Settling In Again
(with the usual drama)
When I took our dog out this morning, I detected a possible natural gas leak. I’ve got a really good sniffer, so we took it seriously. Google advised leaving the area and avoiding ignition sources like light switches, doorbells, or starting our cars.
Kids, grab your shoes! We’re fleeing on foot!
But they installed our shower walls on Thursday afternoon, and after waiting the required 24 hours for the adhesive to set, I couldn’t wait to take a shower in our master bath for the first time since our pipes backed up on December 11 (which should’ve been our oldest daughter’s 29th birthday). My husband called the gas company, and I took a shower.
Thankfully, we don’t have a leak, but everything we do seems to have an extra dose of drama.
During the final week of work on the insurance claim to reconstruct our house, we evacuated so they could replace the flooring in our bedroom and sand and stain downstairs. We spent weekdays in a quirky farmhouse closeby, so everyone could still get to work and school, and planned to spend the weekend in the mountains since the grandkids said they’d never been. (I love the mountains, and embraced the chance to rectify this situation.)
At first, we booked a house a couple of hours from home on Airbnb, but the Weather Channel predicted 3”-5” of snow, so we moved closer. When that host contacted us about icy conditions in the forecast for the new place, we explained that we had no choice—we couldn’t go home.
Thus it all began.
Shortly after we checked in on Friday afternoon, a man came to service the generator, but he said it had been installed only 80%. (Cue ominous music.) Saturday afternoon, Winter Storm Fern arrived (you know it’s bad when they name them) and iced over the roads, although we felt pretty safe since we’d made a Publix run that morning and lit the gas logs.
Unfortunately, along with our luggage, we brought the stomach bug from hell. 🤢
It spared only one of the nine of us as we took turns in the bathrooms (thankfully, there were three) Saturday afternoon, evening, and throughout the night. As we recovered Sunday afternoon, it suddenly became quiet. No bedroom fan, no white noise—no power. We soon realized the water required electricity to pump as well.
I envisioned the virus hitting my youngest son in the middle of the night, with no lights to find the bathroom and no way to flush if he did. (Somehow, he never got it.) He must’ve imagined the same thing, because he braved the icy roads and realized we could get out.
We still couldn’t go home, but a friend in our neighborhood volunteered to take us in. We packed by lantern light and drove away at dusk. The following evening, we moved back into our house.
The floors are beautiful! A friend recommended Provincial stain, and it was a great choice.
The paint I picked for the bedroom and bath, Benjamin Moore Blue Lace (1625), looks amazing!!
One evening in January, while we were still sleeping in my office, Bryan and I popped into T.J. Maxx. I wanted to find a picture to hang above our bed when our room was floored, and the walls were patched and painted.
A big ol’ print of Van Gogh’s Almond Blossom—on clearance!—waited there for me. It’s perfection.
I don’t care if it’s tacky to hang reproductions of fine art in your home. We have at least five Van Goghs, two O’Keeffes, a Vermeer, a Monet, and a Klimt. No one thinks they’re originals, and they make me happy.
Currently Reading & Watching 📖
We binged season four of The Lincoln Lawyer this week—so good! I’ve read the first four or five books in the series, and now I want to read more.
I recently finished Heart the Lover, and I’m currently reading The Stolen Life of Collette Marceau.
A Question for You 🤔
What do you hope to get from this Substack, It Dawned on Me?
When I blogged, I had a great tagline (I can’t take credit—someone else came up with it):
My Home Sweet Home: Decorated with Family, Faith, and Photoshop.
It summarized my blog so well. I still write about family and faith, and I post photos. I stopped sharing progress on writing my first novel—I thought maybe y’all were tired of me talking about it. 😂
But there are new readers here, and author and agent blogs—people talking about writing and publishing—are what I read most on Substack.
What interests you? What would you like to read here?
Happy Valentine’s Day! 💗
I love all your posts.