We went to Fort Wayne this weekend for Kaitlyn’s baptism. It was a busy weekend. But before I get to the weekend I should reall talk about Friday night. When we got home I started working in the family room. I got about two thirds of the floor down. If I had about two more hours I could have finished it but simply ran out of time. I needed to pack and rest for the trip.
The drive to FW was interesting. We estimate that we saw 20 – 25 trucks in the ditch just in Illinois. Some were really bad. One truck, a tandem, had one trailer on one side of the overpass and the tractor and other trailer was on the other side. I’m glad we didn’t try to go on Friday night. When we got to FW we checked in at the Hampton and then went to Kelly and Jordan’s for pizza. Had a good visit. Sunday morning we got up and went out to Prince of Peace for the baptism. Kaitlyn was really good through the service.
After the service we visited at the church for a while and then went to Kelly and Jordan’s for dinner. Once again, we had a good visit. For supper we had carry out from Mr. Coney. We then drove to Peru and spent the night at Linda and Tom’s. We both took a day of vacation on Monday so we had a leisurely drive home. Just after we crossed the border into MO the car started to act up. The further we went the worse it got. We weren’t sure we were going to make it home. Beth called the dealer and made arrangements for us to bring it in. We stopped at home and unloaded saint and then took it right over. We didn’t even shut it off at home for fear it would not start again. After dropping it off we came home and worked on the family room again. The floor is done now. We still have to do the baseboard but the floor is done. Tuesday and Wednesday I worked on some moldmg around the hearth and also replaced the outlets in the family room. Tonight we are mooing out to dinner with friends. Beth is going over to pick up the Fusion. They could not get it to act up. Maybe it was some bad gas or something like that. The check engine light never came on so who knows. Sure hope it doesn’t do it again.
It was nice to have Monday off work. Always good to have a three day weekend. I finished putting felt feet on all the living room furniture and then I called Brian and he and Kayden came over and helped pull up the old carpet in the living room. As mentioned Ina previous post, there was hardwood floor under the carpet. If I had known it the old carpet would have been gone several years ago. The old hardwood really looked good. It came up with minimal damage. Hopefully April and Brian can use it for their living room. We went to Monday night church. Beth sang again. She sure does a good job. After church we worked in the living room for a bit. I pulled nails and Beth started to paint. It has been interesting but I’ll be glad when it is done.
Wan’t a great deal to post about this week. It was my first full week in quite some time. It was made even longer my the snow we had Wednesday night. We didn’t get very much but due to the fact that it was warm during the day and we had some rain earlier followed by a quick drop in temperature the roads were very bad on Thursday morning. It took me 1 1/2 hours to get to work. It normally takes about 1/2 hour. MODOT really screwed up and they caught a lot of flack for it. It wasn’t too bad going home and the trip Friday was okay. We have been continuing to work on the floor – putting down baseboard. We are about ready to move the furniture back into the dinette.
On Saturday we went to the RV show in downtown Saint Louis. Sure didn’t see anything that I liked better then what we have. Maybe if we were looking to buy it might be different but we just like to look. I sure couldn’t tell it is a bad economy by all the people there. When we got home we moved the benches and tables and chairs back into the dinette. Sure is nice to have the dinette finished.
Sunday morning Beth had to sing at both services. She sang “God Knew Your Name.” While she was gone I carried the rest of the boxes of laminate flooring in from the garage. They have to be in the house for 48 hours before they can be used. I put felt pads on the legs of the family room furniture and moved the smaller stuff into the dining room. The sofa will stay in the family room. We will just work around it. I hope to pull up the carpet tomorrow and maybe even some of the hardwood flooring under the carpet. The family room has carpet over the hardwood. Sure makes more work. I’m also going to try to take the sink and vanity out of the main floor bath so that we can put up the new wall covering and the new floor. I think we are also going to replace the vanity. We saw one at Home Depot that we liked. I am off tomorrow for MLK day so I will post tomorrow also.
