Our chicks are leaving the nest ...

I guess today's biggest news is that Isaac moved out today!  He's been talking about it for a while, I'm grateful he had the courage to jump and take on that responsibility!  He's living with a couple friends in a nice complex in Midvale, and he's happy!  He has a real estate license but knows he needs look for something more consistent after they're settled down there.  Maddie is also moving out!  She's moving to Provo the 1st of January.  She's going to UVU, studying Social Work. I'm super happy for both of them.

Mat has been working like crazy on our basement.  The downstairs bathroom and laundry were in the same room but there was so much wasted space!  They have now been separated into two smaller rooms. Of course, that meant moving drains, and that meant tearing concrete up and replacing the 50 year old cast iron pipe. We've had a plumber / construction guy here doing what we can't do ourselves. We had him do the framing, and will pay him to hang and mud the drywall, especially because we've done that before and we know what that's like! He'll tile the floor too. You know when you start a project and you open a can of worms that leads to other projects?  We also had to bring our electrical panel up to code, and make it bigger because the old one was maxed out. Mat has learned a lot about electrical (with a lot of help from youtube) and has hooked up lines to the new circuits in the new circuit board.  We're adding the capability for a washer and dryer upstairs and adding a kitchen downstairs because eventually we'll rent the basement.  Through this project we learned that our main sewer line runs the distance of the whole house (under concrete) and out the back of the house - and under our brand new landscaping and our 50 year old shade tree - the only shade tree we've ever had in a yard.  😯

I'm at 5 ½ weeks since radiation, and finally, there's some relief from the pain in my hip.  2020 has been a rough year, in so many ways!  Thank you for being patient with me and my grumpiness! Constant, persistent pain is SO EXHAUSTING physically, mentally, emotionally.  I really struggled to keep my spirit fed and "up" this year. 

This is our cute dog, Pyper. She loves tolay on clothes and towels and
blankets, but only after she has arranged them to her satisfaction!

I've been a wreck this week, anticipating the outcome of the election.  I'm not going to lie.  I was completely relieved this morning when my youngest came and woke me up to told me the results.  I was a lifelong republican until Mr. Trump announced his candidacy.  I thought, "If he's a conservative, I don't belong here!"  Now, hear me: I don't hate you if you're a Trump supporter.  And I'm grateful for the right I have to not like him.  More than anything tonight, I'm grateful for the democracy we live in.  I'm grateful election laws were written in favor of the victor and the underdog (meaning that there are legal means to challenge the results if one chooses to).  I loved watching the national news coverage tonight, not riots but people coming together in the streets all over the country to celebrate the outcome.

Mats dad lived with us during the month of October.  He had been in assisted living until a fall sent him to the hospital.  He was fine, but NOT fine with going back to the facility to quarantine in his room!  We signed him up for hospice the day he arrived here.  Over the weeks he was here, he stabilized physically and mentally.  He got to where he would insist on doing our dishes and sweeping - anything he could do to feel useful.  So Mats siblings are rotating through, taking him a month or two at a time.  He has dementia, so some days he couldn't remember the name of his kids, most days he would ask me 5 or 6 times how old he was.  I'd tell him he was 87, and that he had had a really great life! Then we'd talk about his life for a while. He wondered why he has to stick around so long, when Betty got to go home (7 ½ years ago).  Gosh, if my math is right, they were married 56 years!  It really was a pleasure having him here, it was good for us and the kids.  I cooked dinner every single day except two.  

I'm looking forward to more progress on the basement, reclaiming my own mental health after a VERY tough year of isolation (social distancing), going to Alaska next week, thinking about goals - things I want to be better at, and pulling out my new pressure cooker and experimenting with food preservation in all forms!  If you want to be inspired, search "Homestead Heart" and watch her videos.  This lady is from Georgia and has a fun way of walking you through the steps of all things preserving.