Closing The (Budget) Books On 2020

We are at that time of year where I implore my husband to defer any spending until January 1 so that I can close out our 2020 budget worksheet and send him our final numbers for analysis. His super power is managing our investments and ensuring funds arrive in the checking account when needed, while mine is managing our budget. It's a good partnership.

We started off 2020 with a six week cruise around S. America, departing from Santiago, Chile in late January, and ending in Fort Lauderdale in early March. The world changed completely during our cruise, so our disembarkation on March 7 was surreal to say the least. As we flew home, we really had no clue as to what would unfold the remainder of 2020, and it was actually probably a good thing in hindsight. The adjustment, as I documented here, was hard.

From a budgeting standpoint, our monthly spend dropped to new lows in March, April and May, as we entered a hard Stay At Home directive here in California pretty much immediately upon our return home. With no real comprehension as to how COVID was spreading, our only spending was to pay our insurance and utility bills, plus shop for groceries. Beginning in June, however, with the rolling back of California's Stay At Home orders, our budget spend began to increase month over month, returning to pretty close to normal by October. Interesting to me, however, is that where the spending occurred did change as a result of COVID, and I am guessing these shifts will hold true through most of 2021 as well.

What Changed:

Charitable  We increased this line by about 20% as a result of our ongoing involvement in a local food pantry. Food insecurity is real here in America, sadly, and COVID has brought new transparency to just how many are affected. As a result, we added two local food banks to the list of charities we were already making regular donations too.

Entertainment  This line dropped precipitously, by approximately 66%, as everything shut down, and a multitude of pre-paid subscriptions and events we had tickets for were cancelled. Everything from our Pacific Symphony pops concert subscription, to our summer tradition of attending Laguna Beach's Pageant of the Masters, to our wine society monthly events. Instead, we ended up joining two local wineries over the summer, simply to have a place to go and sit outside, and in the case of one winery, listen to live music and enjoy half price outdoor dining. We also picked up a Zoom subscription at $14.99 monthly, which we continue to utilize on a frequent basis. 

Home Items  This covers everything from placemats to mattresses here in the house, and we ended the year up 20% over prior year. Feather nesting replaced traveling as the year went on it appears. Over the course of the year we updated our family room with new art and a refreshed fireplace, purchased new rugs and pillows for many of our living areas, updated table lamps in our bedroom and living room, and updated many of our display accessories.

Our refreshed family room continues to make me happy.

Personal Care  Due to COVID concerns, I stopped coloring my hair, plus we stretched our hair appointments out an additional two weeks. As a result, this line item dropped by 33% in spite of spending considerably more on another personal care budget item . . . i.e., the hoarding of toilet paper. 😄

Restaurants  This line dropped about 33% over the year. Gone were frequent social get togethers at new-to-us restaurants or treasured favorites, but there was a significant increase in the frequency with which we did takeout. Prior to the pandemic we rarely ordered takeout for dinner, but post pandemic we do so about once a week to both support our local restaurants and to break up the monotony of weekly cooking for me. We've also increased significantly the number of times we pick up a lunch to share as getting out of the house on a daily basis has become a priority in 2020, and we have come to sincerely enjoy a shared meal while hiking, bicycling, kayaking, or simply chilling at one of our local beaches. 

Travel  We started the year off with a bang due to our 6 week cruise, however, cancelled due to COVID was a combined pleasure/volunteer trip with Sierra Club to Mammoth Cave National Park, Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky, and a 30 day trip to hike 225 miles of the Camino de Santiago in Spain to celebrate my husband's 65th birthday. (This one still makes me sad as while we can, and will, reschedule the hike once the pandemic subsides, we can't recreate my husband's milestone birthday, which would have been marked as the day we completed the hike and arrived in Santiago.). Instead,we managed one trip to the east coast in late October to see our youngest daughter and granddaughters, and we took an RV trip in early October to enjoy California's beautiful Central coastline. Otherwise, nothing save putting down about $700 to reserve RV sites for next summer's trip up into the Pacific NW. Total reduction for the year was therefore about 30%.

Our trip around S. America, including Patagonia here, was a dream come true for my husband,
and hopefully NOT the last cruise we are ever able to take!

What Did Not Change:

Clothing  To my surprise, I continued to clothes shop this year in spite of having very few occasions to dress up. But what I did, and which I plan to keep doing, was I shifted away from big (and oftentimes crowded) retail department stores, and shifted instead to small boutiques. So I purchased fewer items overall, but those I did purchase were individually more expensive. Notable purchases this year that continue to make me happy are two well made felt hats, one in baby blue and one in camel, two pair of cozy Ugg boots, and a wonderful pair of Hunter rain boots in black. I also picked up my husband's clothing game by purchasing him a slew of slimmer fitting pants (he looks great in clothes at a slim 6 feet!), some well made sweaters, and very cool looking moto black leather-ish jacket). Even if we aren't going anywhere but to the beach for a picnic dinner, I love seeing him dressed up.

Gifts  While gifts to friends for birthday, anniversary, and wedding celebrations was down, we made up for it by lavishing gifts on our family this year, my granddaughters in particular, likely to make up for not being able to see them as often in person. A few things I much enjoyed gifting were locally made Rainbow sandals to my youngest daughter when she was here this past summer, Skechers ultra soft sneakers for both of my daughters this Christmas, and a frothy pink dress and matching tiara for my oldest granddaughter just prior to taking her to her first fancy tea at an adorable outdoor tea house this summer.

