I’m back!
Sorry it’s been so long.

I have a 21 bandage salute drying on the line in the basement which indicates that we were on another trip.

This trip, however, was definitely not a vacation. We were in the beautiful state of Michigan helping our daughter and son-in-law with prepping their new house for the move at the end of the month.

It’s not actually a new house. It was built in the 1960’s in a lovely wooded area just minutes from the city amenities, and by this I mean Target and Home Depot.

There was some repair and upkeep renovations that needed to be made and the hubster was on hand to make sure those were finished in a week. He estimates that he made 100 trips to Home Depot.

He is often given to hyperbole.

But, he just now took off, on his way to Home Depot, because he felt it was time for him to do so.

I understand. He has needs.

He spent time last night and this morning researching fixes for the remaining repairs that need to be made.

This was after mulling over the problems and their solutions during the entire eleven hour drive home yesterday.

We don’t talk much in the car.

Most car rides are spent by him thinking about a project. And since he had finished most if not all of his projects around the house — damn garage, damn shed, damn patio, etc. —– he needed a new project.

For those of you who know how much I like to talk, I need to reassure you that I have no problem with this at all. I bring a project to work on in the car. Yesterday I finished embroidering one pillow case and am 2/3 done with the second.

Not a problem.

Anyway, back to the new hubster project. We’ll be returning to MI for another work session later in the year.

It’ll take tools again, but maybe this time we won’t be packed to the gills. This trip, in addition to the tools, we took the old snowblower for the kids’ new driveway which their neighbors call the runway. Seriously.

So, what did I do while the daughter painted, hubster repaired, and son-in-law alternately worked and brought over packed boxes from the apartment?

I cooked dinners, unpacked and organized the new kitchen pantry,  packed up the daughter’s craft stash,  made four trips to Target, filled the plastic eggs for Easter for both inside and outside, and created the Easter baskets.

We would have been able to put all the eggs outside, but I discovered that the new plastic eggs bought this year had holes in them. And they were smaller than the ones I had from thirty years ago, too! No way could those little ones hold the battery operated tealights that I saw on FaceBook.

I can’t help it. Since the wedding in December, I am now a grandma type and see every cute idea as a possibility. WooHoo!

Where was I? Oh yes. So we will be returning for more project time for the hubster. He does need his projects. It used to be that he could barely last a week  between finishing one long building project and starting another.  And, I must confess that I have been worried about his comment that he was done with large projects around the house.

I have even gone so far as to suggest an addition that would bump out the dining room into a sunroom.  I do so miss sitting on that side of the house when it’s too cold for lazing on the porch and damn patio.

It could even be the damn addition!

But, he is not interested. He says he’s done.

However, I see that glint in his eye when he’s thinking about a project. I notice that quickness in his step, that cheery ignorance of anything not related to the project, that complete concentration.

He needs this. It’s like manna in the wilderness.

Or a trip to Home Depot.

Two things I need to mention before I sign off. I found that this last time change, usually the most brutal to handle, was much easier when we were already travelling to a different time zone. Our body clocks were already screwed up. Something to think about.

And, within minutes of returning home yesterday, our new neighbors bought over still warm homemade bread as a thank you for the cookies I brought over earlier. Wasn’t that nice? And delicious, too!

Well, back to the return home laundry. Have a Mahvelous Monday!

Love,

Janet