No Internet? No Problem, She Laughed Bitterly

December 31st

The last day of 2022 did not go according to plan. Our internet service did a bunk mid morning and we were told it might not be fixed till 4:00 p.m. or later. (Drat!) Now for some of you I know this would not be an inconvenience or hardship in the least, but for our household it throws a big monkey wrench into our usual activities. Frankly (and I am embarrassed admitting this) I spend a lot of time on my laptop. Of course I still have my phone and can do some things on it, but it’s not the same—too small, fiddly and time consuming.

Now the other notable thing about today is that it’s raining and will continue to rain ALL day. So even my usual puttering in the garden and later a rest in the chair by our front stoop to catch a few rays won’t happen either. (This is my favorite spot to journal.)

I ended up going old school and putting on a DVD on our old TV to watch a movie (P.D. James “The Murder Room). And my eldest got a jigsaw puzzle started on our coffee table. (My youngest was at work in an area with a flood warning, but she made it home safely.) For dinner we ordered Chinese takeout and the spicy Manchurian Chicken left my lips burning. After dinner we played cards.

The internet is still down (we don’t have cable, just streaming services) so I watched the ball drop in New York City on my phone and went to bed early with a book.

In many ways it was a delightful day. I wasn’t on my laptop all day. I wasn’t keeping abreast of the latest news which tends to depress the heck out of me.

January 1st

Our internet is still down and may be for the rest of the day. Sigh. I mean one day was okay, but more?!! Do we get a refund??

So I decided to take advantage of the 35% off sale at Goodwill with a wonderful early 8:00 a.m. opening. I was happily scooting around the store with just a couple of other customers. But as soon as I put things in my cart I took them out. Some were not good enough and others were not what I really wanted to sell. I wanted to buy the Richard Hunt bear signed lithograph, but some are currently listed in the $20-$30 range. A glass ashtray was a thought for a split second, but it had a number of manufacturing flaws and I’m guessing it’s a newer made-in-China piece. Almost bought two purses. One was a Brighton leather piece with a fancy silver tone decoration on the front, but it didn’t appeal to me and I have tried to sell Brighton before without success. I put it back. On and on it went.

In the end I found myself going back (several times) to look at a pair of old, heavy Mexican metal candelabras that appealed to me. They had been polished to death over the years and had ridiculous amounts of dried polish in the crevices and even with the sale, they were priced higher than I wanted to pay!! Still with their dark, worn, wabi-sabi demeanor they were perfectly imperfect and a great choice for a dark academia decor or even vintage French decor. Decided to buy them.

This is the kind of room they would look great in. (Love that rusty zinc urn on the table.)

Back at home, armed with water, a soft toothbrush and Q-tips I started removing the old polish on the candelabras. Got some of it off, but dang it’s tenacious. Will need to do a second and possibly third round.

Thankfully today was sunny so I went outside to do a little yard cleanup. (Tomorrow the rain returns for days and days.) Pruned some roses and cut back our oregano patch. (My iceberg rose has a bud! And that’s the weird thing about living here…there is always something blooming even in winter.) Cleaned up here and there. It’s all damp and wet, but I was happy to get a few things done.

Last night I put on the first DVD of “Pride and Prejudice” on our player, the older version with Colin Firth as a perfect Mr. Darcy with all those haughty, smoldering looks. My family ended up gathering in the living room to watch with me. Will watch the second half tomorrow.

Went to bed with a book.

January 2nd

Woke at 5:30. Internet is still down! It’s been almost 48 hours and I am officially perturbed. I have things I need to do. Things I planned to do. 

Will have to find somewhere to work and print though I only have one order to process. The last five days have been a bust for my online stores. Lots of looky-loos and favoriting, very little buying. The last two years January has been a strong sales month for me…we’ll see how this one pans out.

Well, a few of us in the house are in a “right mood.” I think the lack of internet is wearing our bonhomie down to the nubbins. And the current news is that they (AT&T) don’t know when it will be fixed. Aargh.

I’ll close for now as I’m posting this from an alternative location that has WIFI and I need to move along.

Hoping your new year started well!

Karen