Vaccine Dreams and a New Kitchen for 2021

A Vaccine will soon save us from this dreary life of Covid lockdowns.
Vaccines will soon save us from this dreary life of Covid lockdowns.

Who Isn’t Thinking of When They Can Get the Vaccine Right About Now?

In this time of the continuing pandemic, even as I wish we could just forget it and move on, I contemplate the life before me and I can finally exhale. I want this to end…I want to go out to Hope and Olive and sit at the bar, RIGHT NEXT to a stranger. I want to have a big party and drink wine and celebrate with my friends.

It’s been since March 14, 2020, but there IS an end…I got a little taste of this when I visited Walmart a few weeks ago to get the follow-up shot for my shingles vaccine.  I asked the pharmacist if they had received any COVID vaccines and she said, no, but if you would like to get on the list to get one of these vaccines, we’ll call you. WOW.

So despite me not being a front-line worker, or a nurse, or an elected official, I indeed did qualify.  But I was met with resistance when I shared this good news with Mary who works in a school. “You should not be getting that vaccine!” she declared. “You should tell them to give it to a teacher, or someone older than you.”

I don’t feel that any jab I get means taking it away from someone else, but she stood firm. We had to agree to disagree to get past it. And I still don’t have any vaccine, just a vague promise that if it makes it into the Hadley Walmart, I’ll get a call.  The stuff from Glaxo does require super freezing, so I guess they might be very eager to find people to jab before it goes bad. Stay tuned.

In other news, my kitchen is roaring along and it’s all very satisfying.  My biggest improvement came at the end of last week when I got the floors sanded by a very reputable local company, Dion and Sons Flooring. This time I didn’t make the mistake of thinking I could do my own finishing, I let them apply three coats of stinky, oil-based polyurethane that has given the floor a pleasing shine. It’s actually caused me to ban shoes in my house–something that totally annoys me, but hey, look at those floors!

My newly refinished kitchen floor, part of my renovation of 2021.
My newly refinished kitchen floor, part of my renovation of 2021.

The hard part now is having to wait for the rest of the project to catch up.  My granite tops matching the existing peninsula have been ordered, and happily, the same Laurentian stone has been procured. The cabinet maker Tom Bogle in Greenfield has the plans, my deposit, and is working on all of the cabinets.  Bill, my steadfast old friend of 40 years, is quarterbacking the project and taking care of so many behind the scenes things like putting all new crown molding up and creating new baseboards.

Doing this in stages is making the whole thing work financially, and each week we make new improvements. I didn’t expect to have to replace all of the walls made of cheap homasote boards and paneling, but now, there are all new walls and hefty insulation in them.