Good Saturday to you from our corner of the world where we live in one of those "middle ones". I say this because I was reading an article by Brent Olson, author and Midwesterner, and he talked about when he went to a conference with a lot of people who live on the "edges" of our country. When he told one woman who asked where he was from, that he was from Minnesota, she said "Oh, that is one of those middle ones, isn't it?" Yeah....Minnesota or Iowa....we kinda are just one of those states in the middle..... and grateful to be!
Speaking of that topic, when we went to a conference in CT in 2013 we would tell people where we were from. Iowa. When they would introduce us they would say we were from Ohio. We quickly learned that for most of those who live out East nothing exists beyond Ohio! Ha And when we went to Bethel Church in northern California in 2017 and told people where we were from they would get a blank look...and reintroduce us as from Idaho! We decided it worked best when we said, "We are from Minnesota but live in Iowa now". We would always get......."Oh, Minnesota!" That state they recognized. I often wonder if people study geography at all in the classrooms?? Maps happen to be a favorite of mine....love geography! But alas, I confess, I also get those small clustered together states confused out East! So I better watch my words, right?
We have had a lot of rain this week...and that pesky ceiling exhaust fan in our beautiful newly renovated bathroom started leaking again after a heavy rain...drip...drip. We do seem to have a thing with water in this house. Over the years we have had frozen pipes, flooding toilets, tree roots blocking sewer drainage, a leaking exhaust fan, and water going into our furnace ducts during one crazy toilet overflow when we couldn't shut off the rusty valve. And speaking of that isn't that just what happened when we were renovating the bathroom and woke up in the night to water dripping through the main floor entry light fixture? What?!?!? So, yeah, we are a little skittish around water here! We hope to get our carpenter back here to put a cap on the exhaust fan (on the roof) ASAP.
Speaking of bathroom renos, our bathroom is done! Yay and Yahoo! We spent the last three days getting a shower curtain, new knobs/handles for the cabinet, buying a few towels, and searching (and still searching) for the right rugs. We are soooooo happy to have it done after 18 yrs of a black and white NASCAR explosion! Not our choice, just the way we bought the house. Stay tune next week for a before and after reveal!
With the reno over we spent most of this past week also doing deep cleaning. That dust gets everywhere. I probably have explained that we have sort of a 5 level house. The basement is finished, then there is a half up to the main floor bedroom that juts out. Then the main level....and then a half up bedroom (office) that juts out before going all the way upstairs to the top level where there are two bedrooms and a bathroom. The main floor is open to kitchen, living, and dining. So cleaning is usually a two day affair.....but Joel did the heavy lifting....washing all the floors on two levels, vacuuming rugs, on all levels and shampooing our living room wool rug. I did dusting on all levels and cleaned 2 bathrooms and the kitchen. We organized some and the plan is to keep going and get "Fall" cleaning done early! Don't you just love a clean house?!
Speaking of houses, this summer three of our kids and their families in three different states at different times have gotten or will have new roofs due to storms. The weather it is a changing........
I have spent little time baking this week.... a loaf of Almond Flour Paleo Blueberry Bread used up the last of our 10lbs of blueberries. I use maple syrup for a sweetener. Pure Maple Syrup. Thinking about this made me think about our grocery shopping this week. The prices of many things are out of control. Dairy and meat especially. We usually eat meat once a day now and throw in a meal of eggs, oatmeal, yogurt, cereal, or grilled cheese. I have observed that a lot of the amazing people our age do the same. Ha! It does not help me lose weight, even when cutting down 1 of the 2 snacks I eat. Can I just tell you how annoying that is? Okay, moving on. Our neighbor gave us a DVD to watch called "Forks Over Knives". It is based on eating a plant based diet. I watched it years ago but we will watch it together now. At one time our Lyme doctor wanted us to stop eating meat along with the sugar, dairy, gluten, etc. that we could not ingest while under treatments. It lasted about 10 days and then Joel got so sick I had to cook him up some meat to get him to feel better. Neither one of us are comfortable eating animals that can feel, have emotions, etc. But we also need protein that comes from meat, especially as we age. That's our story.
Better close today's scribbles.....so I will wrap it up giving thanks that the bathroom is finished, that there is a solution to a leaking exhaust fan, and that we will find rugs for the tile floors. Grateful for all the shopping we got done this week, for cooler days, for living in one of the "middle ones". Grateful for a new shower curtain and towels, for new knobs, for porch sitting, blueberry bread, for being able to afford the foods we enjoy, for all the cleaning we got done this week, for new roofs, for music, TV, texts, emails, phone calls, the games Wordle, Quordle, and Octordle......and so much more.
Enjoy your weekend!
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