Getting Back on Track

I woke up felling better than I have in the last several days, the day after Christmas to be more precise. I really wore myself out Christmas day shoveling snow and digging out the previous three or four days. It probably was not as much as what I did on Christmas day as it was a combination of what I had done the days preceding Christmas.

In my efforts to get the driveway shoveled out I think that I probably did too much each day and it just caught up with me on Christmas. As a consequence I pretty much vegetated since then.

Stan had called this morning and said that our marble vanity top for the downstairs bathroom was ready to pick up. So I went down and finished paying for it this morning and then stopped off at Fred Meyer to pick up more of my pain medication as I had run out.

Stan arrived here around 1400 with the top and sink; we had to leave the sink with the stone company so that they would be able to cut the hole the right size. So I took the sink in the house and then helped Stan bring the top in and put it on the vanity.

He is coming back tomorrow to do some work, he has not been here in about three weeks or so so it will be good to get started on that project again. He had a few small jobs that he needed to finish and we thought that would give Kathleen an opportunity to pick out the tile that she wanted for the walls, but due to Christmas and the snow it did not get done.

So maybe this week she will get out this week and next week we can really start getting back on track with the remodel project; I miss not having a bathroom downstairs.

Here is a picture of what the top looks like on the vanity.


We will still need to mount the sink to the plywood base and then add the faucet to the top but once the top is mounted we will be able to start the wall tiling.

Bob's Thoughts on Christmas Eve 2008

“Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”

Well, this year our house is really quiet and I do not even hear the mouse stirring. It is kind of a different Christmas for us this year; between my health not being what it once was and the weather for the last week and a half we have not gotten ready for Christmas in our “traditional” sense.

This is the first Christmas Eve that I can remember in a very long time where we were not rushing around wrapping presents and then rushing to one of the children’s houses for our "traditional" Christmas Eve "Christmas" dinner and present opening celebration.

It has for many years seemed like everyone was just glad to get it all over with and no one really enjoyed being together and celebrating the "reason for the season". This year for various reasons it did not work out to do it and I am hoping that perhaps we can start a new "tradition”; one that is a lot less chaotic; one where everyone is not rushing to of from several places to one where we can just sit around and enjoy each other and contemplate what a gift we have received and how we are using it.

Hopefully it will be a time that the grandchildren will be able to look back on and remember good times and not being rushed from one place to another just so their parents will have been "good children" and spent time with their parents or other relatives.

The older I get the more I value quality over quantity; I would much rather spend less time as long as it was quality time than spend a lot of time, with no quality. I would rather see my children and grandchildren enjoying themselves because they are having a good time rather than being too exhausted from all the seasonal running around that it is a struggle just to stay awake!

With four children and at least that many in-laws and their families our children have been having to split their time with everyone just so that no one get their feeling hurt or because it has been the family "tradition" to do such and such on such and such a day. There is nothing wrong with "tradition", but sometimes we need to break with "tradition" and start a new "tradition" one that has meaning for us today.

I know as a child we would always go to Christmas Eve service and then come home and open presents. Christmas day we would open our presents from "Santa" and then we would always go to my Mother's parent’s house or her brother's house for Christmas day. That worked well for us and since Kathleen's family did something similar so that is what we did with our family.

I still look back on my Christmases growing up with fond memories and I would like to give that gift to my children and grandchildren. I can still see my parents faces as they watched each of us open our presents from them Christmas Eve and then watch the twinkle in their eyes as they again watched us Christmas morning as we got our "special" presents.

I cannot remember my folks opening any presents, and maybe they did not have any as they always gave us much more than we deserved or than they could afford, but that is what being a parent is all about…making those sacrifices for ones children.

We did not live close enough to my parents or any of my relatives to celebrate Christmas with them and so our children were not pulled by having to visit several relatives and we could enjoy Christmas as a family.

Now with four married children and all but Chucky having their families in the area Christmas has become much more complicated, at least for our children as their spouses and their families all had their own "traditions" that they wished to continue; not that any of that is good or bad it is just facts.

Over the last few years as I have watched the grandchildren open, their presents, it has become somewhat of a, "okay let's get this over with" kind of feeling. They would open presents and not know who gave it to them, then want their next present and the adults would kind of open their presents and with one eye try and keep track of who had given what to their children.

Then came the clean up time and half the time some of the small pieces would get mixed in with the wrapping paper and we would have to go through it to find everything.

Then there was the home where we celebrated, with all the grandchildren opening up presents and everyone eating, whose ever home it was seemed to get trashed and everyone was always too tired or had to rush off to the next celebration to help clean up and get everything back in order.

I would like to suggest putting some sanity back into Christmas and make it less complicated on everyone. I do not have a plan that I think we need to adhere to but I think we as a family can come up with something much better than what we have been doing. I would like to make Christmas memorable not only for us, but our children and grandchildren as well.

This year looks like a good time to start as the weather and several other things have made it impossible to have our "traditional" Christmas Eve celebration.

With all the birthdays and Thanksgiving, November and December are really hectic months and it is easy to make Christmas, just another "birthday" kind of celebration, but it is really much more and I for one would like to give it a little more special place in our lives and in our hearts.

Let's see what we can come up with that will allow us to celebrate the "reason for the season" and do it at a time when we are not exhausted from a dozen other birthday/Christmas parties, Christmas programs and running around doing the "traditional" Christmas things.

I do not want to be a Scrooge and ruin everyone’s Christmas, I just want to help you enjoy your future Christmases more. With that said, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Artic Express Day Nine

I was not as sore as I thought that I would be this morning when I got up; that is until I started moving around and that is when I realized that my arms were really sore. I had expected my back to be the problem as it was starting to get sore yesterday and I had put some ointment on my back yesterday afternoon.

So this morning as soon as I got downstairs I put some ointment on my arms, it also helps me breath; so I guess that is a secondary benefit. When I went out to check on the paper, third day with no paper, I noticed that the icicles were starting to drip and then freezing on the steps up to the front porch so I knocked down the ones that were directly over the steps to hinder the dripping.

Then after breakfast I put on my boots and went outside to take out the kitchen compost. Today when I tried turning the barrel I went slowly and when it started to slip I stopped. I figured that the outside of the barrel was coated in ice so I might be best to just wait until everything thawed out and then turn it a few extra times.

After I took care of the kitchen compost I decided to do some more shoveling. I shoveled off the back steps to the basement, and from the front sidewalk to the middle of the road and then scrapped the ice off the steps so that they would not be so dangerous.

Since I was too lazy to put on my long pants I was getting several strange looks from the folks passing by and even the mail lady made a commented. I am not sure if it was the snow or my legs that were the whitest, but it was a close call. I am not sure where my tan went but it sure went, my legs were relatively tan from being outside all summer.

It has taken me two days to do half of the driveway and it use to only take a few hours for me to do the whole driveway, but I just do not have the energy to do that much any more.

