Sunday, April 25th

First matter of business: I worked out several times this week. Not as much as I should have, but it was a start. Now to do even better next week!

Tuesday I got a haircut from Harley. She always does a great job and I like my hair so much more these days. Stopping coloring it was a good choice for me, it turns out. I made the mistake of petting the kitties and not washing my hands though. Of course I ended up rubbing my eye and it was all downhill from there. haha! I was so itchy! I'm usually super careful about that. I hate being itchy.

I took Friday afternoon off for a family activity. We went with Dion's family, Doneen's family, Jared, Heather and Jansen and Sara and Kaleo to the Tulip festival as part of a celebration for Heather's graduation from BYU. It was a lovely afternoon and the gardens were, of course, beautiful. I was glad to be there. When Dion originally told me about it I just said, "sorry, I'll be at work" but he texted later and said that life is short and I should just take time off to be at this family thing. So I turned to my coworker and asked if she would cover for me and she said yes!  It was definitely the right choice.  We then went to Dinner and ice cream after where Kari and her fiancé also joined us . It was totally fun.

I got my first ever chemical peel on Thursday. It's supposed to help with age spots, which I am getting lots of, and keep your face looking nice. My coworker, Lori, gets them and so I was intrigued. The rules are: no picking at flaking skin, wear sunscreen and stay out of the sun. So, going to the Tulip festival the next day might not have been the best choice. I did wear sunscreen but I was definitely IN THE SUN. Anyway, it just started peeling today. I was hoping to be done peeling by today so I don't look freaky at work. Alas, that is not to be apparently. Guess I won't mind wearing that mask as much as I usually do!

Now some complaining: Saturday I felt very down and very lonely. I cleaned house and did stuff that I needed to do but just kept thinking about how freaking ALONE I am here. I really missed my family when I lived back East and I am so glad to be near them now. But I think back East, people knew they needed other people. Most people didn't have a lot of family around and so they looked for friends and made close friends. Here, it seems like everyone has all their family around and so they don't need anyone else. I used to have friends. And I've complained about this before I'm sure, but if I don't reach out to others to do stuff or play games or whatever, no one reaches out to me. I constantly reach out to others but get no reciprocation. Why is that? Am I annoying and I don't know it?  Well, I realize that I'm annoying at this moment but I'm not always like this!  Anyway, I'm lonely and I don't know how to fix it.  So I ate junk food.  That's still going on today actually.  Back on the wagon tomorrow...

Weekend in Michigan

I didn't blog yesterday but it wasn't because I forgot!  I was in Michigan for Isabelle's baptism!

We were so grateful that we could go to Michigan for Isabelle's baptism and to visit for a few days. Michigan is having a spike of Covid cases so we were extra grateful that we are both vaccinated. We were also grateful that Delta is still blocking out the middle seat because of Covid. It makes traveling so much nicer!

We stayed in the same airbnb that we had at Thanksgiving. It's a quirky and old place but it has the plus of extra bedrooms so the girls can spend the night, which they love.

Isabelle is all packed up and ready for a sleepover!

We had two sleepovers and played pretend church again. haha. They love that and it's funny to see the little things they do to pretend church. One of them is in charge of wiping down the "microphone" and lectern after each speaker. ha!  Covid. This house just happened to have the perfect little side table for a lectern and a desk lamp that looks exactly like a microphone. I'm impressed that these girls assign talks to each other with real gospel topics and then give a pretty darn good talk at their little microphone with no preparation or help from an adult. I will admit that Frank and I weary of pretend church because it never has an actual ending!  After our first time doing it, he said, "That felt as long as real church!"  He is not wrong.

Isabelle's baptism was very nice and I teared up watching Branden being such a loving and kind Dad to Isabelle as well as watching him use his Priesthood power to baptize his daughter.  Isabelle was pretty nervous and once in the water (which she said was too hot) she was a bit overcome with nerves. He was so sweet and hugged her and told her to look just at him and that he would take care of her. She did that and was baptized with no problems. What a sweet moment that was.

Isabelle isn't actually a fan of getting her picture taken and she was cold so we had trouble getting a good picture! But we tried! ha!

We followed the baptism with a nice afternoon at the Finch house with lunch and treats. The girls love their cousins so much and I'm glad they have all these younger kids to hang out with and bond with on a regular basis. I do worry about becoming the "forgotten grandparent" but it doesn't mean I begrudge them the wonderful relationships they have with Amber's parents and siblings. It's really fun to watch.

