Rain was forecast all day, so the chance of taking pictures outside was zero, so we had to instigate plan B.
Earlier in the month I bought a background sheet that we can hang and take pictures in front.
So when the weather is bad or covered with snow we can unroll the sheet and take our pictures. Now we have a brick wall in our living room.
The freshly painted dresser and side tables were hauled in and pictures taken. It is hoped that the dark colour will be more popular.
We didn’t go to Kelli’s mums this week, as most of the household are sick, we have managed to avoid that, maybe the elderberry syrup is doing its thing and helping our immune system.
I spent time in the garage sanding the legs of a small desk, this is tedious but it should be worth it in the end.
It was the day of Steve and Jackie Kubica’s party, the highlight of our social circle, well if truth be known it’s the only light in our social circle.
It had been two years since the last one due to an illness that Jackie had suffered, the same old crowd was there, a bunch of colourful characters from Saugatuck and nearby Hamilton. We got there fashionable early as we weren’t sure how late we could stay. As it happened we left just after nine. Kelli had formed a menopausal group with most of the women her age. All I would hear was talk about hot flushes and anger, I knew all about that, I was able to reassure the husbands that there was life after death.
Of course prior to the party there is “What shall I wear” conundrum. This consists of multiple outfits laid out on the bed, hung up in the bathroom, and just about anywhere clothes could be hung. Then it is the slow progress of selection. Hours pass and Kelli gets more and more agitated, then there is the whittling down process, the fine tuning, then the final choice.
Minutes before we leave, there is doubt. A quick rethink, and we’re out the door. Don’t think it ends there, we then move into “I should have worn that” phase. That could last all evening , especially as it was warm in the house with all the bodies milling around eating and drinking.
On the way back there is the “I should’ve not eaten that” period, listing out all the glorious foods that were available, and the temptation that they offered. I, myself moved in to the “ I should have drunk more” excuse just to numb me from all the guilt she was suffering.
Once we got back, we entered the chill-out time when we need to prepare ourselves for sleep.
The excitement of the evening had to be calmed, with herbal tea for Kelli and a coffee for me.
As we lay in bed, we experience the “ I can’t sleep” moment, at which point I tell her a story, I drone on for about fifteen minutes sensing if that has been successful, I hope so, because after sixteen minutes, I’m asleep.
We managed to get back to the range after weather related issues caused us to miss a few weeks.
The range that was available was a bit of a quagmire, but we persevered.
There was an expectation that we would be crap being out of practice, but surprisingly we did okay.
People in the next range over were using some pretty heavy ammunition, the explosion was loud even with our noise cancelling headphones. Some take things very seriously.
Then it was back home to get stuff done. Kelli had a list of things to make in the kitchen, whilst I continued to repair two mid century style side tables. I decided to remove the damaged veneer, and rather than using Bondo to fill the area, I set in a new piece of veneer. This seemed like a long way of doing it, but it would take a lot of filler, and a lot of sanding to get it flat. Using a veneer patch means only a bit of filler will need to be pushed into the small gap, anyway, a lot less sanding.
Kelli decided to repaint the mid century set in black. She wasn’t sure that white was right for it, so change came swiftly and clean.
Kelli wanted to get to Plato’s to see if there were a pair of boots that she saw last time, were there.
Unfortunately they were, so she came out of the store gleaming.
In our house there are two large crates of shoes, each filled to the brim. I probably have more shoes now than I’ve had my entire life. I have work shoes, one pair for winter and one for summer. I have my trusty “Clarks” and a pair of Chelsea boots. I have sandals for summer, and that’s about it, the rest is a shoe museum for my wife.
So we left Plato’s and headed for Lowes to buy materials then back home to get some work done.
I know it’s Boxing Day, but over here it interferes with making money, so no holiday.
It’s funny, but there is an aversion to wishing anyone Merry Christmas, instead they say Happy Holiday, and I hate it. A girl at Lowes said that, and I was really close to correcting her.
