Taking Advantage of our New Normal and Money Savings and Home Repair

      Yep, that is a long title. But I'm inspired this morning to write a post about some of the positives of the "new normal" that we are all a part of due to COVID-19.

     Yesterday mom and I were invited along on a 6-foot clearance shopping trip with my sister Lisa, my sister-in-law Connie and my niece Clarissa. Pre-COVID, we would often meet up at one store or another to see each other, shop together and usually have lunch. We had not done that since COVID-19 and we missed it. It's funny how you take things for granted until you can't do them anymore and then you realize how lucky you were to have been able to do those things. 

     So we met up at Hobby Lobby. Mom and Clarissa had one slip up, when Clarissa saw her grandmother she ran up and gave her a hug. I had just enough time to say "Wait, you can't do that" and they let go right away. Sad, sad, sad...when a granddaughter can't hug her beloved grandmother. And sad that I had to be the bad guy in this situation.

     But we had a good time shopping, I left mom alone with Connie & Clarissa knowing they would keep an eye on her. I really didn't need anything from Hobby Lobby so I instead treated myself to something totally unnecessary that I had wanted forever! A Spirograph Cyclex. Do you remember Spirograph? I had the original one that came with a thick piece of cardboard and little pins that you would use to pin down the paper and the round discs to make your design. You can see a little round container with the pins in this photo, pins are red.

     But the one I bought is not your grandmothers Spirograph, check this out. This is all self-contained, you just put that red tool with the 4 large circles and the 1 small circle on your paper and draw away. No fuss, no muss. The only problem is that I got one that had a defective small circle and I had to take it back and there were no more available so I had to get a refund, but at least I had a chance to play with it and create some artwork which I hope to finish today. 

     From there we went to Burlington and Ross and since I don't have to go to the office anymore, at least until the first of the year, I really don't need to buy anything, I mentioned that in a previous post. I'm finding that I have really saved a lot of money. Between not needing to fuel my car, go out to lunch, Starbucks coffee at least 2 or 3 times per week and not needing special clothing I have been able to build a tidy little nest egg so I decided since I'm home and have the money, it's time to start doing some small repairs around the house. 

     I started with the backyard patio. We still have the original one that my mom and dad put up on October 2, 1984. I know the exact date because mom and dad carved their names into the wet cement. I'm glad they did that so I now know that it has been standing for 35 years! Wow!

     Once the patio is finished they will start on a new fence next, can't wait for that as our old one is raggedy and falling apart, especially after the car that ran through it on Halloween in 2013, post here. Once the fence is done I'm going to have all the windows replaced with new double pane windows and then have the house painted. I'm thinking shades of grey and the finally I'm having them install a sprinkler system as right now we're just old schooling it with a water house and single sprinkler and we have a corner lot with a lot of grass, it's exhausting and hard to keep up with getting every single bit of it. We have to find our silver linings where and when we can!

     What silver linings have come your way?

Love your Neighbor as Yourself, But Don't Take Down the Fence!

"Love your neighbor as yourself; but don't take down the fence."
 Carl Sandburg 

I gotta tell ya...I'm not loving my neighbors today!! Last night was Halloween night of course. We didn't get many trick-or-treaters so we expected an uneventful night. Unfortunately that was not the case.

Around 11 pm some kids in a car decided to drive like maniacs down the alley on the block adjacent to ours. They came out of the alley at a high rate of speed and lost control once they got on the street and they came crashing through the fence into my backyard!

My son happened to be outside with the dogs and was quick enough to move out of the way before they could mow him down as well. He remembers hearing the car's engine and seeing the headlights and thinking "Oh crap, they're not stopping" and moving out of the way.

They broke through the fence...the fence that my daddy built! I think that is the worse part, that dad built this fence and now part of it is destroyed and will have to be rebuilt by a stranger, someone that didn't put his heart into it.

I'm grateful that no one was hurt. I know that is numero uno! But now that my son is safe, and our doggy's are safe, I can grieve for the fence and the memories of my dad putting it together and his opening the gate to park his RV.

The stupid kids put the car in reverse and fled the scene. My son said he heard the passenger yelling, "Put it in reverse, put it in reverse!" Hopefully they were not hurt, I wouldn't want them to be hurt. Hopefully it put the fear of God into them and they won't ever be that reckless again! And hopefully their parents will see the damage to the car and do the right thing...hopefully.