Right now both my arms are really sore; not just in one spot but the whole arm. I am glad that I am already on pain medication, as I am not sure what it would be like without it.

After eating lunch I took a little nap in my chair in the living room and did not feel any better when I got back up; well I could keep my eyes open but that is about the only improvement.

I did take a photograph of some of the icicles on the front porch, the largest one is two and a half feet long, I just finished measuring it.


Well it has snowed off and on a little today but it really has not added to the snow accumulation. The weather folks are saying that more snow is on its way, anywhere from a dusting to several inches, so it looks like it will be a while before we loose the snow.

The only really nice thing about all the snow right now is that we have not lost our power...so far!

I cannot think of anything else that might happen today so I think that I will go ahead and publish this.

Artic Express Day Eight

Everything was super quiet this morning as I drug myself out of bed and when I looked up to the sky light I could see snow instead of sky so I pretty much knew why it was so quiet.

No paper again today and when I called they said that perhaps this afternoon, well that did not happen either. I remember when I had my paper route I would deliver papers in snow deeper that this and in worse conditions. I guess that I figured that if the conditions were this bad people probably did not have much to do and would appreciate having a paper to read.

Kathleen came downstairs and after a while made some blueberry/red raspberry pancakes with Trader Joe's maple syrup. There was enough left over for perhaps another meal for one person.

After eating I put on my outdoor clothes I went outside and swept off the front porch and then shoveled the steps and sidewalk. The snow looks to be about eighteen inches deep except the driveway which has less snow in most places; other places there were drifts that were about three feet deep.

After I shoveled the walkway through the driveway to the ground on the west side of the driveway I started shoveling a path down the driveway out to the street. Once I got to the street I stopped as my trench in the snow was deeper that the street and I did not feel like shoveling the street.

Then I went back and shoveled the snow from the driveway back to the back yard, through the back gate and to the side garage door. Once I got the doorway cleared I opened the door and got an old pair of boot as I had been wearing my snowshoe boots as they were the only ones that I had in the house other than my wading boots and while those are made to be under water I did not think that this would be a good application for them.

I was pretty tired by the time I got done so I put on my snowshoes and took my poles and went for a little walk...not very far as I was really tired and I knew that I was going to be sore either tonight or tomorrow. So I went back inside and took off my gear.

Kathleen asked me if I had shoveled the back sidewalk and I said that I had not, so since she sounded disappointed that I had not I decided to go back outside and do that. I was tired enough that I did not feel like getting all dressed up again I just went out in my shorts and I put on the old boots that I had brought in from the garage earlier and went out and shoveled the back sidewalk.

Then when I got back inside I made myself some tomato soup and melted cheese rolls for lunch. After emptying the dishwasher and putting things away I went and took a nap in my chair.

When I woke up I decided to start my blog as I knew that I would be tired later on in the evening. While I was doing that Aaron, Tami and the girls came over to visit.

They just left and were on their way to getting something for dinner. While I was out on the front porch waving good bye to them I noticed that the ice icicles on the front porch were dripping so that must mean the the temperature is above freezing now.

Well I think that this is all for today, I am sure that not much of anything exciting is going to happen the rest of the evening.

Seventh Day of the Arctic Express

Everything was really quiet outside again this morning when I awoke which was a little surprising as we had a freezing rain last night. I slept in until after 0800 again this morning and felt pretty good when I finally did get up.

There was not paper this morning and so I called and no one answered but there was a message saying that there would be no paper today and that they would deliver it when the weather permitted. I am wondering if we will even get one tomorrow as the weather is suppose to get worse before it gets better.

I looked outside around 1530 and wondered why it was so dark out and then when I got to the window I saw that it was almost like a blizzard outside. They just anounced on the TV news that many of the roads are closed and chains are required on all road, they also said that traction tires were not enough even for four wheeled vehicles; not that I was planning on going anywhere anyways.

I have not done much today, there was not paper and comics to read and even though I did go outside on a couple occasions it was too nasty a day with the freezing rain and wind.

Although I might have been been better dressed when I went out, as it was I had on my shorts and a tee shirt and slides in my bare feet. Once my feet got soaked I decided that maybe boots and my ski clothes might have been a better choice.

I had thought about going snow shoeing but the snow was coated with ice and not really the kind of snow that I like to play in. Before the freezing rain it was a great powder snow and would have been fun to play in.

I am rather surprised that I have not seen any tree branches that fell, other than hundreds of tips of branches and lots of fir cones nothing big has fallen so far.

Well as I said earlier I have not done much today, so I think that I will just post some of the pictures I took today and then publish this.




There is about a foot of right here!

Sixth Day of the Arctic Express

It was really quiet out this morning when I awoke and it was after 0800 so I would have expected some vehicle traffic but it was relatively quiet even for a Saturday morning. Well, it has been about a week with this weather system and in most places it would have just been a typical winter week with the temperatures in the teens, twenties and thirties but Portland does not usually have this kind of weather for this long.

I think that a few of the TV stations have been broadcasting all day about the weather and I know of no other place where the TV stations would show nothing but snowy weather and the conditions outside.

It was a really lazy morning; in fact I did not even make myself lunch until after 1000. I fried myself a couple brown eggs, something I have not done in I cannot remember when, and I shredded up a potato and made hash browns. The mail was here before I managed to eat so I looked through it after I finished eating.

After I finished with the mail I emptied the dishwasher and then read the paper. Then I went upstairs and sorted the laundry and asked Kathleen to put into the laundry bags whatever else she wanted washed. Finally after lunch I went back upstairs and asked her if she had put in everything that she wanted washed and she still had some things to add.

Once she got everything into the bags I took them downstairs and loaded up the washer. I figured that just in case we lost power at least we would have clean clothes. Finally by 1715 I had washed, dried, folded and put away two loads of clothes.

Kathleen made a batch of spare ribs and rice for dinner and there was enough left over for two or three more meals. So hopefully if we do loose power we could heat this up on one of our gas stoves.

I must be getting really old as I have not even felt like going outside and playing in the snow, of course I might have felt more like it if the wind were not blowing the snow sideways. Kathleen was making fun of me in my shorts and tee shirt and she had three or four layers on.

Well, I think that is about all that I can think to write about so I think I will post this, take a nice warm shower and call it a day.

Vegetable Lasagna

Here is a relatively quick and easy lasagna meal for those of you who might prefer a non meat meal. Vegetables may be substituted per your taste ie. spinach, chard, etc.

Ingredients:

1 container (15 oz.) ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 eggs
4 medium carrots, shredded
1 pkg. (10 ounces) frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and well drained
9 cooked lasagna noodles
1 jar pasta sauce of your choice
Grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

MIX ricotta cheese, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, eggs, carrots and broccoli. Set aside.

