Tueday Things

It was almost 0800 when I got up this morning. After going downstairs and doing my morning computer activities, I went into the kitchen and made myself some oatmeal. It was that kind of morning. Cool and something nice and hot sounded and tasted so good.

Kathleen came downstairs as I was finishing my oatmeal and we talked at the table for a while as we watched the latest on the search for the lost climbers. It certainly does not look good, especially as they discovered that they only had light packs and were not really prepared for a very long stay on the mountain.

After a while, I went into the living room and read the paper, the mail came, but I waited until I finished the paper until I got up and got it. More Christmas cards and a medical insurance statement, all the rest was junk mail.

After I recycled the paper and the mail, I went upstairs and changed clothes as Kathleen and I were having lunch with my accountability group and their wives. After we ate, we all went to see the movie "The Nativity", it was really pretty good and probably as accurate as any "Hollywood" production could be.

We got home about 0700 and as the sun was down it had really started to cool off. The temperature is supposed to hover just below the freezing level again tonight. It has been cold at night and then warming up during the daylight hours. That is soon to change, as they are predicting rain for the next few days. They are also warning of the possibility of freezing rain for the next couple of days. Winter in Oregon!

Well, Kathleen said that we are having chili tonight for dinner, it is a good cold night meal and I like it no matter what the weather. I some how do not think that there will be anything else exciting the rest of the night, so I will say good night.

Monday Madness

Well, I went to bed before Kathleen and she got up before me this morning. She was not feeling well and got up just a few minutes before I did. I gathered up the towels, loaded them into the washing machine, and then let Reggie outside for his morning duty call.

Then I went and sat down at my computer to do my morning readings. When I finished my morning computer stuff Kathleen was coming downstairs and asked if I felt like pancakes this morning.

Since I had though about either oatmeal or eggs this morning, neither one did I really feel like, but pancakes did sound pretty good. We had a banana that was about a week past what I would eat and even beyond what Kathleen would eat so she added that to the pancakes and it really tasted good, I cannot remember the last time I had banana pancakes.

The mail came before I sat down to eat, so I went out to get it and other than a Christmas card, there really was not much there. The towels were done washing so I put them into the dryer and sat down to read the paper.

About the time I finished the paper the dryer was done, so I unloaded the towels, folded them and put them away. Then I took the kitchen scraps out to the composter and then picked up after Reggie. Then I took the recycling and the garbage out front.

Kathleen came downstairs a little while after I came back inside and got cleaned up. We were planning on going to the credit union to deposit a couple checks and then do some more Christmas shopping for the grandchildren.

We looked at a couple stores, but just did not find what we were looking for, so we went to Costco. We were planning on going there anyway, but we were able to find what we were looking for and picked up the spiral cut ham for Christmas. I even got Kathleen a bunch of flowers that she arranged in a couple large vases when we got home.

She asked what to do for dinner, so I suggested that we use the rest of the open package of meatloaf from the other night and a couple of baked potatoes. What that was warming up she asked if I wanted green beans or creamed corn, since it had been a long time since we had creamed corn, I said let's have the corn, so we did.

After dinner Kathleen asked if I wanted some hot chocolate, we had gotten some dark Belgian chocolate mix at Costco, so I thought that we might as well try it. Kathleen took hers upstairs and I have mine here at my computer. I do not think that there will be anything else to write home about tonight so I will say good night now!

Sunday Shuffling

I slept in this morning as we were not going to our church, but Alyssa and Dan's to see and hear Natalie singing in the children's choir, so I was able to sleep in until after 0800. I even made myself some oatmeal for breakfast. We left for Alyssa's church about 1030, got there about 1045, and then drove around the building until we were able to find a parking spot.

We got into the sanctuary about the same time that Alyssa did and then saved the seats as Alyssa took the children to their classes. She and Dan arrived back a little before the service was about to start. Dan's Mom arrived shortly after that and we had just enough seats for everyone.

They had a really good drama to start the service off, then the message and finally the children's choir. They did a really nice job, Natalie keep looking at herself on the big screen behind her so it was a little hard for Alyssa, Dan or Kathleen to get a good shot of her face straight on.

After the service, we headed home to let Reggie out and also to change clothes. We were getting together at Aaron and Tami's house at 1600 to celebrate Aaron's birthday and then on to Chang's Mongolian grill for a family dinner.

Tami's two brother's and sister-in-law were there as were Tami's parents. Alyssa, Dan, and their children came about twenty minutes after we got there and we had already gone and gotten our food cooked.

After I finished eating, I sat with Alyssa and Dan to help with the children as did Kathleen. When they went back for seconds, I stayed there with the children. Then I went back there to keep Dan company after Alyssa's food was cooked.

After Tami's family left three of the grandchildren wanted to sit on my lap, it would not have been too bad it they just wanted to sit there, but they also wanted to jump around and play. After a while the children were getting a little tired and so we all left and then talked in the parking lot and talked for fifteen or twenty minutes.

