Sumertime - and the living is busy!

23 Jul – YES JUL! It has been awhile since I was even on the computer. My friend from Texas actually arrived early by about half a day – so she actually came in on the mess from the door window and saw it temporarily held together with 100 mile an hour tape.
We had a great visit – went on the mandatory “dam” tour of Hoover Dam. It is pretty interesting, but I was not thrilled to be several hundred feet below ground and below the lake. Even though the lake is low, it still has plenty of water to fill up that entire underground complex. It is quite interesting though, as the power that is “made” there not only powers all the electricity to the dam complex, but the rest is sold and with fees from visitors – the dam is self sufficient. Can’t say that about every tourist area. There were many, many people there – even in the summer heat. It actually had not even gotten really hot yet – by that time we had only had a few days over 100 degrees. After the dam tour, on another day, we found a chocolate factory that I did not even know existed, so we took that tour and walked through their native garden. I got a lot of ideas for my own yard when I can finally get out there and work on it – and I even found out the name of the flowering shrub that I have fallen in love with – so I will be able to tell the nursery what I want now. I also took pictures to take with me.
Oh, yes, I took her over to Boulder City to see the great horned sheep that come down from the mountains to graze in one of the parks there. They come so close to the human occupants of the park that it is amazing. However people need to remember that they are still wild animals – some try to walk right up to the sheep to get closer pictures. That is what a zoom lens is for! There was a lamb there and it was pretty frisky – we got great up close pictures as it was frisking right up almost into touching range. Not that I would have touched, but that is how close it came. It’s mama (and maybe papa) were watching pretty closely though. She was pretty thrilled with getting so close to them.
Her visit ended on the 1st and after she left I started gearing up for my friend from FL who was arriving in the afternoon. He called about 11 and said he had missed his plane and would be in the next dayHe has been a friend since the mid-80’s and I was looking forward to seeing him again – but I almost breathed a sigh of relief as I was not quite ready for him yet – still washing sheets so I could make the day bed back up and all that sort of stuff. His visit was a lot of fun – we went too many places to list here. Some of the highlights were going to a David Copperfield show. That man is AMAZING! Other highlights – visiting the aquarium, going to the train museum in Boulder City and riding the old train and the fourth of July fireworks in Boulder City. Had a great time and was sorry to see him go.
Then it was recovery time – time to get my head out of the clouds and back down to getting settled in. Took longer than I expected because I ended up with a good old summer sinus infection which put me down for awhile. Unfortunately, my Crohns does like antibiotics so I had an “interesting” few days. However, I am back to normal now and starting to do something about these window coverings.
I went to Home Depot yesterday thinking I could go ahead and get the blinds I want and get them up. Silly me! They carry very limited in stock stuff these days and instead want people to order online. I have not done it yet, but I will have to order all the blinds today. In the meantime, I am making curtains and valances for the windows so they will be “dressed” once the blinds arrive. That window in the back door is such an odd size that I have not been able to find curtains to fit. I would need curtains about 64 ½ inches long which means that either I buy 84 inch curtains or I could make them myself. Well, I could not find curtains I liked for that window nor for the window in my bathroom which is also an odd size – actually every window in this house is a strange size. So I went fabric shopping and this morning I am making curtains. I will stop now and finish the curtains for the back door. Have about three seams to finish sewing and they are done. Then I have to work on the valances for the family room. I am designing them myself – have them pictured in my mind at the moment but that is about all. Sometime today I will take the time to order the blinds.
5 Aug – yes summertime and the living is NOT lazy! It seems I have been so busy that writing has not been on my mind. Well it has been on my mind, just not getting to it.
I ordered the blinds – went online first to Home Depot and they could not cut the blinds to order for me – I had to order them in the closest size and take them to a local store to get them cut after they arrived. They also only had two colors, blah and blaher – and only sizes big and huge. Soooooooooooooo – I googled blinds and found a site with great reviews so I took an (expensive) chance and ordered the blinds. They had colors galore and I could fit each of my oddball windows. The great thing was I was able to actually talk to a customer rep throughout the whole process – and the cost was much less than either of the big box home improvement stores.
The blinds arrived a week after I ordered them – last Friday. Sat I was tied up all day with a volunteer project; Sunday I was exhausted from all the stuff in the week before so Monday I started looking at instructions. I tried and tried to figure them out but they were lacking in clarity – at least to me. I knew that my son, Joe, had put up the same type of blinds a few weeks ago for his mother-in-law to be so I finally bit the bullet and cried “Uncle”. I sent a text to ask him to help. I did not expect him to do all thirteen windows – just show me and then I would do the rest.
He came over yesterday and in less than two hours had all the windows done. There was a slight “oops” with the sink in my laundry room – he did not realize it was just plastic and he stepped into it to reach that window and it split. I knew I was going to have to replace it, but now I guess I will replace it sooner. I will try the previous owners “fix-all” some good old caulk for a bit until I can find a new one. It is another oddball size – and this time I do not want plastic – so it might take a bit to find one.
