Another Lifetime to go

2nd October 2018

I had a simple job to do this evening. I had to pick Greer up from her counselling session. The place is along 24th street just before Bob Evans restaurant. “Yep! I know where that is, I have been there before” I said in a confident tone. In my minds eye I knew the route, a left turn up a small hill with the car park at the top. I set off, kept to the speed limits, made all the correct turns and got to the place a minute or two after six. Stopped the car and waited. Normally Greer would be waiting, but not this time. A few people left the building and drove off. Still no sign of Greer. A lady came to the door and appeared to lock it, then the lights went out. “Mmm” I thought, “Maybe the session over ran” I was making all kind of excuses to myself. Now it was six thirty, and it crossed my mind that maybe her Gran picked her up, and Kelli couldn’t reach me because I didn’t take my phone. I got out of the car and tried the main door, it was locked. There didn’t appear to be any sign of life inside apart from the cleaners. It didn’t dawn on me I was waiting at the wrong building.

I drove back to the house expecting to find Greer there, but she wasn’t, and neither was her car. That is when the sick feeling began. It got worse when I read the messages on my phone. Kelli had taken Greer’s car to collect her.

If I could find the spade I would have started to dig the hole to crawl into. Eventually they arrived back, I felt so embarrassed, even though Kelli was more concerned that something might have happened to me.

I now have to face the humiliation of being reminded of it, and comments like “Dinner is ready, if you can find the kitchen”.

I know this will go on the list of things to bring up at family gatherings until the end of time. I guess I deserve that.

1st October 2018

I started the surgical procedure on the large dresser that we got from the yard sale.

I removed the drawers from the centre section intending to create a shelf area. Firstly I had to remove the top, this was a combination is screws and glue blocks. With loving care I split the joint, and the top came away. This allowed me entry into the inner most parts of the carcass. With the aid of my back-cut saw I carefully removed the drawer support and dividing panel. With that part of the operation complete, I put my tools away for the day.

This was the starting point. Who loses a drawer? Some dumb ass that’s who.

We went to New Holland for dinner and was joined by Lesley and Mike our Brit friends. Kelli is always amazed at my ability for spilling food on my clothes, and is able to guess what I have eaten either by food stains or the residue I leave on my face. I was relieved to know that Mike had exactly the same problem.

30th September 2018

I started work restoring the radio cabinet. Like everything I have tackled it has suffered from water damage. Does Zeeland spend time underwater? If so I must make sure I’m not around. So I worked on replacing the layers of ply that have been destroyed. This is easier than covering it with Bondo and sanding it to shape.

Sunday means lunch with the family. Dave is a little more active these days and was eagerly talking about meeting Steve Kubica for breakfast. They met up again at the wedding so I was happy to bring those two together again.

That opened up a discussion with Kelli about the people we invited to the ceremony who failed to turn up, and did not contact us to apologise, or say why they couldn’t make it. We have people who we regard as friends who are just people we know, they have other circles that they move into. Kelli felt disappointed that these people didn’t think it important enough to write or call. I alway use the analogy of planets circling us, and how their orbits sometimes change,and leave us. Some always stay, and sometimes others join us. We shouldn’t be hurt by this, we are not the centre of everyone’s universe as we sometimes think we are.

I view it a little more harshly, there were others I would have liked to have invited that we didn’t. I would therefore strike them off the list for any future event we might be planning, including the first anniversary party.

(I would not go as far a digging a deep hole and throwing them into the pit, Kelli wouldn’t like that.)

The first year party is already in the planning stage, Kelli has a Pinterest page already set up. There is also the hallowe’en party coming up, this will be “bring food and a bottle” so we won’t have to eat pasta for a week.

The weather was grey and cold, feeling that the warmth has gone, the leaves will soon drop as we prepare for winter.

Today was a day to try to use up some of the left over wine, I know it’s a trial but someone has to do it.

29th September 2018

There is an expectation everyday that there will be enough content for the blog to make it entertaining, and when I’m not ranting, something usually comes up.

We had a lady arrive just after nine to pick up the two side tables. She was interested in it’s history, because we were told that the original desk was made in Chicago and used in an office in Detroit during the latter nineteen forties. I found a date stamp on the inside of the side panel marked 10th June 1942 that seemed to make her day, and she drove off happy.

Out next task was to take the kitchen island to Hudsonville. I had to do one little modification to it because the new knobs were a little on the large size overhanging, preventing the middle drawer from opening. Once this was complete we loaded the piece into the truck. Kelli had advertised it on Marketplace to see what reaction she would get. Now there are two main types of people who use it, first there are the genuine buyers who are a pleasure to deal with. Then there are the assholes who make an offer which is so insulting that it lights the fire of violence in my body. I would personally dig a six foot deep hole and bury the worthless pile of bull crap head first as a warning to others.

