Tag Archives: having fun

Once a window, now a table.

26 Monday Jan 2026

Posted by in Daily Life, Mosaic and other crafts

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As you all well know, I am cheap.  Well, I mean, I am frugal.

During the building renovation we had to have a window replaced.  It was under warranty from the prior owner, so we didn’t have to pay for the window.  But we did have to pay for a boom lift to the tune of $900.00 to replace the hurricane window on the 3rd floor.

When they came to install it, it turns out that the window that had been delivered weeks before was the wrong size.  So, everything had to be rescheduled so that a new one could be delivered.

They didn’t want to take the wrong window back and said we should throw it away.  I can never throw anything away.  I always need to find a new home for it.

After checking with neighbors and acquaintances and having no takers, I decided to make it into a table top.  We got a small little wooden table and put the very heavy glass on top.

The sides didn’t look finished, so I decided to glue some marble beads on it.

It is not for everyone, but it fits my whimsical side and goes with my whimsical rug 🙂

And if I grow tired of it, I can try different tiles and colors.

“To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.” ― Osho

Ping-pong anyone?

23 Friday Jan 2026

Posted by in Daily Life

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This is one of my Christmas gifts: a ping-pong table.

Michael had a very sweet response when I acted very surprised to get a ping pong table.

He said: I saw how much fun you had when you played ping-pong with your sister on the cruise.

Michael continues to surprise me with how thoughtful he is and how much he cares for me.

So now, we play at least a few minutes every day.   The table sits between the kitchen and living room.

The table doesn’t go with the decor.  Well, really, we have no decor.  Unlike most of our neighbors, we chose not to update our place after we had already paid thousands of dollars in assessments. So, we still have old floors and cheap furniture.

We decided not to invest too much money on it.  We buy whatever we need to be comfortable.  I am so glad that Michael and I are on the same page about expenses.  We both rather spend money on experiences and not material stuff.

Today, I found out that another couple in the building is getting divorced.  I think the stress and cost of the building renovation is one of the causes of these breakups. It is important for couples to be on the same page with finances, and how they choose to spend their money.

Next month it will mark 3 years that Michael and I are together.  We are not sure how we will be celebrating it.  Perhaps a cruise, perhaps skiing (if Colorado manages to get some snow), perhaps a casino, or we can always play ping-pong 🙂

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” ― Marcel Proust

Birthdays… who needs them?

09 Tuesday Apr 2024

Posted by in Daily Life, Daily Message, Finding Me

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“There is still no cure for the common birthday.”
― John Glenn

Last month, in the midst of finishing an audit, tax returns and other work deadlines, I turned 58 years old.

58 is just such a foreign number to me.  I don’t feel it at all.  Perhaps it is denial.  

My twin sister and I celebrated by going to dinner at Sergio’s, our favorite Italian restaurant. We went with Michael and our cousin.  It was fun, we had delicious food and talked about a trip that we plan to take together in the summer.

Birthdays have a special way of reminding us that this one life is finite.  Our days here are numbered and we owe it to ourselves to make the most of all our days.  That is my plan.

I don’t always succeed.  Some days feel wasted.  I am one of those people that want to see results, that feels that I need to be always productive.  But life is not about results, it is about “ing”, the doing, the living, the trying. And that could be just ‘nothing”.

On those days that feel wasted, I look back, and I see the details.  I look at the nothingness of the day and I see the immensity of it. And I am grateful.

Life is in those little details. Life is the experiences, but also the down time. Yes, it is just as it sounds:  I am justifying and giving permission for me to do nothing 🙂

“I have a peculiar capacity for doing nothing and yet enjoying myself.”
― Elizabeth von Arnim, The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rügen