Week 52: Saying goodbye to 2023 and being excited for a new year

I am eager to turn towards 2024 and hope you are also looking forward to the possibilities of the coming year! 

Whew - we did so much in 2023. Bought and sold houses both with 30 day escrows. Moved from southern Cal to Northern Cal with a puppy using U-haul after giving away lots of stuff. Gave away lots more after the move. Had all the electrical, plumbing and termite damage identified in the home inspection fixed and also treated for termites. 

Replaced the sump pump and had the furnace hung to avoid further flooding damage. Did an earthquake retrofit and completely re-landscaped the yard front and back including adding new hardscape and trying to improve drainage to avoid future flooding in the crawl space.

We celebrated with and hosted family and friends. Provided some child care and simply enjoyed our grandchildren and the ease of short visits with them, our son and DIL. Found the services and providers we needed. Learned our way around. Found our exercise routines and walked the dog many times a day which helped us meet people. We think we have met some potential good friends. 

Identified a few go to restaurants for take out. Explored a bit. Made an effort to stay connected to the friends and family we left behind and farther flung ones.

We were at once stressed, tired, worried about the amount we were spending and delighted that we had moved to a nice home with nice neighbors and near our younger son and his family. 

We are so ready for an easier year full of joy and connections and less work LOL.

Happy New Year and wishing that you get all you want from 2024!

Week 51: 2024 Hopes - Joy and Connections

I do know this as 2024 is just around the corner -

I want to make local friends and spend time with them

I want to be healthier by making different habits routine

I want to finish my old to do list - or throw it out 

I want to find a rhythm for spending time with local family that works for all

I want to decide if I will travel to see my East coast family this summer and be happy with the decision 

I want to find at least one activity to do each week with people I really enjoy

What are you considering for the new year?

Week 50: What to leave behind in 2024

I was reading this blog post on Be More With Less 7 Heavy Things To Leave Behind and it really resonated.

I am contemplating what I most need to leave behind as 2024 nears and think it is probably expectations and reticence. Not an easy thing to do.

The opposite is true too of course as thinking about what you want to take with you into the new year is equally important. 

What would you find most valuable to leave behind as you head into a new year?

Week 49: Fun and ferries

We started the week off on Sunday by celebrating our DIL’s 40th at a winery tasting room brunch. It was fun and my DIL seemed very happy which is the most important thing💝

Wednesday I had my weekly Pilates session and those are going very well.

On Thursday a neighbor and I took the ferry from Point Richmond to San Francisco for lunch and a browse around the Ferry Building. We had lunch and I bought a small gift for Hubby. I enjoyed getting to know her a better. The ferry ride was short and very pleasant.

Almost all Christmas gifts have arrived and been wrapped. 

Hubby put together the 3rd bench for the backyard. Between us we hauled two large cardboard boxes, old TV cables, and some random metal thingies to the recycling center. That cleared more out of the garage aka laundry and storage room. 

Week 48: Miscellany

I walked 39 miles this month with my phone in my pocket. Clearly I walked a lot more than that as I only carry my phone on actual outdoor walks. There were also lots of stair climbs with a two story house again.

My back hurts less. Pilates sessions with a very good trainer is addressing the issue well. Much thanks to my son for finding this trainer who diagnoses and customizes extremely well. I like her as a person too.

So much for reducing grocery costs in November: I thought we could keep our November grocery, household, toiletries and alcohol spending similar to October. I was way off. 

Having 2 more adults to feed for a week, Hubby’s birthday dinner party for 7, and providing significant hors d’oeuvres for Thanksgiving added almost $200 to our spending for the month. Happily spent I should add as the family time was lovely and fun. Today is my local DIL’s 40th birthday party so, although my older son is sick and stayed home, my DIl is back for 2 nights. They will be gone much of December and January visiting her parents which makes these visits all the more precious. 

We still have spent less in these categories this year than last and I have lowered the budget goal a bit further for 2024.

Insurance costs and coverage: Once we decided not to switch insurance companies we took a close look at our homeowners, earthquake and excess liability policies. Raise a deductible here and get an earthquake retrofit discount there and it adds up. Plus we noticed the earthquake insurance still listed us as owning 2 homes (there was a few weeks overlap) instead of one and the homeowners insurance had not noted the recent roof replacement. 