We had an asshole who offered us a hundred dollars less than the listed price. I was about to reach for the shovel, but Kelli reminded me that should go to the booth.

We moved most of the furniture around, and when satisfied with how it looked headed back home, stopping off in Zeeland to pick up a free old radio cabinet that could be an interesting rescue job. Later we stopped at the great church of recycling, Goodwill. There was certainly slim pickings at both places, so a little despondent we headed for home. On the way we passed a yard sale, Kelli’s head swivelled the usual one eighty degrees spotting a large dresser. We stopped to look at it, and made low offer, and secured it.

After loading the heavy thing into the back of the truck she found a small shelf and a silver cream and sugar set.

I thought that was just what we needed a cream and sugar for which we don’t use either, but hey! What do I know?

As soon as we got back she scurried into the house as I surveyed our spoils of the day.

A few minutes later she returned with her phone opened at eBay.

“This is the reason you married me” she exclaimed, pointing to a listing for the identical set at over a hundred dollars.

Within fifteen minutes she had listed ours, and had an offer from some guy in New York. As we had only paid a dollar (out of my wallet actually) we began the bargaining.

Reluctantly we accepted his offer, a bit below our asking price, but still a good profit anyway.

So going back to the start of this blog, everyday had a story, that amazes me and why I enjoy this life. I learn more about America all the time, and it’s not the reason I married Kelli, but it certainly helps, and she is a great cook.

28th September 2018

We had an offer on the bedside tables, so a ” High five” was in order.

It was back to the book store for a few hours, and a walk to Uncommon Grounds for my caffeine boost.

The season is drawing to a close, only the sad and lonely holiday people left, trawling through the remaining dregs that the gift stores have left. The closing signs have been posted to the windows and there is the smell of autumn in the air. In the week since the wedding the temperature has dropped so even I have taken to wearing a hoodie.

There is talk of a long hard winter ahead, guess the Americans are obsessed with the weather in the same way the English are.

I am fascinated by the media coverage of the Kavanaugh hearing. A lot of coverage showing a room full of old fossils trying to intimidate a woman giving her story. We are given many things in form of intuition, gut feel is sometimes the strongest, more often than not proves to be the correct one. I alway try to be impartial, flicking between Fox, CNN and NSMBC to hear the “spin” they place on the stories. What they cannot do is edit the words that are spoken, and the way they are said (unless it is Fox editing out the laughter at the end of Trump’s opening address at the UN)

America continues to be divided, and makes decisions based on ideological lines rather than moral and good reason.

Kelli chose to unfriend someone on Facebook because he mocked the right of women to have their say. The “unfriended” then tried to pass it off as a joke, but too many men (also some women??) think this is funny, Kelli did not, and this person hit the dirt.

Over here, people can be really nice and friendly, and you enjoy their company, but hidden behind their “curtains” lie the crazy politics. Most don’t understand the detail they blindly follow an old ideology before money and big business corrupted government. If they did, and really looked at what is going on, they could avoid following the other Lemmings off the cliff.

This afternoon we both worked on a kitchen island that we wanted to get to Hudsonville tomorrow. We work well together when we have a deadline. This was found at the side of the road a few months ago, and with some creative thinking and a pot of paint it’s been transformed.

Kelli is on the craft trip ( thank you bloody Pinterest). We sat at the kitchen table with a pile of old books, a shape puncher, a styrofoam ball, and a ton of pins. In what seemed a lifetime, we made one. It’s a good job that Christmas is three months away, we should finish a couple more by then.

27th September 2018

I was up early because a customer was due to pick up a headboard that has been in the garage for ever.

First it was 10.30, then 11.00, then 11.45. Finally she appeared at 1.00. I was beginning to think that this was another example of someone verbally committing to something and then not turning up. That has happened a couple of times, and it really tests my faith in people.

We made good progress on the two projects we were working on. Kelli finished painting the side tables and an island unit. She was not happy with the knobs that came with the piece, so said to me that we should go to the Hobby Lobby to look for some that were more suited. For some reason I did not hear all of her conversation, and carried on with whatever I was doing. A little later Kelli went into the house to start dinner. When I had finished my jobs I followed her inside. I noticed that she had changed her clothes, but not realising the reason. I said that I thought she would have changed into her evening “comfy clothes”.

” I will when we get back” she replied.

At this time I looked confused, and made the mistake of questioning what was happening. I realised the missing part of the conversation was the important bit, but bluffed my way though with a weak response.

That is when Kelli lifted a piece of paper, and waved it under my nose, this was “The list”. Kelli is a list person, so everything gets added to a list. I discovered that not only were there knobs, but styrofoam balls and twine, the result of last nights Pinterest searches. Stopping off at Goodwill on the way home, Kelli found things that were not on the list. We went with the intension of looking for a waistcoat that I could wear at a fancy dress party she is organising for Halloween. Instead we walked out with Christmas things for the booth.

