It was another weird week – Or maybe that’s the new norm. I’ll start with the bad news and go on from there.
Saying goodbye to a blogger – If any of you follow Trek*, the American living in Austria, she died recently. (This is her last post.) One of her friends reached out to me. The weird thing about bloggers is that you feel connected even though you’ve never met. She lived ten miles from where all four of my grandparents were born and raised before they emigrated. Until recently she taught at a Montessori school which provided a load of posts. She blogged about her life and it was an unusual one. She lived in a rural area but her stories of life in a sort of “farm” area were hilarious. Her chickens died and her native neighbor was judgy and suspicious of this American living next door. Her stories about adopting her daughters from Africa warmed your hear. Goodbye Trek (Circumstance 227), you gave us so much.
Do you remember my walking partner? Yes, the one that talked so much. Her husband died before the holidays. I’ve reached out but she’s not ready for walking yet. I’m hopeful I can provide a distraction from all the upheaval and heartache that comes with losing a long time spouse.
Now for happy – Remember my whining about my new phone? I think I like it. Much like my new car, it has features I don’t use but I’m learning. With our renovation coming along, it has been so easy to track supplies and text contractors. I almost always have it with me and I never thought I’d say that about any phone.
Planning for the next project – With the kitchen (possibly) nearing completion (so they say), we started to plan out our next project. This one will be much easier as we are doing it ourselves. That gives us complete control (and all the work!). We only need wood which is easier to find than sinks and appliances. Because the fireplace is oddly placed (not centered) on a wall, we have to be creative and find ways to balance the room. The picture shows the card board taped to the wall to get dimension ideas. We will soon be on our way with that one.
So how was your week?
I’m so sorry to hear about your blogger friend and your walking buddy’s husband. I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with the fireplace. They say if you stop working on a house, that’s when you stop loving it.
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We’ve done a few things and we’ve been very happy with the results. The fireplace is challenging because it’s not centered on the wall.
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So sorry about your blog friend! We do really get to know people online, and it’s always sad when they fall away. So often people just stop posting, so we’re left to wonder. It is so nice that her friend reached out to you.
You are very brave to be thinking about tackling another house project! But it’s good that you guys will be handling it yourselves. That should eliminate most of the hassles, other than supply chain ones.
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I’m sorry about your friend at *Trek. I read some of her posts and wished I had discovered her earlier. Very entertaining.
I’m embarrassed to ask this, but I need to know if I’m losing my mind. All these projects you’re doing. Is this the new house you just moved into? or another house? : )
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It’s the new house we moved into in February. It’s a great layout but like many older homes, the kitchen/bathrooms are very dated.
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So sorry for the passing of your Blogger friend (as well as the chatty one’s husband). Losses at the holidays are always tough. Thinking of you and wishing you a Happy 2022 with good luck for the mantel project!
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Thanks! There have been a lot of deaths in the last two months. So far I’ve not been one of them!
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Thank goodness!
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That’s what the cats say! 🙂
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It was good of you to contact your old walking pal. Even though she’s not ready yet, I’m sure she appreciated it. After my husband died, it was hard for me to gather the mental energy to initiate activities. I was grateful to anyone who took the initiative–after a bit of time passed.
I’ve always enjoyed sending out Christmas cards and hearing back from people I hadn’t heard from for a while. Sometimes, though, the note that comes back is not a good one. One day last week, I received two such notes. An old friend died during the year, and his daughter sent me a lovely note to inform me. Another old friend’s wife let me know that he had alzheimers. Fortunately, the following day I received cards with only good news. You take the bad with the good, I guess.
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Yes, the older you get the more likely there will be some bad news every year. We had a lot of deaths in the November-December time frame. It’s unusual but maybe that’s the new norm too.
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Sorry to hear about your blogging pal and her blog sounds like it would have been of interest to me. I visited Austria twice, once with my father, once both parents – it’s very beautiful.
