Where Is My Mind?

After spending most of the day thinking it was Wednesday, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about finding out tomorrow is Friday. 🤣 I guess I’m excited, but goodness, this week went by fast! You’d think with the power outage and everything else we’ve been dealing with, time would have dragged, but it really hasn’t. The whole thing has been one big blur. All the days have sort of run together, and apparently I’ve lost track of the calendar altogether.

I’ve actually been pretty productive today. I spent a good portion of it on the phone with Jess, which is nothing unusual for us. We clean, gossip, work on our little projects, and talk about absolutely everything and nothing. That’s just what we do.

I also started putting together a grocery delivery order because we desperately need to restock our refrigerator. I think I may have mentioned this already, but forgive me if I’m repeating myself. At this point, I genuinely can’t remember what I’ve told y’all and what I’ve only thought about telling y’all.

During the outage, we discovered that our refrigerator wasn’t staying as cold as it should have been. Apparently, some newer refrigerators can draw a significant amount of power when they’re trying to cool back down, and ours kept triggering the overload protection on the generator. We didn’t realize what was happening at first, so we’d occasionally walk into the kitchen and discover that the refrigerator had been off for who knows how long.

By the time we figured everything out, the temperature had gotten above 50 degrees, possibly even close to 60, and we had no idea how long some of the food had been sitting that way. Since perishable food isn’t considered safe after spending too long above 40 degrees, we decided not to take any chances.

And let me tell you, throwing away that much food made me physically ill.

Lunchmeat, sliced cheese, dips, bacon bits, fresh produce, mayonnaise, sour cream, salad dressings, coffee creamers, my sourdough starter… you name it. I had an entire garbage can full of food. Some of it was brand new! I threw away two pounds of shredded sharp cheddar that hadn’t even been opened. That one hurt. 😂

We kept a few things that were safe to keep, but for the most part, we’re starting over. I tried to make a list of everything I threw away so I wouldn’t have to stand in the grocery store scratching my head trying to remember what used to live in my refrigerator.

So now I need more lunchmeat, cheese, coffee creamers, sour cream, mayonnaise, hot dogs for the kids, sausage for Gary, my chicken sausages, and of course, all my salad mixes and spinach. I cannot function without my salads. I’ve already started adding things to my grocery cart, but I haven’t finished the order. I’ll probably tackle the rest of it in the morning and try to get everything delivered tomorrow or Saturday.

We’re still without internet, too. The latest estimate says it should be restored around 1 a.m., but they’ve been giving us estimates like that for four days now, so I’m not holding my breath. At least we have electricity again, and believe me, I’m grateful for that!

We’ve also got a tree service coming tomorrow morning to deal with the trees in the backyard. I’m hoping they’ll be able to get everything cleaned up without too much trouble. One thing’s for certain: we’re going to have plenty of firewood this year!

We still need to have someone look at the chimney, too. Gary originally planned to repair it himself, but after getting a better look at it the other night, he decided he’d rather just pay somebody to do it. And frankly, I’m thrilled with that decision. He doesn’t need to spend half a day climbing around on a ladder, and sometimes your time and peace of mind are worth more than whatever money you might save doing something yourself.

We also discovered a little hairline crack in one of our windows, so that’s another thing to add to the list. We’re trying to decide whether any of this is worth filing an insurance claim over. Between the deductible and the time involved, we may be better off paying for the smaller repairs ourselves. We’ll see.

Right now, we’re not in any hurry to get through to the insurance company. There are people around here dealing with catastrophic damage, and I know those folks need help much more urgently than we do. None of our issues are emergencies. We’re safe, our house is livable, and everything else can be handled a little at a time.

Gary also noticed some damage to the bed liner in Uncle Jay’s truck, our F-150. I haven’t even looked at it yet because I honestly don’t want to. That truck belonged to my brother, and although it’s ours now, it’ll probably always be Jay’s truck to me.

We originally planned to give it to Gage when he starts driving, but we’ve been reconsidering that lately. It’s a lot of truck for a teenager. That thing has some serious power, and when you hit the gas, it GOES. I absolutely love driving it, though. I probably drive it more than my Highlander. I love the way it handles, and there’s something comforting about being in it. It still smells like Jay, and in a strange way, driving it makes me feel close to him.

So I’m a little torn about selling it.

We’ve been tossing around the idea of getting me a Bronco and letting Gary continue driving the Highlander. Then, when Gage gets his license, we could find him a reasonably priced little truck that’s safe and a bit more appropriate for a new driver.

The nice thing is that all our vehicles have been paid off for years. We haven’t had a car payment since 2021, when we sold our house in Seminole and paid everything off. I’d certainly love to keep it that way, but we’ll see.

My biggest hesitation is that we’re also planning our next move, and buying a $50,000 vehicle right before purchasing a house probably isn’t the smartest financial decision in the world. Not necessarily because of the payment, but because taking on a bunch of new financing right before buying a home just doesn’t make much sense.

So I keep telling Gary we should wait. Get our living situation figured out first, then worry about vehicles. Of course, I could change my mind by next Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Apparently, I don’t know what day it is anyway. 🤣

Anywho, I think I’ve officially reached the point where I’m just rambling about everything that’s crossed my mind today. That’s usually a pretty good indication that I need to go to bed.

We’ve got people coming early in the morning, groceries to order, repairs to arrange, and about a hundred little things left to do, but we’re getting there. One thing at a time.

I hope everybody has a wonderful evening. I’m going to call it a night, get some rest, and hopefully wake up tomorrow knowing what day it is.

Goodnight, y’all. ❤️