron skillet (albeit without the ceramic, which was  orange, which did not match with the kitchen anyways). He said, "I think this skillet is from Belgium." 

He said, "What? Did you want those dishes?" 

I said, "They are pretty. They do match with the kitchen, but no, we don't need them. I'm sure that $5 means does not mean the whole box," but just that quick, Tim said, "Let me ask." 

The man who was not in charge scurried off to ask the woman who was in charge, and came back to say, "Yes. My wife says that is the price for all of it," and so it was done. 

Tim said, as we were driving away, "The tote will come in handy and the dishes will look quite nice with your new silverware," (which I also needed like I needed a kick in the pants, but that didn't stop me then, either.)

I'm not sure what is happening to me, people. 

We got to Levi's only to discover that the sawmill was closed. It was Good Friday. I'm sure he thinks we are heathens. 

I spent a couple hours digging in the dirt and planting bulbs for next spring. Crocus, grape hyacinth, daffodils, tulips and iris. I know that they are usually planted in fall but according to the advertising, it said that I could plant them as soon as the danger of frost was over in the spring. So. I guess that means that they establish over the summer. I don't know, but it will be a good experiment. 

We worked on Tim's shed for a while, but then it began to rain. 

We put everything away and headed for home. The rain stopped by the time that we pulled into town. Natch. 

We had a return to post and after the post office, we stopped in at Lowe's because Tim wanted to price shower/bathtub controls. He knew what he wanted. He'd seen them in Titusville, but wanted to compare the price. "We won't buy it until Wednesday though," he said. We have property taxes to pay next week.

While he was looking, I was looking too, and I shouldn't have been, but I found columbine plants on clearance for $4 each, and it reminded me of Weaver and how she loved her aquilegia. I stood looking at them. Tim found what he wanted, and decided to use the Lowe's card, which would delay the payment until after the taxes were paid. I said, "Well...if we're going to do that...," and grabbed two columbines and two salvia plants. 

I can't wait to go back up and dig in the dirt some more. This day made me very happy. At least for the next week, temperatures are supposed to remain warm. 

Senator Van Hollen's trip to El Salvador was very encouraging. His press conference was very plain spoken. We need plain speakers right now. He says that more senators will be headed to El Salvador. 

Senator Murkowski is saying it out loud too. 

I am encouraged that people like Jerome Powell are speaking up. Public Health groups are speaking out, calling for RFK Jr. resignation. Some officials in that department have left rather than violate their own ethics. People are speaking out. 

So must we. 

Who's a good boy?

Let's have a nice story today: 

Not My Day

 So...I had to get a new picture for my driver's license, and so I did. My wallet was in another vehicle, and we were headed out, and so I put it in a safe place intending to put it in my wallet once it was retrieved from the other vehicle. 

Yeah. I know.

It will turn up. 

Today has been a frustrating day. A washer in a tenant's house needed to be replaced. It is a small house. She is a person with small decorative touches EVERYWHERE. The good news is that nothing was broken. The bad news is that the new washer doesn't fit in the space that the old washer fit into. 

In the process of trying to make this happen, I got my fingers smashed but good. Interesting phrase. Did you ever stop to think about it? It was not good. I almost cried. 

It sleeted and rained through out the day. Seemed to rain the very worst when I was out in it. 

Tomorrow we have snow in the forecast. We also have 'plan b' for the washer.

Compromising

 I really do want to be clear that my 'dilemma' for lack of a better term, was not whether I should replace the knobs. I knew that eventually I would replace them. It is just something that I did not need to do right now, not really. 

But the beige didn't match, and that bugged me. Everything else was so perfect...but the knobs did not match. 

And it was stupid, because when Tim and I married, I lived in a house with a kitchen that was functional. It was always something that we wanted to do, but we had five kids between us and Tim felt very strongly that kids needed to go to college, or at least some sort of vocational school, and so that was the priority. 

Tim is a machinist. a precision machinist. That was a pretty secure job until Reagan's NAFTA sent those jobs overseas to be done by other machinists in other countries who would do the job for a fraction of the cost. (Think Mexico or Eastern European countries). That began a long period of layoffs for him. At one point, he was laid off from 3 different machinist jobs in one year. 

So...yeah...the kitchen took a back seat. Keeping a roof over our heads, raising kids, cutting firewood. Those were hard working years, but we did okay. We both kind of saw the writing on the wall, and managed to get our house paid off before things went entirely to hell. 

And in his frustration, Tim said, "I will never depend on a company for my living again." 