It is easy to get close to bloggers … one of mine has gone missing and she was only in her early 50s, but had MS and also a bout with breast cancer two years ago. She also had a teenage daughter with Borderline Personality Disorder and created a separate blog with regard to that. Her daughter was institutionalized and asked to be released to her grandfather, not parents. She hated her mother.
This blogged infrequently so I’d e-mail her and ask if everything was okay? She’d be upbeat and cheery and say “just busy and not blogging” but would chitchat and always thank me for worrying about her. I reached out a few times this Fall by e-mail with no response (and no failed mail). I feel maybe something bad happened to her.
Another fellow blogger posted on Christmas Eve that its curtains for him and his cancer was incurable. It was blunt and brief. I just read a post that said “Tired and in pain. Wonder how long I’ll last…” Very sad.
On a brighter note, I admire you getting acclimated so quickly to the car and phone. I have not read the manual and today was driving and glanced at the clock “an hour fast, ten minutes slow … just deduct 50 minutes Linda – must. read. the. manual!” Just pitiful! I admire as well you’re going to take on more renovation, whether DIY or not!!
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Changing the clock was easy once I looked it up and I have a lot to do to learn more about the car and the phone but sadly no interest! I’m sorry you lost blogging friends. Those are as painful as friends in real life.
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I’ve yet to make my cheat sheet like I had for the Regal … this car is 11 years old. Details, details. Yes, it is sad and right now I have two blogging friends dealing with COVID in their immediately families. Pretty scary.
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If you haven’t made a cheat sheet in 11 years, I’d say that ship has sailed! 🙂
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I almost made a cheat sheet today. We’ve had three days of freezing rain and light snow – ugh. Yesterday I ran the car and while running it I got a message in my information window “Stabilitrack and Brake System – check now!” The icon was flashing. Oh no! That’s first and drove it 26 miles Sunday was fine, ran it in the garage Monday – fine. I wasn’t going anywhere and decided to contact OnStar for a diagnosis today if it happened again. I got the manual out on my knee in case she gave me instructions, ran the car twice – no flashing. Called OnStar – diagnostic said 100% okay. The customer service rep said “it was a blip, no worries, it happens sometimes.” Whew! I put the manual back into its case, into the glove box, came in the house and said “why didn’t I fix that clock?”
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🙂 Because you have learned how to work around the wrong time!
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I have left a note with my final papers and stuff that there should be a post that I am no longer around to blog. Maybe that is weird but that’s what I have done.
Hope your friend gets in touch to walk. I think walking is great medicine for whatever needs to be dealt with.
I will be needing a new phone soon and I dread it. They are so expensive! And complicated!
Looking forward to the after picture of the fireplace.
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I think that is an excellent idea. I checked her blog and nothing was posted. She posted a cheery note mid-November that didn’t give a clue how dire the circumstances were. Since she wasn’t a frequent poster, I wasn’t triggered to wonder what happened yet.
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I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of your blogging friend I had a look at her site. So young!
On a lighter note – you’re taking on another construction project?! You are my hero!!
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Only one that we can control ourselves. We are hoping to rework the deck in the spring but our heartbroken contractor was going to do it. In any case that’s all outdoor work. We have pushed the bathroom renovation off a few years.
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It is sad when a favorite blogger dies.
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It is and most of the time we don’t know about it. I was so glad that her friend reached out. She wrote fun stories. I realized I’ve been following her for more years than I remember but she didn’t post regularly.
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I’m happy you’ve gotten more comfortable with your new phone, Kate. I have a feeling I’ll have to purchase a new one in 2022…not looking forward to that.
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Sadly I’m afraid I may have to replace my desktop and my Fitbit. Not looking forward to a new desktop at all but the Fitbit will be fun.
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I got an Apple watch for Christmas…I wonder if I’ll be able to figure it out. I’m not a gadget girl!
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“They say” Apple products are easier. You can let me know.
