Gotta make this short because my chores for the day aren’t going to finish themselves and the morning’s already slipping away from me!

So, I guess the big news for the day is that I received my first Covid vaccine two weeks ago. It’s the Moderna vaccine so I have another two weeks to wait until I get my second dose. Then it’ll be another two weeks until I theoretically reach my peak immunity. Still, this removes a lot of anxiety from the equation. Rory was so relieved that he was near tears! This means that, once I’ve achieved immunity status, I’ll be able to take over most if not all of the shopping, giving Rory a much-needed break. Also, since Basil is once again participating in theater over at the high school, her exposure to other students won’t be quite as much of an issue. Oh, I also forgot to mention: Basil will be participating in a clinical trial of the vaccine for adolescents. Neither of the two vaccines currently being distributed in the US has been cleared for use on teens 16 years of age or younger and we figured that this might be a way of getting at least one of our critters immunized, although the trial (I think) is a double-blind, which means that there is about a 33% chance that she’ll receive a placebo rather than the actual drug. We’ve already cleared this with Basil and she’s willing to play the part of a guinea pig! The risks, while they do exist, are very low and I’m fairly confident that she won’t experience any side effects. My own experience with the vaccine has so far been problem-free, other than a sore deltoid muscle which lasted for about 48 hours. Easy peasy!

WOOT. I have achieved tidiness in our master bathroom! All cabinets and drawers have been weeded through and wiped clean. Rory, God bless him, even mucked out his closet! I swear, Marie Condo would beam with approval if she walked in there right now! Now I have to follow up with another closet purge of my own. I’ve gotten all the girls’ keepsake things, which were taking up an entire upper shelf in my closet and a drawer in my dresser, carefully sorted according to girl and safely packed away in plastic bins. On the kitchen wall front: I’ve completed all the TSP washing and more than half of the initial sanding. I should be able to finish the rest in another day and then I can apply the sealant. I’ve also removed some of the ridiculously cheesy linoleum that was acting as a backsplash over one smaller counter section. It wasn’t easy – it was nasty brittle stuff that shattered as I pulled on it and I ended up having to use a linoleum cutter to remove it cleanly. Still, despite the hard-core glue that must have been used to adhere it to the wall, I was able to get rid of it without badly damaging the drywall behind it. Now I’m beginning to ponder removing the rest of the backsplash. If I do, I’ll be able to skim coat the drywall and then maybe even install a much nicer tile treatment in its place. I think there may be a VERY long trip to the tile section in Lowes in my future!😆

Did I say that this would be a short post? Yep, I lied. Right. That dishwasher isn’t going to unload itself. Gotta go do the needful!