Now I just have to go to city hall and get copies of all the permits for the property and hope there is one for updating water pipes!

Speaking of city hall: I submitted the form and documentation to get part of our city transfer tax refunded because of the retrofit. This is enough money to care about.

The county is slow: Still no word on our property tax credit for seniors who sold and bought a home in California. We are owed a discount on our property tax and submitted the form 7 months ago. To be fair, they did say it would take at least 6 months.

Our 2 year old furnace is oversized: With colder weather we have discovered that the expensive furnace the sellers put in is about 50% oversized so it was shutting down because it got too hot. Hubby found an experienced technician knowledgeable about this brand and he was able to make an adjustment to the gas flow so it works ok and doesn’t overheat. Whew. We did not want to have to buy a new furnace.

Planning for 2024: The new year definitely will see me focusing away from the house and yard. I’m starting to get excited about it!

Week 47: Fun and company

Yesterday my 2 DILs, 2 granddaughters and I had a girls adventure by going to a holiday crafts fair held in a former shipbuilding facility next to the Rosie the Riveter Historic Site. It was a really fun afternoon.

It was a great week with son and DIL here all week. 2 family birthday celebrations and Thanksgiving although I spent Friday feeling pretty tired as did the pup. Very worth it! Next Sunday we have another family birthday party and then are done until Christmas. 

The 9 month old granddaughter is crawling although her belly stays on the ground right now. She is fast on all the wood floors once she decides to move. I picked up a few toys for her age group from the Buy Nothing group. Also a bit of Christmas paper since I only need a small amount.

We have declared our yard done for now and gave away the leftover flagstone to a couple with 3 sons and a puppy who were very excited to get it to cover a muddy section of their backyard. Just one more bench to put together and then nothing until summer except keeping the plants alive and replacing the free one that has died. Oh, and enjoying it!!!

Week 45 & Thankful November 12: The joy of short visits

One thing I hadn’t anticipated with this move is how great it is to have brief visits with my son and his family. For example, in this past week I have stopped by to pick up or drop off stuff and had lovely short chats and last Sunday my older granddaughter came home with me to have lunch and visit a short time. 

During the drive home and while she was here we had very interesting chats that are good windows onto what she thinks about and likes at almost 7. She and the pup had some snuggle time too which they both enjoyed. She is very busy on weekends with lessons and friend activities and understandably wants to spend time with her baby sister and Mom and Dad so long visits aren’t what she wants right now.

Before we moved we had these short visits with our other son and DIL although the drive was an hour not 15 minutes. They now do the long drive and come stay with us for days which is also a great visit.

What are you thankful for today?

Week 44: Progress

Decluttering and Organizing

As the yard project keeps moving forward we are trying to use or give away the trash created before paying for a second and final dump haul. We took some leftover flagstone from the new patio and walkway as well as gravel that was pulled up and covered the dirt in a spot that gets a lot of water from a downspout. An interesting puzzle to put the pieces together to hopefully avoid a mud pit this winter 

I packed up the dog’s extra crate mats and the summer clothing I didn’t wear this year and stored them in bags under the bed instead of in the garage or closet respectively. If I don’t pull the clothes out next summer they can be given away. I am stressed by visual clutter so this is a good way to see if something is needed but not have to look at it.

Repurposed a plastic storage container that was holding jewelry that I decluttered and am using it as battery and fuse storage. Much better than the falling apart box I was using.

Being Active 

I spent part of Sunday at my son’s house helping a bit with 7th birthday party prep, chatting and watching the baby pull and roll herself around the living room. Gave the older one a book as an early birthday present and she plopped down and got right to reading it. She came home with me for lunch and a short visit.

Went to an introductory Pilates session with the trainer my son likes and booked 4 more sessions for November. Repeat after me: I will get back in shape!

Walked to the city rec center for the senior resource fair and got some helpful information. Everyone was so nice. This is a welcoming community.

Signed up for a monthly mystery book club at the library. Will attend a meeting on the 15th and see if it is a place to meet my “tribe”.

