I have been busy, full of ennui, not getting much done (despite the busy-ness), but this is it, this is the big week, 'cause my mama and daddy are here and we are gonna be in bidness with gettin' stuff done around my house!
And tonight mom and went and purchased a dishwasher -- thank you Alex Trebeck and my sweetie of course! We are putting ceiling fans in the dining room and kitchen, new sink and stuff in the upstairs bathroom, new floors in the bathrooms, and whatever all else there's time for.
I'll keep you posted on progress. And shouts out to Di, for not giving up on the floors. That woman is committed! Or maybe she ought to be, it's a fine line...
The roof is done. yee haa! It looks very nice. One of these days I will post a picture of it.
It has been a long week. My mama did not come this week and I have missed her. My headset got broken (When I told the kids we had to go to Target because my headset had gotten broken, my son said, "I did it!" in about the same voice he would have used to announce his assent up Mt. Everest) and I had to get a new one so I could do the dishes. I didn't get to see Di today and I have missed her for the last three days in phone tag -- which I hate! Tomorrow is my sister's birthday and I didn't get the card in the mail in time. Happy Birthday Meggie! Went to see Batman Begins tonight, it was amazing.
That appears to be all for now.
-3% Republican. | "You're a damn Commie! Where's Tailgunner Joe when we need him?" |
I think I topped my own record for multiple trips to Lowes in a single day today. It baffles me that I cannot learn to measure the things I want to replace before I actually buy the replacements -- inevitably the wrong size, color, shape, etc.
Today I wanted to get new switchplates for my kitchen and I had chosen (at long last -- I've been looking at them for months!) some really lovely white wooden plates -- they match the window trim and were elegant without being too trendy or too expensive or too ostentatious. And I was excited about it. Til I got home and remembered/discovered that the actual switches in my kitchen are cream (outlets) and black (light switches). So either I have to find a new choice of switchplates, or I need to replace all the switches, etc. I did buy a book on home wiring today, but I think that project is just a little too much about aesthetics when I have seventy thousand other projects to tackle first.
I also bought screens for the up high windows in the playroom, hoping to improve the breeze from livingroom to diningroom to playroom. They were entirely wrong and I ended up having to buy frames that I will cut to length and essentially "make" my own screens. Annoying, but very do-able when I can find the time without helpers.
And I've had this big plan for ages to set up an elaborate system of soaker hoses in the front flower bed and along the side of the house so I don't have to stand there and water but my plants will actually get some moisture and thrive instead of looking all peaked next to Alice's lush vegetation that gets fed Miracle-Gro every couple of days. I think if I could just water regularly, I might actually have "landscaping" -- and the soaker system is going to work, but I needed to get a weird arrangement of 10' hoses and then I needed a 50' and then I needed pins to hold it down and then I needed to cut lengths of regular hose to go in between and and and... I'm about 1/4 of the way done, but I think it will be terrific.
And I finally caved in and turned on the air tonight. Last night was just dreadful -- Matthew coughed all night, I sweated and tossed and turned listening to him cough and being too hot to sleep. When I went past the bank (on trip #4 to Lowes) and the temp was 98 degrees, I decided I had been stoic about long enough. I think the air will probably help Matthew breathe better too -- or that's the logic I'm using tonight.
The best thing about turning the air on was getting to see that my new flower bed, completely free of scraggly spirea bushes, seems to be getting along very well with the AC unit when it's running. That's really another reason for the soaker hoses too. I was having a hard time watering without getting the AC wet too, and with the soakers, I can put mulch over and then the flowers get wet but not the AC unit. I was a little worried that the air flow was going to blow the flowers around, but it seems to have very little effect at all.
And tonight I found two bushes to add to my hedge, the same kind that is there already, but for much less than the $22 they wanted at Dills last weekend. Now these are much smaller plants, but I just needed them to fill in the holes and if they are small now, that's no big deal, they'll grow and at $6 each, what a bargain! I also got a bunch more flowers -- now I'm having a flower addiction apparently... my deck is going to look so pretty! I'm excited about making this work. Now if I can just remember to water those things too...
I'm gonna go ot bed now. I'm pooped.
I am so confused -- again -- about what day it is. National holidays, graduation on Sunday afternoon... it's all just messing with my head!
Updates:
I suck because I bought cheap clothes for my kids at WalMart. I hate that I am shopping there. But I really hate more the idea of a) paying 12 bucks for pyjamas and b) getting up on Saturdays in time to beat the true early birds to yard sales. Don't give a bunch of lectures about it, I already feel guilty.
Mara's second tooth is out. It's very cute now because she has started to lisp.
Matthew had a new "big boy" haircut today -- I didn't cry, but I wanted to.
I am becoming a person who apparently enjoys gardening -- on an extremely limited and exclusively floral scale. As my neighbor said last week, "Your mother would be very proud of you!"
Violet (and her family) is coming next week. Mara has told everybody -- including the mailman and now her haircutter. I will have to shoot myself if anything prevents this visit from actually happening.
The roofers are also coming next week. They will hopefully be done before Violet and company arrive. Hopefully. Argh.
I am thinking of buying earplugs, just in case they are not done by then...
I can't think of anything else to update.
What's up with you?