Cool Adventures

I've been having such grand adventures!!! You will laugh when you hear them and wonder that I am so easily entertained.

First of all, with the onset of much warmer weather, we found it necessary to get the old swamper up and running. We had a few VERY warm nights in the house when we found it difficult to sleep. So, up onto the shed roof I went to get started. I was able (with Dan's help) to get the panels off, the pads pulled and and replaced and things put back together. I must say that I always put this chore off because there is ALWAYS something that has to be replaced or repaired. This year was no different. This time it was the drain. I worked on it for a good half hour before my neighbor took pity on me and came to see if he could help. He had trouble with it, too. But we finally got it fixed. We filled it and it was running beautifully. Later, after it was dark, I heard water POURING from the drain. My other neighbor heard it too and called me. I shut the water supply off and left it for another day. I knew that it was a "float" problem.

This evening I got back up there and immediately discovered the problem. The float is very close to the front panel of the cooler. When I put the panel on last night, it caused the float to get stuck and not rise and turn off the water supply. So, the silly thing overflowed. I was able to bend the float the other direction. And Hallelujah!!! We have it running. In fact, I just had to close my bedroom doors because I'm FREEZING!!!! And we did it all with only ONE trip to Home Depot!

So now, you know a whole lot more than you ever wanted to know about swamp coolers!!! I figured if I have to know, so do you!

I went to a cooking class this week (a Mother's Day gift from Dylan.) It was a Summer Salads class, and I really enjoyed it. I learned a few new things and left absolutely stuffed with delicious salads. First of all I learned that if you have arthritis or gout, you should not eat lentils. They cause those diseases to flare up. I guess this applies to all legumes, but lentils are the worst offenders. I also learned that when you're grilling steak, if you try to turn it over and it sticks to the grill, that means "leave me alone." It's just not ready to turn. Don't turn it over until it pulls away from the grill easily. One of the garnishes they used on the steak salad was little tiny julienned pieces of fresh ginger. I mean tiny--smaller than toothpicks. You fry them in a little olive oil then drain them on a paper towel. And my favorite thing was a garnish he prepared for a Ceasar Salad. He grated some Asiago cheese and covered the bottom of a saute pan--maybe 8 inches. He cooked the cheese until it started to turn golden brown around the edges and was dry. He then slid the cheese out of the pan and put it on top of an inverted bowl. When the cheese cooled, it was like a little bowl. You serve these "bowls" with the salad. You crumble the cheese and put it on top. Yummy stuff!!!!!

I have the day off tomorrow. YIPPPEEEE!!!! I have SO many things I'd like to accomplish. I need to clean up some big tool and paint supplies messes in the kitchen, do laundry, do paperwork, go to Sears, visit my ailing friend Elizabeth, do yard work, paint my closet doors, go to Barnes and Noble, wash and vacuum my car, clean the bathroom, drag the hose around, rob a bank so I can fill my gas tank and the gas cans, get my sweaters back on my shelves, shampoo carpet, and more. Do you think I can get it all done?????? Probably not. But it will all be waiting for me on another day. I will certainly not be in danger of being bored. I am taking a couple of vacation days in early July, so I hope to make some real progress in the coming weeks.

Wow, where does the time go? It's nearly midnight. I am so happy to be able to turn off the alarm clock and sleep until my body wants to wake up. Of course, that will probably be 5 am! Argh.

G'night all.

I know -- it's about time I posted

It's about time for another post, I suppose. Katie has posted at least my last two blogs. I don't know why I don't do this more often, other than the fact that I am truly the most boring person on the planet and have nothing to say that would be of interest to anyone else!

So I'll catch you up on a bunch of not much that's been happening in my life:

1. More hours of work. I have picked up more hours at my second job to help me pay for gas and other things affected by the price of gas. I am now working every Sunday and the 2nd and 4th Saturday mornings of the month. I am still working the Friday shift every week. This means I have two Saturdays off during the month. It's kind of a rough schedule, but it won't be forever, I hope. The upside is that it is an easy, brainless job; and I have met so many nice people that I get to visit with every week! :o)

2. Prison graduation. We had our graduation ceremony at the prison. We topped our record and awarded 270 high school diplomas this year. This is really amazing because we had so many changes in requirements this year. The ceremony was great; however, I nearly froze to death.

3. Bedroom progress. I continue to make a little progress on my bedroom every week. I am trying to find some time to paint my closet doors and hang pictures, etc., on the walls. Otherwise, it is mostly completed. I'm really enjoying it and love having my clothes out of boxes and into drawers and closets again. :o)

4. Green grass. My lawn looks better than it ever has before. I think part of it is the cool, damp spring we've had. The other part is having a lawn care company come to apply fertilizer and weed killer on a regular basis. It has been a challenge keeping it mowed--it grows so fast. And it doesn't help when someone vandalizes your mower. I'm happy to say that the mischievious trick was easily reversed and it's running better than ever.

5. I LOVE SPRING!!!!!

6. Tomato plants. Mom gave me three tomato plants this year. One of them actually has blossoms on it, and I'm so thrilled. It's been several years since I grew anything in the garden. I truly love puttering in the soil, but my time has just been so limited in recent years. It is my dream to get back to it before too many years pass.

7. Goodbye big red purse. The red minivan that Dylan has been driving finally gave up the ghost. The transmission finally blew up. I was able to find a buyer that gave me $200 for it and towed it away. I drove a lot of carpools in that van, and both Katie and Dylan depended on it for years. I realize it was kind of embarrassing for them, but it was "wheels." So farewell, good friend. Sniff.

