Preparations

We leave on Thursday for a much needed vacation.  We're going to South Carolina for two weeks, then driving north to Rochester, New York so Candice can attend a glass art convention.  I'll have the kids in a hotel by myself for several days.  Hopefully, in the week before, Gabe and/or Donna will learn to swim enough that we can go to the hotel pool one of those days for some fun.  We'll probably take Candice to her convention one day, too, so that I can take the kids out somewhere too (Yeah, I'm a glutton, etc)

But aside from the adventure upcoming, we have a list of more than 30 things we need to do before we leave, and we've only done about 5 of them.  Granted, some of them can easily wait until we get back as they aren't "vacation critical" and will probably join an ongiong To Do list for projects that Candice and I need to do.  I need to go back a few blog posts and pull out the project list and add that to the list too.

We started the savings account, and taking away the minimum amount needed to keep the account going, we're about 15% of the way towards the office desk, so Yay!  We also moved a temporary desk into the office (formerly our dining room) and I moved our computers in there.  Now Candice and I are forced to occasionally look at each other!  ;-)

We've also since the last posting discovered that it might have been Ginger bad dog, not Bailey bad dog (though it likely could be both) that has been digging up the sprinkler heads. Mark and Ginny have agreed to help us by watching the dogs while we're gone.  They're getting $100 and some homemade jelly for their kindness.  We're also taking all the dog food and treats the dogs should need while we're gone.  Thanks, Mark and Ginny!

I think we came to the conclusion that we're going to sell the Mercury and when we are ready to actually focus on the car restoration project, we'll but another classic car that is running but still fits the bill for fixing it up the way we want it.  It'll likely be a hearse we fix up, which will also serve double duty for our being Halloween House.

I've sprayed an entire huge pump sprayer cansiter of Round Up in the vegetable garden to kill the thistles, but they are still living.  Granted they are starting to show signs of dying, but most are still alive.  Is there anything stronger out there?

That's about all for this post.  Thanks for reading!  (I expect another one a week from today to get posted also.)

Busier Than Expected

So, this past week ended up being quite busy. 

I booked a hotel in Rochester, NY for the family.  Candice will be going to a lampwork convention, while I entertain the kids around the town.  We'll be going there after spending a week and a half at the lake house in South Carolina on our annual trip there.  I still need to book the single night hotels for going there and coming home, but summer vacation plans are essentially made.

On Tuesday, I helped out at the book fair at Gabe's school because there wasn't enough volunteers (outside Candice, who helps every year), so we got Candice's aunt to watch the kids and were both there.

I took down the tape in Donna's new bedroom, and re-taped so we could paint the trim.  I also installed the new outlet and light switch cover plates.  Hopefully, we get the trim painted soon and I'll move Donna's dressers in the new room and set up the bed for her.  (Then we'll start on Meg's room.)

Gabe has been overfeeding the fish for a while, and we hadn't noticed.  They all died recently and I finally noticed, but there was dead fish scum over everything in the tank, so I completely cleaned the tank out and bought all new stuff for the new tank.  We've got tester Mollies and Platties in the tank now to see how they survive.  If they're doing fine after a week, we'll get a few more fish.

(The fish are not in this picture)

This weekend, I had planned to clean the garage because of the family of mice we disposed of, but it was too chilly Saturday, and I figure it'll take at least both days to do, so I put it off (though I did pull out the freezer to check behind/under it and found nothing).  If it's nice this Saturday, I'll at least get the area where Candice parks and the two pantry like cabinets cleaned out.

On Sunday, it was a little warmer, so I started work on the ventilation project for Candice's lampwork studio.  I got a gable mounted fan that puts out about 1650 cfm that is super quiet.  I bypassed the thermostat that controls it (because I need it to work regardless of the temperature, not just when it's warmer than 60 degrees), and installed an outlet plug and a light switch (so she doesn't have to unplug it when she stops using it).  I cut a hole in a piece of plywood and mounted the fan onto it.  Now I have to finish making the "box" (the reverse side plywood and cross support "beams"), add duct work to it, and voila, I don't have to worry about her dying of poisonous gases while she's doing her art.

I mailed off the reply to the IRS for Grandma today.  They claimed that the sale of the old house and her social security weren't claimed, yet the filed tax forms clearly show the exact numbers they claim weren't on there, so I copied them, circled the figures, wrote a response, and sent the package back.  Hopefully that will be the last of that.

I'll be going later today to renew my license plates for my car.

Sunday, I'll be donating platelets at Bonfils.  that is if I remember the appointment.  Candice and I haven't been very good about remembering the blood donation appointments since we started getting perpetually sick in November.

That's all for this entry.  Thanks for reading.