Groceries  This continues to be the same $100 a week that it has been since we retired in 2011. I attribute our being able to enjoy lovely meals at home without increasing our budget to an Aldi's opening up near enough to us to manage a swing through every two weeks or so. I would guest-imate the savings of shopping at Aldi's to be a conservative $20 a week, or $1040 a year, enough to not have to increase our grocery budget yet again in 2020. Plus, we rarely buy any pork or beef save bacon and Italian sausage, which I use as meal 'seasoning', and chicken is now less expensive than when I retired. Salmon is purchased only when on sale, and since we are fairly modest eaters, a single 8 oz salmon filet will serve the two of us. Additionally, many of our weekly meals are vegetarian, which tend to cost very little due to our local Sprouts produce markets. And of course, cooking from scratch means there are almost always leftovers, oftentimes for days. 

Hobbies  We picked up golf during the pandemic, plus I purchased a guitar, so that ensured this line item got spent as normal.

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How about you? How did COVID impact your 2020 budgeting?

Losing My Holiday Mojo?

It is the day before Christmas Eve, and I am having a little pity party over here, the result of a small cascade of recent events. Prior to this week, as things began to come off the list of holiday do-ables due to the pandemic, I would search around for an equivalent replacement to keep myself feeling peppy, and managed to keep coming up with something in order to feel positive and forward facing. For example, though we would not have any festive indoor holiday restaurant celebrations with our local family as we normally do, we could instead haul out our warm coats and do it outdoors. But then restaurants went into takeout-only mode a couple of weeks ago, meaning all outdoor dining is now closed. Or, it's OK that we won't be going to any of the indoor holiday plays and concerts we normally do, we'll enjoy outdoor walking light tours instead. But then those got shuttered as well when restaurants were re-shut again this month. But that's still OK, because our remodel will be done, and we'll enjoy nesting back in to our now-even-prettier home. Sigh. Nope. The job is running over and the upcoming long holiday weekend will simply prolong the completion of the job.

And worst of all, we won't be seeing our granddaughters this holiday season other than via FaceTime.

So, yep, a bit of a pity party currently going on here with regard to Christmas, which I now simply want to be over so we can get this house finished up before New Year. Which, by the way, won't include a Rose Parade viewing from the comfort of our cozy family room as would normally occur. Sniff. Sniff.

So, it's clearly time to channel my inner Cher in Moonstruck and . . .  

LOL. So let me try again to focus on what is good, and what I am still able to look forward to.

• We're going to spend Christmas Eve going on a bicycle ride along the coast, and we'll stop midway to enjoy egg salad sandwiches, our very favorite sack lunch. When we return home, we're going to spend the evening watching holiday movies, enjoying a butternut squash posole supper that will be slow cooking all day, plus warm homemade cookies and hot cocoa with peppermint schnapps for dessert.
• On Christmas Day we will be going over to our oldest daughters, who lives directly across from Huntington Beach. We'll go for a walk along the beach, I'm bringing my guitar to play Christmas carols out on her balcony, and dinner should be lovely. I'm bringing over a pan of pumpkin/mushroom/bacon lasagna, and the boyfriend is contributing a warm spinach salad and bread, plus he's making something insane for dessert - mixed berry and lemon curd tarts with limoncello.
• The rest of the weekend will be spent outdoors as much as possible, hiking and enjoying takeout lunches on both days.
• And finally, Monday should be the beginning of the end of our remodel, meaning I can look forward to spending the New Year's holiday weekend cleaning and settling us back in to our downstairs bedroom. 

I saw this meme today and it made me laugh. I mean, seriously 2020 - don't let the door hit you on the way out!

How are you doing this holiday season?

Reviewing 2020 And Looking Ahead To 2021

 

During one of my searches for a little more serenity and zen in 2020, I came across this gem of a blog, Be More With Less, written by Courtney Carver. Courtney is the creator of the Project 333 minimalist fashion challenge, which some of you have attempted (Disclaimer: Not me, I love my closet full of shoes and clothes 😊), but she also writes a weekly newsletter giving tips on how to bring more serenity into your daily life. And if ever there was a year for working on serenity, 2020 is/was it!

Over the weekend Courtney's latest email arrived, and it encouraged readers to give time to reflect on all that was 2020, including the highs and moments of learning along with the lows and moments of loss. So rather than doing so quietly on paper, I thought I'd do so here instead.

• What were the lows? What did you learn from them? The lows were initially the loss of the many pleasure points in our lives - travel, theater, symphony, social gatherings - but that then evolved to the low of being distanced from our youngest daughter and granddaughters on the east coast. Prior to the pandemic we would fly out to visit them every two to three months, and though we missed them in between visits, we knew the next visit was soon to come. Having that freedom taken away was rough, even heartbreaking at times. And thus I learned that while the distractions of entertainment in our lives was wonderful and appreciated, the time spent with our family, and in particular our rapidly growing granddaughters, was the true essence of our lives.

