No, I'm not dead....

We've been cleaning, painting and fixing up the duplex to sell and I've had no time for fun or even blogging! We'd leave home about 08:30 and return at 19:00 or even later. Not a fun week or whatever. You know those little containers of spackle; the kind you use once then have 99% of the stuff dry out before you need it again? I used an entire container filling the holes in the walls of this 1,000 sq. ft. duplex. An ENTIRE container; I've never used more than maybe a quarter of a container.

Neither of us is used to climbing up and down ladders all day so we were both hurting. We were taking ibuprofen like M&M's. The stove had to be replaced because when we looked in the oven there were little holes all over the floor. Can't figure out how that happened but obviously we couldn't leave it like that.

So yesterday we have a cleaning crew from Merry Maids come in and clean the place. They managed to break two blades off one of the ceiling fans! WTF is that? How do you break off ceiling fan blades? Anyway, I wasn't doing anything this afternoon so I'll go down & install a new fan. Bah! Humbug!

Have a good day, y'all.

Quiet & productive week

Just figured out that I haven't written anything since Monday. Bad Don!! Still, it's been a busy week. Monday was devoted to making our house look a little more cared for; Tuesday was a day off after we went and got the new Harry Potter (had to watch it, of course); Wednesday we worked in the duplex removing wallpaper that should have died a quiet death many years ago; Thursday was Home-Depot-Day: $350 for paint & other supplies. It really was kind of funny; we got 5 gallons of paint @ $108; 1 gallon ceiling paint @ $18 and the rest of the order was all cheap stuff, a buck here and two there. Took the checker quite some time to get rid of us!

Today we worked around the house some then hosted some relatives who live North of here but come down to MacDill for the BX, pharmacy services, etc. It was a really nice day; having lunch out by the pool made Florida make sense. Next hurricane I must remember today! LOL

Lunch was chicken quesadilla's. I used some little eight inch tortillas, some green onions, lots of jack and cheddar cheese and a can of chicken. I warm/cook the chicken because I don't like the look of it right out of the can - but, damn, it's quick and easy. I read just yesterday that things don't brown without oil so I started brushing my tortillas with olive oil. Works so well that I burned a couple! Still they seemed to go over ok. Mostly because of my wifes homemade salsa! My wife is so glad that she doesn't have to cook that she'll eat anything before criticizing my cooking. It's a nice thought but doesn't help me improve.

Weekend should see more work on the duplex and a visit from #1 daughter (also only daughter!). BTW a note to Cinn and others visiting Florida: hope you have a great visit. We locals grouch a lot about visitors but this would be a much poorer state without you. You make possible for many of the restaurants, attractions and civic improvement projects. Without you Florida would just be a big sandbar covered by farms and ranches. Kind of like Oklahoma without the oil & with more bugs. Have a good one!

Happy Day

I got a happy surprise over the dinner last night: the dijon marinated pork was really nice. We just added a salad and there we were. Watched the Oscars until we were falling asleep so recorded the rest for viewing this a.m.

This is home maintenance day. I'm off to mow that lawn, sweep that pool and all that good stuff.

Have a good day!

P.S.
Well, it was happy until I heard about the SD decisions on abortion. My wife is pretty sure she couldn't have an abortion; I'm not sure where my mind is but we are both certain that it is no business of any government to tell us whether or not someone can have or must have an abortion. For that is the other side of the stick.

I'm trying to love my fellow man, honestly I am!

Quiet Sunday

The Great Garage Sale was yesterday. We were just a little excited about it: woke at 03:00 or so. Showered 05:00. Got down to St Pete in time to have donuts before opening the sale at 08:00. Yeah, I know we were weird; also wired! Anyway, it turned out ok. I took the actual garage with the big furniture and wifey took the sunroom with the smaller stuff. We sold about 75% of the little stuff and 50% of the big things. Now we have to find a charity who takes furniture! The really wonderful thing is that it didn't bother my wife at all. She was really zonked by the end of the day but she had a great excuse! She wasn't upset at seeing her mom's stuff sold and actually was exhilarated at selling some things.

Took today off. I made a ham & cheese omelet this morning & we had a few drinks. Wifey went for a nap & I spent the afternoon reading out by the pool. I should have worked in the yard because not to put too fine a point on it, the yard looks like shit. But I needed my recovery time too. Next week we start getting the duplex ready for sale. Should be fun!

Dinner tonight is grilled mustard marinated pork loin slices with whatever we find for sides. Cinn over at http://deadonthegearshift.blogspot.com/ talked about this recipe but, being a professional chef, doesn't need the kind of detail that we beginners need; and doesn't usually supply it. We'll just see if mine is even half ok; I'm pretty sure to have the marinade fouled up. The pork loin was sitting the the freezer calling to me though so at least it will be outta there.

Have a good week!

Getting Better All The Time

It seems that my wife is recovering from the loss of her mother. Part of it might be time but all our talks and the talk she had with the woman from Hospice seem to have helped her. Of course she occasionally thinks about her mom and is sad, even teary, but then she gets over it. MUCH more like normal. Thanks to everyone for their advice & concern.

Took a drive today on the Dunedin Causeway. It is a thin spit of land that sticks out into the Gulf. There is a road with beaches on both sides and a walk-bike path; the whole thing is perhaps 100 feet across and a couple miles long. The beaches are pretty lousy, lots of rocks, but its popular because it's quite a drive to the better beaches AND because you can take toys like Ski-doos, beach catamarans, kayaks, etc. I like to drive out there and walk on the path but didn't want to take the time to walk today. It was cool, maybe low 70s, but there was just a ton of people out there. The cars were mostly from Ontario, Ohio, New York; snowbirds. They all want to have a tan when they leave so they are out in the sun when us locals are hiding inside. I just needed to see the water. I get weird if I don't get to see water ocassionally.

Hope everyone has a good day.