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My phone is an Apple. I’m sure it has a lot more features than I utilize. I’m not into apps. I never use my phone to pay for things. I mainly got it after getting lost in the hood on my way to work early one morning due to a construction detour. 🙂
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So far the only thing I order and pay on line is my Starbucks.
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Loss is always hard, and we do get the feeling we ‘know’ the bloggers we follow. For instance, I ‘know’ you will be doing a happy dance the day the sink and countertops are set and the construction guys walk out the door for the last time. You might even go to Starbucks twice that day. 🙂 Interesting about the fireplace not being centered, but I like your cardboard template. I’m visual too so I do that a lot when I’m planning a project. Phones really are mini laptops, I just wish they didn’t update quite as often for new bells and whistles I don’t use and at the same time change stuff that I have to research how to change back. Yep, once I get it set up I wish it would stay that way. Happy week!
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I feel like that about my desk top. Every time there is an update I wonder what got screwed up!
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You just have to really wonder what peeps who build are thinking of sometimes. I bet the fireplace will look great when it is done. I hope your walking partner gets in touch with you when she is ready. I would certainly appreciate a walking pal like you. Great news about you bonding with your phone… Ha! We are already having issues with the sinks for the bathrooms… somebody save me!
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Be sure they are on premises before ripping anything out!
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Yes, for sure! We used our kitchen sink at the condo for two days while they futzed around with the counters. Jerry used the showers at the clubhouse for a week… crazy.
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It’s crazy and it takes time during “normal” times. Now it’s freaking nuts!
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I believe YOU!
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I will be writing a post on the sink this week but it came overnight from (wait for it…) Amazon. Whoda thought I’d order a sink from Amazon. Thank you Jeff Bezos!
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Glad you are doing the next project yourselves. Job satisfaction and strict time lines! Happy holidays. Hope your enjoyed your Christmas meal, especially when it;s prepared by someone else!
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Much cheaper too! The beloved husband’s hourly rate is low!
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So is mine………. marmalade cake plus parts!
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🙂
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Oh boy, I am with you about balancing the room. What are people thinking, when they ignore symmetry?!?! I think your fireplace surround will be just the ticket, when finished.
Deb
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We are hoping so. We have a cathedral peaked ceiling. Why they didn’t center it is a mystery.
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I know what you mean about bloggers. One of the cat bloggers, Pete of Timmy Tomcat passed away right before Thanksgiving and I was devastated- even though we never spoke or met in person. Many cat bloggers felt the same.
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At least I found out. So many bloggers ride off into the sunset and you don’t know. I was following a very perky and active woman of 87. I was with her through her husband’s death and moving to a smaller condo. Then she disappeared. I think about her once in a while.
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RIP Trek. I just read a few of her posts ~ she must have been quite young as she was writing about her 7 year old daughter just 5 years ago. Glad she had a chance to spend time with her sister, dissolved in giggles, before passing.
Happy to hear you’re upbeat enough about the kitchen to start planning your next project.
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Actually I think she was in her 60s or close as she retired from teaching either this year or last. Her daughters are in college or on their own but bloggers often post about times gone by.
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Good. I’m glad she didn’t leave young kids behind.
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Me too.
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An asymmetrical fireplace? That is unusual. I look forward to pictures of the final product.
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It’s not centered under the peak of the cathedral ceiling. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I like to place the furniture so it’s symmetrical with the fireplace but then the room is off. I didn’t notice before we bought it but the former owner did not have much furniture in the house.
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I was baffled by the phone I bought a year or so ago at first as well, but now I’m hardly ever without it. That’s probably not a good thing, but I guess it is modern life. Marley and I will have to make another trip to see all these renovations sometime. We have decided to cancel Alaska in May since Bodhi’s health is unpredictable and so is Covid stuff. We will go to Massachusetts (as long as Bodhi isn’t in bad shape) instead, the trip we cancelled last October, and one where we can quickly drive home if needed. So perhaps we can stop on the way there or back!
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Sounds like a plan and we always love seeing you.
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