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.