2016 Catch Up

Lots of big things in the first two months of 2016. First, I decided to step down from my position at work (I quit). I'm doing it a bit back words. Instead of lining up a job and then quitting, I'm doing the more modern thing - a sabbatical. 2015 was me trying to make work work. There is so much of my job that I loved and got satisfaction and pride from, but the higher I climbed the corporate ladder, the more challenges I faced.  I love the good fight - as I make the environment better, and the work place better for women.  And I have to say, looking back, last year I grew so quickly, learning how to handle situations and put things in perspective. As a result, I was able to step back and see that the position I was in was a lot of effort to over come change with diminishing returns on effecting change. It was healthier to spend my energy on something else. I figured that much out but not what to spend my energy on.  The challenges weren't limited to my company but to my industry so I didn't want to just move laterally. Hence the sabbatical. Financially, I followed some wise advise from a colleague, and as the salary went up, I kept my spending constant and as a result was able to squirrel away a good chunk.  So as a result, after The holiday vacation, instead of going back to work, I was able to enjoy a guilt free time off. 

So what do I have planned and what have I been doing?  Well, at Christmas, mom, Nick and I booked our vacation together. We are heading to Istanbul and Athens in May.  And I was able say yes to a pilgrimage to Transylvania with Cece that will be in April. And I think I might have mentioned, last summer I got a good deal on tickets to Amsterdam for a trip in March.  So a ton of traveling I wouldn't normally be able to do. 

January I spent just chilling.  I had the best excuse - Wallis.  I had gotten an XXL crate and she entered full restriction, locked up in that cage for 4 weeks. 

Webster and I kept her company so she didn't feel abandoned. We had a pretty regular schedule by the end.  I would wake up in the night and find my bed empty, Webster, sleeping beside the cage to keep his sister company. So parts of the day, Webster would climb into the cage, and sometimes I would pull her out and snuggle with her in my lap under the covers. She's so good, she quickly learned to stay put and just snuggle while I watched a movie. After thanksgiving I had splurged on a 40" flat screen that I installed in my back room.  

Sad news, at the end of the 28 days, no change, other than her knee got worse. She's scheduled for surgery in two weeks and then we'll have to do it all over again.  I think they said recovery takes 6 weeks in confined movement. I can't believe my cat is having knee surgery. I did shop around and found that the place I liked best (nicest staff and doctor) is also a thousand dollars cheaper.  Granted, I have to drive an extra 20 minutes since it's farther out of Boston, but I don't mind.  In the meantime, Wallis is loving running around no playing with her brother. You'd never know she didn't have a bum knee unless you looked closely. She's learned how to walk favoring the other leg. 

January, was also the start of my KonMarieing my house. I mentioned the Marie Kondo book earlier, and I finally broke down and bought a copy. Basically, I have been going through every single item in my house.  Initially I was naive to think I'd crank through everything in January. Granted she says it takes a good six months, I figured since I had more time I'd fly through. I was already a bit ahead since I already have a precluvity for organizing. It's quite mentally exhausting since you are going throughout every single item, holding it in your hands and facing the hard truths and making a decision. A lot of decisions. Instead of doing books second, I moved them to second to last and just finished them up this month. All I have left is mementos which is the hardest. I literally have like ten boxes full of stuff from my past. 

But man, how free I feel after the deep cleanse of letting go of stuff. It's really not about getting rid of things, but just keeping the stuff you love and use. It also includes rediscovering things and giving more prominence to this tuff you love. It's a new mindset. Hopefully, I'll do another post on the topic, mainly to remind future me of the process and mindset shift. 

I also got a new car!  Well a used car, but new to me.  I searched and searched and searched.  I found pinterest helped me.  I forgot I had a "car" board that I've been pinning beautiful cars to for years. Mostly it's classic jaguars, but nestled in there, was a car I kept finding turning my head when I saw it on the road. The Audi A6. 

