All Things EARTH... part 2

[Anita Latte]

Talking with one of my neighbors, he said that years ago, you could basically set your clock by the afternoon rain showers here but it isn’t like that anymore. There isn’t a rhythm to the weather anymore...and my weather app is completely unreliable...it doesn’t have a handle on the rain at all. When I lived in Loveland back in the 90s, the afternoon rain showers were also consistent...idk if they still are...I feel like the weather systems of the globe have become less organized and more chaotic in general...as they say they have for the hurricanes. The lack of strength in previously established weather patterns has translated into sluggish hurricanes that persist in place and don’t move along well...at least, that’s what “they” say.

[awhfy]

Anita, your neighbor told you what we remembered as well. 
 

Did you get your boat yet?  I’m envious of you putting up the rivers

[Anita Latte]

We did get our boat! There was a swinging deal on the boat we finally settled on at a very nice dealership in Cape Canaveral. We’ve had a bit of a struggle getting out on the water…DH had that meniscectomy, etc, so we haven’t been out too much yet. We have all the boating maps for the majority of the Indian River Lagoon though and are hopeful the chop conditions will be conducive to going out this weekend. That’s really what is the biggest obstacle…having those nicer water conditions coincide with the weekend. DH’s work has gone to a 4/10 schedule and we aren’t skilled boaters enough yet to go out on the evening yet.

[awhfy]

No boat here, but I did pay our final payment on our October cruise today. Starting to get excited. Hope you get out on your boat soon, how is DHs knee doing?

We’re enjoying our new gazebo immensely 

[laurspag]

Hello!  I hope everyone is enjoying the 4th of July weekend.  The weather here has been really nice...at least this weekend.  We have had a lot of storms lately, and hot, humid weather.  This weekend has been wonderful though.

 

We got a lot of odds and ends done.  Whenever summer gets here, I find myself wishing we had a pool.  I think about how much I would use it, and how Stephanie could be over with my grandson, and my other daughter and her friends could come over too...the whole "vacation in the backyard" or staycation feeling.  

 

The reality is, it costs a lot to put in an inground pool, which is what we would want.  In New York, the time span in which you can use it are narrow.  Plus, I am making the assumption of how much we would all use it but with my little dogs and their fear, and the fact that my daughters are not going to be here constantly, it is more a vision than what would likely happen.

 

I have been doing a lot of looking around online.  I don't really have any interest in just buying things I like, but I do want to address any gaps I have.  

 

VS was having their big semi annual sale, and they did have some exercise leggings in a great color really, really cheap, so I ordered those along with a pair for each of my daughters.  

 

I had ordered a few bras from Soma recently, but a few were not what I wanted so  sent them back. One bra was really nice, so I re-ordered that one.  Now that I have done this, I got a coupon in the mail effective the 7th, lol.  Oh well.

 

Anyone else finding good deals?

 

Anita, my sister in law lives in Florida, but she is generally in New York during the summer.  She sold her home and is currently in an apartment, looking for a small house.  It seems like she goes back to Florida for longer and longer periods of time, so I wonder if she is taking her time in figuring out if she wants a house or not here in New York.  Based on market trends, I would not buy this year, and I wouldn't have purchased last year.  If she is comfortable waiting until there are more houses available, she will get a better deal.  I have a feeling she will do that.

 

Anita, I find the weather in Florida so interesting.  I have sailed from Florida for various cruises, as well as visiting my SIL last year.    When it rains, does it rain all day?  

 

Melody, your gazebo looks great.  They have a beautiful one available in Costco, but we need a patio or deck first.  That is back on our list, but not for this year.  The cost of lumber is really driving the price up.   We know that we can't always get everything on our wishlist, so we are looking for a low level deck where there is essentially one step down.  We will likely have that step on all three sides, but one side is a bit on a downslope, so we are thinking we might skip the stairs on that side and just have a rail.  I hope that makes sense to you all.  

 

Once we have that, we would love to get a gazebo to cover part of it, while the end of the deck will get full sun.  This way, we can still use the deck when it is raining lightly, or when it is super hot.

 

We don't have any big projects for this year, but we do plan to do the den makeover.  It is mostly paint.  The batten and board is fairly simple, once you plan the spacing out.  I already have the chair and curtains in here that I want.  It will involve a lot of thinking on the arrangement of wall decor, as it will be my Red Sox items.  We have been somewhat selective with that.  I wasn't looking for the man cave look, but something that felt a bit more refined, if that makes sense.  I would rather have less items but have them be what I want to see.  Am I sounding logical? In other words, I don't want one of those rooms where we have a big collection of stuff.