PLACE 3 lasagna noodles in greased 3-qt. shallow baking dish. Top with half the vegetable mixture and 1 cup pasta sauce. Repeat layers. Top with remaining lasagna noodles and remaining pasta sauce. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese.

BAKE at 400°F. for 30 min. or until hot. Let stand 10 min. Serve with Parmesan cheese.

Serves: ~8

Fifth Day of the Arctic Express

I had heard the rain on the skylight during the night and when I awoke it had stopped and was relatively quiet out. I was watching the local news and weather and they said that a storm was making its way down and around 0800 it started snowing here.

I was somewhat surprised with the snow as when I looked at the outside thermometer it read a little under forty degrees and so I was not expecting snow but rather freezing rain.

Around 0900 it really started snowing and within the next hour we had about an inch of snow on the ground. I thought that I would take a few pictures as we really have not had much snow in December in the last decade or so; so here are a few. The first one is of our fuchsia and rhododendron in the background.

The next one is of some of the ferns off the front porch.

This next photo is of the hedge on the east side of the house.

Here is a picture of one of our cherry trees taken from one of the upstairs windows.

This next one is of my Bonsi Japanese Maple that I started over thirty years ago and it is between four to five feet tall.

Finally these last two are just of the bird bath the first on it is still frozen and the second on after I broke up the ice.


After I got done taking pictures I made myself some breakfast and then emptied the dishwasher that I had started up last night. Kathleen came downstairs and made a comment about wanting the windows cleaned so I got the step ladder and went outside and washed the windows in the breakfast nook.

The bird feeder that we have in front of the north facing windows were really hard to see out of due to the birds making a mess spitting out the sunflower shells. I had to do the one right in front of the feeder three times before I was able to get it clean enough for her.

I am doing a taste test for Campbell soups and so I fixed myself a can for lunch. I received six cans and I need to try about one can a week and finish them up by the end of January.

Last week I did a test for Quaker Oats on a new cereal that they are coming out with. I think these companies have been reading my blog and thought that I had a delicate palate and wanted to use it to test out their new products.

It is funny but as hard as it was snowing this morning as soon as it stopped it started to melt, in fact it probably started to melt before it stopped it was just snowing so hard that we could not tell.

It feels like it is starting to cool down now, 1530, and from what I remember it is suppose to get cold again with the possibility of freezing rain tonight. They have been predicting a worse storm coming Sunday so I guess that we are not out of our Arctic Express just yet.

Well I think this is probably long enough so I think I will just post this even tho it is still early in the day.

Forth Day of the Artic Express

This morning when I got up it felt a little warmer than it has in several days and when I got downstairs and checked the thermometer it was hovering around freezing so it indeed was warmer. The last couple days it got up to the high twenties at the highest part of the day.

After eating my oatmeal I drank my coffee while I read the paper; before I had a chance to finish the paper the mail came, but there really was nothing important today. So I put it into the recycling box and then took the box outside and dumped it into the recycling container.

Since the kitchen scrap container was getting pretty full I decided to take it out to my composter and dump it as well as it was starting to snow and the weather folks were saying that maybe four to six inches.

When I went to turn the composter over the contents of the composter must have been frozen because as I reached a certain point the handle pulled out of my grasp and spun around four or five times hitting me in the elbow and triceps (or at least the area where a triceps should be) each time it went around and almost knocked me down.

Once I realized what the problem was I was a little more cautious and gripped the handle tighter the next time I turned it; while it pulled again at least I was ready for it and was able to brace myself so that the handle did not pull out of my grip.

Then I went back inside and went down into the basement and started sweeping and throwing things away. Kathleen told me to put a mask on as it was getting really dusty, so I had her throw one down for me. I got most of the area of the basement that had gotten littered from the bathroom remodel cleaned and swept up.

I also filled the garbage can three quarters filled up with just things laying on the floor like pieces of wood, nails, dry wall and general dirt. I also swept off the stairs leading to the basement from the kitchen as they had remodeling debris on them as well.

I thought about sweeping the stairwell off that leads to the back yard but I needed to get the mask off and clean myself off. The mask is good but I have a hard time breathing with it on. I also brought up a box of things to give to Goodwill.

By the time I finished cleaning up it was getting close to lunch time so I took the left-over rice from earlier in the week and added it to some tomato soup and then I also added a can of sardines and some hot salsa. I thought about saving this dish for Fabulous Food Friday, but it was just so yummy that I had to share it today.

Well, Kathleen just took off to meet with the lady from church and I think that this might be a pretty quiet afternoon and evening so I thought that I would start my blog now and maybe publish it so that I did not have to think about it tonight.

We are supposed to get more precipitation today and into tomorrow but right now they do not know whether it will be snow or freezing rain. Right now it is snowing very lightly but earlier it was really coming down but if it gets much warmer we are likely to get freezing rain. The temperature got up to almost forty degrees today but it is supposed to cool down again tonight.

Third Day of the Artic Express

Another cold night, when I got up this morning the temperature on the outside thermometer was around twenty degrees and only got up to the low thirties this afternoon. I did go outside a couple times in my tee shirt and short and it felt a little warmer than yesterday mostly because the wind was not blowing as strongly.

For lunch I made some spicy tomato and pork soup and a couple pizza buns made from a potato bum and ketchup Italian seasoning and cheddar that I melted in the toaster oven. The tomato soup I just added a piece of pork left over from the other night and some Tabasco sauce.

This afternoon I did a little more wood working but again only for a half hour or so. The only good thing is that the basement is warmer than the rest of the house so working down there is not unpleasant temperature wise.

Tomorrow if the snow and colder weather holds off a while I think I might try going downstairs and get the rest of the pile that Kathleen left down there and either recycle it or throw it away. I would have done it today but the garbage and recycling came really late today and I had already started the wood working project.

Tami called this afternoon to let us know that Becca's program tonight had been canceled due to the weather and that probably Alexis's on Thursday as well. I had been on the phone with the Social Security office when she called so I called her back when I finished.

I had been waiting for fifteen minutes and had just answered the phone a few minutes before because Kathleen had a call coming in and I did not want to start all over again.

When Kathleen came downstairs this morning she had about three layers on and I was sitting here in my shorts and tee shirt and she was still cold just looking at me. I was a little cool but not uncomfortable.

Well, I think I have run out of things to say today so I will just go ahead and post this.

Second Day of the Artic Express

It has turned extremely cold today and I think that the highest that it got here was in the upper twenties; at least I never saw it break the thirty degree mark whenever I looked.

I started to make myself some cold cereal this morning but before I did anything I thought that if today was not a good candidate for hot oatmeal I did not know when would be. So I fixed myself some oatmeal with a banana and some raisins and just a touch of brown sugar for the comfort effect!

After eating I gathered up all the dishes that I could find and loaded the dishwasher and started it up. Then I gathered up the rugs, shook them out, swept and moped the kitchen floor and then when the floor dried I put the rugs back down and then vacuumed the downstairs carpet.

