Ending 2023, my year in review. A tough year and glad it's GONE.

I probably should not wish a year to end as the coming year could always be worse, but it's hard to imagine. It was a year full of anguish and hard work. Once I got a breath, more bad news arrived but conversely some really depressing moments ended up positively.

Judy loved her cats!

Early in the year a dear friend passed away and I was named Executor of her estate. Prior to her death I was her Power of Attorney during her long illness. I had never been either so it was a learn as you go experience, emotional but educational and interesting. When I signed the original agreement we lived in the same town but as the years traveled along we had moved 3 hours away, making assisting more difficult. Fortunately I worked closely with her dearest friend to inventory her belongings and gained a new friend in the process.

My Mother-in-law loved Schnauzer's

As soon as I managed to get her estate in order, my mother-in-law passed away after a long illness. My husband ended up practically living with his mother and father for months (they live 6 hours away). I was glad he had the opportunity to do this for his parents. After her passing, we switched gears to figure out his father's situation, researching health care workers for him because he didn't want to leave his home. I discovered a veterans program where they pay for home health care for a certain number of hours a week. It has been a life saver.

A few of our amazing chickens from the past

Oddly, with each human death one of our chickens would follow. We now have no chickens after 10 years of managing and watching out for their safety from hawks and foxes. There is nothing sadder than looking out to an empty chicken yard, but we're planning for our retirement by not adopting more animals as we're determined to flee the coop and travel... ONE DAY. We still have our three cats which amazingly are hanging in there with various senior issues.

In between the ups and downs, I've somewhat neglected my online vintage business but I found time to kick it in gear for the holiday season. Surprisingly I've have a good sales year. I presume it's because I've been selling for 13 years now which gives me an online presence and I also have keyed in on what and where to sell.

My mother still lives with us and is very independent. Shopping for herself and pitching in with packing up goods to ship for my shop. We finally got her to visit our new Senior Center in the Fall to pick up a bridge game or two and the next week we all got COVID so that new venture has been put on hold until Spring. I also developed a sinus infection which was worse than Covid! Shutting me down for a month.

I captured this Bee sleeping in a Crocus

Unfortunately for our pocketbook we had to get a new roof but we're hopeful we will be dead and buried before needing another one! Happy to at least get that behind us because we suspect the roof might have been 43 years old! It was a positive experience and the contractor was awesome so that helped swallow the bitter price pill.

We ended our year with my husband, my mother, and me needing a tooth crown, all in the same week. As I was waiting for the permanent crown a different tooth decided to break. So I'm ending 2023 with a temporary tooth reconstruction awaiting a crown in 2024 (which Cigna insurance pays zero for - they only pay for 1 crown in 60 months - what a racket). So technically my 2024 is not starting well, but we'll just lump that with 2023 since it happened in that year. I am very grateful to my new dentist for stepping up for my two emergency visits.

We didn't have any big health dramas other than teeth, so we can consider ourselves fortunate on that front. My husband is now officially 65 and signed up for Social Security but will not retire for a few more years - wow - seems impossible.

Finishing the year refreshing the dining room in time for Christmas dinner. The table was overtaken with Estate business and my Grandmother's Chandelier was jerry rigged with a piece of wire for the last 14 years! We managed to clear out the stuff, clean and rehang the chandelier, and hang a large painting that belonged to my deceased friend over the table.

I always try to adopt an eco-resolution and this year I'm trying to limit my plastic purchases to #1 and #2 recyclable containers (or better yet - purchase none) since any other number can't be recycled and most of #1 and #2 are landfilled anyway - ugh. I'm also testing our appliance consumption with a device and researching solar panels, an all consuming research project. Better to generate less electricity and waste to begin with!

Wishing you a positive and healthy 2024! Keep the faith that turning the page to a new year can refresh and renew.

~Rebecca

Ringing in 2023, my year in review

For some reason my year end blog was not posted, so here it goes a month late! 

Another page has turned in the big volume of life. 2023 will be the year when my husband signs up for Medicare part B. We're beginning to talk about easing out of pets and into our winter escape plans to the tropics. 

It won't happen any time soon but the thought of slipping down south for the cold months has its appeal. The low of 6 degrees in Charlottesville, Virginia last week has gotten us thinking of where to go.

I've ended the year with monitoring the heat set up in my new greenhouse. As long as the power stays on it's working great. 6 degrees outside and 49 inside - YES. Success. The first winter for the greenhouse is soon going to be over. Last year my husband spent most of spring building a lean-to so there was no time to use it during the peak growing season. We did have a bumper crop of greenhouse cucumbers in the fall from 6 plants, harvesting close to 100 cucumbers. We were distributing to all the neighbors while making pickles and Tzatziki. I hope we can get some cherry tomatoes and cucumbers going this Spring. In August I decided to lop off the tops of several cherry tomato plants, root, and transplant into the greenhouse planter box to get a head start on Spring tomatoes. All trial and error.

Mom is still happy to be in her lower level apartment in our house. It's working out well and it's nice to not have to drive 2 hours for holidays. We share the cooking duties, Mom creates some of her classic favorites and I bring in the fake turkey. She is independent at 87, having a regular driving route to the hair dresser and grocery stores. I feel like a big part of her independence at this age is her life long commitment to eating healthy, low sugar, and no alcohol. It's never to late to change your diet to minimize the age related ailments that can unfortunately arise.

We're down to only 3 chickens now, our little 14+ years old chicken is still with us. A miracle bird, approaching a world record age! Our cats all have issues, Sylvie with irritable bowel, Gus with arthritis, and Cesar with various ailments popping up. A friend came to visit for the weekend and Cesar decided to lick his arm nearly bald from stress. He is a freaky cat, it was a long recovery but we finally got him to stop after months of trying various tricks of the trade. Inventing the final solution.

One of my joys is to participate in the annual butterfly count for our county. I've totally changed the way I garden from 10 years ago. I used to cut back all the dead plant material from my flowerbeds and compost it. For the last 5 years I have been leaving all the flower seed heads for the birds to dine on over winter. Also leaves are kept in place so when Spring arrives, insect eggs hatch where they fall and the cycle continues. It does seem that we have more and more birds, butterflies and insects. We also plant more natives and I'm no longer interested in what I call hybridized fancy plants. We had a moment of plant fever and Anthony was up for planting many shrubs last year, 3 blueberry bushes, and an apple tree. Our paw paw trees bore fruit this year!

We continue to plan our final home construction project, connecting the house to the garage. It's all pretty simple for the exception of the roof. I do not want Anthony to even attempt it, always scares me. It's also a bit of an architectural challenge and the price of lumber is still elevated. For the time being Anthony has instead decided to insulate his shed, making it more functional. There is always some construction project happening here!

My arthritis is under control. I have a new rheumatologist locally, for 15 years I drove to North Carolina. I'm not thrilled about a new doctor, my old rheumy was the best. I will forever be grateful to him for bringing me out of my RA dark hole. An insufferable disease unless managed. I've been on Enbrel for many years and I'm taking a few supplements, D and Curcumin / Tart Cherry. It just might be helping my bad wrists which are more useable now than in years past. I do have to be very careful to not overdo or push them if I feel any pain. It will require lifelong management.

I have a beach trip scheduled with my oldest friend. If all goes as planned, we'll feel some early warmth come April.

Happy 2023, here it comes!

~Rebecca