Sunday, July 18, 2021

Ground Zero Gets Rehabilitated !!

 Hallelujah !!! The new floors are finished!! And they are beautiful -  better than I could have imagined. 

It all started with a POD. It was delivered to our driveway on June 28th. 




I got the 16 x 16 size. That is the largest, and even though I did not fill it up, the large size allowed me to be able to walk around the stacks of boxes easily.


I removed our artwork first. None of those items were being discarded, and they were the last things to be brought back into the house after the job. I placed them along the long side of the POD.


Over the next four days, the POD got filled up. Doc's big antique book collection was stored out there, and I cleaned and shined each book as I put them in the boxes.

                                             

On June 30th, we had a little party to celebrate my FIL Win's 90th birthday.

His favorite cake is the Tuxedo cake from Costco. It is chocolate with a cream cheese / cheesecake layer. 



He blew out all the candles. 


The four great-grandchildren posed with Win and Mimi.

Then the whole crowd posed.


A great deal of fun was had by all.

On July 1st, I bought some beautiful peaches at Aldi. I made peach compote with them.


Then I made a big Dutch baby and put the peaches, the syrup, and some powdered sugar on top.

On the Fourth of July, we went to a party at the home of our friends, Steve and Tam. They have a party every year, but we could not attend last year due to the pandemic. This is what I wore:

This jumpsuit came from Savers thrift store. I bought it a while ago but never wore it. It is thin polyester, and is actually okay when it is hot.

A wide elastic belt, a gold necklace and my mom's Vatican coin completed the look.

There are always a lot of fireworks at the party, courtesy of Steve. 


There were plenty of sky bombs way up there.






And a pretty good ground display as well.




That was another fun night at the Lui's house. Steve's dad was a physician, and was Chinese, hence the last name. Tam is an absolute delight - one of the best women I have ever met.

So, Pandi had a bit of a problem with the flooring. You see, she had concealed a treasure in the dirt of one of our big Money Tree plants.

She successfully excavated her bone. It is now rehidden, but I could not tell you where she stashed it this time. 



So I bet that you cannot wait to see the floors. Here they are !!!





So beautiful and perfect !!

We ordered two new Sauder Select Estate Black bookcases, but only one came. So I have three more boxes still in the POD. The other bookcase is due on July 14th, and the POD will be picked back up on July 24th.



Unfortunately, the box was crushed when the second bookcase came. But fortunately, the bookcase itself was fine.

The second bookcase arrived as promised, and it was the final piece to be set up in our gorgeous new floorplan. I spent many nights imagining how I could best position our increasingly impressive collection of antiques. We mostly accumulated them through time. So just get old, and take offers of furniture from relatives - instant antique collection!!

On July 10th, we went back to the Goldenwest College swap meet. It reopened on July 3rd. 

There were the usual treasures:


A ball and chain.



A bota made out of a cow foot.

And an old timey telephone.

Many spaces were vacant, which was sad. But I did get a pair of shoes and some super glue. I imagine that it will continue to grow as time goes by, until it is as good as the last visit we had. I told Doc that we could remember the date, because it was the day that Kobe died when we last visited the swap meet. Then the pandemic, etc, and oh how the world has changed !!

My July Birchbox came. The theme is Summer Essentials. The bag is mesh - good for the pool and for boating.


Inside, from top to bottom:

1) Davines SOLU shampoo - to remove product build up. Love this brand.

2) Megababe Space Bar Detoxifying Charcoal Underarm Bar - I have perspiration issues, so I use clinical strength Mitchum, but this is an option.

3) Benefit Cosmetics Playtint Lip and Cheek Stain. Another favorite brand.

4) Oribe Gold Lust Masque - one of my favorite brands.

5) Real Chemistry Environmental Rescue Rich Cherry Lip Peel.


In the six or so years that I have had my little Vinni Barbarino Holtzman, I have had difficulty getting good pictures of him. Finally !!!



Isn't he just the cutest little fox-a-foo ?


Mt first little bouquet after the floor replacement - roses, stock and bachelor's buttons.



And another outfit for some errands - I have another week left in my vacation. These Hawaiian shorts are from Old Navy.



Notice that my picture background has changed a bit- while all of the bookcases were empty, I moved them around for a little change of pace.

On Tuesday, I decided to get out some good duds to go to Hobby Lobby and FedEx to get prints made of Vinni, Win's 90th, and the greats with the great-grands.


This dress is from H&M and is easy to style in a more casual way. It has a self belt.

I got these shoes at Macy's during the pandemic, and need them now since my usual tan wedges died.


How good do the floors look !!!!

My Ipsy bag came: The theme is Stay Golden. Okay, hard when you are old and must avoid the sun. 

                                             


From top to bottom:

1) Glow on 5th Beauty Keep It Handy Chamomile Hand Cream - I have burned myself twice lately, what with all the cooking I have been doing. So hand care products have become necessary.

2) Hello Fab Pores Be Gone Matte Primer with Fig Extract

3) Purlisse Watermelon Charcoal Purifying Cleanser - I always welcome facial cleansers.

4) Briogeo Superfoods Avocado and Kiwi Mega Moisture Hair Mask

Vertical:

Item Brow Chow Ultra-fine Brow Definer. The one I use is black and this is dark brown, which should be better.

I decided to do Vinni's tribute in a triple frame:


This one is pure Vinni.

Here is what I did this afternoon. It was fun.

So I have had a productive AND relaxing vacation, and am very happy with the results. I am a little bittersweet about going back to the grind, but it would be a grind anywhere, so my current position is actually ideal. I just got used to being a load.

So see you all soon !!! There should be lots of outfits, and at least one party ahead, so stay tuned !!