Snow!

Boy was I surprised when I opened the front door to get the paper this morning.

I could not believe my eyes. I knew that they had said that there was a chance of snow last night but I was not prepared for this.

When I finally did wake up and go downstairs to retrieve the paper there was some snow on the ground, but I have seen thicker frost!

I must be feeling a little better because today I actually shook up the kitchen rugs, swept and mopped the kitchen floor. For some reason it feels crunchy when I walk on it even after I have swept it, so I thought that I would try mopping it this time.

I have a feeling it just has to do with the remodeling and texturizing and the sanding that goes along with it. I probably need to vacuum the whole house really well and see if that helps.

We took back our samples of the bamboo flooring this afternoon and looked as some more options for the flooring. We now have a couple trees worth of brochures and I am not sure how close we are to deciding on what to do with the flooring.

Kathleen wants to keep the same theme going for the upstairs and downstairs and possibly the stairs, so there are a lot of things that we have to consider when choosing the flooring. We have asbestos in the tiles under the carpeting in the dining room so we have to have something that we can float in that area so we probably will use the same Click together type flooring all over.

While we were out we also took back the sample tiles that we had gotten when we were doing the upstairs bathroom. While we were there we spent a little time looking at what we might want to do in the downstairs bathroom and the kitchen.

It looks like our weather is warning up a little as the snow level is around 1000 feet now whereas it was 300 feet and lower the last couple of days. I was outside puttering around for a while today and noticed that our spring bulbs are about three inches tall now, they have been popping up now for the last several weeks.

I still had roses blooming a couple of weeks ago and the prime roses have been blooming now for several weeks. It was kind of nice to see them popping up through snow this morning... kind of a sign that spring is not too far off ~ I hope!

Well my wrist is really bothering me so I think that I am going to stop and make this an official blog.

Trying this again after a break

I guess I must have needed a break, I am still lacking in energy, but I feel better than I have in a week or so. My innards have not been very kind to me for the last several days and this morning was not different.

I had gotten up early enough to go to church this morning, but my stomach was really bothering me and my wrists and thumb were really sore as well. I am not sure why my wrists are still sore, maybe it is from the cold weather but I am not sure.

Speaking of cold weather it looks like our week of cold weather is starting to break up a little. Today they were predicting the possibility of snow but all we got was rain. Alyssa said that they had snow up their way but she is a couple hundred feet higher than we are.

There is still a possibility of snow here tonight or tomorrow but overall it is warming up and we are almost out of the snow possibility for this season. Even if we do get some snow from here on out but when it has snowed in the past it usually does not last long.

I did not get much of anything done today; I did three loads of laundry, washed a sink load of pots and pans and made myself a couple meals. I think I spent most of my day in my easy chair dozing off and on. That is probably the only reason that I have the energy to even do this tonight. I think that I have about fifteen minutes worth of energy and then I need to rest.

This is worse than after my surgery; I would not be too surprised if it did not have something to do with the weather and lack of sunshine although this week the sun has been shining more than it had in a month or so.

I think that I will call it quits for today, blog wise that is, and unload the washer and put the clothes into the dryer.

All Aboard…a Reflection back on My Life

I have been struggling for the past week, first from the test results from my latest PSA screening and as I think about that I have to think about my aches and pains and the fact that I am not getting any younger or recovering from what is ailing me, so I have been reflecting a little about my life and some of the stops along the way.

I mainly did this for myself, but I wanted to share it with my family and friends so please bear with me...thanks - Bob

“This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ” Philippians 1:9-10 (NIV)

I am not much for the significance of dreams and I cannot say that I have had any divinely inspired visions. But rolling over in the middle of the night, I began thinking about where life had taken me. I guess, as you get older you spend more and more time looking in the rearview mirror. And as I was thinking about all the places God had taken me, I began to envision my life like a ride on a train.

First stop: High School station, where I got off the train and spent four great years involved in sports and basically having fun with my friends. When I got back on the train, I looked back to see all my buddies waving goodbye from the platform only to pull into College station. More years there and I am back on the train, as it pulls away I am waving goodbye to friends while the train pulls away. Next stop: the Air Force, where I met Kathleen, and after a few years we are back on the train, this time to Ashland Oregon, Southern Oregon College and Ashland Bible Church. More years there and we are back on the train, as it pulls away we wave goodbye to friends while the train pulls away.

This time it stops at Portland, Oregon to go to Multnomah Bible School. After three years there with Alyssa our first child—you guessed it, waving goodbye to all our professors and friends, most of whom we’d never see again. And as the train proceeded, there were more stops ahead as we served at a church, First Baptist, in Oakridge, Oregon, while there we had Aaron our son. We were there a year when we felt that we needed to go back to Portland, so bringing our two children on board with us we headed back home…Portland and Hinson Baptist Church.

We have been here, in Portland ever since, along the way we added two more children, Andrea and then Antonia (Toni). After a long stint at Boeing I have since retired and, and now the train has seemed to have stopped or at least slowed down. We have been at Gateway Baptist Church since 1987 and the Omega class has been our extended family.

What I desperately want to tell you is not about my “stops” on the trip. That would be like boring you with an evening of my home slides or movies! What struck me about my middle of the night “vision” is this: The only people who have gone all the way with me are my wife, my children, and my God. All other involvements, relationships, and pursuits that captured my attention and drove the agenda of my life at times are, in retrospect, only transitory—nice things, nice people, and worthy causes that at the end of the day quickly become a part of history never to be reclaimed. Life is seasonal and only a few precious things are ultimately really important.

Living as though a season of life lasts forever is dangerous. If that’s your perspective, then you will easily ignore what is significant in the long term for what seems important in the moment. I guess that’s why someone once said that on the deathbed of life no one will wish he had spent more time at the office. It’s the treachery of the thrill of an affair, the gain of a life on the road for a company that will turn you out at 55. Living now for everything that seems so important—our friends, our careers, our desires and dreams—if we are not careful, may just mess up what’s really important in the long haul.

When I was young it seemed like life was the slow boat to China and every stop seemed like forever. But now, at my stage of life, I know that life is really like a ride on the Cannonball Express headed full steam ahead for heaven with a few more stops on the way! I live to enjoy the ride with as few regrets as possible. And thankfully, Kathleen and the children are still on board with a bunch of grandchildren added in to spice up the trip. The best part is that my God’s on board, the trip planner and conductor who guarantees to get us safely home.

I guess what I want to leave everyone with or the bottom line is: that only God and a few really important people are going all the way with you. Make sure they get the best part of you!

Saturday's Sleepiness

I did not feel really rested when I got up this morning, but I was not getting anymore sleep so I just got up. I made myself some hash browns and ham to go along with my egg whites and cheese. I also made a couple slices of raisin toast and a fresh pot of coffee.

Before I started breakfast, I went out to the garage and put the Jeep on the charger. I tried doing that earlier in the week, but we were not home long enough for it to get a full charge. So since I thought that we would be home most of the day I would try and get an early start on it.

I could have given it a quick charge, but I like doing a slow charge better, I think that it is easier on the battery. Finally early this afternoon I checked it and it had a full charge on it, so I unplugged the charger.

When I got back into the house I went upstairs and went to bed. I was really tired and thought that some more sleep might help. A little over an hour later I got up and did not feel as sleepy but I did not feel any better.

About 1430 I made myself one of the tofu sausages and veggie burgers. I cut a slice of crushed wheat sour dough bread in half for the sausage and toasted some cheese on a couple slices of dark rye for the veggie burger.

I had wanted to go to Costco this afternoon as there were a couple coupons that I had that expire tomorrow, but between my being tired and Kathleen not getting dressed until late this afternoon we never made it.

After a while I went and sat in my chair where I was half asleep most of the time. Kathleen finally came back downstairs and was dressed but I was too tired to do anything but it was like 1700 by this time. The children were all getting together at Aaron and Tami's and had invited us to join them for dinner, but I was too tired and Kathleen was busy working on trying to decide what to do with the house.

Finally around 1830 Kathleen thawed out some of the left-over lentil and ham soup that she made a couple weeks ago. So we had that for dinner, it has been a wintry feeling couple days and from what I hear it is suppose to remain cold for several more days. We had a few snow flurries about mid morning, but nothing stuck and it was mostly just overcast the rest of the day.

Well this certainly has been another unproductive day for me, but I guess I need to get use to that. Since we have not made a decision as what to do for flooring yet, we will need to call Stan and let him know so that he can make plans to work somewhere else next week.

I think that I have written more than I though that I did today, so I will just say good night.

Frustrating Friday

I got up this morning and went downstairs to make my oatmeal but before I could get started I had to deal with some ants coming in looking for a warmer place to spend the winter. Once I got the kitchen ant free, I proceeded making my oatmeal.

Kathleen came down before I finished cooking my oatmeal so I did not get to read the morning paper. She got up early because of our doctors appointments this morning. So as soon as we finished eating we got ready to go to the doctors.

I was hoping that this would be the time where I could change from an appointment every six months to one a year but instead it change only now it is every three months again. I was a little disappointed that instead of my PSA going down it has gone back up again. Not much but it is opposite of the direction that I was hoping for.

After finishing at the doctor's we headed to the AT&T office so that I could buy another $100.00 worth of minutes for my cell phone. I still had around $80.00 worth of minutes from last year but I needed to do that so that I could roll over the minutes that I did have.