And that's when he got into buying fixer-uppers.

We moved into town probably about 2010 or  '11, and we live in a hundred year old house. And it is a nice old house. Don't get me wrong, it needs spruced up outside, but it's a gorgeous place on the inside with all the quirks of an old house. No closets for one thing. Doors on every room. The kitchen needed updating too. Old cabinets. Limited electrical outlets. A design that probably was just fine a hundred years ago, but today...well...it just doesn't work. Tim talked about a new kitchen...but...well...it didn't happen, and I didn't push, but we made an awful lot of nice kitchens for tenants and for home buyers. 

So...it's worked for us, and now we are building our own house. We've been collecting things for the new house for a long time, and now, at last, all those pipe dreams are coming to life before our delighted eyes. 

After 27 years, I have a new kitchen. Well. Pretty much new. The cupboards are reclaimed from someone else's tragedy. A tornado dropped three trees on his house and since he never liked the lay out of his kitchen, he decided to use the insurance money to fix the house and to build his own dream kitchen. We got his old cabinets for $500. 

(He left the knobs on the doors and drawers.) 

But yeah. I scrubbed all those cupboards out and they look good as new. We had an Amish carpenter build the sink cupboard to match the existing cupboards and it does. The appliances are new. The design is my own. We picked our color and our countertop. We have a antique butcher block to move inside the house when the ground is dry enough to let the tractor close enough to bring it through the sliding doors. Looks something like this: It will be my kitchen island. 

Guess What? Ellie K's comment reminded me! She told me the story about her butcher block before, and it triggered my memory that I'd written about my butcher block 5 years ago, when I got it. An old very popular restaurant had closed in 1996 after a family tragedy. After the owner died, the contents were sold. I stood in line with over a hundred people. I wasn't even sure that I would get in on the first wave of people, but I did. I went straight to this table, picked up the tag and went straight to the cashier and bought it. I got in at 9:15 and I was on my way home at 9:45. It was so very crowded, and it was in the early days of covid when no one was quite sure what we were dealing with. The crowds made me nervous. This is our butcher block though. I'd forgotten that I wrote about it, let alone had a picture. It has been standing patiently down at the old house, carefully wrapped and waiting for us to get around to building that darn house we'd been talking about. 

Above it will hang another auction find: 

Once the windows are trimmed and my shelves up, and the microwave bought for in the corner, the kitchen will be pretty much done. 

And then we'll be putting the bathroom together. 

All this to say, with all we have to do, I felt very silly about wanting new knobs for the cupboards. I mean, I'm a very lucky woman, and we've got a lot to do. 

But they didn't match, and it was just one of those things. One of those ridiculous things. It is surely something that I could have done at some point in the future. There was no need to do it now. None. 

It was Mary Moon's comment with a link to some gorgeous knobs that got me doing some internet looking. I looked at stainless steel ones. I just felt like they needed to be more organic, if that makes sense. I mean, I spent hours looking. I found some beautiful ones that I wanted something awful, but they were almost $5 a piece. 

In the end, what I came up with was a compromise. I got these. For $30, I got 35 of them, and the important thing is that they match. I'm not going to be groaning to myself every time I look at that kitchen. They match. They'll work. They will keep me happy until such a time as I don't feel guilty about replacing them if I still want to. 

I spent this morning putting up the brushed nickel trim around the ceramic tile. Tim picked it out, but he didn't like it after it was up. I'm not sure why. I think it looks just fine. 

I also had a doctor's appointment this afternoon. I was surprised that the visit was recorded. Probably because I argued against the medication. I hadn't been rude. I'd made it very clear. I told them that I thought they were being unnecessarily forceful about the medication. I made it clear that I'd only had one high A1C reading. I made it clear that everything that I'd read is that medication should only be used after two high readings AND after it was determined that it couldn't be controlled by diet and exercise. I mean, it's moot now. My readings are once again in the normal range, which indicated to me that whatever was going on could obviously be controlled by diet and exercise. 

She agreed that I'd done great. She was pleased with the labs. She was pleased with the weight loss and she agreed that I was taking it very seriously. She also said that most people 'struggle'. I guess that explains it right there. I guess that we reached a compromise as well. She understands that I am not 'most people'. I understand that she doesn't mind being proven wrong, and that I don't need to feel bad about sticking to my guns with her. So. That's good. 

We're having a thunderstorm. I do love a nice thunderstorm. On that bright note, I'll log off and get supper dishes done. 

