Weekly Check In

or Whenever-I-Get-Around-to-It Check In

We made sure that Leo could get to his favorite window when we were stowing things.

Last night was one of those nights that sleep eluded me for several hours. Sometimes it just happens, but I'm always careful to warn those around me that I'm going to be cranky after one of those nights. I really need regular sleep. If this happened very often, I would have to take up drinking caffeine.  

In other news, work was slated to begin on our construction yesterday, February 1. However, we got a surprise Sunday afternoon that they were coming Monday. That sped up our clearing of the work areas, and we were thankful that Wally was here to help. All was ready Monday morning when they showed up.

When we weren't packing things up, we were out shopping. The contractor is supplying most of the materials, but we are picking up a few things for the jobs we've added. Over the last few days, we have purchased two toilets, two faucets, and a vanity top. Still on our list is a garbage disposal and cabinet pulls, which by the way, are really expensive if you get better than the very cheapest ones. Or maybe it's not so bad, except we need 44 of them.

Before this project, the cats were fed in the kitchen, and it took them a little while to find their new feeding spot in the bathroom. Leo seems nonplussed by the whole operation, but Annie visits the workers regularly and yells at them. I think her message is I don't like you messing with my food because she is more food-oriented than any other cat we've had. But she is chowing down regularly in the new spot.

Here are a few pictures.

We have put stuff everywhere, much of it in the basement. We will move the old fridge and range down there and use that as our kitchen for the duration.

In addition, we have set up a mini kitchen in the living room on the main level.
This is also Ward's temporary office. You can see the back of his computers on the right.
We don't have curtains on the bow window, so he moves poster boards around to block the sun on his monitors.

This is what the kitchen looked like when I went to work yesterday. 

This is what it looked like when I came home.
Some of the cabinets are moving to the basement, and the workmen have taken some of them along with a couple of doors. As it turns out, our appliances are too old to donate to the Habitat for Humanity Restore, so they will be recycled. Everything else is in the dumpster. We tried to minimize what we threw away, but the reality of construction is that it creates waste.

This morning the fridge was disconnected from its waterline in anticipation of the move to the basement. However, the valve that was supposed to turn the water off to that line didn't work, so water to the whole house was turned off. We never used the icemaker in this fridge and don't plan to hook up water to the new one. We are happy using ice cube trays and a pitcher of water on the counter. In addition, the water part of a fridge is notorious for breaking, so we're not going to tempt fate. If we had a house full of kids, we might think differently, but we don't.

So until next time, she says, wishing she had taken a shower before the water to the house got turned off. 

Progress

Sunrise from a couple of days ago. The snow is mostly gone now.

Good morning from my chilly new home -for my computer anyway. As part of our efforts to get ready for construction, I moved my computer into one of the extra bedrooms, and it's cold. This new environment may prevent me from lingering at the computer and playing another game that I don't need to. :) I layered up yesterday to work here, but then I was too hot for the rest of the house. I'm sure I figure out a good compromise, but until then, Brrrrr.

Ward also moved his computer from the office into the living room and is ready for work today. We added a table in there to have a coffee pot and microwave on the main level when construction begins, but we had to be careful not to block the window ledge the cats love. We're a bit worried about how the construction will affect them, especially because they are so old. But I think if they get adequate lap time, they will be okay.

The guest room has reached capacity on the number of boxes it can have and still be able to get to the bed. Wally occasionally sleeps there when he visits, and we have company scheduled for a visit in about a month. We want to be able to offer them reasonable accommodations - at least a clear path in and out of the room and surface to put a suitcase on.

And it goes on. I have a donation pickup scheduled in a week, but I'm going to have to start boxing some of it up before then because the pile is getting in the way. I also have feelers out to find a place to donate our old working appliances. The first place said they don't want them, and I'm waiting to hear back from another. 

My fingers are cold, so I think it's time to move on from this room. I have to get ready for work, anyway, which, by the way, is still hectic because, in addition to the test kits, we are now passing out N-95 masks.

Until next time...

Busy

I'm working on some extra projects right now, so my posting here may be sparse for a few weeks. Although, I'm not sure how you will tell the difference from my regular, irregular schedule. :)

Every couple of days, we are having
snow and ice to contend with. 

First, some of my computer writing time is being taken up each week with a gift I received for Christmas. My sister-in-law got me a subscription to StoryWorth, a service that sends you a question each week to answer, and after a year, your responses are published into a book. It's a means of saving family history and telling a personal story. The questions are open-ended and require effort. For example, the question I'm working on now is, "What were your grandparents like?" I'm finding it challenging to discuss four different grandparents (and a bonus one we discovered a few years ago) in only a few paragraphs. Actually, this answer is more than a few paragraphs, and I'm only discussed 2/5 so far. I have told some of my family stories here on my blog, but with Storyworth, I can add specific names, places, and times that I don't share here. We'll see how it goes. I may get tired of this before the year is done, but I would like to do this for my kids and others.