I’m sure Trump will reinstate it along with all this diversity and inclusion crap. The woke virus will be eliminated as it is destroying the culture of the country, such as it is. So many big businesses are cancelling this mindset, and reverting back to hiring people with the experience, and not their skin colour or ethnicity.
Actually it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
The first thing that happened was poor old Larry was carried out on a stretcher, yet again. A fire engine was outside with its red lights flashing and an ambulance was outside his door. Now maybe he didn’t have any food for Christmas, and thought that hospital food was better than nothing. Kelli gave me a look that showed that I was not being in the Christmas spirit, as I alway say there is humour in every situation.
Kelli made an amazing breakfast, and afterwards baked a loaf of bread, and an amazing artichoke dip that we took up to the family get together.
We opened our gifts for each other, I got a vintage Tommy Hilfiger cardigan and a new pair of slippers. She also surprised me with a modern container to store my coffee beans, I must admit when this cork ball fell out of the box I was intrigued, but once the glass container came out, it all made sense.
I got Kelli a country kitchen recipe book, written by a Michigan chap who she follows on Instagram. Also, a woollen cardigan with highly coloured pattern. Just for good measure there was a decorative patterned duvet cover. Most of these were purchased quite a while ago, and chosen by her anyway. This is the safest method for buying anything for her.
However for this gift there was a problem, the material that it was made from caused too much static, not a good look for someone with long hair.
I realised something was up, and it’s a well known fact that if the recipient of a gift asks “ did you keep the receipt?” It means they wish to exchange it. Kelli was far more subtle, she referenced an addition of “Friends” where one of the cast was wearing a necklace that she had exchanged a Christmas gift for.
Now I wasn’t bothered, she had given be the hint for it in the first place, now it was finding an alternative. One and a half minutes later that was found, now the old one needed to be returned and the new one ordered.
With that sorted out, we headed up to Kelli’s mums for the get together.
The first part of the proceeding was opening up our secret Santa presents, I got a Trump book and a bag of mini Snickers bars. The book is by Victor Davis Hanson, an author that I have followed for a while. He has an interesting way of explaining things, like Jordan Peterson, clear, fact driven dialogue, I shall enjoy reading that.
The feast was extensive, a couple of plates of things and a couple of glasses of wine, which I had to share, rendered me unable to move for a while.
We then sat round the table to play another game of pass the parcels, that is where we buy two silly cheap things, and with a roll of the dice the items traverse around the table. After a time period, what ever things you have in front of you, you keep. Some are useful, some are crap, and you hope you get the good stuff. I ended up with a pair of wireless earbuds, and a bottle of bubble making liquid, I can’t wait to blow some bubbles.
After a slice of cheesecake, we headed home to feed the dogs, luckily they hadn’t eaten each other, then we took a walk to burn off the food.
It’s here again, Christmas Eve, all the weeks of build up comes to an end. Although I like the season, what I miss was the holiday, that time between Christmas and new year.
It was precious, that feeling of dread at the end of New Year’s Day knowing that the countdown to work day has begun.
Now there is no distinction, every day could be the same, but we’re not on the clock, we are our own boss, I like that.
Shopping day was brought forward, there were a few things we collected as emergency stock, in case one of the family failed to honour their commitments and bring the delegated food to the table. I shouldn’t be so negative, but my experience does not give me cause to feel confident. So with all the food safety in the back of the truck, the next was to Best Buy to return the ear buds. I thought there would be more resistance from the store, but it was easy, no questions, all monies were returned.
Then it was back home, we had furniture to post.
We took pictures of the dresser, side tables and cedar chest. As it is Christmas we don’t expect to sell much, unless people have spare money to spend, and would like nice furniture to buy for their spare room of holiday home, if so, we are here.
Well the ear buds didn’t work, so they will be going back. The problem with them is that they were uncomfortable, putting pressure on the inside of the ear. So really we didn’t get to see if they were successful blocking out the loud Jeep.
