2020

Hello again. It’s been quite a while between posts this time, and I wasn’t sure I was coming back until today. My website hosting service was up for renewal, though, and I wasn’t about to let it all go. Also, it’s a new decade and a good time to breathe some new life into the blog. And I’ve got some things to say.

I don’t have a new recipe for you yet, but I do highly recommend Turkey Chili and Quick, Fresh Guacamole for the big game on Sunday!

A little recap for those who might care:

2019 was a weird year. It started full of promise. We thought it was time to rebuild our home, we even broke ground in January. I planned to blog about the progress along with some new recipes and super witty observations throughout the year as we moved closer and closer to moving in.

Instead, we entered a period of what felt like endless limbo and, if I’m honest, complete frustration as we worked and waited for all the financial things to come into perfect alignment for a construction loan. Insurance was great, but there were a lot of expenses after the fire, so we still needed some help from the bank. In short, without boring you with all the details and reasons we thought it would and should, that’s not what happened. By the time we looked into private funding and determined it wasn’t worth the extra cost, there were only a few months left in the year. It made sense to wait until the next tax season, which is where we are now. Fingers crossed, we’ll be able to get started soon.

I ended up spending most of last year wrapping up the insurance claims. That included submitting an inventory of thirty years of household items, practical and sentimental, then trying to replace as many of those items as we could before the two year period was up on December 27th. It took a lot of time and emotional energy, but we now have everything we need to furnish our new home when it’s time. It feels great to have it behind us. Thank goodness we own a utility trailer business, it’s come in quite handy for storage. And, thank goodness I’m not someone who hates to shop, though that was a bit excessive even for me.

Good Things

One of the highlights of the year was getting to know Jonny and Mike at Sand Lily Home here in Bend. They were our neighbors before the fire, but we had only met briefly. They have been wonderful to work with, and we look forward to being neighbors again, now as friends! Pictured above is just a sampling of what we found with them, most of it is in storage. I’m obsessed with the concrete coffee table, Davy loves the recliners (as do the rest of us), and the dining chairs are both modern and comfortable. When we couldn’t find a dining table we wanted, they introduced us to Mark at Red Miter Furniture, and he came up with a beautiful reclaimed white oak top with a steel base. It’s gorgeous and just what we wanted. They truly made my weird year easier and a lot more fun.

Turning 50 with Friends

Other highlights included a fantastic 50th birthday trip in May to one of my favorite places, Santa Fe, with some of my favorite friends Shelley and Deb, who also celebrated turning 50 last year, and the young Sarah (She’s still in her mid-forties). We ate fabulous food, looked at beautiful art, and had our tarot cards read by a guy named Brandon at an oxygen bar while taking a break from our day-drinking. He was amazingly spot-on with the readings. He kept telling me I need to tell my story. We were having way too much fun to get any decent pictures of the four of us (without oxygen tubes up our noses) but here’s the Cross of the Martyrs we visited on one of our hikes around town. We decided martyrdom, while impressive, isn’t for us.

In the fall, Kelly, Molly, Julie, and I went wine tasting in McMinnville and had a fun weekend together. We all go way back, Kel and I since 6th grade, Molly and Julie since the early nineties, and we get together at least annually to catch up. We celebrated Kelly’s 50th (Molly turned 50 the day before I did back in May, her sister Julie’s not quite there yet), shopped a little, laughed a lot; it’s always easy with these girls!

Moving Forward

I’ll be back soon with more posts. Of course, I’ll have new recipes to share and, hopefully, I’ll get to update you on some forward movement regarding the construction of our home. And I’ll work on telling my story because Brandon said I should.

I hope 2020 is treating you well so far. I know the headlines are hard to take lately but try not to consume yourself with anger, sadness or anxiety. If you can take action to help others in pain, take it. If all you can do is promote positivity in your own world, among your people, it’s enough. In fact, it’s more than enough, it’s everything.