Had fun as usual with the goofy and loving pup.

Home Projects

The retrofit passed final inspection so now to get city transfer tax rebate and insurance discount forms done and submitted. The plants are in their spots in the yard, drip irrigation set up and working plus most of the bark mulch spread. Our new lightweight hoses arrived too. Just a few more things to get done.

I was able to give away all the rest of the dirt from digging holes to plant as well as the plastic pots the plants came in.

Saving

In an odd series of events I was offered the same amount of money for a small antique Navajo rug that was given to my mother in the late 1930s as I spent on my new and very cozy down comforter. I wasn’t even trying to sell the rug but had decided it was time to pass it on. 

Week 43: October Update and November Goals

OCTOBER ACCOMPLISHMENTS & FAILS

Reduce spending on food, household, toiletries and alcohol

October total $787 vs $948 for September - yeah! I know we can do better.

Complete major home projects

The earthquake retrofit is done and the final inspection is on Tuesday. Then we will get the signed certification to submit for our insurance discount and also submit our request for a partial refund of our home purchase city transfer tax.

The yard project is progressing. This coming week the rest of the plants go in, drip irrigation system is installed and bark mulch spread. 

Finish little tasks

Did some decluttering, organizing and mending/alterations. More to go.

Exercise regularly & more

Definitely a fail. Even had to postpone my first Pilates session a week due to illness.

NOVEMBER BIG GOALS

- Pilates weekly, at home exercise at least 3 days, and long walks at least 3 days

- Plan 2024 finances to replenish savings a bit

We have spent almost a year getting ready to move, moving and then doing the work on the new house. That has been a very costly and stressful. I am going to try to slowly add money back into our savings while learning what a normal year’s living expenses are here and focusing on other parts of life!

- Keep grocer, household, toiletries and alcohol spending under $800 (2 guests for 7 to 10 days but not hosting Thanksgiving & will eat out some)

- Low/No spending on household furnishings, clothing, coffee out, books, etc.

- Clean up dust and dirt from completed projects

The retrofit project unleashed lots of dust into our house probably coming in around the baseboards and ceiling fixtures the best we can figure. Every surface is dusty and it even is inside some kitchen drawers, etc. The yard project made all the screens and windows filthy on the outside too.

I don’t expect to get it all done in one month but it really needs focused work and effort. I’ll look for decluttering and reorganizing options as I go. We did put open a new furnace filter once the work was done.

- Visit one new place in area

- Try at least one new social activity

- Take pup on an outing

- Spend time with granddaughter/local family at least once not counting Thanksgiving

Week 42: Nephew visit & yard nearly done

Nephew visit: It has been over 10 years since we last saw him, his wife and older daughter. At that time they lived in Kenya and live in Taiwan now. We haven’t met his younger daughter and only he made the trip this time. It was great to catch up in person and he got to meet our son’s family for the first time.

Home Improvement Projects: We are near the finish line with our yard project. This week lots of plants were put in the ground including the beautiful silver sheen in the corner. Our son and DIL gave it to us as it was already too large for their yard. 

We still need to select and purchase the smaller plants and get them in the ground. Then the drip irrigation will be set up and bark mulch put down.

The yard is looking great and the pup is enjoying it both for running and sniffing. It is mostly an adult space, but future owners could easily convert some areas into play spaces by replacing gravel with real or artificial grass. 

We bought 3 of the benches in the top photo which are very comfortable. We will be getting a small black metal patio table back from our son and have some chairs and a patio umbrella. Also an outdoor rug that was left with the house. We ordered hoses for the front and back even though the plants will be on drip irrigation as there will still be uses for them.

The railings for the old concrete patio stairs still need to be selected and installed. We are holding off on repainting the old patio until we see what it is like during the rainy season this winter after pressure washing.

We have been diligent about returning any items we don’t use for the yard project within the return window, giving things away and patiently putting trash and green waste out each week to minimize our dump hauling cost. The dump haul won’t happen until we are sure no more waste will be generated by the project and we hope to share a load with a neighbor.

