Charlie Kirk, Brew Ice Tea, Fun TV Shows,Home Repairs

 The dog's reaction to internet mad news is priceless.

Do you make cold brew ice tea? It is easy, cheap and we have a very wide variety of teas to choose from. Teamonk makes a jasmine rose tea and Yorkshire Gold is a standard black tea for me. I fill the tea strainer with my choice of loose leaf tea (leave a bit of room as the leaves expand when wet) and put it in a pitcher of water for 8 hours. I leave the pitcher on a kitchen counter at room temperature when it is brewing. No hot water used, just cold water. 

I watch some great TV shows: Son of a Critch (seems true to life, sweet comedic show about a young boy growing up in Newfoundland, Canada), The Cleaner (season 3 is here, a comedy, he cleans crime scenes), Fisk (funny Australian series about an eccentric lawyer. I like the TV series filmed in Tokyo, titled 99.9 about a young lawyer who represents the .1 percent of criminals in the Japanese court system who are found innocent. I had already read that in Japan if the police charge you it is 99% chance you will be found guilty. The show is fiction and the main character is very young and a quirky guy.

Yes Charlie Kirk, the pride is awakened in honor of you. 💕🦁🙏🕇💕

I'm having a busy week. My oldest son is coming over three times to cook dinner for the two of us. Much appreciated by me. Delicious healthy food (shrimp and risotto the first night) and best of all, fun chats. I got two plumbers to bid on replacing an old toilet with a new one. Shockingly expensive to hire people for home repairs. Last week my washing machine quit working (20 years old, a Kenmore, a great brand) and I replaced it with an LG brand washing machine. 

And you may recall I replaced the old electric panel for my house with a new panel a couple months ago. My house is 70 years old and so was the electric panel so it was time for a new one. The old breakers were failing. A fun thing is I made my first Shutterfly framed photo collage. A birthday gift for my sister with 9 photos of family. It turned out very pretty and full of memories. I titled it "Happy Times." Have a happy September friends.

 
 
 

Being a Widow and What I've Been Up To

 You know I post on different subjects, and don't want to bore non-widows with too much widow stuff, but it is part of my life now, and quite a few of my blog friends are in this same boat. We don't like to think of it but every loving marriage ends with a loved one as a widow or widower. This week when a lady said she wants to be more kind to her husband, I reminded her of that fact. She says yes, she thinks of me when she starts to say a harsh word to him.
Above photo is of my husband and a favorite mountain bike. He loved bicycling in nature on wild paths.
I have been a widow since November 2016 and I realize I am not the same Terra as I was the day before my husband Will died.
Much of me and much of my life has changed forever. Much of this change is unpleasant for me and there are a few good points too. Here is a lamp I bought with its beautiful colors.

I think many widows and widowers will agree that when you lose a long time spouse everything changes. You eat breakfast in a different way and sleep a different way. When you want to share some little thing, like a funny line from a book, your partner is missing.
In the first year I felt I was missing an arm, a leg, half of my brain and half of my heart. A friend whose husband of 40 years recently moved out and is filing for divorce says she feels the same way. It is about losing someone we love, someone who was part of our every day life for decades. People talk about the "widow fog" and I sure felt it. Now I am recovering but the new Terra is not the old Terra.
In Bible study recently with 14 women I realized 10 of them had not known me "before". So they never knew the old Terra before I was broken and began to slowly rebuild. A few precious friends knew the old and the new me.
I recommend Griefshare, just do an online search and there will likely be a group in your area. You do not need to say anything or you can share and my healing was helped by attending.
My house is so quiet now, which is kind of nice, yet kind of sad and lonely. I trained myself to say "my house" when for 34 years it has been "our house." And I at the same time love being alone to set my own pace to eat, read, watch TV, etc. That is relaxing. I do NOT want a roommate. There is a luxury to living alone.

I am redecorating my house. Painters came in and painted the long hall way and the kitchen, including the ceilings. They cleaned the walls before painting and fixed a few spots that needed putty, etc. I treated myself and bought a leather recliner (see photo above. Can you see the dulcimer that my husband Will made for me?). The chair is very comfortable and swivels which is a great feature, plus it rocks. The new recliner is from a local company that sells green earth friendly materials and it is all made in the USA.You can go ahead and laugh but I chose the color tan to coordinate with my tan dog. The dog hairs don't show.
My friend who was widowed when I was is freshening up her house too and we talk of it as steps in healing.
I am still wearing my wedding and engagement rings as I still feel married to Will. 
Aren't friends essential? Do you like having coffee with a friend? I meet friends at a coffee shop or at one of our homes once a week or so. Those chats range from light hearted to deep discussions and are fun.

Don't forget my little Bounce who gets me out of the house twice a day for walks, rain or shine. Here in California it is mostly shine.

If you have a partner give them lots of affection and attention while you can.
Word to the wise.

Shaping Up: My Kitchen

My yard is shaping up this year. My home is shaping up too. Am I shaping up? Ha ha. That is for others to say.

Above is a photo of six counter top stone samples for my kitchen counters. I like them all. Two are grey/white which will go well with my stainless steel kitchen appliances, the others are brown/tan which will go well with my cabinets. Next step is to choose one. They are from an environmentally friendly company. The new counter will be one solid piece, not little squares, these are just samples. The samples are on my old counter which is mainly white and as old as the house, sixty five years old. Time for a change I say.
Below is a terrifically exciting photo of my new off-white walls. That "exciting photo" is a joke friends. Oh dear, in contrast with my white orchids the wall looks grey. Trust me, the walls are white and make my rooms look more spacious.

Painters came in and painted my kitchen and twenty foot long hall way. The first half day they washed the walls and ceilings,  applied putty as needed and painted trim. The next day they spent eight hours painting. The color is off-white. It doesn't look very eye catching in photos but trust me, it is an improvement. Plus before they worked I took everything off the walls and am keeping most of the things off the walls, a visual de-cluttering which I like.

New floors, walls painted in my Happy Room

Here is the new flooring in tones of grey with some tan. It was put in Oct. 4 and Oct. 5. This is the biggest home improvement project I had done this year and the first big project without my husband.

Here are photos of the one wall my older son painted yellow for me on Saturday, and here are the new birds curtains. The other 3 walls he also freshly painted white, not a harsh white, more subtle. The yellow caused me to name this My Happy Room. I used Valspar "Summer Blonde" from Ace for the yellow paint.

Above is the sealant  which is white, plus the moisture barrier on top of the old floor and a bit of the new floating floor being added. Below is a large area of the sealant covering the old floor, as it dries it goes from grey to white.

Below is the old discolored floor, which looked gorgeous 30 years ago when we had our house addition built.

I am very happy with the change and hope this new floor lasts for a long time, decades in fact. I bought new curtains for this area, for 2 patio sliding glass doors and one long window, and my older son is painting the walls "slipper satin" in two rooms, with one wall in each room "summer blonde", which is a pale cheerful yellow for my "happy room."