☀️It Dawned on Me… (#3)

our final graduate, a new desktop wallpaper & phone lock screen, our kitchen cabinet makeover, love thy neighbor @ (in)courage, currently reading, watching, & listening

Mar 10, 2023

Happy March! I want to welcome new readers who subscribed when I spoke at St. Robert of Newminster on Essential Oils from a Biblical Perspective. Thank you for the warm welcome (in spite of the cold temps). I caught the last flight out of Grand Rapids before they were canceled because of the winter storm. They de-iced our plane like a carwash. 😯

This month has always been special to me: it’s my birthday month, plus everything starts blooming, like the cherry trees in our front yard.

Our youngest graduates this year (although it’s a year ahead of schedule and she may do a year of dual enrollment), which means we’ve just entered our final sports season with a child at home. We’ve been baseball, softball, soccer, track, and cross country parents for decades. Literally.

To call it the end of an era feels like an understatement.

I’d be lying if I said I won’t be happy not to leave the house before 8 a.m. and drive 40 minutes to a track meet, like we’ll do tomorrow morning, but I’d also be lying if I said I won’t be sad about it too. Bittersweet, for sure.

And unless I’m sadly mistaken, this final graduation year will wreck me. (I wrote about my feelings about graduations HERE.) I have several friends graduating their youngest this year. I would love to hear from you if you’re graduating your youngest or if that’s firmly behind you and you can offer the rest of us your wisdom on surviving and thriving in this stage.

New Desktop Wallpaper & Phone Lock Screen 📱

I’ve created a new wallpaper for your desktop and a lock screen for your featuring some lush pastel spring goodness. I no longer add calendars to the images, so you can use them as long as you like!

Our Kitchen Makeover

While preparing to sell our last house, I painted the kitchen cabinets, three bathrooms, and three bedrooms to increase our property value. I LOVED those fresh white cabinets but only enjoyed the fruit of my labor (and that’s a whole lotta labor) briefly before we moved.

I’ve resisted picking up a paintbrush again, but last May I ordered everything I needed to paint our dark kitchen cabinets. I just couldn’t summon the oomph to tackle such a big project. (Again.)

On a whim in January, I deglossed the back of our island. Once started, it seemed silly to waste the effort and so I primed it. By the next day, I wanted to quit —what a job!! Since the cabinets were dark wood and I went with the whitest paint, I ended up using three coats of primer and three (or more) coats of paint all around. I spent two weeks painting, but I wouldn’t trade it. I’m thrilled with the results and hope the new doesn’t wear off anytime soon.

Love Thy Neighbor at (in)courage

In my March article at (in)courage, I tell the story of how, after days of sustained sub-freezing temperatures, our pipes burst on Christmas day — the one day home-improvement stores are closed. Join me at (in)courage to read how our neighbors stepped in to help and ponder what it means to be a good neighbor.

Currently Reading, Watching, Listening 📖

While painting, I listened to the audiobook of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. I remember hearing an interview where someone said they learned empathy from the Beatles’ song Eleanor Rigby; I think the same could be said for Eleanor Oliphant. I prefer reading books over listening, but this one was well done and perfect to listen to while painting.

Last week I finished Stephen King’s latest, Fairy Tale. It’s a big book — 600 pages — with the first half set in this world and the second half in another, fairy tale land; I preferred the first half. To enjoy a book, I have to care about what happens to at least one character and I cared about more than one (and a dog).

Years ago I read The Stand and The Dead Zone, but other than On Writing, the only (relatively) recent Stephen King I’ve read is the excellent 11/22/63.

I’m currently reading Horse by Geraldine Brooks, but I’m not far enough in to have an opinion. Have you read it? If so, what did you think?

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We saw the excellent Creek III in IMAX last weekend. The tension between the two main characters was tense and well acted. I kept waiting for everything to blow up.

We’ve got tickets to John Wick 4, which opens on the 23rd. Yes, I know these movies are crazy violent, but I love Keanu. So shoot me. (Sorry, that was a bad John Wick pun.)

We’ve tried a few streaming series lately, but nothing that’s hooked us. Suggestions?

The other day I opened Spotify and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album appeared as if I’d listened to it recently. Except I hadn’t.

It released when I was a child, before I started buying albums, cassettes, or CDs, and until now I’ve mostly listened to the hits like “Dreams,” “Don’t Stop,” “Go Your Own Way,” “The Chain,” and “You Make Loving Fun.” To a more mature ear, it’s a Lindsey Buckingham/Stevie Nicks break-up album with some Christine McVie thrown in.

I can’t stop listening to Second Hand News and Never Going Back Again.

The album has seen a resurgence in popularity because of Christine McVie’s recent death and thanks to the new Netflix series Daisy Jones and the Six (I read the book in December), inspired by Fleetwood Mac.

River and I discovered the new greenway near us! When they unlock the bathrooms and add trash cans (so I don’t have to drive around with a stinky bag of dog 💩 again) it will be great. Now I want a bike and some trail running shoes!

Blessings,
Dawn