Taking care of our stuff: I washed and put back together the dog’s favorite bed which will probably last another 6 months or so as he digs at it trying to bury his favorite toy and that is destroying the foam inside. It was a gift from former neighbors after their cat rejected it. We will look for a similar bed once it falls apart as he likes it so much.

Discretionary expenses: I replaced our king size down comforter by purchasing one from The Company Store during their 30% off sale so the cost was $300. The king size one we have had for 6 years doesn’t have fill in some areas anymore as it seems to have migrated! Made for not so cozy nights. We really like the queen size one we purchased from The Company Store so I called and made sure I was buying the same weight. They were able to look it up even after 3 years.

Food, household, toiletries & alcohol purchases: Very happy with our total three quarters of the way through the month. We did go out for pizza one night with our son and the baby which was a nice break  and our treat but is a separate part of our budget. We also had dinner at our son’s house the night our nephew visited which was our son’s treat.

October week 3: $127.38 & Month to date: $437.06 vs $948 for all of September with one more week to go.

Week 41: Rototilling, plant shopping and more

We babysat both grand girls all day on Sunday so our son and DIL could go on a private boat excursion of the SF Bay. They won that adventure at a silent auction and had a marvelous time on a beautiful day. I'm so glad we could give that to them.

The baby was cheerful and took two good long naps. The big grand girl was lovely to spend time with and had a birthday party to attend from mid-afternoon until after dinner. A nice but tiring day. The pup came over for a while and was also good but couldn't settle into his afternoon nap. He actually wanted to go home for a rest lol.

The yard continued! The end is in sight. We agreed to a project price for the final phase. We bought soil amendment, edging, weed cloth, the major plants and 2 outdoor benches. Still to buy are the smaller plants, irrigation supplies and bark mulch. Planting began yesterday!

Taking care of our stuff - This week it was a $142 filter for the fancy furnace. We don’t have AC so that is just a once a year purchase.

Discretionary expenses - The socks I ordered last week arrived. I kept 2 packs identical to ones I am replacing and returned 4 of a different variety that weren’t what I expected. Also returned some jeans that didn’t fit and waterproofing shoe spray that required a different product to be used first. I do find shopping a pain🤪 but I did order a pair of smart wool socks from REI mostly using my member credit.

Food, household, toiletries & alcohol purchases were higher this week as expected. I am hoping the pattern of lower and higher weeks continues low as we stock up and use things. That would cut our monthly expenses in this category significantly. 

All meals were all at home except Sunday when Hubby got take out for lunch and dinner as we babysat all day and were feeling our age! 

October week 2: $204.59 & Month to date: $309.68 vs $948 for all of September so we are doing better.

Week 40: Monitoring our spending & enjoying fall heatwave

We are to trying to be really mindful of our spending the rest of this year and all of next year while finishing the repairs and improvements for this house and yard - and having fun and good family and friend time.

The last 4 days of this week were quite warm (highs of 87 to 91) and with the new balcony door blind the house handled it pretty well. We are figuring out when to open which windows to cool down the house. I did run the heat to take the chill off the house on Tuesday morning before the heatwave arrived. Reprogramming the thermostat was successful although I may tweak the settings a bit as it gets colder here.

Our property tax bill arrived. We knew it would be huge but seeing the number is another thing. Just a reinforcement to watch our other expenses. The county still has to apply another credit/adjustment related to the sale price of our previous house but that will be relatively small.

Home/yard project expenses were only two inexpensive items for minor home improvements and one bag of topsoil. We both worked on the yard a lot to move things along and save money. Hoping to be ready to buy compost, plants and mulch this week.

The hardscape is all done and paid for! We put two old patio chairs on the new back patio and are enjoying sitting in the shade.

We are trying to get rid of the 2nd large batch of rubbish from the yard project without paying a lot for hauling. So far I posted 5 pallets and crate pieces on Buy Nothing and someone says they want them. Hoping they do take them. I also cleaned up most of a pile of old rock and will use a bit before posting the rest. We are going to try to sell the leftover flagstone pieces once we are sure we don’t need any of them. We have used a couple so far to help with drainage and stop erosion. Our trash can is small so the rest will be disposed of bit by bit over many weeks and by paying someone to do a dump haul.