Kathleen had said that she had a pile of things that needed to be thrown out or recycled so I sorted the pile out and filed the recycling container and garbage can and took them up front for pick-up tomorrow. I think the folks driving by must have thought that I was nuts in my tee shirt and shorts but I was only our for a few minutes.

Kathleen was getting ready to make herself some breakfast and asked me if I wanted some raisin nut bread, since it was close to my lunch time I said go ahead and make me a couple as well. I also fixed myself a sardine sandwich on rye bread. Kathleen must have thought that it was funny as she took several pictures of my sandwich and me eating it.

I got a package of things that I had ordered today with some woodworking things in it. I want to try and get back to doing some woodworking since I cannot do things like fly tying as my fingers do not allow me to manipulate very well.

After lunch I unloaded the dishwasher and put things away and then loaded up the washer with towels; Kathleen wanted to take a shower so I waited until she finished and then put those towels into the washer and started it up.

While they were washing I went downstairs to work on a wood project. I was able to work about a half hour before my hands started aching so I stopped and came upstairs and cleaned up.

The towels were finished washing so I put everything in the dryer. While they are drying I decided that I would do my blogging until they finished and the dryer just went off so I think I will post this and call it a day.

Our First Winter Weekend

Well this has been quite a weekend, yesterday it started snowing down here by the river and so I left late in the morning to go feed Aaron and Tami's animals. By the time I got up to where they live it was snowing rather hard, but it was still warm enough that nothing was really sticking.

I played with Archie for awhile until one of us got tired...it was not the four legged one either. By the time I stopped and locked up their house it was snowing pretty good and started sticking to my windshield enough that I needed to run my wipers.

As I got closer to our house it was more of a fine dry snow, I did not get to put the Jeep in the garage as Kathleen had finished a "flat Stan" for my niece’s son, Elijah and wanted me to run it to the post office. Since I was having to go out I asked her if she had picked up her prescription yet and she said that she had not.

So since I was going to be out anyway I thought that I might as well pick up her prescription and while I was at Fred Meyer I might as well pick up some items in case we got stuck here because of the weather.

We were out of several things like peanut butter, bread, fruit, coffee and about six bags of other things. When I left the store there was a layer of snow on the ground so it had snowed pretty good while I was shopping. When I got home it had stopped snowing and I unloaded the Jeep, put it into the garage and then put the groceries away. Once I had everything put away I went upstairs and put my shorts back on so that I would be more comfortable.

Kathleen was freezing and had on her sweats and a vest and I was running around in my shorts and a tee shirt. I made myself a brat for lunch, as I had not had any in a couple months and was kind of hungry for them. The snow had pretty much subsided by this time

I took a nap for a while during the afternoon and felt more wide awake when I got up. For dinner Kathleen reheated the left-over pork, potatoes and peas from the night before and then made a banana, orange juice, walnut and sugar sauce for desert.

After a while I went upstairs and took my shower and went to bed hoping to get good nights sleep. I have not been sleeping very well lately as my hip has been really bothering me when I roll over on it. Well last night was no exception and while I did not get up at 0400 I did not sleep in as long as I wanted because I needed to get ready for church and Sunday School.

Just as I was sitting down to eat breakfast one of the elders called and said that they were canceling services today because of the weather. It was not snowing all that hard but there was a layer of snow on the ground and it was snowing harder as the morning went on.

Since I was not going to church I did the dishes and then decided to go feed Aaron and Tami's animals before the weather got really bad. The news says that this is the worst storm since 1990 so that is saying something. By the time I got to Aaron and Tami's the snow was really coming down but the wind was blowing hard enough that the roads were relatively clear.

After feeding the animals and playing with Archie for a while I decided that the snow was sticking enough that I probably ought to stop and head for home. There was a good layer of snow on my windshield and the roads were now covered with snow. I kept the Jeep in two wheel drive as I though that I would be okay, I did slide a little a few times as I stopped and then took off again but for the most part I could tell that the roads were slipper but if one dove carefully they should not have any problem.

I called Aaron and Tami to give them a heads up as to what our weather was like here as they had gone to Eagle Crest with Tami's family for the weekend. They did not have much snow there and so it was a good thing that I called as we talked about an alternate route for their coming home.

Kathleen made some toasted cheese sandwiches for lunch today and all we would have needed would have been some tomato soup to make a good winter lunch. Our cable, internet and phones went out so I dug out my little B&W Sony Watchman with a three inch screen and watch that. Kathleen wanted to see the news or rather the all day weather report to see what to expect for the rest of the week.

Well, it is about time for dinner so I think I will post this, the way the weather look for the next week it is only going to get worse as the week goes on. Tomorrow and the next day it is only suppose to get into the low twenties during the day time. Then Wednesday it is suppose to have more precipitation of some kind and then get cold for the next couple of days with another storm coming in next week end.

My Attempt to Create a Bird Friendly Backyard Environment

As many of you know by now I enjoy gardening. Having songbirds visit is one of the many benefits of having a garden in the first place. It is always a delight to see the variety of birds drop by for a nibble or a rest. So when I want to create a bird-friendly garden, here are a few easy steps I have taken to enjoy seeing birds all year long and you might want to do as well.

Birds have a few really simple needs: food, water, shelter, and protection from predators. Naturally, native birds thrive on native plants, so choose a selection of regional beauties that produce seeds, berries, or nectar. You can even work your dead trees or old stumps into your landscape to attract insect-eaters and provide shelter.

The more diverse your food supply is, the more variety of birds you will see in your garden. Also you can help birds out by placing bird feeders in your yard filled with a good quality wild bird food (as can be found at places like Wild Birds Unlimited or Backyard Bird Shops. Both of these have online stores as well if you are not fortunately enough to have one of these fine shops nearby. Here are the web addresses http://www.wbu.com/ and http://www.backyardbirdshop.com/).

Different birds seek shelter at different heights. You can make your garden more hospitable to them by growing vines, shrubs and trees. Evergreens provide excellent winter shelter, as well as protection from cats and other predators. If you have a dying tree, let it stand, since its cavities make great nesting spots.

Putting out a birdbath, especially one with a trickle or fountain will make your garden a very popular spot. If you have a pond or stream, place flat rocks in them for bird perches.

For those of you that have seen my yard these are a few of the things that I have tried to incorporate in my landscaping; it really does not take that much work and in some cases it is easier in the long run. Next time you are in the area and have a question stop by and look around; smell the roses and watch the birds.

I can lose myself for hours watching birds fly in to eat or bathe and you can as well. If you have binoculars or a zoom lens on you camera, you can see incredible details as they visit. You will learn a lot, and have a great time while you are doing it.

Fabulous Food Friday - Single Serving Meat Loaves

I almost forgot to do a Fabulous Food Friday as I know that Alyssa is probably busy with getting ready for Zander's birthday party tomorrow.

