Another Lifetime to go

23rd September 2025

It was a quiet day compared with yesterday, we decided to do other stuff, but of course Goodwill came into the picture, as always.

Another popular venue is Plato’s where Kelli had more things to sell. 

I decided to go to Best Buy, a store that dealt with white goods. I had read that they had a Geek Squad section there, so I thought I might go and ask them questions about my MacBook.

The moment I got there I realised that it was not that easy. There were two “kids” dealing with two old people, who obviously had tech questions. I noticed there was a monitor with names and times listed. With the next available spot one hour away, it was obvious that an appointment is necessary. So I left and headed back to Plato’s, but going to a cafe for a coffee and a cake, that happens to be near.

After emerging from the cafe, Kelli wanted to drive to her doctor’s surgery to buy a supplement she was low on. This proved fruitless as it was not in stock, and would take a week to get it. That was not good news as it was one she takes for sleep.

Whilst we were in the area we went into the Zeeland Goodwill and found a dresser that we hope to flip with the minimum of effort, in strict contrast to the kitchen island we delivered yesterday.

22nd September 2025

It was our seventh wedding anniversary, that has gone faster than I could imagine. We exchanged cards and read each other’s sappy words, and Kelli handed me a gift that she had made that was so amazing.

What she had done was searched through the collection of pennies that I have been saving, for coins that have significant date and mounted them in a frame. There was one from 1990 the year we first met, 2005 when we got together, 2018 when we got married, 2019 when we bought the house, and 2025 when we celebrated our seventh anniversary, it was such a great idea. She had used pieces of thin walnut to mount the coins, and I did wonder where those strips went, I was joking of course.

The next significant event was the delivery of the kitchen island. That was a task, we had to borrow the strength from the guy across the road who almost picked it up on his own.

Once we arrived there were two things that worried me, one, was stairs that we had to climb on to a deck, and two, the width of the stairs, luckily, after a lot of effort, and bursts of adrenaline we got it up the stairs. It was a lot simpler to actually get it into the kitchen.

We then had to go back to get the top and drawers. Thankfully I had pre-drilled the holes, so fitting the top was a lot easier than I thought.

That didn’t stop me sweating like a pig.

The lady was really happy with it, the colour was exactly what she wanted and it looked good in her kitchen, in some way it was sad leaving it, but I was glad that it’s done, now I can concentrate on something new.

21st September 2025

Final assembly day, doors and drawer fronts, these take a bit of time to get right. With shims and spacers, everything was aligned and attached. I drilled the fixing holes on the underside of the top and applied the final coat of wax oil, now we need to get it out of the garage.

Kelli messaged the lady to find the best time for collection, what came back was a rather vague answer, meaning she couldn’t get a truck until the end of the week. That went down like a lead balloon, we have other pieces to work on and it takes up a lot of space.

I will measure to see if it will fit in our truck, maybe part of it will if we have the strength to lift it. The top will have to be a separate trip.

It was back up to Kelli’s mums for ice cream after a trip to Goodwill.

I was startled to see a trans person, not the most attractive man trying to be a woman, which is a whole debate I don’t want to get into.

People can be who they want to be, and if that’s the life they choose, good luck to them.

20th September 2025

I am another step closer to finishing the kitchen island, and quite frankly, I’ll be glad when the bloody thing is delivered.

Everything has been painted, and we pulled the top out of our store room, and applied the first coat of a food safe wax oil. When the thing gets delivered, I will have to fit the top on site, it will be just too heavy to handle.

Of course we had rain this afternoon which put paid to doing anything outside, so I spent time on my laptop trying to get an install disc to work.

To most people it’s probably a simple task, but to me it will always end in failure and frustration.

In the end I decided to install the back up, just to prove that I can do that, which was successful, but I still can’t access my emails on it. I re authorised the laptop which I thought would solve the problem, but it didn’t.

I farted around with it for a couple of hours before closing it down, I’ll pick it up maybe tomorrow.

19th September 2025

It’s a very small world, and it freaks me out.

Kelli was invited by an old school friend to a launch of her first book.  It’s called Breaking Free , and her name was Ronda Busscher.

It’s a true story of her difficult life, Kelli knew a lot about it during their friendship, so now that it was in print, she wanted to attend the event.

I was happy to go along, as I’ve never been to a book launch before, I thought I might learn something.

Well the first thing I learned was to hold an event that is easy to get to. In fact I suggested that it would be a good second book to write.

It was way out in the sticks, the route was arduous, and without GPS we would still be looking for it.

Eventually we arrived at a place called Sandy Pines, primarily a golf course, but also an area of weekend cottages.

The launch took place in the club house, and as we entered, Ronda spotted Kelli, what followed was a selection of squeals and laughter, as I stood by, the silent observer.

There was a very nice cake on offer, and many people sat around cheerfully munching, holding their copy of the book. 

Kelli had a copy presented to her, which was a nice gesture. I did feel a little strange, but I had a second piece of cake by way of an excuse to do something.

Then it happened, Kelli was aware of this guy hovering in the background, thinking it was someone who wanted to talk to Ronda she thought nothing of it. 

Suddenly this guy came into my view, “are you Peter?” He said.

I took one good look and recognised him immediately, “Don Thomson!” I exclaimed, then we squealed and shouted, I couldn’t believe it. 

Out in the wilds, at an obscure event, and there was someone I knew, it was amazing.

It was even stranger, because we were due to meet up for a beer with Jim Vandragt a couple of weeks ago, but that didn’t happen because Don couldn’t make it. 

For those who don’t know who Don and Jim are, well they were both IT support for engineering at Herman Miller, Don was the manager and Jim did most of the work. I have known them since the 90’s and once we got into CAD they helped install and supported us.

