Weary Wednesday

Well, I just got finished cleaning up after tiling the bathroom most of the day. The day started out pretty much like yesterday...Kathleen slept on the couch again last night, she was not feeling very well again last night.

So this morning when I got up, I went out the back door to get the paper and then read it in the kitchen at the table. I made myself oatmeal again; it has just been that kind of weather that oatmeal sounds pretty good. While I was eating breakfast, the roofing crew came back to finish putting on the copper strip on the peak of the roof.

Yesterday they did not have enough copper to finish the job, so they told me that they would be back today. I did not think that it would be shortly after 0800 though. Anyway, Kathleen got up a little after 0930, so I called Stan to let him know that it would be okay to come on over.

This morning we put down the border tile that we laid out yesterday. Then today we started to lay out and put down the full sheets of tile. After we put down as many full sheets as we could we started to lay out and put down some of the smaller pieces. We finally quit about 1600 with about nine pieces yet to lay out and put down.

Stan wanted to let the other pieces set before he attempted the smaller and odd shapes around where the toilet is. Stan took all his tools home as he is going to be gone until the twelfth of November when he returns from his hunting trip. So with all his stuff gone I will have a little room to move around and work.

Well, it is only a few minutes until the trick-or treaters start showing up at the door. We never know how many to prepare for, some years it is only a few and other years there are quite a lot. Seeing as the weather is so nice we could have a fair number of goblins.

So I think that I will say good night now, so that I can get the door as Kathleen had not gotten dressy again today.

Tiling Time Tuesday

Well, Kathleen slept on the couch last night, so that she would be close to the bathroom and not have to worry about going downstairs in the dark. So when I got up this morning I tried to be as quiet as possible and not wake her up.

I emptied the dishwasher, and then went out the back door to get the paper off the front porch, and then read it in the kitchen so that I would not disturb her by turning on lights. She was still sleeping when I made myself breakfast, but she woke up as I was finishing. She still was not feeling well, but she felt a lot better than she did last night.

I called Stan and told him that he could come over, so he said that he would be over in a half hour or so. In the mean time Todd called and said that they had a cancellation and his crew would be over this morning. I had kind of had it worked out so that he would be here while Stan was off hunting, but things do not always go as planned.

Kathleen needed me to pick up some things at the grocery store, so I made a list of the things that we were out of and went through my coupons and took out the expired ones and the ones that I would use today. I also had over six hundred dollars in insurance refund checks that I needed to deposit at the credit union as well as about a hundred dollars in cash.

I also needed to stop a K-Mart as I had a coupon for a bag of free candy and a dollar off on two other bags, so I ran there first as it was closest, then to the credit union to make the deposit, while I was there I stopped at Home Depot to pick up a couple plumbing items and then on to WinCo to grocery shop.

I finally got back home a little before noon, so I was gone for about two hours. Stan was already here but I needed to put the groceries away before I could get started on the bathroom. Todd's roofing crew got here just as I finished putting the groceries away.

Once I had them working I went upstairs to change clothes so that I could work with Stan. We did some dry wall patching and also framed in the area were we put the dry wall up. Then Stan cut the tile for the border and before we knew it, it was 1800. But we have the entire border cut and laid out on the floor, so tomorrow we will lay out the rest of the tile and then start to actually tile.

The roofing crew was only here a little over an hour, I was amazed at how much moss they got off the roof, but they clean all of it off the sidewalk and driveway. I will have to clean up what fell in the garden, but it does not look that bad.

Stan is going hunting until the twelfth of November, so the tile will set really well by then. Then he will grout it and then we can do the walls, so we will be with out our upstairs bathroom until sometime in the middle of November. It is almost like camping out!

Well, tonight I mixed the leftover tuna casserole with the leftover cream of chicken soup that Kathleen did not want and then had a brat on a whole wheat bun for dinner. Not the most nutritious meal, but I did not have the energy to be too concerned with that. Well I feel tired; I did a lot more running around than I would have like to today, but it all needed doing.

I am sure that there is more that I did today, but right now I cannot think of anything, so I think that I will just say good night!

Miserable Monday Morning

Well, this is certainly not the way I had planned today to go. I got up just before 0600 and I heard Kathleen come downstairs shortly after that, I was busy on my computer and thought that she had gone back upstairs as I did not see her downstairs. As I sat down to read the paper I heard a moaning sound, so I went to investigate and it was Kathleen getting sick in the bathroom.

She must have been in there quite a while and when she went to get up I had to help her into the living room and onto the couch. Next I had to get her two blankets and a comforter just to try to get her so that she was not feeling like she was freezing.

While she was trying to go back to sleep I was busy cleaning up the bathroom. aside from the toilet, I had to scrub with bleach the bathroom garbage can...then I had to try to get myself into the mood where I could fix myself some breakfast. Before I made myself breakfast I called Stan to let him know that Kathleen was sick and it probably would be better if he did not come over today.

After I finished breakfast, I put the dishes into the dishwasher and then washed the pots and pans and other hand wash utensils. I saw the mail truck across the street, so I went out the back door and got the mail, as I did not want to disturb Kathleen who by now was sleeping on the couch.

After looking through the mail, I heard Kathleen in the other room, she wanted me to call Jack and talk to him about the kick plate on the vanity for the upstairs bathroom, so I did. Then I went outside to rake the leaves in the front lawn. Kathleen was feeling a little better and she went upstairs and put on a pair of sweats and came back downstairs, so when Jack came she was sitting on the couch.

Jack stayed about a half of an hour and showed us the tile that he was going to use on the vanity top. After he left I went back to raking leaves. I actually had all the leaves up off the ground when I went into the back yard.

I thought that since I would not be working in the house today I might as well get as much done outside as I could. Since it was not raining the leaves were pretty easy to rake and I wanted to get them off the ground while I could. I started in the middle level of the back yard and then worked on the upper level and finally the lower level until I had raked the whole back lawn.

I think that this was the first time that I had actually gotten the whole lawn raked at the same time in a very long time. Still felling pretty good I decided that I would start working on spent raspberry vines. While I was doing my fall pruning of the raspberries I also tied up the vines that I was keeping for next year. I got about three quarters of the berries pruned and tied up, so next time I work on them I will not have a lot to do.

I finally decided that I would go inside and see how Kathleen was doing. She was pretty much asleep, so I made myself a brot on a bun for lunch. After eating I went upstairs and took the rest of the cove molding off the bathroom and then took the molding outside to my pile of wood and other things that came out of the bathroom.

I wanted to take advantage of the non rain day as I could so I went upstairs and got my hammer and started to pull all the nails out of the scrap lumber. I had taken some of the nails out of some of it before, but I wanted to get the rest out to prevent someone from getting hurt on them.

When I finished I went inside and sat down for a while, but I kept dozing off, I probably would have been better going upstairs and actually taking a nap, but I thought that I should stay downstairs in case Kathleen needed something.

It is a good thing that I did, because pretty soon she asked me to make her some Jell-o and some cream of chicken soup. Since it was almost 1800, I decided that I might as well make myself something to east as well. We had some left-over tuna casserole, so I heated a bowl up in the micro-wave. When I finished it, I heated up another one and that one satisfied me.

Well, it has been an interesting day and I think that the only thing left is for me to say good night.

Still a Sunny Sunday

Today was another beautiful day; I did not get up until 0730 and felt pretty rested. I had awoken a couple times during the night because I was having a hard time breathing and was coughing, lots of sinus drainage. Then after I was up for a few minutes I started coughing again and could not stop.

By the time Kathleen got up I could hardly talk, and my voice sounded really raspy. She said that it was a lot lower than it normally was and sounded like it hurt to talk, while it did not hurt to talk, I was feeling kind of yucky, so needless to say I did not make it to church. Kathleen did not feel too wide awake and so she stayed home as well.

Once I knew Kathleen was up, I gathered up the towels and washed them and while they were washing I started reading the paper. By the time I finished the paper the towels were dry, so I folded them and put them away.

I was starting to feel better so I told Kathleen that I was going to take a walk and see if some fresh air would help me. I wound up walking about five and a half miles and by the time I got home I was tired, but felt better.

Kathleen wanted to go to the Home Depot at Mall 205 as they had some of the cove tile that she needed for the upstairs bathroom. So I went along to lug the boxes, on the way she stopped at Tile for Less to check on something, and we spent over an hour there.