We received our free COVID tests and they are good until late January. I also got 2 boxes from the library that expire earlier so we are covered for now.

We purchased a little food, a few household supplies, beer, and no toiletries. In September we spent over $948 on those items. Our food, household and toiletries pantries are well stocked so we should be able to spend less each month the rest of the year. Sadly I had to throw out a 4 pack of sea bass because it smelled and had obviously thawed and then refrozen. No other food waste.

Total for October week 1: $104.77 - which is a good start to the month. 

Dinners were all at home.

• Pork chops  with chutney, sweet potato and zucchini
• Shrimp cocktails with large dinner salads and garlic bread
• Ravioli with broccoli 
• Turkey burgers on buns with sliced tomatoes and cooked spinach
• Salmon with broccoli and rice
• Turkey burgers on buns with sliced tomatoes, carrots and corn
• Lentil and carrot soup with garlic bread , sliced pear and green salad

October Goals - maybe they will be achieved!

Could I please just have a lovely vacation this month? No? Darn.

Well if that isn’t happening then maybe these things will.

• Finish that darn move to do list.
• Get ready for my first session with new Pilates trainer by doing consistent mix of exercise video, upper body strength exercises and walking miles without the slow sniffing and pee on everything pup. He will still get all his walks.
• Alter 2 items of clothing, deep clean dishwasher, vacuum frig coils, clear off  the “ Do I want to keep it?” table in garage.
• Keep shopping (including food) to a low $ amount which requires planning meals detailed shopping lists, and determining emergency/back up food, pet supplies, toiletries and household consumables quantities.
• Finish yard purchases and get rid of yard Reno trash and excess materials.

Then there are the things scheduled so far - watching older granddaughter at swim class and then lunch with family, full day of babysitting, my Covid shot, visit by nephew who lives in Taiwan, Pilates intro session, and AAUW monthly meeting. 

Week 39: Hello October and big yard progress

I took pictures of the backyard from the 2nd floor balcony and from the existing patio. Lots of progress. You can see where the plants will go and there will be a bench in the gravel area off the walk. More gravel and stones for the walk our front were delivered Friday. The end is in sight!

The hard working landscapers, including Hubby, made huge progress though. It is kind of like a home painting project in the respect that you prep, prep some more, and then get to the nice part. There were more surprises in the destruction of the old front yard.

• Why put weed cloth, soil, black plastic, soil, more weed cloth, and then more soil down? We are astonished anything grew there!
• Why would you pile dirt against the bottom chimney bricks and mortar in a wet climate? It is not surprising the mortar needs repointing!
• Why were there old termite bait stations all over the yard yet there still was a termite problem? At least we have already addressed that with termite treatment that actually works.

We are taking care of all of this and more but 😟

I was busy all week but my to do list is pretty much unchanged although a couple of things did move forward. What did I do besides read and tend to the dog and house? I got my flu shot and as usual didn’t feel well for a short while. Two down (RSV and flu) and only Covid to go. 

I did the Trader Joe’s shopping this week and am enjoying pumpkin waffles. Of all the pumpkin items they had I only bought 2 boxes of those and some cans of pumpkin for baking.

We got the earthquake retrofit work scheduled for the third week of October so that will be our last big new home expense until we get our updated retroactive property tax bill. 

The pup got groomed and had a great time doing so. I had some really nice chats with new acquaintances and came up with some storage space rearranging ideas that may help the house work better for us once I do them.

Onward to the first week of October with a thankful heart and large bills still to come.

Week 38: Smoky air, progress and plans

An unusual week

Wow, we had two really bad air quality days followed by several hours of “unhealthy” air each day the rest of the week. It was smoke from wildfires in the far north of California and in southern Oregon. 

Then we found out our landscaper is injured and can't do the planting work. The person doing the hardscape work will step in thankfully and Hubby is pitching in as much as he can so this can be done. 

We agreed to a 10 hour day of babysitting both grand-girls in early October so son an DIL can go on a boat trip they won at a silent auction. Since the grand-baby burst into sobs when left with us briefly this week, we have concluded she has reached the stranger fear stage and we realized she had been asleep the last few times we were at their house. Ages in baby time since she was familiar with us being around lol. The plan is for me to spend big chunks of time at their house before babysitting so she is used to us again and we know her current schedule/likes/needs and how to use the high chair, etc. Babies change so fast at this age. As I told my 40 year old son, we haven’t taken care of a 7 month old baby since he was one!

