Well…that was okay…slept okay but most of the night it was on my right shoulder and it hurts a bit and is pretty stiff and that won’t help with the painting today…but I can play through that to get the kitchen finished by the end of the week…and that is even with repainting the trim that I’ll be pulling the paint off when I remove the painters tape…and the range hood is going to be here today so I can put that up either tomorrow or Friday and I think it the holes for the screws holding the old one up will fit the new one since it is the same size from the same company…and I finally got the old vent blocked off since this one is unvented and doesn’t need it….and that stops the cold air from flooding into the kitchen like it was…and I really don’t cook enough on the stovetop to need a vented one….and in the year I’ve been here, I only used the old one once or twice and that was just to use the light….I am going to have to get out to shovel the concrete and dirt the city left on the front of my lawn when they dug up the street for water to the new houses across the street…don’t want it to kill my lawn that I worked so hard on last summer….and that is going to be a pain in the butt but it will be warm enough to do that this weekend…it is going to be over 50 sat but then right back to highs in the 30’s for the rest of the week…where the hell is March and the warmer weather? Not much to do today…need to do the grocery run this morning after the bike ride and then the rest of the day will be painting and cleaning up…I really can’t wait to see what it looks like after all of the work to get to this point…and I am looking forward to taking another week off to let my body heal up again after it’s done…more later….

Well…after getting a late start this morning, I did get on the bike and got started by 7:15 and finished before 8 and I got me out the door by 8:20 or so and that put me back on schedule for the day…I did get the car washed and then over to depot to get some small things I needed…and outlet to replace the one they plastered over, a small glue gun to fasten the shield for the power feed to the range hood back to the wall after I paint, and a small roller to get into spaces that my big one won’t fit..along with a couple of cover plates for the outlets…got back here a little after 9 and have already installed the new outlet and have lunch cooking and have paid all the bills that are due in the next week or so…and now I’m finishing up the coffee and relaxing a bit…I was going to buy my new range hood at depot this morning but they only had white ones so I had to order it on line from them and it is supposed to be here Thursday but I’ll believe that when I see it…planning on not getting it until next week and that will be okay…I’ll have everything else done by then and it should only take about 5 minutes to install…so, a productive morning even with not doing much…I will be back for a political one later but I need to read some news first…more later….

Well…damn, running really late today with not getting out of bed until 6:44 and that will make me late for the whole day and I only have 9 minutes to get on the bike and get it started….had an okay day yesterday and got a lot done but today is going to be a little easier….not going to work on the kitchen today since I need to get out and wash the car and hit depot for materials and I need to let the paint harden up some before I mask off the white so I can paint the grey…and I am going to get a small roller since I have a lot of places that the big one won’t fit and I don’t want to use a brush on a large part of the walls…and I have to get an electrical socket and cover plates to finish up the detail work….I may even get the range hood so I can finish up the kitchen by the end of the week…not sure yet…not much to do today…just need to get going and get on the bike so I can get out and get the errands done and I won’t get that started just sitting here…more later….

Well…pretty much on time this morning with getting up at 6:05 but it took me a half hour to get to my first cup of coffee after reading the news for a bit and getting my first water of the day down…slept okay but have that damn headache that I’ve had on and off for months now and I’m sure it’s allergies since my head is plugged up…I wonder if it’s just still from the dust after sanding the trim and cleaning up? But, I’m done with that in the kitchen and today starts the final push to finish it by the end of the week…going to paint the trim this morning and if I have time after I get those two coats done and let it dry, I’m going to paint the ceiling in there…I do need to let it dry so I can put down drop cloths without smearing the paint on the trim…if I can get the trim done with still having about a third of a gallon left, I can do the ceiling today but will need to get out for more paint in the next couple of days if I run out….and I don’t think I have enough grey to finish the walls but I will be able to get at least one coat on if I have enough painter’s tape to mask it off…but the white needs to dry for a day or so first or the tape will pull paint off and I’ll have to touch up lots of spots…didn’t do a whole lot yesterday with it being my day off but I finished off the sanding for some repairs I did on the basement door frame and I cleaned the bathroom since it was way overdue…I am quickly inching up on needing another week off to heal up since my right thumb is howling already and I am sore everywhere…and I hope that will be next week and I will use the week off to buy the range hood and install it along with a complete scrubbing of the range and kitchen floor and do some repairs on the tiles since I’m not replacing it until next year… and then I can move the bookcase I’m using for my microwave stand back into the kitchen and that will end the work in there…finally…not much to do today…just need to get on the bike here in a few and then get to painting…can’t wait to see what the white trim looks like after I finish…and I think the whole kitchen project is going to be worth it after I get the detail work done…at least it will be clean and I won’t be embarrassed by it anymore….more later….