We finally got home about 1930; I took the final load of clothes out of the dryer and took them upstairs to fold. Kathleen came upstairs as well and changed her clothes, after finishing the clothes and putting them away, I came downstairs and here I sit.

I think that is about all for tonight, so I will just say good night!

Saturday's Summary

I got up about 0800 this morning with a slight tickle in my throat, I still have it. It is developing into a rather annoying cough. Anyway, after letting Reggie out and doing my morning computer routine, I decided to go into the kitchen and make myself breakfast.

I had not had oatmeal in a couple of days so I got some oatmeal, wheat germ, raisins and black strap molasses added some water and put the bowl into the microwave and cooked it for three minutes. I also made a pot of coffee, sliced a croissant in half, put it into the toaster oven, and toasted it. I added cream cheese and orange marmalade to it and that was my breakfast.

After cleaning up in the kitchen, I went into the living room and read the paper. The mail came while I was reading it, but I waited until I finished reading the paper before I got it. There was not much there, other than a Christmas card and a bill, the rest was junk mail.

Alyssa was having Zander's birthday party at noon, so I changed my clothes and put on my "cowboy" duds. Kathleen had made the appetizers for tonight’s progressive dinner and asked if I would take them over to the people's house where we were having the first phase of the dinner.

So I did, by the time I got back Kathleen was ready to go so we took off for the party. We got there a little late, but it did not really matter, as the youngsters were busy running around. I now really appreciate the fact that we have children at a younger age; I do not think I could handle a steady diet of that now.

Alyssa had the whole western theme going, the dining room had bails of hay and the entryway into the living room had a plastic solon door. In the kitchen, she had all kinds of cowboy goodies for the young cowpokes to eat.

I think Zander's favorite part was opening the presents, cards, clothes were quickly tossed to the floor, but the cars, trucks, and other such items were looked at much closer. It was fun to see the children wanting Zander to open their presents, but it did get a bit chaotic at times. Again, children are for the young.

Kathleen and I left a little after 1600 so that we could get to the progressive dinner on time, but as we were leaving my stomach started to really bother me and by the time we stopped to get gas, I told Kathleen that I did not think that I would be able to make the dinner. She did not want to go by herself and said that she was really tired.

So around 1800 I toasted a couple buns and opened a can of sardines and that was my dinner, Kathleen heated up her leftover ham and yam from the other evening. Well it is almost 2000 and I think that I am just about ready for bed; my stomach is really crampy so I hope that I can get a good night sleep so that we can go hear Natalie singing tomorrow.

This getting older is not all that it is cracked up to be. Good night!

Fickled Friday

What a day! I got up about 0800 and could have slept for a couple more hours, between the wind and rain last night and just being really tired from running around yesterday. Anyway, the sun was shining and it was nice and warm out. When I got downstairs, I let Reggie out and looked around the front yard to see what kind of damage was done by the winds last night.

There were many branches down, nothing over an inch in diameter and there were many fir cones all over. I went back inside and started my morning computer stuff. After that, Kathleen had started shredding potatoes for hash browns and dividing eggs for breakfast. She gets the yokes and I get the whites with cheese. I poured myself a cup of coffee and sat down to breakfast.

Before I had a chance to start eating the mail came so I went out and brought it in. Some of Kathleen's medications arrived and other than a couple wood working catalogs the rest was junk, so I deposited it into the recycling bag and than had breakfast.

The sun was shining so brightly it looked like it was going to be a really beautiful day, boy did that ever change in a hurry. I went outside to pick up some of the larger branches and while I was out there I noticed that the shy was starting to get dark and before I knew it, it had started to hail. I stayed outside working for a little while longer, until it started to come down really hard.

It did not hail very long, just long enough to leave a layer of hail on the lawn. Since I had not read the paper yet, I decided that I would do that and see if the sun would come back out.

Kathleen left to her doctor's appointment and I went into the basement to fix the water exhaust for the furnace. These were the parts that I bought the other day at the True Value. It only took a couple minutes and I was done.

Since it was not raining or anything at the time I decided to go back outside and pick up some more of the fallen branches. I was working under the fir trees most of the time and did not notice it starting to snow, just little flakes at first and then they got bigger and started coming down faster.

Again I game in and went inside when I got into the kitchen the phone rang; it was Kathleen wanting to know if it were snowing here. I told her that it was. Just after I got off the phone it really started snowing, almost blizzard like, so I called Kathleen back and told her that the snow was starting to build up and sticking to the ground.

As soon as I got off the phone with Kathleen, Andrea called to see what the weather was like here so she could make a decision about work. By this time the snowing had slowed down and the streets were pretty clear, but the temperature was starting to go down.

When I let Reggie out about 1630 I could really feel the coolness of the outside, it was really pleasant earlier in the day, but now it was starting to feel like winter. Kathleen was home and starting to make dinner, I had taken some of the meatloaf out of the freezer earlier and she was making mashed potatoes and peas to go with the meatloaf.

After dinner, I put the leftovers into the refrigerator and washed the dished that needed to be hand washed. Kathleen has gone upstairs and I am down here doing my blog. I do not think that tonight will be as billowy as last night was, but I think that I will be going to bed early tonight. So good night!

