It's Been a Minute...

It's been a month. August was a lot. A lot of good things and times, but some trials too. Nothing we couldn't or didn't handle and it's not lost on me that is a form of privilege. We made two trips to the appliance store to replace our 30 year old washer and dryer and then our 8 year old frig. We lost power for 10 hours during an overnight deluge and woke to a basement full of water. Luckily it was just storm water and our neighbor had a submersible pump, and luckier yet...the 10 cats we are caring for across the street stayed dry. I have never experienced rain like this. We are researching generators.

Lily celebrated 21 and I turned 56. Last week was one of small celebrations, and I like it that way. Wednesday Lils and I met Grandma at the spa for nail treatments before we joined Grandpa for dinner on the beautiful night. Scallops with BLT risotto was a delicious choice and the private dinning room a God send for the hard of hearing. On the way home, we stopped off to meet Miss Murphy, my sweet new grandkitty. Ted and Meryl picked her up that night and obviously we  couldn't wait to meet her. They are smitten. Manny is not. Yet. He'll come around and her precocious personality will keep on trying.

 

 

Then Thursday we made a trip to Madison to begin the move in process. And it is a process especially without the White Whale. I was excited to see Lil's house. It has potential, but 6 boys called it home last year and the slum lords do little to improve the property they are clearing over 6K for each month. I'm keeping Amazon in business as I strive to put some lipstick on this piggie. Budget lipstick...nothing like those $20K dorm reveals I'm seeing all over social media. Lils and Mike were a great team. They put together a dresser that came in literally 100 pieces. Now I know why Wayfair wanted to charge $100 to assemble it. It took them 2 hours, but that gave me time to clean and take measurements. I got some slack about spending my birthday schlepping, but I must admit it was perfect spending the day with my two and we're all ready for senior year.

  Anyways Friday was the main event. We had a celebratory dinner at Lake Park Bistro complete with cocktails, a bottle of Bordeaux, French onion soup, mussels, lots of steak, frites, creme brulee and family, the most important part. The best part.

 Now I'm taking my personal inventory for the new year ahead. I'm working on some goals in the spirit of setting myself up for another happy and healthy trip around the sun. That is my gift to myself.