December 2020 chitchat

[agate]

Here we are at the last month in this very unusual year. 2020 probably isn't going to be anyone's favorite year.

What have you been doing? Your news is always welcome here.

A question came up about disappearing photos in the thread showing Tom Cat's messages. There might need to be a new thread for those. Or maybe the lost photos can be restored and the thread can just continue. I'm hoping to hear from a moderator about it soon.

Stay well and stay safe, everyone. Let's hope that Jeanie will be back among us before long.

[Lazarus]

Thanks for starting this month’s thread.
John and I had a busy enough day. We are putting farm things away for winter and cleaning up in the greenhouses. If the sun is out it is like summer in the greenhouse even if it is cold outside. Today I picked a lot of tomatoes. We planted crops to sell at winter markets but, so far, there are no winter markets that have any hope of running this year.

I just finished listening to Obama’s new book. I am so happy I did. It is very long but interesting and lively to read.

Here’s hoping Donald Trump exits the stage and no longer dominates all media. What a relief it will be to not be worried every second about what he will do.
Take care everyone.

[agate]

Linda, do you find you have more energy on these cold fall days? I know I do--as long as it doesn't get too cold. I was out sweeping the patio today when it was 48' out there and felt as if I'd been pumped full of energy.

[stillstANNding]

Hi Agate and Linda.

Linda, I often think of you humming in the greenhouse.

Agate, thinking about it, I’m not sure if I get energize by the cooler weather. Hmm. Yes, by AC in hot humid weather but I’m not sure about the 40’s in the Fall. I do feel energized by bright sun - such a mood lifter after a day of rain.

We took a walk today, most days, too. It was 62 degrees on Dec 1st. OTOH my brother is freezing in Asheville at 22 this morning.

I am thinking of Virginia and am worried. I hope she is on the mend.

ANN

[Virginia]

Ann, I am alright. Do not have COVID. Thanks for thinking of me.

I had an accident involving fingernail polish and my carpet in the living room. It was stupid of me to be in there with my hands acting the way they do and have fingernail polish. Anyway, I dropped the open bottle on my very, very light carpet. This was Sunday night. I worked on the carpet with everything I could think of until 1:35AM. I knew I had errands and a haircut and color Monday so I stopped with things no better than when I started. When I got up Monday morning I called a carpet cleaner, but there was no hope to be had there.

This is right out in the open with no way to cover it. When you enter my house you come into a foyer and the living room is right in view, and now so is that area.
The lady who does my hair talked to someone she knew who had used "Empire Carpets" and it turned out she was very pleased with them. I was thinking of trying to get carpet as close to the color as I could and only doing my living room, dining room and up the stairs, but not the rooms upstairs. This is the area that would show.

My brother called this afternoon and I told him what I had done and he asked me not to have these people in right now (because of COVID). I am still working on the area. I came in my office late Sunday night and googled this problem. It kept taking me to something that I ordered from Amazon. It already arrived today and I have been working with a toothbrush. I have taken good care of my carpet and I like it, so it was kind of sickening. My brother said it is not the end of the world and I shouldn't worry since no one is coming in my house at this time. Easier said than done for me. The area is pretty large and I have decided to take it a little at the time and try to work on it as much as I can to try and lighten it at least. It is very tiring.

I have so much to do. The only other thing I did today was wash my linens. I still have to make my bed.

[stillstANNding]

Glad you are feeling better, Virginia. Sorry about the mishap with your rug.

ANN

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

agate ~

Thank you for starting the chit chat thread. I just posted in Ralph's thread that all but one photo is gone for me. Very odd. I hope that a moderator will be able to advise you.

Lazarus ~

I'm sorry that you and John won't be able to sell your winter harvest. I presume the winter markets are closed because of COVID? There are so many far reaching impacts on everyone with this pandemic. We must all remember how each one is affected. I wish I could buy your harvest. I know it's wonderful.

President Obama is an eloquent speaker, although his cadence has often been the subject of jokes. That never bothered me; in fact, it soothed and reassured me that he was thinking about every word he uttered. There are many interviews with President Obama on YouTube, where he is self-effacing, humble, and downright funny. A stark contrast to the last 4 years.

