Little Free Library

My new Little Free Library is up! It turned out beautifully, too, matching the colors of the house. It should be pretty weather resistant as it's made out of a mailbox, and I picked up some children's books at the Hopkins Goodwill for .49 cents each, just to get things started. I'm thinking that it might take a awhile for it to be discovered. Our road ends in a cul de sac, so it's pretty quiet traffic wise, but it is a good road to stroll down on with little kids. So you just never know!

Summer Birthdays

Of course, the summer birthdays would have to be celebrated differently this year. Usually we celebrate Jake and Mark's together in July, and then mine and Nick's together in August. But this year, they were all celebrated separately because of the virus. Mom is still not allowed to leave her facility (unless she were to go back into two weeks of quarantine after she returned, and we do not want to do that again), so she wasn't able to be at any of them. Mark came over here for brats and salads and Boston Cream Poke Cake for his. Jake and Brianna came over for Thai Peanut Chicken and desserts, then a walk down to the lake for Jake's. We drove down to visit Nick, and actually dined out on a patio for the first time since this whole pandemic began. Bruce and I celebrated alone together on mine, but it turned out to be a very nice birthday, anyway. I went to see Mom, and brought her a Little Debbie birthday snack cake treat. And she actually remembered that it was my birthday, even before I went to see her, calling me to sing Happy Birthday on the phone. (I wondered if that would even happen this year, and was so thrilled when it did!) Bruce gave me sunflowers and lilies, and spent much of the day working on creating a Little Free Library for me, something I've been wanting for several years. We brought home hibachi lunch specials from Kai's Little Sushi to eat on the porch, and Bruce made us mushroom and cheese omelettes and bacon for supper. I also made us a chocolate pudding pie for my birthday treat, as I kind of like treating people to treats on my birthday. Katie and Avi sent me a box of chocolates! Thinking about how it all played out, I wonder what's going to happen this year over the holidays. And, I wonder if assisted livings will allow a little more freedom as far as visits go, especially when it gets cold and snowy and porch visits aren't possible. Things have to get better eventually, don't they?

What's Important

Lately I've decided that I have too many distractions getting in the way of me getting things done. I guess I've drastically cut down on the amount of things coming into the house, but then there is the matter of purging all the things that are already there, having been accumulating over the years. I do believe that there is now only a window of time in which to do this task, and if that window is somehow missed, all bets are off that it will actually get done. And, it helps to want to do this, but it also takes a lot of physical and emotional energy to follow through. Charity pickups are starting to resume, and that could help. But you still have to do the work of looking at everything, and making the decision to let it go. Put it in that bag or box, and get it out of the house. It's hard work. I don't want to leave all this for someone else to clean up after me! Maybe I need to read my Swedish Death Cleaning book again. Back to the distractions, though. I think I'm going to blame my phone for the bulk of them. Those phones could easily eat up a good 4-5 hours a day, and I'm not exaggerating. Lately, I'm starting to leave my phone in another room just so I'm not tempted, out of habit, to pick it up and look at it. And then get sucked into whatever, it doesn't even have to be exciting. But, I have mixed feelings about this as I really do need to be able to answer the phone if a call comes in about mom. And that brings me to what's important. My people are important. Somehow I need a balance between getting things done, and being able to spend time caring for and loving my people. Maybe a casual daily schedule of sorts would help? I don't know, it's worth a try, anyway.

Lake Time

We have a routine when we go up north these days ... we almost always stop at the Hardy's drive through in Zimmerman for a mushroom swiss burger on our way up. Not healthy, but so delicious, and something to look forward to! After we get there, there are some chores to do. Bruce will usually mow, I might do a little weeding or sweep off all the spider webs along the cabin. Next might be a boat ride, or a trip to the dollar store. They usually have things like toilet paper there, and other fun items like the squirrel and owl mugs in the picture, I guess those were an impulse buy ... Supper is something like baked chicken or leftovers from home, the easier the better. Then, more boat time for Bruce to fish and me to read. We stay out until sundown, then head back to watch a DVD with popcorn and a glass of wine. It's a good routine.

Wordless Wednesday