Perhaps I should say that we are STILL on the road! Sometimes I wonder if we'll ever be home long enough to get all moved in to our new house. Hubby and I left last week for Nashville to visit our son and granddaughter. Son didn't have vacation time, so it is our "job" to keep Sweetie Pie entertained while he is at work. Or, maybe I should say that she keeps us entertained while he is at work.
She turns six next week. Where did the time go? Most of our time is spent playing "Peter Pan" or "Rapunzel". There is a Civil War statue nearby, which we walk to at least once a day. At the statue, there are also long, cement benches, which turn into a ship's plank. "Wendy" bravely walks the plank, while "Cap'n Hook" (Pappy) urges her on. Meanwhile, "Peter" (for once, I'm not the witch!) waits to swoop in and rescue her before she splashes into the water. After playing that for 500 times, we go to the park and switch to Rapunzel. This time Pappy gets to be Prince Eugene and I'm Mother Gothal. Pappy tries to hurry the story along and wants to cut Rapunzel's hair, but he is quickly reminded that "it's not time for that, Pappy!".
We did have one mishap, as we usually do, in the middle of the week, as usual, when there is not enough time for complete healing. Sometimes I have to double as Cap'n Hook and Peter Pan. Cap'n Hook was chasing Wendy, she fell, nose first, right on the concrete. OUCH!! Took the skin right off her cute little nose. There wasn't much blood, but we had to put a bandaid on every little spot, which was not easy on a little nose. And then, we have to send her back home with a scabbed up nose. Her mom probably wonders what in the world we do that she always comes home with some kind of boo-boo. (We have fun and play hard, that's what we do!)
After our week was up, we drove out to Little Rock, AR to visit some friends, since we were half-way there. We had a nice time and ate some great food. Then we left on Monday morning for Indiana, so Hubby could work with BIL for a few days. I did a little painting for SIL, but now I have the day to myself. Tomorrow, I may be helping her strip wallpaper. The fun never ends!
We have been having all this beautiful weather, but can't be home to start getting our garden ready, and bush-hogging the "yard". Oh, there's so much to do! We have a water purifier system coming on Friday, so we have to get home before that is delivered. The plan is to get the water purifier set up, and get my kitchen sink installed. It will seem like pure luxury to have a working sink again. Maybe we'll even get the dishwasher hooked up. That will seem like heaven!
I have a bunch of pictures to show you, but, can't be home long enough to get them downloaded. (Good news! I found my camera cable wire!) I wonder if life will ever get back to normal. I wonder if I'll ever be able to get all moved in. I wonder if life will ever slow down enough for us to enjoy it. It seems the harder we try to slow down and simplify, the more we hear "not yet".
But, we'll keep doing the things we need to do, in order to accomplish the things we want to accomplish, even if it kills us! heehee
The other day, I mentioned to Amazing Daughter with a great sigh, "Oh my, April is coming way too fast." She looked at me the way daughters look at mothers when they think their mother has completely lost all sense.
"Mom." she said, rather patiently, "It's still February."
"Oh yeah. You're right. Whew! What a relief."
I have once again signed up for the A-Z Blogfest in April. And, almost immediately, I start obsessing about what in the world I will blog about. I had great fun with it last year, and believe it or not, did blog all the way through the alphabet.
This song always comes to my mind. Heehee. This video is very cheesy. Remember Lawrence Welk?? Haha! I was cracking up the entire time. Hope you get a chuckle out of it. And when you finish laughing, click on the A-Z Blog button on the right and join in the fun!
The dust is flying, the drills are drilling, Hubby is vacuuming the walls and floors, and I have been ordered out of the kitchen. Ahh, sweet music to my ears.
Today's project is putting more light in the kitchen. Our electrician friend is here helping Hubby put can lights in the header. The kitchen is so shadowy that I feel like I need a light attached to my forehead while making supper in order to see what I'm doing.
So far, all is going well. I have been assured that the hard work is finished, so the chances for a catastrophe happening have been considerably diminished. However, I am waiting for lightening to strike, causing the aforementioned catastrophe. It's not that I'm a pessimist, it's just that I know how things usually work around here. That being said, it does seem like things are going remarkably well. All the holes were drilled with no mistakes, no "oops! wrong spot", no unseen surprises.