With lots of advice from the local Benjamin Moore store staff followed by internet reading, we have a tentative plan to fix the slippery paint on the large old concrete patio. Right now it seems the sequence is to pressure wash, lightly sand with an orbital sander, vacuum and wash again, perhaps prime depending on what the surface is like, and then paint with an anti-slip acrylic coating. The final coat can be made any of their colors so that is a plus. Our son lent us a handheld power orbital sander to test on a small area. Then we will decide how much of this to do ourselves as we could rent a larger orbital sander that you stand up to use and our landscaper will pressure wash. The store staff also carefully picked and recommended 3 small company painters for us to contact for bids if we want to hire a crew.

Got stuff done

• Son and the grand-girls came over for dinner Wednesday while DIL worked late. 
• Cleared off my desk and that checked off at least 7 things on my 20+ items still on our move to do list and also got pile of paperwork filed.
• Cleaned the high chair so it is ready to use
• Exercised a bit more and ate fairly healthily 
• Bought 2 long sleeve tees after checking my wardrobe for fall. Decided to check out the local Marshalls before ordering anything else.
• We watched a video specific to our thermostat and reprogrammed it so fingers crossed it works correctly for us! No more coming on in the middle of the night when not needed hopefully.
• We agreed on the largest plants for back and front.
• Ate 6 of 7 planned dinners at home and got takeout from the local taco truck when son and girls were here.

PLANS FOR WEEK 39

Complete last week’s nagging tasks: 

• finish cleaning the kitchen appliances that came with the house (refrigerator coils vacuumed, dishwasher cleaned)
• complete more items left on move to do list

Exercise more before flu shot on Thursday

Plan all meals at home

Try sanding painted concrete and decide how to proceed with painting after earthquake retrofit work is done

Get paint chips for colors used on house so can pick patio color easily

Mending/alterations done

Clear off “donate or undecided” items on table in garage

Rearrange non clothing storage so I have more room for clothing in my closet and bedside table

And that is once again ambitious!

Planning week 38!

I’ve been feeling a bit down and lacking in motivation but accomplishing things always makes me feel better. Specifically I feel better when I exercise, can check things off the to do list or solve problems, eat fewer carbs, drink less caffeine or alcohol, and spend time with others. So let’s try those.

Get stuff done -

As usual I am overly optimistic about how much I will get done but that gives me options 😁

1. Actually do my Pilates routine (I always mean to - really!). My sciatica is nagging at me and needs to stop.

2. Plan time with family based on their schedule

3. Get some nagging tasks done (clean off desk, clean out email by addressing old items,  hem pants, deal with remaining pile of items in garage by deciding to keep or get rid of, clean gifted high chair). 

4. Finish deep cleaning the kitchen appliances that came with the house (refrigerator coils vacuumed, dishwasher cleaned/checked - stove & oven are done).

5. Order 3 long sleeve tees, more warm socks, warm cardigan and/or fleece vest so I am not cold this winter.

6. Substitute healthier choices for carb, etc. cravings or eating habits.

Solve a problem or two -

1. Why is the heat suddenly going on in the middle of the night? I found the thermostat manual online and now need to understand it so we can fix this before we actually need heat! I did turn the system off this morning but that won’t work long term.

2. Decide on at least the main plants for the front and back. Find out where to buy them.

Plan Some Dinner Ideas - We have found ourselves uninspired lately when contemplating what to have for dinner which is fine but not very enjoyable. We like simple, fast meal prep and see leftovers as a bonus so here are this week’s ideas. We’ll see what actually happens as we will get take out if we get together with the family).

Green lentil and carrot soup - 2 meals

Leftover turkey burgers with carrots and peas

Shrimp with garlic, red pepper and broccoli over capellini 

Tuna chef salad

Chicken breast with butternut squash and green beans

Salmon with mashed potatoes and salad

What do you hope to do this week?