• What were the highs? Did you celebrate them? Immediately this list comes to mind: Cruising around the continent of South America in January and February, a dream of my husbands that we were able to accomplish just prior to the pandemic reaching the Americas in late February; the joy on my oldest granddaughter's face when she put on her fancy dress and tiara for an outdoor High Tea we attended together here in July; her excitement at returning to her favorite beach here, called Baby Beach due to it's gentle waters; my youngest granddaughter's ecstatic face as I spun here around and around in the kitchen one day, her legs tightly clenched around my waist as we twirled; our decision to keep on with RV'ing by buying a more comfortable travel trailer; discovering the joys of simply being still at the ocean rather than in motion via hiking/walking/running/bicycling as we usually are; the pleasure of hearing live music once again via the many solo performers that began to pop up outdoors all over the place; and most surprisingly of all - the joy of simply being around people after months of Stay At Home restrictions, even if outdoors and from a masked distance.

• What do you want to leave behind? Becoming too enmeshed in my daughters' lives, which can lead to my love appearing controlling rather than caring at times, a lesson I have worked hard to learn and overcome. Both come from a place of love, but controlling is about trying to keep them away from areas of possible pain instead of trusting that they have the wisdom to do so themselves.

• What do you want to make room for? More time spent outdoors. I do decently well, but I could do even better. I also want to make room for more reading, more checking in with friends and extended family, and even more guitar playing.

• Who would you like to thank? My oldest daughter, for consistently encouraging me to live my best life, and for exemplifying how to love unconditionally.

• How can you take even better care of your physical and mental health in the new year? Less sugar, even more vegetables, daily meditation, weekly just-because baths, less news, more candles and soft music style romance. 

• What creative projects would you like to pursue? A return to manual photography. I have a beautiful camera, tripod, and set of lenses, and a gorgeous coastline within easy reach, so this next year I plan to put down my iPhone camera, and instead pick up my SLR.

• Where will you go when it's safe to travel again? In descending order: first to visit my youngest daughter and granddaughters, then Europe, specifically Wales, Scotland, and Iceland.

• How do you want to give back? Continuing my current volunteer efforts with our local marine institute once they are able to fully reopen, plus get trained to be a volunteer at our local state beach. My focus is on helping people fall in love with our beautiful ocean, including the many creatures that live in and alongside it, in the hope that they will experience the same joy and serenity it delivers that I do. And I will continue my work with several local food and mental health organizations, recognizing that before we can reach for greater things like joy and serenity, we must first have the basics in place - food, shelter, safety.

I love these type of thought exercises, and I am surprised at some of my responses, which I tried very hard not to overthink, but rather to just let thoughts come out as they may. Some of you do a daily journal and are therefore used to the 'aha's' that doing so can lead to, but color me a slow learner over here. 

Life just never stops delivering lessons does it?

Preparing To Wait

 

With the COVID vaccines beginning to rollout, it's hard not to get excited about life returning to normal in the near future, because from everything I'm reading, it won't be as 'near' as most of us would like. Completely understandable in that the entire world, times two inoculations each, is eagerly waiting as well. So I'm trying to get myself mentally positioned to see life carrying on in in 2021 much as it has been for the last nine months. Meaning I may have many more months of waiting to go before my turn in the vaccine line arrives.

Things that should help me slog the waiting out would be . . . 

• The completion of our current remodel. The remodel itself is keeping me distracted, particularly the challenge of communication with the various work teams while keeping ourselves masked and socially distant. Think of a hummingbird - I swoop in, quickly say or clarify what I need, and then swoop out. I generally walk through the work areas in the evening after the team has departed to make my list of touch points, masked always, and then depart. We have a plastic barrier, plus closed doors between us and the work teams, so we feel pretty safe and comfortable here otherwise.

Settling back in afterward will take a few days - much dust to dislodge - and I look forward to the sense of bliss that will likely descend once we are fully resettled.

• The arrival of our new travel trailer early in January. We'll need to explore our new trailer to see where and how we want our essentials to be kept and stored, plus we'll be taking an easy shakeout trip to test out all the working components (lights, refrigerator, stove, hot water heater, shower, etc.). We're hoping to get a reservation at Bolsa Chica in nearby Huntington Beach, where our oldest daughter lives, so that we can not only go walking and bicycling along the beach, but zip over to visit her as well. 

The new trailer may also necessitate getting new, shallower cabinetry made for our garage, another project that should keep me busy for a while if so. We've gone through our garage two times since moving, getting rid of lots of stuff in the process, and I'm sure doing so for a third time will send even more items out the door. We are not packrats, and do not hang on to items not being used for the most part, but still, things to have a tendency to accumulate.

• I'm continuing to work on the trip planning for our June-August RV trip up into the Pacific Northwest. I'm anticipating things continuing to open up in the months ahead, so I am hopeful that trips to museums and other places of interest will become increasingly realistic. As well as outdoor dining. Researching interesting places to eat is something I much enjoy, and we have many, many, many happy memories of memorable meals eaten around the USA and world. 

• Once our remodel concludes, I'll be able to return to four days a week of scheduled outdoor hikes, bicycle rides and kayaking excursions via several groups I"m involved in. I return so invigorated and physically spent from each of these, that the rest of the day is always an easy flow back at home.

• Golfing should continue to fill one of the remaining three days each week as we continue to work toward playing a full 18 holes (we're at 9 holes currently), particularly if we continue to enjoy a cold or hot beverage out on the golf course's lovely patio after each visit.

