Laurel’s Family Comes Together in Surprising Ways!

Hi Everyone,

This is a super-quick, newsy post that emphasizes my family (my two sons) and what we’re doing for each other right now.

First, there will be a few pics from when Cale came to visit and a very short video of us in the kitchen.

 

And later, some interesting family news.

 

Cale arrived late afternoon last Tuesday. He was a big help as we got one major project accomplished.

The upstairs bathroom.

During the reno, it had become a dumping ground for everything that didn’t have a home in my storage closet downstairs. I couldn’t bear to put much in the kitchen until it was better cleaned up. But then I was incredibly busy updating Laurel’s Rolodex and the Big Etsy Guide.

 

This is the best reason for having children. ;]

 

haha

 

 

No, you are not seeing things.

 

That is indeed a Q-tip in Cale’s hand as he scrapes the sludge from the basecaps in the upstairs bathroom.

However, on the off-chance you think I’m beating him into submission, OR he’s some kind of goodie-goodie mama’s boy. (lol, occasionally, he is)

A. I paid Cale for his help
B. I got him a new electric piano keyboard, which you can see here. (Sorry, you’ll need to scroll down until you see it in the hot sales widget)

 

An exterior shot of my garden wall, and whoa! Those are some tiny sour grapes! (I think?) Cale had one, but I abstained. Still, I knew ivy was growing, but I didn’t realize I had a grapevine. It’s certainly been dry enough for grapes to grow.

 

However, my nature-loving son has done some research on tonics to help with kidney disease.

 

He brought me one of the cures from some obliging beech tree branches in western Massachusetts.

 

He shaved the bark off the branches and dried it at 120 degrees in my Breville convection toaster oven.

 

Once dried, it gets brewed into tea. Sorry, no images of the tea, but it looks like regular ol’ tea, and it’s not bad. It’s even a little sweet and very mild. I’ve been drinking it daily and recently added fresh ginger and turmeric to the brew. I also add a little maple syrup because a bit sweet is not sweet enough for me. ;]

 

In addition, Cale wanted me to try some aloe vera juice.

 

Both are quite expensive. The one on the left tastes terrible. I can’t describe the flavor, plus it’s a bit high in potassium, which I need to watch, so I’m only putting a little into my juice and seltzer drinks. The one on the left, however, tastes good but is expensive, so that one, too, gets doled out in small doses.

 

Below, is a very short, a bit noisy video of us in the kitchen early on in our visit.

 

(Sorry, this one’s not on YouTube.)

 

Also, you may have noticed an earlier video entitled “My Recent Videos.” These are videos that have already appeared and yes, there are short ads. This is how I earn a living. Tim and I are still working on it. It’s not working quite right at the moment, as it’s only playing one video in the playlist. No worries if you’re not interested in watching any of the videos. Also, apologies if you can’t see them. Usually, the reason is that you’re on a mobile device with an ad blocker on.

 

Switching gears…

 

I inherited this mess when I bought my place in 2020, and all I cared about was the TV working. Well, the TV runs through the receiver (the biggest box in the middle), which is not working. The upshot is that my TV doesn’t work.

 

Does anyone in the Boston metro area know of a good audiovisual professional who could help me?

 

Below is a more realistic view of the living room looking towards the dining area. Folks, that table setup has always been temporary. That is not the table I will have, and eventually, I’d like some different chairs. I like the cane chairs, but they’re small and uncomfortable. They are vintage; I’ve had them for at least 25 years.

 

Finally, I had so much fun putting the Etsy widget together that I did another one for Etsy and Chairish and one outrageously expensive but authentic 18th-century breakfront sold at 1stdibs. It’s more so you can see what the real thing looks like.

In case you are interested in some of these items, they say the sale is ending tonight. Okay, just put in an offer with the sale price (usually about 20% off) if you see something you want and the sale is over.

 

 

And now, for the family news.

 

Many of you have asked after my younger son Aaron who is turning 30 next month. I don’t want to get into a big thing, but Aaron was identified as having some developmental delays when he was three and a half years old. He spent the next 15 years in special education and graduated from a private school in 2013.

As we all do, Aaron has had his share of struggles and estranged himself from us for a while. Happily, he decided to come to us about three weeks ago. I’m immensely grateful to have him back in my life, and I can tell that Aaron is happy to have his family back, too.

After high school, he spent many years traveling and living in various places, but he likes southern California the best. Interestingly, he worked in a youth hostel in Scotland for about a year.

 

Currently, he’s looking for employment, and I need help.

 

Therefore, I offered him a temporary gig helping me with some behind-the-scenes website stuff that sorely needs to be done. I have other people helping me, as well.

So, now I have to get him a refurbished MacBook. He’s very good with computers, and I think he’ll do a great job!

xo,

 

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