Lately: After the Beach

Sunset on Dufield Pond. Our first night home after the beach.

We came home from Virginia Beach knowing CA had a Heart Catherization test on Friday, leading up to Mitral Valve repair: open-heart surgery on St. Patrick's Day. Thankfully, tests gave an all-clear on any additional heart issues. And, he was a star heart-surgery patient. We continue to be impressed with the physicians and staff, the care and competence we've experienced at Advocate Lutheran General in Park Ridge. 4 weeks post-surgery and he's regaining his stamina and healing beautifully.
I'd rescheduled my mammogram during all this and I finally had my annual screening on Friday, 4/8. Got my first-ever call-back! Scary until I did the research and found how low the percentages are that a call-back means real issues. We prayed a lot, but I was determined to not let the week-long wait be obsessive. And, I decided to not set off an alarm. I just didn't talk about the call-back.

Today, I'm blessed with an all-clear! The good news is that they've taken a closer-than-normal look at my breasts and there's nothing suspicious lurking undetected. I know how blessed I am, as I had breakfast yesterday with a friend who very recently got different news. She's Stage 2, has had a sizable lumpectomy and is waiting to hear if she will require chemo in addition to 8-weeks of radiation.

CA has decided that we are making reservations at a nice restaurant to celebrate all our recent blessings.

Visiting

My dad has been hospitalized after a fall at his senior apartment. They discovered he has had an E. coli infection. Ugh! Today one of my sisters, my brother and I visited at Peoria Methodist Hospital. He's rehabbing now and will, hopefully, go back home soon. My brother took this "flattering" photo as my dad enjoyed his lunch.

My sweet Aunt Margie had an eventful Wednesday night, ending up in the ER before 5:00am. No one is quite sure what happened, but it appeared she had a fall and had twisted her knee. She's no longer able to accurately report, so everyone goes on assumptions... At least, she was back at her assisted living facility before lunch time--not too much worse for the wear.

My sister Gloria and I checked in on her again late afternoon.

Aren't these vintage mannequins adorable?! The lady who arranges these vignettes monthly at Skylines (Aunt Margie's facility) is part of a family who owned the Ben Franklin in Peoria Heights for many decades.

Hunting and Gathering

In the midst of sourcing the elements required for our Master Bathroom renovation...

Mirror from nordstrom.com.

Mirror we already own
and can repurpose 

Anytime I'm out-and-about or online my search migrates into other projects, real and imagined, i.e., the mirror I found on Pinterest (nordstroms.com) for our Powder Room which necessitated a new sconce from lightingdirect.com. The sconce is lovely, but too small for the mirror. Luckily, we have a spare, smaller mirror in a guest room that works with the sconce for the Powder Room. Now, I'm thinking I'll move the Edward Hopper print from our Morning Room up to the sofa wall in our loft, and hang the Nordstrom mirror here.

Move Hopper print to Loft.

Hang instead of Hopper Print?

And then, there are the (3) gold-framed French architectural drawings (still unwrapped) I purchased second-hand at The New Interiors Anew, locally, for the Powder Room(!). CA looked around at the gold-framed photos and prints (French) on the Powder Room walls and said, "So, you don't like these any more?" MEN!!!

Existing prints and photos in Powder Room. The wall color just doesn't photo well.

Painted sideboard. Chair is turned from normal placement.

Do I go back to Interiors Anew today for that lovely Thomasville small console table that might fit in the Entry Foyer? Or, in the Great Room, necessitating moving the current painted sideboard into the Study-Dining Room--replacing the shabby-chic half-table already in-place?

And, while I love the current American Primative bench and small chest currently in the Foyer, where else can it fit? I wouldn't mind using the Thomasville console in the Great Room, but I don't want the shabby-chic half-table front-and-center.

And, have I EVER used this many en-dashes in a post previously?! Sheesh! It's like they're exclamation points or something. Bah-hah on whoever said one should only ever use (4) exclamation points in one's life!!!! (Or, is it "whomever"?)(And, where does the end punctuation go in a sentence that ends with quote marks not indicating spoken word?!)

**I digress.**

Yes, the painted sideboard can go in the Study-Dining Room. It belongs there. It's filled with dishes and has no business in the Great Room. It was a space filler and never the right color. Light yellow in a room with shades of blond and tan (café au lait). If I don't buy the small Thomasville console, I'd really love a French writing desk here.

This chair turned "out" is really bugging me.

What vexes me about the Thomasville console is that I think they doubled the price since I first saw it. Yes, that's a vague suspicion, but there's recent precedence. A week or so ago, I saw a sewing rocker at a local thrift shop, and behold! there it was (I think) at Interiors Anew, doubled in price. No hard feelings if I'm right; people have to make money. And then, with my current Autoimmune flare and all that confusion added to all the freaking details and moving parts on the bathroom reno... I am probably all wrong.

