Saturday, August 6, 2022

Saturday's Scribbles

 

Good Saturday to you on yet, another hot and humid day in our corner of the world.  August is here to bless us and also give us an earnest desire for fall to come!  Ha   Yet we first have august, with it's gifts of hot days and lovely sunsets.  Days of gratitude for early mornings in a cooler atmosphere, and afternoons inside when the heat rises.  And then there are the animals, including the deer who have come at night and devoured our front garden hosta and day lily blooms.  We were hoping that they had passed us by, but alas, they just saved their grazing in our yard until August!  

Speaking of nights.....the bathroom reno continues.  Our contractor has been working hard to get things done.  Last Monday Joel came downstairs at midnight to use the bathroom and stepped in water on the bottom step and then on the large braided rug.  What???  He turned on the light switch and looked up to see water dripped fast out of the ceiling light!  Yikes!  I woke up to Joel running up and down the stairs to the bathroom to see where the leak was coming from.  He discovered that the turn off valve under the sink had decided to stop working at midnight on a Monday night.  Of course it did!  He worked to turn it off but with a broken seal, the leak continued with about 1/2 inch of water in the bottom of the cabinet and coming out the light.  He finally called our contractor who came right over to take care of it.  He had been using the valve to get water for tiling, it was an original valve to the house and just wore out.  Luckily (?) he had a valve to replace it with and was willing to come over.  What a blessing that was!   

Tuesday was filled with a dental appointment, a birthday lunch at a local pizza place for my sister K. and a nighttime visit from a woman whose husband Joel had been friends with.  A late night and then an hour drive north on Wednesday to find new toilets for two of the three bathrooms here.  Thursday Joel and I painted the closet doors and cabinet doors and drawer fronts,  and Joel painted the baseboards.  And I had no issues with the paint.  But...........

Friday brought a glitch and a bit of drama.....we realized the composite quartz countertop we bought was 3/4 in too long for the space.  Ordering one to fit the space would take weeks, so we decided to purchase a laminate countertop we could cut down.....and when Joel set it up in the garage to look at it I had a strong reaction.  My tongue started swelling up and my lungs got very tight.  I asked a few people to pray and then added Benadryl to the prayers.  It made me sleepy for the afternoon but between the two, all the reactions left.  It has been years since I had a reaction like that to chemicals.  Pooh!  

Needless to say the laminate went back and our contractor and Joel talked over options of which there were two.  Wait weeks for a special order or make the one we had fit.  There is a wall between the toilet and counter and he opened up that wall and about 3/4 inch of the countertop is set in there.  He'll sheetrock up to that and you won't even notice.  Lessons learned:  give yourself a lot of time to order what you need....measure twice......and be flexible!  Also as our oldest said, "NEVER have laminate anywhere in your house!"

I do confess, we are happy to have weekends free from the hammering, pounding, saws and tile cutting, etc.  And talk radio?   Our contractor listens to a radio station that shares more than just music...opinions spill out all over.  Now I am grateful he listens to a Christian radio station, but I am not into yelling, or fear tactics.  I told Joel, he could be listening to heavy metal, or rap or any other music these oldsters would cringe at.  Still, today I am enjoying the quiet.......while truly  thankful our contractor is a believer in Jesus.  Bless him, and his radio!

We have been deep into blueberries here.  We have been putting blueberries in yogurt, on cereal, French toast, and more.  I have made blueberry muffins and blueberry cobbler.  Yep.  The 10 lb of blueberries go a long way!  And of course it is watermelon season.  They are spendy this year, but good.  Veggies are taking a backseat to fruit right now!  Haha

So today I am grateful for blueberries and more blueberries.  Grateful for a contractor willing to make house calls after midnight, and a contractor who believes in Jesus and is good at his job! Grateful for birthday lunches, social visits, walks outside, painting, getting our counter top to work, the reno soon done, Benadryl, air conditioning, phone calls, texts, photos that come on our phone, and so much more..

Enjoy your weekend!

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