Proud Debby keeps on Rolling....

 We were able to put the appliances back today. The second coat of paint worked better. The first coat was pretty spotty, but the second coat finished it off nicely. I will admit to a moment of vanity. I dragged my canisters and my picture out. We will call it 'staging'. It sounds a lot better than showing off. 

Are we done? We are not. The water needs to be hooked up, but Tim does not want to do that until the township replaces the electronics in the sewage 'turtle'. (If the water can't drain out, we don't need it coming in.) We need to put the black kickplate around the cupboards. We need to put up the black trim at the top of the tile and up the sides where the stove is. We've got the shelves to do. The switchplates. 

I will also admit something pretty embarrassing. I have become one of 'those people'. (No no not MAGA. My god. I'm haven't lost my mind). No. I'm talking about the sort of people who say things like this: "The ceramic knobs are beige, and I need them to be white or black to match the tile." I'm not sure how that has come about. The beige knobs are perfectly functional, and there is not reason to replace them other than aesthetics. 

Yet...here I am... 

I think part of it is that I've had 'make do' kitchens for 27 years, and this kitchen is mine. And it is new! And it has a dishwasher! And it's new! And I designed it! And it's new! And...well...I guess it has made me prideful. But it's new!

Pretty sure I'll get over myself. 

Kitchen Progress

 I have to apologize. I thought that I'd taken a picture of the tile after the first and second spongings. It was quite shocking, black smeared everywhere. We were a bit horrified, but we kind of figured that if it wasn't possible, people wouldn't be doing it, so we continued on. 

Today we went back up and once again wiped down the wall and scraped away the excess grout. I also painted. I think the wall will need another coat tomorrow. 

In the corner, behind Tim is where our shelves will go. Three shelves on the stove wall. Centered between those two shelves on the window wall will be a shelf for that wall. Beneath them is where the microwave will be set. 

Although we picked out the paint together, I'm not sure that Tim is all that pleased with it now that it is on the wall. 

I am, because it matches my new planters, one of which can sit on a shelf in that corner. 

It also matches my favorite picture. This is by Kelly Latimore and it is of Dorothy Day. I admire her ability to see the divinity in every person, regardless of circumstances, and it is something that I aspire to. The name of her painting is 'Don't Call Me A Saint'. 

Not sure where it will go, actually, but I know that it needs to be in the kitchen. 

These will also match. One will sit right next to the coffee pot, but I'm not sure that the other two will sit on the counter. (They also match with the pantry.)

The stock market is very unstable right now due to the tariff chaos. It's also noted that there is an 'unprecedented' sell off of US Treasury Bonds. That's kind of over my head, but people who do understand it find it concerning, stating that the American dollar will weaken, and they believe that it signals a lack of confidence in America.

But...let us keep to pleasantness for the day. 

We picked up the sink today from my sister and brother-in-law's house. We delivered it to Mia. We caught her just as she was leaving the house. She looked dirty and weary, but happy with the sink. She was also happy to hear that we had taken it from her house to begin with. 

Nice

 We got the grouting done in the kitchen today. I did not take pictures because, truth be told, it looks hideous. Sponging down that black grout over that white tile looks pretty awful. Black and smeary. But when I took a clean paper towel and sprayed a bit of 409 on it and rubbed the tile, it rubs right off and looks pretty sharp. So. We'll wait until it is done and take a picture, lest you think we lost our minds. 

But, I think when it is done, it will look pretty good. Tim was right on this one. 

So that was today. 

We had given a cast iron, porcelain coated double bowl sink to my sister, but in the end, she went with something different. My brother in law asked if we wanted it back, or whether he should scrap it. Tim thought perhaps Mia would want it for her house formerly known as 'the rehab'. I shot her a quick message and the answer came back just as quickly. She would LOVE that sink. She's quite enthusiastic about her new home and once again, we know for a fact that we made the right decision on passing that project on. Everyone came out a winner and it is a great gift to watch that joy happening. 

One of the things that I love best about the new house is that once again, you can hear the wind. I have missed that living in town. 

When we left today, there was an owl hooting. That was nice to hear too. 

I came home and made Tim stuffed peppers for supper. I have one pepper left to put in the freezer for a quick meal if he needs it while I'm laid up. I turned the rest of the meat filling into stuffed pepper soup, another meal to put in the freezer. 

