Pat is painting the house!

Pat came in on Wednesday (June 17) and got right to work on the house. Luke and i had thought that the first day we would show him what we wanted done and talk about it. We knew Pat had to get up very early to catch the 5 A.M. flight and figured he would be tired, but he jumped in and started doing what needed to be done.

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday was spent on repair and prep on the outside and in the front bathroom which turned out to be a bigger problem than we expected. We thought the wallpaper would come off as clean as it did in the kitchen but in the bathroom it took chunks of sheetrock paper with it. It is fortunate we have Pat here because he knows better what to do to fix that.

Today, Sunday, I had thought i would ask Pat if he would like to take it easy for a day, maybe doing a little in the house, but taking a day off from the heat of working outside. But he woke before we did and was already outside painting when we woke up.

Picking the color for the house was hard. Luke and I had gotten sample of several colors and painted 18″ squares near the brick but we could not agree on which to use. He didn’t like my choices and I didn’t like his. We decided to see what Pat thought. Mostly Pat thought we needed to pick a color so he could get on with it 🙂 but he did give us his opinion and we went with it. The color is perfect… exactly what we wanted.

The only thing undecided was the second trim color. We knew we wanted to paint the main part of trim, the part of the house that is actually siding, one color, and the real trim another color. We discussed it at length, and finally yesterday Luke and i went to the store, bought 6 samples, came home and painted sticks with each.

Today all 3 of us looked at the samples, and (Luke said i should write this on the calendar) we all liked the same one. Make a note: June 24th – agreement the first time.

The way the first paint looks… I think it’s going to be good!

Oh, I need to take a picture…. I did the first day and then forgot till just now.

Luke tangled with a bee

Luke went mowing yesterday and a bee got him. Fortunately he is not allergic and fortunately the one that landed near his ear canal didn’t sting. We took a couple of pictures and I cropped the daylights out of them but they are still big. I wanted to show you the swelling. You can see the sting right above his eyebrow. Also note the indentation made by his glasses.

I tell him that if he does not behave I am going to hit him again.

Had some time off recently…

And I split it up in a somewhat odd way. Thursday/Friday of last week, plus Tuesday/Wednesday this week. (Monday already being off)

Thursday/Friday were mostly spent cleaning house. Got the carpet cleaned, picked up a lot of stuff, caught up on laundry – all that good stuff. (though, if you walked in the house right now, you already can’t really tell… time to clean again!) Those days where mostly meant for relaxing and getting things done.

Then the weekend – which went to the folks. Good time, relaxed some more, and generally enjoyed watching the kids play with someone else for a few minutes. Socializing exposure, yay!

And then the Monday-Wednesday stretch. Well, I’ve been planning to get away for a while – started this plan a good month out, unknown to Christina. Now, to have a successful ‘away’ trip right now means we need support. Thought about it and decided to see if Christina’s folks would be interested in some time wandering ground far from Victoria.  (they have enough drama going down on Sean’s side of the family that a few days away can’t help but do good, so it wasn’t a hard sell)  Anywho, the other part about a good away trip is that it can’t be too far.  Donavan does not like riding in the car yet.  Did some looking and came across a place called “Zoo Exotics Resort”.

Continue reading

Travel travail

I was in North Carolina last week. Work trip.

United airlines – the federal carrier available from Denver to Raleigh – no longer has direct flights between Denver and Raleigh. The last trip I took was the last week they ran direct flights. This is my first time using them and having a transfer. I have to carry my work laptop – non-negotiable, and also, it has to be the carryon. Work travel means I’m checking my bag. No matter what.

So. Denver to Raleigh. Through Chicago. I try to print my boarding pass from home; no go. So, extra time for doing all that before hand. Seems to go smoothly. Flight runs a little late – no worries; semi-tight connection in Chicago but I walk fast. As it turns out, no need …. connection flight is delayed by an hour and some change. Get food. OK. Arrive in Raleigh, right about at midnight, but OK. Wait for my bag … uh huh. No bag.

So I wait till it’s totally obvious, then go to bag check. Get claim form. Do not get any overnight necessities. Sigh. Go wait for rental car. Wait for a looooooong time. Finally call them – and the rental car company closes at midnight. Joy! So, at airport, it’s 1:30 by now, and I have no car and no luggage. Oh well. Get a taxi. Hotel convenience shop has toothbrush.

Week is fine, though of course I have to do Casual Monday (I really missed having a hairbrush). Bag is delivered Monday afternoon. Week proceeds.

Next leg – Raleigh to Denver. Through Washington. So … see if this sounds familiar: There’s an hour delay, and then they lose my bag. !!!!

The spin this time is that the load us onto the plane, and then tell us it’s going to be an hour or so before we fly off. We haven’t even pulled away from the terminal. So we sit and sit .. people freaking out about connections, etc. But we go, we arrive … and the good news for me is, the plane to Denver is the exact plane I came in on. So I get off, get a muffin at Starbucks right across the way, and then get right back on the same plane.

And yet, they still managed to lose the luggage. Brilliant!

At least this time, I had my car, and I had a toothbrush – and a hairbrush – at home. But sheesh. Not the best luggage trip.

The Package Game

I think that all delivery trucks should have GPS units installed and the data should be broadcast to people expecting packages.   Not so much a ‘truck is on 12th street traveling south’ type location; just a general city block would be great.  Showing what areas have already been visited would be an obvious feature.  I’m sure that the efficiency systems FedEx/UPS use make sure drivers don’t come back to an area multipe times during a delivery trip.  Wasted gas, time, and all that.

See, this would help out people like me that wonder when the truck is going to get here and where are they and WAIT! was that loud noise the construction next door pulling in a large truck or is that the delivery guy?  If I could look at a map and see “oh, he’s on the north side of town” would mean I wouldn’t be so distracted.  I’d just keep refreshing the tracking page every 10 minutes.  (or whatever update interval they set; 10 minutes would be good)

I’ll now go back to wondering where in the city the FedEx truck is wandering and when the UPS guy is going to stop by.

Enjoy Movie Trailers?

But get annoyed when you have to go through way too many ads and annoying websites to get to them?

Solution: Daves Trailer Page

Plenty of direct links to download trailers of just about every new movie coming out. Plus a library of links for older movies.