Currently 1/10/2021: Stop The Spend!

As I was logging this past week's considerable spending expenditures into our Budget spreadsheet, the phrase 'Stop the Spend!' literally flashed through my brain. I mean, how perfect, given the past eight weeks of insanity and chaos.

However, regardless of the irony of the particular message my brain elected to put out, this last week was a spending whopper for sure, and even though all monies that flew out the door were anticipated, I am relieved that for the foreseeable future we are done with big expenses.

As to where it went, this was the week we paid the remaining expenses of our recent bathrooms remodel, plus we paid for, and took delivery of, our new travel trailer.

But for now we are done writing checks with commas(!), and can instead return to our regularly scheduled 2021 budgeting. Feels good I tell ya! 

Otherwise, Currently I Am . . . 

Organizing  Our travel trailer, our garage, our home. The relief at being done with the our remodel, plus successfully delivering our old trailer for trade in just as we took possession of our new one, has given me the motivation to do some significant decluttering of our home. 

In the house, a few display items went to Salvation Army as I continue to focus on fewer but more meaningful items in our home. 

In the garage we let go of a good chunk of holiday decor items in one of our storage cupboards as I realized that my desire for increased simplicity did not lend itself to cluttering up my home with seasonal tchotchke's. Hard initially, because there were memories of enjoying these items when my daughters were younger and still here at home (😢), but much relief once they finally got bundled up for removal, a sure sign it was time to say goodbye.

Also, our trailer unpacking (old trailer) and subsequent repacking (new trailer) resulted in some aspirational item being shed. We have learned we are lazy RV'ers, and want minimal set up and breakdown, so we set aside a small EZ-up we'd been hauling around unused for years, plus a gas BBQ and accompanying 1 pound propane canisters -  our George Foreman grill, which we also carry around, is so much smaller and easy to use in that it just plugs in. We also removed some excess serving bowls and utensils, because with our limited storage and fridge capacity there is pretty much zero chance that large quantities of anything will be coming out of our trailer anytime soon. Simplicity rules the day when we RV due to the smallness of our kitchen area.

Stock photo from manufacturer.
Our trailer has two additional hanging cupboards, but the prep space is the same, so,
as I indicated above, we keep our meals pretty simple when traveling.
I carry a toaster oven, a George Foreman grill, and a small crockpot, in
addition to the travel trailer's two burner stove.
Plus, see that fridge in the right corner? Small!!!

Buying  These two lovely eucalyptus leaf prints, a tree that we are surrounded by here in S. California, both from the wonderful Emily of Jetty Home. I purchased six of her canvas prints when we updated our family room last year, and these two will be displayed on hanging shelves in our newly remodeled powder room. 

I find that I'm craving calmness the older I get, and the simplicity of these two prints absolutely delights me.

Plus I purchased my first air fryer, a combined toaster/oven/air fryer, for our new travel trailer. A small size was critical due to the limited counter space in the trailer, so I landed on this one from Black+Decker, that comes in at a petite 15.5" wide, just one inch wider than the Black+Decker 15 year old toaster oven it's replacing:

Fifteen years service from our prior Black+Decker toaster oven is impressive, so I expect/hope the same from this one. 

Reading  Nothing this past week due to being so distracted by the news, plus the arrival of our new travel trailer. I have several books waiting to be read, however, so that is my goal this next week. On that list is finishing White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo, an unbelievably compelling read. As much as I've attempted to educate myself with regard to inherent racism in order to do better, this book is giving me more to think about than I had even known needed thinking about. Also waiting to be finished is the third book in the Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which has been absolutely delightful so far. Still waiting to be started is Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond, for an upcoming book club discussion, plus a re-read of the illustrated version of The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown. As I previously indicated, Dan Brown is not necessarily my favorite author, however reading the illustrated versions of his books is pretty interesting in that he so mixes the factual with the fictional.

Cooking  Several recipes from On-Pan Wonders by Cooks Country. My foodie youngest daughter introduced me this cookbook, and it is excellent. I most recently made Lemony Chicken with Wilted Spinach and Potatoes and it was delicious. I'd post the recipe, except Cooks Country puts all their recipes behind paywalls, however it is available to view on Amazon if you click on the Look Inside Icon and scroll forward a few pages. It's the fourth recipe in the cookbook.