Week 37: Our supervisor

 

 

We had a nice visit from an old friend yesterday but it wore us out! This morning I am off to a meeting of the local chapter of AAUW (the American Association of University Women). I do think this group may be too single minded and serious to find the friendships and activities I am seeking. Soon it will be time to turn my to attention to finding those as we will have spent 6 months settling in to the house and area. Fall is in the air but if summer was really here I blinked and missed it lol!

Weeks 36: It’s all about the yard

We have been pitching in to move this project along. Hubby laid out the flagstone so the workers could level them and fill the gaps. I dug up old termite bait stations, pruned some plants we are keeping, leveled some areas near the foundation, researched plants, arranged for a neighbor to use her extra free pickup for 19 green waste bags, and picked up trash, rocks and branches. 

Lots of progress in the back yard. Here is the new patio a week ago (top) and at the end of the week (bottom).

And the walkway

Week 35: Turning 74, more flagstone down

I made it to 74 Friday! Hubby asked what I wanted to do for my birthday so we went to the Rosie the Riveter National Historic Park and then to the local funky wine bar for a birthday eve adventure.

I clearly remember my Dad turning 75 because we had a surprise party for him. He was quite spry, upbeat and enthusiastic at that age. A very good role model. He died at 88, but had lots of cardiovascular issues since his 50s that fortunately I didn't inherit. 

I also remember my Mom’s special 80th birthday party as she was so happy. She made it to 93 despite similar health issues plus others that I also haven’t seemed to inherit. 

Hopefully I inherited the longevity genes and there are many more birthdays ahead without their health problems.

Otherwise an ordinary week.

Hubby got groceries a day early on Monday as we were scrounging for lunches we wanted to eat - not that we would have to go hungry. Yes, we are spoiled by choices and abundance. We watched the landscapers cut and move thick pieces of flagstone.

Tuesday we met with the painting company estimator to discuss solutions for the concrete patio and checked in on more flagstone work. We still don’t have an estimate - sigh.

Wednesday was quite hot for here and we met with the landscape designer at a local plant nursery to start picking out new plants and yet more flagstone work by that team.

Thursday the temperature took a big dive with a chilling wind but my birthday adventure was mostly inside. My big brother called with birthday wishes so he wouldn’t forget😁 Hubby spent all morning placing flagstone in the patio space and made great progress. I tried on the shoes I had ordered and kept 2 of 3 pairs so now I am set for shoes and happy feet for fall.

Friday was my actual birthday. Our son stopped by with some gifts and a visit. I enjoyed the birthday wished sent in many forms.

Saturday we went to our son and DILs house for lunch, to help with the garden and hang out. The baby slept through most of our visit but we got to hold her. We came home with lots of cherry tomatoes and green beans plus our older granddaughter. Nice one on one time. She wanted to play on our neighbors swings and play act restaurant complete with signs and more. She is very creative at this age and her reading and writing has progressed by leaps and bounds. She left a sidewalk chalk note for our neighbors saying “Your swings are fun”.

Week 34: Family, plumbing, flagstone & feeling less overwhelmed

Had a nice time with our older son and DIL when they visited for a few days. We went out for dinner with them and the local family and had some long meaningful conversations.

The plumbing work is all done and paid for. The hole they made in the wall behind the washer is fixed but we don’t have matching paint. Oh well, it is behind the washer!

As far as we know we are down to our two most expensive projects - landscaping and earthquake retrofit - plus some little things we can do ourselves. 

Eventually we will address some other large projects including the chimney’s soft mortar and earthquake bracing, assessing/adding to insulation in the attic, and some sort of air conditioning for upstairs. 

Does anyone use a portable AC unit? Not familiar with them but wondering if they are worth it.

The landscapers doing the hardscape worked for 3 days and made a lot of progress. Progress also on setting up drip irrigation in the front yard. They will all be back this coming week.

Those are all nice things and progress, but most important I think is that I am definitely feeling less overwhelmed and stressed than I have in 6 months. Moving is hard work physically, but also was (and still is) stressful in many ways for us. While stress can be motivating it certainly has its downsides including for me weight gain and shorter tempers for both of us. The pup however seems to be joyous through the whole thing.