My life right now

This is my new kitchen floor. It looks like tile but it is linoleum. I like it. This is what my kitchen looks like right now. I don't like it. In order to keep this new linoleum in place, we need an additional bit of wood trim to be nailed down in front of the existing molding. I guess if we had pulled up the existing molding before the workman had begun, then this additional step to keep the floor edges from curling up would not have been necessary. No one told us this. And here we are. The trim is already cut and will be stained tomorrow so Bob, our repairman, can nail it down on Thursday. AND, since we already have to pull out the appliances to accomplish this task, it seemed like as good a time as any to strip off the 16-year old wall paper and paint the kitchen (since that was an already-planned project for this year, anyway).

As you can see, I pulled off the top layer of wallpaper this afternoon. Tomorrow I will apply the liquid stripper to peel off the bottom paper. Then fix the holes. And wash the walls. Finally, paint. Hooray for 1-coat Glidden. Speaking of painting, I also get to paint a door frame downstairs. The above-mentioned Bob installed laminate flooring on the downstairs hallway. You can see just a teensy bit of it in the picture below. When we moved into this house, there was a door at the bottom of the stairs and we didn't want it so we just removed the door and hardly even noticed the hinge hardware for the next 16 years. But, when Bob removed all the molding to install the floor, he did. And took the door jam off. And put up a new wood frame to be painted. By me. THEN he will re-apply the molding around the door.

Below is a picture of our new entryway. Bob put in lovely tile. The long cylinder to the left is a roll of low-pile carpet for the stairs. Bob really doesn't want to do this job (and I don't blame him. He is in his 70's and I felt REALLY badly when he was down on his hands and knees putting in the hallway flooring). So, I need to call and find someone to install this. And, since we have so much left-over kitchen linoleum, they can use it up in the downstairs bathroom.


This is the Noah's Ark room where the 10-year old, blind, incontinent Coco-the-rabbit lives and noisy Howard and Eunice-the-finches live. And that is my craft/sewing closet. I need to relocate all of the above so Beckie can move in for two months. Her lease expires the end of May and she needs a place to live until she leaves for more schooling. (she still hasn't decided between Atlanta or Hawaii. It's a no-brainer to me! Just kidding, Beckie.) We will do most of the moving on Memorial Day.



I am delighted to report that we have air conditioning again. BUT, we also have the programmable thermostat that would take an engineer to figure out. I need to sit down with the manual and maybe a help-desk person on the phone to guide me through the steps. Thankfully, Tamara was able to figure out how to set it on a cooler temperature than 85 degrees!






So, that is my life right now. So many things to think about and to do. And I have not even mentioned the WEDDING that is coming up in two and a half months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is Kirsti with Ryan. Aren't they a cute couple? Steve and I are so please with this news. Kirsti is so happy and Ryan is a fine young man. And this summer is going to be a wild one - dress, cake, photos, invitations, where to have a reception, buying plane tickets to Utah........just a few of the things buzzing around in my head.

If April showers bring May flowers....what do May flowers bring????

May flowers bring Pilgrims, but they also bring joy to the eyes. The native iris have already come and gone (those are the pale purple ones) and the hybrid ones are now in their glory. Here are the ones I get to enjoy in my yard:

I call the one above the Kewpie iris because it is in Hickman colors

Right next to this pale yellow iris is a deep purple (almost black) iris getting ready to bloom

And, there are lots of other kinds of flowers blooming right now.................

columbine

purple clemantis and pink peonies

daisies

not sure what this is called. Looks kind of like honeysuckle. Hummingbirds love it!

phlox

Sadie got a much-needed haircut
(as you could probably noticed from her photo taken in St. Louis.)

Here is Trissy peeking out from the gate we had Bob build on our deck. It is intended to keep her from pawing at our new patio door.


But, as you can see, it did not deter her last night during our tremendous thunder storm when both Steve and I were gone and she was left alone in the back yard. I have no idea how she managed to get over the gate but she did and tried to get into our kitchen window (she actually accomplished that feat a year or so ago). You can see the destroyed screen and the wild bird- seed bucket she has knocked over. I called the vet today and she is going back on the prescription sedatives when the weather gets bad. Benedryl is just not doing the job.


One last random bit of information. Remember the annoying stop sign on Blue Ridge right at Skylane? Well, it is no longer there. And it was not knocked down due to an accident. This is on purpose. The posts are removed, the cross walk has been painted over. Boy, I am just waiting for the rear-end or t-bone accident when some neighbor forgets it is gone and tries to stop or pull out.