Excited  We have a handyman in for the next three days, beginning tomorrow. He is going to repaint our bathrooms, all looking a little disheveled from their recent remodel, hang the final mirrors, remove the crown molding from our bedroom, the only room with it in the entire house and thus out of character, plus remove two arches in our bedroom, which should both update and visually enlarge the room. After that, we are done other than awaiting installation of our shower glass, and a sliding privacy door in our guest bedroom. Neither should cause any follow up repair work, so we are definitely approaching the finish line. 

Goodbye arches and crown molding!

Not to much to get excited about otherwise, because, well, pandemic.

Amused  My east coast daughter has an enormous heart, and as a result she has been fostering dogs for a rescue organization. Recently she had a sweet little elderly cocker named Terry, that was quickly adopted by an older couple. Currently she has a three month old puppy rescued from a hoarder that had 42, wait for it, Great Danes. Yep, she has a three month old Great Dane currently with the biggest paws I've ever seen. Oh lordy, for her sake, as the primary pooper-scooper, I hope the little gal gets adopted quickly!

Side note, she was in downtown DC picking up the new puppy one day before The Capital horror occurred, which initiated another round of intense emotions when she told me.

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That's a wrap for me currently. What's up currently where you are?

A Send Off For 2020, And A Lovely Start To 2021

 

I've been forcing myself to remember that it wasn't all bad in 2020, and that in spite of the pandemic, there were many lovely moments. Included among these would be our magically cruise around South America in early 2020, just prior to the pandemic reaching the America's. The memories we made on that trip will be with us forever. We drank Chilean wine straight from a winery in the Casablanca wine valley, sailed through the stunning Patagonia channels all the way down to the tip of continent, saw and circled Cape Horn, walked among native penguins, stood outside of the balcony where Eva Peron gave her famous speech in Argentina, and attended Carnival in Rio de Janero, Brazil, an experience to top all experiences for sure.

We also explored every inch possible of our beautiful coastal location, on foot and by bicycle, during the first few months of our initial Stay At Home order, as we sought for ways to break the monotony of being so much at home while working to remaining safe.

We took a wonderful 9 day RV trip along California's ethereal central coastline, and enjoyed ourselves so much that we committed to upgrading our travel trailer in order to do even more RV'ing in 2021.

And finally, we closed out the year with a simple, yet special evening that again drove home how happy we are to live where we now do. We packed a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses along with some folding chairs and drove five minutes to a bluff park overlooking the ocean to watch the sunset. The parking at this beach-adjacent park is free, a rarity here, and even nicer, alcohol is fine to consume. During the pandemic coming to watch the sunset has become a big event, and it's been lovely. People are mellow, spread out, happy to chat, dogs and kids are aplenty, and oftentimes someone nearby is playing a guitar, or a keyboard, or something equally pleasant. 

Social distancing at work last night, and which now feels completely normal.

After enjoying the sunset show we headed over to one of our membership wineries at the harbor, and chatted with the owner for a bit. He shared that as a fire captain (his other job - yes, he is amazing!) he had received his first dose of the COVID vaccine and felt fine so far. We were so happy for him, and after wishing him the happiest of New Years, we sat down at a table out on the patio and sipped our To-Go wine and talked about our own hopes for the new year. Of which we have many!

From there we headed to The Little Kitchen Asian Cafe, a new-to-us restaurant that is currently being listed as among our county's best for Chinese food, and hunted down our bagged order from the 40(!) or so that were neatly lined up awaiting pickup. The place was absolutely packed outside with people waiting in a long line place their To-Go orders, and we were very happy that we'd thought to order ahead. We took our food back home and enjoyed it while watching a British-made docu-drama someone had recommended, Fisherman's Friend. It was sweet, even if somewhat predictable, and we much enjoyed. We turned into bed about 9:30 PM, our usual New Year's Eve turn in time - I much prefer getting an early start to New Year's Day - waking up for a few moments at midnight to the sound of celebratory fireworks traveling up our canyon. 

It was really a perfect send off to 2020.

Today, the first day of 2021, I am celebrating not only the completion of our very messy bathroom remodeling project (yeah!), but that I actually managed to get window cleaners in yesterday to tackle our subsequently very dirty windows, so this morning the house feels truly clean for the first time in months.

And even better, we have plans to spend the day biking along the coast, from Huntington Beach to Long Beach, with our daughter and her boyfriend, after which we'll return to their place in order to enjoy lobster mac and cheese and champagne out on their ocean viewing patio. The boyfriend is cooking the mac and cheese, and we're bringing the champagne.

Tomorrow we are going kayaking with friends.  

Happy 2021 To All . . . It's Got To Be Better Than 2020!

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?