After taking care of the phone we went to Ikea and spent the rest of the day there. I was ready to leave after a couple hours, but Kathleen probably could have spent another couple hours there.

While we were there we each had their meatball lunch around 1530, it was not too bad, although the meatballs were a little plain but okay. We finally made it home around 1800 and my feet let me know that I had been walking on concrete all afternoon.

Other than being a little bummed out from my PSA results and my feeling rather worn out today I have been feeling pretty good. Well, I think I am going to warm up Kathleen's left-over salmon from last night, she said that I could have it as she did not feel like doing dinner tonight.

So good night for now!

Finding Flooring

I must have been really tired as I did not get up until 0730 this morning and I probably could have slept longer but I wanted to get up so that we might get an early start on looking at flooring.

Since I went out yesterday and had scrambled egg beaters and ham I decided that I would have my oatmeal and flax seed today. After breakfast I read the paper and then cleaned up the kitchen. I scrubbed down the counter next to the stove and also the stove. I was a little surprised at how sticky the knobs were on the stove and also the top of the stove where the controls are.

Kathleen came downstairs around 1100 and made herself some raisin toast. It had been long enough since I had breakfast that I made myself a couple slices. While the bread was toasting the mail came so I went out and got it. There really was not a lot there I think that the only thing that I kept was one of my magazines.

Finally around 1330 Kathleen was ready to go and we took off around 1345. About two miles after we got on the freeway the traffic started building up so we got off and took a frontage road until we could see that the traffic was flowing again.

We went to the same place we were at Tuesday; we had to take the samples back and also we wanted to do a little more looking. We finally left there about 1615 so that we would avoid some of the rush hour traffic. We got off the freeway a couple exits early because the traffic was starting to back up.

When we got home, about 1700 I changed into my shorts again and then made myself a Limburger cheese and herring sandwich to hold me over until dinner time. Kathleen made the Trader Joe's Mojito Salmon (wild Pacific salmon, tomatillos, tomatoes, red bell peppers marinated in a tangy Mojito sauce) and rice for dinner which was ready around 1830.

I thought that it really tasted good; Kathleen even liked it so it must have been pretty good. Well we brought home two of the samples that we had Tuesday; they were both a darker bamboo, only tonight we brought home the two darker ones as well as a lighter one.

I am looking at fused bamboo because it is a renewable resource and also because it is about as hard as Brazilian cherry. Kathleen did not like it at first but the more she sees it the more she likes it. It is a little more expensive, but there will be less waste and also the install time will be less. Also because it is a click joining system; there is no gluing or nailing, so a single piece could be replaced more easily if needed.

Well, hopefully we will be able to decide on something pretty soon; the next thing that we need to do is prime the upstairs hallway, stairwell and also the bathroom which never got done. I cannot think of anything important to write about so I will just say good night.

Workless Wednesday

Well today was one of these days where I did not get anything done around the house. To start out, I had breakfast with one of my friends, we met at 0830 and left about 1020 and we could have stayed and talked longer but I had a 1030 appointment with our associate pastor and a couple of people to discuss the discipleship of some people who had requested some one-on-one discipleship.

I went home after the meeting and Andrea and Brandon where there. Andrea had stopped at Taco Bell and picked up some lunch for herself and Kathleen. While they were upstairs doing something I let Brandon play with one of my toy Jeeps that I got for when the grandchildren come over. It was rather comical to watch Brandon push it around. He did it for fifteen or twenty minutes and was pretty content doing it.

After Andrea left I heated up the rest of the macaroni and cheese from the other night and had a Tufurky Italian Sausage with sun-dried tomatoes and basil. It was pretty good; it is made from tofu and is suppose to be a healthy alternative to meat. I have gotten so that I like the veggie products almost as much as the ones made with meat; they are certainly healthier.

After a while Kathleen asked if I would take her to the hospital so that she could drop off her one days sample to the lab so that they will be able to analyze it for her Friday appointment. She had a bad headache again today and did not feel well at all. So I changed my clothes and ran her there.

We did not do anything else as Kathleen did not fell well and I did not feel too well myself, in fact I fell asleep in my chair and Kathleen had to wake me up for dinner. She heated up the stuff we got at the deli last night and also the left-over chicken noodle soup that she made a few days ago. The refrigerator looks somewhat empty now that we used up about seven containers tonight.

So as you can see, I did not get anything done around here today. Partly because I did not want to make any noise that would bother Kathleen's head and partly because I was not feeling well myself and I did not have any energy today.

Tomorrow maybe we will get back to looking at more flooring and Friday we have our appointments in the middle of the day so that pretty much limits what we can get done that day.

As I cannot think of anything else to write about I am just going to say good night.

Finding Flooring

I got another good night sleep last night, so when I got up I poured the half cup of coffee into my cup and then made another pot of coffee. Then I made some hash browns with onion, mushrooms and pepper, veggie sausage and topped it all off with some egg beaters. After finishing cooking the breakfast I poured myself a fresh cup of coffee and sat down to enjoy it.

Kathleen came down as I was eating breakfast and made herself some hash browns and egg yokes. Then she looked at the paper, so since I could not read the paper I cleaned up the kitchen and washed the pan that we used for breakfast and then took out the trash.

After a while she finished the paper I took it and went into the living room and read it. When I finished the paper I got out my sander and started sanding the stairs again. I have eight and a half steps pretty much done with the belt sander. Of course I will have to go back over all of them again with the random orbital sander and then maybe even with the palm sander and or doing some hand sanding.

I stopped when I had finished only half of one step because I was generating so much sawdust that I needed to sweep the stairs so that I could see where I was suppose to be sanding.

Kathleen had gotten dressed and wanted to go to the place to look at flooring, so I stopped after I finished vacuuming the downstairs landing. I then cleaned up and changed clothes, but it was about 1330 before we got out of here.

We stayed and looked at different flooring until the kicked us out at 1700. Then we drove back home. On the way home we stopped at Safeway so that we could pick up some Gjetost cheese, some Limburger cheese, and some instant coffee that Kathleen likes and then we picked up some food at the deli for dinner.

Well that was my day, for some reason I feel rather tired, I have not done that much today, so I cannot explain it other than getting old. So I guess that I will call it a day and say good night.

Extra - Extra FREE Raspberry Pants

This is for my children who would like raspberry plants. Now would be a good time to plant raspberry plants, I have several that are available; just let me know how many you would like or you could come over and I will show you where you can dig some up.

I also have de-nailed the flooring that I took out of the upstairs so now would also be a good time to come and help yourself to some free fire wood. I have a saw available if you want to cut it into smaller pieces, but most of it is pretty small already.

There is also an abundance of kindling available. Come and get it soon as I have had several people stop and inquire about it but I told them that I was saving it for my children. Knowing some of the past history around here it is libel to start disappearing in the middle of the night as things have been known to happen before.

Call before coming over though, just to make sure that we are going to be home.

Muddy Monday

After a pretty good nights sleep I got up around 0630 and went downstairs and emptied the dishwasher, mixed the flax seed, oatmeal, brown sugar and water in a bowl, reheated up the rest of yesterdays coffee and read the paper. While I was reading the paper I turned the coffee pot on; I had added the water and the coffee grounds last night and so it was ready to go this morning.

After finishing the paper I made my self my oatmeal in the micro-wave. I have found that after sitting for a little while before nuking it, it turns out better. Years ago I use to mix it all together the night before and then I just had to nuke it in the mornings. Back then I did it to save time, but it also softens up the flax seed a little more.

After nuking it I added a half of a banana, some wheat germ and soy milk then I sat down and enjoyed it. After finishing breakfast I put my dishes into the dishwasher and then did the pots and pans from last night. I had noticed that the house plants had started looking a little dried out so I gathered them up and soaked them in a container of water.

Then I decided that I would gather up the trash from the various rooms and then take it out for tomorrows pick up. I must have made a little too much noise and disturbed Kathleen because she came downstairs after a while and made a comment about my noise.

It is hard for me sometimes to find something that I can do that does not involve some noise in the mornings, but it seems like every time I make a little noise she wakes up. I can only do a limited number of things with out making some noise especially when we are trying to get things done upstairs.

So after the fog cleared out a little more I went outside and plugged the front lawn, which is where the muddy part came about. It only took about an hour, but I was really tired after I had finished. It had gotten to be 1330 and Kathleen wanted me to go to the hospital with her and then run a few errands afterwards. So I made myself some lunch and then changed my clothes.

We finally took off and went to the hospital lab and then to her nurse practitioner; which took longer than the lab work did. We finally left there about 1530 and went to Home Depot to look at flooring and kitchen cabinets. We did not get out of there until about 1830 so I was really hungry when we left.

Kathleen made some macaroni, cheese and ham from scratch, simple but tasty. While she was making dinner I spent a little time sanding on the stairs. I had picked up some coarser sanding disks for my random orbital sander to see if I can remove the old whatever it is that is on the stairs.

Well, that was my day, I hope that maybe tomorrow we will be able to go and look at flooring as I have been getting calls from people wanting to schedule some of my time now that they know that I took this week off from working on the house. Then Friday we both have appointments with our urologist.

I think I might sand a little more and then call it a day, so good night!