They suggested that she look at Color Tile for something that they did not have in stock, so we drove there and I stayed in the car as my feet were a little sore from walking and standing around in Tile for Less. Luckily they were only open for about fifteen minutes more so she was not there very long.

Then we took off for Home Depot, while she went to the tile section, I went to electrical to look about some canned lighting and baffles for above the sink in the upstairs bathroom. While I was there I also looked at what we could do to replace the square canned lights above the stairs, but I could not find anything that I thought would work.

We finally left and by the time we got home and I lugged everything out of the car it was almost 1800. I changed clothes and Kathleen started to boil some noodles for a tuna casserole. I am sorry to see today come to an end, for one thing it was such a beautiful day and it also means that tomorrow I get to work some more on the bathroom.

I hope everyone had a good weekend, I got a far amount done and even enjoyed the beautiful fall weather. Well I think that pretty much sums up my day, so I will just say good night.

Satisfying Sunny Saturday

I did not sleep in this morning like I thought that I might but I felt pretty rested so when I went downstairs and made myself some hash browns, a couple of eggs and some toast. Then I unloaded the dishwasher and loaded the dishes from last night and my breakfast dishes. Since I used two pans for my breakfast I also washed them.

I had a couple water jugs of water that I set out last night so that I could change the beta's water as it was getting pretty green, so I did that and then went and read the paper. After finishing the paper, I thought that I would go for a walk as Kathleen had just gotten up.

So I went upstairs and told her and then took off for a couple hours. I met a friend and her daughter from church and talked to her for a while and then continued to pick up trash. With the wind blowing as much as it has the last couple days, the trash from the fast food places was all over the place. I filled up five bags of trash this morning and it was about 1130 by the time I got home.

Kathleen still had not gotten dressed yet, so I made myself a brot on a whole wheat bun. After I finished eating lunch I decided to call my Mother to see how she was doing. I had not had time to call this week as I had been working on the upstairs bathroom all week. After talking to Mom and Sue for about forty-five minutes I decided to go outside and do some work...I just could not see staying inside waiting for Kathleen to get dressed.

I spent until 1630 chipping and shredding branches, fir cones and walnut shells. I tried to do some of the branches from the hedge, but they were in my barrel and were just too wet, they kept clogging up the works as they would stick to the shoot and cause it to stall, so I just decided to wait on them until some other time.

By the time I got done and cleaned up Kathleen was ready to go, but I was just too tired and my feet were sore from being on them so long. So Kathleen has taken off now and I am not sure what we are going to have for dinner.

Well, this is a little early, but I am just tired enough that I wanted to get this done before I get too tired later on tonight. I did not get a lot done today, but I feel satisfied, so I am just going to say good night now.

A Fine Fall Friday

I must have been really tired yesterday as I went to bed about 2200 and did not wake up until after 0600. Normally I will wake up a couple times during the night, but not last night, I do not remember waking up at all until I woke up.

Since Stan said that he would be over a little later today as he was finishing up a painting job today, so after eating breakfast and reading the paper I swept and mopped the kitchen floor, then I vacuumed the downstairs carpeting.

Kathleen had not gotten up yet so I went outside and swept the sidewalk and front porch; then did a little tree sucker digging out and weeding. I had not done it for a while as it has either been raining or I have been busy working inside. After a while I went inside and cleaned up and went upstairs to see if Kathleen was up yet...she was, so I put on my work clothes and went to work cleaning up the bathroom.

I took all of Stan's tools out, picked up and threw out all the nails, screws, scrap wood, and drywall and what ever else I could find then I swept the floor twice. Once I had the bathroom looking in pretty good shape, I decided that I would go out and rake the front lawn.

Well, while it was a nice day outside it was rather windy; the leaves were blowing off the trees quicker than I could rake them up. I finally got 99% of them raked up and decided that I probably should mow as the last time I mowed the lawn was still pretty wet.

So I got out my little reel mower and proceeded to mow. I almost always mow on the diagonal, and today was no exception except I went both ways to get a better cut on the lawn. Before I finished mowing there were enough leave that had fallen that I could have raked again...but I did not!

While I was raking Kathleen took off to go pick up the floor tile, a new bathroom mirror, towel rack and other bathroom accessories. While she was gone Todd called about our roof, and gave me the price to clean off the moss, spray it to help prevent more moss from growing and also put down some copper strips to deter it from growing as fast.

It was more expensive that what I could have done it myself, but I am not able to do it myself, one of the many things that discourage me about getting older and not in the greatest health. So I told Todd to go ahead and schedule us in as soon as possible, and it looks like it will work out so that the ten days or so that Stan will be off hunting, Todd will be able to do the work on the roof.

Anyway after I finished mowing, I went inside and cleaned up. It was a little after 1300 so I decided to make myself some lunch. I opened up the refrigerator to see what I had to work with and then remembered that Kathleen had bought a package of Johnsonville Brots and some whole wheat buns, so I made one. After I finished it I was still hungry, so I made another...that one did the trick.

Stan called just as I started eating the second brot, and said that he would be over in about forty-five minutes, so while I waited for him I read the mail...mostly junk.

Stan got here about 1415 and shortly after he got here, Jack, the contractor who is building the vanity and upper cabinets, called and said that he could no longer get the marble that Kathleen wanted for the vanity top, so I gave him Kathleen's cell and said that he would need to tell her and see what she wanted to do. I am just the grunt and bill payer, she get to pick out what she wants for color and accessories.

Today we got the fiberboard cut and put in place and also put a rough coat of compound on the walls. Kathleen came home while we were putting the fiberboard down and showed me what she found. By the time Stan and I finished cleaning up if was around 1800, so I was pretty tired. Luckily Stan will not be back until Monday, so I will have a couple days to rest a little. I still have work that I need to do, but at least I can do it in my own schedule.

Tonight for dinner we had the last of the lasagna from last night and the last of the Jell-o, I was not quite satisfied so I made myself a slice of English muffin pizza, spaghetti sauce with melted cheese on the toast.

I almost hate to see today come to an end, it was so nice outside, but the next couple of days are suppose to be pretty nice as well. Well, I guess that this is it for today, good night!

Thursday's Trials

I was up early again this morning, so that I could get a few things done before Stan got here. So after breakfast I started to read the paper, Toni called and wanted to talk to Kathleen, I told her that she was still sleeping as she had not gotten home before I went to bed last night at 2230. She said it was important so I went upstairs and woke Kathleen up.

Then I went back downstairs and finished reading the paper, but before I finished again, Toni called again and wanted to know if Kathleen could take her to a doctor's appointment, so I went upstairs and wake Kathleen up again. This time Kathleen got up and got ready to get Toni and take her to the doctor's office.

Shortly after she left I took off to go to Home Depot. When I tried to start my Jeep all I got was the good old dead battery clicking. So I got out pushed the Jeep out of the garage a little so that I could get to the hood and then I hooked up my jump starter to the battery and started the Jeep.

I let it run a little while I put the jump starter away and then went to Home Depot. While I was there I bumped into Stan, he was buying some things for himself. He called the house, but no one was home, Kathleen was with Toni and I was probably trying to get my Jeep started. The battery does not stay charged because I do not drive it enough.

I have only put 100 miles on it since the first of July and I have not driven it for three or so weeks and that was only for a couple miles, so making two trips to Home Depot today helped charge up the battery a little...at least I hope so.

Anyway, I got what I had on my list and Stan was right in front of me at the checkout so he said that as soon as he got home he would head to mine. So when I got home I unloaded the stuff I got at Home Depot and then changed into my work clothes.

Once we started we realized that I needed a couple other things, hence the second trip to Home Depot. After getting back the second time and changing into my work clothes again we started to install the ceiling light fixture and the heater/fan/light/night light fixture, but before we did that we needed to fix some things to make everything work properly.

I suggested that we pre-wire the fan/light/heater/night light fixture before we tried to hang it as it would be easier to do it on the ground then after it was mounted. Once we got the fixtures mounted we measured for the dry wall. But like most everything in this house, nothing was square, parallel or plumb, so we had to shim and scab boards onto the existing ones.

Kathleen came home after finishing up with Toni and then called to see how Alyssa was doing and it turns out Andrea was not feeling well either. So we kind of traced the problem to some food that they ate at Ikea. Kathleen called them to let them know as that was the only food that both girls had in common, and the doctor’s office had said that it was from something that Toni had eaten.

