Less Hustle More Coffee

Yesterday’s day off was a piece of bliss sliced off from heaven. I must have needed the unstructured time. That is exactly it. Unstructured time, which there is very little of. We are little robots that fit into segments of the week with little to no “free time” – it’s all filled with work and responsibilities, and moments of snuck in time here and there to get personal things taken care of.

And yesterday flew by. I sit here and try to recall where it went. As I recall, I got up around the time George did and took Maisy out, fixed coffee, and fed the doggies, watched the news, started the laundry, folded laundry, and subsequently washed several more loads. I planned dinner, with a quick search on Pinterest and started a “Air Fryer Recipe Board” where I placed “air fried chicken thighs”, a recipe with the skin ON.

I cleaned the kitchen by emptying the dishwasher, rebooting it, and washing any leftover dishes. Cleaned and dusted the pub table in the kitchen. I fixed boiled eggs (steamed eggs) in the egg steamer.

I began gathering things for my trip next week and made the decision how to get to the airport Thursday – I’m driving myself and parking in long term parking.

I watched some of the breaking news stories from our area. Where Trump visited.

He boarded helicopters which took him to the tornado impacted areas. His helicopters flew directly over our neighborhood. They were fairly low to the ground as we had cloud cover around that time and I could hear them coming and looked out the window for them. I texted George and within 20 minutes or so, George said they were seeing/hearing them there in Gordonsville. There was also damage there as well, which hasn’t really made much of the news.

I began shopping on line as my intentions were to place a hurried Target order so I could get my makeup in before my trip. However, Target did not have my shade in stock – well – they DID – but I’d have to go pick it up – they wouldn’t ship it. So nehhhh, not going past the tornado zones to get makeup in a two hour segment of time. So I ended up with “old faithful” (Amazon) who had it in stock and would bring it today if I wanted. Or tomorrow. But I chose “fewest packages” on Sunday for delivery. And it was free with Amazon Prime. I also decided to search for tunics (some comfy transitional types versatile for the weather we tend to have in spring, winter, fall). I found two on sale and reasonable.

I also began searching for bras. Having been a bit too cheap on some former purchases and ended up throwing one in the trash and “dealing with” the other (hurtful straps – not a good fit), I decided to pay more and buy better ones. So I started with the most expensive. I still could not fathom paying $60 or more for a bra and personally think that you can find excellent ones for $29.99 and up if you look for a deal and watch what you buy. I was going for $40’s though to buy a good one, if a deal couldn’t be found. But when I sorted by price, I was shocked to find that there was one for $4,000. I laughed and said “wow, it must do the dishes too”.

Needless to say, I did not purchase this one, but I was entertained by it. Surely it’s a joke or a mistype of some kind. I should have read the 13 views to see what it said, but didn’t. I quickly got rid of that one.

While I spent time shopping on line the doggies were happy and curled up nearby and that made me happy.

Then I spent some time creating an Instagram Story of the doggies. Why? Because I had time and I love doing Instagram stories. I just seem to not ever have the time or focus anymore because so many things distract me in so many ways. Or too much going on or too much to do.

Spring is trying to pop.

Our house needs some TLC, both inside and out. In big ways too. I found a leak yesterday in the house up above the TV. I think we had hail damage to the roof. George says he is getting up there today on the roof to see and to also inspect the sunroom area that is prone to leaking as it leaked horribly in there by the fireplace in the sunroom. There is an area that it leaks where the sunroom was built up next to the bricks/fireplace and it does not sit perfectly together and allows water in. We’ve had to keep a pan by the fireplace to keep the occasional drips in, but it was a huge leak now and the pan spilled over – not good. They epoxy it around the roof but has to be done about every two years. I’m sure it’s been about 4.

I’ve asked to have a professional person come in and do this. I just don’t think George needs to be climbing up there on the roof. He wants me to hold the latter which tilts at an angle where he has to place it to get up. The last time this happened I was not strong enough to hold him up. He says he wants me to lean my body against it and not use my arms. I’ve told him I’m not doing this again. I’m older now and I realize what it was like last time. He’s always thought I was stronger than I am when moving things. I’ve had to say numerous times “no” to moving or picking things up b/c I know my limits. My back hurts if I pick up 4 – 2 liters of cokes (I remember that from having to carry drinks back and forth at work for events). I had to start carrying 2 at a time instead of 4. So NO, I will not be holding the ladder. I told him I would call a neighbor. He didn’t want me to schedule that b/c he didn’t know what time he wanted to do it. So – I would say “whatever time the neighbor has”. I’ve drawn the line and I am not holding the ladder because I want someone to hold it that can actually have the strength to do it so he is safe. He swears he will get up alone and do it. If he does that will be his own stubbornness to not ask for proper help. It’s not going to be on me. I’ve offered to call for help. He should let the professionals do it as they are the ones that need to be climbing up there anyway and will have to inspect it. I am shaking as I type this b/c this just all makes me nervous. But he has to do it his way or no way. You all know what that is like. No man likes to take ideas or advice from a woman. Or be told what to do by a woman. I guess they think it is a sign of weakness. The strongest men I know appreciate the help and ideas from women and use their talents.