Sunny Sunday

After getting up this morning and making myself a bowl of cereal, I got dressed for church. Kathleen was still asleep so I just left without her. When I left our house the sun was shining, but by the time I got up the hill a little I could hardly see for all the fog.

The closer I got to church the foggier it got until I could barely see twenty feet in front of the car. I had turned the headlights on before I left the house and there were some cars that did not have their lights on and I could not see them until they were really close to me.

Kathleen was up when I got home, at least she was on her computer, I am not sure that she had made it downstairs as I had not seen any signs of her being downstairs...like the lights on or breakfast dishes in the sink.

After I went upstairs and changed my clothes I went back downstairs and read the comics and the paper. Then I made myself a sun dried tomato, basil & mozzarella Panini and the rest of the green beans from last night for lunch. Kathleen got dressed and took off to exchange some of the towels and bathroom rugs that Toni and Chucky had given her for Christmas.

I was going to go outside and work in the yard as it had turned out to be a rather nice day today, but yesterday I sliced the middle finger on my left hand and it was really stinging today. So since I could not really use my left hand and since my right thumb has been bothering me a lot lately, I decided that I would be better served in the long run to just stay indoors.

Kathleen came back and had not been able to exchange the towels as Toni did not have the receipt with her so she will have to go back another day. After she got back I sorted laundry and washed, dried, folded and put away the three loads of laundry that I had done. I also vacuumed the downstairs carpeting and washed the dishes from today’s use.

For dinner tonight Kathleen made some spicy chicken soup, it was really good. I added a little Caribbean Tabasco Sauce to mine, more to give it some color than anything else, but it was really spicy.

Well, that is about it for today, we are suppose to have a little rain tomorrow evening but the rest of the week is suppose to be clear and sunny. I think tonight will be an early to bed night, so I will just say good night.

Stable Saturday

When I got up this morning I poured myself a cup of coffee and read the paper. Then I made some hash brown potatoes and added some onion, mushroom and ham. When that got sufficiently browned I added some egg beaters and mad myself a nice omelet. While I was waiting for everything to cook, I made some toast, washed the dishes that were in the sink and emptied the dishwasher.

After cleaning up my breakfast dishes I took the kitchen vegetable scraps out to the composter and since it was reasonably nice outside I decided to cut up some butterfly bush that I had cut down last fall.

By the time I got done doing that it was 1230 so I went back inside and decided to install the double towel rack for the upstairs bathroom. Once I had that installed, Kathleen put some of our new towels on it and it really looks nice.

Then I went back downstairs and made myself a veggie burger with onion and melted cheddar on a couple slices of dark rye toast. I had not had these for a while and it really tasted good. I had been having them two or three times a week, but I have either not been having lunch or having some left-overs.

Since we were going to some friends for dinner tonight, I did not want to get into anything that would take too long or get me too dirty so I settled down and watched the Packer/Seahawk game although it was not much of a game even with the Packer's spotting the Seahawks 14 points in the first quarter.

Kathleen took off for Winco to pick up some fresh green beans as she was suppose to bring a vegetable to the dinner tonight. When she got back I shaved, showered and got dressed as we wanted to leave around 1700 to be there at 1730.

We had a really good time and of course the food was great as well. We finally left around 2045 and got home a little after 2100 that is why this is so late getting done tonight. Well that in a nut shell was my day; I think that I will turn in now, so good night!

Friday'sFussings

I slept in this morning until almost 0800, it felt kind of good and since it was raining outside I knew that I would not be able to do anything outside. Kathleen and I had planned on going to Contract Furnishings Mart to look at flooring and I had hoped that we could also make it to Lumber Liquidator's as well...more on that later.

Anyway, when I finally made it downstairs, I got the paper and heated up the rest of yesterday’s coffee in the micro-wave. Then I made another pot of coffee and mixed my oatmeal and flax seeds in a bowl and then read the paper. When I finished the paper I put the oatmeal into the micro-wave and poured myself a fresh cup of coffee.

The phone rang for Kathleen around 0900 so I went upstairs to see if she was awake yet, but she looked to still be asleep. When I was telling South Tabor Physicians office that she was still asleep she signaled that she was awake, so I gave her the phone.

After she finished she came downstairs and I reminded her about going to look at flooring and she said that she was still planning on it, so I went upstairs and changed my clothes and then went back downstairs.

She was still not ready at 1330 so I went in and reheated up the Trader Joe's Chicken Serenada that Kathleen did not eat Wednesday night. The about 1345 Aaron called; I talked to him for awhile, but I was in the middle of eating so I hung up and let he and Kathleen talk.

I went back upstairs about 1430 and she was still on the phone, so I changed back into my shorts and decided that since the place closed at 1700 it would be too late to go when she finally got ready. So rather than not get anything done today I decided that I would dust off the shelves in the new cabinets in the upstairs bathroom and start putting things away.

I managed to get all the shelves filled with the plastic shoe boxes that we bought to sort things into to put on the shelves. The just fit sideways so we labeled them according to what went in them. We have one for cold medications, muscle pain, pain reliever (aspirin,Tylenol, etc.), my shaving stuff, tooth care (floss, tooth paste, extra toothbrushes, etc.).

Once we had that cabinet full we put our towels into the other one. This replace the existing cabinet we had but is totally new. With all the things I put into the cabinets, I can now get into my dresser without having to move a stack of plastic boxes and bins. I am down to just one stack where before there were four...progress!

For dinner tonight Kathleen stir fried some left-over ham, a chicken breast that she thawed last night and some potatoes. Pretty good tasting, I added some Lea & Perrins to mine and Kathleen just poured on the salt for hers.

Well, that just about covers it for today, I doubt that we will get to look at flooring tomorrow as we have a dinner for eight tomorrow night at 1730, so unless we get a real early start we will not have the time to do it. This is one reason I thought that it would be better for Stan not to plan on working here next week.

Time to call it a day...good night!

Texturizing Thursday

This morning Stan did not get here as early as I thought that he might, so I went out to my wood pile and pulled nails. I managed to get all the nails pulled out of the flooring and stacked it in neat piles. Note to children: if you want so nice dry fire wood/kindling let me know and you can pick some up.

Stan got here after I had gone back in the house and cleaned up so it must have been after 10000. I was just about ready to call him and let him know that I would be going with Kathleen to her sleep doctor's appointment that she had at 1100 across town, but it was a good thing that I stayed here and helped Stan.

When he got here Stan sanded the mud he put on yesterday and then I helped him put paper in the recessed lighting cans and tape up the outlets and switches but then when he was spraying on the texture I stayed downstairs. After a while I made myself a toasted ham and cheese sandwich for lunch.

Kathleen called around 1400 and said that she had been looking at flooring but was coming home. She got back her in less than a half hour because she left before the traffic started building up from rush hour, (more like three or four hours) which would have started if she had waited much longer.

Since Stan really could not do much until Kathleen decides what kind of flooring she wants I told Stan that if he had some other jobs that he needed to get going on now would be a good time. So probably for the next week or so Kathleen and I will need to pick out flooring and at least prime the ceiling and walls.

Kathleen's headache has gotten worse so she heated up a can of beef and barley soup but since we split it I also heated up some left over ham and yams and also made myself another toasted ham and cheese sandwich. If nothing else I am getting the refrigerator cleaned out.

Well, this is about it from me tonight. Before dinner I had fallen asleep in my easy chair, so I know that I have reached my limit as far as energy level goes. So with that said I say good night to all.

Wall Street Wednesday

I emptied the dishwasher the first thing when I got up this morning and then read the paper while I let my oatmeal soak in the water before I nuked it. After I finished my first cup of coffee I made a new pot and then put my oatmeal in the micro-wave.

Kathleen got up after I had finished eating and I reminded her that we had to be over in Tigard to meet with our financial advisors at 1300. While I was waiting for her to get ready I striped the bed and loaded up the washer. I wanted to leave early as I wanted to do some running around in Troutdale and Fairview before we left.

Last Friday I had paid for some knee pads and they were not in the bag when we got home and we had not had the opportunity to get back since. I also wanted to stop at Lowe's and pick up a new random orbital sander. The one Kathleen bought a few years ago is not made any longer and we needed a new one.

We finished up around noon so we just took off for Tigard. We got to our advisors about twenty minutes early so we just took a seat. But we only had to sit about five minutes and our adviser called us. We spent a couple hours going over our portfolio and agreed on making a couple changes to pick up a couple more aggressive holdings to try and increase our performance.

After finishing up there we went to Trader Joe's in Beaverton and picked up a few things that we needed. After we finished there we stopped at Scandia Imports to pick up a new cheese knife as the handle is coming off our old one.

We left there about 1730 and hit the rush hour traffic. We finally got home about 1830 and I took all of our purchases into the house. Then I went upstairs and changed clothes and came back downstairs and put the bed linens in the dryer.

Kathleen heated up some of Trader Joe's Chicken Serenada. It is a couple chicken breasts in a Coca Caribe Sauce with Poblano peppers. She also nuked a couple potatoes. I liked it although Kathleen did not in fact she only ate a few bits.

It looks like I will be having it for lunch one of these days. After putting my dishes into the dishwasher I took out the linens and made the bed.

