Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Tuesday, October 12, 2021 -- Mattie died 628 weeks ago today.

Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2008. Mattie was home between hospital treatments and though we were not able to go to any public fall festivals given Mattie's immuno-compromised state, we did buy him several pumpkins. Mattie loved everything pumpkin. Including eating pumpkin cookies, muffins, and bread! In fact, prior to Mattie, I really did not like the taste of pumpkin. Mattie changed that for me, and now I love it just like him. 

Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins. 

• Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 44,541,990
• Number of people who died from the virus: 716,191

Every so often, I drive back into the city to get my nails done. I have been going to the same person since 2009, the year Mattie died. Since I see her often, I know all about her family, as she knows about Mattie and my family. In fact, her sister was my hairstylist (before she retired), and I started going to her for hair cuts at age 27. That is how far back we go. 

Going into town gives me the opportunity to drive through my old neighborhood and also stop for lunch at my favorite sandwich/salad place near Mattie's hospital. While walking through the streets of Georgetown today, I absolutely LOVED how people were decorating for Fall. This door step caught my attention. 

What is Peter holding up!? Try a huge wad of hair! This nightmare was stuck in the shower drain. Our plumber fished it out today. He tells me that this is what was causing the smell in the bathroom. I literally thought it was sewer gas from the toilet, that is how bad the smell was. He has now cleaned out the pipe and put enzymes in it to break up anything else and help with the smell. We shall see, oh and by the way in addition to this wad of hair there were also Starbuck's straws in the drain. Do people really drink things while showering??? I am perplexed.

Yesterday I bought these items at the craft store. 

Today I used a wire cutter and a hot glue gun and assembled this fall wreath for our front door. 

I typically do this type of creativity project for other people. But I wanted fall colors on the door and I debated whether to buy a pre-made wreath or make one. I elected to make one. That way it is unique. It maybe hard to see but there are pinecones and small pumpkin-like ornaments hot glued to the wreath. How did I learn to use a hot glue gun? From Mattie! He learned to use one in preschool and he wanted one for home. He showed me how to use it and I have been using one ever since!