Over at Shadows and Light, Steve posted a picture of some books he's inventorying at his school. One caught my eye. The Road to Nab End. I'd never heard of it, so I looked it up. The author is an interesting fellow. William Woodruff dropped out of school at 13 to take a job to help support his family. Sounds like a beginning of a hard life, but he ended up graduating from Oxford University. receiving a full scholarship to Harvard, becoming a college professor, and writing 61 books. 

That's a nice story too. I went to my favorite Better World Books and ordered both The Road to Nab End and Beyond Nab End, his two autobiographical books. 

Grinning.

 Just got the results of my A1C. It (once again) falls into the normal range, albeit just barely. I got teary looking at the number. If it can be controlled by diet, then I expect once this knee is corrected and I can get more exercise, I can bring it down even more. 

So. That is today's happy. 

Another happy? My Christmas cactus is blooming. It has never bloomed twice in a year before, so I'm not sure what triggered that. 

The tiling is complete in the kitchen, and the range hood is installed. I am happy with it. 

It was snowing this morning, once again. I am not happy with that. 

Checking in.

I have not been inspired to write, which is unusual for me. Usually there is something. But...

Let's see. Cheerful things. I got a haircut, something badly overdue. I looked like a frowsy mess all the time. I made up my mind to get something that just made me look 'kempt'. She did a good job, and I'm happy with the results. I don't think Tim is. 

I've got bloodwork tomorrow. It was supposed to be last week, but they realized there was an insurance issue. If I had gotten it last week, it would not have been covered by insurance, and so everything has changed to this week. So...I'm just anxious about that. Please, just let my blood sugar be under 6 so that we are not banging on about this for another six months. 

My knee is also much, much worse, and that is getting to be a problem. 

A three year old washer has gone out in a rental, so that has been a bit of a distraction. It is an apartment sized washer/dryer combo: 

It wasn't cheap by any means, but the thing is, it is tucked into a small closet. It is a tight fit. It just seemed simpler to pull it, put a new unit in, and then, when things slow down, trouble shoot the old unit to see if it can be fixed. We have a bit of a suspicion that the washer was being overloaded on a regular basis, so best for her to have a full size washer. 

We went with a All in One, a washer that also dries the clothes. It will fit in the space. It will arrive on Monday, so we'll spend the day installing that, no doubt. 

Tim is repairing a hot water tank for his daughter. It is something very expensive and worth it, according to him. Powerflex hot water tanks are a big deal. Don't ask me why. He knows. I trust his judgement on it. 

So that's it really. I'll be headed east after Easter, and I'm looking forward to that very much. I'll get to see my granddaughter compete, which will be exciting.

Thank you for the e-mail to check in, Judith. 

I suppose it is good that this happened before the effects of the tariffs hit. 

Things to celebrate

Last night was the big concert in Erie. Tim needed to go to the Home Depot. As long as I was there, I wanted to stop in at the Salvation Army store. I was looking for a plant stand really, but did not find it. However I did find a Farberware Slow Cooker to replace the slow cooker I am now afraid to use due to cord damage. 

And a nice shirt. 

Anyways. we had supper out at a place with a terrific salad bar. Tim enjoyed his barbecue. I enjoyed my salad. 

We drove to Warner Theater, and as we guessed, it wasn't jam packed. 'Asia' started off with 'Only Time Will Tell'. Asia has been through many incarnations, with many different musicians. Their new lead singer is John Payne who replaced John Wetton who died 8 years ago. So while they played a bit of the hits, they also, understandably, wanted to showcase their recent stuff too. It wasn't horrible, but I wasn't familiar with it. 

One thing though: I don't get the whole 'rock star persona' thing. It's very strange watching a 60+ year old man leaping around the stage, leaning forward, bug eyed and waggling his tongue for the crowd. What is it with the tongue thing? I guess I'm too old for that too, right AC?

Everyone was waiting for Lou Gramm to take the stage though, and when he did, he was surely worth the wait. A pudgy 74 year old walked out dressed in jeans and a denim shirt looking perfectly ordinary, like anyone you would pass on the street and not give a second look. He proceeded to bring that house down. 

The crowd went nuts as one hit after another thundered off the stage. All familiar. All songs that everyone knew the words to. Sure, Lou's voice was not so high as it had been (he had a brain tumor that involved damage to his pituitary gland years back, and this changed his voice). There was a microphone that they were having some difficulty with. But you know what? No one cared. The band was top notch, the man is legend AND. EVERYONE. KNEW. ALL. THE. WORDS.