8. Car shopping. I spent some time car shopping with Dylan. We needed to get him into something quickly. It took about a week, but we finally found a cute little 2005 Suzuki Forenza. He's really enjoying it and it's a relief not to be worrying about him getting stranded somewhere.

9. Baseball game. I finally got to go to a baseball game!!!!! I went with Katie and Troy. It turns out a good friend of mine was there, and I ended up sitting with him while K & T sought out her friends and coworkers. The Bees lost that night, but it was delightful anyway. I so love baseball.

10. The Scottish Festival. I went with a couple of friends to the annual Scottish Festival at Thanksgiving Point. We watched the Highland Games, ate junk food, got sunburned even with sunblock, wandered among the booths and listened to a lot of good music. If you want a sample of the band we heard, go to You Tube and type in Wicked Tinkers. They are what you might call the hard rock of traditional Scottish music with bagpipes, drums and even a digeridoo. There's actually one of their numbers on my playlist. You'll love em, I promise.

11. Father's Day. I truly have the best dad in the whole universe. He is truly the one man in my life that I have always been able to count on. He is ALWAYS there for me, cheering me on, whether I deserved it or not. I was not having a good day yesterday (Father's Day). His big hug brought me so much comfort. Add to that the fact that he and mom drove clear out here last night to help me figure out my lawn mower situation. He helped me drain the mower of its tainted gas, and it fired right up. I was in a near panic because the mower was broken and my lawn was halfway to my knees. Thanks, dad, for rescuing me once again. I love you bunches.

Well, I think I had better sign off. Tomorrow is trash pickup and I need to go fill up those cans and then get to bed. I truly do intend to get better about this. I'll try to find some things to make my life a little more exciting so I have something to write about. haha

I love you all.......

Purty.

Joey's amazing plant.

Nerd Alert.

KC, Daniel, Dylan
KC, Dylan
KC, Bejamin (the groom), and Daniel

Mom, sorry I didn't use the pics you sent me, these looked better, because cellyphone pictures are fuzzy. Anyway, you all get the idea. :)

The line at the wedding was the longest I have ever seen. Troy counted 20 people. Daniel says he will never stand in line again, not even when he gets married and if his future-fiance ever asked him to stand in a line he would dump her on the spot. Precious little ones.

Belated Post

Just a quick update:

The photo of my new bed was to have been accompanied by a little information, but alas my computer was not cooperating at the time. My dear daughter came to my rescue once again and fixed up my computer. So here's the story of the bed:

I had planned to purchase a fairly similar bed at Ikea. It just so happens that my dear neighbor, Ted, was here fixing a problem with my sprinklers. I mentioned I had been painting, etc. He wanted to see what I had done, so I brought him in the house to show him. I showed him a picture of the bed I was going to purchase and he said he had something he needed to show me. So off we went to Ted's shed. Up in the rafters, in many pieces, was a lovely black wrought iron bed similar to the one I was going to purchase. He said it belonged to his daughter but he would check to see what her plans were. She called me later in the evening and offered to GIVE it to me. About two weeks later, Ted dropped it over the fence and came over to put it together. And I LOVE it. It has the pieces necessary to turn it into a canopy, but I've opted not to use them at this time.

I have yet to paint my closet doors and get them hung. I also need to get the big, unwieldy desk out of my room so I can put together my new dresser. Once those things are finished, I can put all my things away and live a normal life again!!! I can't wait. But it seems that my patience needs to be tried. So many other things have come up to prevent me from accomplishing these things. I'm hoping I can start painting the doors on Monday--we shall see.

There's not much else new on this front. I work, I come home, I sometimes go to the gym, I go to bed and get up in the morning and start the same routine all over again. Day in and day out. But the consistency makes me happy in a strange and wonderful way!

Oh, I did take some pictures of my darling sons in tuxedos at their friend's wedding reception. I've sent them to Katie, and I'm hoping she'll post them for me. One of these days I'll learn to do it myself. Thanks to my dear daughter, I am now paying all of my bills online and blogging. I may be slow, but eventually I catch on........ She's even taught me how to load music on my IPod. Will wonders never cease?

Sleep well all. I intend to.........

Jo's new bed!

Sunday Night Exhaustion Can Be Good

It's Sunday night and I'm exhausted. I thought weekends were supposed to be restful and recreational! Ha!!!

It's been a busy weekend, and I have actually accomplished more than I anticipated, AND I worked a shift I wasn't planning on working. So although I'm tired, I feel "accomplished!"

As soon as I was off work on Friday, I started painting. It was time to apply the COLOR. Whoa Green!!!! Why is it that once you are committed (you have purchased the paint and have started slapping it on the walls), it's not quite what you expected. It was a little more limey than I expected. But you know, it's growing on me!!! I had a real struggle with the edges where the green met the cream (and they are FAR from perfect), but they'll do for now. I am SO anxious to get my bedroom back together. The green paint is on and the trim is done. Tonight I cleaned up the mess, moved what furniture I have to one side of my room and vacuumed. I am ready to clean half of my carpet. Perhaps tomorrow or Tuesday will be the day.

I ended up trading a shift at the gym and working today. Instead of having today off, I will have Mother's Day.

This evening, the kids and I hooked up with Grandma and Grandpa for dinner. What a delight they are. I am so lucky to have had them in my life for so long. I have so many friends who do not share such wonderful relationships with their parents. Many of them lost their parents many years ago. I treasure every minute I get to spend with them--even if it's just talking on the phone. They are so kind, generous and wise. I appreciate their generosity and wisdom.

Another week ahead. No big, wonderful plans. We'll just see what it brings.

So, although I'm exhausted, it's a good feeling. Once I throw my alarm clock against my newly painted wall in the morning, I'll be ready for anything.