Well I need to mask off the window and the attic fan tonight so that Stan will not have to tomorrow morning. So I guess that I will call it a day and go do that before I get too tired. Good night for now!

Tuesday's Tumbling

This morning I made myself a ham, mushroom and onion omelet, I would have done it a little differently if H had know that Stan would not get here until about 0945. I thought that he might get here as early as he did yesterday, so I just did something quickly.

Anyway once Stan got here he sanded and re-mudded the ceiling and walls so while he was doing that I gathered up, shook out, washed, dried and put down three loads of throw rugs from downstairs. While those things were in the washer and drier, I swept and mopped the kitchen, bathroom and laundry room floors. I also swept the stairs after he finished sanding and then vacuumed the downstairs.

He finished mudding around 1330 and Kathleen had an appointment with her Endocrinologist at 1400. I would have gone, but I needed to get cleaned up and that would take too much time, so Stan and I hooked up the flexible vent from the upstairs bathroom fan to the vent in the roof so that the moisture will be able to vent to the outside.

After we finished that Stan took off, so it was a short day for him as it was only about 1430. Tomorrow Kathleen and I have our quarterly meeting with our financial advisors so Stan will not be coming over.

Then Thursday he will texturize the ceiling and walls of the hall upstairs and the stairwell and then Kathleen and I will need to paint the ceiling and walls. After that is done we will have Stan come back to put down the flooring. I am also going to try and sand down the stairs and see if I can get most of the paint off them rather than replace them.

There is at least one that will need replacing and maybe up to three, but the stairs run from about $15.00 to $25.00 per step so if I can save replacing all but three of them that would be a $150.00 to $250.00 savings. So for that reason I though it might be worth a try and all I would loose would be a little time and right now my time is really cheap!

For dinner tonight Kathleen reheated the scalloped potatoes from last night and also heated up some peas. The scalloped potatoes tasted better tonight than last night, I think it was all the flavors having a chance to blend together and also the liquid was all absorbed into the potatoes.

Fortunately the only tumbling done today was done by the drier so that is a good thing. My wrist and thumb feels better today as I did not do anything that would cause them to hurt. I guess that is my day, a good night is now in order.

Monday's Miracle

This morning Stan got here about 0845 he started sanding on the mud that he had put up last week; while he was doing that I went outside and pulled nails from some of the flooring. I am getting the pile down so that now I have more boards without nails than boards with nails in them.

After a while I decided to stop because I could feel my back tighten up and my thumb had been bothering me the whole time. It feels like and electrical shock going the whole length of my right thumb. This is just something that has started since I fractured my wrist a couple months ago, and it is really starting to bother me.

I have been thinking that I need to go see my doctor about it but I keep hoping that it will stop but no such luck. Today Kathleen said that I need to go see the doctor about it so I guess that I will have to break down and see the doctor.

After going back inside I gathered up the throw rugs from upstairs and loaded them into the washer and then after a while into the drier. It was getting to be around 1230 so I heated up the ham and lentil soup and had that for lunch. After finishing lunch I loaded up the dishwasher and started it up.

By this time Stan had finished sanding and re-mudding the ceiling and walls, so we installed a plug next to Kathleen's side of the bed. Stan went up in the attic and fed the wire down to me and then I hooked up the outlet and put the cover on it. While I was doing that Stan connected the wire to a junction box in the attic.

There was still a little time left so Stan cut the holes for the two remaining recessed lights and installed them. So not we have plenty of light in the hallway. One of the recessed lights that we installed to day was over the stairwell and it is on a separate switch so that we can just turn on the stairwell light and not have the six other lights in the hallway on.

The stairwell light will also turn on the light directly over the stairs, but we have not installed the light fixture yet. We have it but we want to add texture the walls and ceiling before putting it up. Stan finished around 1730 and I helped him load up his truck.

Kathleen made some scalloped potatoes for dinner using some of the left-over ham from last week. There is still enough left-over for another meal although we finished more than half of it tonight.
Tami sent an e-mail to us saying that Becca asked Jesus into her heart today, so that was their miracle for day. So that made today a great day for us. Well on that note I think that I will just say good night!

Sleepy and Sick Sunday

I got up and got ready for church this morning but when I got ready to leave Kathleen was still asleep so I left with out her. I felt pretty good and Dr Laney spoke this morning in church and then Dr Allen spoke in Sunday School. About halfway though Sunday School I started to develop a nasty headache so I left when there was a break in the action.

It was one of those headaches that just keep getting worse the longer they go on, so I took some meds for my sinuses and it got to feeling a little better. My eyes got to watering and I started to get really tired. Andrea came over for a while with Brandon, but I felt so bad that I did not really enjoy their visit.

Andrea wanted Kathleen to trim a little off her hair, just enough to make it a little more even. Kathleen had gotten up by the time I got home from church but she had not gotten dressed until when Andrea and Brandon got here.

After they left, I sat down in my chair and fell asleep until around 1900 when Kathleen woke me up to eat dinner. We had ham and lentil soup that we had frozen from one night last week. We froze several quart freezer bags of it so we still will have plenty for some other meals.

When we froze it, it was pretty concentrated, so when we unfreeze it we have to add more liquid to it, so that makes it go even further. Hot soup is always something that tastes good on a cold day or evening. We still had about another bowl left-over from tonight, so maybe I will have it for lunch in the next day to two.

Well, I did not get much of anything done today, I do feel better now, so hopefully tomorrow I will be back to "normal" or at least my lately normal. Good night for now!

Spouses Sleepy Saturday

I got up around 0630 this morning and made myself an egg beater omelet, a slice of ham, some hash browns and a couple slices of cranberry walnut toast. Then I read the paper, emptied the dishwasher and washed the pots and pans from last night.

I talked to Mom and Sue for about an hour this morning; it was afternoon back there and they were surprised that Kathleen was still sleeping, but I told them that she is usually either still asleep or just getting up around this time.

We bought a new mailbox yesterday so I put it up; it is much larger and easier to open than our old one. We had had it since we moved in here and while it was pretty good size the way it worked magazines and things would usually get caught up and torn, so I have wanted to get a different one for a long time. The new one also has the capability to be locked, so that if we are going to be gone for a while we can just leave the mail in it.

Then I loaded up the SUV with all the things that we needed to take back to Home Depot; it pretty much filled up the back end. With this load of things we will have pretty much cleaned out the house of all the extra things from the remodel. Now we even have some room to move around in the living room.

Andrea called and wanted Kathleen to trim her hair for her, and she was a little surprise that Kathleen was still asleep. So since Kathleen was still not up so I went back outside and picked up fir cones and small branches that had come down in the wind last night.

After getting back into the house, I went upstairs to check to see if Kathleen was up yet but she was still asleep. Since it was about 1230 I finished the other half of the hamburger and fries from last night and added some water to the lentil soup for my lunch.

I did not want to do anything that would make any noise because I did not want to wake Kathleen up before she was ready to get up so I decided that I would watch one of the bowl games, I do not even know which one it was.

Andrea called again and was surprised that Kathleen was still not up and it was 1330. Finally around 1340 she came down stairs so I told her that Andrea wanted her to call when she got up, so she did.

After getting something to eat and getting dressed she was ready to go around 1530. We returned all of our stuff and then did some shopping. I saw Stan and his wife doing some shopping as well; and finally got out of there around 1750. We needed to get to Fred Meyer as Kathleen needed to drop off and pick up some prescriptions; in all there were four prescriptions. Since Kathleen was not feeling well, she wanted to pick up
some frozen food for dinner.

Well, that is about it for today; I think I will just say good night and call it a day!

Friday Fun

Since Stan was not coming over today, I took my time with breakfast. I read the paper and emptied the dishwasher. Kathleen had a nurse practitioner appointment today at 1015 so she was up a little early. After she left, I went outside and did some pruning on the arborvitaes I filled two cans. This week I get to use two cans as they did not pick up today due to the New Years holiday.

They also are changing so that our yard debris is now picked up on Tuesday along with the recycling and garbage, so I only have one day to remember to bring the cans and bins to the front.

Kathleen got back a little after noon and I loaded up the SUV with the returns for Lowe's and Bed Bath and Beyond and then waited for her to be ready to leave. Well I fell asleep in my chair waiting and woke up about 1445 when she decided that she was ready.

Our first stop was Lowe's; after we took care of the returns; we shopped around a little until almost 1700. Then we stopped by Harbor Freight to get a couple items that were on sail. Since it had gotten so late we stopped by Burgerville and got a couple hamburgers, Yukon fries and shakes.

Once we had satisfied our hunger we were on our way to Bed Bath and Beyond. There again we did some shopping and what we bought was less than what we brought back so we wound up getting a credit on my American Express card.

We finally made it back home about 2000 and after I unloaded the SUV I changed my clothes and put some of the things away. Well, that was my day; it was really nice not to have been working on the house today. The sun came out for a while, so I was able to go out and do a little yard work, not much because the ground was just like a sponge but a little just enough to satisfy my need to do yard work for a while.

Since I cannot think of anything else to say, I am just going to close with a good night.

Taking Time Thursday

I had a real brown egg for the first time in a couple months this morning. Usually I have egg beaters or Kathleen's egg whites for breakfast, but this morning I did not have enough egg beaters thawed out and Kathleen did not have any egg whites in the refrigerator so I finished the last egg in the older dozen egg cartons.

