Too many new normals

We are still having problems with sealant/caulking stinking up our family room where the new sliding glass door was installed, so we still have that room sealed off from the rest of the house. On Tuesday it will have been four weeks that we have been dealing with this. We are getting used to the “new normal“ of living without the biggest room in our house and having toys strewn about the rest of the house, and we are also getting sick of it. The original installer of the sliding glass door has come back three times to try to fix the problem and the problem is not fixed, so we are having someone else come in the hopes that they can fix it.

In addition to that, my trike, which is my main form of mobility for getting out of the house with the family, going on walks, etc., is out of commission. It’s a relatively simple problem (a problem with one of the bearings, which I probably could normally fix myself) but because of rust it is turning into a bigger problem. And the bike shop that we took it to was so busy they didn’t even look at it until more than two weeks after we dropped it off there, and basically they said they can’t fix it. Fortunately one of the volunteers who helped to modify the trike for me in the first place is going to help. I am getting used to not having it, but I want it back because I want to be able to do what I’m used to being able to do. This weekend we would have gone on a little hike, but I couldn’t go because I don’t have my trike. It is frustrating.

In the meantime it feels like summer is melting away. How can it be halfway through July? There are so many things we would like to do this summer, but it feels like we are not able to do them because we are constantly dealing with problems (the squirrels, of course Covid, now these problems).

But really we are not doing badly at all. It’s all about perspective, and remembering what we are doing and what we can do instead of the opposite.

We are getting outside, spending time as a family, and watching our daughters learn and grow. We are fine. And Linden can be oh so cute: