Forty-One Years

Today is our 41^st wedding anniversary.  We were married on January 30, 1980 in the East Prayer Chapel at Unity Village, Missouri.  Unity Village is the world headquarters of the Unity Church and their buildings and grounds are beautiful.  Since we were married in January you can see the whole area was decorated white for us!

 

Unity Village

We had a small, simple and inexpensive wedding in the small chapel on the side of the much larger church.  We were married by a wonderful lady by the name of Hypatia Hasbrouck.  One of my favorite books is The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran and she included excerpts from his writings on Love and on Marriage in our vows.

 

The East Prayer Chapel

Last year on our 40^th anniversary we had originally planned on going out to eat as we usually do on our anniversaries but Tom got very sick with the flu so we were unable to go out.  Then soon after that the pandemic hit and many restaurants closed and we stayed in most of the time like everyone else.  This year we are going to have a nice dinner from a favorite Italian restaurant.  We have decided to get take-out from the restaurant and enjoy it at home.  

As I’m sure many of you will agree, it is funny how time passes.  On one hand 41 years is a long time, while on the other hand it can be just a blink of the eye.

 

 

Day by Day

 

Another week passes pretty much the same as the last.  Not much changes in my daily routine.  I don’t go out much due to the increase in Covid.  I putter around the house a lot.  Do you ever putter?  You know, where you spend an hour or more doing an assortment of little things that need doing but individually seem inconsequential.  When I putter around the house, I am often amazed at how quickly the time passes but yet how little I seem to have accomplished.

I am also a great procrastinator.  I think about doing things but often put them off for another day.  Well, this week I finally did one of those things I’ve been putting off.  I made an appointment with a new doctor.  My previous doctor retired last August.  There was a doctor left in his practice I could use when needed but I didn’t want to stay with that one.  It is hard to change doctors when you’ve been seeing the same one for over 40 years!  That’s a long time.  So, I have an appointment with the new guy in a little over a week and I’ll see how it goes.  I do feel good that one thing is off my to do list.  Now maybe I can attempt something else I’ve been putting off.

You know how it seems to be a “thing” to declutter and reduce your belongings?  I really need to do that.  Not because it seems to be a fad now but because I have too much stuff.  Eventually I think we all realize that we are not going to live forever and we are likely going to have a lot of belongings left when we go.  If you are like me you may have been through that scenario with your parents and you know how hard and emotional it can be.  I don’t want to make things difficult for my children when I go.  I have put this job off because it is a big one.  We’ve lived in this house for 44 years and during that time we have also inherited items from my family and Tom’s family.  I’m hoping, a little at a time, I can get this started and maybe by writing about it here in my blog I will actually keep up with it.  Wish me luck and if anyone has hints that would help, I’m all ears!    

Take care and have a good weekend!                                                     

                                               

Sophie Napping

Zeus napping under his favorite worn out cat quilt

Customer Service

 

This is something we all encounter from time to time.  It can be in a store, online or on the phone.  Of course, there can be all levels of customer service from nonexistent to bad to quite good.  On rare occasions I have encountered above average, even excellent customer service.  I was fortunate to have this happen to me recently and I thought I would share the story with you.  I am absolutely not advertising for anyone but I did want to share something positive that happened to me last week.

We shop with an online Pet Store for our two cats’ food and other supplies.  This online store has competitive prices and free shipping over a certain dollar amount so it is handy for us to use especially since we are staying home more due to the pandemic.  My last order was about a month ago and I picked out a special “cat scratcher” item as a Christmas gift for our cats.  Sophie and Zeus usually love any toys or other items that we get them but for some reason they simply were not interested in this scratcher.  They each tried scratching on it once and that was it.  After I had received it the Pet Store emailed me and asked if I would review it on their website.  I did write a review for them and honestly said my cats were not interested in it.  I was nice about it though and even said that it was well made and other cats might like it even though mine did not.