• Of the remaining two days, one will likely be taken up with outdoor volunteering at either a food pantry or marine institute we volunteer with. At the food pantry we place loaded bags of groceries into cars, an easy activity with which to remain COVID-distanced, and at the marine institute I assist in leading tours of our local tidepools, also easy to do while remaining safely distanced. I'm on standby for a third volunteer position at one of our state beaches, but so far they are holding off until the pandemic situation eases.

Socially, we'll be a bit more limited due to our shorter winter days and cooler winter evenings. Hopefully, our current emergency restrictions will be lifted come January, and we can return to visiting our two wineries on the weekends in order to sip free wine and listen to live music from a nicely distanced location, usually alongside a fireplace or heat lamp. And hopefully one of our small local playhouses will reopen for limited outdoor entertainment as they did in November, when we enjoyed an evening of entertainment while seated at a private table for two. Chilly and/or rainy nights may limit the frequency of this, of course, as would a return to Stay At Home, but so far our refunds for any sudden cancellation have been very prompt.

Intellectually, here at home, I'm continuing to practice the guitar each day. Every so often I surprise myself and think, 'Hey, that sounded good!' LOL. I'm also reading more than I have in years, and it has been a most welcome return to a beloved old habit. And I'm continuing to work on stitching Christmas ornaments from the stash of projects I've accumulated over the years (so much aspirational buying, my goodness), the majority of which I'm going to donate next year to our spiritual congregation's fundraising holiday boutique.

Family wise, we are hoping to visit our youngest daughter and her family on the east coast in February or March, but we are taking a wait-and-see attitude for now. The hardest part of this pandemic has been not seeing our granddaughters as regularly as we normally do, meaning every two to three months. 

On the giving back side, we have upped our charitable donations budget for 2021. We will also continue to assist in providing food for a nearby homeless shelter, continue the above mentioned efforts with a local food pantry, and continue to look for small ways to make a difference and spread some joy. 

Speaking of which, a small thing that happened to us last Christmas has stayed with me all year, and speaks to the power of how small things can often be so very big. That being two gifted cups of coffee we received from Starbucks, the result of someone in line ahead of us handing over a gift card to the cashier and asking her to use in for subsequent customers until it ran out. I was so touched, that it set off a swell of wanting to spread kindness myself. One thing I resolved to do this year, and did pretty regularly I'm pleased to report, was to be on the lookout for drivers waiting to enter my lane of traffic, in order to slow down and leave them space to do so. A very small effort on my part that hopefully gave a small lift to someone else, because it certainly does for me.

And I also plan to return the favor that started this all, and leave my own gift card to be used at Starbucks on Christmas morning. Hopefully it will spark others to spread their version of kindness  the way it did me.

Currently 12/13/2020: It's Been Quite A Week

 

The worst of the remodeling disruption is over. I'll just start with that. We are five weeks into our project, with two bathrooms completed for the most part, plus the laundry room and linen cabinetry, leaving just our downstairs master bath and guest powder room to go. Both will be done just before Christmas, the only gift I want this year!

We had a big 'oops' occur in our upstairs master this past week. We discovered that that tile team had accidentally nailed the bathroom's pocket door into place. We gave it a few tugs, but nope, that sucker was not going anywhere, leaving us with a bit of a dilemma. After a few calls back and forth with our remodel project manager, and a good amount of time on the internet, we came up with a solution that I think will look much better than what was there originally. We decided to trim the 'stuck' pocket door back into the wall, and then cover the old pocket door tracks up with new casing and trim, leaving a nice, clean 'new' doorway. Which the remodel company did, and paid for, this past Friday. Plus, nicely, they gave us a $600 credit toward a new door, which was much appreciated.

Initially, I wasn't sure how to resolve the necessary privacy issue between bedroom and bathroom. The opening, at 40", is to wide for a swinging door. A pocket door was now clearly out of the question because the old one was still in the wall, just no longer viewable. But . . . oh man, so excited . . . I located a company that installs sliding barn doors, except they have lots of options, not just rustic barn doors, and here's the one we'll be going with, which exactly matches the French sliding glass doors in the room on the opposite wall, other than that the glass is opaque for privacy rather than clear:

From the company's website, so not our bathroom, but a great representation regardless.

I am thrilled, because I actually found the old pocket door to be a great big eyesore, even more so after the bathroom's just completed remodel. But I would have likely continued to live with it due to plain old inertia. So, the 'oops' actually got me off my stick and forced me to do what I really did know needed to be done all along. So after a few sleepless nights, and much stress, I'm now excited and looking forward to what will take it's place. 

Otherwise, Currently I Am . . . 

Cooking  Just a little bit this week, but compared to the four prior weeks of construction chaos when I was reverting to easy dinners like grilled cheese and BLT's, it's a significant improvement. This week I remade these Greek burgers with feta and yogurt sauce, which made enough to serve twice, Herb roasted chicken with olives, feta and potatoes over rice, which also served us twice, and takeout pizza which ended up serving us three times. I made a big green salad every night as well. 

Photo credit: Eating Well. It was delicious!

Next week should see even more 'normal' cooking as the tiling team completes the last shower, and the final cleanup of our home can finally commence. 