This weekend for me was about working on the house. But let’s start with Saturday. I took the Focus for tire rotation in the morning and Beth picked me up and took me to get the truck so I would have transportation. Brian brought April over to the house and while he was here we went over to get a treadmill that he had for sale. It is an old one that he picked up that was set out for disposal but it still works and the price was good. If i use it i will think about getting a better one and if i don’t i am out very little money. When we got back with the treadmill Beth and April went to America’s Center to a bridal show. I think from the sound of it they got a lot of good information for planning the wedding in July. I didn’t do a lot while they were gone because I don’t like using power tools when there is no one around. On Sunday we finished the baseboard in the living room and moved all of the furniture back in. Looks great. (I’ll post pictures soon.) Also finished the hallway including the stair nosing going down the basement. Then finished the floor in the guest closet. We will have to order the door for the closet since it is a 20″ door and the seem to jump from 18″ to 24″. I also cut the baseboards for the closet. Beth worked on painting and helping me. She reprinted the dinette and the kitchen as well as all of the baseboards that I cut. She also dabbed a drop of paint on all the holes from the brads that hold the baseboards in place. Won’t get much done tomorrow since we will be going to church. Later.
Tuesday morning Beth went to the DMV and transferred the plates to the Fusion. I started to work on the floor of the living room. Beth helped when she got back home. The living room is done except for the last course. We stopped because we are going to spend the rest of the week in a condo at the campground. After showering Beth went grocery shopping. When she got back we loaded up the carand headed to the campground. Stopped to eat on the way. Got to the campground about 5:30, checked in and unloaded the car. Went down to Lake Expo to see what had been done. The building is very close to completion but not a lot going on. They were showing the Simpson’s Movie in the theater so we sat and watched the end of that then drove around the camping area to see how many units were in the resort. We saw about four or five units plus about 4 rentals were occupied. We didn’t drive through every section so there may have been more. Went back to condo, watched a little TV and went to bed. I have to drive back in to the eye doctor tomorrow for my one week checkup.
The appointment went well at the doctor’s office. He said everything was looking very good. We stopped at Costco for a few items, then at Walgreens for a Rx for Beth and finally at home to pick up a few items we had forgotten. When we got back to the campground we both took a nap. We went down to the theater again Wednesday evening and saw a movie called “Ladder49.” it was very good. With about 20 minutes left some friends came in and sat in front of us so when the movie was over we invited them back to the condo for a while.
Thursday morning Beth said she wanted to sleep late so I did my best to let her sleep. We went down at noon to watch “A Christmas Story” at the theater. It is one of my favorites. We then went to the Tuscan Grill for lunch. From there we went to the camper in the storage lot and dropped off a few items. I also took out the battery so I can take it home for the winter. After dinner we went over to a friend’s condo. Little by little the whole group is showing up.
On Friday we simply relaxed. We did go into Owensville to eat on Friday evening.
Saturday we went with the group to Stone Hill Winery in Hermann for a little wine tasting and then went to the Vintage Restaurant for an early dinner. The party started at 9:00 at the campground with a band called Borderline. They are a good band but apparently they don’t know how to play slow music. And they were loud enough that it was hard to talk. As soon as 12:00 arrived we went to the condo and crashed.
We headed home on Sunday and worked on the living room floor. Between the time spent Sunday and Monday we almost have the living room done. We only have two pieces of baseboard to install and a light switch to replace and the living room will be done. Beth went with April on Monday to look at wedding dresses. She thinks they found one. Tuesday it was back to work with over 400 emails waiting for me. It will probably take me two weeks to catch up. At least now I can see the computer monitor. I have a pair of reading glasses that seems to work pretty good. After the full month has passed I might try a different strength but want to wait until my eyes have fully adjusted. Guess I better get this posted before it becomes a novel.
Well, Christmas has come and gone but I hope the true Spirit of Christmas stays with all of you throughout the entire year.