Turbulent Thursday

Thursday started out as a pretty normal day, the only difference was that we left the house about 0930 to go to Zander's pre-school Christmas program. It did not start until 1015, but we had had a lot of rain during the night and I did not know what we would run into.

As we were going there and stopped at a traffic light the cars in the right turning lane were about axle deep in water. I even remarked to Kathleen about the puddles having their own waves. I almost wish that I had brought my fishing gear!

At another intersection, the water from the corner reached to the center of a four-lane road. It was probably several inches deep at the curb and only about a quarter inch at the center. I felt more as if I should have been in a canoe or a kayak going down the street.

Then once we got off the main roads and onto Foster Road, the water in the ditches alongside the road looked more like creeks, the water was really running fast and in several places, it was crossing the roadway. I told Kathleen that I thought that on the way home we would take a different road.

Zander's Program was really good and Zander did very well. While they had their "party" afterwards Kathleen and I held Hayden so that Alyssa could do what she needed to do. When given the choice between a banana or a cookie Hayden said cookie, so it looks like he has developed somewhat of a sweet tooth.

After everything was over Kathleen and I did go home a different way, I needed to stop at Bi-mart and pickup a wiper blade for the back window of Kathleen's SUV. While there we did some shopping and then we stopped by Lowe's to pick up a couple items to redirect the heating vent in Kathleen's craft room.

There was a Fred Meyer just down the road from the Lowe's so we stopped there, as Kathleen needed to pick up a few items for an appetizer that she is bringing to our Sunday School class progressive dinner.

While we were there, she found a slow cooker that she liked better than the one we just bought at Bi-mart, so we bought that one and would stop by the Bi-Mart near out home and return the one we bought at the other Bi-Mart.

By this time, it was after 1600 and my stomach felt like it was ready to start eating itself. I had breakfast earlier in the morning but I had not had anything other than a small cookie that got Hayden started on them. So Kathleen reheated the scalloped potatoes and ham from last night.

After finishing dinner, I went to sit at my computer to do my blog, as I was heading to a Missions meeting at 1900 and would be late coming home. As I was opening the web page, the lights flickered and then turned brown, so I decided that I had better shut the computer down so that in case the power did go off it would not damage the computer.

I did get home late from the meeting and Kathleen said that the power did go off briefly a couple times, so I am glad that I did turn the computer off. Well that was my day yesterday. The wind has died down this morning and from the looks of the yard and driveway, I think I will be picking up branches for a while.

It could be a lot worse, there are several homes that have had trees fall through their homes and while we did have some branches hit the roof, they were an inch or less in diameter and did not do any damage that I can see now.

Well, I think that I will make breakfast now and get started on my day.

Midweek's muddlings

This morning I got up a little after 0700 and after spending an hour on my computer, I got ready to meet up with the guys for breakfast. We met at a different place this morning, it was different, but I am not sure if it was any better. The food and service was good and it did have windows that we could look out.

I had the light breakfast, a couple eggs, bacon, toast and coffee and it was plenty. Everyone had something different, one ordered a pancake and it covered the whole plate. Another had a waffle and it was about the same size. One of the other guys had a side order of a sausage patty, and it was almost as big as the pancake was, it must have been a pound of meat...too much for me.

After breakfast, we went to visit Duane Huntley, in the care facility. He was suppose to go in for a Gamma knife surgery tomorrow, but his insurance has not approved it yet, so he will have to wait until that happens. We spent about an hour talking and praying with him. He was looking good and was pretty alert.

After leaving there, I stopped at Loews, to try to find some tubing connectors to modify or heater water exhaust line. After looking around for about forty-five minutes, I could not find the right combination, so I did not get any of it. Next, I stopped at Kohl's to try to find something for Kathleen and did not have any better luck there, so I started for home.

On the way I got gas for the Wrangler, it had been four months since I got gas for it. That shows you how much I have been driving it lately. I use to fill it up once a week, now it is a lot less frequently, which is a good thing.

After leaving the gas station, I decided to stop at the Parkrose True Value store to try to find the connections. After looking around for a while and with some help from one of the employees I was able to put together something that I think will work okay.

I arrived home about 1240 and Kathleen was just about out the door heading to her hair appointment. So I read the paper and opened the mail, even though the only thing that I wound up keeping was my jury summons for January 9th.

About 1500 I decided to make myself something to eat, so I heated up the little bit of left over turkey soup, split a croissant, sliced some cheese, and made a croissant melt to go along with the soup.

When Kathleen came home, she was not sure what to do for dinner, so I suggested using some of the left over ham from Sunday's potluck and make scalloped potatoes. So she did, I now I feel like just sitting around for the rest of the night. It is not that I really did much of anything today, it has just been one of those waiting for the next storm to get here kind of day.

With that said, I think that it will be an early evening as Zander is having his preschool Christmas program tomorrow and we will need to leave the house around 0930 to get there in time. So good night!

Look Ma, no cavities!

