Has it been ten days already?
That must be how it happens. Seemingly small increments of time slip by unnoticed and before you know it; gray hair, or no hair.
We are awaiting the birth of the grandson. Meanwhile, Ariana is about to turn FIVE! WHAT?
I just downloaded AARP info on Medicare.
Yeah, I thought I should review it while I'm still young. Oops, too late.
Greg and Amy Welden were here for a few days. Greg showed me how to place smaller stones between the bigger ones for the patio. The good news is that we ran out of smaller stones. That means I get to go gather more, which I enjoy, and I have to stop working on my hands and knees for a while, which makes me sore. But if and when I get it done, it is going to look great.
I've been here writing for five minutes already and still no grandson. Is time standing still?
Ha! If only.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
Back home again.
So GaT has moved. Unfortunately, it is a temporary move, and will have to be repeated soon. For a temporary situation, they have a good one. Close to major roadways, and shuttle to trains. It has a good space for piano lessons.
I got to miss the record breaking cold in Tucson, but enjoyed a fresh snowfall there. Best of all, I got a lot of quality time with Ariana. I know that grandparent comments and opinions are cliche, but she is an amazing child/person.
And Peggie and I will get to return soon to welcome the family newcomer.
A word of advice to all: don't move when you are close to delivering a baby. One big event at a time is enough. Don't move at all. It is a lot of work.
I won't bore you with all the details, but you should know that when carrying things that block your view down stairs you should know how many steps there are. The back stairs are half-flights with seven steps each. The front stairs are half-flights with eight steps each. Important difference. But I survived the fall with no bruises or broken bones and no embarrassing witnesses.
It is also a good idea to get your responsibilities straight. One should not leave one's granddaughter at gymnastics class thinking someone else will pick her up. When you finally get it right, she will greet you with "Why are you late?" Uhhh, well.......
Also, when driving at night in heavy fog, pay close attention to your exits or you might take a ten mile detour down the wrong road, and she will say, "I've never been here, before."
While I am on the subject of "don'ts," don't park for two and a half hours in a two hour parking space, ($25), and don't fly home through Houston on a day that started with dozens of fog-cancelled flights or you will encounter a terminal full of people who have spent the day trying to get rescheduled.
But, if you get the chance to help out while spending time with kids and grandkids, do it.
I got to miss the record breaking cold in Tucson, but enjoyed a fresh snowfall there. Best of all, I got a lot of quality time with Ariana. I know that grandparent comments and opinions are cliche, but she is an amazing child/person.
And Peggie and I will get to return soon to welcome the family newcomer.
A word of advice to all: don't move when you are close to delivering a baby. One big event at a time is enough. Don't move at all. It is a lot of work.
I won't bore you with all the details, but you should know that when carrying things that block your view down stairs you should know how many steps there are. The back stairs are half-flights with seven steps each. The front stairs are half-flights with eight steps each. Important difference. But I survived the fall with no bruises or broken bones and no embarrassing witnesses.
It is also a good idea to get your responsibilities straight. One should not leave one's granddaughter at gymnastics class thinking someone else will pick her up. When you finally get it right, she will greet you with "Why are you late?" Uhhh, well.......
Also, when driving at night in heavy fog, pay close attention to your exits or you might take a ten mile detour down the wrong road, and she will say, "I've never been here, before."
While I am on the subject of "don'ts," don't park for two and a half hours in a two hour parking space, ($25), and don't fly home through Houston on a day that started with dozens of fog-cancelled flights or you will encounter a terminal full of people who have spent the day trying to get rescheduled.
But, if you get the chance to help out while spending time with kids and grandkids, do it.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Too excited to sleep!!
Greg says Ariana is so excited for me to go visit that she is counting the sleeps until I get there.
Only one to go. But, I am excited, too.
Since Tomoko has overbooked (she is nine months pregnant, and moving, and working, and mothering) I am getting to go to White Plains to help out. Tomoko gets to add bossing me around to her duties. My purpose is to make her life easier and help limit the times she climbs stairs, carries more than the new baby, runs errands, etc. Some of my duties will be to spend quality time with Ariana. Well, somebody has to do it.
I will spend 12 days freezing my &#@* off, schlepping stuff to the new place, shuttling Ariana, shopping, and looking for any excuse to stay indoors.
And to add to the excitement, today I finally won the lottery. Sort of. A little bit. Well, I won $50. That's more than I have ever won before. Baby steps. The big one is coming.
Speaking of babies!! The new one is coming!!!
I'm too excited to sleep!!!!! :)
Only one to go. But, I am excited, too.
Since Tomoko has overbooked (she is nine months pregnant, and moving, and working, and mothering) I am getting to go to White Plains to help out. Tomoko gets to add bossing me around to her duties. My purpose is to make her life easier and help limit the times she climbs stairs, carries more than the new baby, runs errands, etc. Some of my duties will be to spend quality time with Ariana. Well, somebody has to do it.