Here is a pretty quick and easy meatloaf; for just the two of us it last a couple meals. By cooking meat loaf in single-serving portions you cut the cooking time in half and helps keep the meat juicy. Adding a tangy ketchup and mustard glaze helps these loaves brown nicely as well.

Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 pound ground sirloin
• 3/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• Cooking spray

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400°.

Combine ketchup and mustard, stirring well with a whisk. Reserve 2 1/2 tablespoons ketchup mixture. Combine remaining ketchup mixture, beef, and next 6 ingredients (beef through egg) in a large bowl, stirring to combine.
Divide beef mixture into 4 equal portions. Shape each portion into a 4 x 2 1/2-inch loaf; place loaves on a cookie sheet coated with cooking spray if necessary.
Spread about 2 teaspoons reserved ketchup mixture evenly over each loaf. Bake at 400° for 25 minutes or until done.

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 255 (28% from fat)
Fat: 7.9g (sat 2.8g,mono 3.2g,poly 0.4g)
Protein: 27.4g
Carbohydrate: 15.7g
Fiber: 0.9g
Cholesterol: 120mg
Iron: 2.7mg
Sodium: 944mg
Calcium: 31mg

An Antique Little Kid

Sometimes I still feel like a little kid and this cartoon kind of sums up how I feel.

Especially when I have to go through airport security.


This has been another day where I woke up early and finally got up around 0400. Kathleen had gotten to bed just a little before that and I did not want to toss and turn and keep her from getting sleep.

It was such a dreary day that even by 1000 it looked like the sun had not come up yet. It finally started to rain and the rain sounded cold as it hit the windows. I had gone outside to look for the covers for the outside outlets and I could feel that the weather had changed.

We had not had any frost on the ground yet this season but all that is suppose to change this next week when the temperatures are suppose to go down into the teens and twenties at night and only get up to the twenties during the day. So that is quite a change in weather as the last few weeks have been in the fifties or so during the days.

My stomach started to bother me and so I spent just about the rest of the day either sleeping in my chair or on the toilet so not a very exciting day. Kathleen made some pork, peas and baked potatoes with brown onion gravy for dinner which tasted good but I only ate about half of what she put on my plate.

After dinner she made me some mint tea so I am hoping that that will help my stomach. I am still tired so I guess that I will be going to bed early tonight. I guess I will just call it a day as I cannot think of anything else to write about.

Tips on How to Keep Your Poinsettias Alive all Year Long

How many times have we gotten Poinsettias at Christmas time only to throw them away shortly there after? It seems a shame to throw out that beautiful poinsettia you bought for the holidays. If you are up for a challenge, you can mimic the light and temperature patterns of the plant's native Mexico, and bring it back to full bloom for the holidays next year. Hint: you will have more luck if you put your plan on your DayTimer, PDA or calendar.

Usually by February or March the flowers are gone. It is now time to help the plant regenerate. This will be a year-long process, so be patient.

Around the May through July time period you should give your poinsettia more leg room by re-potting it in a container that is about 3 inches more in diameter then the current pot. Keep the plant well watered and located in the sun. When the night temperatures are above 60 degrees, move your poinsettia outside in a shady spot for a few weeks. This will help it get used to the outdoors. Then you can move it to a sunny location. Be sure to turn the pot a quarter turn every week or so for even growth.

If you like a short, bushy plant with plenty of flowers, start pinching. Removing the shoots encourages branching. Pinch off the top quarter inch about every 3 or 4 weeks, but be sure to leave a few leaves below the pinch point. If you don't pinch, you'll have a tall, spindly plant with few flowers. Keep this up through late summer.

You do not want your plant to dry out. So be sure to water it when the soil is dry to the touch. Also, be sure to feed it every 7-14 days with a good quality general purpose fertilizer such as Miracle Grow or Osmocote.

If your Poinsettias are still alive Remember that your Poinsettia cannot take the cold. So when night temperatures start getting close to 60 degrees again, bring your plant indoors again.

What triggers Poinsettias to flower is a period of long nights and short days with sun. By long nights, we're talking 14 hours of total darkness. Any light leaks at night will keep the plant from flowering. You need to cover it up completely or move it into a dark closet at night.

For the 14 hours required, put it away at 5 pm, and take it out again at 7 am or whatever 14 hour combination fits your schedule. You should do this from early October till Thanksgiving. Continue to water and feed your plant. Then after Thanksgiving, keep your plant out and you should have flowers by mid-December.

Good luck!

Kind of a Long Day

Yesterday I was somewhat functioning on about three hours sleep and so I was glad to get about nine hours sleep last night. I was not as rested as I would have liked to have been when I did get up this morning but since it was after 0700 I kind of needed to get up. Since I had gotten out of bed I knew that I would not be getting back to sleep again so I just stayed up.

It was a really nice day out and I hated not being able to go outside today, but I wanted to kind of take it easy today as I knew that I had not gotten enough sleep the night before. About the only time I got outside was to bring the garbage and yard debris containers back to the back of the house and then to get the mail.

I briefly let the thought of going for a walk run through my brain, but I am starting to learn that for now walking is not something I can do much of. I kind of dinked around the house all day, and about the only thing I managed to do was read my MacLife magazine that came in the mail today.

This afternoon I sat in my chair and took a nap for a while and then when I woke up I watched the news. After I woke up a little more I decided that I would blog before I got too tired as I think tonight might be another early to bed night.

Well that is it for me for today, it has been a rather uneventful one, but sometimes those are okay.

Tex-Mex Lasagna

Here is another semi Italian meal with a Mexican flavor. Again, this is not especially good for those who are dieting, but it is a little better than my last entry. Enjoy

Ingredients
• 3/4 cup bottled salsa*
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can no salt-added diced tomatoes
• 1 (8-ounce) can no salt-added tomato sauce
• Cooking spray (if necessary)
• 6 lasagna noodles (precook) **
• 1 cup frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups (8 ounces) pre-shredded reduced-fat 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions

* Use different salsa to vary the flavor of this lasagna. Make it smoky with chipotle salsa, or spice it up with the hot stuff, I personally like the hot stuff.

** You can also use already lasagna noodles such as Barilla or Vigo.
Preparation

Preheat oven to 450°.
Combine first 4 ingredients; spread 2/3 cup sauce in bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 2 noodles over sauce; top with 1/2 cup corn and half of beans. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese; top with 2/3 cup sauce. Repeat layers once; top with remaining 2 noodles. Spread remaining sauce over noodles. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese. Cover and bake at 450° for 30 minutes or until noodles are tender and sauce is bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes. Sprinkle with onions.

Yield: 4 servings

Nutritional Information
Calories: 415 (29% from fat)
Fat: 13.3g (sat 6.1g,mono 3.8g,poly 0.9g)
Protein: 27.2g
Carbohydrate: 55.2g
Fiber: 10.4g
Cholesterol: 41mg
Iron: 3.9mg
Sodium: 970mg
Calcium: 518mg

Pearl Harbor Day!