Stan got here a little after 0900 and left around noon; he finished taping and mudding the upstairs, so now everything is taped and mudded and we will let it set until Tuesday when Stan will sand and reapply more mud.

While Stan was working upstairs I went outside and pulled nails from the scrap lumber that we took out of the upstairs. I only stayed out there a little over an hour as it was cold and the cabinet that I was using was really low and my back was starting to hurt. Once I got inside and moved around a little my back started to feel better.

Then after Stan left I sanded the old patch work from twenty years ago. It is so much brighter up there now that one can really see how uneven it was. I did not do that much more than an hour as my wrists were still not what I would like as far as strength goes.

Most of the rest of the afternoon I spent reading magazines and looking through catalogs that have come in the last few days. One day I got nine catalogs or magazines. I was hoping that we could return some of the things that need to go back to Home Depot and Lowe's, but Kathleen was too tired. Maybe tomorrow!

For dinner Kathleen made some potatoes, ham and yams, really good stuff. Kathleen even finished all of hers so I did not get any extra tonight. There was some ham and yams left over, but I thought that it would make a lunch some day, so I just left it.

Well, I am starting to cough pretty good from the dust from the sanding that I did this afternoon. I cannot think of anything else to say so I am just going to say good night!

What Day is this Wednesday

All day today I have felt like this was a Monday, I knew that it was not, but since we met with out Sunday School class for five or so hours yesterday it seemed like Sunday. This morning, I read the paper, emptied the dishwasher and then made myself breakfast.

Stan got here about 0900 and we started moving the things off the front porch so that we could get to the dry wall. Once we were able to get to the dry wall we move it upstairs so that we could work in a dry environment.

To make a really long day a little shorter, we now have dry wall on the whole hall, landing area and stairways. This is the first time since we have lived here that that has been the case. Up until now there haw been a mix-match of drywall, plywood and paneling.

After getting the drywall all put up Stan started taping and mudding it, but it got pretty late, so he decided that he would come back in the morning to finish taping and mudding it. He was going to work at his parents place, but he wanted to get this done so that the mud could dry and then next week he could sand and re-mud it.

Kathleen made some bean soup with ham hocks for dinner tonight. I started smelling it while upstairs working and could hardly wait until we stopped so that I could enjoy it. I really like soups and stews in the winter time, they kink of warm ones innards.

Aaron and the girls came over after dinner while Tami was at a meeting at church and they stayed for about an hour and a half. The girls wanted to see our new bathroom and hallway. After looking at it they came downstairs and colored and drew for a while until Tami called and said that she was home.

Well that is about it for today, it has been a long day and I am rather tired, so good night!

Happy New Year - 2008

Well I did not make it to welcome in the new year, I fell asleep in my chair about 2045 and when I woke up I brushed my teeth and went to bed and slept until a little after 0700. After reading the paper and eating breakfast, I emptied the dishwasher and then added the breakfast dishes and what did not fit in last night when I washed them.

Then I took a couple of things upstairs that Kathleen had left in the kitchen last night and saw that she was up and on her computer, so I gathered the trash from upstairs and added it to the bag in the kitchen and took it outside and brought the can up toward the front.

Then I went back upstairs and finished cleaning off the surfaces that we are going to put the drywall on tomorrow and then swept up the mess. After getting the bigger pieces I ran the shop vac over the plywood to try to get as much of the drywall dust and sawdust up as possible. Once I had the upstairs swept, I ran the shop vac on the stairs as far as I could reach from the top of the stairs.

Then I went downstairs and got my vacuum and swept the stairs from where I had left off all the way down to the first floor. After the stairs were reasonably clean I vacuumed the downstairs. It is amazing how much construction dust there is around the house. I think that I have been vacuuming once or twice a day for the last month or so.

After I finished cleaning, I went back upstairs and put the door knob on the bathroom door. I was going to do that several weeks ago but Kathleen said not to as she was going to paint the door. The yesterday she asked me to put it on. I was too tired last night to do it so this morning after she was up and I had cleaned what I could I did it.

Then I went back down and went through all the receipts for Home Depot that I had sorted through last night and separated the items into 9ndividual bags or boxes so that when we took them back it would be easier to go through the returns desk.

By the time I finished I was time to go upstairs and change my clothes and get ready to go to our classes New Years Day gathering. We got there about fifteen minutes late and once we got there they prayed and then we ate. So much food and so little time...I tried watching what I ate, but every once in a while I put some in my mouth as I was watching the game on TV.

There were around fifty or so people there or a good portion of our class. I probably spent more time talking to people today than I had in a long time. It was good getting to know some of the folks that I had not known so well. Even our former pastor and his wife came. They were in town visiting so they stopped in for a couple hours and it was nice to see them again.

We got there about 1215 and left about 1715 and by the time we got home I was glad to be able to change into my shorts and tee shirt their house was a little warm for me. Kathleen's headache was really bothering her so she was anxious to get home as well; usually I am ready to leave and she wants to stay, but this time we both were ready to leave.

Well, other than eating I did not get a lot done, but I did get a few small items accomplished and checked off my list. Well, that was my day; I hope that you all were able to enjoy yourselves and the new year. It was a little chilly here today but clear, so it was nice. Tomorrow it is suppose to turn wet again, so it was nice while it lasted.

Good night and I hope that you have a great New Year!

New Years Eve 2007

Stan needed to stop by Home Depot this morning so I knew that he would not be here too early, so I poured myself a cup of coffee and read the paper before I made my oatmeal because I thought that by eating later I would not be quite as hungry by the time I got dinner. Usually when Stan is working I do not get to eat lunch so I try to eat a little later and a little more.

While eating breakfast I notice about forty or fifty robins eating the berries in the hedge along the east side of the house. They kind of took turns eating berries and then flying to one of the walnut trees in the front yard. There were also about fifty starlings sitting on the power lines across the street.

While waiting for Stan I shook out the kitchen rugs, swept, mopped the floor and then vacuumed the downstairs. I still had a lot of time so I went upstairs and swept the floor to pick up the dry wall dust so that it would not be tracked throughout the house.

Then I gathered up the trash from all the trash baskets, took out the trash and moved the garbage can toward the front of the house. Then I took the vegetable scraps out to the compost tumbler and turned in to stir up the compost.

Then I put all of the items for returning to the different stores by the front door so that when we got ready it would be easier to take out to Kathleen's SUV.

The mail came, so I gathered it up and opened it up; there was not much of anything important there. I did get my Orvis fly fishing catalog, so I browsed through it.

Stan called around 1045 and said that he could not find one of the things that he needed; a spindle post for the end of the half wall at the top of the stairs. But he did not get here until about 1300

When he got here we set up his portable table saw and cut a couple of the boards for the patch job that we were doing around the vent pipe. We also raised the height of the half wall by adding another 2x4 on top of the existing one and shimming it to make the top level. Then we took out the old end post and put in a new 4x4 one that Kathleen ran and got for us at Home Depot.

It is a good thing that it is only a couple miles away, it is even closer as the crow flies, but unfortunately we cannot travel that way.

So by the time we finished all that it was 1800 so we rapped everything up and I helped Stan load up his pickup. Tomorrow we will not work, but attend or Sunday School class gathering. Stan will then do the drywall Wednesday and maybe even do some taping and mudding.

He needs to take Thursday and Friday off to do some work around his parents place so we will not be doing anything else until the seventh of January. Is it really January 2008 already, I have no idea where 2007 got to but sure has gone.

Tonight Kathleen made some sour cream biscuits and reheated up the chicken noodle soup that she made the other night. There is still a little left, not enough for a regular meal, but maybe enough for me to have it with something else one of these days.

Well, I am tired and I am not sure if I will stay up to welcome in the new year, not that I usually do, but Kathleen usually would like me to. With that said, I am going to put a close to this years blogging and say have a health and Happy New Year!

Such a Strange Sunday

I did not get up until 0730 this morning so I had to hurry up so that I could bet ready for church and Sunday School this morning. Kathleen was still asleep when I left so I did not try to wake her up as I knew that she needed to get some extra sleep.

I got there a little early so it was nice to be there before the service actually started. This was only the second time this month that I have been well enough to make it, I have either been really tired or my sinuses had been over active. Anyway it was good to be out of the house and seeing some of the people that I usually see at least weekly.

Kathleen was up when I got home, although she was still in her night clothes. I had taken her SUV as it was blocking the driveway and I did not want to take the time to jockey the vehicles around. When I got home I was glad that I had as my garage door is not working well and it was pouring down rain when I got home.

Later this afternoon it would snow/sleet for a while, just enough to get the ground and street coated white, we even had a thunder and lightning store to go along with it, and then right after that the sun came out and shone as brightly as it has in a while.

After changing my clothes I went downstairs and fixed myself a veggie burger and a "hot link" on a bun and then I went into the living room and read the comics and paper. After recycling them I went through our receipts to try and find the items that we are going to take back to Home Depot and Lowe's that we did not use when we remodeled the upstairs bathroom.

Before I could finish doing that, (we have a lot of things and receipts) Kathleen called me for dinner. She had fixed a ham, boiled potatoes and lima beans. There is a lot of ham left over for several more meals and enough potatoes for another meal.