I don't have any pictures to post because, although we are making progress with the unpacking, I still have not located the wires that connect my camera to the computer. I'm fairly certain that I will find what I need in one of the dozen boxes that are still packed up.
If all goes well (fingers and toes crossed) I should have a well-lit kitchen tonight.
That is a ridiculously long title, but a fitting one!
When I last left you, I believe that Hubby was riding atop the gazebo as it was being moved to its new permanent place. I guess he wanted to get the bird's eye view of our estate.
Anyway, his next crucial job was to work on plumbing, so that I would have a place to wash the dishes, which for now is in the basement utility sink. (Every day is like camping! I wish I liked camping.) Plumbing has never been a joyful experience. It usually consists of a lot of frustration and @#$% and *&^%$^&*% and other various and asundry words. At the outset of a plumbing project, he tries very hard not to swear, and some of his phrases can be quite comical, but as time goes on and drips keep appearing, and he has to re-do the process, the words flow quite profusely. So, as the plumbing time grew nearer, I did what any wife would do, I started praying, and stayed as far away as I could from the plumbing area. He worked. I prayed. He worked some more. I prayed. It seemed very quiet in the basement. I thought about going down to see how things were progressing, but thought better of it. Better to leave well enough alone. Finally, the moment we had been dreading waiting for arrived. Hubby came upstairs and announced that it was time to pray, because he was going to turn on the water and see if he had to re-do the whole thing. "Not to worry", I said, "I've been praying." Then I uttered a last, desperate plea.
He turned on the water.
I waited for the spewing of words, signaling the dreaded "drip".
It was quiet.
I waited some more.
Still quiet.
Finally, Hubby came upstairs, announcing, "I can't believe it! The first time in my ENTIRE LIFE that I haven't had a drip!" He was quite pleased with himself, and I uttered a prayer of thanks, and gave Hubby a congratulatory hug.
So, now I am able to lug all our dirty dishes down to the basement, wash them and bring them back up.
In case you are wondering, we have been using styrofoam plates, and "red solo cup!" and plastic forks. But, the only thing we burn (yay! we live in the country, so we can burn our trash) is the plates. The cups and forks are too nice to throw away! Crazy isn't it? Oh, and there's also the pots and pans that need washed.
Someday, maybe next week, I will have my kitchen all put back together. Hubby is currently in Florida for a few days visiting his H.S. friend and best man. He's on Hospice, due to hardening of the lungs - I can't remember the actual name of it - but, death comes from suffocation. It's a terrible way to go. There are some things more important than a kitchen sink.
Also, while Hubby was gone, we had a big rain storm. Before he left, he said to me, "Make sure you listen for the sump pump, that it keeps running." So the next morning when I awoke, I was happy to hear the sump pump running. I didn't worry, nor did I go down to check the basement. However, when Amazing Daughter went down to shower, she informed me that we did indeed have water in the basement.
Thankfully, due to the first flooding, we made sure that everything in the basement was put on a shelf, and anything on the floor was in plastic tubs. We have a solid and quality built home, but there is one thing that wasn't done correctly. And, that is the basement floor. It wasn't made to drain into to sump pump. No. It's higher in the middle, so all the water goes to the side opposite the sump pump. I spent most of the morning sweeping the water to the sump pump area, only to have it continually coming back. I felt like the widow whose oil container never emptied. (l Kings 17:12-16) After the first hour, I decided to go down every hour and sweep away, and finally, after several sweepings, I decided to take a longer break and go bra shopping. (Due to losing 40 pounds, my cups no longer runneth over, and in fact, there's quite a bit of wiggle room. And, when I say "wiggle", I mean, ohhh, that might be too much information....Never mind.)
That little adventure took a good three hours, because first I had to figure out my new size, then I had to find that size on the 70% off rack at Kohl's. Compared to my old size, the new size looks like a training bra! But, at least I no longer have to worry about the dreaded "gap". It is kind of weird to button a blouse without having to pull and tug.
Well, that has been my week in a nutshell. Now, I must get back to the fun-filled job of unpacking and putting away of "stuff".