Little Bit enjoyed coming in and hanging out with us for an hour or two.

I rebooted and folded laundry through the day.

Katy called and we discussed our trip. She was excited to be out for spring break.

I also began working on a iMovie of the night the storm hit. I had totally forgot to look at the video to see if you could see anything, or how bad it got in our area. That took a lot of time watching that and also took some time editing the video and clipping the uninteresting parts out. I left most of the lightning in where there were big flashes and as the storm approached, hail, sirens, and finally the wind. Then it was suddenly gone and just rain, which I did not include. I am posting the video below. Keep in mind that this is from Nest cam segments so it records Noise, Motion, and people. There was an orb in there before the storm came and I think it was edited out. I should have kept it in there. Anyway – Here was the night of the tornado. You can’t see any funnels but you can tell the skies are angry. It’s eerie watching it because you know in these moments lives are being lost and people’s worlds are literally being ripped. We were in the basement, having been woken up by the weather alarm on our iPhones.

And after this, I realized WOW, my afternoon is gone. I began to prepare for dinner and wanted to set the mood for George coming home from work to start his weekend. He called on the way home and said traffic was bad and wanted to see if I needed anything from the store. But I needed nothing. He made it home quicker than I thought. I lit a candle, put some “energy/wellness” essential oils in the diffuser of sweet orange, clove, and frankincense. A someone pleasant aroma, yet cleansing of the air.

I clipped this photo out from a video so it’s not perfect, lol. But this was the mood setting.

Once he got home and saw the leak, we had the “roof/ladder discussion” so I’m not sure any of it was really mood lifting, lol. But at least he was home for the weekend and kicking it off. He’s doing taxes and wanting to do yard work today and look at the roof thing. You can see the leak below next to where the roof meets the wall. Yes we have ugly popcorn ceilings. You think I’ll get to do anything about that ever? lol NOPE. I still have blue linoleum remember? (Grr). Maybe one day.

I’m going to be working on the house today and working on my to do list. I have mega ironing to do as well. I’d really like to finish up some things on my list which I have mostly ignored as it’s been crazy and with up to 3 hour commutes and alternate schedules- there is no time to do anything during the week.

Well, I am glad we have no plans this weekend. I’m just glad to be home for three days. We were not here much all of last weekend and so there is a lot to do.

Oh our chicken dinner was good! I will fix it again.

Please pray for us and the roof situation – both with George’s determination to get up on the shaky ladder and roof and that someone can/will help him as it needs to be someone that can actually do something if he starts to fall. I cannot hold his weight. It’s unsafe for both of us for him to assume that I can. It scares me and I don’t even want to be watching.

Anyway, I’ll pop in tomorrow hopefully and report out what all we did today. Hopefully it’ll be fruitful.

Oh I should mention something about the Corona virus. It’s kinda taken a back seat in our community with all the tornado relief efforts. However, cases are popping up everywhere. Right before Katy and I are to take our flights to Tulsa. I just don’t even know what to think but as of right now we are still going. I’m not sure what to do or if we should consider cancelling. I try not to let the media scare me. I’ve spent most of my life scared of something. It’s hard to know what to believe. So yeah if the “flu” got the attention would we be doing that with that? What if it is just this year’s flu? Were the Chinese conspiracy theories really true? Were they reporting real numbers? Is it any more of a threat that normal flu? The hype of it is really going to mess us all up. It’s like when snow is announced and you can’t find milk and bread in the stores. I made a list of things that I thought we might need to store up on, but with our week we’ve had, I have not had a chance to get anything but bleach and toilet paper – we needed them anyways.

I noticed how bad the virus was and getting all the media reportings and then the stocks started to crash and then I noticed everyone starting to play it down – but is that for real or just everyone wants the stocks to come back up so they are calming fears? I don’t know what to believe and there is really no way to know for sure.

However, here’s my plan. I do think that we were given the talents to be prepared, but not over do it. It’s wise to be ready and someone responsible to have supplies on hand for any type of emergency. Much like deer fed from humans, we become used to our current habitat and immediate conveniences and we become accustomed to that. For generations before us, our predecessors learned to handle crises and adapt from whatever crises were at hand. Yes many of our problems and situations are different than they were in the past but we still have God and we still have the ability to cope and to figure things out as humans. We are resilient and very creative and build upon one another’s ideas. Where one is weak another is strong. To panic would not be the thing to do. To plan is prudent. To be prepared is prudent. Like anything you do in life. If you are afraid of something, have a plan for how you will handle it and follow that plan. If it happens you know what to do, if it doesn’t then great!

In this life we all kinda just go from one change, an event, or situation – to the next one. There are fears of many kinds, sadness, anxieties, and while we want every day to be happy and perfect it’s just not. Still we all strive for it and are there for each other to make it as good as we can make it be. Pray, seek God, deal with today before you can deal with tomorrow, but do the best you can. One day there will be no more sickness or pain or strife or stress or death for those that BELIEVE.

May God be with us all in the coming days/weeks/months/year/forever! Amen.