This morning I was up around 0800, I just could not sleep any longer. After I got off the computer, I made myself some oatmeal with wheat germ and black strap molasses. I also put a banana and some raisins in to give me some more iron and potassium. After finishing breakfast, I loaded the dishwasher and did some of the hand washing that was sitting around.

Then I poured myself a cup of coffee and went into the living room to read the paper, and again before I had a chance to finish the mail came. The only thing that I kept was a catalog and a magazine that I set aside to read later.

Kathleen had mentioned that she would like to have leftover turkey soup tonight for dinner, so I went down to the basement, brought up a container of soup, and put it in the sink to thaw out.

Since I do not have a work office, I decided to decorate my fly tying room, or at least one of the desktops. I have several fly fisherman and four or five ice fisherman that are either huddled around the fire or cutting a hole in the ice. Several of the pieces light up and are kind of neat. I also set up my miniature nativity scene. I have not set up my miniature tree yet, maybe later on this week.

Alyssa called and asked if we could watch Hayden for a while, since I had a dentist appointment I gave the phone to Kathleen to answer. I started cleaning up the living room and then vacuumed it along with the rest of the downstairs. Later on Kathleen decided that she was too tired and called Alyssa back, but Alyssa had already made other plans.

Anyway, about 1400 I decided to make myself some lunch, I heated up some stuffing and gravy, and since there was not a lot of it, I also had a bowl of cottage cheese and loganberry jam mixed together in a bowl.

I did a little more straightening up and about 1520 I started to get ready for my dentist appointment. It is a good thing that I left early, as when I got there I had to fill out a new medical history form. Shortly after I finished filling it out the hygienist called for me to come on back to get my teeth x-rayed and cleaned.

After she finished doing that, the dentist came in, looked at my teeth and x-rays, and said that my teeth looked great and he would see me in about six months.

After leaving the dentist office I stopped at Bi-Mart to look for a T for some small plastic tubing for Kathleen, I could not find any and Kathleen called me saying that she had the soup warmed up and ready for me. So I took off and headed for home before going anywhere else to try to find one.

When I got home Kathleen was upstairs in her computer room on her computer, I let her know that I was home and then changed my clothes again and went downstairs. Since she did not come downstairs right away, I decided to check my e-mail and after I finished on my computer, I was leaving the room and Kathleen said that she would be right down.

She heated up a couple rolls from Sunday's potluck and that was our dinner. I added nutmeg to my soup; it is something that I always remember doing as a child at my grandparent’s house. We use that power, but I remember grinding my own nutmeg with a small grater at their house.

Well, Kathleen is back upstairs and I think I will read my magazine and call it a night. Tomorrow I meet with the guys from the accountability group for breakfast and then we are going to visit one of our friends who is in a nursing care facility. I hate to think that I am getting to that age where my friends are in nursing care facilities.

Well, I think I will just say good night for now.

Monday's Mischief

I slept in until about 0730 and got up mostly because I had a lot of mucous in my throat and was having a hard time breathing. Kathleen got up about the same time as well and we talked about having pancakes or waffles for breakfast. I went downstairs, did my computer things, and than Kathleen came down, I asked her about pancakes, and so we had pancakes and maple syrup for breakfast. While she was making the pancakes, I made a pot of coffee and she opened up a can of mango juice.

After eating, I went into the living room and started reading the paper, about half way through the mail came so I went out and got it and then finished reading the paper and then the mail. There were not a lot of things worth keeping, so I deposited the paper and junk mail in the recycling bag.

Kathleen had gone upstairs and was working on her computer, and I collected the garbage, took it out to the garbage can, and took the can up to the street for tomorrow's pickup. Then I washed up, heated up the rest of the beef and barley soup from yesterday, and made a grilled cheese sandwich to go along with the soup.

About 1500 Kathleen came downstairs and wanted to go to church to pick up a couple CD's that she left there yesterday. I had planned on stopping by Multnomah and pick up my alumni card so that I could use the library and the fitness center. After that, we headed to Wal-Mart.

On the way, we came to Boyd's Coffee and Kathleen wanted to stop and get some more pancake mix, so we stopped and looked around while we were there. The off to Wal-Mart.

Kathleen and I both got some sweats and Kathleen got some other clothing. She also found a magazine that she wanted to look at as well as some Christmas ornaments and a couple other things.

While we were checking out, she was wondering what to do for dinner as it was about 1800 and I suggested using some of the left over ham from the potluck yesterday. She thought that was a good idea and would have been quicker than anything else that she could come up with.

So after we got home she heated up a couple potatoes, a yam and a couple slices of ham. After eating, I put the dishes into the dishwasher and she went upstairs to do some more work on her computer. I came into my office and here I am writing my blog. Well, I think that is all the interesting things that I can think of so I will just say good night.

Sunday Summary

I woke up a little after 0700 this morning, a little later than I normally do on Sunday morning's, but I was still really tired, but I knew that I needed to get up and get ready for church and Sunday School. So I pulled myself out of bed and shaved with my eyes closed and then took a sh0wer and woke up a little.

