Helping out!

 I have 1 photo to show. Why didn't I take more photos! 

We dropped a meal off at neighbor friends last night. They have all been very sick with Covid. 

I made some no knead rosemary-sea salt bread and peanut butter, mini chocolate chip biscotti. Steve made a BBQ chicken and roasted potatoes, carrots and broccoli. We had it all hot and ready to drop off for them by exactly 5:30pm. 

They actually all had some what of an appetite after 11 days of not eating much. Glad to hear that is a step to feeling better! I'll be dropping off some other baked items on Friday. Probably cinnamon rolls, quiche and scones. 

Today, Celina and I are off on a road trip back to Sauk to get her first vaccination. I'd rather drive 2 hours away and get it three weeks earlier and not have to wait! It's a road trip day with a stop at the lake on the way home. 

I added the rest of the rice to some soup I made. Now I know why you don't do that! The rice soaked up all the soup. It still tastes good. It's just all rice! 

This weekend will be 70*F Sat- Monday. I want to set up our new pop up tent and try it out for a night. Might have to plug in the heater as I'm sure its going to get down to 50 at night. Can you tell I'm a little excited for the camping summer? 

74*F in March!!

 We stopped at Gerten's to pick up some bulbs to plant this spring. Everything inside was in bloom. 

Tempting as it was to buy flowers, I settled for a package of spring bulbs to plant out front in the garden.

We celebrated Steve's Dad's 82nd birthday outside Sunday afternoon before the warm up on Monday. 

We picked up pizza and had some cake too.

I got to try out my new camping cooking table. Worked perfect to block the wind and set out all the food. 

Monday it was 74*F, but super windy. It was nice enough to grab some taco's and have a picnic lunch at the park in NorthField. After lunch, we took a hike down to the cannon river. 

Signs of spring were every where! 

Third Eye!

  I have this red bump on my lower back, spine. A third eye! Not sure what's going on, but it at least is going down in size. It's about the size of a dime, down from a quarter. What the heck is going on? I can't exactly see it, but I can feel it on my lower back. It must be a cyst? All I can think is it must be from an acupuncture needle spot. Did it go in too deep at some point and create this red bump over time? 

I did take a bath to soak it, hoping it might just erupt and then go away. Nope, didn't budge, only made it red and scab over. I'll leave it alone for now. Isn't that what you're suppose to do? 

It arrived!!

 Can you tell I'm excited for summer this year and camping? 

I ordered this stove camping table top and it arrived today. 

At the lake, we don't have a picnic table or a cabin. Only a shoreline, woods with trees and nature. We've been setting up a tent since we no longer have the popup camper. We do have the underside of a row boat we used as a cook top for our camping stove last summer. It has worked fine, but it's not ideal to cook on top of a low boat bottom. 

I was searching for something portable for when we camp. This Coleman table is perfect. A tiny bit heavy, but it all folds up and lays flat. 

Friday night!

This was kind of how our Friday night looked. On the couch, yawning early on while watching TV and dosing off.  

After a year of Covid, stay home, stay safe. I'm okay with zero plans on a weekend night. Staying in sounds just fine to me. We did go out on Thursday afternoon for happy hour, but that was in the daytime. I'm really fine with just being home. 

Resolved Yes!

 Well, after I sent my text message on terminating a client, I felt a weight lifted off me. Of course knowing a response would be texted back at some point, also still made me nervous. The client was still not getting it and said if I changed my mind. Hello, I am never going to change my mind about terminating my services with her. Hours later, I received yet another text trying to justify her actions. I just deleted the entire thread of text messages. Gone and will not respond! I hope this is the end. Not sure if our neighbor friends will hear their mother's side of the story, but that is for another day. Hopefully, it doesn't come up. I prefer not to go into it as it's between me and my customer. 

It was a nice Thursday. Steve came home early from working, so we headed to Hastings in town for a happy hour drink at the brewery in town. The sun was shining and the building blocked the wind. We grabbed an outdoor table, one of two and sat and enjoyed two drinks. It felt weird to be back again after more than a year. I did comment on how the parks had a better view and cheaper beer. We both agreed the parks were just fine for happy hour too, but town provided more things going on and more to watch as the parks are quiet, unless we sit by a playground or path. Since we had one vaccination shot and it had been 8 days, we felt fine sitting outdoors unmasked. 

I'm still looking for an office light and think the one on the left is the winner! Or at least something similar to that light. 

 

I'm almost ready to start painting some walls again. It's just the basement is a large area to paint. I just need to get started which is the hardest part. I'm not sure its going to happen today, but I will do some painting touch ups around the house. I did a few paint touch ups in Logan's room. I need to finish his room up with the final coat of enamel paint. 

Thick skin needed

 It's never fun to have any issues that trouble you. Being a business owner, I choose who I work for and when to cut ties. I have 100% control over my decisions to run my business as I see fit. I have been in business for at least 18 years, so plenty of experience dealing with all types of people. I usually go out of my way with customer service as its always easier to keep an existing customer happy then to have to get a new one. 