Today marks the 67th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. This is one of the most important chapters of recent American history and for some reason it has almost been overlooked the past few years.

I think this country has become so anti-war that we forget that without fighting for ours and others freedom we would soon loose it; and as unpopular as war is it has always been fought to retain some country's freedom...sometimes that country was the good old US of A! Well off my soap box for now ☺.

I have noticed in the last few days that our spring bulbs and plants are starting to pop out of the ground. Several crocus and primroses are starting to show them selves and even some of the trees are popping up their leaf buds; I know that this is not too unusual but it is always interesting to see this time of year.

We still have not had a killing frost at our house yet, I know that some of the areas surrounding us have just barely gotten into the frozen zone but so far we have escaped it.

I have not done much today except go to church and Sunday School; Kathleen was not up when I left so I took my Jeep in case she got up and decided to go herself but she did not. So once I got back home I changed into my shorts and tee shirt and went downstairs to read the paper, comics and watch the last half of the Blazer game.

After I finished reading the paper and the game was over I went and made myself some lunch. There was some left-over lentil soup and so I heated that up and took a couple slices of English muffin bread and made some of my famous pizza sandwiches to go along with it.

After I finished eating and putting my dishes into the dishwasher I cut coupons and filed them away. And since it is raining I could not go outside and do anything so I thought that I would do my blog a little early today.

As I do not envision anything else exciting happening I think that I will just go ahead and publish this and call it a weekend.

Recovery Day

This morning I had a meeting at church, so I did not get anything done early. When I got home and changed back into my shorts and tee shirt I thought about going out for a walk, but remembering how much pain walking usually causes me I decided to do some winter pruning.

I pruned the branches of out Rose of Sharron that went over the fence and into my neighbor's yard. She does not like the mess that it causes when the spent flowers fall off into her yard, so I went ahead and cut off everything that went over the property line.

After I finished I went to the rose garden and did my winter pruning of my roses. I usually do a winter and then a spring pruning of the roses so that in case we get a bad frost and it damages the roses there is still some more to prune. Pruning again in the spring also give me the opportunity to shape the rose plants a little better once I see the direction the new buds are taking and also prune off the winter kill.

After I did that I went into the house and gathered up the large garbage can that I had been putting to scraps left over from the bathroom remodel and put it into the garbage can to take up front for pick up on Tuesday. I separated out the wood and put it into a separate pile outside so that I could give it away for firewood.

By the time I got everything done it was after 1400 and I was getting hungry so I went inside, cleaned up and made myself some lunch. I heated up the last of the mashed potatoes and Swiss steak that I have had for four meals already.

Then I went through the mail that had come while I was at my meeting this morning. We got one of our bank statements so after putting my dishes into the dishwasher I went into my office and balanced my checking and savings account for the bank statement that came in the mail today.

The rest of the day I did not get much of anything else done so I though that this might be a good time to include a few photos that I have been wanting to publish.

The first on is of a rose that I cut from one of my roses last week in a Waterford crystal vase.

The second one is of our Christmas cactus that started blooming earlier this week...just a wee bit early but beautiful none the less.


Then next several are pictures that my cousin Sue Fletcher sent me last week. They are some she took from my Uncle Ben' desk after he died a few years ago. Some are also from some that Dainne Truaring sent me a while back. The first on is of Gram and Pop Roush and their four children when my Dad was home on leave in 1941. From left to right Aunt Max, Uncle Ben, Gram Roush, Pop Roush, Dad and Aunt Betty. The picture was take at a park not far from their home on Florida Avenue in Kenmore Ohio. Dad and Ben were about the same difference in age as my brother Brad and I are, six plus years.

This is a family photo of my aunts and uncle when they all lived in Florida, this was taken several years after my Dad had died. From left to right are Aunt Max, Uncle Ben and Aunt Betty.

The next picture is of Ben and Sarah's family taken after Ben died.

This is a picture of my cousins and their mother Sarah. From left to right are Nancy, Sarah, Dianne behind Sarah, Sue and Ben.
This next photo is of my cousin Susan Roush Fletcher and her family.

This next photo is of my cousin Dianne Roush Trauring and her family.

This last photo is the last photo that Ben sent me of his whole family before he died. The photo was for their 2002 Christmas newsletter.

A Pizza Casserole

Here is a different twist to pizza, it is loaded with cheeses, meats and tomatoes and is probably not the healthiest meal you will ever eat and is not recommended for any diet but it makes a hearty pasta dish for a great winter meal and will be easy to eat too much.

Ingredients:

* 3 cups uncooked spiral pasta
* 2 pounds ground beef
* 1 medium onion, chopped
* 2 cans (8 ounces each) mushroom stems and pieces, drained
* 1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
* 1 jar (14 ounces) pizza sauce
* 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
* 1/2 teaspoon sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
* 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
* 4 cups (16 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
* 1 package (3-1/2 ounces) sliced pepperoni
* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the mushrooms, tomato sauce, pizza sauce, tomato paste, sugar and seasonings. Drain pasta; stir into meat sauce.
Divide half of the mixture between two greased 11-in. x 7-in. baking dishes; sprinkle each with 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers. Top each with pepperoni and Parmesan cheese.
Cover and bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Uncover; bake 10-15 minutes longer or until heated through. Yield: 2 casseroles (8 servings each).


Nutrition Facts:

One serving:(1 each)

Calories: 296

Fat: 14 g

Saturated Fat: 7 g

Cholesterol: 51 mg

Sodium: 616 mg

Carbohydrate: 19 g

Fiber: 2 g

Protein: 23 g

Tub/Shower Surround

This morning after I ate breakfast I changed my clothes and went to meet with the guys at 0930. While I was gone the fellow came to install the tub/shower surround and by the time I got back home he had finished two sides and was working on the third. Kathleen had moved her SUV out of the driveway and so when I got home I parked on the front lawn since his van was in the driveway.

The mail had come while I was gone and Kathleen had put it on the kitchen table, so after I changed my clothes and sat down at the kitchen table and went through the mail. There really was not much there other than a few catalogs. This week I have really gotten the catalogs; Monday I got twelve, Tuesday another six, yesterday four and today only two. I do not think that there are many more catalogs to be had so I think that I have just about run the course of catalogs.

Since Kathleen's SUV was not in the driveway, I got out my blower and blew off the driveway up to where the installer was parked. Then when he left I did the front sidewalk and the rest of the driveway to the street. Then I moved my Jeep back onto the driveway and into the garage.

Here is a picture of what the surround looks like. There is some masking tape on a couple of the pieces so that they will stay in place until the cement dries. He said I should probably leave it on for another day or two and I said that would not be a problem since the shower and bath water is not hooked up yet.