After drying off and making my way to the kitchen I made some coffee and toast. Once I finished that I went upstairs and woke Kathleen up and got dressed. I was still too tired to read the paper, and I just did not feel like doing the dishes either, so I just kind of sat around.

We made it to church about fifteen minutes late, but we did make it. After church and Sunday School I cleaned up the class room and then went over to help set up for the pot luck. Afterwards, I helped clean up the fellowship hall and put things away.

When we finally left, I could hardly stand up, I was really tired. Once home I changed clothes and went downstairs to read the paper, it took a long time, as I probably should have taken a nap, I would not have been as tired as I am now if I had.

About 1800 Kathleen made some beef and barley soup and I made some grilled cheese sandwiches. There is something about a warm cup of soup and a grilled cheese sandwich that tastes really good on a winter night. Well, it is late enough, and I am tired enough that I think that I will just say good night now.

Saturday's Stories

The wind and rain woke me up about 0300 this morning and I dozed on and off until about 0600, when I finally fell asleep until 0730. I was still more tired than hungry when I got up so after doing my computer stuff for an hour I went and read the paper. After that I heard the mail come, so I brought it in and sat down to some scrambled eggs that Kathleen made along with some cinnamon raisin toast and a couple veggie sausages.

After eating I went through the mail and sorted out the good from the bad, and put a couple magazines on my chair to read later. Kathleen had to be at church at 1000 to help set up for the Christmas pot luck tomorrow and I went along to help as well. We were planning to come home to let Reggie out before going to Alyssa and Dan's house for a birthday party for me. However, when we finished at church we felt that it would be more of a hassle to go home and then go to Alyssa's than to just go, so that is what we did.

Aaron, Tami and the girls were there as well as Toni and Chucky when we arrived and Andrea and John arrived a short time later. Alyssa had decorated everything like a 50's style dinner and they had 50's music playing in the background. For food there was barbecued cheeseburgers, with all the trimmings, and frys in the plastic baskets with the red and white checkered paper inside. Then for desert there was banana splits with all the goodies for toppings. They also had some anniversary Coke bottles and several kinds of soft drinks.

I took some of the diet Coke and some of the juice from the maraschino cherries and made my own cherry Coke. Natalie and Lexis kept wanting sips of my drink so I really did not get as much as I had planned on, but it was fun watching them enjoy the drink.

Poor Alyssa will have to redecorate the house all over again for Zander's party this next week. Originally she wanted to invite a lot of my friends for a big party for me, but I knew that she also was doing something for her children and suggested that we just keep it a family party for me. I am not big on parties any way and she certainly did not need the extra work and planning for a party for me.

We got home a little bit ago and I am still stuffed. Kathleen forgot her purse, so we will have to go out to get it, so I think that I will just sign off now and say good night.

P.S. I did not write a blog yesterday, I woke up about 0200 with really bad leg cramps and never did get a good nights sleep, so I was tired all day and I continued having the cramps through out the day.

Again good night!

This is how I started my day!

http://howtoprankatelemarketer.ytmnd.com/ (copy and paste this to your browser)

One of the regular e-mails that I get is from CNNMoney.com and I always look at their "fun site of the day" and "joke of the day", they are usually pretty funny.

Anyway, after doing my morning devotions, I checked my e-mail and the above was some of what awaited me. I usually spend the first hour or hour and a half with my devotions and catching up on e-mail first thing in the morning. Today I think that I spent a little longer as I had to replay it over again, it is good to start the morning off with a good laugh.

After, my morning computer time, I loaded up the dishwasher, the washing machine, made coffee and then made my breakfast, a couple eggs, sausages and cinnamon raisin toast.

I ate my breakfast while the first load was washing and it finished about the same time that I finished. Since the first load of laundry was done, I put it in the dryer and loaded up another load of clothes. After breakfast I finished loading up the dishwasher, started it up and washed the pots and knives and other hand washed items.

By this time the first load was done drying, so I unloaded it and went upstairs to fold and it away. When I got back downstairs the second load was done washing, so I loaded it into the dryer and then went around the house and gathered up the towels and put them into the washer.

Next I started writing this as I did not want to forget to include the"fun site of the day". I thought that it was just too funny not to share it with everyone. Well, now the second load of drying is done so I will close for now and since we age suppose to be going to Andrea's place to help her clean up today I will hopefully write more when we get back from there.

Well, we got home from Andrea and John's about 2030 and now I am trying to stay awake long enough to finish this up. I help her clean up her kitchen, washed a lot of pots and pans and loaded and unloaded a couple loads of dishes. I also did four loads of laundry and cleaned up her laundry area.

Kathleen and Andrea worked on straightening up the living and dining rooms and got it to looking much better. Then I helped Andrea haul out a couple bags of garbage and several bags of recycling.

Andrea made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, John came home a little after 1900 and took a shower and than we ate. After we finished eating I think that I could have fallen asleep at the table without much trouble. So we left and I took the freeway home rather than the back roads, as I wanted the light and other traffic rather than the windy dark roads.