 There was no mugging.  There was no leaping about, unless you counted the saxophonist who came off stage during "Urgent," and marched up the aisle playing the solo while everyone roared. It was a solid hour and a half of pure entertainment, without the nonsense. Everyone's tongues stayed right in their mouths where they belonged. It was a great night. 

We walked out of there with all the rest of the old folks and drove the hour home remembering what it was when we heard that music for the first time. 

We were dragging tail this morning though. Ugh.

We had an appointment at the bank. You know, I just gotta say it. There was a very elderly woman and her (I'm guessing) grandson. He helped her into the bank. We followed them through the parking lot. They smelled horrible. I mean, like extreme. She was obviously very frail, and filthy. I mean, dirty socks that I think had once been white. The elastic was gone and they drooped around her thin ankles. The backs of her legs were smeared with something. I hated to guess. The grandson was dirty with shaggy black dyed hair. He smelled too, although he was not so obviously dirty. 

We had to wait for our appointment, and so we took two seats outside the office of the man we needed to see. 

The tellers knew these people by name. They went up to a window, and they were asked to wait back by a sign until they were called. The smell filled the lobby. This is not hyperbole. The young man grabbed a chair for the woman, and shoved it over to her. He came back and grabbed a second chair for himself, and they parked themselves in the middle of the lobby. 

The customers at one of the windows left. The teller asked if the woman had the withdrawal slip she needed. She didn't. The teller pushed one across and the young man went to get it and returned to the elderly lady. I saw the teller surreptitiously spray something on her hands and then fan them at her face. 

We got called in by then so I did not see how the rest of that played out. Our appointment was a half hour, and when we walked back out into the lobby, the smell was still very noticeable, although the people were gone. 

Tim and I talked on the way to the car. I hope someone is watching out for that woman. It really made me concerned about elder abuse. 

After we finished there, we drove straight to the protest. We were surprised to see about 150 people there. Even more amazing was that there were a lot of honking horns and thumbs up from passing vehicles. There were raised fists in support. There were a few people flipping us off or gunning their engines in disgust. We do after all live in a red county, but most people waved using all their fingers. That is quite a shift. A big rally in my town in 40 people. We generally get a lot of insults. It was different. Today was different. It is hard not to be encouraged by that. 

We had a birthday party to go to, which involved buying two cards. Tim just grabbed himself some chicken wings. I drove so that he could eat. As I was going towards the exit, a truck backed out of a parking spot, evidently forgetting that there was two lane traffic. I hit the brakes sharply. Tim said mildly. "Well...I got one of them." The container was on the floor upside down. 

It is raining, and it will turn to snow. I can't really complain. There are people in this country right now who have a lot more worrisome weather. Still, I just can't help longing for spring. 

Cray Cray

 I cannot even wrap my head around these 'proposed changes'. Who comes up with these things? Let me tell you who. Rich people who need workers, and are completely willing to break your children to do it. End meal breaks? 14 year olds working overnights? What about school? MAGA, my ass. 

Today we worked in our kitchen doing the tiling. We got the long wall done while listening to the live updates on the stock market. After a long morning, Tim said, "What was it he said yesterday? This is the Golden Age of America?" 

Yeah. That's what he said while he was gleefully making his announcements. 

Nuts!

To quote a sage, "Nobody can believe it!" 

He has a new book out.

But enough about this sad state of affairs. 

Did I ever show you this? It's right inside the front door. My brother in law made the hat rack.  

I came home and repotted three plants. I'm sure they'll be fine, although they appear a bit bedraggled right this moment. Plants aren't the most grateful life forms I've ever known. 

I broiled a chicken breast and sliced it up and made a grilled chicken salad for supper, which hit the spot for both of us. 

We figure that we will spend a half day up at the new house tomorrow and be able to finish the tiling. We'll come home, clean up, and head out to see Lou Gramm in Erie. 

Then: 

Now: 

Wonder if, all these years later, it still feels like the first time? 

Anyways...the old fogeys are headed out...and yes. I have earplugs. 

Let's end on a laugh: 

Oh gees. I forgot one: 

Today

 This morning was an odd morning. I woke up, and I couldn't get back to sleep to save my soul. I had a tiny headache, but it didn't seem like enough to keep me awake, and then my mind started wandering from one thing to another like it does. I finally got up and took something for my headache, came back to bed, and managed to fall asleep, only to be jolted awake by my cell phone alarm. I shut it off. Why it was set? How did it get set? Who set it? I assumed that it was for something, so I got up and logged into my computer portal to check for appointments. I had none. I had one for tomorrow, but nothing today. 

