What a year it has been! Ever since I got bronchial pneumonia boarding the train for New York, October of 2023, we have had to deal with one thing after another. Seven months of 4 doses of antibiotics and steroids finally got me on track again with that issue. Then Russ started coughing and coughing, then violent coughing, aspirating constantly. A year of tests, consulting with 3 different specialty doctors and finally…a “procedure” and he hasn’t coughed in 11 days. God is good.
Then the breakdowns happened…we had our ductwork cleaned $$$$. The furnace died $$$$$$$$$$$$$. The car needed new tires $$$. Car battery died $$. The basement flooded…AGAIN. Hail damage to our gutters, three months now still waiting to be scheduled for installation… we had major house improvement….words escape me, other then it is beautiful. OK, it cost an arm, a lung and 3 legs! Did I mention 6 new tires for the RV, 4 new tires for the utv and 4 tires for the 2 story tractor?
So in the midst of this, I decided that I would at some point in my life… die…and I did not want to leave my husband …CHAOS! I have pushed back from club obligations and concentrated on getting all my projects done. ROOM BY ROOM, better said…WALL by WALL. I have devised a spiral notebook in which I write everything I need to buy, to do….spring planting list, everything! I also have a friend and her husband who come at least once a month, who haul off everything I throw out and resell the “stuff” in their antique mall booths.
My day yesterday. I signed off in the spiral, touch up paint on fireplace hearth! I was sooooo smart to have kept the glass jar of paint in the credenza for years and I FINALLY DID IT! Crap! That was ceiling paint I dabbed…I did find the right color and painted again, So then, I have a living room cabinet full of beloved cookbooks. I do love them! Several were used in the 70’s and 80’s while raising my family. My famous lemon pie recipe… But I just collect them. I google any recipe I need and print it off today. Oh my! How times have changed. Everything has changed. I took a nostalgic jello dessert to a potluck last year and no one touched it. And I have several boxes of jello in the pantry and they sit. The books are out of there and the cabinet is empty. DONE!
Too often I look at things in our home that I have had for over 50 years that maybe hold a memory for me, but really mean nothing to any one of the kids. Hub sidekick is also cleaning out and enjoying having some more space. BILL’S SADDLERY is on exhibit at Andrew County Museum in Savannah MO for the next year.
I am enjoying what I have learned is Swedish Death Cleaning. Google it!