Well, even thought we did everything we could the dry wall still did not fit, so we had to do a little on site trimming. We finally got it up and did a few other things and by this time it was 1730 and Stan needed to leave.

So tomorrow morning I will have to clean up the mess, I am just too tired tonight, and then we can get ready to put the fiber board down. I am not sure what else Stan has in mind to do, but he has to finish up another job first thing in the morning, so that will give me an opportunity to get some of that work done.

Kathleen had bought a frozen lasagna dinner last night that she cooked for dinner tonight along with some apple sauce. I know that I was hungry, as I had not had any lunch, but the lasagna really tasted good. Well as I said earlier, I am really tired, so I think that I am just going to say good night.

Working Wednesday

I got up early again this morning so that I could get a few things done before Stan got here, so I had my oatmeal and read the paper and then I started some more demolition. This morning I took the nails out of the wood that we ripped out of the floor and one wall so that no one would step on them.

Then I went upstairs and tore out some more dry wall, took out the florescent light fixture and then cleaned up the mess that I made so that it would not be tracked all over the house. As I was outside the mailman came so I went out to the street and got the mail from him. There was not much there, so I recycled most of it.

About noon I decided to make myself lunch as I had eaten breakfast earlier than I usually do and I was starting to get a little hungry. Since Stan had not gotten here I though I would take advantage of it and eat while I could.

Shortly after I ate, Kathleen left to pick up Alyssa so that she could take her to the hospital. Originally, she was going to watch the grandchildren, but Hayden was coming down with something, so Alyssa thought that it would be better for Dan to stay with them and Kathleen to take her.

Stan finally got here around 1400 as he was finishing up another project. We tore off the portion of the ceiling that we needed to patch, where I had taken out the florescent light, the can light and the fan. Rather than do a patchwork patch job, we thought that it would look better if we replaced that whole section to make it look nicer.

Stan had to leave early and he and his wife were going to look for some windows for their house. He had not realized that it was as late as it was, so we did not get a lot done today.

Tomorrow I will need to go out and get some electrical boxes, new outlets and some switches. I could have gone tonight, but I was tired and Kathleen had some things that she wanted to pick up. Stan has to finish up another job tomorrow morning, so I am hoping that we can go to the store and pick the stuff up and get back before Stan gets here.

Kathleen called a couple times to let me know that Alyssa wan in the recovery room and probably would be leaving there about 1900 or so, so that means that Kathleen would not be coming home until around 2000.

With that in mind I decided that I would make myself a Morning Star basil and sun dried tomato pizza flavored veggie burger and some Tatar Tots for dinner. Just as I was sitting down to eat, Andrea, Toni and Brandon drove up, so I opened the door for them and told them that I was just sitting down to eat.

They waited in the living room while I ate. Then when I got done eating I went into the living room and played with Brandon for a while. He is really starting to crawl around a lot. He was giggling and cooing the whole time he was here.

Well, I am tired, I have not had any time to regroup and rest up at all this week, so I am looking forward to the weekend. I can not think of anything else to write about so I will just say good night.

Tuesday's Tiredness

When I woke up this morning, I was still pretty tired, but I needed to get up so that I could get some work done before Stan got here. I made myself a cheese omelet using the egg whites from some of Kathleen's yokes. Then I loaded up the dishwasher and started it up.

Then I went upstairs and took the laundry downstairs. I washed the light clothes first as Kathleen said that is what she needed most. Then I went back upstairs to go into the attic, but just as I was getting ready to climb the ladder, the front doorbell rang, so I went downstairs to see who was there, it was Todd Mix, who I had called the other day to come out and check out our roof to see if he could fix the leak that developed with the downpour that we had last week.

He said that the biggest problem was the fir needles in the valley, normally I would clean them out when I cleaned out the gutters, usually about five or six times a year, but since I got the Leaf Guard gutters, I have not had to clean out the gutters, so the valleys have gotten neglected.

While he was here he cleaned out the one valley and put a couple tin shingles in the valley where the leak was coming from. I also am having him come back and clean off the front roof and install some copper strips at the center peak and also the two peaks of the dormers. Hopefully that will help with the moss problem on the front side of the house.

So when Todd left I noticed that the washer had finished so I unloaded it and put the whites into the dryer and turned it on. Then I loaded up the dark clothes and then went back to my next task of climbing up into the attic and remove the old bathroom fan and canned light fixture. The hard part was just getting to where they were.

I do not think that anyone besides myself has been really into the attic; I know that a few of the children and Kathleen have been to the opening, but crawling through the rafters and all the other beams in the attic is really hard on the knees.

I have put down some wood in places where I have moved around frequently, but there are an awful lot of places where it is just ceiling joists to kneel on. The there is the problem of not enough room to conveniently use tools, so everything I tried to do took two or three times as long as it should have.

I finally was able to remove the two things that I had planned on removing, and even traced a couple wires to find out what they were connected to. The next task was to make it back to the opening, so that I could climb back down the ladder retrieving my tool bas and light as I went.

After sealing up the trap door in the ceiling, I went back into the bathroom to clean up the insulation that fell while I was removing the light and fan. Then I went downstairs and took the light clothes out of the dryer and put the dark clothes into it. Then I took the light clothes upstairs folded and put away the clothes.

Well, it was far too nice a day to spend inside, so I thought that I would blow the fir needles off the driveway, so I did that and then I decided to rake the leaves off the back lawn and then mow it. So by the time that I got it all done I was pretty tired, so I cleaned up and decided that I would make myself something to eat.

I decided to have a veggie burger on toast and also have some of the mac and cheese with tuna from the other night. By the time I got done eating it was 1430 so I emptied the dryer and went upstairs to fold and put away the dark clothes. Then I went back downstairs and emptied the dishwasher and put everything away.

Since Stan had not called yet, I thought that I might as well read the paper and the mail. Just as I was finishing the paper, Stan called and said that he would be over in a little while. He had stopped off and picked up the plywood, drywall, some lumber and a new bathroom door, so helped him unload his truck and then we went to work.

The floor joists had been notched where there must have been a pipe go trough it at some point in time, so we cut a 2x6 into four pieces and scabbed them to the existing joists. Next we cut a piece of plywood and nailed it to the joists, we needed to shim it in a couple places and since it was about 1800 Stan decided to call it a day.

He needed to pick up some fiber board to lay down on top of the plywood and thought that it would be too late to get started on it when he got back, so hopefully we will get to that tomorrow.

When he left I went back to reading the mail and watched Fox news. Kathleen reheated the roast and noodles from last night, there was not quite enough, so I used the rest of the mac and cheese and tuna. She also had some Jell-o for good measure.

Well, that was my day, I am pretty tired, but at least I feel like I got a few things done today. Here are a couple pictures of the bathroom that Kathleen took yesterday. Enjoy and good night!

This is where we needed to replace the floor, notice the walnuts in the second photo!

Monday's Makeover

I slept pretty well last night and when I got up I felt pretty good so after I ate breakfast and read the paper I went out and raked and mowed the front lawn. It was still pretty damp from the dew, but I knew that if I had not gotten it done when I did, I would not have gotten it done.

Shortly after I finished, Kathleen went out to Home Depot to check on the tile there and whatever else she could find. She needed to get back before noon as Alyssa was bringing her boys over while she went to the urologist to have everything checked.

Shortly after she left Stan, one of our contractors came over and started to work, since I was helping him I needed to be here. Kathleen returned a little after noon and out other contractor, Jack, came over with the base for the new vanity. We are not going to install it yet, but he wanted us to have it so that when we tile we would have something to tile up to.

Today we pulled out the plywood that was at the top of the stairs, so that I could get at the wiring. Then we went to work on the bathroom. First we took the toilet out and then the sink and old vanity. Next we pulled out the old medicine cabinet and then the old linen closet.

Once we had everything out of the bathroom we started on the floor. We took up the linoleum and then the plywood and other flooring so that we got down to the joists. We found a little dry rot in the corner by the shower, so that is why we are going to replace the floor. The rest of it was just a bunch of pieces so we are going to use one piece and make it so that it is smooth, that way the cement board and tile will lay flatter.

By the time we got all that done it was around 1600, so I started sweeping up and then vacuumed the floor and stairs where we had been dragging stuff outside. Then I emptied the shop vac and the smaller pieces of wood, the nails and other junk that I did not want to vacuum up.