So was it fate? Are we all connected by six degrees of separation? It’s a weird thought, but I seem to agree with it after it happens.

18th September 2025

Another doctors appointment for Kelli, so another trip to Zeeland, stopping off at the Goodwill store for good measure. Today there was no furniture , but that didn’t stop Kelli finding thirty seven scoop handles, guess what we will be putting on the dressers in the near future?

I was due to meet up with Lloyd for our regular chat and drink, so my time in the garage was limited. I was leaving the painting of the island to Kelli, so I worked on another tall dresser, scraping off the paint and applying a special primer.

I drove into the town, as summer has officially ended there wasn’t many people about, not that we ever had to fight for a table, but it was noticeable. 

Lloyd is very knowledgeable on American history so it a learning experience for me, but I do try to throw alternative theories at him occasionally.

I have concluded that he believed everything he has been taught, read or told without question.

I suppose that’s where we differ, he is a bit older than me, and I have to respect how he thinks, but it does lead to some interesting discussions.

When I got back home Kelli had given the island a second coat, so I hope we can finish it over the weekend.

17th September 2025

We finally got some paint on to the kitchen island, at long last, finally some colour.

The first thing we did this morning was a bike ride to the big lake. As it isn’t summer anymore, there wasn’t any security guard that we had to blag our way in.

It was a perfect day, clear blue sky, and water to tempt you in, until you felt it, it’s cold.

In the next week or so the snow fences will be erected and then it all downhill to autumn. 

The last job on the island was drilling the holes for the shelves, of course they have to be accurate otherwise there would be a rocking shelf, and nobody wants that.

So in the blazing sun, I had to lay down with a ruler in hand and a pencil in the other, marking the first hole position. I had bought a drill jig to use to bore out the others, that is a time saver.

Then Kelli started on the painting, first the doors and drawer fronts then the big bugger.

Luckily it is on a trolley, that makes it much easier to move. Tomorrow will be the second coat, then out will come the top, I can’t wait for that one.

16th September 2025

Finally the dresser that we’ve been holding for the past month was picked up. Now we have a bit more space again.

I was working on the kitchen island, I’m desperate to get it finished and delivered by next week.

I fitted the second door then noticed a few things I wasn’t happy with. A quick dimensional check showed a discrepancy of about an eighth of an inch. Once I planed that back, things looked a lot better.

It is a very heavy bugger, getting it off the trolley was difficult, I can’t imagine the total weight once the top is fitted.

But I made good progress, hopefully we can get paint on it tomorrow.

The news is still dominated by the Charlie Kirk assassination, charges have now been placed on the young man that is in custody. Both Kelli and myself still believe something is not right. So many ballistic experts have been analysing the videos and almost all have agreed on one thing, the guy they have in custody could not have done it.  Kirk was not hit from the front, it was on his right hand side. 

I cannot see how this would ever get to court as any lawyer would easily discredit the current account of what happened.

Someone will try to stop this guy going to court, there will have to be another “distraction” to take away attention.

It may seem that I’m becoming a bit of a whacko, but it’s all so clear, the authorities really think we are stupid.

I was impressed with the massive crowds in London, it’s about time, I hope the next one will be double in size.

15th September 2025

I have come to dislike our blackout curtain in the bedroom. We got them to help ensure that Kelli wasn’t woken early due to the sunlight flooding in. Now with the early morning being darker, I am fooled,and end up sleeping later than I wanted.

This has a knock on effect, and shortens the time I have to work on things, which at times I find frustrating.

Today, by the time we had breakfast, and Kelli had selected the clothing she wanted to wear, it was nearly 1.00pm, then we had to go shopping.

We did our thing at Natures Market then went on to Ace Hardware to buy the paint for the kitchen island. As we were getting out of the car, I put on my glasses, Kelli looked at me and burst out laughing. I couldn’t understand what the joke was until I saw the glasses I put on, they were hers, I must have picked them up in error. It was a good thing she noticed otherwise I would be walking round the store looking like Dame Edna Everage.

There was one important thing we had to do. 

Yesterday when we delivered the dresser to the apartment Kelli noticed that she had forgotten to paint the top edge of the drawer fronts.

She messaged the lady to apologise and agreed to return to finish the job. 

The call came later in the afternoon, so it was me that had to go and do it. Along with other chores, I managed to get back in time,  because we had someone coming to collect the cabinet that we got from Goodwill yesterday, it was all go today.

14th September 2025

We had to deliver the white dresser to a new apartment complex on the north side of Holland.

Kelli had added that we offer free delivery over a ten mile radius, which was enough to swing the deal. This has been an advantage since we started doing it, especially if people don’t have a truck or SUV to collect it. 

However first stop we had to visit Goodwill to return things that we bought yesterday. I headed straight for the furniture section noting that there was a cabinet that might be of interest, Kelli saw it and peeled the price sticker off, a way of reserving it. 

As we had the dresser in the truck we arranged to collect it on the way back.

We eventually found the apartment, a collection of identical boxes of little interest, that I’m sure will show its age very quickly.

The lady was there to meet us, fortunately her place was on the ground floor, so no stairs.

The place was littered with boxes, the sign of a new mover. We positioned it in her bedroom, the only room that looked organised, the lady was pleased, we were pleased, and with the cash in our hand we headed back to Goodwill.

Although a modest sized piece it was heavy, made from solid oak, it was a bit of a mystery piece. That was revealed once we had a chance to look it over. At some time it was the top section of an entertainment unit, but the bottom section’s whereabouts was unknown. I made some little blocks to lift it off the ground, took some pictures, and Kelli posted it.