 

I am excited about it.  We are hoping that by fall, the cost of the wood for the walls won't be so bad.  I haven't looked myself, but I understand that building supplies in general cost about twice as much as last year if not more.

 

[awhfy]

2 hours ago, laurspag said:

Hello!  I hope everyone is enjoying the 4th of July weekend.  The weather here has been really nice...at least this weekend.  We have had a lot of storms lately, and hot, humid weather.  This weekend has been wonderful though.

 

We got a lot of odds and ends done.  Whenever summer gets here, I find myself wishing we had a pool.  I think about how much I would use it, and how Stephanie could be over with my grandson, and my other daughter and her friends could come over too...the whole "vacation in the backyard" or staycation feeling.  

 

The reality is, it costs a lot to put in an inground pool, which is what we would want.  In New York, the time span in which you can use it are narrow.  Plus, I am making the assumption of how much we would all use it but with my little dogs and their fear, and the fact that my daughters are not going to be here constantly, it is more a vision than what would likely happen.

 

I have been doing a lot of looking around online.  I don't really have any interest in just buying things I like, but I do want to address any gaps I have.  

 

VS was having their big semi annual sale, and they did have some exercise leggings in a great color really, really cheap, so I ordered those along with a pair for each of my daughters.  

 

I had ordered a few bras from Soma recently, but a few were not what I wanted so  sent them back. One bra was really nice, so I re-ordered that one.  Now that I have done this, I got a coupon in the mail effective the 7th, lol.  Oh well.

 

Anyone else finding good deals?

 

Anita, my sister in law lives in Florida, but she is generally in New York during the summer.  She sold her home and is currently in an apartment, looking for a small house.  It seems like she goes back to Florida for longer and longer periods of time, so I wonder if she is taking her time in figuring out if she wants a house or not here in New York.  Based on market trends, I would not buy this year, and I wouldn't have purchased last year.  If she is comfortable waiting until there are more houses available, she will get a better deal.  I have a feeling she will do that.

 

Anita, I find the weather in Florida so interesting.  I have sailed from Florida for various cruises, as well as visiting my SIL last year.    When it rains, does it rain all day?  

 

Melody, your gazebo looks great.  They have a beautiful one available in Costco, but we need a patio or deck first.  That is back on our list, but not for this year.  The cost of lumber is really driving the price up.   We know that we can't always get everything on our wishlist, so we are looking for a low level deck where there is essentially one step down.  We will likely have that step on all three sides, but one side is a bit on a downslope, so we are thinking we might skip the stairs on that side and just have a rail.  I hope that makes sense to you all.  

 

Once we have that, we would love to get a gazebo to cover part of it, while the end of the deck will get full sun.  This way, we can still use the deck when it is raining lightly, or when it is super hot.

 

We don't have any big projects for this year, but we do plan to do the den makeover.  It is mostly paint.  The batten and board is fairly simple, once you plan the spacing out.  I already have the chair and curtains in here that I want.  It will involve a lot of thinking on the arrangement of wall decor, as it will be my Red Sox items.  We have been somewhat selective with that.  I wasn't looking for the man cave look, but something that felt a bit more refined, if that makes sense.  I would rather have less items but have them be what I want to see.  Am I sounding logical? In other words, I don't want one of those rooms where we have a big collection of stuff.

 

I am excited about it.  We are hoping that by fall, the cost of the wood for the walls won't be so bad.  I haven't looked myself, but I understand that building supplies in general cost about twice as much as last year if not more.

 

Lumber just dropped 40% in June here. Our gazebo doesn’t have any wood in it. We bought it at Costco, 2nd  best move we’ve made in our yard. Les had put the paving stones in several years (likely 10 years) ago, that was the best move. We spend a lot of time hanging out in the yard 

[laurspag]

We would go with a patio too, but our yard isn't flat so the low level deck seems to be the way to go.  We are going to use a composite product, hopefully.  It should hold up better.  I'm sure you understand about that - four season weather is rough. 

 

Right now, we have a small concrete stoop where there used to be a back door years ago.  It holds our swing, which we use a lot so I know we will love a deck.

 

It sounds like you may have gotten the gazebo we were looking at!