But my dilemma was that the Audi A6 was above my price range.  And the Audi A4 I could probably make work (even if the GPS screen didn't disappear). But it didn't do well in Consumer Reports for safety. And both were going to be expensive to repair, which would happen often.  Still I kept looking, but nothing I could find with great milage. In the meantime, I was negotiating with my insurance company for the value of my old car. They said I had to find comps to make my case. I was dubious since my car was one of a kind, with ultra low milage. I could find cars with triple the milage and occasionally double the milage of my car. And then... there it was. A 2006 Infiniti G35 fully loaded with 42k miles. It was my car but in silver inside and out (instead of gray on the outside and rosewood on the inside - my old car). It was 11 PM by the time I found the car. So I slept on it. Bracing myself that the car was probably already sold. It was a private sale and the fellow was  actually going to pull the listing down and keep the car until spring. His mother had died and he was going to use the car for winter (since he didn't want to put winter tires on his Audi S6).  He could still smell a little of her perfume in the car. I had to practically talk him into selling the car to me.  In the end I couldn't be happier and the insurance company came through resulting in me almost getting an upgrade - newer tires, better paint job and a whole laundry list of other improvements over my old car. I do feel bad sometimes about this new car since it spent it's life in a heated garage being driven to church once a week. And now it lives outside in the cold. Ain't it a beauty?

February I spent long weekends in NH visiting my dad and Barbro while they were in town.  Witnessing them voting in the NH primary, skiing! celebrating my birthday and just hanging out. 

And now I'm prepping for my trip to Amsterdam. I can't wait. I stumbled upon a private collection (the Six collection) that you can only visit by invitation. On a long shot I asked and just got this email from the Baron J Six van Hillegorn permitting a private showing next week.   How cool is that?!

2015 Catch Up

It's been a bit of a radio silence on my end and a lot to catch up on. So I'll break it up over a few posts to catch up and then I'll still be leaving out too much. Another lesson to stay on top of the posts. 

Last I left off I was on my way to Virginia for thanksgiving. Great to see the new place, catch up with my step-sister, hang out with my niece and nephew and the rest of the family. We ate, played, explored the area, and had an earlier christmas resulting in playing with the new lego set that was given to Mateo. Gotta love the lego. And playing other games, even if made up.  Nick took over and Marianna loved it.

On the way back we got to use the small local airport. It was so strange, only one terminal and limited staff. So the person who comes over to the counter to check us in, a little while announces security is open and runs the X-ray machine where we then wait in another littler waiting room and then the same person then takes our ticket as we walk out to the plane. It was a bit humorous. I felt I was on that show Wings, but smaller and not as many people. 

There was some funky weather. I love the look of the sky after a thunderstorm with the sun coming out. 

I also found that the bed in the back room for Wallace just didn't work. Too much jumping. At least, I got my bedroom painted. Here's the before and after of my back room. Fun slumber room:

Fun regular sun room, with cats wondering where the bed went:

I'll need to buy a dog crate and try full confinement. 

At work I had the brilliant suggestion that our companies green operating group do a cell phone collection and they liked it and took it on. My hidden agenda was to finally off load my old flip phones without having to mail them in myself. How brilliant right?  Only problem is that in I could have sworn I brought my phones in and drop them into the box, but I found them in January... After the drive was over - ugh. The good news is that we donated a ton of phones to good causes. I dug around and after asking the IT guy and a guy in accounting, check out all the old company phones I rangled up!  

And not just phones, cords and accessories too.

And I'm really proud about how well I know my staff. While I was gone for Thanksgiving, the staff that were in town made turkey hands and I was able to identify all of them. I also love that they love to have a good time. I think I have the coolest department. Actually, I know I do, since several folks from other departments have mentioned it too. 

Nick and I went out to see the Martian - good movie, and I like that it was based on a book that was written where most of the science in the scifi is actual science. While we were at the theater, I ran to the bathroom after and stumbled upon this museum:

Yes - the Musuem of Bad Art. I forgot it was there (in Davis Square). I had heard about it on NPR years ago and didn't realize it was in my own back yard. Here's one of my favorites. 