Well…February 27th has a bit of importance to my life that I am going to celebrate today…it was one year ago today when friends and family helped me move into this place to start the final phase of my life…and it has been an interesting year to say the least…I am still marveling at how the whole thing came to be…I mean seeing the listing on Friday night, touring the house at 10am Saturday morning, putting in the offer on it by noon, and having the offer accepted by 5pm Saturday afternoon…but, that wasn’t the end of it…it took the work of my brother the realtor, the mortgage broker, and lots of other people to make it happen…to make all the moving parts of the process work in the short time frame that I had available to me with my son and his wife moving back to GR to take over the house that I had just rehabbed…and it was close, I made it out of there with two weeks to spare and it was such a relief to not have to move back into an apartment as I looked for a house….but it has not been all sweetness and light…there have been cultural issues that I have faced out here…or maybe not cultural ones but habits that permeated this neighborhood where the other residents had gotten used to playing their music so loud and at all hours of the day that it made this neighborhood a war zone…and I’ll admit that I was seriously considering selling this place after being in it for only a couple of months but then I got a little pissed about the selfishness of these people who were depriving me of enjoying my new place…so that set in motion the long saga of making noise complaints multiple times every day to get people to follow the law up here…and after months and months of that, it finally had some effect and the neighborhood is quiet now but for the damn cars that come by shaking my house and that I will attempt to deal with this year….and I know that I’ll probably be starting from scratch with the noise as spring comes but I know the process now so I can work it to good effect…but, that has been the only bad thing about living out here other than not having pool days anymore…oh, and my kids have disowned me since I haven’t visited my grandchildren but that’s on them for their reaction…and after what was essentially a panic buy of the house, I have been pleasantly surprised that the area and the house do have everything I need…and I didn’t know any of it when I bought it…the bike trails are a couple of blocks away and go all the way out to Lake Michigan, Lake Michigan is 8 minutes away by car so I can go to the beach whenever I want, and Muskegon is a vibrant small town with lots to do once the pandemic is over…and I hope his summer will be the one that allows me to take part in the life out here and meet some people to have things to look forward to other than working on this place…all in all, it hasn’t been a bad year and the idea that I have an affordable place to live that I have already made a ton of money on takes such a big load off my head that I can just enjoy life for the first time that I can remember….onward to the second year….only 14 more til this place is paid off….

Well…damn, that was pretty crappy….didn’t sleep well at all but the thing is, I don’t feel too bad even with the bad sleep and I know that is from being good…never thought I’d be heading toward 60 days of no cocktails but it has become the new normal and I kind of like it…used a lot of new muscles washing the kitchen yesterday and that means lots of new soreness this morning…it’s funny how creaky I feel after doing something new but I still have the ability to recover so I guess I’ll keep doing them…tomorrow is going to be another one of those with using the extension on the roller so I can paint it standing on the floor like I did all of the ceilings in my son’s house….but I do need to use a drop cloth over everything to keep the drips off the floor and everything else….but I’m not sure how my right thumb is going to hold up with doing all the trim tomorrow so I may have to move the ceiling out to Tuesday but I need a couple of days to let the white dry so I can mask off the corners and trim to get a good line for the grey…and I don’t want to pull off the white with the painter’s tape…may have to run out to HF to get another roll of tape and some more sanding pads for the small sander so I can get to work on the dining room next week…nope, going to take a week off to plan and let my body heal up some before I get to the dining room…I do need to find a new place to get the paper on Sundays with Wesco closing by me for renovations…too damn far to go to the next nearest one….not much to do today…it is my Sunday off and I won’t be doing much but cleaning a little and watching some races and soccer on tv….and I do have a special one of these to do in a while…more later….

Well…it been kind of f lost day for me today after working on the kitchen this morning, I haven’t really done anything but veg out today…and, even though I’ve read a bunch of news today, I can’t get my brain to care enough about anything to actually do one on politics….it has really felt like I was hungover today and I have only had one day of cocktails since January 2nd…just no energy at all and it may just be the 3 days I only had one meal a day catching up to me…I guess that’s more what I feel like than hungover but I don’t really remember how that feels it’s been so long…I do know the day after my one day of cocktails I felt like crap all day and vowed I wouldn’t do that again…and so far, so good….oh, I did give myself a hair cut today since I was looking shaggy and I don’t like to look like a homeless person….man, I just got the new assessment for the house and it has gone up by 5,900 bucks and that is going to cost a bit but it is still well under half what the house is worth so I can live with it…will have to budget for next winter’s taxes and that sucks a bit…oh, well…time to make some dinner…don’t want to but I know I need to….