Reading  Finished two books this week, the insanely convoluted Tinker, Tailer, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carre, a book club read, and likely the only spy novel I will ever, ever, ever read, and a reread of Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. I have to say that in my opinion Dan Brown is not a great writer, or anything even remotely close, but I do enjoy the historically accurate items he peppers throughout his books. The book I read this time around is a special edition that is replete with photos depicting the many pieces of art, architecture, people, galaxies, and prototypes that this book is chock full of. So, for that reason alone, I actually really enjoyed my re-read.

Buying  New plush towels in a light, silvery gray for all four bathrooms, because with the cabinets and counters being the same in all four rooms, using the same towels just made sense. 

These adorable UGG boots also made their way home, the result of a trip to the outdoor San Clemente Outlet Mall to see what was bill as the World's Tallest Christmas tree. As we were walking from our car to the tree, I saw a sign advertising a just-opened UGG store, and well, that was pretty much that. 

Looking Forward To  The arrival of the COVID vaccine. I don't care if my turn in line is still a few months away, just knowing there is a line I'll be able to get into is exciting beyond words.

Are you all as excited as I am that there is finally an end to the pandemic in sight???

Planning  Finally, something to place onto my 2021 calendar arrived in my email this week, a Save The Date notice for the Pacific Air Show in Huntington Beach next October. This is a wonderful event, with amazing groups like the U.S. Navy Blue Angels performing amazing feats in the air, and I couldn't get it onto my calendar fast enough. Also, and so very cool, we'll be able to watch the show from my oldest daughter's new apartment, because their balcony looks directly out over the beach where the show will occur.

I am also looking forward to doing even more activities than I had hoped during our 2021 summer RV trip to the Pacific Northwest. So I've been busy adding possible activities to the spreadsheet I'm developing, even if I'm not comfortable putting down money to book them just quite yet. 

We also have about 80% of our RV accommodations now booked, with the two stops we'll be making along California's Lost Coast, in Mendocino and Bodega Bay, being made just this past week. This trip is going to be fantastic, all the more so after being homebound for so long.

Happy  One bathroom is fully completed, that being our upstairs hall bathroom, the one we call the kids bathroom, because it has a tub/shower combo, which my granddaughters use to bathe when the visit. I absolutely love how fresh and clean it turned out.

Here's a before as a comparison:

Watching  We are halfway through Season Three of The Crown and much enjoying it. That, plus the PBS News Hour each night, has been about it this past week. Planning to watch a holiday movie tonight, though, so there's that!

What's going on currently where you are? 

November In A Sentence A Day

Yep, I'm back with Sentence A Day!

I don't want a 2020 version of Groundhogs Day to set in, so a return to capturing each day in one sentence seemed in order as an incentive keep working on making each day interesting in spite of the pandemic. Plus, I think it will be interesting to look back on this period over time in order to see how I got though it.

Disclaimer: It's important to me to clarify that while November was a lovely and active month, every aspect of my life continues to be ruled by the pandemic. Meaning adherence to CDC and California guidelines, masks, physical distance, outdoors as much as possible, and no prolonged indoor interactions. 

November In A Sentence A Day

1.  Taught my oldest granddaughter to play Old Maid, and the expression on her face when she got stuck with the Old Maid card for the first time, plus her subsequent efforts to get us to pick it from her stack of cards, had us all in hysterics.

2.  Wonderful, exhausting day spent with the granddaughters - bike riding, scooter riding, magnetic block building, book reading, McDonalds takeout, picnic and playtime at the park, Go Fish card playing, plus lots of chase-the-toddler to take back whatever my youngest granddaughter was attempting to steal (Halloween candy, our cell phones and Kindles, sunglasses, her sister's toys . . . she is quite the little devil, and wicked fast to boot! 😆).

3.  Election Day . . . took my oldest granddaughter to get her hair cut where I watched her literally age in front of my eyes with each snip (I'm biased of course, but I think she is gorgeous!), then ran behind her as she rode her scooter back home afterward, outside to supervise and cheer her and her fearless little sister on as they rode their bicycles and scooters, then off to a nature park for a little outdoor play on a gorgeous fall day before being dropped off at the airport by my youngest daughter, where we all hugged and shed a few tears in the event that they all depart for Germany before we see each other again . . . military relocation orders can sometimes be abrupt. 😢.

4.  The day after Election Day . . . a bundle of nerves, but a seven mile hike with friends helped, as did drinking wine out on our balcony while watching the sunset.

5.  Two days after Election Day . . . I tried to get a few chores got done, but honestly, I pretty much spent the entire day hitting refresh on my laptop to keep checking for updated results.

6.  Three days after Election Day . . . the counting continues, and I was happy to have a day full of distractions as I left for a 32 mile bicycle ride to Cooks Corner with a group of friends, then returned in time to clean up and head over to San Clemente for a lovely evening enjoying an outdoor dinner and then an outdoor show at a private table for two at the adorable Cabrillo Playhouse - gosh it felt nice to entertained!

7.  Four days after Election Day . . . woke up to continued uncertainty, which changed to jubilation when my husband interrupted a phone call I was on with a friend to announce that Biden had just crossed over the magic threshold of 270, at which point we turned on the TV and pretty much stayed glued there until friends arrived after dinner to visit in our backyard, staying until after midnight as we discussed every detail of the election and what it might mean for our country.