For diner tonight Kathleen used the rest of the roast, and boiled some noodles and added some peas. The she mixed some apple sauce and put some of the left over Jell-o on top. I had not stopped for lunch so I was really hungry, but I was also so tired that I could not eat much either.

Now that I have stopped for a while, I realize just how sore I am. Kathleen just left for Lowe's to pick up our fan/heater/light and hopefully a switch so that I do not need to put five switches into the same box.

Well, I am tired enough that I think that I will just say good night and hope that I will be able to get up tomorrow and take the old light, fan and canned light out of the ceiling early tomorrow morning.

Sunday Shadows

After several days of rain, I think that I saw some shadows today, not for very long, but just enough to show that the weather is changing. I felt a little better this morning, but my throat is still a little sore and my cough is coming back again, or maybe it is more noticeable because I am feeling a little better.

I ate my oatmeal this morning with the thought of making it to Sunday School, but my cough started to get worse and I knew that I did not want to expose myself to anyone else's colds, besides Kathleen did not get up until after 1100. So I read the paper and dozed on the couch, which reinforced my decision not to go this morning.

Around 1400 I reheated the rest of the leftover homemade rice-a-roni from the other night. There was not quite enough so I also made myself an English muffin bread pizza sandwich. I noticed that we had run out of forks, so I loaded all the dishes, glasses and silverware that I could find into the dishwasher and turned it on.

The sound on my computer had not been working for a while, and nothing that I did seemed to fix it, so I started to track the wires and I noticed that the speaker that should have had a LED light on was not on, so I looked at the place where it should have been connected and low and behold it was not connected. Once I plugged it in the sound was back...strange how that works!

By the time I got the wiring fixed, the dishwasher had finished, so I unloaded it and put everything away. Now we will at least have silverware for dinner. Earlier in the day I had kind of thought that I would rake and mow the front lawn, but I could never work up enough energy to do it.

For dinner tonight Kathleen made some macaroni and cheese with tuna, half of the cheese that she used was a Parmesan Reggiano that we got from Trader Joe's which really gave it a very distinctive flavor. She also made some red Jell-O with a banana and a can of mandarin oranges.

Well, that was pretty much my day, pretty uneventful. I think that I will call it a day and hope that I can get a little more done tomorrow. With that said, I think that I will just say good night now and call it a day.

Stormy Saturday

Well actually it was a continuation from the last couple of days, but it really rained last night. The driveway looked like it was in the middle of a forest with all the fir needles lying around. There were even a few branches that had blown down but nothing very big.

I decided not to go to the men's breakfast this morning, my ear and throat were still bothering me and I did not want to pass it on to someone else nor did I want to get any worse by going, so I just made myself an egg beater and a veggie sausage for breakfast.

After eating breakfast and putting my dishes into the dishwasher I washed the pots from last nights roast and then I went into the living room to read the paper. It was so dark outside that it almost looked like it was the middle of the night. After a while the mail came, but there really was not anything important there either.

I got to feeling a little worse, so I just kind of loafed around the house the rest of the day. I did go outside for a while and rake the fir needles out of the gap between where the lawn ended and the road began so that the water would not build up there too much. While I was sat it I also got out my hoe and re-dug the path from the walkway to the garden so that the water would not collect there at the end of the steps.

Kathleen wanted me to go with here to look at tile and run a few errands, so we took off and found some tile for the bathroom floor and also got some more of her instant Mocha mix while we were at it. We were both really tired so we did not want to stay out too long.

For dinner we heated up some of the left over roast, potatoes and carrots from last night. It probably tasted even better as the flavors had all kind of blended together and everything was pretty saturated with the juices.

Well, another pretty boring day and I do not envision it getting any better, so I will just say good night.

Friday's Funk

Another day that I did not go for my normal walk, my system still has not returned to its "normal" pre-colonoscopy schedule. So after making my way downstairs I made myself some oatmeal, it was really a hot cereal morning so oatmeal was a good choice for me.

After putting away my breakfast dishes, I dug out the vacuum cleaner; the living room carpet looked like a forest floor with all the fir needles on it. This time of year, with all the fir needles falling and the wet weather they really get tracked into the house every time someone comes in the front door.

The back door is a little better, but not much, there are just so many needles. Right now the back yard, especially under the cherry and ash trees is cover in about three inches of leaves. There are still plenty of leaves in the trees yet, so I am not going to try to rake them up now. I will either wait until we have a couple dry days or all the leaves fall, which ever comes first.

Aaron and Tami brought the girls over about 1100 and the girls quickly drug out some of their favorite toys and coloring books. I got to read some stories and after a while they started coloring.

Tami had made the girls PB&J sandwiches and some apple slices for the girl’s lunch, so while they colored I put the sandwiches and apple slices on plates and added some pretzel sticks. I also made up two quarts of Crystal Lite for the girls to drink. After eating I gave the girls a pack of fruit snacks for an after lunch treat.

While I cleaned up the kitchen Kathleen lead the girls in a "craft" time, basically giving them some paper, scissors, glue sticks and crayons to draw with...the girls had a good time. Becca
actually made some pictures and colored them while Alexis just wanted to cut paper.

Tami called a little after 1300 and asked if we would mind watching the girls a little longer as they wanted to go to Trader Joe's to do some shopping, since they were playing so well I said sure. By the time Aaron and Tami got back I think that the girls were ready to go home. They did a good job of playing while they were here, but I think that they were glad to see their Mom and Dad.

Some time this afternoon my throat and ear started to bother me, so I lay down on the couch and took a nap for a while, I still did not feel too well after awaking, and really had not energy, so I think I have a sinus infection of some sort. It is not too surprising given the weather we have been having and my lack of resistance to anything. I have found out that I seem to come down with any and everything that is going around.

Ever since the surgery and more specifically the radiation, I have been sick more than in the last twenty years put together. I find myself avoiding going places sometimes just to avoid the possibility of catching something.

Well, Kathleen made a pot roast this afternoon for dinner tonight, I had some, and it tasted good, but I was feeling so uchy that I did not enjoy it as much as I would have liked to or should have. It looks like we will have enough left-over for several more meals. Well, that is about it for today, I am planning on going to bed early tonight so this is a good time to say good night.

Thursday's Tempest

Well, I felt a little more wide awake this morning when I got up, but then I had gone to bed a little after 2100 last night and I dozed in my chair before I woke up enough to get up and out of my chair. I did not go for a walk this morning as my system had still not settled down and besides it was rainy and I just did not feel like it.

When I got downstairs I emptied the dishwasher and then started to make myself breakfast. As I was starting to make my eggs Aaron called and wanted to check to make sure we were up because we were going to watch Alexis this morning. I told him that I was up but Kathleen was not up yet, so he said that he would be over shortly.

I was just sitting down to eat when they got here, I asked if they wanted any thing to eat and I thought that Alexis wanted some Cheerios, but when I made her a bowl and gave it to her she let it set for a while and then she said that she did not want any. She really looked like she was ready to fall asleep, so I suggested that Aaron put her on the couch and by the time I finished eating and we got into the living room she was just about asleep.

Aaron took off a little after 0900 for the teacher conference and thought that he would be back around 1000. So I read the paper and before I finished it Aaron was back and it was only about 0940. Alexis was still sleeping so Aaron stayed around and finally called Tami to see if she were home from helping out in Becca's class.

Just before Aaron and Alexis left one of our contractors called to make sure that we were going to be home. He pulled into the driveway about a minute after Aaron pulled out, so the timing worked out just great.

He spent about two hours with us going over what Kathleen wanted the cabinets to look like. I suggested that maybe next week we could get the two contractors together and they could go over their plans together so that it all comes together and looks as good as possible.

After he left Kathleen made a couple open-faced tuna salad sandwiches for lunch. We had talked about going to the store to shop for some more of the items that we needed to finish the bathroom, like draw pulls, knobs, etc. We never made it out, Kathleen got busy upstairs and I just kind of dinked around and then realized that I probably should call my Mother, so I did.

We had a good talk for about twenty minutes, I keep getting busy during the day and by the time I remember about calling her, it is usually the time of night when she is either in bed or just about there. So today when I thought about it I thought that I better do it while the time availed.

Tonight Kathleen was going to make some spaghetti, but when she got to adding the sauce, she discovered that she did not have any, so she added some rice and made some homemade rice-a-roni with some Italian sausage. I liked it, but Kathleen said there was a flavor in it that she did not care for.

