My 10 year high school reunion came and went. I was uncertain if I really wanted to go, but I'm glad that I did. There were some people I thought I would want to see, and some people I thought I didn't care to see, and some people I had forgotten about but was glad to get to know now that we're adults. I think I made a new friend or two, too, which was unexpected. Not that we weren't friends or friendly as children, but it's astonishing to compare and contrast our relationships directly against where we left off ten years ago. We're so much more now, and we're a lot more fun and interesting now that we know who we are.
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| I'm really not certain why we're all leaning forward. |
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| Courtesy of Poulin Photography! |
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| The dog continues to be a goober. |
Liam traded in his car and got a Subaru, which he's been dreaming of for five years. At last he has a vehicle with a roof rack for his kayak, and enough space in the back for the dog. Interestingly, since the Subaru has a higher safety rating, we are saving more money on our car insurance than we're losing on our increased monthly car payment.
After two springs of stepping through mud and squelchy grass on the lawn, I installed stepping stones in front of the porch leading to our driveway. They're not pretty, but I'm rather proud of them. I also replaced the door knob on our bathroom door. That was an adventure. When the "vintage" knob came off in my hand I was actually rather thrilled (this was probably due in part to the fact that I wasn't stuck inside the bathroom when the knob fell apart) because it meant I could replace the ugly awful thing. It was one of those old faux tortoiseshell, "porcelain" knobs that were popular decades ago, the sort that gradually lose all of their tension and stability and start drooping and rattling in their sockets. Unfortunately, most of the door knobs sold commercially these days are either entirely too modern looking to blend nicely with a simple house from the 1870's, or are cut crystal and glass and Victorian looking. Those glass knobs. How many frustrated memories I have of actual vintage glass knobs slipping and twisting and rattling in my hands, when all I wanted was to open a door. They may be desired by some people, but I am not one of those people.
The look of the knob itself aside (we finally found a nice simple knob with a faux patina that doesn't look too modern but also doesn't look like we're farmers with pretensions of glamor), the door and the latch were another problem. Once I finally pried the latch assembly out from underneath a dozen layers of paint, the door turned out to be the original solid wood, with a knob hole sized for antique doors. Did you know they make fancy doorknob hole cutting kits that clamp the hole saw at exactly the right distance from the edge for you? Hurrah for living in the 21st century! The original latch assembly apparently required some funnily placed holes, so I got to play with wood filler, too. The latch catchplate got moved, too, (yay, I got to play with chisels!) and the bathroom door shuts completely and securely now. The pets are very confused, as before this they could pop the door open if they banged into it at the right speed and angle. Sirius gets quite upset now that he can't force his way in whenever someone is in his Magic Water Room. The dog is just confused as he had just figured out how to open the door (from watching the cats), and now he keeps smacking his forehead into it and the door keeps shuddering but not opening.
Silly dog.
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