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It’s a wrap, the REAL summer list

September 14, 2018 by Jo Leave a Comment

A couple of years ago, family rolled into Seattle with plans to see a few sights, like the Museum of Flight and the Chihuly Garden & Glass, tour Grand Coulee Dam, go to a Mariners game, etc. We had so much fun joining them and playing tourist in our own area that last year we build our own Seattle summer list. We checked off quite a few items.

Bye bye to the carpet and yellowed hardwood.

So, summer 2018, repeat: tape up a piece of butcher paper, brainstorm a short term local bucket list, start making those check marks.

Only this time around there was another long list sitting the kitchen counter: pull all main floor trim (front room, dining room, hallway, hall closet, kitchen, pantry, family room, office), pull and dispose of the carpet, tack board, staples (front room, dining room, family room, office).

Then we had to completely empty the main floor of EVERYTHING and move out for 4 days. The reality of installing and refinishing our hardwood floors basically chewed up day after day of our summer. We have tried to do all that we can ourselves to keep costs down. When we did have a stretch of free time, most everything on our summer list sounded too ambitious.

Don’t you love the portability of a blender? Yes, this breakfast prep in the garage.

Along the way we decided we should do some painting so everything had to come off the walls, too. And no way was I moving that old scratched up table back into our fresh dining room. Why not refinish it while it was in the garage? Might as well paint those office desks, too.

So, summer; today I woke up to pouring rain with just a few days of the solstice left. There are still platters and boxes of dishes under the guest bed, pictures left to be hung, cable outlets to be re-located. The contractor is here now installing new baseboards, which means more dust and more items for the to-do list as I am the one who will do the caulking and painting.

Anyway, even though the last few months didn’t quite shape up to be ones of local site seeing, many, many items were crossed off the notepad. There is something so satisfying about working hard and completing a multiphase project. And the floors? They turned out beautiful, perfect, just what I imaged them to be.

Oh, I did manage to spend as many hours outdoors as possible hiking around the local area and added a challenging hike to the list. Goodbye summer, see you on the flip side.

The starting line and more questions

August 4, 2018 by Jo Leave a Comment

Ever since I was a little kid, participating in end of school year races, officially called Field Day, I wanted to win. Somewhere there was (is?) a photo of me on my 10th birthday, my mom had baked 4 sheet cakes and made me this giant birthday cake for all the 4, 5, and 6 graders. It was embarrassing and awesome all at once. I won a lot of ribbons sprinting. I was probably good at it because most of childhood included hours chasing, and running from, my brothers.

Question 1: Ever spent hours down THAT rabbit hole searching for the one perfect picture, only to surface hours later empty handed, head swimming in the past?

Question 2: Turning double nickels this last spring, I find sometimes it is hard to admit that I don’t have answers to all the questions I hear internally and externally. Is it a personality trait or stubbornness or just human nature?

And still, there is a starting line. I find myself over and over again, right toe forward smudged into the chalk line drawn in the grass, shoulders leaning forward waiting for the beginning, only to realize that I am always at the beginning. Right here, right now I have a new start. I am anxious and nervous to remind myself, “I am a beginner. This is a new situation with the individuals in front of me, it is ok that I don’t have answers to the questions swirling in my head. There is always room for a new 1st time.”

I can be a beginner.

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Ah, summer. 5 questions for the season

June 22, 2018 by Jo Leave a Comment

1~ Did you know you can freeze watermelon? Well, I was watching a cooking show where the host was freezing watermelon balls then whirring them up in a blender to make some sort of delicious cocktail. Then a few days later, I knew I would not be able to eat all the watermelon I had cut up for family dinner. Since I usually freeze leftover fruit, I tossed the chunks into the freezer container to add to my breakfast smoothie. It’s delicious.

2~Do you hall sprinklers from one part of your lawn to the other? Ever leave one running all night because you missed hearing your timer ring? (#metoo! pretty sure this not how this hashtag was meant to be used, going rebel and doing it anyway) 10+ years later, I am still so happy when I hear water rush into the pipes and the yard sprinklers come on. It was worth every penny to have them installed.

3~ Need a summer idea? When the heat gets to much you can always head to the city park with your bag of rollers. I guess this is what Montana locals do as Honey and I witnessed first hand a woman sitting in her beachside lawn chair rolling up her hair in color coated curlers.

Just to clarify: this is NOT me. I could never do this without a mirror!

4~ Need a laugh out loud movie? Don’t miss a chance to see the movie Book Club while it is in theaters. If your over 40 I think you’ll find it funny. If your over 50 I think you might laugh out loud. Take a friend too, because giggling in a movie theater is way more fun when you are next to a girlfriend.

5~ Do you every rush through one thing so you can get to the next thing sooner? For this summer, I am going to try and be right here, right now so I can savor every last warm night, every delicious Rainer cherry, every giggle, every laugh, every pink sky.

Because, summer. Hello Seattle, you shine brightest during the summertime.

Family dinner and saying “come on in”

June 11, 2018 by Jo 1 Comment

Hospitality is not a house inspection, it’s friendship, it’s family.

Struggle is real. I often run through my childhood memories to understand reactions and feelings of current experiences. For many years after Honey and I were married I was so nervous having people over. Ask Honey, I would kind of freak out if someone was going to drop off a book. He would mention someone was stopping by and I was clearing counters, checking the bathroom for cleanliness and sometimes even mopping the floor. Just so someone could stand in the front entrance and I would feel comfortable, but not comfortable at all.

What I realized is from about age 10 on, my mom and dad mostly quit inviting people into our home. More on that another time and the brokenness inside the walls of the home I grew up. I just did not learn how to welcome people into my personal space. Even having family over felt like I had to prove something and have everything perfect.

Anyway, what I learned after we starting having groups in for a get together, that it is pointless to mop the floor before everyone arrives. Sure, pull out the broom and sweep. But full on water bucket and mop might be pointless. First, no one ever comes in inspecting how clean the floor might be: instead they are wondering about where to set their purse, If they should take their shoes off, where the plug-in is for phone charging, checking out the snacks on the kitchen counter. For the record, I am kind of a neat-nick and most likely the floor is pretty clean anyway.

And then I saw my mom-in-law, sister-in-laws, family, extended family, girlfriends saying come in, come over, stop by. And I wanted to be that person.

And ALWAYS the floor needs to be mopped the next day.

or, she thought maybe she could, so she did

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