Here are the pictures from yesterday if anyone is interested; I guess the best part about them is that the colon looks rather normal. As you can kind of see they went from one end to the other and took pictures at both ends.

Well, another rather unproductive day, so I think I will say good night before I find something to do.

Waiting Wednesday

Well today has not been normal in anyway, shape or form. I did not go for my walk; I just did not really feel that it was a prudent thing to do. So for "breakfast" I had a hot lemon/honey drink followed by a cup of bouillon, then I went into the living room to read the paper with another cup of bouillon.

The mail had not gotten here yet, so I finished reading the book I was reading yesterday, and when it had not gotten here when I finished it, I started reading another book. By this time it was 1000 and time for me to take my final two of the Dulcolax tablets, then at 1100 I started drinking MiraLAX/Gatorade cocktail.

Last night I was drinking an eight ounce glass every half hour, but today I decided that I would just do it every fifteen minutes instead as that was also an option. I figured that this way I would get it over with sooner and not have to worry about needing to run to the bathroom while I was waiting for my procedure.

The mail finally got here as I was finishing up my third cocktail, so got it and opened it up. Most of it was junk mail, with the exception of a magazine, which I have not had a chance to read yet. I read about three quarters of the second book before I stopped to take my shower in getting ready for my appointment.

We left the house a little after 1500 as I needed to be there at 1515. Kathleen dropped me off as she wanted to go to Montivilla Sewing Center, so once I got checked in I sat around for about fifteen minutes before the nurse called me to get my pre-procedure vitals.

Then I got to put on a really "pretty" gown and matching booties. Next she came back and inserted the IV and I had to wait another ten minutes before the next nurse came to take my to my procedure room.

I was scheduled for 1600 and I got to the room at 1550 where they put me on oxygen and put a blood pressure and pulse meter on me. Then I just lay there waiting for the doctor...he finally arrived at 1610 and started the IV drip. He asked if I wanted to watch, so I said sure, although I think I spent a lot of time drifting in and out as I can only remember parts of it here and there.

It was really over before I realized it and then got to go to the recovery area. Once there I was given some pictures of my intestine and the doctor's evaluation. After a short time the doctor came in to check and see how I was doing and explain what his findings were.

Then I was given a can of diet Sprite as I had not had anything to drink since 1400 and it really tasted good. Kathleen was let in and I was able to get dressed and after a little while longer the nurse asked if I would like another glass of Sprite, so I said sure. Before I could drink much of it they said that I was free to go home...so I did.

We got home about 1730 and I changed clothes and decided that I would do my blog early again tonight because I did not get to sleep until about 0100 last night and I am pretty sure that I will need to go to bed early tonight.

I tried calling Sue and Mom when I got home, but the phone kept ringing so I hung up and tired again with the same results. I hate to call much later as it is after 2100 there now, so maybe if I remember I will do it tomorrow.

I get to eat real food tonight, but I am not sure what Kathleen is planning, she was going to put a roast on before we left, but that did not happen, so I will be interesting to see what she comes up with. Well, I bell better now that everything is over, I am really not even that hungry, although I think that I am starting to feel a little hungry now.

Well, I think I will go and see what she has in mind, so good night for today.

Tuesday's Timetable

This morning started out pretty normal, I went for my walk; although again it started to rain a bout five minutes from home, but that is where the normalcy ended. I have not been able to eat anything today so for breakfast I had some hot lemon juice with honey and then several times a day I had chicken and beef bouillon.

Kathleen made me some lime Jell-O so I had a bowl of that for lunch. I think so far I have had eight cups of bouillon and also a couple of classes of white grape juice.

I have not done much today except work on cleaning up my office. I finally got it so that the extra chair can now be used to actually sit in. I had been using it as a place to put things that I wanted to go over at some other time, well that some other time was today. It is funny how most of it was either out of date or something that I really did not car about anyway. Needless to say, I put a lot of paper into the recycling bag.

Well, I have taken two of my Dulcolax tablets and at 1800 I get to drink a ten ounce bottle of magnesium citrate. Then at 1900 I get to start my cocktail of 238g of MiraLAX mixed into a sixty-four ounce bottle of Gatorade.

I have to drink thirty-two ounces tonight, eight ounces ever fifteen to thirty minutes. With all the fluids that I have had today I been spending a lot of time in the bathroom...and I am afraid that the fun has just begun.

Well, I have to take my bottle of magnesium citrate now, so I think that I am just going to say good night now.

Monday's Misting

This morning’s walk was dry until I got about ten minutes from home and then it started to drizzle slightly. It stopped raining again and I made it home without getting wet. It was kind of a preview of the rest of the day.

Kathleen came downstairs before I had a chance to make myself an omelet and made pancakes instead. We both must have been hungry as we finished the batch of pancakes, normally there are three or four pancakes left over.

The mail came while we were eating breakfast so I went out, got it and looked through it...most of it was junk mail. After putting the dishes into the dishwasher I went into the living room and read the paper.

After finishing the paper I went outside and raked the leaves in the front lawn, there were not that many, but when they get wet they really make a mess of the lawn, so I wanted to get them up before it really started to rain. Although tonight the lawn almost looks like it has not been raked, it would have been worse if I had not done it.

Now with rain in the forecast for the next ten days or so, I will not have a chance to rake much while it is dry, so I will be raking soggy leaves for the next few times that I rake.

I made myself a veggie burger on dark rye toast for lunch and after cleaning up my mess, I kind of vegetated on my computer most of the afternoon. Kathleen went to look at tile and then to Winco to do a little shopping about 1630, I was just too tired to go, so I stayed home and read a couple of magazines.

She had not gotten home by 1945 so I heated up a frozen Mexican dinner and the mouthful of leftover salmon from last night. Kathleen came home as I was finishing up my dinner so I helped her unload the groceries from her SUV. She heated up a can of bean soup for herself for dinner.

Well, I just had my last real meal for the next two days, tomorrow I get to drink clear drinks, like broth and tea...I cannot wait! Well, I think that is all for tonight, I am just going to say good night and call it a day.

So Long Sunshine

We made it to church and Sunday School this morning, although Kathleen was pretty tired and not feeling quite up to par. Before leaving for church, I loaded up the dishwasher and started it up and then I put a load of towels into the washer and started it up.

After church I changed clothes and then put the towels into the dryer. Then I had a Smart One French style cheese cake. I did not taste too bad, considering that it was suppose to be somewhat healthy. Once I had something in my stomach, I read the paper and then unloaded the dryer and folded and put away the towels.

Around 1330 I made myself a couple sun dried tomato and habanero tortillas filled with sardines...do I know how to live it up or what. I also fixed myself a Morning Star tomato & basil pizza burger on dark rye toast. I topped it with an onion slice, some dill pickle slices and a slice of cheddar cheese.

After eating I unloaded the dishwasher and put the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. Andrea called and told us about the house that she and John are looking at now and later she sent us a link that showed us fifteen different pictures of the house.

Kathleen left to look at some of the cabinets at one of our friend’s house that our contractors did at her house. I had thought about doing some work out in the yard, like rake leaves, but I thought that I was tired enough the way it was and I wanted to just relax today. The leaves will be there for a while and if I do not get them the east wind will take care of them.

When Kathleen came home she was feeling worse, but she decided to make a chicken breast and baked potatoes, she also had some corn on the side. It tasted really good, I guess I enjoyed it because for the next three days I am very limited as to what I can eat and it was probably going to be my last "real" meal until after my colonoscopy.

Well, it is suppose to start raining tomorrow sometime and rain off and on for the next ten days or so. I will probably do some more demolition tomorrow to try and get as much done before the contractor starts to work next week.

I think I have probably run out of things to write about so I am just going to say my good night now.

Sloppy Saturday

I had a good walk this morning and when I got home I made myself a Southwestern omelet for breakfast with a Gardenburger sausage and a couple slices of dark rye toast. This is the last day until after my colonoscopy that I will be able to have seeds or nuts, so I thought I would make the most out of it.

After eating I loaded the dishwasher and then went and read the paper. After I finished the paper I decided to go outside and pull out the rest of the ivy on the west side of the garage since the mail had not come yet. Just as I was going around the fence to get to the side of the garage I saw the mailman a couple housed down, so I waited for him and got the mail.