I reheated the Swiss steak left-over from last night and put it on half of a slice of dark rye and put some cheddar slices on the other half and then toasted them in the toaster oven. Kathleen had left a part of a banana on the counter so I finished that for the rest of my lunch.

Then I went outside and cut some long stemmed roses and brought them into the house. I trimmed off the thorns and put them in a crystal vase so that we could enjoy them.

I had kind of though that Kathleen might go to the store and get the tiles for the wall so that Stan could start doing that tomorrow, but she did not so I guess that it will either have to wait until Friday or next Monday. Stan did not come over today since the tub/shower surround installer was here and it would have been hard for him to have gotten anything done.

Well, around 1815 I called Kathleen on the intercom to see if she was going to do anything for dinner and when she had not come downstairs by 1845 I decided that I would make something for myself. I was kind of in the mood for some melted cheese sandwiches so I made myself a couple on dark rye. So after I put my dishes away I came into my office to write my blog.

Kathleen finally came downstairs a little after 1900 and fixed herself something to eat. Well, I think that I have run out of things to say, so I will just publish this and call it good for tonight!

I am Tired Tonight!

This morning I felt much better than yesterday when I got up, I almost felt rested. Stan got here late today as he had to take care of some business and pick up a door for the bathroom.

One of my friends called and said that the group is getting together tomorrow at 0930, so I went out to see if the Jeep had enough battery life to start...it did not so I put it on the charger and charged it. Stan pulled up just as I was charging the Jeep so I helped him unload his truck and then went back into the house.

I did not get much done today as I was still trying to recover from Monday when I overdid. Stan got the bathroom door installed, the molding is not up yet but now we have a door on the bathroom even though there is nothing in the bathroom that works yet.

I polished off the pizza from last night for lunch and Kathleen took off to meet the lady from church at 1330. She still is gone and it is a little after 1900. She called a little while ago and asked me to reheat the Swiss stake and mashed potatoes from Monday night and that she was on her way home.

I asked her if she had picked up an item that she said she needed and she had not so she said that she would be a little longer.

I did reheat everything but it will have to be reheated when she gets home as it will have cooled off enough whenever she gets home. Well since I did not do much besides eat, read the paper and mail and charge the battery in my Jeep.

Well, not a lot of news on this end, Natalie turned eight today our oldest grandchild. I remember the day she was born, we all were gathered at the hospital waiting for her to make her appearance and then she came everyone was relieved but probably no one more so than Alyssa.

The Day After

Well for as good as I felt yesterday morning I felt about as bad today. I was so tired that I did not get much of anything done today. As I look back the only thing that I can remember doing was load the dishwasher up and turning it on and then unloading it when it was done. The rest of the day I kind of just wandered around or sat trying to stay awake.

Stan finished tiling the bathroom this morning, here is a picture of what it looks like now. Tomorrow I think that he is going to put a new door on the bathroom and as soon as Kathleen picks out the tile for the wall he can start on that.


Tonight Toni and Chucky brought over a couple pizzas and Tami and the Girls came over as well to share the pizza and cheese cake. Both Becca and Alexis were climbing up on my lap and wishing me a happy birthday and gave me the birthday cards that they made for me.

We watched the Blazers play the Knicks and everyone had a good time visiting. Andrea had said earlier that she and the boys might want to come along as well, but then told Toni that she could not make it.

After we finished the pizza the girls climbed up on my lap again and this time they brought books for me to read to them. I seem to have become the chief grandchild book reader as I seem to be chosen to read to all the grandchildren when they are around. Luckily the books all have large print and easy words!

Well, it is almost 2100 and I am still pretty tired so I think that I will close this with a picture of the birds feeding at our kitchen window.

Sixteen Tons and What do you Get, Another Day Older and Deeper in Debt

Well, I am not sure about the sixteen tons, but another day older and deeper in debt I know something about.

This morning after eating and doing dishes I gathered up the towels and did a load of towels. and then after they finished washing I picked up the kitchen and mud room rugs, shuck them out and then washed them

While they were washing I swept and mopped the floors; while they were drying I went outside and raked the yard and then put Scott's winter fertilizer on the lawn. When I finished I was two inches taller than when I started as I had picked up a couple inches of mud on my shoes.

When I got back in the house I folded the towels and put them away and also put the rugs into the dryer. By this time Stan had gotten here and was starting to put the tile around the border of the bathroom.

Then Aaron, Tami and Alexis came over to bring us our Christmas wreath and to wish me a Happy Birthday. All toll all my children and a couple grandchildren either called or visited. Anyway here is a picture of of the wreath


and Alexis and me:



After they left I worked on the paperwork for my Social Security Disability; I had been working on it off and on for over a week and I needed to finish it up so that they can start processing it. By the time I finished my hands hurt so bad that I could hardly move them.

Stan did not quite finish the border so I guess that will get done tomorrow. Here is a picture of what the floor looks like now.

Kathleen made me some Angel Food cupcakes for my birthday cake and tonight for dinner she fixed some Swiss steak with mashed potatoes and peas. We also had our small group tonight so we spent a couple hours there and now I am tired. Several of the children wanted to do something with us tonight, but we felt that we should go to the small group.

Tomorrow night I think that Toni and Chucky are going to do something with us and Andrea and John want to do something some other night and Alyssa and Dan also wanted to do something.

We may just do and all December birthday bash some night as Andrea, Aaron and John all have birthdays this month as well so we thought that just doing one thing for all the adults would be easier on everyone. Of course we will still do something special for each of the grandchildren.

Well it is after 2200 and I need my "beauty" sleep, so good night.

"Black Friday" The day after Thanksgiving!

I thought when I saw this that it was kind of true, maybe not for blogs as much as for facebook now, but not as many people are reading this now that everyone is doing facebook.


I must have been more worn out from Thanksgiving than I realized as I slept about eleven hours last night. It was almost 0800 when I finally got up...so much for early morning sales!! Actually I had not intention going any place early this morning, it was bad enough doing it when the children were little looking for a good deal on their presents.

Now it is worth it for us to avoid the crowds and pay a little more some other time. We did go out around 1400 as I needed to put three checks into the credit union and Kathleen wanted to check out Best Buy for their small laptop computers.

The credit union was just about empty and we were in and back out in short order. Best Buy on the other hand was still packed. One of the items that Kathleen wanted to look at was sold out but just getting around the store was a major task.

Both Kathleen and I were tired by the time we finished, I think we were in the store for a couple hours and the sales force were all running around trying to be helpful.

This morning I managed to wash and put away all the dishes that we brought to Andrea and John's yesterday. I also took some things down to the basement that had been sitting by the basement door for a while.

Well, it is getting to be time for dinner, so I think that I will remind Kathleen and see what kind of left-overs she is planning for tonight. Not much news today as it has been kind of a lazy day.