[awhfy]

15 hours ago, laurspag said:

We would go with a patio too, but our yard isn't flat so the low level deck seems to be the way to go.  We are going to use a composite product, hopefully.  It should hold up better.  I'm sure you understand about that - four season weather is rough. 

 

Right now, we have a small concrete stoop where there used to be a back door years ago.  It holds our swing, which we use a lot so I know we will love a deck.

 

It sounds like you may have gotten the gazebo we were looking at!

We bought the 12x16’ Steel top gazebo (Messina by Sojag). It’s great. When Les put the patio in he had to bring in yards of dirt to level the area. We’re now discussing replacing our 30’x45’ second level deck with Trex. I’m done with refinishing the deck every year. It’s really pricey tho!

[laurspag]

Melody, I forgot to mention about that concrete stoop...

 

My husband's parents put one in the front, which is a narrow porch, and this one in the back.  We have no idea why, but they didn't put it in as slab, but they made it really deep.  We don't know why they did that.  They are about two and a half foot deep, possibly more.  The deck can actually cover it.  It's just that it runs so deep underground, we wouldn't want to remove it.  It was considered in the front, but we had a contractor advise against removing them due to expense and the likelihood they were poured against the foundation.  We don't want to damage anything. 

 

 have total cruise on the brain right now, and can't wait.  I was looking at cabanas again, and there is just no way I will ever pay $1000.00 and up.  I found new ones posted today for $700.00, and I am actually considering it.  I'm very frugal normally, but I do have a beach bed reserved right now at $200.00, and the cabana would provide a lot of room and sun protection for us.  

 

My husband works so, so, so hard...I think I could use my own savings and surprise him.  He knows about the beach bed, and so the difference is $400.00.

 

Has anyone used the South Beach cabanas on Cococay before?

[awhfy]

Laurie, your in-laws likely put it in so deep because of frost heaves. That’s how concrete stoops used to be done in the northeast a long time ago 

 

I've never been to CocoCay. All our cruises, never been to a private island!  That being said, $700 is a lot of money for a couple of hours. I’d keep the sun bed & get one of the large microfiber towels from Amazon (about $15-20) to use as a sun shield. I’d use the extra $$ for a great specialty dinner

[awhfy]

I’ve been thinking about Sally, hoping she’s doing ok. Sailor Sally, if you’re able, please let us know how you’re doing

[laurspag]

I've thinking of Sally, too.  

 

For those of you looking at new clothes, I've picked up a few things lately, since I had a chance to check out some sales while my husband was away last weekend.

 

Leggings: Athleta is having a sale, and while everything is still expensive, some of the deals weren't too bad.  Victoria Secret has a great sale, and some really nice, earthy colors if you are looking for those.  I actually bought a pair of brown leggings, and they are a true chocolate brown.  Overall, my favorite leggings are those that are super soft, and both brands carry some like that.  The brown ones are more of a compression type, 

 

Odds and ends in earthy colors: Macy is having a pretty big sale, and I found a few things worth buying.  I really need to get some jackets (blazers) for work and I've been putting if off because I don't really like them, but they are good choice for work.  I found a few styles that I like.  I only ordered one, and the color was more of a turquoise than teal, but it is pretty.  I am sending it back to either exchange it for a smaller size, or maybe a different color because they had more than one color that I liked.

 

One thing I really haven't had success with is work pants.  I can't seem to find much.  In reality, I have plenty but since I am still struggling with that 5-7 pounds, some of them don't feel comfortable, and I am determined to lose the weight.  It is frustrating...I'm making no progress.  I am not on a strict diet, but I am trying to watch what I eat and exercise more.  

 

While we need and use our spare bedroom, I think all the time about how much I would like a home gym, and to really have the items that I use and want in it.  I would be happy to be in there every day, and skip paying for the gym membership.  We go to a local gym, so it isn't cheap like the chains.  I am always thinking of the pros and cons of each.  

 

I think that I would still do a more detailed workout once or twice a week, but in between,  I would do smaller workouts.  I used to have a treadmill, and i used it every single day!  It was easy to hop on at the end of the day, and walk a mile just like that.

 

 

[awhfy]

Laurie, I’d look into getting another treadmill or elliptical if you used it every day previously. We also belong to a private gym & it is pricey. I live my aqua classes tho, so it gets me out 3-5 days a week

 

when is your cruise?  We’re 100 days out today for ours!!  Melody

[awhfy]

Anita, I hope you’re getting out on the water!