In case you can't read it, it is Madonna with Floss. All real art collected from real artists and rotated often. I'll have to go back and spend more time. Didn't want to keep Nick waiting too long.  He introduced me to a new find Amsterdam Falafal. It was really good. Who knew amsterdam was known for their falafals. I'll have to check them out on my visit to Amsterdam.

I did take some slightly better pictures of my "finished" bedroom. I still have a few final touch ups. I'm not usually wild about light blue but I really like this color and it just keeps growing on me.  It changes with the light and thought the months. I've decided to not go with the navy blue velvet curtains and go with a lighter cream curtain. The room is darker than the white walls so it all balances out better. 

Mom really liked the color and got to see the finished product when she came to visit for Christmas.  Nick  and mom and I had a great visit and I was able to get almost all my christmas decorations out. 

 Including finally my Waterford 12 days of Christmas ornaments my aunt sue gave us in the 90s. Not something you can hang on a tree when you have pets. And after last christmas I picked up this great display at the Crate and Barrel outlet. Perfect, right?

I got to test out my new dining room set up.  Very cozy, but I think it worked for all three of us. 

Well, that's not everything in 2015, but it's what I had pictures of to jog the old noggin. What else, I saw Maggie in the nutcracker, again. Looks like a tradition.  I borrowed by brothers car a bunch to run errands and look for a new car. I like my independence. Although I mostly walk, bike and use public transportation, I still like to know I can hop into a car at a moments notice. Carless is not for me. But more on that in 2016. 

I think I won... again

It's not official yet, but I think I won week 10 of the football pool. How sweet is that?!

I was ahead by one game before Mondays night game. I was anxiously waiting for the game to start so that I could see what others had picked. Not a single person picked the Bills. This is one time when it's great to be in the land of the Patriots. No one wont pick them - the loyalty is so strong. 

So before the game really got going I was the winner.  And the Bills made the Pats work for the win. At least it seemed like it from the updates I got on the score throughout my travels tonight.

This win is what I'm treasuring as I sit in an overheated shuttle bus on my way to dad and Barbros in Virginia.  Nick and I got into Dulles on time and hoofed it to our connection. Only to find they were having technical problems and had canceled the flight. Instead of flying we get to drive to the Shenendoah airport. 

And here I am - the five of us halfway there at 11 pm. Won't get in until after midnight. I'm curious how small the plane is and how bumpy a flight. I guess I'll find out in a few days on the way back...maybe.  

Pulling the Trigger

I'm standing outside the paint store Saturday morning waiting for it to open. I'm first in line, followed by several contractors all waiting to pick up supplies before a day of painting. One painter was very friendly and seemed to know everyone and commented I was first. 

I was the only one not waiting in my vehicle. Except the friendly contractor, coffee in hand, who was making the rounds. 

Well it was a bust - they didn't have my color in stock in this store. The paint is from England, specially formulated and shipped over. Luckily they had it in stock in another store. So instead of just going one town over I had to go about five towns over. Luckily traffic wasn't bad this early in the morning. And as a bonus, the guy at the other store didn't charge me for the sample I was also picking up. Makes it seem worthwhile. 

Here's the before pictures. I had nick help me move out most of the furniture. And proceeded to prep. I always forget how long prep takes. I left off patching and sanding the baseboard and windows. Figure I can work on those later. I was eager to get the paint on the walls. 

It took me about two years before pulling the trigger on this color. I pinned a million color options and even tried out a sample. What really helped was reading a blog review of someone else who had used it on their bedroom and said it was marvelous both with bright sunny light and also in the shadows. That's the problem isn't it?  The room is never in full direct light like in the fancy photos. 

Well, I was figuring out how much paint to get when I realized I hadn't finalized a ceiling color - not even close. I tried to land on something quickly and gave up. I have a curved ceiling that blends into the wall on one side. I figured I'd go for a cocoon scheme and paint the ceiling the same color as the walls. 

Well after the first color I was afraid I just threw away money on good paint. I liked Farrow and Ball because of the refined palette of colors and the richness of color - having a range of shades depending on the light. It received good reviews about being a quality paint. A bit hyped and over priced but a high quality paint nonetheless. 

