Our Family Life

We’re in the midst of the stretch known in our home as “Has the magazine gone to review yet?” If you didn’t already know, David is the graphic designer for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine so four months of every year, he’s very focused on the layout of the magazine. October is one of those months.

I do pretty well, but about three or four days before it goes to review I start to feel enormously restless and ready for him to be done. I rely on him for my website graphics, my product creation, etc. and he can’t help me with much of that while the magazine is in production mode. So that’s part of the reason things were kind of quiet around here the last week or so. We’re trying to get to that finish line.

If you aren’t familiar with The Old Schoolhouse and Schoolhouse Teachers, you can click on the fall apple basket graphic above to learn more about Schoolhouse Teachers and the online homeschool classes they offer (along with a zillion other things!).

New Ratings System in the Printables Shop

David and I installed a feedback and ratings system in the shop this weekend. If you’ve purchased something in the past few weeks, you should have received an email asking you to leave feedback. If you leave feedback, you will receive a coupon code for $5.00 of your next $10.00 purchase in the next 30 days. So if you buy something now or even download a free item and leave feedback, you will also get a coupon. So if you are planning on shopping… Here’s an easy way to get some free money to spend in my shop!

If you downloaded free items in the now closed subscriber only area and leave feedback, it won’t generate the coupon code. The plugin will only work if you go through the checkout system. If you downloaded something from there and just want to leave feedback without needing a coupon, that is greatly appreciated.

If you want the coupon code for a free item you already own, you’ll have to purchase it again through the checkout. I wish I could make it easier, but that’s the way it works.

If you purchased something in the past before August 1, 2018, and you want to leave feedback for it so you can get the coupon, send me an email (sallie at sallieborrink dot com) and let me know the email address you used to order. I can manually trigger an email to you that will prompt you to review the items you purchased which will generate a coupon code.

This is also true of you purchased a free item through the system. Just email me.

So these are all the random personal thoughts I’ve been thinking that I wanted to write about.

Five Months After Facebook

So it’s been five months since I quit Facebook. I miss two things. I miss interacting with some people I never see now. I knew that would be the case, but it isn’t enough to make me change my mind and go back. But I did genuinely enjoy seeing pictures of their kids and such. I don’t see that now.

And, as hard as it is to believe, I sometimes miss discussing politics. I have no one to discuss politics with now other than David. I will catch things on YouTube and have found some YouTube channels I like. But there is no discussion on YouTube of any real value. I use Twitter to catch a few things here and there, but Twitter is a cesspool and the comments there aren’t even worth skimming. There is virtually ZERO critical thinking happening on Twitter.

I even flirted with the idea of adding a politics section to my site. But then I decided I don’t want to deal with the potential drama. But I do miss discussing politics and big ideas. I really like discussing big ideas and I don’t get that any longer. I miss it. And I miss the Facebook friends who would discuss big ideas with me. (Update: I have a News section now.)

And I won’t even get into the entire Facebook censoring people thing which I find seriously disturbing.

So there’s that if anyone was wondering if I was thinking about going back to Facebook. Not even remotely a possibility.

The Importance Of Checking On Those Credit Card Points

I kept getting these reminders in the mail that we had all these credit card points to use toward a free gift. I didn’t do anything with it because I went to the rewards site and had to register and it was just one. more. thing. I didn’t have the energy to do. I decided I didn’t want to mess with it for a $10 gift card to Krispy Kreme or something that I wouldn’t even be able to use.

Well, I got two more notices and decided I would make the effort to register and check it out since one of the things offered on the postcard was a small Vera Bradley bag and I like Vera Bradley stuff. So I registered, logged in, and what do you know? I had enough points for a full size Vera Bradley purse/tote and still had a lot of points left over. WOOT!

I have a black quilted Vera Bradley purse that my parents bought for me for Christmas a number of years ago that I use all the time in the winter. It is starting to show wear. Now I will have a replacement that even has more space!

So check those points! LOL!

Our Summer Weather

I thought about writing a bit about our summer, but all I could focus on was whining about the weather. I kept thinking it must have been me because so much of life this summer was difficult that I was lumping in the yucky weather with the rest of the summer challenges.

But I’ve lived in this state my entire life and this summer was just the pits. For the sake of my mental health, I took to closing the blinds, lighting my flameless pillar candle on my desk, and turning on the thunderstorm track for hours at a time and days at a time – just to trick my mind into thinking it wasn’t horrifically awful outside yet again. I have always disliked heat and muggy weather, but now it impacts my health so it was a real mental strain. I felt like a caged animal.

And then I saw this article: Michigan just had an incredibly muggy summer; See exactly how muggy

Many of you mentioned to me you’ve never felt this muggy of a summer here in Michigan. I looked into it, and it was an incredibly muggy summer.

