The front door has been completed.  This is the most impactful change that I have made in the appearance of the house in nearly 21 years of ownership.  I've done other substantive repairs and improvements in the past--plumbing, gutters, roofs, and last year we (my next door neighbor and I) replaced the shared front steps, which definitely improved the look of the front of the house, but only in comparison to how horrible the old stairs were.  They're just concrete stairs, after all.  But this new door is a substantial change from the old one. 

Since my current next-door neighbor changed her door to bright yellow before she moved in, our twin now has the most colorful front doors on a block where 2/3s of the houses are very similar concrete block twins, most (including ours) painted white. With new stairs, railings, and doors, both our houses are upgraded from before.

The door I bought has an arched window.  Most of the glass is frosted but there is a center panel where it is clear.  I did have 3 small windows at the top of the old door, but I wasn't really prepared for how much more light comes in in the morning now.  I keep on having the feeling that I've left the door open by mistake.

And that's another change.  The old door had a storm door.  The new one doesn't require one.  The company that installed the door has a lifetime warranty for the purchaser and one homeowner after the purchaser, and because they put that guarantee on their work, they don't do storm doors.  I could replace the storm door but at this point am undecided about doing it on the front.

They were supposed to put in the back door on Friday as well, but the pre-install inspector measured incorrectly, so they are re-doing the back door and I will have to have another installation day.  The back door is much plainer.  I probably *will* add back a storm door on the back with a screen that pulls up and down.  That's what I have now and typically when I am at home and the weather is right, I'll leave the back door open with that screen for venting.

In any case, they would not have been able to do both doors in one day.  The front door took 8.5 hours--he was at my house from 8 to 5:30.  It's because of how much had deteriorated behind the doors so that he had to replace the wood frame that the door is attached to.  

The house is 111 years old.  I don't know if the front door had been replaced previously but it could have been the original.  In any case, while the door itself was sturdy, someone had spraypainted a red square on the bottom and it was otherwise rather beat up and not particularly attractive.

I *know* the windows are original.  They have storm windows that and slide up and down on rope cords.  I have always loved that feature of the house.  That said, my downstairs is a bit drafty in the winter and there are 3-4 months of the year where I only stay downstairs to prepare and eat meals and otherwise stay in my bedroom (where the same company replaced the windows in 2013).

Of course there was an offer to replace the remaining 13 windows--I had the three bedroom windows and a broken dining room window done previously.  If I were going to remain in this house for another 20 years, I would probably opt for a restoration of the windows--I live right outside of an historic district, so there are local companies that specialize in historic renovations.  But I'm not planning to stay another 20 years.  I'm planning to stay in this house another 6 to 10 years at most.  And because of that, I decided to think like a prospective home seller rather than as a home owner.  And relatively new doors and windows on a house will sell better than nearly 120 year old windows (by the time I sell).  Because I made a commitment on the spot, I was able to get a price guarantee that was 28% less than what I would pay if I waited, and they made the guarantee good for two years since I agreed to have about half (7) of the windows (the ones downstairs) done this year with the remaining done next year.  That will be the costliest renovation I will have done to the house.  But it also gives me additional incentive to declutter the "storage room" upstairs, since I can't have the windows done in that room until they are much more accessible than they are now.  Also hopefully the upgraded insulation from the new windows will make the downstairs of the house warmer than it currently is during the winter, and maybe I'll go back to using my dining room in the winter again the way that I do the rest of the year.

Now that the blogs are back, I can catch up a bit.  I actually had written a timely post about my second week off, but SA "ate" the post even though I tried to save the draft.  So here it is, reconstructed and added on to.

Anyways, my second week off:  This started with a night away at an Inn along the Delaware River, about 20 miles away from home--not far but far enough to "get away."  The Inn has new owners so they were offering a special on the room rate and I was able to stay for $120--which is about half the price it will eventually cost.  They are still working a few kinks out but it was nice to get away.  There is a nice restaurant downstairs, so I was able to have a decent dinner with a glass of wine, and I jogged along the towpath both in the afternoon when I arrived and first thing the next morning.  I dined indoors in an air-conditioned room with large picture windows facing the river and sat outside on the porch (where they also serve food) in the morning.  The inn was closed for breakfast but I drove to a nearby town to eat, wandered around a bit there, then drove back along the river, stopping at a bookstore to browse and at a restaurant for lunch on my way home.  A short getaway, but enought to feel that I am not completely "vacation-deprived" this year.

