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 7th. 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. 
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
Sadie (who needs a haircut and is at the groomers today)
Max in his favorite top-of-the-couch perch
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…..
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