I will spend 12 days freezing my &#@* off, schlepping stuff to the new place, shuttling Ariana, shopping, and looking for any excuse to stay indoors.
And to add to the excitement, today I finally won the lottery. Sort of. A little bit. Well, I won $50. That's more than I have ever won before. Baby steps. The big one is coming.
Speaking of babies!! The new one is coming!!!
I'm too excited to sleep!!!!! :)
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Whew...that was close.
The window glass has been replaced.
And I didn't have to make any trips to the home improvement store.
That intrepid researcher, Peggie, found out that National Glass replaces window glass. So I called them this morning, and they came out this afternoon. They did the repair sans ladder, from inside. I watched and learned. I learned that if it happens again, I will call them again. There were screws on the outside that you had to know about. The window, having sat unmoving for twenty- five years, had to be pried out. So you had to know how many and where all the screws were, then have the confidence in that knowledge to pry in the right places, while holding the window with the other hand, because when it came loose, it would fall all the way to the ground. Oh, and you had to take the air conditioner out, which takes two people, and put it back in, which takes two people and a trained monkey. It took all of twenty minutes.
So now we know a lot about modern windows. For instance, they cost a lot.
Not every window company can replace glass without rebuilding your home.
And stupid doves are really more trouble than they are worth.
To review: I made no trips to the store, I didn't break anything (especially not a bone), I did not have to use even half of my swearing vocabulary, I didn't bleed, Peggie didn't say "I told you so."
And of course, the nutballs are licking egg from their faces and dining on crow. The more creative nutballs are coming up with a revised date for the apocalypse. I hope they remain wrong.
And I didn't have to make any trips to the home improvement store.
That intrepid researcher, Peggie, found out that National Glass replaces window glass. So I called them this morning, and they came out this afternoon. They did the repair sans ladder, from inside. I watched and learned. I learned that if it happens again, I will call them again. There were screws on the outside that you had to know about. The window, having sat unmoving for twenty- five years, had to be pried out. So you had to know how many and where all the screws were, then have the confidence in that knowledge to pry in the right places, while holding the window with the other hand, because when it came loose, it would fall all the way to the ground. Oh, and you had to take the air conditioner out, which takes two people, and put it back in, which takes two people and a trained monkey. It took all of twenty minutes.
So now we know a lot about modern windows. For instance, they cost a lot.
Not every window company can replace glass without rebuilding your home.
And stupid doves are really more trouble than they are worth.
To review: I made no trips to the store, I didn't break anything (especially not a bone), I did not have to use even half of my swearing vocabulary, I didn't bleed, Peggie didn't say "I told you so."
And of course, the nutballs are licking egg from their faces and dining on crow. The more creative nutballs are coming up with a revised date for the apocalypse. I hope they remain wrong.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Alas, Babylon
This will be my last post...
Unless all those nutballs are wrong, and the world doesn't come to an end tomorrow.
In that case, I will probably continue.
So the roof did its job Wednesday, none of the rain got into the house. But this blog is about adventures.
At the end of the day, Monday, as we stood reviewing the new roof as the last clean-up was being accomplished, we noticed a hole in an upstairs window. We could only surmise that a dove had flown into it. That happens a lot. Though no holes have been created before. Since tall ladders were still available, we coerced one of the workers to apply packaging tape to the glass. And begins the next adventure. We use the word "adventure" in this instance to mean another non-pleasurable use of money. Window companies are actually in the window replacement business, as opposed to the window glass replacement business. So we must get several estimates because the first one came in at four digits. To the left of the decimal. For a window.
We were entertained for 90 minutes last night by one guy. We get another hour or so tomorrow from a competitor. I never really wanted to know this much about windows. In my neanderthal view I thought it was just a piece of (broken) glass that could be replaced. That's what they do with windshields. They don't have to replace the entire front of the car.
I could do the job myself. (Who is that laughing? I can hear laughing!)
Even if I could buy a sheet of glass cut-to-fit within a millimeter (that's 1/25 of an inch) of tolerance, I would have to carry it up to the second story window using an extension ladder and get it in place, and secured, without dropping it. I would definitely drop it. Then I would have to make a second trip to the store. The next time up the ladder, just before I finish getting the rubber gasket in tight, it would break. Then I would have to make a third trip to the store, where they wouldn't have the right rubber gasket, so I would have to visit three other stores, the last one on the far side of town.
So, no. As handy as I am, and as much as I enjoy being twenty feet above a slab of concrete on a rickety ladder juggling a sheet of glass, no. This is not a job for me.
So the adventure continues tomorrow. Maybe we can actually find somebody who can just replace a piece of glass without reinventing the concept of "window."
Or the nutballs will turn out to be the smart ones and I won't need to worry about windows.
Unless all those nutballs are wrong, and the world doesn't come to an end tomorrow.
