Monday, October 29, 2012

The Scope of Life

Yesterday when we arrived home from church, the sun was shining and the temperature was around 65 degrees. After weeks of cool rain, this was very welcome! We took a grateful, pleasant walk around the block going west of us before making dinner. The humidifiers are up and going round the clock now, bringing our indoor humidity above 50, making our sinus passages and all our wooden musical instruments very happy.

Today, again, it was near 70 and so sunny and beautiful-- Arthur, wearing his new skinny jeans, and I walked around the block going east of us. There are several nice houses for sale in this 50-year-old neighborhood so we prayed for people to buy them that would take good care of them and love the place like we do.

I'm prepared to be gone for more than two weeks to visit my new grand babies and their families in Michigan and in Colorado Springs. At the same time I was talking to Keith this afternoon on my cell phone about him picking me up at the airport in Detroit on Wednesday, Dennis was talking on his cell phone to Paul about Annie coming to stay with him during the Sandy storm hitting the east coast this day. Tonight we talked with them about the power going off and their location being central and high enough in the city to miss the flooding. Zach and Kaley's new baby is due any day now.

After work we drove over to Pasco to pick up some rancher steaks Dennis ordered. We discovered gas for sale for the amazingly low price of $3.59, so filled up my car. We ate our steaks on TV trays while watching one of the last episodes of Monk.

Last night we finished the rest of the tile in the beautiful bathroom remodel and planned to grout it all tonight. Dennis is out getting a tool from Home Depot to clean out the unwanted cement between the tiles, as the waters submerge parts of Manhattan far away. The election is just a week away. Work at Artmil is going well.

The scope of life here today is anything but small!

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Mowing the grass, other stuff

When my sister was here a few weeks ago, she volunteered to mow the grass, which was very overdue to be mowed in the midst of all the remodeling chores. The last time I tried to mow was many years ago, and it was more than I could do. I therefore tried to discourage her, telling her how strenuous/taxing it is to push the mower. But she did it with no problem! I then figured out that we have acquired a new mower that is self-propelled since those many years ago when it was so hard. Today I mowed both yards while Dennis sanded the bathroom walls. As soon as we paint in there, he can finish laying the tile in the shower and behind the tub, then we can grout, then we can move the tub and sink in and USE THE NEW BATHROOM!

In the meantime, fall has fell and I am getting ready to visit both families of our new grandchildren, first in Michigan, then in Colorado. I've just read the book called Wheat Belly and understand now more fully why wheat free works for me. Dennis did get the laundry room walls finished and painted yesterday, so we put up the cabinets in there before going to the symphony last night. In the second half, the symphony expertly played dramatic music from Romeo and Juliet ballet suites by Prokofiev interspersed with scenes from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet performed by students from Richland High's drama dept. I was struck by how many of the lines from the classic balcony scene are now cliches in our everyday speech. It was impressive how they could deliver those lines without cracking up!

Saturday, October 6, 2012

The remodel continues

Mimi and Chuck left ten days ago after a whirlwind two and a half weeks of near constant work on the bathroom and laundry. The plumbing and wiring and sheet rock were nearly complete, the tile floor was in and grouted, the shower more than half-way tiled and the new toilet was installed! We had many great meals together amidst all the work and miss them since they are gone!

It took me all last week to recoup from the prolonged fast pace. Dennis got the shower light installed and a few other things. We got one cupboard changed out in the kitchen. My old washer did prove undependable so we moved the new/used washer into its place Friday morning. We both spent the week getting stuff cleaned up and organized around home,  in getting caught up at work and in resuming our routine of church and bluegrass. Friday night, Dennis got another row of tiles laid in the shower while I drove around to Lowe's and Home Depot to find a new blade for the tile saw.

Today, Dennis had planned to finish up tiling the shower but then realized the sheetrock work needed to be completed first. We cleaned up the new tile floor, then taped a heavy plastic cloth all around the edges to protect the floor from debris. He took out the old window and installed the new one while I checked out getting a mirror framed with alder and shelving options. No pictures yet!

Monday, October 1, 2012

My washer dilemma

You may remember, if you perchance have read my posts this year, in February I had a dryer fiasco. Our old almond dryer died and we bought a used white dryer, got it home and couldn't get it to go. We took it back only to discover I had failed to push the start button! So we hauled it back home where it has worked wonderfully well ever since.

Well, now I have a washer dilemma. In our remodeling efforts of late, we moved the laundry room wall out a couple feet and the washer got hooked up in the new plumbing and worked fine. Then on Saturday it stopped working, with a tub full of rinse water. So tonight we bought a used matching set of white washer and dryer from someone moving out of the area. We thought we would replace both appliances, planning to find a new home for the faithful dryer, which will probably work 'forever'. We picked up the new-old white set tonight and unloaded them in the living room.

Then Dennis and I bailed out the water from the old almond washer in the laundry room with pitchers and buckets. After Dennis got the last of the water out with the drain hose from the back of the washer, we both thought we should check it again since he noticed that the hose had been kinked when he started. Sure enough, the old almond washer works just fine, and will probably work 'forever' just like the dryer! It had stopped because the kink in the drain hose wouldn't let the water out!!

So now we have two washers that work and two dryers that work! One is a matching set in white, which is the color of all my other appliances in the adjoining kitchen. But the other washer and dryer, in almond and white, are well known and very faithful. Such a dilemma!