 

Chicos & Athleta are having their semi-annual sales. I really wanted a Santorini dress from Athleta but they didn’t have my size in any color, I’ll keep looking. Laurie, you might really like the Santorini. It’s a high neck, sleeveless, swing dress; very figure flattering & packs like a dream (seriously in a sandwich bag in my purse). I’ll keep looking, maybe I’ll get lucky. Melody

[laurspag]

It's interesting, Melody.  While I used to use my treadmill every day, I never use the ones at the gym.  I think it is because I'm trying to get as much into my workout as I can, and with the eliptical, I work other muscles, including my arms more.  But I am trying to imagine a room in our house that could hold all the things I would like to have, and that is where the gym membership doesn't seem so expensive after all.  🙂  I regularly use the elliptical, recumbent cycle, I want a treadmill for days in between, mats, weights, and some sort of multipurpose machine.  I use a lot of the different things at the gym, as well as my husband.  We do have some weights at home - 2 each at 5, 10 and 20 pounds.  The funny thing is that my go to weight at the gym is 15 pounds.

 

But I'm not really in a position to think about a home gym right now, so we will still with our gym.  

 

It's funny, because I didn't think our spare room would really get used much, but in addition to when my daughter and grandson stayed with us, we have used the crib a number of times during visits, and the bed has been used a few times by friends of my younger daughter.  So I am happy to have that room.  Eventually, the crib will probably come down and I'll get a small dresser from my favorite rummage place that can have a drawer for some of our overflow and a little space in case someone comes for a visit.

 

It's funny when you talk about Anita taking her boat out.  If I had a boat or pool, I'd be very sad because we have had so much rain, we would not be able to use either that much.  We've had a lot of weather in the 90s, and extremely humid.  We have had more thunderstorms this summer so far than we've had in the last three years combined, or so it seems.  Today is a bit cooler, but it is an all day rain..  Not heavy rain, just light.  

 

I have seen the Athleta sale, and I'm going to visit there shortly.  I did a good cleaning of a few drawers since I did get a few very nice pairs of tights from VS for incredibly good prices.  I will have to check out the santorini dress, but I am pretty sure that is the one I have been watching.

 

I tried a Soma sports bra.  My daughter got an email that they had a one day, in store only sale of their sports bras for $20.00 each, so she stopped after work and got one for her, and one for me.  She got me a large, since my bra size is 36DD.  It is very, very comfortable.  The support is pretty good, but I should have gotten a medium so that it provide even more support.  But it isn't bad at all.  It is a bra that I could wear 24/7 from a comfort standpoint.  

 

I think if they have these on sale again, I might order one in a medium.  Sadly, they carry white, black, gray and hot pink.  I wear gray all the time, since there can be a lot of limitations in gym bras so that is what she got me.  It was well worth $20!

 

Margaret, are you lurking?   We haven't heard from you much lately.  I hope you are enjoying your time at the lake. 

[MJC]

LOL Laurie, I have been lurking, and I have been very busy! In addition, I don't have a scanner at the lake so I haven't been able to do any fashion photo posts. I've been living in shorts and tank tops, bathing suits, easy cotton dresses. Losing and gaining the same 5 pounds. Trying out new hair colors and feeling the same general discontent no matter what I do. But, I finally got the name of a new colorist in the City to try. A friend who is a fellow EARTH uses her, and her hair always looks nice. In the fall when I'm in the City more, I will make an appointment for a consultation.

 

My brother and his girls were here for a week - wife, three stepdaughters, and one of their friends. They are active and wonderful young women so it was a great week and I was sad to see them go. Ages 13 - 19. Game to try anything. There was lots of kayaking, paddle boarding, swimming, a day in the city at the Met, you name it. My brother recently had emergency gall bladder surgery so he and I had some wonderful quiet time at the lake when they all went into Manhattan for two days. I miss him so much. I had planned to continue visiting Michigan regularly to see him after my parents were gone, but the pandemic intervened. I am hoping we will get to spend Christmas together there.

 

I continue to be very active in the lake association, and since summer is our busy time, there has been a lot to do on top of my efforts to volunteer more for some of the summer activities. It has been nice to meet new people and I look forward to getting to know them better. I have been actively recruiting for open board positions for our elections in August.

 

Our weather has been very erratic, and has been so for the last few summers. We are wrapping our heads around the fact that this is the new normal. There have been some torrential rains with high winds, and even an evening where we had a tornado warning and spent an hour sitting in the basement. Fortunately we haven't had any damage, and had removed a dead tree earlier in the summer. We don't get flooding up where we are, but there has been a big increase in flooding in the lower areas of NY and NJ. You can google videos of the subway flooding that happened earlier this month.