Well, I think that this is the time that I say good night for today!

Wednesday's Wonderings

I woke up about 0230 and woke up about every half hour until about 0500 hen I finally went back to sleep and did not get up until about 0800. I went downstairs and made some cinnamon raisin nut toast with peanut butter and banana.

I had taken the craft gloves that Kathleen got for me last night off and was amazed at how much better my hands felt. I left them off most of the day and put them on for a while this afternoon after I had been outside working.

After eating, I washed the pan that Kathleen cooked the bacon in last night. I had soaked it with hot water and Dawn so the grease came off easily. Reggie liked the bacon grease and dry dog food that I gave him last night.

After straightening up the kitchen, I went into the living room to read the paper. Before I finished the paper, the mail came, there was really nothing there, I think Kathleen got a couple things and I got a catalog, but the rest was junk mail. After recycling the paper and mail, I took the full bag out to the garage, and while I was out there, I thought that I would do a little work, so I cut some more of the Italian prune tree down and pulled some weeds in the garden.

I was getting hungry so I went inside and made myself a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. After eating that I went back outside, dug up a couple blackberry bushes, picked up some of the fallen branches from the back yard, and then dumped the barrel into the main barrel that I use for yard debris pickup.

While I was dumping the branches, I noticed that Andrea’s Jeep was in her old parking spot, so I went inside and cleaned up. She brought over some chocolate covered marshmallows that she made, so I had a couple. Kathleen and I were going to go to her house and help her clean up today, but she had a couple things to do so we decide to do it tomorrow instead.

Andrea left about 1600 and shortly after that, Kathleen left to pick up her prescription that she did not get yesterday. She asked me to put some water on the stove and cook some ravioli for dinner tonight. I filled the frying pan with water, but got busy doing something for church and I never got the ravioli into the pan.

Kathleen came home about 1740 and added the ravioli and we had ravioli and Alfredo sauce for dinner tonight. Well, Kathleen has gone upstairs, probably for the night, so I think that I will just say my good night now.

Today is Tuesday

I slept in again this morning, I guess because there was no reason to get up earlier and I must have needed the sleep. My thumb joints have really been bothering me a lot today. I have been taking a lot of Advil and it helps, but it seems to wear off too soon.

I made my first winter breakfast, oatmeal, raisins, and black strap molasses. I used up the last of my regular cereal, so it was a good time to make the change. I also had my first morning cup of coffee. After eating, I cleaned up the kitchen and then went into the living room with another cup of coffee to read the paper.

Shortly after I finished the paper, the mail came, not much of anything exciting, just a couple of catalogs. After depositing the junk mail into the recycling bag, I went outside to pull up some more of the ivy that is growing west of the driveway. When I got tired, I cleaned up and then went upstairs to change clothes so that we could go to the grocery store. Then I went back downstairs and looked over a couple of the catalogs that came today.

While waiting for Kathleen to come downstairs, a UPS package came for me, it was the cover to store my soft-top side and back windows in while I have the hard top on.

I have not used one in the past, but the windows get really dusty and I was afraid that they would get scratched. Shortly after I opened the box, Kathleen came downstairs dressed to go shopping. She even remarked that she was dressed for the first time since Sunday.

Well, we went grocery shopping, and put everything away and then Kathleen wanted to go to a craft store, I was just too tired to go, so I stayed home and since she is not back yet, I thought that I would do my blogging.

We are planning on having bacon, lettuce, avocado, and tomato on croissants for dinner tonight whenever Kathleen comes home.

Well, I cannot think of anything else to write home about so I might as well say good night now.

My Monday Miseries

I was awakened at 0030, or shortly after midnight, with my Wrangler alarm going off. It was in the garage, so I was not too worried about anyone breaking into it as I could see that the garage door was shut from one of our bedroom windows. Since it had gone off a couple times about an hour earlier, I thought that I had better get up, get dressed, and go downstairs and out to the garage to see what was going on.

When I got out into the garage, I could hear the wind blowing against the metal garage door and I figured that it was just the vibration that was causing the alarm to go off. So I disarmed the Jeeps alarm system and went back into the house, upstairs, changed out of my clothes, and back into bed.

I wish that I could have fallen asleep as quickly as I normally do, but no such luck. I lay there for what seemed like most of the night and finally fell asleep. I finally awoke and got up about 0800, but I was by no means rested.

I think that I was in slow motion all day long; I made myself some cereal and coffee and then sat down for breakfast. After eating, I went through some of the coupons from yesterday’s paper. After sorting the coupons and throwing out the expired coupons, I went into the living room to read the paper.

I thought that we were going to go grocery shopping today since we have not done it the last two or three days, but Kathleen never came down to go. I went out to the garage to check on the Wrangler, and found out that the battery was just about dead and that may have added to the alarm going off last night. The alarm goes off if some one tries to cut the power to it, so when the battery is getting low the alarm will sound.

