Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Wednesday W's - Great Aunt Edith


The Way We Were. This is my grandfather and my great-aunt Edith.  Let me sort through the family tree, she was my grandmother's father's brothers daughter. In her early life she worked in a cotton mill in England. Between World War I and World War II she entered into "service in a great house."  Think Downton Abbey or Upstairs Downstairs.  She then moved to the United States and worked as  housekeeper for the Firestone family. Sometime early in World War II a younger cousin (Sally) came to the United States for safety during the war.  Sally's father Bob followed, eventually ending up in Miami.  After the War, Edith and Sally moved to Miami and lived together there, think English Golden Girls. 

So What have I been up to? Work, I have resolved a couple of budget snafus, without anyone becoming unemployed. I explained the series of mistakes that led us to believe we had overspent a project, when in fact we had underbilled it.  Apologized and seemingly have been forgiven.  Mistakes that were made before I had access to the accounts system - but that came to light during my responsibility.  

Where have I been? Not much of anyplace, back and forth to the office, the farmers market, the French bakery because pastry boy was not at the market last Saturday, a little household shopping.  

Where am I planning to go?  I am speaking at a conference in Lexington, Kentucky next month.  We are making a road trip out of it, first stop is in West Virginia, to break up the long drive into two days, then two nights in Lexington, Ft Wayne Indiana to see my nephew, Elkhart Indiana to see friends, then Cleveland to see Jay's brothers, then back home.  We booked all of the hotels in the last week.  

What are we getting ready for?  The kitchen remodel is set to start next Monday.  The apartment looks like a warehouse, with new appliances and kitchen cabinets stacked everywhere.  We will be kitchenless for probably 3 weeks.  I have started using the new refrigerator, that is sitting in the dining room, I love it.  

Who have I seen? My sweet bear, and my office staff.  Not much going on. 

What walks have a taken?  A couple of shopping strolls around Alexandria, and a walk in the swamp, I hadn't been to Dyke Marsh in a few months.  

Who deserves a slap? GE Appliances, $4,000 in ovens ordered and paid for four months ago, and they can't tell me when the ovens will be here.  On a scale of one to five, at least 3. 
The oven stack is most expensive appliance for the new kitchen, because Thurmodore was honest that it would take at least 6 months to get the $5,200 induction cooktop I wanted, we went with the JenAir that was only $3,500 and was in stock. 

What made me laugh? Some great bloggers this week. 

What am I reading? "Leading the Unleadable," even a bigger challenge than the budgets.  

What I am watching?  Mostly YouTube. There are some brilliant content creators out there.  A young guy in Scotland posted a video is few months ago about buying and renovating a small stone house. The video was good, short, easy to watch, and went viral with ll-million views in one month.  He posted this past week, what he was paid in advertising revenue from YouTube, about $60,000, about the amount by which the remodel went over budget. 

Well, that is a lot of W's for this wordy week, 



12 comments:

  1. I am definitely rebudgeting my expenses this month as well. Doing a lot of tightening the spending lately.

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    1. I am glad it is my office budget and not my budget

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  2. Another W, wow! I was trying to figure out what the actual relationship is between you and ”Aunt” Edith. I got stuck. Is it 1st cousin twice removed?

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    1. We just called her little Aunt Edith. The younger Aunt Edith was taller and much rounder.

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  3. At some point on the ancestral tree everyone becomes Aunt or Uncle to save time.

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  4. I hope work settles down and becomes more manageable now that those stressful things have been dealt with. Enjoy your upcoming road trip to the conference!

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    1. This job is going to finish me

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  5. I enjoyed your Ws. I hope when in KY you get some lovely local liquors.

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  6. It sounds like Aunt Edith led an interesting life. It also sounds like your kitchen is going to be wonderful. How exciting!

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    1. I just need to survive the chaos of the remodel

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