We finally finished the mid century dresser and side tables after some final filling and repainting.
The cedar chest also came off the production line. These took longer than planned because of the long drying time, so our monthly sales are well down this month.
It was a miserable day with fine drizzle, all this was good for is melting the snow. This put paid to plans to have dinner with Lloyd and Nancy, they didn’t want to risk the rain turning to ice.
The new blinds worked well, the rooms were duller, making the darker morning even more dark. I had no idea what the real time was, we should have got the electrical version which could be programmed to open at a specific time, now that would have been perfect.
My job today was fitting the blinds. There was one in the bedroom, a large and a small in the living area.
The blinds themselves were mounted in a aluminium extruded cassette, with brackets that screwed to the top of the window. The extrusion had features that the bracket clipped into.
The first task was to make a jig so I could drill pilot holes into the frame. This way all the brackets would be the same distance from the front of the window frame.
I started on the bedroom first. After the brackets were fitted I attempted to attach the cassette.
Locating the front attachment point was easy, but clipping in the back was a bitch. The extrusion had to be flexed and pushed at the same time, and only then would there be an audible “click” signalling a positive location.
I then did the small side window, that did require even greater effort to clip into the bracket because it extrusion was shorter.
The large one was a complete bugger. It was one long cassette with three separate blinds built into it. I sweated blood trying to clip in all five brackets. I managed three, the others eluded me, I was exerting so much force I thought my heart was going to burst through my shirt. I might attempt another go when my energy levels are back up.
Kelli was baking a lot of chocolate chip cookies that she wanted to take to some neighbours.
We occasionally get cakes and cookies brought some round to us, so as it’s Christmas time she wanted to do the same.
It gave us a chance to look inside their homes, well it’s what we do. We were given some cookies in return, one neighbour, Deb, made some North African cakes, they smelt and tasted like soap, definitely an acquired taste. These took her fours hours to make, she definitely won’t get that time back.
We had to deliver the table to an address on the north side of town. There are many housing developments that are built around man made lakes, and most of them are very pleasant places to live. The apartment we had to deliver was one of these. Of course finding the place is a bit of a mystery tour, but we eventually found it with the help of the lady jumping out at us.
We unloaded the table, and she immediately asked about the chairs. When Kelli posted the table she explained that the chairs were not part of the sale, so we thought that this would scuttle the deal, fortunately she loved the table, so we then carried it inside. Her apartment was on the first floor, which meant careful and slow progress up the steps.
We positioned it in the area she wanted, and left.
Next on our task list was to look for a pair of ear buds with some noise cancelling characteristics to help drown out the noises that keep her awake at night, including the loud Jeep. We drove to Best Buy to see what selection they had.
Because it was to be worn for sleep it couldn’t be active noise cancelling, which would have been ideal, but most of those stick out of the ear, making them uncomfortable to sleep with.
Anyway we found some that might be suitable, they will be tested tonight, although the Jeep will not be a problem because he doesn’t work on Sunday.
Kelli’s sleep was disturbed again this morning, I wasn’t quick enough to confront the guy, instead I planned to do it when he returned.
My chance came when he returned in the early evening. I casually walked over and introduced myself. I explained what was happening to us because of his noisy engine start up and running. This morning it was twenty minutes, I explained that many people in the road get disturbed by it.
I did not get angry, I laid out the problem and then asked him what he planned to do.
Fortunately he didn’t get aggressive or defensive, as he didn’t want to be a “jerk”.
So we went through some options. He has a new silencer to fit that might quiet his system down that he will try to fit at the weekend. I hope that works.
We collected our new blinds, I’m sure they will be fun to fit. On the way we dropped off the stool that Kelli had re-covered for Lloyd and Nancy. I think we are now up to date with all their requirements. Then it was back home to try to do a bit more painting of the mid century set and cedar chest, hopefully finishing that this weekend.
There was more snow overnight giving me more snow blowing experience.
Another Lifetime to go 