8.  Woke up feeling finally free of stress and anxiety, a much welcomed change, enjoyed a long, lovely, and occasionally rainy, walk at the beach, then over to the harbor afterward to pick up coffees and sit in our car looking out at the enormous swells the recent storm had kicked up (so big, there were no boats to be seen anywhere on the water), and enjoyed FaceTiming with our 6 year old granddaughter so that she could read to us, a new skill that she is very excited about, as are we!

9.  Day One of our four bathroom + laundry room and linen cabinets remodel, so lots of noise and dust, but spending time out on our balcony after the construction team had left for the day, watching an absolutely gorgeous sunset, reminded me of just why we were going through this final chaotic effort to finish out the house.

10.  Day Two of the upstairs demo, so I escaped to the harbor for a long walk, then did a little shopping before returning home . . . there is no such thing as being 'too cold' now that I'm post-menopause, but hubby has been complaining that our bedroom feels like a refrigerator, so I bought a dual-controlled electric blanket so that he can warm up his side of the bed each night, while leaving my side nice and frigid. 😆

11.  The framer arrived, exciting, because he was able to quickly remove some assorted trim work from the upstairs master which was truly awful, meaning I won't have to ask (and pay) my painter to do it down the road, yeah. 

12.  The plumbers came in to get the shower floor ready for a new drain, which meant the first set of my amazing new shower drains got utilized - they have a small inset to trap and remove hair, meaning no more clogged pipes ever!

13.  The hot mop guy arrived to do his thing to our upstairs shower floor, leaving the entire house reeking of tar . . . what a difficult job this person has!

14.  The weekend, yeah, meaning no folks coming or going, so my husband and I headed outside to meet up with our Pilgrims of the Camino training group (our 2020 Camino hike in Spain has been postponed until 2022 due to COVID, but in the interim we continue to gather for training hikes) and enjoyed an eight mile walk to historic San Juan Capistrano and back, which included a lovely surprise provided by the hike leaders at the halfway point - a traditional Spanish breakfast of tortilla española, black olives, cheese, and yum, red sangria!

15.  Met my oldest daughter and her boyfriend for a 35 mile bicycle ride along the ocean to San Onefre State Beach and back on a glorious, sunny day, stopping for burgers and beer afterward at Shwack's in San Clemente.

16.  Today was all about drywall, or so I thought, but turned out the drywall guy was here for all of about fifteen minutes, explaining that the majority of his time and effort would occur at the end of the upstairs phase . . . this exemplifies sooo much of the hurry-up-and-wait aspect of remodeling, oofff!

17.  The cabinet guys arrived to my excitement, but today was primarily prepping the existing cabinets for refacing, meaning lots and lots of sanding, but no pretty new cabinet doors quite yet, darn.

18.  More sanding, sigh, so still no pretty new doors.

19.  We have doors, we have doors, yeah, plus new brushed chrome door handles which I forgot to take a picture of before they covered it all back up with protective plastic.

20.  No workers today, so instead we took a walk along our beautiful harbor in the morning, bought groceries, ran some errands, then returned home to clean up and head back out to one of our two club wineries for complimentary glasses of wine (member benefit!), which we sipped on their outdoor patio alongside a roaring fire while listening to live music and chatting with some fellow wine club members seated a safe ten feet away.

21.  Enjoyed a seven mile walk along the beach on a beautiful day, worked on my 2020 family Christmas ornaments, ordered Chinese takeout for dinner and ended the day watching the excellent I Am Greta documentary on Hulu, about Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg.

22.  Spent the entire day outside, and it was wonderful - we started the day outside in our backyard enjoying a beautiful sunrise, next headed to Newport Harbor for seven miles of kayaking plus a stop at Balboa Island for Snipe Crafthouse takeout burgers, over to new-to-us Rosetta Coffee Brewing Company for the best lattes we've ever had, no exaggeration, which we enjoyed drinking at Doheny State Beach thanks to our free parking Golden Bear passes, then back home to catch the sunset from our balcony while sipping wine.

23.  Hung around all day waiting for the tile installation team to arrive, which they finally did at 3:00 PM, but I was able to put the time waiting to good use in that, I finally finished this year's mermaid and ocean themed family Christmas ornaments.

24.  Headed out as soon as the tile team arrived to go walking at Crystal Cove State Beach on a gorgeous fall day, including a stop at the iconic Ruby's Shake Shack for a shared pumpkin milkshake - another item off of my Fall Bucket List - shopped a bit at Crystal Cove Promenade after, then home to clean up and meet friends  Dennis and Nikki for Half Price Tuesday alfresco dining at the winery we both belong too.

25.  Spent the morning researching inflatable kayaks before finally settling on two, only to discover that kayaks are apparently very scarce and hard to find as a result of COVID keeping everyone home looking for something to do, but did finally find them in stock at LL Bean, relief,  then headed into the kitchen to prepare my Thanksgiving meal contributions: my special Double Tomato Bruschetta for our starter, and this decadent looking Bourbon Sour Cream Pumpkin Cheesecake from Donna over at Retirement Confidential.