I finally decided to go back to bed, but I couldn't fall back asleep because I kept thinking that there had to be something that I was missing. By the time it was actually time to get up, I was bleary eyed and short sleeped. 

Tim wants to build a shed to store his 'stuff'. He'll drive me crazy, the pack rat, but I figured I'd just let him go build his shed. 

That's the nice thing about working on only one project. If I want to take a day to do laundry and get groceries and the like, I don't feel like a terrible person. I absolutely did not feel the slightest bit guilty about not helping him build a shed for stuff he really should be thinking of getting rid of anyway. IMHO. 

So I got up when I felt like it, and had my coffee and breakfast in front of the computer. 

A memory popped up on facebook from this day back in 2017: 

I woke up to Tim standing beside the bed in holding his work gloves, saying, 'I can't believe that I overslept today, of ALL days...' Half asleep, I looked at the clock and it was 2 AM. I sat up in bed, confused and realized that Tim was sound asleep in bed, snoring gently.  

Eight years later, it made me laugh again. 

Anyways, so it was one of those days where there is nothing to report. Laundry is done. I got out and got a few groceries. The cat is tickled that I bought cat food. I stopped at Goodwill because I need a couple planters to repot a pothos that is surely rootbound and in need of dividing. They didn't have any planters, but that didn't stop me from having a bit of a nosey. I found a pile of plates, those collector type plates. Probably a dozen of them. They were painted with birds of all different kinds. One with cardinals. Another with blue jays. Blue birds. Robins. Chickadees. Gold finches. Birds I didn't know. And they were really beautiful. $1.49 each. They had the hangers. I picked them up, looking through and I was so tempted. Sooooooo tempted. Except we're downsizing. And where would I put them? I stood there holding the plates. 

I turned to a woman standing nearby. "Do me a favor, will you?" 

She looked surprised but said, "If I can..." 

I said, "Look me in the eye and tell me that I do NOT need these plates. Say it in a firm voice, like you really, really mean it." 

She said, "YOU. DO. NOT. NEED. THOSE. PLATES." She sounded like she really truly did mean it. 

I put the plates back and said, "You're absolutely right. Thank you for pointing that out." 

She was laughing as I walked away.

I ran my errands in a downpour. In the west, the lightning seemed to jag straight down to some unfortunate piece of ground far away behind the mountains and the thunder echoed across their peaks. It was a doozy of a storm, and I do love a good thunderstorm.

I found two planters, nice ones. Ceramic, and on clearance for $5.49. I consoled myself that $11.00 was not too much to spend on something that I really did need, especially since I had been so brave about not getting the decorative plates. 

I felt quite virtuous by the time that I explained this all to Tim when I got home. 

He did not look convinced. 

"And look! I got you Twizzlers!" I said. "The big bag!"

Anyways. 

I put together a nice supper. I had a half pound of sausage that I needed to finish off. I browned it with onion and peppers and mushrooms and some rosemary and thyme and a dash of cayenne. I added chicken broth, some diced tomatoes and simmered it together with lentils. 

It was one of those 'no recipe' hits. 

So that was today. Tim ran out later on his daily trip to Lowe's. 

They are really getting to know us there. 

He's still talking.

 And this is what we need to see, right here. 

It's not only that he's talking, but that he's speaking eloquently. He has not had a bathroom break. 

I'm not sure why the link I shared yesterday changed to private. He has held the floor for 23 hours and 50 minutes. If he holds it for another half hour, he will hold the record for the longest speech, beating out Strom Thurmond at 24 hours and 18 minutes.  (Late Edit: He has done it!)

But it is not about that. It's not about records. It is about galvanizing our government to stand up and resist the unconstitutional activity we are seeing unfold before our very eyes. 

I sent another e-mail to John Fetterman and Glenn Thompson, suggesting that they see Cory Booker as the role model. This was what they were elected and sent to Washington to do. 

I am watching this now, and I know that I am witnessing history. I know also that when these awful days are done, Cory Booker's name will be writ in the history of our country. 

Today, we met at the lawyer's office. Bless the man, we expected to go there and tell him what we wanted, and go back next week to sign a contract. He had it all laid out on his desk. He wrote in a few pertinent details, asked his questions, and wrote the contract out today. Mia was not prepared for it. Neither were we, but we walked out of there with the signed papers. 

She said, "I was so sure that I was going to get here and find out that this was an April Fool's joke." It wasn't, of course. Her family is meeting up at her house to celebrate with pizza today.