Well it was good to get out today, I did not get anything done today except go through the receipts, I had hoped to take those things back today, but I guess that will have to wait until I am able to sort out all the stuff and receipts. So I guess that this is the time I say good night.

Saturdays' Shopping

Since I was not going to be working on the house today I thought that I could sleep in...nice thought. My body clock told me it was time to get up at a little after 0600. I guess I have had too many years of getting up early to be able to sleep in now.

Anyway, I poured myself a cup of coffee and read the paper, and after I finished reading I made myself an egg beater omelet and some toast. After eating I loaded up the dishwasher and started it up, and then I poured myself another cup of coffee and washed the pots, pans and other things that I like to hand wash.

Then I went into the living room and listed all the items that we were donating to Goodwill. We had over one hundred and fifty books, of course that included a set of World Book Encyclopedia with fifteen years worth of yearly updates and another fifteen of science year in review. There were also about one hundred paperbacks, many from the children that they no longer wanted.

Then I went upstairs to get Kathleen's SUV keys so that I could load them all into the back of it. She was up and came downstairs with me and took a warm plate out of the dishwasher and commented on how nice and warm it was...they had just finished drying.

The mail came after I had gone back in and washed my hands so I went out and got it. I was surprised to see that the battery that I had ordered Christmas Eve for my Palm T5 had arrived already. So I got my PDA, (Personal Data Assistant) out and took the back off, unsoldered the old and replaced it with the new battery. The battery was a little expensive, but it was a whole lot cheaper than buying a new PDA.

After I finished putting it back together I checked it out and the PDA now works better than it has in several years. I guess that the battery had been going bad for about two years and it finally would not hold a charge at all, hence the need for a new battery.

They make the PDA's so that one is not suppose to be able to work on it, but after doing some research online, I found some information on people doing it and then did a Google search to see if I could find someplace that actually sold the battery for mine.

After looking at several after market ones, I chose the one that had the largest MAh(holds a charge longer), and while it was not the cheapest it was the one that was suppose to have the longest battery life and it had a warrantee for a year.


Finally after it got to be after 1500 I went upstairs and persuaded Kathleen that she needed to get dressed so that we could drop the stuff off at Goodwill and then go to Winco for groceries. I would have gone to Goodwill myself, but they are in the same parking lot across from one another so it seemed a little ridiculous to make two trips.

While we were there we got some fruit to make a salad for our Sunday School annual New Years Day get-together. We also picked up some brots as I thought they would be a good thing to have for a quick lunch during the week.

So when we got home I brought the groceries into the house and then helped Kathleen put them away. Then I went upstairs and changed back into my comfortable shorts and tee shirt. Little did I know when I bought the brots that we would be having them for dinner tonight, or at least I did, Kathleen did not want any so she just micro-waved a couple for me.

Well, we finally got some of the mess out of the living room, now maybe tomorrow we can take some of the unused remodeling things back to Home Depot and Lowe's. I had gotten so that there was just a pathway from the front door through the living room, it is not much better yet, but at least there is about twice as much room to walk.

I think that is just about it for today, I did not get as much done as I would have liked to, but I did get two things done that needed doing. So I think I will bid everyone a good night!

Friday's Funnies

After getting up this morning I poured myself a cup of yesterday’s coffee and then made a fresh pot. While it was brewing I emptied the dishwasher and washed the pots and pans. The coffee finished about the same time that I did, so I poured myself a cup of fresh coffee mixed my oatmeal with raisins and flax seed and let it sit as I sat down and read the paper.

After finishing the paper I put the oatmeal into the micro-wave and swept the kitchen floor. Kathleen came downstairs just after I finished eating and then went back upstairs. I had spilled a couple flax seeds on the floor, so I swept it again and was surprised at the amount of "stuff" that I swept up.

Stan said that he would not be here until 09300 or 1000, so I went outside and tapped down some of the mud that Stan's truck makes in the side lawn where he parks while working on the house. Then I rearranged the lumber on the front porch so that we could get to the dry wall as that is what I thought we would be doing today.

Then I got back inside I vacuumed the downstairs and then read the mail. It had gotten to be about 1145, so I decided that I would call Stan to check on when he was coming. As the phone was ringing, he drove up. So I went out and helped him unload his tools from his pick-up.

We went upstairs to finish some of the wiring that we needed to do before we put up the dry wall, and it took until about 1530 to finish up. Then we took apart the half wall at the top of the stairs; it had been mostly taken apart before and about 90% of it was plywood, so we just took out the rest so that we could have a smoother look to it.

Then we were trying to decide what we wanted to do with it, we finally decided that we would first shim it up to make it level and then we are going to replace the rectangular post at the end with one that is square at the top and bottom and has a swirl in the middle. We are also going to build a box around the vent pipe that goes up at the bathroom wall.

By the time we finished that Stan had just enough time to add another coat of mud to the patches that he put in yesterday. As we were taking Stan's tools downstairs some friends of our from our Sunday School class dropped by, so Kathleen showed them around the upstairs so that they could see what we were doing.

The used both Stan and Jack to redo their kitchen, in fact the reason that neither of them could start any earlier is that they were both working at their house. So Monday Stan will stop by Home Depot and pick up the lumber that we will need to redo the half wall and box around the vent pipe. Then hopefully we will be able to start putting up the dry wall it finish the upstairs.

We are also going to replace all the doors with new ones, we already replace the bathroom door and so when we are all done we will have five new matching doors. Before we had a couple different style and different colored doors.

When we did the remodeling twenty years ago we put up new doors on two of the rooms, but the other doors we left as they were, so it never really looked like it was planned that way. We also will be putting up new molding, the molding was the same as the doors and a couple of them did not have molding, so it has never looked finished.

Also when we redid the roof line the patch job we did on the ceiling dry wall did not blend as well as it should, so Stan will try to blend it a little better. When we did it neither Kathleen nor I had any real experience with it and we did the best we knew how at the time, but now some twenty years later we know how it should look.

Kathleen made some steak and used the rest of the boiled red potatoes from Christmas eve dinner and also heated up some peas for dinner tonight. I think that we have just about used up all the left-overs from the refrigerator with the exception of the chicken soup.

Well, it has been a short week, I am feeling better than I did a week ago, at least my sinuses are not bothering me as much, my wrist has been hurting a little more, but I have been using it a lot this week.


I think that it is time for me to say my good nights and call it a day.

Thursday???

Is this really Thursday? I guess having Christmas in the middle of the week kind of confuses things, but then sometimes it does not take much to confuse me. Anyway now on with today’s activities:

I slept in until around 0700 this morning, I knew that Stan would not be here very early as his oldest son and his family are visiting. After breakfast I poured myself a fresh cup of coffee and read the paper and then cleaned up the kitchen. I went upstairs to get something and Kathleen was up and on her computer, so she came downstairs and made herself some cinnamon toast again.

I redid the switch that I could not get to work last night and still did not have any luck. Since it was I three way switch, I decided that I would go downstairs and check how the switch down there was hooked up. Once I got it all undone, I figured out what needed to be done, but Stan arrived before I could get back upstairs.

He took a look at it and wanted to change a few other things that we had done yesterday, so we did that and then re-hooked up the top switch. Then Stan went into the attic and hooked up some of the wires up there, but when we turned the circuit breaker back on our bedroom light and the porch light were not working.

Stan ran into the same problem that I had run into a couple weeks ago a broken wire up in the attic. So he replaced the wire and the bedroom light worked, but the porch light and the outside outlet still did not work, so we took off the cover plate and took out the switch for the porch light, and discovered another broken wire.

The wiring in the house leaves much to be desired to say the least. If we live here long enough I will probably have to had replaced all the wire in this place. We finally got the wiring for the switch patched so that the switch and outlet would work; so that Stan could cut a couple pieces of plywood to patch the hole in the ceiling were we took out one of the old can lights.

After Stan finished that he cut some drywall to fill in the hole and then he taped and mudded it and the other two that he patched last week. So now tomorrow we can cut the new holes in them and then add the new cans so that we can had more light upstairs.

Stan finally got out of here around 1800 and I swept the stairway and then the upstairs, so that we would not be tracking any more dirt and dust around the rest of the house. Although everything in the house is covered in dust right now. Tomorrow I will have to vacuum the downstairs, but I am too tired to do that right now.

Around 1900I finally convince Kathleen to make something for dinner. She heated up the rest of the lentil soup from last week, there was not quite enough for me, so after I finished mine, I made myself a salad.

Well, that is it for today; I am tired so I think a good night is in order.

Wednesday's Wirings

We had a good quiet Christmas yesterday; I called and talked to my Mother and sister in the morning and then I tried to call my brother, but I did not get any answer. Then the rest of the day I just kind of took it easy. I fixed myself a grill cheese sandwich with two kinds of cheese and then added some hot sauce and some Italian seasoning for lunch.

Then for dinner I opened a can of chili and added quite a lot of onion to it. Kathleen picked out the onion in hers, so I had lots of onion in my bowl. Then about 2200 I headed for bed after having a really quiet day...kind of nice for a change.

After getting a pretty decent night sleep, I got up, ground some coffee beans, and made some coffee and then some oatmeal. After breakfast, I emptied the dishwasher and then added my breakfast dishes to the clean dishwasher. Then I read the paper, lots of adds again, like they think people had any money left after Christmas shopping for the last couple months.