In business, its just business and I try not take it personal even though I get to know some of my customers extremely well. There are always areas to improve and I value my customers feedback. Two weeks ago, I got unexpected feed back that was not able to be resolved right away. I usually like to make sure the customer is happy and do what I can to get things back on track, I don't like it to drag on and make it worse or unfixable. I'm only human and am not perfect but I always strive to do better, grow and learn. 

Well, two days ago, everything came to a head. I'm always open to suggestions. I realized my limit and it was reached! The customer I have known and worked for the last 18 years made a direct attack on my personality. Which is not something I choose to change about myself for the sake of someone else. I am not an overly talkative person. I am more of an observer and listener. I do enjoy talking one on one with with my customer, getting to know their families. This just makes a better working relationship and makes me enjoy my job. 

This customer told me that I was to not talk to her while working at her house. I am just there to work and that I am exhausting. I can't say I have ever been told ever in my life that I talk too much! I'm sure if I was a talkative person, which I'm not, I would have experienced similar comments in my life. It's the opposite, I'm more quiet and reserved. So it came as a HUGE Shock! 

Since, I was shocked, angry and hurt. I continued to work and "not talk" as requested. While there, she and her husband kept wanting to engage me in conversation, even thought she just gave me instructions to not to talk to them anymore while working at their home. I gave them simple one word answers, which was limiting my "talking" per her request. So she again comes back to tell me, that we need to "talk". I said sure, we can right now if you want. She didn't want to talk at this time because her daughter was over and I should call her some day  next week so we could talk. No more than 2 hours after I left her house. I got a text that we needed to talk. So I texted back that I could stop over the next day. This woman is around 83 years old and not in good health. I could blame it on her age and health but I think this is who is she! 

I was dreading the "talk" at her house. Not knowing really what else she wanted to talk about. I already had to force myself to go to her house for work and now I had to return again. The "talk", was to go over again to not talk to her while I was at her house working. She proceeded to tell me "I was exhausting". To top that off, she didn't understand why I wasn't my usual bubbly self after she gave me instruction to not talk her her. I explained I was following her instructions to not talk, so I kept it simple. I did go on to explain I enjoyed talking with her over the years and getting to know her better. That this is the part of the job I enjoyed, getting to know the people and families I do business with. She was almost gleeful at the hurt she was causing me by her words. I truly try to do what a customer requests. This is not someone I choose to work with any longer. I do not wish to do business with some one so rude! She assured me that they wanted to keep doing business with me. I kept an open mind going in for her talk and I know sometimes emotions can run high at the time. I didn't want to make any decisions at the heat of the moment and needed time to think after our "talk" meeting. So after some much needed sole searching. I came to the conclusion fairly quickly and started writing out my termination notice. I used these quotes to help me see the situation more clearly...

It was the last quote, sometimes you have to walk away, not because you don't care, because they don't care. 

I walked away from my mother and now I'm walking away from this toxic customer...

Here is my message I will text. I'm still going to think on this for a few days since it is still raw. Maybe I'll make changes to my message or maybe I won't. Sometimes it's best to think on things for a few days. It is also a complicated relationship with my customer because we are good neighbor friends with the person's adult child. 

What I do know after this message has been long sent and received. I will move on, it will become a distant memory. Maybe I will be more reserved around customers, maybe I will continue to be me and continue on the same. I do know there will always be more customers and more challenges I'll face as a business owner. I have peace of mind, knowing I am in control of my life, my business and all of my decisions. Something better might just come along once I close the door on something not so great! I don't need to keep people in my life that do not bring me joy. 

Here's the message I will text. I probably should give notice, but will send when I am ready within the next two weeks. 

I have decided it would be best to part ways with you. I prefer to work with customers that value me as a person and not just the "hired help or a servant" whom you believe should be seen and not "heard".   I was shocked when you told me "not to talk anymore while working and that I am exhausting". I have been nothing but helpful, caring and kind to you over the many years. I am not just a house cleaner, I am a friend, a mother, a wife, and a business owner.  Constructive criticism is fixable, but an attack on my personality is more then I care to change for you.

Maybe before it's too late, you will realize no matter who you meet in life, everyone including "The Help" deserves respect!

Farewell, 

Lorraine

More more done and another started!

 I've been looking at changing out some of our lights again. Instead of taking out the porch ceiling fan, I decided to just change out the glass lights from frosted to clear. The new light covers are more modern. I have 6 more light fixtures with 14 light covers to change around the outside of the room.

Of course, I didn't know we had 4 lights and only picked up three new covers! Back to Menards I go! 

The light covers do add up since I need 14 more. At $7 each that's still less than the cost of one new light fixture. Plus, it updates them enough to keep the old light fixtures. 

I need 4 new light bulbs that are not "Yellow".  I probably should check to see what kind of bulbs we have in the other lights. They are at least bright white when I turn them all on. Using more Menards rebate cash, so it won't cost us anything. 

Two more trips to Menards to get all the correct size and number of handles and pulls for our bathroom vanity. I love the updated look. 