In that case, I will probably continue.
So the roof did its job Wednesday, none of the rain got into the house. But this blog is about adventures.
At the end of the day, Monday, as we stood reviewing the new roof as the last clean-up was being accomplished, we noticed a hole in an upstairs window. We could only surmise that a dove had flown into it. That happens a lot. Though no holes have been created before. Since tall ladders were still available, we coerced one of the workers to apply packaging tape to the glass. And begins the next adventure. We use the word "adventure" in this instance to mean another non-pleasurable use of money. Window companies are actually in the window replacement business, as opposed to the window glass replacement business. So we must get several estimates because the first one came in at four digits. To the left of the decimal. For a window.
We were entertained for 90 minutes last night by one guy. We get another hour or so tomorrow from a competitor. I never really wanted to know this much about windows. In my neanderthal view I thought it was just a piece of (broken) glass that could be replaced. That's what they do with windshields. They don't have to replace the entire front of the car.
I could do the job myself. (Who is that laughing? I can hear laughing!)
Even if I could buy a sheet of glass cut-to-fit within a millimeter (that's 1/25 of an inch) of tolerance, I would have to carry it up to the second story window using an extension ladder and get it in place, and secured, without dropping it. I would definitely drop it. Then I would have to make a second trip to the store. The next time up the ladder, just before I finish getting the rubber gasket in tight, it would break. Then I would have to make a third trip to the store, where they wouldn't have the right rubber gasket, so I would have to visit three other stores, the last one on the far side of town.
So, no. As handy as I am, and as much as I enjoy being twenty feet above a slab of concrete on a rickety ladder juggling a sheet of glass, no. This is not a job for me.
So the adventure continues tomorrow. Maybe we can actually find somebody who can just replace a piece of glass without reinventing the concept of "window."
Or the nutballs will turn out to be the smart ones and I won't need to worry about windows.
Monday, December 17, 2012
A break in the routine.
Ah yes!
Remember the good old days? Alarm clocks beeping in the dark early morning. Rolling out of bed into the chilled air. Stepping out of a warm shower to get goose bumps before you could dry off. Getting into a cold car after scraping frost from the windshield. Remember the good old days?
Nah!
Those days meant working for a living.
These are the good new days. Sleeping until you wake up because you are fully rested. Sitting up carefully in a room already warmed from the sun. Showering later, after coffee. Leave the car in the driveway until rush hour is over, if you have to drive at all today. These are the good new days.
Except today.
Today we are getting our roof replaced. Like all construction crews, they start at 5:00 a.m. Even in the winter. When it is dark and cold at 5:00 a. m. Jane, and other northern readers, remember it is all relative. This is our winter. It was 40 degrees at 5:00. So I get to whine a little.
For the last two hours they have been scraping, LOUDLY, to get the old roofing shingles and tar paper off.
It sounds like destruction. Which it is. Six men STOMPING around on the roof. The loosened shingles CRASHING to the ground on all sides. Surely, at least one of them (the guys, not the shingles) will come crashing through the roof at any minute. If they don't fall over the side first.
And in another hour or so, the new shingles will go on. You know how they do that, right? Hammers and nails. For hours. Hammer, hammer, hammer. Hammer, hammer, hammer.
I think I need to go see a movie today.
Yeah, that's the ticket.
Remember the good old days? Alarm clocks beeping in the dark early morning. Rolling out of bed into the chilled air. Stepping out of a warm shower to get goose bumps before you could dry off. Getting into a cold car after scraping frost from the windshield. Remember the good old days?
Nah!
Those days meant working for a living.
These are the good new days. Sleeping until you wake up because you are fully rested. Sitting up carefully in a room already warmed from the sun. Showering later, after coffee. Leave the car in the driveway until rush hour is over, if you have to drive at all today. These are the good new days.
Except today.
Today we are getting our roof replaced. Like all construction crews, they start at 5:00 a.m. Even in the winter. When it is dark and cold at 5:00 a. m. Jane, and other northern readers, remember it is all relative. This is our winter. It was 40 degrees at 5:00. So I get to whine a little.
For the last two hours they have been scraping, LOUDLY, to get the old roofing shingles and tar paper off.
It sounds like destruction. Which it is. Six men STOMPING around on the roof. The loosened shingles CRASHING to the ground on all sides. Surely, at least one of them (the guys, not the shingles) will come crashing through the roof at any minute. If they don't fall over the side first.
And in another hour or so, the new shingles will go on. You know how they do that, right? Hammers and nails. For hours. Hammer, hammer, hammer. Hammer, hammer, hammer.
I think I need to go see a movie today.
Yeah, that's the ticket.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Happy Birthday, Tomoko!
Today is Tomoko's birthday. Yes, 12-12-12!
Have a wonderful day!
The casinos in town are doing lots of specials so gamblers can
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