HOT!

Our house is HOT! In more ways than one. Yes, it has a beautiful new tile entryway. And the kitchen has a new linoleum floor. There is a roll of dark green-ish carpet waiting for Bob to install on the stairs and two boxes of laminate flooring for the downstairs hall (curse you little dogs and your never-ending pee spots!) But, that is really not the hot I mean. The compressor on the heat pump died sometime Monday night and we woke up to a 83-degree house in the week of a record-bumping heat wave. Thankfully, a repairman came Tuesday noon. He quoted a new compressor at $1300.00. But, our heat pump is 15 years old (with a 20-year life expectancy), so he appropriately advised a new heat pump for $3700.00! Hey, considering we paid $3400.00 fifteen years ago for what we currently have, that is not too bad. With the original, we got a low-interest loan from the city of Columbia so I figured we would do that again. Only, this time, one of the qualifying steps is an energy audit. So, for $125.00 we had that done last night where their main procedure was to close all the windows to seal the house (to make our already hot house hotter!) and suck out air to find leaks around the windows and doors with a little smoke wand (kind of like a wizard). This company also installs heat pumps so we got an estimate from them as well. I have not received their report yet as to what they recommend we do to make our house more energy efficient. I am sure they will want to add more insulation and fix our old windows (at least they said we shouldn’t have to replace them – yikes, that would be another HUGE expense). Sigh. So much work will have to be done, I am sure. And still we sit in a hot house. But, thankfully, the weather breaking tomorrow and all next week looks nice (in the 60’s and 70’s). And, hopefully, by the end of that week, we will have jumped through all the hoops and be the owners of a new heat pump.

I AM grateful all this didn’t happen last week when I was preparing for the stake Relief Society workshop Saturday held on the 7^th. Whew – so glad that event is over. Being in the presidency, I, of course, was involved the planning and preparing. But, I think we all had a few brain cells missing when we decided that both Edith (the other counselor) and I would also each teach a workshop! More planning and preparation. I co-taught a 45-minute class on how to make a family history or photo book on the computer with software downloaded from an on-line book-making program. It is something I am pretty enthusiastic about these days so I was kind of the logical person to teach the class, but still! What was I thinking????

When I wasn’t focusing on the workshop, I was finishing a dress for Lucy to be blessed in on Mother’s Day. I completed it at about midnight Saturday night. We really enjoyed the Mother’s Day in St. Louis. Beckie and Steven (Tamara stayed in Columbia to be with her mother) rode with Steve and me. Julina and Elise drove in from Indiana. And, Vicki (Joe’s mom) had arrived from Korea.

Here she is with a frosting-lipped Noah

We got to Emily’s house in time to dress Lucy before driving to the meetinghouse and that proved to be a mistake as sometime between getting in her car seat and getting out, she had a major blow-out in her diaper and, of course, all over her long white dress. And, she was not happy. Not a good setting for a father’s blessing. Fortunately, Joe was given the option of blessing her after the sacrament and by then, Lucy was calmed and sleeping peacefully. Yes, her dress had yellow stains but that was OK. She received a beautiful blessing and all was good. (Emily washed the dress Monday and it is as good as new – can’t wait to see a formal photo of Lucy wearing it). We all enjoyed a potluck meal after church meetings and then spent the afternoon just sitting around and visiting. It was the perfect coda to a very hectic week.

Joe, Lucy, Steven, Beckie in the Southerland front room

Beckie, Emily, Steve, Elise (yes, that is Sadie on Steve's lap)

Sadie (who needs a haircut and is at the groomers today)

Max in his favorite top-of-the-couch perch

Lucy Charlotte chillin' out

Tonight is the CIS orchestra concert. I confess I am a bit worried as to how we will sound since some members have not been very regular in their attendance. The CIS string quartet played for Candlelight Lodge Mother’s Day Tea last Friday and we were kind of a disaster. When I say this, I mean that we all knew there were blaring mistakes but probably to the untrained ear, we were just fine and blessedly, not many were really listening to us anyway. My adult string group – the Da Capo Strings – had their final meeting last Thursday and now we are on hiatus until mid-June. And, Tuesday night, I got to play that fabulous cello part in the Beatle’s Eleanor Rigby up at the Moberly High School choir concert. That was pretty fun (and, I was in air conditioning!)

I am sure there are plenty of details of the last three weeks of my life that I have left out. But, then, this blog is already too long. Until next entry…..