At first, I was going to use the jump starter, but then I thought that I would just put it on the charger, so I did. When I checked on it about an hour later, the charger was giving me an error, so I unplugged it and then plugged it back in again. I kept checking on it every hour or so, and it seemed to be working okay.

I spent a while picking up some of the branches that had been blown down the last couple of days and put them into the yard debris container. When I went inside, I heated up some of the leftover turkey and stuffing and put some of the gravy on it for my lunch. After eating, I went out to the garage again to check up on the battery’s charging progress.

While the battery was charging I decided to clean up the mess on my office desk, it seems like I did that not all that long ago, but it was stacked pretty high again. This time it was much easier and I can see the top of the desk once again.

While I was working on the desktop, I remembered that yesterday as I was looking for a program disk on the shelf above the desk, everything started to slide off. I just kind of restacked everything and thought that I would have to sort it out one of these days, well; one of these days was today.

I was able to throw out several outdated manuals and put some other things into the file cabinet with the contracts. Then I put everything left back on the shelf and it is now usable. I also sorted out several disks and was able to throw out several that were out of date. Before I threw them away, I broke them up, because they contained backups to my bank accounts.

When I finished I asked Kathleen what plans she had for dinner and she said that she was going to make some tuna noodle casserole. After dinner, I went into the living room and promptly dozed off. I was awaken when Alyssa called, Kathleen answered at the same time I did, so I just hung up and decided that I better get in here and do my blog, before I fell asleep for the night.

I have a feeling that it will be a real early night, as I did not get much sleep last night at all. So good night!

Sunday's Saga

I got up a little before 0700 this morning, I could have slept in longer, but I knew that I had to get up to shower and get ready for church. After my shower, I let Reggie out and made coffee and toast for myself for breakfast.

I got dressed and waited for Kathleen to get ready and we left the house a little after 0830. All the front parking spots were taken when we got there, so I dropped Kathleen off and went around to the back parking lot.

After church and Sunday School, we went home to grab a bit to eat and then off to Natalie’s “princess” birthday party. Alyssa had the outside of the house looking like a castle and the inside as well. Natalie had several her girlfriends there as well as Becca, Lexis, Toni and Chucky were also there. Andrea arrived a while later, but could only stay a short time as she had to go to work.

Alyssa had made all kind of decorations, crafts and things for the girls and they were all dressed up as little princesses. I think that everyone had a really good time and I am sure that Alyssa will sleep well tonight. I do not envy her having to clean up after everyone leaves.

The party got over a little after 1700 and we stayed a little while longer, but we were home around 1830. I did stop and get some gas while we were out, the tank still was about a third full, but in the wintertime, I like to keep the tank as full as possible.

I think that I will just say good night now, as I am too tired to think about writing any more. So, good night!

Sarurday's Stuff

I really slept in this morning, I got about 10 hours of bedtime and did not get up until after 0800. I guess turning 60 was harder on me than I thought! Actually, I think that I was just catching up on lack of sleep earlier in the week.

I made some coffee and had some cereal this morning. After breakfast, I washed the pan I used for yesterday's breakfast. I had not had a chance to do it yesterday, as we seemed to be on the run most of the day.

I saw that the mail had arrived so I went out, got it, and opened it up. I had three birthday cards, one from my Mom with a check, one from my sister and one from my finical advisors with a Home Depot gift card. I also got a couple catalogs and a magazine, the rest was junk.

After cleaning up the kitchen, I fixed the back storm door with parts I picked up at Home Depot yesterday. It works much better now. Next, I took off the old broken dryer vent cover and replaced it with one that fits closer to the house and does not stick out as far as the old one. I think that the other one stuck out far enough that it was always being bumped when I mowed that area; the new one is almost flush to the house.

After doing the outside chores, I went downstairs to sort out some of my tools, by use, i.e. electrical, pluming, carpentry, etc. and put them into separate plastic boxes. Then I put the electrical tools into the electrician’s bag that I bought yesterday.

I already had a bag that I did not have anything in so I put the plumbing tool in it. I also had a bag with some carpentry tool in it, so I added a few to it and then put the bags into the plastic boxes and labeled them and put them on one of the workbenches, for now.

After finishing that, I went back upstairs and read the paper. Then I started to go through some more of the magazines that I started a couple days ago. I made more progress the first day than I have the last two or three days.

My stomach started to growl, so I thought that I had better make myself some lunch. I went into the kitchen and saw that there was just enough leftover potato soup from the other day for one person, so I heated it up. There was just enough for a little less than one bowl, so I was a little hungry after I finished it so I grabbed some peanuts and almonds, and that filled me up.

I went downstairs to the basement, moved my mobile tool carrier over to my workbench, and re-arranged some things and before I knew it, it was about 1800. So here I am writing, I think I will have to see what Kathleen is planning on doing for dinner tonight. I am not anticipating anything else going on tonight so I will just say good night now.

Fun Friday

Well, I slept in two more hours this morning than I did yesterday. It was a little overcast, but not too bad for a December day. After Letting Reggie out, I started to make myself breakfast.

Before I had a chance to make the hash browns, Kathleen sliced the potato up and even the onion and mushrooms that I had set out. Then I had to fry them all up myself.