26.  A wonderful day spent with my husnand,  oldest daughter and her significant other, drinking good wine, eating good food, and rejoicing that the BF prepared the Thanksgiving meal this year - a very non traditional, but outstanding, pappardelle with duck leg ragu sauce, Brussels sprouts with cider, bacon and walnuts, and wild mushroom crostini, plus my outstanding pumpkin cheesecake for dessert . . . thanks Donna!

27.  Back to back events - a six mile walk in the morning, a volunteer shift assisting at our local tide pools in the afternoon, then home to eat a quick dinner before getting on Zoom to enjoy an after-dinner Happy Hour with longtime friends David and Fran.

28.  A nine mile group hike with fellow enthusiasts up and down some of the hills of San Juan Capistrano in the AM, then a sunset bonfire at the beach with friends . . . 

 . . . then over to the adjacent harbor to enjoy two glasses of complimentary wine plus small bites outdoors at another one of 'our' wineries while enjoying the sight of families with excited children posing for photos among the many festive holiday light displays . . . yeah for COVID-conscious holiday opportunities!

29.  A seven mile walk around Dana Point that included a spontaneous stop for alfresco margaritas and a shared burrito at new-to-us Carlos' Mexican Restaurant . . . getting outside continues to be the very, very best way for us to manage the current myriad of COVID-restrictions.

30.  Last week of upstairs chaos, yeah, so we headed out for a seven mile walk along the coast once the contractors arrived, picked up a sandwich to share afterward from Board and Brew, then drove back to the beach to eat it, plus relax, read and nap for a few hours until we were sure the crew had gone for the day.

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Whew! I have to say that in looking over the above, it really wasn't a horrible month in spite of the ongoing pandemic. The key, aside from consistent mask wearing and keeping our distance from other people, is to make a plan each and every day, recognizing there are no hard plans in my calendar other than the ones I put there myself. 

How about you? What were some of your November highlights?

Lots Of Chaos, Plus Some 2021 Spend Planning

 

Lots Of Chaos Over Here

Oh boy. The pre-tile prep work began here yesterday, and it was as awful as I remember. Of all the improvements we've made to our homes over the years, tile work is the absolutely most disruptive process, and this time is proving to be no different. Still, if we can just get through the next 10 days, it should be all downhill from there.

The team is working upstairs, so we are living in the downstairs area during the day, but trying to be gone as much as possible to avoid the noise and disruption and, well, breathing (because, COVID). The downstairs phase, which begins it two more weeks, will be much, much, much less disruptive because both areas being remodeled can be accessed via our downstairs bedroom's sliding glass doors, meaning we can seal off the back downstairs portion of work area, and live relatively normally from then until the completion of the second phase.

I am extremely gratified over the small improvements in place already, primarily cabinetry, because each one is a reminder of how stunning the completed project should be in comparison to what existed previously.

Some 2021 Spend Planning

In other news, my husband and I were discussing how to allocate our Miscellaneous allocation in 2021. This 'bucket,' if you will, is one we fund annually for those things we might like to do over and above our normal allocation accounts (i.e., Dining, Travel, Entertainment, Hobbies, Home Decor Improvements). In years past this fund has primarily funded interior room makeovers such as a home office build for my husband, and some pretty epic travel including a six week river cruise through Europe in 2016, and our cruise around South American this past January and February (which seems like a lifetime ago!). But with far flung travel still off the table until at least 2022, here is the list of items we are thinking of for 2021, as we all continue to hunker down and wait for our turn in the vaccine line:

1)  Two Advanced Element inflatable kayaks. These are extremely durable inflatable kayaks which should likely never need replacing, and after three years of living in our new-to-us coastal area, we know definitively that kayaking is something we are committed to doing for the long haul. Our current kayaks are very inexpensive Intex inflatables, and we unfortunately we have already had two of them fail on us for reasons related to the way they were manufactured, not our user error. Thus, new kayaks are in order. 

2)  Two new carbon fiber bicycles. We actually continue to be happy with our Trek 1000 road bicycles, which ran us $600 each back in 2004, however, and this is a big however, we ride very frequently these days with our oldest daughter and her significant other, and they literally leave us in their dust due to the advanced mechanics of their much lighter carbon fiber bikes vs. ours. Plus, sigh, we really are overdue given how frequently we now cycle, the result of now living near miles and miles and miles of dedicated bicycle paths, many of which go along the ocean. 

3)  New family room furniture. The furniture in our family room now is not terrible, but it was purchased inexpensively and somewhat in haste when we moved here, as a result of our prior family room furniture being the absolutely wrong configuration for our new family room.

I actually like the look of our current furniture, just not it's relative lack of comfort and durability.  So primarily as a result of how happy my oldest daughter is with a sofa they recently ordered and had delivered from Lazy Boy, we have been visiting the Lazy Boy showroom near us, and have landed on a sofa and two swivel chairs that are extremely comfortable, and very well made, construction wise. (Note: Swivel chairs, NOT recliners. At the risk of offending recliner-lovers out there, I have no interest in recliners whatsoever, having never seen any that I perceive as being remotely attractive.  ☹️ )

The swivel chairs in particular, are going to be awesome. We'll be able to swivel toward the TV, or swivel toward the fireplace, or even swivel toward the kitchen should the cook (me!) need some company. I haven't selected the final fabrics yet - there are literally hundreds to choose from - but I'm envisioning a textured light gray for the sofa, and a gray print of some sort for the chairs. The current waiting time for orders, though, is absolutely bonkers - between 4 and 6 months.