The best news is that, for now, I have all the products required for the Master Bathroom reno in-house. After much purchasing-exchanging-returning-Internet commerce-big box store wandering. That is, I have all the products except the tile, which I just found out is back-ordered to mid to late-June. Ugh! I revisited Century Tile yesterday to look for replacement tile, but after 10 minutes I told them we'll just wait.

All that, and I still have issues with these pieces:

In Powder Room for convenience. Not working.

This is just hanging around our loft doing nothing.

I'd like this bucket bench out of the Foyer.
Not sure where it'll fit.

Homebody

-source-

My goal was to stay home all day today. In pajamas. Goal!


This morning: iPad, baked pumpkin bread, pjs.

-source-

This afternoon: leftovers, a nap, a shower, clean pjs.

This evening: tacos with CA, 2 episodes of Outlander, pjs.

A Cautionary Tale

If this is Wednesday, why am I duck taping my dryer hose?

Melting ice dams.

 

We had ice blocks in our gutters in February. We had melting ice dripping down three walls in our house in March. We had an insurance inspector and a contractor here in early May. Then CA had his knee replaced, his heart issues and successful repair. The painter came late June. This past Monday, we finally got around to having carpets cleaned in our master bedroom and walk-in closet, and study-diningroom.

That's when it all went temporarily south and I ended up in the laundry room, behind the dryer late on a Wednesday night, duck-taping the dryer hose. And, muttering a language I seldom use. Not nice words.

It's the snow ball effect. Everything came out of the walk-in closet in preparation for the carpet cleaners--Ha! I wish it "came." I actually schlepped everything out (by myself) and deposited it in kinda neat heaps in our great room. Heaps with aisles, because CA is limping around, rehabbing his knee; using a walker until yesterday when he graduated beautifully to a cane.

I digress...

Most everything "was also removed" from the master bedroom and study-diningroom. Of course, one cannot just put "everything" back where it was. One must re-position, recycle, discard, and re-shuffle each and every item and piece of clothing. No problem filling this week's box for the charity shop. And, there's still the shoes to sort, so next week's box will have a good start.

Further, if at all possible, one must make strawberry and raspberry jam in the middle of these efforts. Fresh fruit waits for no one. Then, it's important to make a fresh raspberry tart at midnight just before finally getting the clutter contained. And, by all means finish up the evening by utilizing the remaining pâte brisée to form some cinnamon roll for tomorrow's (today, already) breakfast.

Martha Stewart's Pâte Brisée

My before...

My after version of Joy of Baking's recipe

From joyofbaking.com

Pie Crust Cinnamon Rolls.

 

 

Oh, back to the dryer. I'd noticed the laundry room seemed particularly humid lately. With all the sorting and moving things about, I decided the laundry sorter needed to reside in the laundry room instead of in our closet. That, of course necessitated a good scrub-down of the laundry room floor. And, why not poke into that nasty corner between the side of the dryer and the wall. A space just wide enough for my handy-dandy step ladder and a tall bin that holds yardsticks, fly swatters, a duster or two (or 6)...

Ah-ha! Not only do I uncover a city of mouse-sized dust bunnies, but also a shredded dryer hose. Duck tape! Duck tape! Duck tape! I finally need to use duck tape. The dryer is back in commission, the floor is clean, and one more room has fallen victim to the painter and carpet cleaner saga.

Laundry Room floor.

 

Tomorrow, God willing and the creek don't rise, 3 boxes go to Goodwill, I reassemble our bedskirt, and finally get the great room looking "great" again.

The Georgia peaches become available on Saturday, but I've promised CA that we'll skip this delivery and get a bushel at the August 2nd delivery. I will, however, make another batch or two of raspberry jam this weekend.

 

 

A Week+ in Review

Yes, we are home. Finally.

 

CA post knee replacement surgery before tachycardia issues.

 

Physical Therapist noted extreme heart rate. EMTs respond.

 

Yes, they arrived in full-siren mode. Scary.

 

Home feels so good after almost 2 weeks of uncertainty.

My normal guy.

 

 

Not My Daughter's House!?

Yes, it was. A backyard neighbor dumped his firepit ashes, then went inside. Thankfully, JE heard the crackling, looked outside and saw her back fence on fire. Really. Thank you, God. And, thank you it's a big backyard.

LC was a bit too shy to climb on the firetruck. 15 minutes later he had regrets. It's hard to be 2-1/2. So much to experience.

The Following

I'm loving The Following, Season 1 via Netflix streaming. Kevin Bacon's riveting performance as the tortured and blighted Ryan Hardy, a disabled FBI agent. Hardy's been recalled to service despite a definite drinking problem and a pacemaker, compliments of the sinister and creepy Joe Carroll--a seriously twisted college professor played by the handsomely crazed James Purefoy.

James Purefoy

Agent Hardy is drawn into the drama due to his past relationship with the professor's former wife, Claire Matthews, played by the gorgeous Natalie Zea.

Natalie Zea

Lots of good looking psychopaths and complex storylines. Great viewing.

Photo sources: Kevin Bacon via npr.org. All others via imbd.com.