Fireplace

 I finally called it quits to wood burning fires. Indoors that is. It’s been 17 years of me hauling firewood up to the back deck every fall. My mind wanted to not give up, but my body says enough. Mike and I went over to house of fireplace (the ones who put the original fireplace in) and price converting our wood burner to gas.

It was pretty easy to find what we wanted - one that would give out enough heat with the press of a button to keep the family room warm. Right now we just have a small gas space heater in the corner that tries real hard to keep it warm. We need more.

Old fireplace 

I knew that I wanted stones, stacked with no grout, and all the way to the ceiling. Still wanted a mantle, but higher. Found out with gas I didn’t need a big hearth. Win!

Mike and I took just one day to rip out all the old bricks. That was fun.

Ready for a fresh look

It took 2 days for the experts to install the gas insert. They were very pleased that we had a gas starter so all the had to do was hook up the new system to it. They added new vent pipes thru the roof and electric for a fancy light and we were ready for the stone masons.

Out with the old

In with the new

The stone guys were supposed to come on Monday. No show - no call. I called the store. They apologized and sent a time up for Thursday morning. No show again. I called. They came at 12:30. 

I was so excited to get this done. I wanted to stay out of their way, but when I peaked at their progress I noticed this. I asked them if they could move it over to cover the crack where the walls meet.

 Stone not covering the crack

They then admitted they have only done a, stack - no grout fireplace, one time before. That would have been nice to know. They told me they could grout the crack. I told them I did not want grout.

Then one just left. He had another job. What? The guy remaining didn’t speak good English - he was polish, and when I asked him if he could cut a couple stone so there was no gaps, he played dumb and told me to call the store. I was getting very frustrated and started taking pictures of everything.

I filled it in with a stone from the backyard

He rushed out so fast he left 2 tools behind. When he came back for them I told him he had to move the extra stones out of our house to the garage and asked him to sweep or vacuum the mess they left. He wasn’t happy.

I went back to the store to pay the final bill and told them I was Not happy and showed them the pictures. I was just talking to the salesman and he was a nice guy who didn’t have control over anything I wanted addressed. He called the owner, who asked the salesman if I made the final payment. He affirmed I did. At that point I was getting pissed and very frustrated so I told him that I will take care of it myself. Tell the owner I won’t be back. Told them not to expect a good review. Walked out of the showroom. 

I didn’t write  a review, even though I got a email asking me to. I got putty and patched the cracks and painted. I painted the gaps in the bricks and filled them in with stones.

And I love, love, love my fireplace.

My beautiful new fireplace

It was still chilly in the room, and with winter coming we decided to get carpeting.

 New carpet

I turn the fireplace on every morning for a bit to get the chill out of the room and have it on most nights while I watch TV. I still miss my fires. I still miss the smell and the sound of a crackling fire. But I love the convenience and cleanliness of my new fireplace.

Christmas day

 After another busy, food filled, fun filled Christmas Eve, I went to bed with another list of things to do before company comes over.

I invited my sisters (the ones who weren’t recovering from knee surgery) over from a ham dinner. Linda and Deanna, and Sharen and Dup all came over on Christmas Day.

I’m so glad I decided to ask them. We live close by and we just don’t do this enough. We lost Mike’s brother in October and we both realized we need to see family more often. Life is passing us by.

It was fun. We laughed, we made fun of each other, we didn’t argue. I love that we all still like each other and respect each other. Mike even commented on how nice it was to watch us connect and listen to us reminiscing and telling the same stories from each persons perspective. 

Sisters

Merry Christmas!

Cookies

 Who doesn’t love to decorate Christmas cookies?

I made a batch of my cutout cookies and I wasn’t happy with how they turned out. I ate one - I don’t usually eat these, that’s Mike’s job, but I knew something wasn’t good. Mike said they tasted fine just crunchier than normal. I think he was just being nice.  I made another batch.

Bryan, Mary and the boys came over to help decorate.

First batch

Second batch

We zipped thru the good cookies. We had some leftover frosting so I hesitated for a second then brought out the not so good ones. Everybody said they were good, so we decorated them too.

The master decorators

74 cookies

Luke got to choose the ones that went home with the Florys. He picked All the ones with the larger sprinkles. Another great day to remember.

Though I will admit I don’t remember what went on sometimes and have to check back to this blog to jog the memory. Haha

Thanksgiving 2023

 I’ve been busy, sick, and just plain lazy, so here’s an end of 2023 recap, the best I can remember.

Thanksgiving, I decide, had to be at my house. I remember the thanksgivings my Mom would put together and I want my grandkids and kids to have something to remember about me.

What was I thinking?  Thanksgiving are WORK. 

I made the turkey, the mashed potatoes the stuffing and gravy just like I remember. They all said it was good. - I don’t eat that. I do eat the rutabaga and carrots yummy (I also got Luke to try it). Owen, Logan and Dylan, my mac n cheese lovers, gave it 2 thumbs up. 

Grandkids photo

I hadn’t been feeling good for a few weeks, but I pushed thru the day. On Friday I went down hill fast and Sharen took me to the fire station to have my blood pressure checked and an EKG. They transported me up to the hospital. I was missing watching Logan’s football team (Byron tigers) win the state title. Ended up staying overnight for some more tests and some heavy duty antibiotics. Little scary, but all was good. I fought to get out of there Saturday morning. 

I made it out just in time to go to the wake of my and Sharen’s childhood best friend’s husband. Gary had been sick awhile. I wanted to see Barb and tell her how sorry I was. 

Friends a very long time

. Took me a few days of rest a repeat visit to the doctor, but it was certainly a Thanksgiving to remember.