Fortunately, we are not in a rush!

So while we can't do any long distance trip planning for a while longer, we can instead enjoy upgrading some of our outdoor toys, and a little additional feathering of our nest.

Sneak Peek!

The remodel team finished one area last week, our upstairs hallway linen cabinet, so I couldn't wait to share here for those of you that enjoy these type of projects.

Here is the before, and sincere apologies for the not-so-great photo. The cabinetry was builder grade whatever from the 1980's, with the exception of the upgraded white/gray veining quartz countertop that we had installed two months ago in preparation for our remodel project.

And here is how it looks now, with it's crisp, very slightly-off-white new cabinetry, and new brushed chrome handles.

We are using the same cabinetry through out all four bathrooms, but the quartz will be reversed, meaning a light silvery gray with white veining. Based on how lovely the linen cabinet turned out (and up close . . . what a difference!) I am so eager for the completion of Phase I in the next two weeks. 

At that point, Phase II will begin downstairs, concluding just before Christmas.

Currently 11/17/2020: It's The Small Things

 

It took a good while longer than I thought, but I am finally finished buying all of the accessories for our four bathrooms remodel. The final tile selections took a couple of visits back and forth to the tile store, but it was actually a fairly painless process. Picking out the various mirrors though? Ooof! Not a quick process whatsoever. I have made something like 10 returns, but the good news is that I am finally finished.

I have just one last set of mirror returns to make - two 32" round mirrors for the upstairs 'kids' bathroom, as we call it, because it is the only bathroom with a bathtub. Turns out that two 30" mirrors will work better, and a very good thing as it turns out, because when I subsequently researched 30" round mirrors on line, the little beauty below popped up, and I absolutely loooove how it's silver waves compliment the white waves of the tile we are using in that room. My hope is that the two will work together to evoke a feeling of the ocean, without it feeling obvious.

Otherwise this bathroom will have crisp white cabinets and light silver quartz countertops. The cabinets for the two upstairs bathrooms start going in today, and I am so excited. The last six days have been about demolition and then setting up the framework for the incoming elements, so this is the first day that the pretty will start going in, and that will continue for the next three weeks, after which the upstairs will be completed, and the downstairs bathroom remodeling will commence.

Otherwise, Currently I Am . . . 

Relieved  With no thoughts of entertaining here over the holidays due to COVID, plus our ongoing remodeling, plus that we are celebrating Christmas at my oldest daughter's via her new apartment's spacious and ocean viewing outdoor patio, there will be no Christmas tree or decorations this year. 

Next year for sure, but this year I'm happy to take a hard pass on it all.

See you in 2021 Christmas tree!

Wondering  At what point we will feel comfortable returning to long distance pleasure travel. Even when the vaccine arrives, it appears that it may not be a one-and-done due to the likelihood that the COVID virus will mutate similar to the manner in which the flu virus does. And if that is the case, are we really going to be willing to return to cruising or to tour group traveling given the possibility of either activity being impacted by someone getting COVID enroute? The thought of having to navigate foreign regulations and/or quarantining far from home are giving me pause, so my thoughts at the moment are to focus on independent travel, and only to those places I wouldn't mind getting held up for a bit if a resurgence of the virus causes travel disruptions.

At this point then my list of places to travel outside of the USA would be Canada, Germany (where my youngest daughter and granddaughters will be living starting in 2021), and the new-to-us countries of Scotland and Iceland. Also the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, all three which we visited briefly by cruise ship but want to return to again and travel through more slowly and extensively on our own.

The famous Nyhavn Canal in Copenhagen, Denmark.
I took this photo during our 25th Anniversary cruise through Scandinavia in 2007.

Concerned  About my apparent growing sensitivity to heat. Increasingly I am experiencing electrolyte depletion during long distance hikes whenever the temperatures rise above 80 degrees. I do always carry electrolyte replacement tablets and gels, and they almost always get me back online, physically, but still, it's both annoying and disconcerting to have my body communicate in very real terms that it's getting older. Hrumpf!

Thankful  For the beautiful sunsets of fall, which we are able to enjoy right from out very own backyard.

And also for these wonderful people, my husband and my oldest daughter, who along with her significant other, keep on encouraging me to live my best life.

Both of the above photos are from a 35 mile bicycle ride we all did this past weekend. It was a picture-perfect sunny 70 degrees, our entire route was alongside the ocean, and our post-ride meal, which is where we were when I took these photos, was both delicious and well earned. 

Loving  That our granddaughter is continuing to FaceTime us each night in order to read to us. Just recently she's begun to get more expressive in her reading as words begin to come to her more easily, and her mind can then focus on the actions of what is happening. So wonderful!

And also that we are having a series of lovely days in the 70's, which is the absolutely perfect temperature to 1) leave our windows and doors open, and 2) work in the yard, or even better, sit in one of our lounge chairs and look out at this view:

I am thankful every single day, truly, both for these views, and that the prior owners choose to cover up this view with vegetation, thus allowing us to come in and purchase a home we very likely would not have been able to afford otherwise. In this part of Orange County, homes with ocean views are both coveted and expensive, and we never thought having one would be an option when we began house hunting here. So, thank you prior owners!

That's it for me this week. What's happening currently where you are?