Currently

Long time no see. Sorry about that. This time of year is just so busy and this year seems to be busier than ever as we tackle long overdue projects around the house.

We thought we'd found someone to finally take down the big Poplar tree that overhangs the pool. He was a young guy who had posted in a community group on Facebook. I messaged him. He got right back to me and came to the house right away to meet with Tim. We agreed to hire him (no contract) as all the comments on his posts were positive. Then the problems began. 

He put us off for a month. Ok. Things happen. When he finally said he'd come he needed to "talk to his crew to see when they were available." Um, aren't you the boss? But, ok. The day he was to take the tree down he "forgot he had an appointment" at the same time he said they'd be here. Then his guys showed up and he dropped off a trailer and a chainsaw...and left. He wasn't here all day. The two guys on his "crew" turned out to be young guys with zero experience that he'd found on Facebook and hired that morning. They cut the two bottom branches off the tree in 8 hours.

Our daughter was here keeping an eye on things and called both Tim and I. Tim left work early and got home just before me. The kid had finally come back after I messaged him to ask what the heck was going on. The meeting was not good. Tim and our daughter stood their ground with Tim firing him, but they remained calm. The kid, on the other hand, started ranting and yelling and stormed off yelling that he'd see us in court. Our thought? Go ahead, you don't have a leg to stand on.

He immediately blocked me on Facebook and since then we've learned that if you go back a few years there are customers who claim he stole from them while on the job and he was arrested for robbing the gas station just down the hill from us. Our daughter has heard he is bad-mouthing us to all the tree services he knows telling them not to do business with us and saying some pretty awful stuff about her and Tim. Apparently, he's saying he wants to post stuff on Facebook. He claims he knows our daughter from back in the day and is saying some nasty stuff. He's like 8 years younger than her. "Back in the day" he was literally a kid. He's a whack job and a half. We're not doing anything, however, unless we have actual proof of libel.

In the meantime, we've found a real tree service that is supposed to come this week and take the tree down. I don't know how it is where you are, but since Covid, it is impossible to get tree services or contractors to commit and/or show up in our area. Unless you are a huge, big money job they can't be bothered.

On a happier note, West Shore Homes is coming this Saturday to put in our new shower. I can't wait for that. I'm sure they will do a good job and they should...they are not cheap.

Anyway...

Reading... nothing really. I just found the book club book I'd misplaced, but I haven't had time to do much reading. Just a couple of pages here and there.

Watching... Hallmark, Lifetime, and Great American Country Christmas movies are playing in the background most evenings.

Listening... to the furnace run (it's going down to 27 degrees tonight), a dog barking down the street, and my arch nemesis...a rodent in the wall who has so far avoided all attempts to get rid of him. I may have to call a professional in (groaning at that thought after the whole tree thing).

Loving... my handsome kitty, Oliver, has been very affectionate and playful lately.

Thinking... about all I have left to do to get ready for the shower install on Saturday. I have to have the bathroom emptied out and everything removed from the adjoining walls...so one wall of the craft room and probably everything in the wall cabinets on one wall of the kitchen. Thank goodness they promise to be in and out in one day!

Feeling... surprisingly relaxed.

Celebrating... today is our 41st anniversary. We didn't do anything, however. We both had to work and we'd planned to go out for dinner, but Tim had a horrible day at work and didn't get home until 7:00. It's all good, just one of life's ups and downs and we had planned to make a big deal about it this year, anyway.

Then

And now.

Enjoying... that I've finally discovered I enjoy doing crafts.

Grateful... to my daughter and son-in-law for helping me clean out the craft room this past weekend and building the storage cabinet for all of our beading stuff.

Giggling...