It is me, or do the weeks somehow seem longer. I don’t know why that is, but boy… this week felt so.darned.long! I am chalking this up to the fact that COVID-emic-ELECTION days are some of the longest days ever, amirite? Anyways, this week felt like the perfect time to do a little TGIFing.
Takedown
Obama was in Philly on Wednesday and his speech was exactly what I needed this week! In case you missed it, or you need another dose of glorious Obama Eloquence, here you go!
Grieving
One of the best parts of my morning routine is listening to Tracy K. Smith share some beautiful thoughts and a poem. Sadly, this week she announced that she is leaving The Slowdown and at the end of the month it will go on hiatus until they find a new host. I will miss Tracy’s voice in my morning. I love her perspective, how she expanded my horizons, the poets she introduced me to, and especially how she made me think! I am trying to wrap my head around this change and how it will alter my mornings and mourning this loss.
Installing
Some months ago, the kitchen faucet was dripping. Okay. It was a the tiniest drip which was fixed with a firm shut off to the handle. Enter this the past couple of weeks and that is no longer working. Because, of course…right? End result…Steve is off today, and we are going to pretend we are plumbers and attempt to install a new faucet. Why us? Well, I called around to plumbers to get prices… and about had a coronary. Ummm, for those prices you’d think they were replacing the faucet, sink, and countertop!! Keep your fingers crossed that this goes well (and we don’t kill each other, lol) AND that by the end of the day I have a working kitchen sink with minimal extra trips to the hardware store! Ha!
all the FEELS
I know some of you are seeing your families on the regular, and I am happy for you… most days. The hardest thing I have ever done is this separation from my kids and grandkids. My kids are stressed, which makes me even more stressed. It sucks. But!! I know that I am not alone, there are many in blogland who are in the exact same boat I am and I want you to know I see you, I think about you, and I think about your kids scattered far and wide. My fervent hope is that things will stop being so damned urgent with more rising cases, and that a vaccine will become available that will be safe and effective…soon. Sooner than soon actually. I am not sure how much more I can take.
And that is a wrap for this week! I will be back on Tuesday to join Honoré to share my update on my word.
This week as gone by so.slow. I was wondering if it is because I have been waiting for four years to VOTE! and see ‘you know who’ leave DC!
These rise in COVID numbers are very concerning to me and thinking about doing another strict 6 week isolation, ( we do not see anyone but my one daughter and her family), plus our runs to the grocery store, but it is becoming clear that things are getting out of hand again!
Have a good weekend. Hoping your little home improvement goes well today;-]
When it comes to that faucet, YouTube is your friend. My husband managed to change our kitchen faucet successfully, and he is the least handy person around (he tried to change a light switch once and knocked out power to half the house, so I am not exaggerating!).
I know we have been very lucky to be able to see our family in person, but some days I’m not sure if that’s not harder — my daughter is very stressed about not being able to hug her grandparents or squish her baby cousin! But Dr. Fauci says the vaccine should be widely available around April, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that the end of this mess is in sight!
Did you try just changing the washer in the faucet or does it need a bigger repair? I always like to rule out the easy solution first. Either way, good luck!
So I sit in between my parents in NY and my brother (who’s also one of my best friends) in CA. Normally we’d see each other at regular-but-distant intervals, which feels like Not Enough to begin with. Now we’re adding to that the fact that my brother is in the middle of a long and gruesome divorce and stuck in a house where his spouse won’t agree to ANYthing (so he’s legally stuck!)—it’s so hard on the heart. Knowing the people you love most are stressed, and you can’t offer any in-person love, relief, or support is painful. It’s hard for me to remember that everyone has different Hard Parts in all this…not enough of one thing, too much of another…one of the (many) things we seem to have lost in COVID is balance. May it be restored this spring. xo
And good luck plumbing!!
And I am thinking of you and so many of my friends who have family out of state. This is hard.
It does feel like the time leading up to Election Day is dragging ever so slowly. I don’t think we’ll know the results then, but at least we will have done what we could. I am not a praying person, but I keep you, your kids and grandkids, and everyone else in this crappy situation close in my heart and mind. We’re changing a couple of leaking toilet supply lines in MD on Sunday, so I’ll be thinking about you plumbing also and sending you all the good plumbing juju!
Happy weekend Kat! We had a plumber in this week…toilets (2) that would not stop running. Fletch had replaced the flappers, but that didn’t do the trick. They are fixed now…for the moment…and it wasn’t too expensive, but bottom line we need 2 new toilets! And, I want a new kitchen sink and faucet (Fletch is NOT allowed to do plumbing!!). Faucets from plumbers are very expensive, but (at least the one we will get) is guaranteed for life as opposed to what you get from Home Depot or Lowes.
Two words. Plumber’s tape.
I sure hope y’all turned out to be good plumbers! and I am sending up all the good wishes that you can visit Michigan AND California to hug those new people. and their parents. soon!
Here’s a big hug for you this morning. The lack of control over when we can see Dan again is truly the hardest part of All. This. And I got a quick visit. Here’s hoping your faucet fun was not futile! 😉
Yes, I agree. The hardest part of all of this is not seeing our kids and not knowing exactly when we will. It’s not easy. I hope the plumbing woes have sorted themselves out.