 

My big accomplishment was that after a 2-summer hiatus, I was able to get up and slalom ski down the lake last week. I was very rusty, but since I had always planned to ski until I was 60 and then reassess, I was extremely happy to meet that goal. DH was also able to ski on his now two artificial hips and was very pleased with himself. We both were very conservative and careful. The aches and pains of the next day were easy to bear after our success!

 

I hope somehow Sally knows we are thinking of her. I wonder if she was able to sell her house and move like she was planning to do. Whenever I order from jjill I think of her.

 

p.s. I left DH at the lake, so I have our office ALL TO MYSELF!! 😆

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[awhfy]

Welcome back Margaret. I know the feeling of accomplishment in doing something you hadn’t done tor awhile. For me it was paddleboarding because my balance since all the foot surgeries absolutely stinks. Les & I got out with our boards earlier this week, such a freeing feeling!  

fashion (not really) photo taken yesterday. Top from Chicos sale 

[MJC]

Cute top Melody. Big thumbs up on paddle boarding! From how it looks, it's easy to underestimate how challenging it is at first. I always have to consciously relax my feet since they want to grip and that is not helpful. :)

 

We are 129 days from our Caribbean cruise on the Caribbean Princess, which is the ship we were on for the Houston oil spill cruise. We really love that class of ship on Princess, and since then we have sailed the Emerald and the Ruby. My hope is to do the Diamond around Japan one day, and then that leaves only the Sapphire and the Crown to explore. The first one, the Grand, we'll probably skip.

 

Our ports are Princess Cays, St. Thomas, and St. Kitt's. I'm bringing my snorkel gear for PC and I've already scoped out the threads on the best spot for that. At St. Thomas we will do a ship's catamaran snorkel. At St. Kitt's, there will likely be bubble excursions only. Our preference is to go on our own to a resort for the day (Marriott), but if it isn't allowed, we will stay on board. If we are allowed in the port shopping area I may get off to stretch my legs and wander around there, but then again maybe not! We have a lovely aft corner balcony that may just get all my attention. One of the perks we get is afternoon tea in our room, so that may be the perfect day to try that. Apparently it's quite a feast. I am all in on the pampering part of cruising this time!

 

We plan to be very flexible and we'll deal with whatever rules and changes exist. We are the first cruise on CB since before Covid, so we expect things will be different and there may be hiccups with a new crew's first voyage. The Enchanted leaves the weekend before us, so if there are any improvements needed at embarkation they will get the joy of discovering them. :) Princess hired some Disney Magic Band people to do their Ocean Medallion upgrade, which we haven't experienced yet. I've downloaded the app and begun the process of going paperless, and ordered our Medallions. So far so good. Final payment isn't until August 31st and they may push it back as they have for the fall cruises. By then we'll know more and hopefully they'll have worked out whatever kinks have appeared in their new protocols.

 

 

[awhfy]

We’re cruising 24 Oct 21 on Royal’s Liberty out of Galveston in 95 days…can’t wait

[laurspag]

I think we are all very excited about our upcoming cruises, aren't we?  For me, I don't sail until the end of November, so there isn't too much out there as far as protocols yet.  I'm sure things will change as well, so I'm having fun with the planning, but also know that there is a lot of "wait and see" to do.  

 

As I have said before, the only thing I regret is that it isn't a longer cruise.  They replaced Key West with Nassau, and while I am not happy with that,  I am happy that we will be cruising again.

 

I can imagine the HOA at camp is keeping you pretty busy, Margaret.  It sounds like you are enjoying yourself.  And the office all to yourself...yay!  I have to admit, I always have the office to myself.  I don't think my husband has ever even sat in the chair.  The more I am in here, to more I can't wait to work on the room.  One thing I may do is go ahead and paint.  The ceiling is easy - it's white.  I can put tape on the walls, paint the upper part, then the lower part.  Once the batten and board goes up at a later date, I will need to caulk and add another coat or two of paint to the lower walls.  

 

I prefer to work from start to finish on projects, but my work year for vacation  runs January until December, and with my husband, it runs from July through June.  It is always confusing to me when I am figuring it out, but working for a college, that is how they address it.  So I have more time to use until the end of the year than he does.  I was thinking September, because we have a lot of people off in July this year at the bank.  I don't really need to take a full week either.  I can take three days because I'll have the weekend with it.  The biggest thing is moving everything around.

