March Odds & Ends

Another small group of things from March that were not enough for an individual post:

New sunglasses and reading glasses.

• I have my makeup and new glasses all pretty well figured out now, although I’m still walking into stores with my sunglasses on and wondering why everything stays dark. Four pairs of readers was the ideal amount – I always have a pair nearby no matter where I am: red in the living room, blue in the bedroom, aqua at work, and pinkish-red in my purse.

• We’ve had somewhat low water pressure since we moved in to our apartment last summer, but a couple of weeks ago the pressure suddenly dropped even more throughout the apartment and the kitchen water faucet and sprayer just sort of went crazy – the faucet got stuck in spray mode (we have a pull down spray nozzle) and started spraying in all directions, creating a mess every time we needed to use the faucet. Maintenance came the day after Brett called and we got a new hot water heater, a new kitchen faucet, new bathroom faucet, and new fancy shower head. The hot water heater had apparently been the problem – it was old and internal corrosion was clogging up everything and causing low(er) water pressure throughout the apartment. Everything works wonderfully now! We also love not having to pay for these types of repairs.

• Brett and I have decided we want to move to a larger apartment when our lease on this one expires this summer. Our current apartment remains uncomfortably small, especially when the grandkids are here, and there is almost no storage space – we feel like sardines packed in a can (and we have so little stuff too). For what we pay now or close to it we can get a larger apartment on the other side of the complex, which in our opinion is lovelier than the side we’re currently on and seems quieter as well. We also no longer want to live on the ground floor – we’ve had enough of the noise coming from above and also having all the noisy heat exchangers/air conditioners for the building outside our bedroom windows. If we take an upper floor apartment we can possibly have a wood-burning fireplace, something we would love and would use. We’ve talked with the main office, and can see on the first of June what’s coming available, tour a couple of the larger floor plans, and then make our choice. Our daughter-in-law and grandkids may also move to larger apartment here or they may move to a different (but close by) apartment complex, still on the way for drop-offs and pick-ups.

• WenYu and Meiling both surprised me with early birthday presents this month (my birthday isn’t until May). I have no idea what I did to deserve this generosity, but I received a lovely rechargeable lighted makeup mirror from WenYu, much needed because the lighting in our bathroom is awful. The mirror is about the size of an iPad, perfect for future travel. Meiling sent me the bread box I have been wanting! It’s as lovely as it looked in pictures, and the “bread clutter” on our counter has been taken care of.

• We also had a great visit with our son while he was here. He obviously spent most of his time with M and the kids, but they took us out to dinner and he came over a couple of times to visit with us. He’ll be back at the end of April for another week’s visit, and then back again for six weeks in the summer.

• We love our little Kaipo so much, but we were having an awful time keeping him from tearing up everything, from his toys to his bed. We stopped one day at a local pet supply store and bought him a few natural chew items (dried tendons, trachea, collagen – all things that “melt” as he chews versus breaking or snapping off) to see if we could redirect his chewing. He loves them, and it’s been like having a different dog living with us, one that’s content to sit calmly in his bed and chew instead of looking for things he can rip to bits. We’ve stocked up on a few more of the items so he should be good for a while.