I waited four hours and applied a second coat and had a sigh of relief. It was really turning into a beautiful room. As I was finishing up I noticed a spot here and there that I tried to take care of. This morning I noticed more spots and realize I should just do a third coat. I think I apply the paint lightly since I still have tons of paint left - enough for a third coat. 

Here's a not so great photo after the second coat. 

I have to wait until after thanksgiving to finish. I ran out of time this weekend. The color is Farrow and Ball Light Blue. The color is a mix between blue and grey and the name doesn't do it justice. It's a beautiful backdrop to the color of wood of my furniture and goes so well with my floors. I'm hoping to splurge on navy blue velvet curtains down the road and art frames look great on the color. And eventually I'll paint the trim in White Dove from Ben Moore. A nice crisp white. 

The sample I bought is Hague Blue a dark, rich navy blue. I was thinking it would be nice in the back room. We'll see. I have about a year before I'll decide - based on my current track record. 

Day 2

After getting a second and third opinion, we have a change in plans for Wallace. No surgery for now. But complete restriction on jumping. I carried out the transformation of the back room and it is now my bedroom. Thursday was the first day she was cooped up. Webster wanted to stay with his sister so they were both in the back room all day. 

I just left them for Day 2. This time Webster has free roam of the house but is separated from his sister. 

Most of the time it's fine - if I'm hanging out in the back room. Otherwise it's a little torturous since Wallace likes to hang out and be where the action is. 

Last night, nick and I were in the kitchen and that worked fine since I could move the barricade to include roaming in the kitchen. And just kept an eye on her jumping. Not a 100% successful since she did jump once. 

But then I put her back in the back room and nick and I ate dinner in the front room with Webster roaming. Afterwards, instead of hanging out with nick, I abandoned him and retreated to the back room for snuggles with Wallace. She was very appreciative and wasn't noticing being cooped up. 

I'm not entirely sure if the restriction of movement is enough. She still jumps a little from the floor to the mattress. But it's a small jump. I don't really want to put her in a dog crate but that's the ideal restriction. So far, no sign of improvement. But I remind myself it's only Day 2. Only 26+ days to go. I'm supposed to keep her confined for four weeks no matter the improvement and potentially six weeks. Ugh. 

The plan is to start painting the bedroom this weekend. I've landed on Light Blue by Farrow&Ball. It's a nice color for both sunny and shaded rooms. I think I might try painting it with a brush instead of a roller. 

I'm going to pick up a baby gate too. Right now I'm using two small bookcases stacked but it's quite cumbersome. Nick was trying to talk me into installing a door last night. But there really isn't any clear space for the door to swing in our out. The only thing that would really work is a sliding pocket door. Which is wishful thinking. One day. 

Overall both cats have been marvelous. Webster is very confused but rolls with it and I feel Wallace knows more and is being positive about it all. Lots of snuggles and only a little but of meowing.  And as Nick pointed out, this set of cars are really friendly and laid back. I keep reminding myself it's for the best.  

Orthopedic

I had an appointment this week with an Orthopedic surgeon.  The good news is that I don’t need any knee surgery.  The bad news is that my cat, Wallace does.  On both rear knees.  Common in certain breeds of dogs, she is one of the lucky few cats who also has this particular condition.  I was just getting used to the idea of bringing my cat in to see an orthopedic doctor when I was hit with the estimate for the surgery. 

It’s not cheap.  I took a big gulp and then asked the question I didn’t want to ask – is this for one knee or both?  Knowing that the surgery is done one at a time, I was not surprised to hear this was just for the one knee.  And it did not include the blood work, but did include the radiology and did not include the post-op physical therapy.  Physical therapy for a cat!  To put it into proportion – I’m estimating that when all is said and done between both surgeries, follow up visits, pain meds, etc. that I’m looking at over 4 months of mortgage payments. 

 

But what is one to do?  My options are to leave her limping and in pain and let it get worse.  Or fix it.  Or I guess put her down.  Two of the three options are horrendous on one level and it makes the other option, although horrendous financially, is not really that bad.