Kathleen came down after a while and made herself some toast with sugar and cinnamon on it...really nutritious! Stan had not gotten here yet and it was almost 1000 so I told Kathleen that if he does not get here soon we might load up the SUV with stuff for Goodwill and get it out of the house, but he called a couple minutes after that and said that he would be here in a few minutes.

We worked on wiring just about all day, first we pulled out about fifty feet of wire that was not needed. It was not just one piece, but about five or six short pieces. Then we added a double box to Kathleen's craft room and a single to the upstairs hallway.

We also replace two junction boxes and three switch boxes with one light box, and two three gang switch boxes. While Stan was in the attic I had him move the light up there and we ran a switch for it to one of the three gang boxes so now I can turn the light on from the second floor rather than pulling the string up in the attic.

Stan and his family were celebrating Christmas tonight as his oldest son and family were coming into town, so he left around 1600. I hooked up the outlet in the hall and the switch for the stair lights, but I must have hooked up one of the wires incorrectly, so I will need to redo it tomorrow morning when I am a little more wide awake.

By the time Stan left, I had all I could do to stand up as I had been on my feet since 0600 this morning. Kathleen made some homemade chicken soup for dinner tonight; she spiced it up a little for me and it helped clear up my stuffed up head.

Well that is about it for tonight, so good night.

Merry Christmas 2007

Merry Christmas! For a change I thought that I would do this first thing in the morning instead of in the evening. For one thing I did not do it last night, too much fun with the children and grandchildren last night.

Secondly, my head was all stuffed up and I was so tired by the time we got home last night that I just had time to put our presents away and take one final look at my potato Bonsai before putting it down for the night. I am planning on spending part of this morning training my new present from Dan and Alyssa.



Last night we had our "traditional" Christmas Eve celebration and this year Andrea and John gracious consented to having their new home invaded by a hoard of Roushes. It always amazes me at just how well everyone gets along, although we can usually tell when the grandchildren are getting a little tired.

This year we drew names to buy presents for, that way we have less presents to buy, wrap, open and then clean up the wrapping paper afterwards. Poor Andrea and John's great room looked like a paper factory exploded by the time we got done.

We organized the grandchildren to help pick up the paper, but that soon broke out in a paper wad throwing ordeal. Eventually we got it all, or at least most, of it picked up. I was selected as the official present wire tie undoer. Some of the toys came so well tied up that it took me and my knife twenty minutes or so to open.

Well that is it for last night, I may or may not add to my blog tonight, it all depends on whether or not I do anything today and right now that is in question. So with that said, Merry Christmas!

Sunday's Showers

After going to be about 2145 I slept until about 0645, so I finally got a decent nights sleep thanks to some NyQuil to help stop my congestion. I felt better than I had for about a week when I got up but after a while my head started to feel stuff up again. I had planned on going to church this morning so I showered and made myself a bowl of cereal, but by the time I finished my cereal I did not think that it was wise to go.

Kathleen did not feel too wide awake either so we wound up staying home again this morning. I pretty much rested most of the morning then this afternoon I moved some things around in my fly tying room and moved the desk that had been in the landing at the top of the stairs against the north wall. We are planning on moving the bookcases to where the desk was once we get the floor put in.

I dozed a little this afternoon and watched some football and a movie on TV. Overall I feel much better today than I have in several days; I still do not feel great, but at least a little human. I went out on the front porch a couple times and wish that I could do something outside, but it pretty much rained all day and the ground is so saturated that even if it were not raining it would be pretty difficult to do much.

Tonight Kathleen cubed some potatoes and fried them up and also made a couple eye of round steaks for dinner tonight. I could have gone for more, but I probably did not need it. Even with all that sleep last night I still feel tired, so I hope that I can get another nights sleep like I did last night.

With that being said, I am going to call it an early night and say good night now.

Sitting Saturday

I awoke around 0300 this morning and finally got up around 0400 as I could not breath lying down. So on my way downstairs I gathered up the towels from the upstairs bathroom and then the downstairs bathroom and Kitchen as I got down there. Then I washed, dried, folded and put away again all before 0630.

I would have done the rest of the laundry except Kathleen usually has several items that do not make it to the hamper until I gather it up to do, so I usually have to ask her to make sure that she has everything in the hamper before I try to do the laundry.

I spent the time the towels were being washed and dried in my chair dozing off and on. Finally around 0630 I made myself an omelet and some hash brown potatoes. I mixed in some onions, garlic, tomatoes, and peppers with my potatoes. I did not have any mushrooms, so I decided to make a three cheese omelet using Brandon Cheddar, Parmesan Reggiano (that we got at Trader Joe's) and Mozzarella.

I did not have my morning coffee this morning, instead I have been drinking hot lemon juice and honey to help sooth my throat. It has gotten sore from all the drainage and coughing that I have been doing all week long.

I have not been able to sleep for more than an hour and a half at the longest at a time all week because my sinuses have just been so messed up. I think it is from all the dust from remodeling, but it could be from something else just as easily.

This morning I was chilled, and I could not go upstairs and get my long pants or long sleeve shirt as I did not want to wake Kathleen up. So when she finally got up I went upstairs and changed into long pants, shirt and over the calf socks, that did help a little.

Kathleen left about 1400 for Andrea and John's to take our old dining room table over for them to use for a while and while she was gone I washed, dried, folded and put away the rest of the laundry.

Once I had all the laundry done and put away, I went back to my chair and dozed a while again. Kathleen called and said that she was going to stop at Burgerville and pick up a couple hamburgers and shakes for dinner. She got me an eggnog with nutmeg and she got a chocolate mint shake for herself. She had been out finishing up the Christmas shopping for the grandchildren after she left Andrea's.

She finally got home about1830 and we ate shortly after that. Now that I have written my blog for the day I can go back to sitting in my chair; which is about all I gotten done today.

Well, I am really, really tired, even though I have had lots of short naps, I have not gotten any period of long sleep and it has really started to wear me out. With that said, I am just going to say my good night now.

Friday's Floors

Well today Stan and I took up the plywood that we had put down the other day, it squeaked a little and Stan was not happy with it so we spent most of the morning pulling it up and then the afternoon redoing it. Stan had to leave by 1600, so we did not get much more done today.

We did patch one more of the holes left from taking out the old square cans and it was getting too late so he did not have time to do the last one. He had hoped to get them all patched so that he could tape and mud them up so that they would have a couple days to cure before he cut the new round holes.

After Stan left I fixed myself some lunch, I mixed the rest of the spaghetti and added a can of sardines to it and then heated it up in the micro-wave. Then I took some dark rye and added some Limburger cheese and herrings for a nice sandwich. I sure hope that Alyssa is not too jealous of my "Fabulous Food Friday" lunch.

Kathleen left this morning to run some errands and take our old cherry drop-leaf dining table over to Andrea and John's, but about 1545 Andrea called and asked if I had heard from her lately and I told her that I had tried to call but the call went directly to voice mail. Andrea said that the same thing happened to her when she tried to call.

Anyway, Andrea said that she needed to leave and would not be home when Kathleen got there. Kathleen Finally called me about an hour later so I told her what Andrea had said. So Kathleen finally got back home about 1745 and I helped her unload her SUV.

Kathleen reheated the lentil soup from last night for dinner. It was really good, but I still added some spicy pepper powder. Well I feel like I am coming down with something and feel really yucky so I think that I am going to just say good night.

Too Tired Thursday

This will have to be rather brief as I am really tired again tonight. While waiting for Stan to get here this morning, I took all the left over plywood outside and then I swept and mopped the kitchen floor, vacuumed the downstairs and out]r bedroom and swept the plywood upstairs.

When he got here we went to work installing the canned lights for the upstairs hallway. First we cut out where the cans would go and then Stan went up into the attic and and put the first four (of six total) cans in place and then we ran the wire. For this we needed to find a live wire up the attic that we could use for attaching the switch.

Next we had to cut a hole in the wall above the outlet in the hall that the new line would be attached to and then over to the other side of the hallway and then back down to a switch that we would install later.

Once we had everything attached we turned the breaker back on and we had four new lights. Then we turned off the breaker that the old canned lights were connected to and Stan again went back up into the attic and cut the wires to the old cans and then removed the cans from the ceiling.

Stan then patched the holes from the old cans because we needed to cut the new holes in an area that would overlap the old holes. Since the old cans were almost square and the new ones are round the old holes would not work, so tomorrow we will cut new holes in the patched drywall.

Where we had only three canned lights before we will now have six. We are also going to have them on two different set of switches; one light will still be on the old line and operated with two three-way switches so that it can be turned on either upstairs or downstairs. The other five will have their switch at the top of the stairs, that way we can leave only the one on at night when I am going to sleep. Then when we need more light up there we can turn the other five on as well separately.

It got too late and so we will finish, or at least try to finish, tomorrow. Stan ran into some problems with the wiring as well and it took a couple hours to straighten out. Now I do not feel quite as bad as I had problems up there as well a couple of weeks ago.

Kathleen was tired tonight as well, so she made some pancakes for dinner and also had a couple veggie patties that she got from Trader Joe's the other day. The were a little spice, so I liked them.

Well, this has gone on longer than I thought it would, but what else is new, so I think that I will just say good night and put an end to this.