With the help of Ed Verhamme at LimnoTech in Ann Arbor, I looked at the highest dewpoint each day back to June 1.

We looked at June 1 to September 5, 2018. That’s 97 days.

74 days in that period at least had a dewpoint of at least 65 degrees, making muggy days.

46 of those days had the very muggy feel of a dewpoint higher than 70 degrees.

A continuous stretch of very muggy air occurred August 4 to August 21, when every day had a dewpoint warming to 70 degrees or higher. That’s an 18 day stretch with no humidity relief. It’s not the kind of weather info that has a record established, but my 26 years in Michigan make me know that is a bizarre run of weather here.

August had only three days in the not muggy category. Some would argue that dewpoint temperatures in the low-60s are still slightly muggy. If you go that way, our summer 2018 had only five comfortable humidity days with dewpoints in the 50s.

I felt better about thinking this summer was slowly driving me insane. David received a family membership to the Fredrick Meijer Gardens for his birthday in late April and we never went back ONCE this summer because the weather was so horrible. I think I have been in our backyard once this year. Once. No joke.

I am truly desperate for a breath of cool and not humid air. It’s September 20th as I write this and we have yet to have any fall-like weather. We almost always get a refreshing week of weather in August and we didn’t this year. It’s not a stretch to say I’m really desperate for the weather to change.

Which Is More Noble?

Which is more noble?

Not plastering your website with ads because you know people don’t like ads?

Or plastering your site with ads so you can provide for your family?

Our Lowe’s Carpet Installation Saga

And then there is the ongoing saga of our carpet installation with Lowe’s that is now stretching well over a year. You know that beautiful carpet I so carefully picked out when we did our home update last summer because I knew it would have to last me a long, long time? We are STILL trying to get that project completed.

They didn’t measure correctly so they couldn’t finish the upstairs landing/hall. So they had to order more carpet. And then the mill shut down for a few months so they put in some cheap gray carpet just so we would have some carpet. And then the mill closed permanently. And then Lowe’s kept lying to me about ordering our carpet and not doing it (for months last winter).

And then they finally got the carpet from the new mill and when they installed it, it was the wrong carpet even though it had the same name and number. And it was OUR fault according to the new mill because so much time had passed. This new carpet looks nothing like the carpet we have on the stairs and in the library and family room. And we were told that it won’t wear as well either.

And when we went to Lowe’s several weeks ago to pick something up THEY WERE STILL SELLING OUR CARPET IN THE MAIN AISLE IN FRONT OF GOD AND EVERYBODY. The same carpet we cannot get installed because the new mill isn’t matching what the old mill did. But they are STILL SELLING THE CARPET WE WANT EVEN THOUGH IF SOMEONE ORDERS IT IT WILL LOOK COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

And, yes, I have video and pictures of it all on display in Lowe’s.

I finally asked the store manager in an email if I had to take it to social media and the local TV station to get this done. So then he sent someone out to measure so maybe they can put laminate down to match all the bedrooms. That was four weeks ago and no one has followed up.

To make matters worse, the wrong carpet is wrapped around the top step so if we do put laminate on the landing/hall, the laminate will have to come down onto the last rise at the top of the stairs. How stupid will that look? So I asked the guy to measure for putting laminate on the stairs which I’m sure they won’t want to do because it will be labor intensive and therefore expensive.

The entire things is so exasperating it makes my stomach churn. I cannot believe how poorly we have been treated by Lowe’s. It’s really sad.

The Best Thing About Our Summer

The best thing about our summer? Caroline had a fantastic summer. She has found her activities and her people. She had a schedule this summer that offered her just enough fun and activity each week that she didn’t get bored but also had lots of downtime and time for her creative endeavors. She made new friends and found new interests. It was truly win-win-win which was a huge answer to prayer for me. It’s so satisfying to see your child happy and enjoying life as she more fully understands who she is.

So there are all my random September thoughts. LOL!

We have lived in Cute Little Town for seven years now. We are very happy here other than the fact that we miss living close to a few amenities that were within easy driving distance when we lived in Big City. The one thing we have lamented over and over again is the lack of a cozy bookstore.

And then the longing of our hearts was answered.

We discovered this weekend a couple has opened an independent bookstore in Cute Little Town. We stopped in on Saturday as soon as we learned about it and each of us bought a book to celebrate. Yes, it is more expensive than ordering from Amazon, but I don’t care. I have longed for a bookstore to hang out in on a rainy day or snowy day. I want to do my part to make sure they are successful and here for as long as I live in Cute Little Town.

In case you were wondering, I bought A Book That Takes Its Time. David purchased 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos. Caroline got Mr. Popper’s Penguins and Swing It, Sunny.

Words cannot express how thrilled we are to have a bookstore just a few minutes away that we can visit whenever we want rather than the half hour ordeal we’ve had to drive to a big chain store.

Seriously.

It’s life-changing. LOL!