Started Tiling

This morning was rather clear out when the sun finally made it up but it was also cool feeling although the temperature was in the mid fifties it still felt like winter. This morning when Stan got her he and Kathleen discussed how she wanted the time laid out and what kind of border she wanted. This is how the tiles looked last night when Stan left:


So by the time Stan got started it was just about noon which was okay since once he finished with the main section there was nothing else for him to do until it had a chance to set a little. As it is he is coming back Friday morning to clean out in between the tiles and do a little clean-up.

Stan finished tiling around 1400 and when he finished I helped him load his equipment into his pickup and he got out of here before dark.

Tonight Kathleen heated up some soup for dinner; I had chicken gumbo and she had lentil soup. After eating I loaded up the dishwasher and asked Kathleen to turn it on when she finished eating and then turn it on.

Kathleen just took off for a grocery shopping trip, I would have gone with her earlier in the day but I am just too tired to go tonight as I usually am this time of night. Anyway here is a picture of what the tile looks like after Stan left:

And the Rain Begins Once Again!

This morning was very overcast when day brake came and later on this morning it started drizzling. It never did rain, but it drizzled off and on most of the day. I was out earlier this morning and it had not yet started drizzling but when I went out to bring the yard debris container it was just starting.

Stan arrived a little later than he normally does as he had stopped off at his parents place before coming over. This morning he made the template for the vanity top and we discovered that the sink that we bought was going to be too large so Kathleen took off to return it and ordered a smaller one. Here is the template for the vanity top:



Stan also had to leave to return the hearing aids that he had on loan. While they were gone I reheated up some of the pea soup and had that for lunch. Stan returned in a little over an hour and put the cement board flooring in place; once it was cut out and laid out, he took it up and then mixed up the glue and the put the boards back down. Here is a picture of the cement boards before they were screwed down:



After they were all in place he screwed them all down to make sure that they did not move and that they were well tied down. After the glue dried a little we started laying out the tile to see where everything would go.

We are going to have a boarder all around the room and we wanted to make sure that everything would look symmetrical and fit before we started putting the tiles down permanently.

When Kathleen came home she wanted to see how a couple other options would looks so we rearranged the tiles again so that she could evaluate the different looks. By this time it was getting time for Stan to leave so he told her to think about it tonight and whatever she decides he will start the tiling tomorrow.

Kathleen had stopped at the German Deli on her way home and picked up so sausage and German potato salad for dinner tonight. Well that is about it for today, Kathleen is watching Becca and Alexis tonight while Tami is in her class so we need to eat pretty soon.

Another and Perhaps last of the Nice Days!

I got a good night sleep last night and when I got up I felt pretty good. So after breakfast I loaded up the dishwasher, started it up, washed the crock pot liner out so that I could put it away, then I picked up the rugs in the kitchen, shook them our, swept the floor and gave it a quick mopping.

Once I had the kitchen work done I went outside, mowed the front lawn, raked the back yard and mowed it as well. As I was taking the garbage can, recycling and yard debris container up front Stan drove up. He was talking on his cell phone so I went into the house and changed out of my flannel shirt and long pants and put on my shorts.

Then I helped Stan unload his truck. Today we worked on making a cover for the whole house fan so that the cold air from the attic would not keep coming down through the fall louvers.

While Stan was working on that I cleaned up the bathroom floor again and hung the door on the last upper cabinet. Stan had to pick up the tile and the cement board for the bathroom floor and also exchanged a box of almond outlets for white ones for me.

While he was gone I emptied the dishwasher and put everything away; then I made myself something to eat for lunch.





When he got back I changed out the odd outlet with the new one; I still need to get a dual cover for the switch and outlet but that can wait until after we put the tile up as we will just have to take it down anyway. After I finished putting in the new outlet Stan cut the cement boards and put them on the floor.



Now tomorrow Stan will probably start putting the tile down at least that is the plan tonight.

Well, tonight we have our small group so I am doing this early so that I can get it done.

Are we There Yet?

I just thought that this cartoon was somewhat appropriate because I do not think of myself as old as I look like in the mirror. Anyway, this has been a rather quite weekend; yesterday both Kathleen and I were so tired that we were not much good for anything.

I tried taking a nap yesterday and the phone kept ringing so I finally got up and sat down in my chair and for some reason I was able to fall asleep in the chair but not in bed...go figure!

Friday night I started making some pea and ham soup, I knew that I had started too late for Friday night but it was kind of a soup kind of night. Along with the peas I diced up some potatoes, an onion, a couple stalks of celery and four carrots fresh from the garden. Then I added a ham shank and turned the crock pot on for eight hours.

Since eight hours was in the middle of the night, Kathleen made a hot macaroni and tuna casserole; she put cheddar cheese on top of hers but I added feta cheese to mine for give it a more mature taste. I had the rest for Saturday and Sunday lunches.

So after letting the pea soup simmer for about twenty-four hours we had it for dinner last night. The ham just fell off the bones and just hit the spot last night. It was pretty overcast all day and so soup was a nice thing to have for dinner.

I slept really well last night and did not get up until almost 0700, which surprised me as I am usually up around 0530 or 0600. Kathleen got up as well, but she was not really awake so when it got time to go she could not get going enough to get dressed so I went by myself again. After I got back home I fixed myself some lunch and then read the paper and comics.

Since I knew that I needed to get the new bathroom window painted I changed into my painting shorts and tee shirt and put over the calf socks on over my compression socks and went out and put a coat of primer on the exposed new wood parts. There was actually more exposed wood than I had remembered so it took a little longer than I expected.

After I cleaned the brush and myself I changed out an electric outlet as it was the wrong color. Since I did not have the correct color I just put in an old one until I get to the store and can replace it with one that will match the rest of the bathroom style.

Then I took out the last piece of plywood that was on top of the new bathtub and then swept out the dirt from the tub so that it will be ready for the folks that are going to install the tub/shower surround for us tomorrow morning.

Since I was getting pretty tired I decided that I would do my weekend blog before I got too tired to do it. Well, this is kind of how I feel most of the time:

The Vanity Cabinets are out of the Living Room and Installed in the Bathroom

That is what the new bathroom light looks like without it being on early this morning. I think that it shows it much better than lasts nights photo.

The first thing we did when Stan got her today was to finish installing the switches and after checking out the wiring we reinstalled the new dimmer switches that we bought. I did not want to install the new dimmers until we checked the circuits with a regular switch first.

The new dimmer switches are digital and are rather expensive but they are really nice. They turn the light on slowly and it comes back at the level that it was shut off at. It also turns the lights off by dimming until it is completely off, which is really nice on the eyes and better for the bulbs.

After we finished that Stan installed the vanity cabinets; there are four lower ones and two upper ones. We did not install the one that goes over the toilet but the other one we put up, I just have not installed the door back on the one upper cabinet.

So that is about it for the bathroom remodel for this week. Here are a couple pictures of the cabinets.