Out of my comfort zone

Well, today I had an adventure. I drove north a little over 30 miles and took the turnpike. I am used to driving between 35-55 miles an hour, mostly the 35-45 mph. I’ve not been on the turnpike since DH and I went to NC 10 years ago. I am a ‘home body’ so going on this little trek was a huge deal to timid me.

First I had to get a ticket, then I stopped to take a picture. Then I had to make sure I was heading north, then freaked out because I had to ‘merge’ into the speeding traffic. Someone was nice enough to slow down as I stepped on the gas and let this little aging ‘flowerlady’ into the stream. Sheesh!

As I was driving along, gripping the steering wheel with all my might, I was looking for a speed limit sign. When I saw one, I gasped and said “70 mph”. I then pushed harder on my gas pedal and finally made it up to 60, then 65, and finally 70, and even a little over, eased back down when I realized my foot had gotten heavier on the pedal. I was comfortable around 65, well, as comfortable as I can be racing along like that.

I went to see my BIL so that we could do my taxes. His workplace is halfway between where we both live. He could do multiple returns on his tax program, so I wouldn’t have to buy a program this year. It didn’t take long to do my taxes, and then we went to lunch at Park Ave. BBQ. Nice lunch and visiting, talking about projects he’s going to help me with here at home.

I am so glad to have the taxes behind me, now I can get on with my little life here at ‘Plum Cottage’.

This past Tuesday, one of the men from my church, called me and said, he  could change out my toilet that afternoon, if I was available. The one I had, had had a bolt in the tank rust and break off, tank wobbly, and a slow leak, plus it didn’t flush well at all, and the seat was low. I had been Googling toilets, came up with one that I liked, and HD had 5 of them last week.  They didn’t have any that day. The man checked his HD and the website said there were 3 of them. We headed off in his car, having a nice chat on the way. We go to the toilet section, and could not find any, and neither could the help. I started looking for an alternative.  He told me he had 2 American Standard Cadet 3’s in his home and was very satisfied with them. The price was $50 cheaper than the one I had looked at, and I decided to go with it. It even came with the quiet closing lid, and was ‘comfort height’.

Back home, out came the old, in went the new and I ‘love’ it.  It is a cutie-patootie and just right for this cottage. It uses 1.28 gal of water to flush, flushes fast and I laugh everytime the lid closes quietly and the flush happens. I am  so thankful for my new toilet.

Yesterday I went to HD to get some caulking for around the base of toilet which doesn’t quite cover the old cut out in the lino floor. I also checked out ooops paint to see if they had anything I might use for a new paint job in the little room. –0- So, I went to the paint colors, went back and forth with colors. A light peach is on the walls now, which I like but it needed to be freshened up. The color I chose has a little more ‘red’ in it, so that it is a pinkish color called Cherubic, I think.

I had tried a peach color of paint that we had that was an old can, paint still good, but smelled a little off, and the color was way to garish. I hope this color will be nice once the whole space is painted.  If not, I’ll tweak the color a bit. I need to clean the walls first, then paint, that I plan to do next week.

You can see the three colors in the photo above to the right of the toilet.

Before Ted left Tuesday, he fixed my lock plate on kitchen/entry door, so that I can use it again. YAY. I am so thankful for help from my church family. I’ve never had to have help before, DH and I did everything ourselves. I always appreciated and thanked him for all that he did around here, and now that he’s gone, I appreciate all of his hard work all the more.

(Speaking of DH, I had two different dreams the other night, where he ‘showed’ me three sweet words, in two different ways. He did not say anything, just showed me the words, I Love You. Needless to say, I woke up feeling happy. I miss him more than words can express, but we will be reunited again one day.)

Dear BIL will be cutting some baseboard for the walls of bathroom.  We’re also going to put more faux beadboard paneling up in the bedroom and do some other trim work in there. It all takes time, and he works a full-time job and his commute to work is a couple of hours at least each day.  I am very thankful for all that he has done for me and continues to do. I know my DH is thankful too.

-------

Now for some flowers.

Hibiscus with a Spanish Needle bloom in the back ground. SN’s are a ‘weed’, but a great butterfly attractor.  DH did NOT like them at all as their seed heads stick to your clothing, and they spread like crazy and are hard to pull up, once they get established. I have a mini field of them, plus they come up all over. I pull up a LOT of them, getting them when they are young they are easier to pull up.

I love the colors of this frangipani.  Bought last spring/summer.

There are buds on my two normal gardenia bushes, and buds also on my ‘Tahitian’ gardenia. Roses have buds too. I have new growth on an angel trumpet that I got as a cutting. Got six of them, but only two have rooted and are growing.  I think they are yellow varieties.

Let’s see, remember Miss Rosie.  Well she left us something we’d rather she hadn’t. Fleas. I should have thought about that before bringing her in here, but alas, hind sight is 20/20. I’ve been dusting the place with diatemacious earth, vacuuming, combing Miss Tork for fleas, which did help but she was still being attacked. I ordered some Advantage II and it came yesterday afternoon. I opened a tube and put it on her. At first she was going nuts as the fleas seemed to be attacking in ernest. But, this morning she was calmer, and today she has slept on my bed and hardly scratched at all.  Bless her little heart. She has her appetite back, is more relaxed and we are both so thankful.

Here she is below. I woke her up by coming into the room. She’s my little sweetie pie and I am thankful for her.

Tonight we both should get a good sleep. She from fleas not hassling her and me being worn out from my adventure, and didn’t get to take my nap today.

Hope you all have a nice weekend. I will post more bathroom pics when the job is done, hopefully in the next week or so.

Love & hugs ~ FlowerLady

***

If you count all your assets,

you always show a profit.

Robert Quillen