Not wanting to interrupt my plans to get the ivy gone, I just put the mail in the house and then proceeded to work on the ivy. I finally got it all pulled out at least what I could get. There will be some coming up later I am sure from the roots that broke off, but at least the majority of it is gone.

Since the ivy was out of there I also decided to dig up my iris tubers and either plant them someplace else or see if anyone wanted any. I have given away over a hundred iris tubers over the last few years, so I probably will keep some of them, but I have more than I need right now.

Kathleen came out looking to see what I was up to while I was in the middle of digging out the iris and by that time I already had a ten gallon can filled as well as a five gallon bucket. I must have stopped just long enough for me to realize that I was getting pretty tired, so I stopped what I was doing and cleaned up my tools.

Kathleen had discovered some ripe raspberries so she shared a couple of them with me. It is amazing that in the middle of October we still have raspberries that are ripe.

I happened to look down at my shoes and noticed that they were coated in mud. While it has not rained for a couple days, the ground is wet enough that when I dug it up I loosened it up enough to make a nice muddy pile, so before I could go into the house I tried to get as much off as possible.

Once inside I put them into the sink and scrubbed them with a fingernail brush to get the mud off. They were rubberized garden shoes so getting them wet did not hurt them. Then I scrubbed myself off and went into the house and read the mail.

We had gotten our credit union statement, so I reconciled our savings and my checking accounts and then filed the paperwork. Then I made myself a spinach and romaine salad with yellow and red peppers, cucumbers, radishes, green onion, mushrooms and a tomato then I topped it off with some raspberry dressing and some red wine vinegar.

So after putting my dishes into the dishwasher I went into the living room and looked at a couple of the catalogs that came today. Not being able to sit still any longer, I went upstairs and took the door off the bathroom cupboard and then the molding. Not being able to do any more damage there I started to pull the paneling off the wall above the stairway and made quit the mess. So I went out to the garage and got my big shopvac and vacuumed the upstairs floor, the stairs and the downstairs landing.

For dinner tonight Kathleen made some salmon, fried sugar pod peas and Tatar tots. Everything tasted pretty good and could have eaten more, but I was satisfied and refrained from eating what Kathleen did not want.

Well, that is all I can think about for tonight, I think that I will be taking my shower and heading to bed a little early tonight, so I am just going to say good night now.

Fun Filled Friday

This morning started out as most mornings do, with a walk, breakfast, reading the paper and mail and then yard work etc., but today that is were the normalcy ended. Alyssa had an appointment with her urologist at 1300 but needed to have some work done before that so she dropped the children off about noon time.

She mentioned that she had not had time to fix lunch for them and they might be hungry, she had not even pulled out of the driveway when the grandchildren started to say that they were hungry. Kathleen and I had needed to go grocery shopping but just not done it. So I looked around for something quick and easy to fix that they would enjoy and could not find anything.

So I thought to myself what do most children like...macaroni and cheese! So I put some water on the stove and boiled it and then add a cup and a half of macaroni. I think the children came in about four times to ask if it were ready yet before it was macaroni and cheese. If I had had a little more time I would have baked it, but I did not think that they could wait that long.

Zander had five helping, Hayden four and Natalie three, so I guess that they were hungry, I do not think that the macaroni was that special so it must have been that they were really hungry.

We also did not have anything for them to drink, so I found a packet of Crystal-light pink grapefruit and they each had several glasses of that as well, I just barely got a six ounce glass down.

After they finished eating I gave them their choice of either a mini Milky Way or a fruit snack, Zander wanted a Milky Way and Natalie and Hayden wanted a fruit snack. So while I was cleaning up the kitchen Kathleen put in a DVD, "Over the Hedge", and they all sat on Kathleen and my lap during the whole time.

Alyssa came back before the movie finished so we let the children continue to watch it and I gave Alyssa some macaroni and cheese and the drink. Alyssa needed to leave as she had to get home because she and a couple of her friends were going to "Women of Faith" this afternoon and tomorrow.

The place where we had ordered our new glasses had called this morning before the grandchildren had arrived but we did not have time to go then so as soon as everyone had gone I changed clothes and off we went. Kathleen has needed new glasses for several years and just not gotten them, mine were only a little over two years old, but I wanted to get some a little less bulky looking.

I had been use to wearing my safety glasses at Boeing and so when I got my last ones I got some beefier frames than I needed to. These are much slimmer and like my last pair are made of titanium and I can tie them into a knot.

Coming home the traffic was really bad as it was Friday evening rush hour but we finally made it home and I thought that I would do my blog early tonight, before dinner and I would not have to worry about being too tired.

I think we are going to have the rest of last night’s dinner and the rest of the macaroni and cheese for dinner tonight. Maybe tomorrow we will be able to get to the grocery store to get some food. I will have to eat food that I do not normally eat, so for that reason we will need to get some things.

Well, I think that is all that I can think about for now. I keep thinking that I will call my Mother one of these days, but we have been busy doing one thing or another everyday. I guess that it is time for me to say good night!

Tamer Thursday

This morning was much different than yesterday, there was not continual threat of rain and the wind was rather calm. I had a good walk and when I got back I needed to clean up change my clothes and meet the guys for breakfast.

We had a good breakfast and a long conversation afterwards and I finally got back home about 1100. After changing clothes, I read the mail and then the paper.

Kathleen left shortly after I got back to go to Montivilla Sewing Center to exchange the hoops and feet from her old machine for ones that will fit her new machine. While she was out she also stopped at Target and bought a couple tee shirts that she wears all the time.

While she was gone the contractor who is going to redo our floors and walls in the bathrooms and a couple other projects called to let us know that he was back from his hunting trip and wanted to come over to go over what we wanted.

It was a good thing because we decided to do the upstairs bathroom first and then the downstairs bathroom. We also figured out a couple other jobs that we wanted him to do. I could probably have done them myself at one point in time, but I did not have the time to do it then. Now I have the time, but not the energy.

I told him that Kathleen had just left and to try back in a while. Then I went outside, raked the front lawn, mowed it and then put down Scott's Turf Builder winterizer with weed control to try to get a better root base for next year and also to deter the weeds.

After finishing the front lawn I drug out the Honda and put the grass catcher on and raked and mowed the back lawn at the same time. After I finished mowing I dug up some tree suckers and pruned the roses. Just as I was finishing up Kathleen drove in and before she got into the house the contractor called back and said that he could come over in about a half an hour.

So I went into the house cleaned up and made myself a veggie burger on toast with a slice of onion and some melted cheese. Just as I was finishing cleaning up, the contractor drove up and we spent an hour and a half going over what we had in mind.

Tonight for dinner Kathleen fried up some hamburger meat added the left over wild rice and a can of stewed tomatoes and some hot spices to give it a really good flavor. We are both really tired...so what else is new, and I am sure that I will have an early to bed night, so I think I am just going to say good night now and call it a day.

Weary Wednesday

I awoke a little before 0600 this morning and about five minutes later I heard rain drops on the sky light in our bedroom. So instead of getting up I decided to roll over and go back to sleep. I finally woke up again about 0700 and I did not hear any rain on the sky light, so I got up.

When I got downstairs, I could see that the streets were all wet, but it was not raining so I went for my walk. I drizzled a little on my walk, but I was wetter from perspiration than from the rain. It started raining a little harder when I was about three blocks form the house, but it still was not hard enough to get wet.


After breakfast, I read the paper and looked through the mail, but the only thing that was really interesting was my investment statement. I made almost nine thousand dollars last month, I wish that I could get that kind of return every month, but I will take it when I can get it.

Kathleen wanted to look at some tile for our upstairs remodel, so around noon we took off to a place that specialized on floor covering. We spent about three hours there and then went to Home Depot to look and see what they had. We spent until about 1800 there and then realized that we were both so tired that we could not think any longer, so we headed home.

Kathleen heated up the leftover rice pasta and sauce for me and she heated up some of the leftover rice with cheese on it for herself. We were both so tired that we could hardly keep our heads up to eat. After finishing dinner, I loaded the dirty dishes into the dishwasher and here I am.

I cannot really say that I accomplished anything today but I sure am tired. Well that is all that comes to mind for now, there is probably more to write about but I do not know what that would be right now, so I am just going to say good night.

Tuesday's Trekking

This morning after getting up I went for my morning walk and when I came home I made myself a southwestern omelet, a garden burger sausage and a couple slices of sough dough toast. Then I went upstairs to change my clothes to get ready for my gastroenterology appointment at 1045.