I have hope for positive changes in 2021. It will be a blessing for this nightmare to end.

ANN ~

Your weather sounds balmy for your location. Here it is wear a jacket and gloves weather. It's great that you and Peter can get out for a walk each day. I'm losing my motivation. I should take a page from your book.

Virginia ~

How relieved I am that you are not ill! I've really been concerned about you.

I agree with your brother that now is not the time to have new carpet installed. What you're describing is a lengthy process of moving your furniture, tearing up your current carpet and underlay, removing all of that, then installing the new carpet, returning your furniture to their locations. And stairs can take a long time to do.

You're going to wear yourself out trying to remove this stain. So, what other options are there? Can you put a throw rug over the area? Move a piece of furniture, like a table to cover it? How about a real or false plant? Whatever you find to cover it isn't going to suit you, but at least it will hide the stain, until the time is right for you to have new carpeting.

I was once a perfectionist, and then life just became too complicated to worry about that any longer. We have to do the best that we can with what we have. Pieces of our ceiling and walls are missing from the 2014 earthquake. I had to stop fretting over that and apologizing and explaining it to anyone, who entered our home. That was a lot of people in the last 6 years.

Accidents happen to all of us. Life is unpredictable. Lessons are learned. I know you will never paint your nails in the living room again.

What is important and matters most is that you are okay. We were concerned about your symptoms, and when we don't hear from you for a couple of days, we might jump to the wrong conclusions. Please take care of yourself now. Try to relax, and try to stop blaming yourself. Deep breaths and peaceful thoughts.

When the time is right, you will have new carpet, if necessary. Right now, that's infeasible. So, right now, please take care of yourself.

Sending love, prayers and healing energy to everyone ~ Stay strong, be well, and be safe ~

Love & Light,



Rose

*Virtual Hugs Are Germ-Free!

[agate]

Rose, I posted about the photos in the Tom Cat thread but I'll add that I'm going to ask Ralph about them. I'd like to do that in a way where he wouldn't feel obligated to find a way to replace them, and I think I'll just tell him what you said. We've had a chance to see them and we don't need them replaced. Or maybe as he keeps tinkering with the message system, they will magically reappear. Such things do happen.

Virginia, I know how unsettling it is to have a carpet stain you can't get rid of. I have several in my place that I'm hoping inspectors won't notice. I try to be cunning about covering them with furniture.

I hope you'll listen to Rose. No stain on any carpet is worth so much effort that you're all tired out and hurting. A professional carpet cleaning service might be one way to go.

People with MS are often told not to use throw rugs as the risk of falling is too great--so you might not want to try that but some type of camouflage may be your best solution for now.

Also, though it may look glaringly obvious to you, most people don't notice much. And if they notice, they don't care. They're there to see you, not your carpet.

[Virginia]

Thank you Rose and Agate, I am going to try and stop worrying about it quite as much. There is absolutely no way to put anything at all there. A table would be sitting in the middle of the room, a rug would be out of kilter and out of place - not even centered around anything and of course a plant would not work. What made this even worse was that this was quick dry polish. It is suppose to be strengthening and fortifying for the nails (which I need). When it touches my nails it is dry, but it does seem to help them. However, that is not a help for my carpet.

I am going to see if I have enough carpet to seam a piece over the worse. It actually covered quite an area because it seemed to leave drips over toward the foyer. The carpet is older than I thought so I am not sure that even if I do have enough in the attic that anyone would want to use it over this carpet that has been down for so long. I thought it was only about 7 or 8 years old, but turns out to be about 10. It has been well taken care of because I do not wear shoes in my house - just slippers.

Well, guess I better get my bed made, wash my face and get ready for bed. Hope all of you sleep well.

[agate]

I believe there are professionals who can patch carpeting? They may charge exorbitantly but it would be cheaper than new carpeting.

I'm assuming you've tried pouring nail-polish remover on it? I've heard that one of the ingredients in polish remover can damage the fibers in some carpeting, and so I hesitate to mention it.

I've had good luck with Resolve stain remover on carpet stains but haven't tried to remove nail polish. I do recall that polish remover took the old polish off the nails quite well.