I am not my best at shopping, I get tired just looking, so fortunately Kelli is an expert, I will stick to woodwork.

26th September 2018

Things got back to normal with a list of project to finish. Of course we were low on paint and wood stain, so a drive to Lowes was inevitable.

That place reminded us that we hadn’t seen Manchester Dave for a long time, we had sent him an invite, but never had a reply. There were a few no-shows at the wedding, but they never sent an apology or any communication at all. I consider that a bit rude.

A lot of the leftovers are getting a bit grotty now, as are some of the flowers, so the dustbin is filling up.

Matt and Brenda came over to show the pictures he had taken. Most of them were really good, some spoilt by me and some strange facial expressions, those will quietly disappear.

Kelli was a bit more critical, “That’s my bad side” was spoken several times, along with “not from the back!” Those will also join my pictures in the great delete file in the sky.

I tried helping Greer to master parallel parking. I set up some obstructions to represent parked cars, and she practiced reversing into the space. I didn’t realise how difficult it is to explain to somebody else when, and how to turn the steering. After a few attempts, she seemed to pick it up and was pretty good at it.

On our night walk with the dogs, Kelli spotted something sticking out of the rubbish bin. She went over to investigate, and tried to pull it out, and failed. She came over to me and suggested that I try. It was quite a long object, with a rubbish bag on top, trying to pull it out made a bit of noise (alway amplified at night) no lights came on, or dogs barked, so I made my escape, dangling this thing from my hand. By the light of the street lamp we saw it was a wooden window box, and it was in good condition. I managed to carry it back, although it seemed to get heavier with every step. Once back we could see it in more detail. Kelli will now go back on Pinterest to get ideas for a Christmas display.

I am now a fully fledged midnight scavenger, so another skill to add to my LinkedIn profile.

25th September 2018

There have been a lots of new ideas going through our heads since the wedding. There was a great response to the table settings which led us to consider setting up a small business renting them out. Most of the investment has been already made in glasses, plates and cutlery, so it could be an interesting experiment. Of course once it’s in Kelli’s head she is off like a guided missile to Goodwill. Just before the wedding she found these fifteen wooden table numbers, of which we bought the first six, leaving the remaining numbers on the shelf, now she wanted them. By the time we got there, only seven to ten were left, begging the question, who bought eleven to fifteen, and why?

There was also a stack of vintage plates that found their way into the truck.

Then it was time to get the flat tyre fixed. At the time we set off we decided to get the puncture repaired, by the time we got to the tyre place we decided to renew all four.

With the car sorted, we drove to Hudsonville to review any devastation caused by the flea market at the weekend. There had been a bit of activity, but not a lot, we did a bit of re-arrangement, adding a few things we had used at the wedding.

24th September 2018

We were up early to start the big clean-up. Mike and Lesley, our English neighbours pulled up outside as we got into the truck. We then headed in convoy to the venue.

The chairs were the first things to get stacked as we didn’t know when they were getting collected.

The plates, cutlery and glasses were all washed and packed away.

Mike and I broke down the tables and put them away, within a short time, it seemed, everything was in boxes.

There were a lot of flowers, putting them all together was a pleasant surprise. Kelli’s mom(mum) came down to help, although she wanted to make sure that some of the left-over cupcakes found their way into her car. She also took some of the flowers that Kelli had included in the display especially for her.

We all drove back to the house to drop off the first batch. I made some space in the garage to dump the stuff, we didn’t have the strength to carry it into the house.

As we were heading back, we noticed the front tyre on the truck was flat, so we had to change that.

The final trip cleared everything out, loading the pallet display into the back of the truck, almost made me useless as a husband.

We loaded up the spare food and bottles of beer and wine.

As there was so much beer we thought we could return it and get a refund, but no, the laws in Michigan do not allow alcohol to be returned. There is enough to get us to the first anniversary, or make us the most popular couple amongst the alcoholics of Holland.

Kelli set all the flowers in the house, making it look like a funeral home.

” One has to go sometimes”

23rd September 2018

Ugh! What happened yesterday? Oh yes, a party, the wedding, now I remember. The fog was lifting even though there was little sleep between us, our brains were highly charged. Kelli was thinking about the clean-up, I was thinking about the amount of food and drink that was still in the cooler at the venue. The place was closed all day so we had to wait till Monday to get started.

We drifted though the day in a haze, the anti climax was taking effect. The thought of food was the furthest from our minds, but we needed something.

This was Damian’s last full day, so we all went out for dinner at the Boatwerks restaurant. Damian ordered a lager shandy, the waiter looked confused, whereas the process on how to make a lager shandy was explained, still it didn’t sink in. In the end we ordered the constituent parts to do it ourselves, but even then he brought the wrong lemonade, useless git.

Back at the house, we settled in for another session of Star Trek Voyager, by which I fell asleep and fortunately missed a couple of episodes.