I wanted to leave a little early because I had never been to the clinic before and did not know what the parking would be like. We got there about fifteen minutes early and after checking in I only had to wait a couple of minutes before I got called by the nurse.

After he took my height/weight and did the normal medical history routine it was only about five more minutes before I got to see the doctor. He spent fifteen or twenty minutes with me explaining what would be going on and then after a couple more minutes he turned me back over to the nurse again.

This time the nurse gave me a time line as to when I needed to stop taking aspirin, fish oil, cod liver oil and flaxseed oil and various other things. He also gave me a list of things I needed to pick up at the drug store to clean out my system.

Then I got to meet the scheduler to schedule my colonoscopy and fill in the dates to stop doing certain healthy things. Like I will need to stop eating whole grain bread, whole grains and most of the other things that are good for me and that I like. I get to have two days where all I can have are clear liquids and these wonderful things that are suppose to clean me out. As you can probably tell I am really looking forward to this.

From everything that I have heard the prep for the colonoscopy is worse than the actual colonoscopy itself. Anyway I have scheduled it for 1600 on October 17th. The sad part about the whole thing is that I am just now starting to get my bowels regulated again.

So after leaving the clinic we stopped off at the Gateway Christian School office so that Kathleen could pay for something that she had ordered. Then we went to Wal*Mart to pick up my colonoscopy prep items and Kathleen picked up a couple of other things.

We next stopped at Lowe's to check out their bathroom fixtures. We actually bought a new bathroom sink, faucet and a new light. We almost bought a new fan, heater and light combo, but we decided to wait on that just a little while.

We finally got home about 1630 and there was a note on our front door from one of our contractors to give us a call as he was just up the street at one of our friend’s house. He came over and we talked about or cabinets for the bathroom and what kind of wood we wanted him to make them out of. He also showed us some marble tile for the vanity top; it was a black with some flaking in it to give it a really nice look.

Now we need to get a hold of the contractor who is doing the tiling of our floors and walls. He has been hunting and should be home soon. I would like to see if we can get some of this done before I have my colonoscopy, but that may not be possible.

For dinner Kathleen made some rice noodles, pasta sauce and sausage and then had a spinach salad on the side with raspberry dressing. Well, I am pretty much beat tonight, all that shopping has taken its toll on me. So it is good night from here for now.

Muddling through Monday

I did not wake up until almost 0800 this morning and since it was not raining I decided to go for my walk. I did not get back from my walk until almost 1000; I spent over an hour picking up trash at the high school. I saw most of the trash Saturday when I went for my walk but I had to go to church for a meeting and did not have time to pick it up then.

I did not get all there was as there was a lot of streamers and the rain had made them next to impossible to pick up. I think that the rain will continue to help disintegrate the rest of it so I am not planning on trying to get any more of it. I just could not believe how much trash there was, I think that it was as bad as I have seen.

Anyway after eating, I read the paper and then gathered up the house trash and took it out to the garbage can and took it out to the street for tomorrow's pick up. After that I decided that I would start doing some of the demolition to the upstairs bathroom so I took off the molding, and the stuff on the walls. I also emptied the cabinets and had Kathleen empty her medicine cabinet so we are just about ready for the contractors to start working.

Andrea came over with Brandon so I visited with her for a while. I also Visited with the son of the neighbor across the street who is doing some major work outside on the house, or more specifically the back and side yard.

For dinner Kathleen reheated the mahi mahi rice and green beans from last night. Kathleen just had the rice with some cheese; I had the rest of the mahi mahi, green beans and some rice. Well, that was my day in a nut shell. I am just going to say good night now and watch some television before going back to bed.

Slow Starting Sunday

I slept in a little this morning and knew that I would not be making it to church, but I thought that I would be going to Sunday School. Kathleen was tired as well and we wound up not going at all.

I cleaned the counters, stove and sink and then I washed, dried, folded and put away three loads of laundry and unloaded the dishwasher this morning.

I fixed myself a Boca burger and some couscous with basil and sun dried tomatoes for lunch and thought about going outside and trying to mow the back lawn, but I reconsidered because I really did not have that much energy.

Then this afternoon I vacuumed the downstairs carpeting, shook out the kitchen and mud room area rugs and then wash and dried them. While the rugs were off the floor I swept the kitchen and mudroom floors and then mopped the kitchen floor.

I felt like taking a nap, but Kathleen was trying to nap and I did not want to disturb her. I also thought about trying to get started on taking the upstairs bathroom apart to get ready for the remodeling, but again I did not want to disturb Kathleen.

So now I am kind of worn out but I do not want to hit the sack just yet as I would be up in the middle of the night. Well, Kathleen came downstairs and made some mahi mahi for dinner along with some brown/wild rice and green beans. Kathleen did not care for the mahi mahi very much, but I thought that it was okay.

Well, I think that is about it for tonight, so good night and I hope that everyone has a good week. I am off tomorrow, does anyone else have the day off?

Somber Saturday

When I went downstairs and saw that it was not wet outside, I decided that I would go for a walk. It was drizzling a little but even though I took an hour walk I did not get very wet. When I got back I made myself a southwestern egg beater omelet and a garden burger sausage. After eating I loaded the dishwasher and started it up.

Then I had to go upstairs and change my clothes as I had a discipleship meeting at church. After the meeting I had a long discussion with our assistant pastor about the placement of the drums during the services.

The drums are right in the middle of the platform and right underneath the projector screen. I was saying how distracting it is to have them right there during the service. They are not used during the service that we attend and I suggested having them on a rolling platform and move them into place when they need them.

I also mentioned that they are too loud during the second service, for some reason they have a microphone in front of the base drum and it overpowers the guitars and especially the song leaders. I pretty much have given up on attending the second service as the noise level during the congregation singing is too loud.

At first I thought that it might just be an age thing, but I have had several younger folks tell me that it is too loud for them as well. They have been telling me for eight weeks that they are going to do something about it and so far nothing has changed.

When I got back home Kathleen was still gone, she had gone to a sewing class at Montivilla Sewing Center. I did not know it at the time but she also stopped by our old house as they were having an antique sale there and the house itself was up for sale again. The people who live there now have really fixed it up nicely and made it larger.

I made myself the rest of the stew, there was only about a half of a bowl so I also opened up a can of sardines and made myself a sandwich. After that I went into the living room to read the mail and the paper. I had gotten several magazines and catalogs but the rest of it was junk mail.

After finishing reading I went outside to mow the front lawn, it was not really a good day for mowing as it was still pretty wet out, but the grass has started greening up again and growing, so I though that I had better mow before I got into a situation where it rained for a couple weeks and the grass got waist high.

The back yard is not quite as bad, so I did not mow it, I will have to chance that I will be able to get a dry day next week to mow it. After I finished mowing, I pulled out some more ivy from the side of the garage. I have about another garbage can left to pull out, but I was just too worn out finish it.

For dinner Kathleen heated up a couple shepherd's pies from Trader Joe's. Kathleen did not care for hers, but I liked it. My hamstring just cramped up on me and I need to walk it off, so I think that I will just say my good nights now.

Fatiguing Friday

I felt pretty good when I got up this morning and even after my walk, but we had an appointment at the credit union to have our home equity line of credit paperwork signed and notarized. After that I dropped the package off at the FedEx office, which just happened to be in the same mall.

Then on the way home we stopped at a new Kohl's that opened up near us, and by the time we finished there I was ready to take a nap. Kathleen opened up a can of hash and we had that for lunch and then I sat down and read the paper and the mail. I had not had time to do that earlier, and I could barely keep my eyes open, in fact I dozed off a couple times.

Kathleen is off with Andrea at Fabric Depot, so I think that I will reheat some of the stew from last night for my dinner. This has been a pretty uneventful day and I really cannot think of anything else to write about, so I am just going to say good night and have some dinner.

Thursday's Travels

Well, I went to bed last night at 2030 and did not get up until 0630 this morning and surprisingly enough I felt pretty good. Normally when I have gotten that much sleep I wake up really groggy.

I had a nice DRY walk this morning, the weatherman said that we should be having showers most of the day, but I do not think that we had that much at all. It did drizzle a little bit while Kathleen and I were out running around today, but hardly enough to even need to run the wipers.