Also, we have a date for construction to begin on our kitchen. In just two weeks, we have to have several rooms emptied. The kitchen is the main focus, but the domino effect of closing doorways and opening others have spread the job. And then there are things like if the new floor is going to extend into the connecting laundry room and bathroom, do we want to take this opportunity to put in a new toilet and vanity to replace the worn 33-year-old ones? We need to shop for those things if we do. And we're trying to figure out how we will function the 2-3 months the project is supposed to last. We have a small canning kitchen in the basement, so we have options there. However, we are moving cabinets from upstairs to downstairs to replace the small, crude ones there now, so we have to have that area empty, too. However, that's the first thing they will do, so hopefully, we will have a usable space down there before too long. But even before a functioning "kitchen," we have to figure out our workspaces since the office is one of the areas we have to cleanout. Ward works from home every day, so he will need a good space to relocate into. There are options for everything; we just have to figure them out.

So I'll see you when I see you. Actually, that might be more often than I plan because I am talking with you now because it's easier than working on either of the projects I mentioned above. 

Fleeting

The first news came when my niece, Lianne, told her grandfather and the rest of us that she might be late with his Christmas present. If he could wait until April, she and her husband Ben were going to have twins. These would be their first, and we were all excited about the news.

Lianne and Ben lived away, and we visited with them at Thanksgiving. Lianne was out of the morning sickness phase and starting to show. They were both so happy and excited. Lianne and Ben's next visit was going to be in January when there would be a baby shower for them in the area. A registry was formed, and gifts arrived, awaiting the shower.

However, the shower was canceled. The twins arrived unexpectantly on Dec. 30, just one day before Lianne's birthday. Little Sawyer and Allison (named after Ward's sister, who passed away a few years ago) were tiny, each weighing just over 1 pound. But they were alive and surrounded by excellent medical care. The parents held vigil round the clock with the babies. The hospital gave them a room to shower and sleep in, although I don't know how much sleep they got. There were ups and downs every day. Allison held onto Lianne's finger, then Sawyer's oxygen level dropped, and so it would go. Lianne pumped breast milk and gave it to Allison on a Q-tip. Ben read to them, The Hobbit and All Creatures Great and Small. However, little Sawyer passed away after being on this earth for just a week. He died in his mother's arms after she baptized him. The parents were consumed with grief, but they had a daughter who needed them, and the vigil continued.

Allison's medical problems persisted, but we heard reports about how she had the family eyebrows and was a feisty little thing. Every day forward brought a new day of hope. We all celebrated her two-week birthday by sending pictures of us embracing life. But this morning, Allison went to join her brother. She was just too little. When it looked like the end was near, Allison and Ben got to hold Allison, and miraculously, all of her vitals improved to perfect. Babies know their parents. Lianne and Ben spent many hours holding her before she passed. A family portrait shows how much the parents were in awe and loved those babies.

Now the long process of grieving and recovery begins. I wish Lianne and Ben strength and pray they can find comfort and peace in the days ahead.

My Neck of the Woods

 or to paraphrase weatherman Al Roker, "Here's what's happening in my neck of the woods."

The most recent snowfall. We are forecast to get three times this much tomorrow.

Today is a welcome day off from a busy week at work before I return tomorrow. Our library has begun handing out COVID test kits for county residents, and there's been somewhat of a frenzy. While there is separate staff handing out the kits, we are fielding continuous phone calls asking about the status of the distribution. These constant interruptions make it hard to assist people who want help with actual library services. But it's all good. People are happy to get the kits, and we are happy to be providing the service. BTW, I don't know the current COVID-related numbers anymore because I've stopped listening to the details. I just know that they are high, and more and more people I know are getting sick. But this too shall pass, she says wearily.

Well, I didn't get this posted yesterday, so let's see what I can do before I'm off to work. And speaking of work, I just found out one of my coworkers now has COVID, which he contracted from his wife. It's been five days since I've seen him, and that was from a distance, both masked. So I think I'm okay. 

And speaking of COVID-related matters, we are experiencing empty grocery store shelves here like most of the rest of the country. I think we are seeing the perfect storm of residual supply chain issues, worker shortages because of COVID, and a big snowstorm last week with a promise of another tomorrow. And to top it all off, these have led to panic buying. Panic buying is the only thing we can really control, but human nature gets in the way, and panic buying results. While we don't exactly have an overly full pantry or freezer here, we won't go hungry for a long time if we get no more supplies.

Until next time...