The weather was beautiful while we were there. My allergies were nuts but otherwise we really enjoyed the nice weather. We spent a fair bit of time in  Branden and Amber's backyard playing with Riley and the kids. Frank was super good to do a bunch of playing on the trampoline. I don't do trampolines anymore but it was fun to watch them. They really love wrestling grandpa!

Finished Bathroom

 Just realized I never posted the final pictures of the bathroom!

It is basically done now. We are waiting for the cabinet people to come fix a couple of things but haven't heard from them in like 2 weeks so we are just not worrying about it. We were being the squeaky wheel but now we are just too tired. We've only paid half so if they want the rest, they'll come fix it. If not, we got a good deal on cabinets I guess. So odd.

But generally, it is done! Totally functional once again.

Countertop is Corian and I'm really happy with how it looks. 

I also like integrated sinks. So much easier to keep clean!

I searched and searched for mirrors and lights. 

Ended up getting both from Amazon after my friend sent me the links. 

I even bought a new plant to kill. It looks very cute for now though.

I attached all of the hooks and toilet paper holder with 3M tape. I hated the thought of drilling through the new cabinet or the tile!  So far everything is holding up perfectly well!  And this way, I can change things out easily if I get sick of them (or if 3M comes up with cuter command hooks).

The hooks that hold up the hand towels aren't from 3M but they had a flat back so I attached them with the command strips to see how it would work. So far so good!

April 11, 2021

 Like many projects, this one is off to a rocky start!  But I shall not give up, even though I missed two weeks without even THINKING about this blog. sigh.

_____

Today is Ryan and Kristal's wedding anniversary! Happy one year to them!  

I try to visit them approximately once a week and we have lunch together. Schedules sometimes make it so that we miss a week but we are pretty good about it. I love being able to spend time with them and get to know Kristal better also. She is super talented and crafty which I did not know until the day of their wedding when she showed up with all kinds of beautiful decorations that SHE HAD MADE!  

_____

I am in the middle of repainting our night stands. They've been black for over 20 years now and I'm painting them white. Our house is SO DUSTY. I admit that I hate to dust and probably put it off too long but this house gets dusty within hours of a thorough dusting. And the black night stands always looked atrocious. So hopefully white will look better, longer.

Still need to put the legs back on but they are taking forever to paint

_____

I had a bunch of junk from our bathroom stored in the various bedrooms while we redid it and then when we went to put it all back, one of the items had fallen over and leaked all over my window seat cushion. I had the brilliant idea to put it in the washer. Shoulda thought that through.  

The stain didn't come out and the inside cushion is now a twisted mess. 

Alas.

Doneen says she'll help me fix it.

_____

I did a mini makeover of the guest bath also. 

Bought a new shower curtain at Target. I had two that I was deciding between but went with the one that had colors I hadn't used in awhile. When I got home I realized that my blue hooks would not look so great with the curtain so I had to pain the hooks. That's no big deal but I didn't want glossy paint, which was all I had. So I went to the paint store and looked at their mistake paint. Found a nice black paint that said it was eggshell for only $2 for a quart.  I painted the hooks and put up the new shower curtain and it looks really nice.  Now my towels don't match either. HA!

Luckily I had a couple of reddish/orangeish towels in the cupboard.

I discovered after painting that the paint I bought is, indeed, glossy. And, it turns out, dark brown not black!  I shoulda just used the paint I had in my cupboard. 

They mostly look black except in a certain light so I'm leaving it.

I also ordered black hardware for the vanity. I had an extra from our bathroom makeover and put it on to see how I liked it and I like it much better. I've never cared for the hardware that came with this vanity. I can't wait to be rid of the rectangle pulls because they are always crooked and I am way to OCD for that jazz.

_____

Amber and the girls have been visiting Utah. We got to see them  few times and it's been fun. They leave today.

We took Isabelle and Kaylee shopping to buy their birthday presents and let them each pick what they wanted. It was fun! We had dinner together and hung out at the house for awhile too. Kaylee wanted a full tour because she was too little when they moved away and didn't remember the house.

I didn't take one single picture. 

Oops.

_____

I've been having a couple of bad mental health days this weekend. That's what I call it when I explain it to Frank. No idea why but I'm very down and out. Luckily all I have to do is tell Frank and he's good to give me space when I'm like this. It's almost like PMS on steroids or something. Being a girl is fun.

That's it for this week! I'm off to eat some chocolate to soothe my feelings.