Ch-ch-ch-Changes… in Understanding the Unthinkable

Well, as most of you know, we’re going to do the work on kitchen remodel. To be honest, I never expected to get it. I was more concerned about making sure she didn’t get cheated, so I suggested we come over, see what she and her Mom wanted, and give her an estimate. I didn’t expect to be competitive.

Since she’s on the other coast, we had to factor in travel expenses, but we’d be able to make suggestions and advise on whether their ideas would work or not (and if not, give a valid reason why). Much to my surprise, Gypsy and her Mom wanted us! They felt we were more “in touch” with their preferences. Our philosophy has always been to deliver the customer’s wants rather than the latest popular trend. For instance, Gypsy’s Mom doesn’t like the open kitchen concept so popular today, is not a fan of granite, etc. So we drew up plans to that set of preferences.

It’ll be a pretty kitchen, with butcher block counter at “Baking Central” (which includes a slide-out snack counter), neutral laminate elsewhere, white-washed-look wood cabinets (NOT composite pressboard, which we strongly recommend against), and Gypsy’s “Pearl Ocean” tile backsplash. The major money savers on this job are the fact that none of the appliances will be moved or replaced (and after her washing machine woes, trust me, they NEED a break from appliance purchases!).

But Gypsy’s getting something I’m rather envious of: a mixer stand built into a lower cabinet that pulls out and up. They’re designed to hold the heavy duty Kitchen-aid mixers, so Gypsy will be able to have easy access without lugging the thing back and forth. We’re also installing a pull down shelving unit in one cabinet and lots of lazy Susans. The design was made with the future in mind. Gypsy’s Mom is short like me, and as age sets in, so do mobility issues and this will make everything easier for her.

I’ve taken the “before” pictures and look forward to comparing before and after once the job is complete (we’re thinking that will be sometime near the end of April/beginning of May).

In the meantime, we begin yet another dental office (it’s a chain…we’ve been all over the state) this Thursday. That’s down in Cape Coral, so I think my husband will drive back and forth. Gypsy’s on the other coast, so they’ll stay over there. I told Gypsy she’s gotta return my husband to me when she’s done with him! LOL!

There are other changes in the air. I finally got the spring decorations out. I completely missed putting anything out on Valentine’s Day, but usually that’s just the vintage cards, most of them from the late 1940s to mid-50s. Spring decorations have dwindled, as well. I changed the flowers in the urns by the front door (looooong overdue from January’s white arrangement!), scattered colored eggs throughout the living room, dining room and family room, and decorated the mantle and hearth with Easter stuff.

It looks as if we’re going to fall into summer before Spring arrives, though*! Easterly breezes have driven our temperatures up to eighty degrees. Haven’t seen any snakes yet (yay!), but my husband chased a bunny out of the garden.

They seem to be locked into a stand-off. He chases it out of one garden and it just moves to another. I told my husband I’m rooting for the bunny! It obviously likes our yard the best and if it eats a few strawberries, it’s okay. He takes a dimmer view on the situation. I like to follow him around the garden, saying, “Be vewy, vewy quiet. We’re hunting wabbits!” He is unamused but I find the whole thing hilarious!

*Don’tcha just wish I’d found a way to work “winter” into that sentence? I do!

There’s been a shake-up at church, as some (who were going to leave anyway) accused our pastor of teaching false doctrine. I’m not going to rehash the whole thing here other than to say they took issue with ONE sentence in a THIRTEEN PAGE letter and are stirring up trouble where there is none. I’d like to say this to those who go to church and to those who don’t attend because they don’t agree with everything the church thinks: YOU DON’T HAVE TO!

I’ve attended dozens of churches of varied faiths. I’ve studied with Methodists and Baptists and Unitarians and Roman Catholics and even Jehovah Witnesses. I’ve yet to find one with which I am in 110% agreement on ALL doctrine of that faith. I LIKE hearing differing viewpoints. Keeping an open mind and loving each other is what we’re supposed to do. These “walk-outs” aren’t really making a doctrinal statement. Their talk against us is meant to tear us down.

Two had been interviewing for other jobs before this whole brouhaha erupted. They refused to hear out the pastor, which tells me their minds were not open. One refused to shake our pastor’s hand, which says SO much about whether he had a loving attitude or not.

I read the sentence. It’s not that big a deal, especially if you read the paragraphs before and after. But, hey, if they felt it was wrong, okay by me. It’s not like we don’t have hundreds of churches to choose from. But now they’re campaigning, calling people they know, asking us to leave. I think they’re being Pharisees, focusing more on doctrine than on caring for each other. Our pastor is the same guy he was yesterday as he is today as he will be tomorrow. I just cannot believe all this uproar and childish behavior!

Speaking of childish behavior, the GOP seems to be blowing itself up with school-yard bickering, vulgar rhetoric, superficial understanding of public policy, and blatant falsehoods. There’s a reason Jamie Johnson said, “My party is committing suicide on national television.” Of course, he worked for Rick Perry and in my opinion, the Tea Party ruined the Republican Party.

On the other hand, the Democrat debate took the high road. There was no reason not to, but the exchanges between Sanders and Clinton on a variety of issues: trade, fracking, Flint’s water crisis, health care, the auto industry bail-out, reducing gun violence, the Export-Import Bank, etc., were a sharp contrast to the Republican bitchfests.

The sharpest exchange of the last Democratic debate:
SANDERS: Well, I – If you are talking about the Wall Street bailout, where some of your friends destroyed this economy…
CLINTON: You know…
SANDERS: Excuse me, I’m talking.
CLINTON: If you’re gonna talk, tell the whole story, Senator Sanders.
SANDERS: Let me tell my story. You tell yours.
CLINTON: I will.

If the nastiest exchange of the night is prefaced by “excuse me,” it makes Bernie and Hillary look like saints to Trump and Rubio comparing penis size! The only choice is Clinton. She’s farther left than I like, but moving farther right is frightening to me. ONE middle of the road candidate. Is that too much to ask for? Apparently so, in these times of hyperbole.

I’m near the end of the book I’m reading, so I’ll be changing reading material and the vegetable garden’s changes will focus our diet more toward tomatoes and peas as the broccoli and Brussels sprouts begin to play out. I lost a couple of pounds so that’s a change for the better! Oh, and it looks like we’ll have a bunch of pineapples in a month or to, so pina coladas at my house! Y’all come! :)

Those are the changes in my life. How about yours? I think life is meant to change. As the dowager countess intoned on the last Downton Abbey episode, “There’s no point in looking back. Life moves forward and so must we.” And so must I. Work calls. Oh, joy.

Last updated March 08, 2016