Delaying Gratification

When I was a new parent, I remember reading a lot about how to teach a child to delay gratification. Mind you, I was in teacher training at the time, and my daughter Gret got to be a guinea pig for many of the classroom skills I was learning to use. Ed used to laugh at me and state that "she will either end up very smart or hopelessly confused!" I think she's done pretty well as she's now working as a University Vice-President and raising two very lovely girls of her own! (brag moment there, sorry!)

Anyways, the gist of the above is that I am presently reflecting on this very vital life/school skill and actually putting some of it into practice in my personal life. As a few of you know, we recently found the "house of our dreams" for retirement in my husband's hometown of St. Joseph, Michigan. We went up this summer with only intent to "start looking" and literally stumbled upon the house that fit ALL our wishlist requirements. So what do you do? Well, you buy it, of course; because when you are ready to retire, you don't want the house that fits you perfectly belonging to someone else! So we did just that. And now, the itch to retire has become a very present and much more obvious reality. One that I will have to learn to control, since at present I am only 62 and not yet eligible for Medicare. However, we will get to use our "house of dreams" in the summers and on holidays for the next few years, and should grace or gainful employment allow us to relocate in advance of our retirement ages, that would be an added blessing. It's really exciting and awesome to think about a place sort of waiting for you. Decisions about the future are never easy, so having the "where" of this figured out makes figuring out the "when" of it a little less stressful.

Now to thinking about school. I am forcing myself to physically work in my classroom this week... since we go back to meetings next week and start classes the week following. I am making myself get up, do my a.m. routine, and everything. Had fun cleaning and puttering in the classroom today and am sitting at my desk there as I write this. How will I teach my students patience and delay of gratification this year. Will they be willing to trust themselves to wait for good results as they work through their writing and thinking with me this term. I have a large bunch of sophomores this year for a change. I love their puppy-like energy and enthusiasm. They are so focused on the "Big thing" (driving) that looms on their horizon in this year of their lives. They make me smile since I can still recall the first time I stepped on an accelerator with my dad beside me in the front seat bravely believing I would not, in fact, kill him! Patience is a virtue... and we can all use more; myself included! Have a great day!

The Big Dig Continues... Day 18 of no Kitchen Sink... thoughts on Patience

It's been 19 days since my last post....  and 18 days with no running water or kitchen sink in our kitchen. The kitchen itself remains a "work in progress". I am learning that when dealing with insurance companies and contractors that "hurry up and wait" is the normal way of things. Somewhere in my past I had learned this lesson and then blissfully forgotten it, living as most of us do in that happy haze called insured over-confidence. To make matters worse, the amount of the damage now necessitates involving our mortgage company as a co-signer on some of the checks; thus adding their hoops to jump through and further slowing the process. But new cabinets are ordered and SOMETIME in the coming New Year we will have a kitchen again. It will be a new and improved kitchen so perhaps there is a blessing in the saga of the sluggish pipe that has been ongoing for the entire time we've lived in this house. If I can only be patient....

Here is the original incision made in our kitchen and dining room floor.

More of the Big Dig a.k.a the TRENCH!

Here's what a semi-filled trench looks like.. waiting for the tile man.

This is a FAKE sink... actually, it's our OLD sink sitting in the approx location of where the NEW sink will go. We are hoping this arrives before Christmas, but it would be HIGHLY unlikely for that to actually happen! Meanwhile we are getting VERY adept at dishwashing using that big grey pan set up down the hall in our bathtub! And our knees are getting stronger by the day!

And THIS is the DREAM sink... a shotof the approximate color (but not style) of our new cabinetry and the approximate color of our new counter tops.

The Day of the Impending Jack-Hammer!

Today was NOT a good day on Norwich Street! We were getting ready to leave when Ed noticed a wet spot at the base of one of the kitchen cabinets. We were certain our dishwasher had done the inevitable and blown a fill valve. So on the way to work we called our favorite appliance guys to come and check on it. I zipped home to make the 1pm appointment only to have the REAL news hit us square in the wallet!
To make a long story short; a troublesome drainpipe that runs UNDER the concrete that is UNDER our ceramic tiled kitchen floor is a goner and is going to have to be replaced! This means a 24 ft run of pipe and tomorrow at 8am a plumber and his crew will be here to attack my only 3 yr. old floor with a jack-hammer!!! I am beyond upset about this. The stupid drain has been an albatross around our necks for 25 years beginning in the first month we lived here back in 1985! But this exceeds all money-pit behavior up until this point. No rescue rooter, no draino... JUST rip the dang thing out! I am SO bummed. So for one more night, our floor looks like it did in 2007 when we got off our knees from laying it... here's a link to a happier time. So good-bye pretty floor, and maybe even my kitchen cabinets! (that's another story to be revealed tomorrow when we find out how much seeping water the things absorbed underneath that we CAN't see!)
 AHHHH the joys of home-ownership! They just keep coming!

Waiting, waiting, and more waiting...

After an entire summer of smooth sailing on their new home build, our kids are hanging in "loan limbo" and dealing with closing hassles. NOT fun, not at all! And NONE of it is any of their fault which is even MORE frustrating.

Last Thursday's originally scheduled closing was bumped back to today due to a computer snafu at the Lender's office. Today they appeared to have all the ducks in line and signed on the dotted lines but got no keys until their checks all were wired from the the Title Company to the Lender... the clock ticked, it continued to tick, and the end of the working day arrived... but no confirmation of the final wire of money. SO.... maybe tomorrow will be the big day... a week late and on an inconvenient date for almost everyone involved, but at least by this time tomorrow they may have the keys in their hands!

What a dismal way to experience the uncomfortable truth that there are times when NOTHING is within your realm of control... and house closings appear to be one of those times!

Meanwhile, our nest remains joyously (if somewhat frustratedly) full... the chicks want to fly but they need a place to land!