For breakfast I made myself some toast, broke it up and poured the left over creamed chipped beef on top and then added a couple sunny side up eggs. I think that will have to be my quota of eggs for a couple weeks, I am going to have to go back to using egg beaters again. Not that I really mind them, it is just that having a real yoke looks so much better on the plate.

After depositing the dishes into the dishwasher I went into the living room and read the paper and then the mail. Not much there so it all went into the recycling. Then I went upstairs and changed my clothes as Kathleen and I had a lot of running around to do today. We left the house about 1030 as Kathleen had an appointment with her sleep doctor over in Tigard.

After we finished up there and since we were on that side of town we stopped off at Shane Jewelers to have Kathleen's ring cleaned and the setting checked. She get to do that on a regular basis and if she keeps it up they guarantee that the stone will not fall out and if it does they will replace it free.

After getting that done we went to Macadam Vision, as Kathleen needed a new set of glasses. We got there about noonish and did not leave until after 1700. She got a pair of prescription glasses and also a pair of prescription sunglasses, but it took her almost four hours to pick out the frames. While she was checking out one of the opticians asked me if I would like to up grade my glasses to something more contemporary.

My last set of glasses were almost like my safety glasses that I had at Boeing, just not as heavy. So I thought that I might as well...I picked out my glasses in less than fifteen minutes. I also got a pair of prescription sunglasses as well. So by the time we left we were right in the middle of rush hour...not a fun time.

We did make pretty good time, but we took side streets once we crossed the river and since we were down below a quarter tank of fuel we decided that we probably should get it filled up while we where out. We finally made it back home a little after 1800.

Kathleen heated up some frozen dinners, not the most tasty of meals, but when one is hungry and tired it will do. Well, aside from running around all day, I did not get anything productive done, but did get some things done that needed doing. Well, I think that this is it for today, so good night!

Wednesday's Wet Weather

When I got up this morning it was not raining, so I decided that I would go for my walk. About a mile into my walk it started to drizzle but by the time I got to the point where I could head home it stopped so I kept going.

Then when I got to the furthest point it started to rain again...then it started to pour. By the time I got home I was soaked to the bone, so I dried off, changed my clothes, put the wet ones into the dryer and once they were dry I put them into the hamper.

This was a hot cereal morning, so I made myself a bowl of oatmeal with a banana, raisins and black strap molasses. After eating I loaded the dishwasher up and started it up, and then I went into the living room and read the paper. The mail came and so I got it, more junk mail. I think that junk mail is the real reason behind the "global warming" issue...spread the word!

Since it was not raining, I decided that I would go outside and pull up some ivy on the west side of the garage. So I got my gloves and yard debris barrel and went around the fence and started pulling ivy. Well, it was just one of those day, and about ten minutes into it when it started to drizzle. It was not bad so I continued to pull up ivy, then all of a sudden it started to thunder and lightning; then the rain started coming down really hard.

So I gathered up everything and headed back to my yard and back into the house. For the second time today I was pretty wet, not as wet as I was this morning, but wetter than I have been in a long time with my clothes on.

It was just about time for lunch, so I made myself a salad and had a can of sardines for some protein and Omega 3 fatty acid. I was feeling a little tire as even though I went to bed early last night I did not get much sleep as the air was so smoky that I had a hard time breathing. I think everyone in the neighborhood must have started up their fireplaces or wood stoves last night and with the cloud cover the smoke just stayed low.

I decided that I needed to lie down and get a little rest, I did not really sleep much, but I did feel better when I got up. Kathleen thought that this was a stew type of night, so she made a pot of stew. It not only tasted good, but it felt good going down. She added just enough hot spices that it had a slight bite to it which felt good on a cold and damp night.

I think that today has been a really nice day at time, maybe ten minutes at a time, and really wet at other times, I think we got almost a half of an inch of rain today. Well, I think that the rest of the night is going to be rather quiet, so I will just say good night.

Turbulent Tuesday

After getting about nine hours of sleep last night I got up and since it was not raining, I decided to go for my morning walk. I walked for a little over an hour and felt pretty good when I got done. I did notice, once the sun came up that it was really overcast and windy. I could see the clouds blowing toward the north, but I knew from the news that the rain was dropping down from the north.

I wanted to walk as soon as I got up because the weather reporters kept saying that the rain would start this morning...it did not start until about 1715 but it looked like it could have started at any time all day long.

When I got home I heated up the left over potato pancakes and the left over part of the pork chop and also fried a couple eggs...kind of a country breakfast. The mail came while I was eating so I went and got it and took care of it before I finished eating. Then after putting my dishes into the dishwasher and doing the hand washing I went into the living room and read the paper.

Since the recycling truck had not picked up the recycling yet, I took the mail and paper out to the street and put it into the bin. I also retrieved my neighbor's trash can and put it into her back yard. I had gotten ours just after it was picked up. The wind was blowing hard enough that I did not want to go chasing it down the street.

Since it had not started raining yet, I decided to go out back and turn my compost and cut down some of the plants that had stopped blooming, like the oriental poppies, foxgloves and a couple others with tall stems. Before I cut down the poppies, I harvested the seeds for sowing next spring. I collected about a quarter of a cup of seeds, so hopefully some of them will grow for next year’s crop.

I thought that I would only be out there for a half of an hour or so, but it took me an hour and a half to get done what I did. By this time it was lunch time, so I made myself some ham, cheese and turkey roll-ups using sun dried tomatoes and habanero tortillas that we got from Trader Joe's and then filled them with chicken and the micro waved them to melt the cheese. Not too bad!

I did not get much of anything done this afternoon except tying to find some information on the web. Kathleen has been feeling poorly today, she just came down stairs and said that she was running a fever. I think that she has what I had Sunday and Monday.

Tonight she is making creamed chipped beef on toast, not the most nutritious meal, but one that always seem to taste pretty good. Well, that is pretty much my day, it looks like we are in for a good rain for the next couple of days so tomorrow is probably not going to be too exciting. So for today I am going to just say good night.

Milder Monday

After a couple days of pretty good rain, hail and what-ever today was rather mild. I think that it rained early in the morning, before the sun came out, but the rest of the day was mostly rain free.

I decided to stay in bed a little longer this morning as I was feeling the drainage starting to drain already and I though that it was going to be another day like yesterday. When I did get up, I decided that I would not go for a walk as I did not want to spend the rest of the day coughing.

I made myself a breakfast pilaf, by Kashi and added raisins and a banana to the mix topping it off with soy milk made a pretty healthy breakfast. After eating, I emptied the dishwasher and then put in my breakfast dishes. There was also some pots and pans that needed washing so I did that as well.

Then I made myself some hot lemon juice and honey to sooth my throat and headed to the living room to read the paper. Monday is usually the smallest paper and so it did not take too long to get through. Then mail came while I was reading the paper so I got it and went through it as well. Again there was not much there.

When I took the paper and mail to the laundry room to put in the recycling bag, I remembered that I still had the towels in the dryer, so I took it out, folded them and put them away.

The weather looked like it was going to stay clear for a while, so I decided that I would go for a walk. I took a shorter than normal walk, I am trying to learn not to push myself when I am not feeling well. I would have liked to go a little longer, but I was at a point where I either had to go back or be gone for a lot longer and I chose to head back.

After a while I went outside and pruned the roses and dig up tree suckers. I also gathered up the cans, plastic bottles and paper recycling and set the bin on the front porch to put up front in the morning. After cleaning up I realized that it was almost 1500 and I had not eaten yet.

I made myself a salad and opened a can of sardines that I had with some onion rye bread. I think that it took me longer to make the salad than it did to eat it. After eating I sat down in my easy chair and dozed off and on for a while.

I finally decided to get up and go on my computer and start my blog. I had gotten about half way through when Kathleen asked me about dinner. She made a chicken breast, some potato pancakes, corn and opened up a jar of apple sauce. She was not too sure about the potato pancakes, but I liked them.

The potato pancakes were frozen from Trader Joe's and we had not had them before, but I have liked most of the things we have tried from there. I remember having potato pancakes growing up and I always like them. Kathleen said that they reminded her of the state fair...I think it was probably greasy deep fried smell.

Well, I just got done putting the left-overs into the refrigerator and the dishes into the dishwasher. It is kind of funny that between the two of us we did not even eat a whole chicken breast, there was still two pieces left and will make a nice lunch for me tomorrow. Well, I cannot think of anything else to say other than good night.