I still have that medicine cabinet to paint. It's on my to do list after I finish painting the basement walls. I did pick up paint "Agreeable Gray". I used the same color my daughter had on her new house walls. I might even use the new color for our kitchen wall color. We still need to raise up our vanity so its not so low. Plus, switch out the countertop and get a new faucet. We will do this project and the shower/floor tile updates soon! Its definitely on our todo list! 

Home Projects.. kitchen and trips

 I found a match for our kitchen backsplash behind the stove. I washed the tile, so its darker in this photo. Its not exact match but really close! Good enough to make a built in shelf! I'm hoping Steve has time to do this in the next few days, weekend? Its only a 7 sq foot area, so not a big project at all. 

The kids bathroom updates are done for now. Changed out the vanity handles and the walls are painted, light bulbs switched out to brighter LED. Now maybe change out the flooring? We have tiles that look like wood flooring. I also need to clean up the bottom edge of the mirror/repaint silver or white. 

I decided to not use the dark handles for our master bathroom. I want to go with silver and use those moon shaped handles for the drawers. I'll be going back to Menards today to do returns and pick up the silver handles. Plus, I'm ready to pick up paint for the basement. Going with "Agreeable Gray". Might change the color of our kitchen with the same paint! I also still have paint touch ups to do on the white I've painted around the house. I forgot to paint under the bathroom cabinet. One more little finishing touch to do! 

Logan Shared some trip photos and I snapped some from Snap Chat of his location in Florida. 

Little changes!

 

Our kitchen cabinet handles before!!! 

Changing out the silver handles to more modern black handles in our kitchen! What a difference it makes to update the kitchen to make it look more modern! I actually remembered to count how many we needed before going to the store. I completely forgot about the kitchen buffet cabinets. Now I need to go back and pick up 9 more handles. Plus, will change out our bathroom vanity handles too. 

The new handles really stand out. Making the white kitchen cabinets pop! Love the new look with an easy change out. I'm hoping to be able to sell the old handles on Craigslist! 

I'm in search of kitchen back splash tiles! We are making a built in shelf behind the stove to put salt/pepper shakers and oils. Plus, I hate the tiles we used behind the stove. It's time to change that up! 

It's just been difficult to match our existing wall tile. We don't want to change that out just yet!

I was hoping we saved enough of this tile, but we only have a few tiles and not enough to cover the 7 sq feet needed for the new shelf. It's a hard to match slate tile for some reason. 

Small changes in the kitchen for now. I'd love to change out the granite tiles on the countertops, but I think Steve doesn't want to spend thousands to do that! I'd love to go light white/gray as all the new houses have that color. 

We put in new light bulbs in the kids bathroom. The other lights were yellow tinted making the new wall color look a little peach, even though it is a light gray/tan.

Changed out this vanity light to clear bright LED white! 

The kids freshly painted bathroom. Now to change out the vanity handles, same as the kitchen handles! 

I finally got to spend time with my grandkids at the park, outside with out masks! Madelyn is 16 months old and I hardly ever see her without a mask on. She of course is hesitant to warm up to us due to the mask wearing the last year and not really seeing her much due to covid. It was nice to get outside at the playground. She finally smiled and laughed a little while I was helping her go down the slides! Evan was too busy making new friends and running around the playground. 

Steve finally started setting up his new laptop last night. He has to figure it all out before his building contractor class on line this Friday! I'm not sure he knows how to use the camera and I have yet to play around with the new laptop. I'll need to do that tonight just to make sure I can help him if needed. It's the blind, leading the blind on technology! lol.. 

Saturday meet up at the playground!

 It was nice to see Kendra and the kids for awhile at the park playground. It was a sunny but very windy spring day! I think it got up to 55+F, but it felt a lot colder! 

Madelyn warmed up to me a little bit. She usually only see's us wearing a mask, so it's hard to get her to warm up since our visits are so infrequent over the past year. She did finally warm up a little and smile/laugh when I was helping her go down the slide at the park. She is a little cutie! 

Zoey is doing her usual barking non stop in the mornings. I'm not sure how to stop this behavior. I did try putting her in the back mud room away from windows, but she whined so much, I had to let her out. Maybe I'll try the squirt water bottle again? I've had other people do a squeeze of just air. 

Celina's vaccination appointment for Wednesday was canceled. She was given a "shared" link to appointments. This prompted the notice of cancelation. So we are hoping she can drive up to the lake and get a vaccination on Wednesday. We are not the only ones traveling one to two hours away just to be vaccinated. It's 100% worth it to us. I also helped a neighbor with finding vaccines close to their cabin area in Brainerd. Seems there is plenty available out in the country and when we were waiting during our "reaction"15 minute time, the nurse said there was yet another cancelation and it was hard to give the vaccine away. She wants to work and we all want to be protected from the new strain of Covid coming from Africa and Brazil. Case numbers are going back up in MN and that is a sign of a third wave this spring/summer. It's truly a race against time to get people all vaccinated.