 

We have been looking for two items we really want for the room.  I am looking more for vintage or repurposed items, so it will take a while.  I dutifully check out Rummage Heaven, and there is an item for the foyer that I like, but there are some issues.  

 

I'll save all the details for another time, but it can be challenging sometimes, especially when we are watching money more carefully right now.  We want to save and pay for items outright, and my husband has had no overtime in over a year, so that constricts the budget a little.

[awhfy]

Well, we bought a new CRV yesterday.  No intention of doing it. Our dealer was offering a free inspection & free oil change. They really wanted our 2015 CRV (only 51000 miles on it). Offered us $2000 less than we paid for it in 2014 & a smoking deal on the 2021 special edition touring model (every bell & whistle known to man). It’s Aegean Blue (I know, shocking, my new car is that gorgeous cobalt blue that I love), easy to see in the snow. It’ll be here Monday or Tuesday. What a way to end July!  Easiest car deal I’ve ever done. Melody

[PurpleHays]

I'm due for an oil change and I wonder if they'll do the same for my 2016 CR-V. I rolled over 60K on vacation last week, so relatively low mileage. We'll see.

 

[awhfy]

11 hours ago, PurpleHays said:

I'm due for an oil change and I wonder if they'll do the same for my 2016 CR-V. I rolled over 60K on vacation last week, so relatively low mileage. We'll see.

 

Check it out, we got the 2021 fully loaded CRV Touring for under $10K after trade-in. The dealer offered us way over blue book (& $7K over Carvanna). It was a deal too good to turn down

[PurpleHays]

12 hours ago, awhfy said:

Check it out, we got the 2021 fully loaded CRV Touring for under $10K after trade-in. The dealer offered us way over blue book (& $7K over Carvanna). It was a deal too good to turn down

Guess I'll be checking out KBB before I schedule my next oil change.

 

KBB estimates about 3K more than the last time I had an oil change.

Edited August 3, 2021 by PurpleHays

[laurspag]

That is fantastic, Melody.  That is a very hard to come by deal.  Currently, I have a lease.  The plan is that before I retire,  I will buy a car.  I don't put a ton of miles on a vehicle...I'm not at 8000 yet and I've had my car for 2 years.  When I retire, I think I will be holding on to that car I buy for a long time, since my husband will be retired too and he drives everywhere.  Maybe we can go to one car as well, but that won't be right away.

 

So.....my cruise was cancelled.  Just over the weekend, I was looking at my reservation.  I am always watching prices so that if I have anything booked (cruise, excursions, drink package, etc.) I can re-book if there is a price drop.  I checked today after work, and there was a notification.

 

Apparently, they are moving some ships around, and rolling out the start up cruises one by one, and Brilliance out of Tampa is due to start sailing about two weeks after I was booked for.  I have an email in to my travel agent to see what options are available.  I plan to review all that myself too, but I know it gets confusing with future cruise credits, lift and shift, etc.  Thankfully, I booked the airfare and hotel the same way I don't lose any money and there is no re-booking fees involved.  

 

I'm hoping for two things: 1) to get a cruise in before the end of the year, and 2) get similar pricing.  I really don't mind if I need to book for perhaps October.  Final payment was due at month end anyway,, so it would just be a matter of changing my vacation week. 

 

It still makes me sad, but I have seen so many obnoxious people lately, and I think that even though I'm bummed out about it, my poor travel agent probably has to deal with enough frustrated people.

 

This week, I have been getting up every night multiple times for leg cramps.  A few nights ago, the brackets broke in our bookcase closet, and the top shelf not everything all over the place and left some holes in the wall.   There have been a few other things too.  But you know what?  That is all small stuff.  I am healthy, I have an amazing family.

 

Other good things: my husband and I had a great date night last weekend to celebrate our anniversary.  We met with our financial advisor, and it looks like we are right on track for our retirement goals.  We purchased the perfect replacement for the hall sofa table, which we have been looking at for ages at Rummage Heaven.  (we had to load it up in the pouring rain, but my smart husband brought along the big roll of plastic wrap, and we were able t close the cover on the pickup!)

 

I have a good life, and I am fortunate.  The news about our retirement planning in particular, has been great. He showed us a lot of great information, and he will be sending it to me shortly so that I am able to go over it more carefully.  6 more years for me, hopefully!!