For me, I think it’s a combination of the weather and the festive holiday mood across the world. It’s also a good time to genuinely and deeply reflect on the past year and all there is to be grateful.
So, I made this small list of festive and productive to-dos to keep myself in the presence of December.
For fun, and to get back into sharing in this space because the world needs some cheer, I’m going to try and document my progress with this list. Think I can do it? To be honest, I’m not sure myself but I’m willing to try.
Our family fostered a puppy, really I fostered a puppy, for two weeks.
After we lost Duke, it was hard for me to even pet another dog without getting emotional. I began distancing myself from dogs to avoid the roller coaster. And then time passed and like they say, “time heals all wounds.” Heals? I will say it helps because I’m definitely better, but I still heartbreakingly miss him.
Her name was Calypso, a spunky, 8-week-old, white terrier mix. I picked her up at the rescue, where there were a ton of dogs. It was loud and chaotic with people coming and going, picking up and dropping off dogs and supplies, with lots of barking.
Interestingly, within hours of bringing her home I could see how we were providing her the perfect surroundings to just be a puppy. Our home provided this 8 week old, uninhibited ball of love a place to be safe, to run and play, and take naps. Watching her sleep soundly in the quietness of suburbia warmed my heart. It was the best feeling and I knew I made the right choice.
We only had her for two weeks, but in those two weeks that little stinker found her way into our hearts. Dogs are amazing aren’t they? She went up for adoption last Saturday and was adopted by a family who adopted her sister a couple of weeks earlier. YAY! Success!
And thank goodness because any longer and this blog would be about our new dog!
The end of 2021 is here. I am tying this year up with gratitude that I was able to have another trip around the sun here on Mother Earth.
It’s so hard to believe that we will be coming up on the 2 year anniversary of the pandemic. Two years! But I digress…
I’m here to report on the progress of my new kitchen sans refrigerator. Womp. Womp. Here it is with countertops, and the appliances we have. No refrigerator or microwave. The refrigerator has yet to be delivered and the microwave showed up crushed.
Oh well, what is a gal supposed to do? Call the appliance store and yell at them? Ridiculous. They have nothing to do with the disaster that is America’s shipping issues. So we wait.
This past year has taught me a lot. I learned the process of a new kitchen. My oh my! I learned that no matter how many facts you have some people just won’t listen. And because of that I also learned that staying silent is sometimes better especially when you’re right. And you know you’re right because some people are just downright crazy. Most importantly, I learned more about my relationships and friendships.
Hoping for a better year in 2022 for all! Stay safe, have fun and Happy New Year!
I did a horrible job updating my blog last month. I thought about changing the date, but decided I have to own it and go with what it is.
I was wrong about the kitchen being close to finished. This is where we were last month in the process.
Since then we have installed countertops and are now awaiting appliances, actually just the refrigerator and that is set to arrive in a week. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, supplies are hard to get and that has slowed the process down quite a bit.
And although it is amazing and feels like a dream to remodel our kitchen, I can’t help but think of the many who can’t. It’s hard for me, knowing there are people suffering without basic needs let alone a brand new kitchen. So it feels a bit off, posting about this process when there is so much struggle in the world these days. I’m trying to learn to balance it out in my head.
On the other hand, we worked hard to make this happen. And when I say worked hard I don’t only mean working for a living, I’m also referring to all the sacrifices we had to make to get here. We’ve sacrificed vacations, even small excursions, eating out, and more to save, save, save while others are off on trips, cruises, and eating out all the time. Do you know how much it is for a family of four to eat out for dinner these days? It is jaw-dropping.
I am extremely grateful where we are in life. But do I need to share it with the world? I’m not good at it. Besides there are others who are real good at it so I think I’ll just leave it to them. However, this process has taught me so much more than I ever thought it could. One of those lessons and reminders, I am definitely a more private and introverted individual than what social media requires. And I’ve learned that’s okay.
If you’ve read all the way to the end of this rambling, thank you. And cross your fingers for us that our refrigerator arrives when they said it would.
Season’s Greetings and wishing you a joyous holiday season!
A lot has happened in the past few weeks! We made a lot of decisions because we had to choose a countertop, tile for the floor, a sink, a faucet, and a style for the cabinets.
I cannot believe all the decisions involved! And things people who don’t do this every day would EVER think of in a million years.
Let’s take the sink for example; do you want a farmhouse sink or not, one bowl or two bowls, a top mount or undermount, a center drain or offset drain, stainless steel or a white sink, and if you choose a white sink, do you want quartz, cast iron, porcelain, etc. Wow!
That all being said, there is some fun to it but I think it would be a lot more fun if I had unlimited funds. Unfortunately, knowing this will be the only time we do this, it is a bit overwhelming.
Here is where we are in the process:
I’m thinking of doing a big reveal so I’m hesitant to share more pictures. And, it seems some of the people I’ve told I want to do a big reveal actually read this blog, but don’t ever tell me they read this blog. Besides, by this time next month we should be close to being done with the kitchen!
This is quite the process and I have learned a ton and made a lot of notes. I am hoping to share my experience and information so others have as much as they can to be prepared for this process.
AJ Rogers 