Now to update on the happenings. Saturday was a bit laid back. With so many people in the house and only one bathroom it seemed to take forever to finish the morning duties. I went to Meijer with Jordan while he did a bit more Christmas shopping. I got a new headlight bulb for the Focus. I also saw some newborn outfits that i couldn’t resist. The one was Purdue and the other was Colts. Each came two to a set so it was really four outfits. When we got back to the house Jordan replaced the headlight bulb for me. Jordan’s mother came to pick up the kids for church and then the wrapping frenzy began. As supper approached pizza was ordered. It took a bit longer to arrive then anticipated. Beth and I had to eat in a hurry so we could go to church at Prince of Peace. It was nice to see some of our old friends. The congregation has gone through some rough times but I was told they are starting to recover. They really had quite a few people there. It was a very nice service. When we got home we heated up the pizza and finished dinner. The kids put out cookies for Santa. Each one put a cookie on the plate and then Kelly asked if they wanted to put a cookie on the plate for Kaitlyn. Jamie said he would because he loves her the most. I received a text message from April that she was engaged. Brian asked her on Christmas eve. Congratulations to both of them.
Christmas morning was a lot of fun. The kids unwrapped their presents while showing a great deal of patience. Finally the gifts came to an end and Beth and I headed to Tom and Linda’s for Christmas dinner. The food was very good. Linda was afraid it was cold but hot food burns the mouth. It was just right. After dinner their was more gift unwrapping and then it was time to head back to the house. The kids were a bit fussy from a long day of excitement but finally they headed off to bed. I wasn’t far behind and left another Christmas day as part of history.
On a sad note, the daughter of a lady that April went to school with in Fort Wayne disappeared on Friday. The mother was sick and the daughter was staying with a family friend. There was much concern and prayers for the family. Unfortunately, we found out Monday night that the 9 year old girl had been killed by the family “friend.”
I headed for home Monday morning about 10:00 Eastern. After an uneventful drive I arrived home, unpacked the car and began work on the floor. I got about two thirds of the living room completed. Brian came over and helped mr move some of the furniture back in so that we would have room to unwrap gifts when April, Brian, Kayden, Scott and Jess came over at 7:30. Beth had not arrived at home until about 7:00 so it was just a bit rushed. There was no meal this time, just the gifts and hugs and love. After watching a show on TiVo we called it a night.
I got up this morning and got everything ready to head to Fort Wayne. I had done most of my packing on Thursday so it didn’t take very long. I stopped by church to drop off the offering envelopes. I had forgotten to take them along on Monday night. Plus the one for Christmas since we will not be in town. Unfortunately, the office was not open yet so I could not leave them. I hit the road to Fort Wayne. The weather was overcast until just before Vandalia IL. When the sun came out I realized that I didn’t have any sunglasses. I stopped at Walmart in Vandalia to buy a pair. I stopped in Marshall il for a bite to eat and also to use my eye drops. I have to use the drops four times a day. Finally got to FW and got to hold Kaitlyn. She is sure little. Beth and I went to Mr. Coney for carry out for the family. Sure tasted good. Everyone has gone to bed but still early for me on Central time so I am updating the blog. Not much more to write tonight. More later.
I went to the doctor this morning for my day after checkup. He said everything looks good so far. I go back in a week. I was going to drive to Fort Wayne tomorrow but think I will hold off until Friday since my left eye is still dilated. I’ll see how it is tomorrow and decide then if I feel safe driving that far yet. It is a bit boring with the restrictions I have on no dust. I did work in the living room some this morning, pulling some staples and putting down a few boards that didn’t need cutting. Sure wish I could work on it. I could get a lot done today and tomorrow.
The eye surgery went well. I was much more alert during the surgery this time. Since I was not as nervous they didn’t give me the second dose of happy juice. It did seem to go a bit longer this time. But still no pain. A camping friend of ours took me to the surgery center and then took me home. The instructions were to rest and that’s what I have done all afternoon. I go tmorrow morning to see the doctor and should get released to drive. Sure seems funny to sit and watch TV without glasses on.
My new granddaughter was born yesterday, December 19, 2011, sometime after noon. I’m not sure of the exact time. Mom and baby are doing fine. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 7 oz. and is 19 in. long.
In the words of Mary Poppins, she is “practically perfect in every way.”
When it came to the flooring I did run out of acclimated flooring. I have more in the house but it has not been in for the required 48 hours yet. I probably won’t get much more done until after vacation since I have to avoid dust following my second cataract surgery which is scheduled for Tuesday. What a big difference between the first and second surgery as far as nerves are concerned. But now I know what to expect. I’ll let you know how it goes.
