December 2020 – Starting with Manual Labor Because This is Us!

December 2020, my second Xmas with Lodi. My coworkers know me so well that when I got to work Monday November 30th after our four day holiday weekend I wasn’t first asked how my Thanksgiving went instead I was asked, “What did you do on the house this weekend?” I have no shame lol they all know that with four days off I absolutely could not help myself! Lodi and I divided and conquered rather unintentionally over that last weekend in November. On Thursday we had a small gathering with family, we drank, ate and were totally merry and did NOT work at all. Friday, however, it was GO TIME!

There was no turning down the offer of free firewood so most of Friday Lodi cut, hauled, split and brought home three loads. (How fun to dream of next summer’s bon fires now that the cold is really setting in!)

Did I help?

No I did not.

I had managed to work myself up to trimming out the new room we created and the entire back hall and I didn’t dare waste my motivation.

I had been (very understandably) feeling serious house fatigue at that point so I had to get myself worked up absurdly so – like I was going to finish it even if it killed me!

I got it done like I was mad at it!

Sneak peek:

(Over the week before I had finished taping and mudding the sheet rock on the hall side.)

For some reason (in my head anyway) getting any project down to paint makes me feel like getting the major work out of the way. So, getting there on Friday (with two more days off) was totally awesome!

(December 2020 starting with manual labor because: this is us.)

Lodi was in the yard unloading his last load of firewood while I was running my umpteenth armful of trim into the house. (I was making all of my cuts with my miter saw out in the garage so I ran a lot of miles that day.)

*us yelling across the yard*
Him: Wacha doing?!
Me: Moving wood! You?!
Him: Moving wood!
Me: This is our life!
Him: Pack mules!
Me: Pack mules!
Him: Love you!
Me: Love you!

We celebrated with a bon fire that night, leftover turkey sandwiches on hot cinnamon raisin English muffins (seriously tasty) and several very deserved adult beverages.

We were both hurting the next day but that Friday of hard work was totally worth it!

Saturday and Sunday were easier days for me filled with sanding and painting all of the trim and raw sheetrock. (I totally slept in until I couldn’t sleep anymore too…)

Lodi went with his best friend grouse hunting both days… and when I say “grouse hunting” I mean slogging through 18 miles of half frozen Minnesota swamp accompanied by a stiff, balls-freezing north wind…

I may have gotten a lot done on the house but our Thanksgiving holiday weekend for me was vacation-like compared to what Lodi went through… and, let’s be honest here, we all know I love getting stuff done on the house.

There were a few things this month that I bought / made happen for us (mostly me) that made me so happy its almost embarrassing to admit… (clearly there is something about gift buying season that puts me in the mood to do some things for us as well…)

I bought 16 plastic spice / seasoning shakers to replace the mason jars I was using. I know, I know, I know, I’m my grandmas’ daughter, but I got so sick of using big mason jars in our spice cabinet.

Wish I’d spoiled myself with these so much sooner – click here

LOVE this pantry – click here to check it out!

With the basement living area complete we went ahead and turned all the breakers on down there so our second refrigerator / freezer is up and running and was ready this December 2020 for me to take full advantage of!

I hauled down all of our jars of frozen homemade stock, nearly a dozen jars of refrigerator pickles and I also took things down there that we just don’t use very often such as ice packs etc.

It felt so good to free up so much space in our main refrigerator / freezer! (Yeah, I know, I am SUCH an adult lol)

I bought big wire baskets for both of our upright freezers to get some better organization there too. We also left plenty of room beside the refrigerator in the basement for a rolling pantry so I bought us this one and, of course, took full advantage of that as well!

All of my extra canning jars fit with plenty of room to spare and are no longer taking up room in our kitchen and laundry room.

My last purchase for us in December 2020 felt like a splurge but after living without a working ice maker for nearly three years I decided to get it fixed. (…and not do it myself *gasp*)

It also freed up a NOT SMALL portion of our main freezer that had been housing nearly twenty ice trays! Is it terrible to admit that getting all that done was an awesome Xmas gift for me?!

Full on adulting happy going on right here!

The first weekend of December we had intended to wrap gifts and put up the Xmas tree but with what I had completed the weekend before we were finally getting into the home stretch of finishing the back hall and Lodi’s new room so… we couldn’t help ourselves.

We got the new workbench cut and almost ALL of the painting done. So much to show you guys over the next couple of months 🙂 More sneak peeks…:

Later on we put up our tree, decorated and wrapped presents. To quote myself: “I think we put the tree up early enough that by the time Xmas gets here we’ll be glad to put the damn thing away.”

Of the two of us I am the Grinch lol.

Lodi has a little bit of a light obsession and we joke that he turns lights on and I just follow him around the house turning them off for infinity. So, it will surprise no one, that this December 2020 Grandma’s house is sporting Xmas lights for the first time!

I really like them.

Lodi spoiled me with heated seat covers for my car and can I just say it really is about the little things? They’re just wonderful!

Speaking of little things that made us feel spoiled: Lodi got a free one year subscription to Disney+ through Verizon and we’re absolutely going to be keeping it. The Mandalorian was so fun to look forward to this year!

Xmas (like Thanksgiving for us and everyone else due to the plague) was quiet and with just a couple of our closest people plus several zoom calls with various other friends and family. Mom and I still made a big ham plus scalloped potatoes because: DROOLS. (And I love having the leftover ham bone for making stock too…)

Here in just a couple of days 2020 will finally be over and I really just hope that 2021 will be good to my Mom. She really went through it in 2020 with cancer and an almost an entire year of awful treatments.

2020 was a very long walk down an impressively short hallway.

And yet this was also the year Lodi moved in and we gave us a chance. Despite all the stress and craziness of this year this was an Xmas I looked forward to more than any others I can remember.

It really is those just-the-two-of-us days, taking care of our little life together, that makes it all worth it. Waking up in the morning and knowing he’s there.

From us at Grandma’s House I do hope your December was as quiet and kind to you as it was to us – Happy New Year.