Cat Scratcher

A few days later I received the nicest email from a Customer Service Representative with the company.  He said he was sorry the item did not work out and that he had refunded my card for the purchase.  He also said: “As a fellow pet parent, I completely understand that not everything works out perfectly. Instead of shipping anything back to us, in this case, we ask if you would please donate this to a local shelter, rescue, or friend in need so that way a needy furbaby can have a brighter day.”  He suggested a few alternative items if I was interested and then ended his email with: “In the meantime please stay safe and please give Sophie and Zeus some lovin' from their friends here at Chewy.  If there is anything else we can do, please don't hesitate to let us know. We're always here and more than happy to help.”  He then signed it “Best wishes and pet kisses”!

I was blown away!  I had not complained about the item but just gave an honest review and I certainly did not ask for a refund!  I also love that he suggested we donate it to a shelter.  Maybe it is just me, but I think this was customer service over and beyond what was necessary.  It also made me feel really good to know there are still companies and people out there like this. 

As far as Sophie and Zeus go, well just like children they did enjoy the box it came in!

           

Zeus

Zeus and Sophie

 

A New Year

 

It’s hard to believe that we are already nine days into the new year.  It started out for us with a snow and ice storm on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.  It was beautiful and we enjoyed watching the birds and squirrels as we fed them.  They provide entertainment for us and the cats.  The cats know the word “squirrel” and will come running to the door if we say it.  I tried to get pictures of the birds at the feeder but every time I opened the door they flew away.  However, the squirrels were not so skittish and I could almost walk up to them to get a picture.  Those guys will practically pose for you if you have food.

 

Mrs. Cardinal watching from the trees

This fellow was happy to get a treat

January 1st was my one-year blogging anniversary.  I feel like such a blogging toddler compared to my friends.  I started following blogs six years ago after I retired.  I had not planned on starting a blog myself but after a few years it just seemed to be the right thing to do.  When I look back on my first year of posts it is clear to me that I have a long way to go to be the kind of blogger I’d like to be.  I have lost some of my writing and grammar skills over the years and I am often lacking in good subject matter.  More important to me though is the simple day to day sharing of activities and thoughts that we all do through our blogs.  It’s the friendships we make and the caring for one another. 

 

It’s difficult to realize that we will soon be in our second year of this pandemic.  I remember how at first I thought it would just last a few months.  I guess that shows how little I knew about pandemics.  In many ways it is worse now than it was back then.  But do you know what?  I think we should all be proud of ourselves for adapting as well as we have over this past year.  Yes, it’s been challenging but it has also shown us what we can do when we put our mind to it.  We now have a couple of different vaccines and that has to make a difference for us all.  The authorities here in the U.S. are still working out the best ways to get the vaccines out to the people but I am confident we will get there.  In fact, just a couple of days ago I was able to get Tom and myself signed up on a list for the vaccine with the Health Department.  It may be months before we get it but at least we are on a list for it and that is the first step.  I think every state is handling the vaccinations differently and if you have not heard anything about it in your state it might be worth checking with the Health Department where you live.     

 

I’ve not started this year very well as far as getting posts out but I hope to improve on that.  I always enjoy reading everyone’s blogs.  There are some good people out here in blog world and I appreciate you all!  Take care my friends! 

 

Shocked and Saddened

 

I had planned on writing a post yesterday.  It would have been my first post of the new year.  (yes, I'm slow)  However, after watching the disgrace that was happening in Washington yesterday I could not bring myself to post anything.  I try hard to not write political posts here.  Yes, I have an opinion and I often share it on other blogs if the subject has been addressed but I do not wish to get into politics here.  It is important to me to have a blog where we can relax and get away from the stress that is usually caused by politics. 

That said, I will put up a regular post in a few days hopefully.  At the moment I feel overwhelmed by everything happening in our country as I am sure many if not most of you are as well.  We have been through much turmoil in recent years and yesterday, in my mind, just pushes us over the edge.  I love our country and I want so badly to see it be what it once was many years ago.  I will not give up on us and on our country but I do realize the coming days may be difficult.

I just wanted to let you know I'm still here.  Sorry I have not posted sooner.  Take care everyone.  I know for many of us these days are not easy.  I'll be back.  💓