My boarder left last week and I had to get the room he was using fixed up as a guest room. It looks great – even has pictures hung. Strangely, one of the mirrors that was on the wall fell with a crash the other day – and DID NOT BREAK! That is the “strangely” part. I actually heard the crash – but thought it was outside. Actually I thought the dogs has been into something again. They drag in some the of strangest things so a crash from them would not be a surprise.
Let’s see – what else have I learned in this past month’s experience of the moving process. Well, I learned that putting my mixer up above the pantry was not a smart move. To get it down I had to go to the garage and get a ladder. That did not seem like a really practical idea since I do use the mixer a lot. (Whenever I am stressed or blue – I cook!) So I had to do some rearranged in the kitchen-family room again. I moved the wine rack back across from the family room side to the kitchen side. (Remember, I had moved it over there and switched places with the bookcase in June.) Since the wine rack had a nice cutting board top – my mixer and blender have a good place to sit; they are out of the way but close when I need them and no ladder is needed to get them.
Oh – maybe I did not tell you all about the bookcase from the kitchen. Angel (yes the little devil dog) loves books – not to read but to eat. My cookbooks were in danger of extinction! So Joirdana and I moved the cookbook bookcase from the kitchen to the hall between the living room and the bedroom part of the house. It is still really close to the kitchen – and the books that were not dog food are now much safer. I found at least one book – or I should say I rescued one book – in the back yard – leaves and cover scattered to the four winds – or rather the four sides of the yard. Angel seemed so surprised when I yelled at her and picked up all the pages she was having such a good time scattering around – or eating as the case might be. She looks up with that surprised look as though she is saying “but what did I do?”
Speaking of the dogs – each and every time I cook they are there hoping, hoping, hoping that I will drop something – anything – they can snatch up. It has only happened once – dropped a piece of chicken I had boned and was putting back into the chicken and noodles. WOW! It was a good thing I did not want to get it up and put in into the pot – they had it quicker than a rattlesnake can strike. Good thing my fingers were not down there – I would be missing some.
Each and every time I eat they are there looking up at me with such pleading eyes. I know they are thinking, “Mom, that looks so much better than our dog food. Just one little bit, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease!” They do not get it – I really do not want to get them into the habit of begging at the table. And I do not want to get them into the habit of people food – although their dog food costs as much as my people food! Hmmmm – maybe I could beg them for some. Do you think?
Sunday Aug 8 – ok so I changed the way I am writing the date. Easier for me to do it this way – so!
This has been a busy busy week – we had vacation Bible school at our church. I am the craft lady and it was a busy time with 66 kids – and with some of the “leaders” not much older than the “kids” so wanting to do crafts also. The crafts this year were very cute, not too difficult for even the youngest of the kids and not overly messy – noisy yes, messy no. The kids are so cute – some of them are so tiny they can barely get their little noses above the table top to do the crafts. But they all persevered and had a great time. The final craft was making blankets to take to the mission. They were so cuddly and warm all the kids fell in love with them, but they prayed over them to give them away even though they left looking longfully at them.
I have volunteered to be the primary instructor for the upper elementary grades in our Sunday children’s church. Hopefully that will go well. I do like teaching the kids, but we have some pretty rowdy younguns in our church. I am also working on going on the mission trip in October – when I will take the blankets made in VBS to the mission. And in Sep I am serving on the Via de Cristo weekend – so the next two month may be kind of busy. This coming week I am going to CA for a few days – cooler temps, greener and seeing family members. What more can you ask? Oh yes, great Mexican!!!
A week or so ago, Joirdana and I put up the shelving unit in my garage – the last one. As we were putting the shelves on – I dropped one across my instep. It is STILL black and blue and hurts like the devil. Guess it is going to take awhile to heal. I would advice that you NOT drop shelves – especially heavy wooden ones – onto feet. It hurts!
I got on the computer on the 1st to balance my checkbook. Imagine my surprise when the “bill pay” for my pest control bill for the past two months had not cleared. Imagine my embarrassment when I realized that I had not set up the bill pay for that payee and the bill had not been paid for the past two months. I got an immediate payment into the system – to pay it up in full. I felt like an idiot. I always put the monthly bills into the checkbook immediately, but this was a new payee and I had forgotten to set them up. They are always on time and do a great job – and I felt sooooo embarrassed.
Not doing anything exciting with the house these days so not a lot to write. Will be planning the yard very soon – as soon as it is cool enough to handle a metal measuring tape outside so I can measure everything and figure out what is going where. I want to put hollyhocks and sunflowers along my one wall next year. I think that will look really great and they do not need great soil to grow and bloom. Other than that, the only think I know I want to put in are some bright orange bushes – have pictures to take to the nursery but I am not sure what they are called. They are a desert plant though – not a lot of foliage, but bright flowers. They bloom all summer long, far into the fall. I am also thinking of honeysuckle along part of my back wall to keep my dear little Angel from figuring out she can actually get over the wall into the neighbor’s yard. The problem with that theory on her part is that while the jump on my side is short enough for her since my yard is terraced with a “garden” area, the other side is not terraced and she will have a free fall of about 8 feet onto a concrete patio. That is far too much for a little dog and I fear a broken leg or worse. So – I think the honeysuckle will head her off.