I didn't have any meetings at work my second week off, but I did have two mandatory software trainings, which was annoying.  I also went to a lunch event sponsored by a funeral home that is trying to get people to pre-plan their funerals (which I agree, having lost both my parents, is a great idea.)  My father didn't have anything planned before he died, but my mother took care of just about everything except the headstone ahead of time, which made it much easier for my sister and I when she passed.  I don't know that I will take care of this NOW, but I will take care of it SOON--most likely just as soon as I retire.  I have a "certificate of internment" (you don't actually buy a plot but you buy the right to be buried in a particular place) that was gifted to me by my sister, which is in the same place where my parents are buried (and which is, incidentally, the same cemetary where Marilyn Monroe and several other stars have their final resting spots).  Right after Mom died, my sister decided that, since she was in her mid-40s, it was unlikely that she would ever marry and so she might as well make sure that she could be buried near our parents.  They were only selling double plots at that time, so she bought two and gifted me the right to use the other half.  The two women who I am going to appoint my executors are co-workers, not really close personal friends (we are friendly but don't really socialize outside of work), so I feel particularly obligated to take care of as much as possible beforehand.  Especially because since I am in PA and the internment site is in CA, I need to have plans made to have my body cremated and put in an urn and the urn shipped out to the cemetary, and I guess a marker as well, at the least. I have a follow up appointment with a person from the funeral home at the end of this coming week where I will learn more.

I also saw my eye doctor (interestingly, I am now half as nearsighted as I was at 50) and had a blood draw and I arranged to replace my front and back doors, which may be the one thing on my planned list of home projects that actually gets done this year.  That project is scheduled for completion on August 28th.

So: the blood draw for the big direct-to-consumer test.  It was less tiring than I thought it would be--they take about 8 vials of blood and I expected to be fatigued after.  Also the phlebotemist was very good and I had virtually no bruising--compared to the blood draw before this one, when I had a single test done and ended up with a large bruise that took a week to go away.  I used "Vitals Vault," which of one of several direct-to-consumer blood test services out there.  Some of the services, like Function and Superpower, involve an annual subscription (Function's is currently $365 and Superpower is $199); Vitals Vault doesn't require a subscription.  Also Function offers about 100 tests and then a re-test of 60 of the same markers at around the 6-month mark for that fee; Superpower also has about 100; and Vitals Vault has 3 tiers:  120 markers for $99, 140 for $199, and 160 for $399.  With all the services, you can get a review with a human clinician--it's more automatic with Function and Superpower, but I have one scheduled by request for no additional cost with Pocket MD.  All three of these providers will give you both traditional ranges and "functional" ranges, which tell you not just what is average, but what is optimal.

I'm still waiting on the final report (I do have all the lab results; there seems to be some hangup with the final interpretive PDF report, which I have a support ticket in for).  What I do have is a series of extensive conversations with "Pocket MD," the program's AI. The testing (blood + urinalysis) found that I have an (asymptomatic) UTI, which I verified with a second draw ordered by my doctor, and some generally heightened inflammation scores--part of which may be elevated by the UTI.  So I'll be having some targeted re-testing of some markers done after the UTI is resolved.  They also have you put in your supplement stack and they suggested that, while supplementing iron is the right instinct, the fact that I have elevated inflammation means that the iron I take isn't being well absorbed (because of "hepcidin"), so that I need to deal with the inflammation first; also. they suggested that I change the form of iron I take and the timing.  Apparently, taking it in the morning along with my coffee was also interfering with absorption.  Finally, I added lactoferrin (which they didn't suggest, but which was suggested on the anemia boards on Reddit, and they agreed it was a smart move).  They also pointed out that I need to supplement Vitamin D, Omega 3s, and selenium (the last of which i had been taking but not consistently). 

They also suggested an order for tackling issues, generated both a home and a gym workout plan and told me which supplements I take provide the least value so that I can cut them out (and I now have a schedule for taking the ones that I AM taking).  I have my follow up appointment on 8/29 and they suggested that, at that time, I schedule a second follow-up for November for some issues which may be slower to resolve.  They also guided me to a source for integrative (functional) medicine MDs and suggested I might add one as a provider, which I am considering doing, considering that I have a few issues going on.  My PCP will give me referrals upon request and is responsive, but he is a traditional allopathic doctor, and the endocrinologist I went to, who was head of the division at one of the local hospital networks just focused on a potential surgical intervention for a thyroid nodule which has been very stable for several years--I found him completely unhelpful.  I have a couple of integrative MD names and may schedule with one of them, but I'll decide that sometime this fall or even later depending on what progress I make in the interim.

So I am hopeful that with getting the UTI under control, changing the form and timing of my iron supplement, adding in the lactoferrin and Vitamin C to help iron absorption and the Vitamin D, selenium, and Omega 3s, as well as getting serious about adding in strength training and changing the timing of when I eat carbs (no more cereal first) that I will begin to make some progress and feel less tired.