After the vegetables were cooked, I fried a couple eggs and sausages. A nice breakfast even if I do have to say so myself. I do not do that very often, but today was kind of a special day so I splurged a little.

After eating, I went into the living room and read the paper. We did not get to Home Depot yesterday so we were planning to go this morning. I finished the paper and Kathleen still had not come downstairs, and just as I was going to go upstairs, the mail came.

So I sat back down and opened up the mail and most of it again was junk mail. I think that the only thing I kept was a card from Alyssa and quarterly statement from Boeing showing how much retirement pay they had paid me.

After recycling the paper and the mail I finally made my way upstairs, I guess my coming upstairs inspired Kathleen to get dressed so that we could go shopping.

We first headed to the credit union to deposit a couple insurance refund checks from Kathleen’s prescriptions. Next, we headed to CompUSA, as Kathleen wanted to look at printers. She saw some that she liked, but we are going to wait a while before we buy another one.

Then it was on to Home Depot, I had a couple items that I wanted to pick up to do some home repair. They also had an electrician’s tool bag on sale and a set of cordless tools that are the same as the ones that I bought myself a couple years ago. I got everything that I was looking for and I found a tool set that had an extra tool in it for the same price so I got that as well.

Michael’s was the next stop and about half way through shopping when I got tired and told Kathleen that I was going to go sit in the car. It was dark before Kathleen finished and then we made our way home.

Well tonight, we are having dinner with Toni, Chucky and Aaron and Tami’s children. Aaron and Tami are at Eagle Crest with Tami’s family, so Toni and Chucky are house and children sitting for them while they are gone.

Well, I think that this is all I will write for tonight, I will probably be too tired when we get home tonight, so good night!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Reggie barking woke me up at 0600 this morning; I think that he just needed to go outside. Anyway, since I was up, I decided to just stay up, it was raining and I did not think that I would be able to get back to sleep anyway, so I might as well start my day...early.

I did the cereal thing for breakfast this morning and then poured myself a fresh cup of coffee and headed to the living room to read the paper. Before I finished the paper, the mail arrived, so I brought it in and opened and read what was worth reading and the rest I put in the recycling bag when I finished the paper.

Since I still had a couple stacks of magazines to go through I started on that...it looks like it will be a long process of these stacks. I have to look at every page and determine whether or not it is something that I will want to keep or will ever use. I worked on it all day and got about a quarter of the way through it.

I called Mom about noontime to wish her a Happy Birthday. She was home alone, so I talked to her for a little while. Kathleen joined in about half way through our conversation and Mom sounded cheerful.

Then about 1330 I decided to make myself some lunch, I reheated some of the stuffing and turkey and added some cranberry sauce and it was almost as good as a week ago.

I also called Boeing to see what I would have to do to rejoin the Health and Fitness facility that I use to belong to when I worked there. I need to do something to get a little more physical activity into my life. Kathleen would also like to go with me, as we both need to be a little more active.

Kathleen made some potato soup for dinner tonight; this is just the kind of weather that soup taste extra good. Well, I think this might be an early night due to getting up early this morning.

So I will just say my good night now and wish my mother a Happy Birthday!

Wednesday's Wanderings

When I got up this morning the first thing I did was look out the window to see what the weather was like and it was just still outside, which meant that it was still cold. I had noticed that it was very quiet and still before I got up, and when I saw that there was very little wind, I knew that we were in for a cold day.

I made myself a couple eggs, sausage and cranberry toast for breakfast. After I ate, I unloaded the dishwasher and then put the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. I also washed the pan and the spatula that I used to make my breakfast with.

I poured myself another cup of coffee and headed to the living room to read the paper. When I finished I put the paper into the paper-recycling bag on the back porch and then decided to go outside to pick up after Reggie. The ground was slightly hard, so I knew that we had a frost.

We often do not get a frost in November, although it in not all that unusual to have one either. Some years are really mild temperature wise and others are not. They are predicting freezing rain tonight; although I noticed that the temperature is suppose to get warmer as the night goes on.

After coming back inside I noticed that the mail had come, so I went out and got it. There were a couple magazines, my American Express statement and a lot of junk mail.

I had planned to sort out some more of the boxes of magazines up in my “fly tying” room today so I went upstairs and brought down my first box. All in all, I went through five boxes of magazines and books.

I tore out the articles that I wanted from many of the magazines and sorted the rest by name and date so that they will be easier to catalog them when I get around to it, (my next big project).

Andrea had come over about 1400 and she and Kathleen went “baby” shopping. I kept sorting and before I knew it, it was 1900, so I finished the stack that I was working on and made myself supper.

I heated up some leftover turkey, stuffing and gravy. When I finished I put my dishes in the dishwasher and then went back to the living room to work on the next stack. I decided that there was enough in the magazines that I would just keep them and then catalog them later.

Kathleen and Andrea came back about 1950 and I decided to call it a night as far as the sorting went. So I put the boxes aside and here I am. I think I will just say good night for now