1.I think
a cat picture is always a good way to start a Thursday 13, so here’s one of
Caroline.
2.One of
our favorite local restaurants that flooded during Hurricane Helene reopened
recently, so we went for dinner last week.
3.They make
all of their own sauces, and everything is so good. The food is wonderful, but the sauces are
incredible.
4.When
we said it was our first time back since they reopened, they showed us where
the waterline had been during the flooding.
It’s a little hard to see in the picture, so I circled it.
5.You
can see why it took a little over four months for them to reopen!
6.In
happier weather-related news, we’ve been enjoying some warmer weather this
week. We’ve gotten almost up to seventy
degrees almost every day. It has been
wonderful!
7.I know
it probably won’t last, but I’m enjoying it for now.
8.So are
the flowers.
9.The
daffodils are starting to come up.
10.We
have a tulip just starting to come up.
11.We
have a hyacinth that looks like it’s very close to blooming.
12.I’m
hoping it won’t get cold enough to kill off the flowers!
13.A cat
picture seems like a good ending for this Thursday 13, so here’s one of Tara.
This week’s Thursday 13 is another one without a theme.
1.Mortimer
and Theodore don’t typically cuddle together, but Nick got this cute picture of
them hanging out together.
2.Theodore
is at that very active kitten stage where most of the pictures we get of him
are blurry or when he’s sleepy. Here’s one
of him napping.
3.We finally
got some good FEMA news!
4.As I
said last week, we were notified that we needed to submit paperwork from a company
detailing the damages and the cost of repairs.
Even though we had already submitted all of that before, we submitted it
again. We heard back fairly quickly that
we were approved for aid. Finally!
5.The
total amount ended up being just under half of what all of the repairs
have/will cost. After pretty much giving
up on getting any FEMA aid, we were thrilled.
It makes sense that they can’t fully pay for everything for everyone,
but getting significant aid is a huge help.
6.Ironically,
about half of the aid we received was for “immediate” needs, such as temporary
housing. I wouldn’t call February immediate for
something that happened in September, but we’re still very grateful to have
gotten aid.
7.This
is what the backyard looks like right now.
8.Remember,
once upon a time, it was kind of pretty?
9.We’re
still working on fixing the drainage problems.
Funding and weather have been the holdups. We’ve mapped out the plan for catch basins,
pipes, and dry wells. The red yarn represents
pipes and the orange plates represent catch basins/dry wells. I know it’s kind of weird, but we don’t
always picture things the same way, so something like this works to make sure
we’re actually talking about the same thing.
10.We’re
still waiting for a decent stretch of time when it’s not raining/snowing and the
ground isn’t frozen to be able to start on the drainage work, so we don’t have
a firm plan yet. We’re tossing around
the idea of hiring someone with equipment to do the digging, and then doing the
pipes, gravel, and catch basin/dry well installation ourselves. We’re hoping to find a good middle ground
between saving money and being realistic about how much digging by hand we can
handle.
11.Even
though I love to cook, we like leftovers a lot, and it’s nice to have a break from
cooking (especially during the week) without going out or getting takeout. Monday was a perfect leftovers night. I made tacos over the weekend, and we had leftover
taco meat. So, when I got home from work
Monday afternoon, I turned the leftover taco meat into crock pot chili. I added beans, tomato sauce, and seasoning. Like this.
12.A few
hours later, it turned into this, which was a delicious, almost zero-effort
dinner. I can’t really explain it, but it
absolutely delights me when leftovers work out that well.
13.Another
cat picture seems like the perfect way to end this Thursday 13, so here’s one
more of Theodore.
This week’s Thursday 13 definitely doesn’t have a
theme!
1.Theodore
is growing like crazy; he has been neutered, microchipped, and has gotten all
of his kitten shots. I think he looks
more like a big cat than a kitten in this picture.
3.A FEMA
inspector came to the house last week to look at the damage, which we thought
might mean progress.
4.It did
not. This week, we received a letter
that the FEMA inspector wasn’t able to fully assess the damage (which isn’t
really surprising since FEMA inspectors apparently do not go into crawl spaces or onto
roofs). They said we’d need to have it
inspected by an HVAC company and send that information for FEMA to review.
5.We
sent that information to FEMA in November!
It was a write-up from the HVAC company about the damage, how high the
water was in the ductwork, and what was needed to repair it. We’ll be resubmitting that and hoping that
someone actually reads it this time.
6.I
truly think they make the process as annoying and difficult as possible in
hopes that a lot of people will decide it’s more trouble than it’s worth and
give up.
7.There
are still near-constant reminders that, even with the damage we had, we were
still some of the lucky ones. A couple
of weeks ago, we helped some friends whose house was destroyed during Helene
move from their short-term rental into their long-term rental. They’ve been told it will be a year and a
half to two years before their house is rebuilt.
8.I’ve
been trying to crochet a little more, and I finished an ear warmer.
9.Here’s
the link to the tutorial if you’re interested.
(And here’s the right-handed version.)
It was very simple to make. I
used a thinner yarn than the pattern called for, so I had to do more rows, but
it was still easy to follow along with the video.
10.Being
cold is a powerful motivator to crochet an ear warmer! The heat was out at work during one of the
cold snaps. Everyone worked from home as
much as possible, but some of us had to go in on one of the days when we had
temperatures in the teens. I made the
ear warmer the night before that and wore more layers than I ever had
before.
11.Fortunately,
the heat at work is fixed now!
12.I
think cat pictures are a great way to end this Thursday 13, so enjoy this one
of Mortimer in the living room chair he has staked out as his very own.