On the flip side, it’s been wonderful visiting the hospital – every time I go everyone is commenting on how sweet a cat she is.  And she is really sweet which is night and day compared to Winston and his monster doctor visits.  It’s so strange being complimented on having a wonderful cat.
 

It’s still sinking in.  I do feel like I’ve been getting hit financially recently between losing the laptop and the car and now this.  I’m thankful that I really have nothing to complain since I’m very lucky in life.  But still, I wish life would just space these things out a bit more.  I’m crossing the fingers that the saying that these things come in threes in true and this is all for now.

 

The rub is that I want to hold off buying a car right now since financially I’ll be a bit strapped.  But I need a car now more than ever because of all the hospital visits.  The surgeon is a 30 minute drive – two towns over.  Nick has been very gracious letting me borrow his car.  But this will be ending soon.

 

The other rub is that I’m supposed to limit her movement – no running or jumping.  She’s only 18 months old with lots of energy.  And she gets along really well with her brother.  And is a big snuggler, especially at night in bed.  I was told I need to confine her in a room or large dog crate so that she can’t jump for up to 6 weeks after her surgery.  Which just seems so cruel even though I know it’s for her own good.  I think I’ve come up with a plan that solves two things.  I’ve been wanting to paint my bedroom and think I’ve landed on a color.  It’s Farrow and Ball which more pricey than the average pain, so may need to find a cheaper knock off color equivalent at the local hardware/paint store considering my new financial austerity.  I’m going to take the sectional out of the back sunroom.  Luckily it comes apart and I can store it in the enclosed porch.  And then I’m going to move my mattress to the sun room, on the floor.  I can put up two baby gates to keep her enclosed (no door) and include her necessities (food, water, litter).  And then in the bedroom, I can take the bed apart and move all the furniture to the middle of the room and finally paint the room.  This way, Wallace and I can still hang out and she’s not ostracized.  And I can still get something accomplished which I couldn’t have done otherwise.    

 

She’s scheduled for blood work this Saturday and surgery the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.  That’s three weeks before mom arrives for Christmas and Nick is potentially staying with me too.  At which point I think I’ll aim to have the bedroom back in order and may not need to be as strict with confining her.  Oh, also, she is a few pounds overweight so I’m supposed to put her on a diet too.  Right now, we’re just focusing on taking the pain meds which she does not love.  One thing at a time.  Of course, throughout all this, Wallace is still her happy self, full of curious enjoyment of life.  And more snuggly.  I think it's because on the first visit to the vet hospital, after exploring the room, she snuggled inside my sweater, nicely protected from the strange smells and barking dogs and saw me in a new light - as her protector.  The doctors say it's because one of the pain meds make cats super friendly and relaxed.  I like to think it was the first reason though.

 

And that reminds me, when I brought her in initially, to the vet hospital.  I was sure she had fractured her leg and would need a cast.  Even though she didn't seem to have any sharp pain when I felt her legs.  We walk into the waiting room and the place is full of dogs with casts on.  It was comical - I had never seen so many dogs with casts.  Now I'm wishing that was what she had.  I think it would have been a lot more affordable. And here I was dreading she would need a cast.  Amazing what perspective can change things. 

Sharing Apps

I feel like I've jumped into the sharing apps this year and more recently, this month. I've used Uber a bunch when traveling, in addition to taxis. And my trip to Copenhagen was my first foray into Airbnb instead of the usual hotel route. 

This last weekend I got to enjoy this:

No, I didn't buy a new car yet but in the meantime I'm using Turo which basically connects me to people and borrowing their car. A great way to test out what cars I like. And cheaper than the regular car rentals. 

And Saturday night I had a girls night out, rather a moms night out. It was a whole different world - enjoying a night out with all these moms. We definitely have very different lifestyles. I enjoyed my night out but it also made me appreciate that I didn't have to herd the kids around to birthday parties, practice lessons and much more the next day. I got to do a little of that on Saturday. Taking Maggie to dance recital and taking pics at the end with all the other moms. 

All the moms live near each other and we used the BeMyDD service. Yet another share app where you get a car service for super cheap. You provide the vehicle and you get a person to drive you around all night. Nice and safe.