Wednesday's Walkways

I awoke about the time Kathleen went to bed last night and did not get back to sleep for more than a half hour at a time until about 0500 and then slept until about 0630 and by that time I needed to get up so that I would be ready when Stan got here this morning.

I made myself some oatmeal for breakfast and after cleaning up my dishes I poured myself a cup of coffee and read the paper. I finished the paper before Stan got here, so I did a little straighten up and took out the trash can of sawdust.

When Stan got here we went upstairs and talked about what to do for stairs, whether to replace them or to paint over what we had. Then we went to work shimming the floor joists so that we could make the plywood as flat and level as possible. That is just about all we got done today, shim the joist and nail down the plywood, but at least now we have a solid surface to walk on.

It is not totally flat but it is pretty level north and south. Before we tore everything up there was hardly a flat or level place anywhere. Now that we have a flat surface it is really easy to see just how slopped the surface was.

Kathleen went to lunch with Aaron and family today to celebrate his birthday, by the time I would have gotten cleaned up and gone it would have cut down on what we were able to get done today so I stayed home. I did take about fifteen minutes out to reheat the spaghetti and salmon and wine sauce for lunch.

By the time we finished our last cut of the plywood it was already dark outside, but the piece fit just like it should. Now we just need to decide what we want for floor covering as that will determine what to do for the stairs and also whether or not we need to put down some press board on top of the sub floor.

Well, it had been another long day for me, or perhaps it was just a short night, but whatever I am tired so I think that I will just say good night.

Too Tired Tuesday

This has been a long day for me, I am not sure what happened but I awoke at 0400 and could not get back to sleep, so I finally got up about 0500. It was still dark out when I made my omelet and the sun finally started to come up while I was eating breakfast. I made a veggie sausage, onion and cheddar omelet, I had thought about doing that Saturday, but forgot while I was making it.

After eating I washed the dishes from last night; I was just too tired last night. Then I poured myself a fresh cup of coffee and read the paper. Kathleen came downstairs after a while so I went upstairs and picked up the scrap wood and nails and then took them outside. It took about three trips to get them all down; I put them into a small garbage can so that I could get as much picked up at a time as possible.

After I got as much picked up as possible I took my shop vac and vacuumed between the floor joists. After I got as much vacuumed as I could reach, I went downstairs and vacuumed the downstairs floors as they had gotten pretty dirty from dragging the carpeting and the padding outside yesterday.

I forgot to mention that when we took off the flooring I noticed an area that had been severely charred, so at some point in time there was a fire. It is kind of funny, in a peculiar way, but this is the third house that we have lived in that has had a fire that we discovered several years after we had lived there.

Stan got here shortly afterwards so I helped him unload his truck and then he went upstairs and looked at what needed to be done. He had stopped by Home Depot to pick up some plywood and 2 X 4’s and also an electric hand planner to try to shave the joists so that they would be level or at least as close as possible.

Since there was not much for me to do while he was doing that I decided that I would take the carpeting and padding off the stairs. That turned out to be a much more involved job than I thought when I started out. The padding and carpet came up really easily, but under the padding was all kind of "stuff" that I spent the rest of the afternoon and finally stopped around 1830 for dinner.

It took quite a while for me to pull up the carpet tack strips partially because as I was removing it I was also bagging it so that it would go into the garbage can easier. They also used a lot of staples and carpet tacks to hold down the padding and that is what took so long. They also must have spilled some glue or something on a couple of the steps and so I had to try to scrap that off as well.

Andrea and Brandon Came over this morning and then around 1500 they went to Trader Joe's with Kathleen. So when Kathleen came home she heated up a couple Shepard's pies that she got today at Trader Joe's.

Well, I am going to call it a day, I am surprised that I am still awake, because when I first sat down and logged on I just about fell asleep. Well, good night!

Monday's Mayhem

I slept in until about 0700 this morning as I had gotten to bed a little late last night. After brushing my teeth and going upstairs, I decided to take the rest of the "stuff" out of the upstairs hallway, so with Kathleen's help I took the two shelves and tilted them forward and then was able to move them into Kathleen's upstairs craft room.

Then I decided to vacuum the floors a coupe times to get as much of the dirt and dust out of the carpet as possible as we were going to take it up in the morning. One vacuum was clogged up, I had noticed that it had not been picking up very well the last time that I used it, but was too tired to check why.

Even after I had taken the clog out, it still was not picking up as I thought it should, so I got the small one and re-vacuumed the carpet. I could tell by the sound that I was picking up a lot of dust and dirt and I knew that I could not get it all up so I just called it good.

After eating I emptied the dishwasher and poured myself a cup of coffee and read the paper. Stan still was not here by 0900, so I went upstairs and started ripping up the carpeting myself. Once I had it loose from the wall I cut it up into smaller more manageable sections and then took it out to the front porch. I left it there as they would get soaked if I left it out in the rain.

Stan got here as I was ripping up the carpet tack strips, so he helped me finish that and then we started ripping up the flooring, it was really a patchwork of plywood, boards, paneling and various other things. Once we had that up we took off two more layers of tongue and groove. The floors are still really not very level, and we spent most of the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out how to correct it.

I vacuumed out the area between the floor joists and picked up the scraps of wood. I had made about two dozen trips up and down the stairs today and am having a really hard time staying awake. It was getting late so Stan and I laid down some 3/4 inch plywood and screwed it down so that we could walk over it tonight.

While Kathleen and Stan were talking I just about fell asleep sitting on the steps, so I have a feeling that it is going to be an early to bed night for me. After helping Stan load his tools into his pickup, I went inside and took a nice long shower; it not only felt good, I was filthy from carrying the carpet and all the wood downstairs.

For dinner Kathleen made some spaghetti and topped it off with a salmon and herb wine sauce, I liked it, but Kathleen did not have any on her spaghetti, she just had butter on them. Well, I am tired enough that I think that I am just going to call it a day and say good night.

Sore Sunday

I got up about 0530 this morning, I really was not ready to get up, but I also knew that I would not be going back to sleep either. I made myself a bowl of cereal with a cut up banana, I just did not feel like oatmeal this morning and we were running a little low on bread so I did not want to use any for toast. After eating, I put my dishes into the dishwasher and then poured myself a cup of coffee and read the paper.

Kathleen still was not downstairs, so I went upstairs to see if she was going to go to church, she was still sleeping so I went back downstairs. After a while I checked again and she was still asleep, so I went back downstairs. Finally about 1230 I went back upstairs and she had just gotten up, she said that she slept for over eleven hours. I was not sure what time she had gone to bed last night so I had not wanted to wake her up.

We needed to head to Alyssa and Dan's as is was Zander's birthday and Alyssa was have in party for him at 1400; well Kathleen was not ready to go until 1400 and then she could not find her keys so we did not get out of the house until about 1430.

By the time we got there they were opening presents, so we got there just in time to give him our present. Then it was time for cake and goodies; I am sure that Alyssa will have lots of pictures and descriptions of what she came up with, so I will not try to cover it here. We left about 1700 and it was dark and rainy out so that it was hard to see going home.

We stopped for gas on the way home; it looks like gas prices are coming down some more which is a good thing. Tonight for dinner Kathleen heated up a can of Progresso chicken gumbo soup for me and she had a cup of Lipton's cream of chicken soup.

Well, I am pretty tired so I think that I will just say good night and call it a day.

Saturday's Soreness

I slept in until 0700 this morning as we did not get back home last night until around midnight. Alexis got sick after dinner and fell asleep while we were watching "Ratatouille"; luckily she had gotten her pj's on already.

I made an omelet this morning even though I did not have any mushrooms to put in it, so I put it on our shopping list. After breakfast, I cleaned my dishes and loaded up the dishwasher and started it up. Then I poured myself a cup of coffee and read the paper.

Kathleen had not gotten up yet so I went out to the garage to get some boxes for clearing out the upstairs hall way. While I was bringing in the second batch of boxes, Kathleen was up and talking on the phone to Tami, I guess that Alexis was felling better this morning, so that is good.

After Kathleen had fixed herself something to eat and eaten it we went upstairs and started on the two book cases and took all the books off and either boxed them up, bagged them for Goodwill or in a pile for one of the children.

After the bookshelves were bare, we started on the old computer desk, we had two old pc's there, and at least one of them still works, but is an older operating system. Then we cleared off the four file cabinets. We put the file cabinets into Kathleen's upstairs craft room and the computer desk into my fly tying room. But by now I can just barely get into the room.

The hall way is virtually cleared out; the step ladder that we use to get into the attic is there as well as the shop vac to vacuum up the debris that we have been creating with all the remodeling.

I think we had four or five bags of "stuff" for good will along with two boxes of "The World Book Encyclopedia" and about fifteen years worth of the "yearbook" and the "year in science". Now all that stuff is all on the internet, so paper encyclopedias are pretty much obsolete.

For dinner tonight, Kathleen heated up the rest of the left-over chicken from the other night and the stuffed baked potatoes that Tami had made for their class dinner last night. They were really good, baked potatoes that had the potato taken out and mixed with ham and then put back into the potato skin.

Right now I am so tired that I can hardly stand up, I think a nice warm shower is what I need. So before I fall asleep at the keyboard, I am going to say good night.