COLD

You know that it has been cold when I wake up and check the weather and my response is "Goodie, It's 22 degrees and it feels like 22 degrees!" 

The dogs are happy because we went on our walk!

January5.2010

Scott took a picture of me in the backyard Saturday after walking the dogs in this bitter cold.  I thought you might like to see my outfit for such an adventure.  I haven't braved the elements since then.  Monday morning it said "It feels like 10 degrees" on my weather page and I said "I don't think so!"  I didn't walk this morning either when it said it felt like 13 degrees.  Maybe tomorrow I will be braver.  The dogs are being too busy in the house, so I'd better get them out tomorrow.

I have started taking down the Christmas things.  The tree is still up because I can't find the coil thingy to wrap the lights up with.  The process took me to the back storage cubby, which now looks very nice.  The front cubby is still a disaster.  I was going to work on that today but Joel caught a bad cold and is unable to help me.  He carries the heavy stuff to a place where I can organize it.  Then, he carries it back and I put it where it belongs.

Scott stained the new cupboard and put the doors back on.  I haven't taken a picture of it yet.  We told the counter top guy which granite we wanted and he is going to come make a template of the kitchen.  About a week after that he will come and install it.  I'm still hoping the flooring guy won't be bothered by the counter guys.  It could get interesting!

Rachel came for the morning, so we had a really nice visit.  Her school starts next week, so she won't be able to visit much till spring semester is over.

http://picasaweb.google.com/elmcneill/January52010#

New Years Eve

Mom and Ray bought us gift cards to go to Red Lobster, so we took the whole family over there for lunch.

 We had some good laughs and a serious discussion about whether God could resurrect a body that was cremated.  We decided nothing was too hard for God, so if you wanted cremated it would be okay!  How's that for a philosophical discussion?  We heard several different viewpoints and came to our conclusion.

 Our waitress was very attentive to our needs, which is good for the size crowd we were.

Afterwards, everyone went their own directions and Scott and I went in search of the counter top place.  We found it quite easily, but the return home was a little more challenging.  We had to turn around a time or two.  I decided to take pictures and not be worried that Scott didn't know where we were.  I had a lot of fun, but I was relieved to see the highway 70 and 50 sign!  I think I've really gotten into the picture taking thing.  I couldn't take our expensive camera, but my little one still did a pretty good job.

http://picasaweb.google.com/elmcneill/NewYearsEve#

Picasa Web Albums - Elaine - Kitchen Remodel

Here it is Monday night.  Scott got everything put back together enough for me to work in the kitchen again.  Right now he is working on staining the new cabinet so it matches the rest of the kitchen.  We are going to e-mail the counter top guy tomorrow and get scheduled for that process to start. 

We went out to Chili's tonight as a respite from all the insanity.  It was nice being together and not thinking about the kitchen.

I took about 50 pictures, but I only posted 14.  Bear and Chloe are in here too. 

http://picasaweb.google.com/elmcneill/KitchenRemodel#

Kitchen

Scott stepped through the kitchen floor about a month ago, so we decided our bonus money would have to go to repairing the kitchen.  He just pulled out the kitchen sink, counter top, and dishwasher to find out what was happening.  The dishwasher is the culprit.  It was leaking pretty badly.  I actually saw that it had been leaking when I got my new dishwasher put in.  Fortunately, the floor trusses are not damaged.  My kitchen has been torn apart since yesterday afternoon.  Scott is hoping to get it back together by tonight.  I took pictures but haven't gotten them to Picassa yet, so they will be in a later posting.  We have sawdust, drywall dust and regular dust all over the place combined with dried mold!  My nose has been running, I've been coughing and sneezing.  I will be glad when it is all put back together and I can get my house back under control.  We are going to pick new countertops next week sometime.  Then, we will pick our flooring and get a date set for that to happen.  It sure is a messy process!

Christmas 2009

We had a very nice Christmas.  Scott and I took a lot of pictures but I've downloaded just a few for your enjoyment.  I love it when the kids are all home.  We do so much laughing.  We had breakfast at 9:30 consisting of baked omelet, and Scott's famous cinnamin buns.  After kitchen clean-up, we opened our presents.  It was a riot when we gave the cats and dogs their gifts.  I only got a good picture of Bear with his toy.  Chloe snuck off with hers and tore it to shreds.  I still have white fluff all over my dining room that I will need to pick up.  After our turkey dinner, we cleaned up and then the kids went out to see Sherlock Holmes (movie).  I took a nap and after I got up the kids came back for pumpkin pie and crackers and cheese balls.  Now most of us are sitting and visiting and using our laptops!  We didn't watch the Grinch, so Joel and I are going to watch it after the rest of the kids go home.  The Grinch is a Christmas must for me!

http://picasaweb.google.com/elmcneill/Christmas2009#

car registrations

We kept sending in Scott's car registration and trying to pay for it.  They said it hadn't been inspected, so we sent a copy of the passing inspection to them with the payment again.  We got a nasty note yesterday in the mail saying the car had not been inspected and we'd better do it.  Scott stayed at home to work, so he could go to the motor vehicles and deal with it on his lunch hour.  Julia gets home at lunch time and said she was pulled over because her cars inspection needed done and her registration was overdue.  Here, I had done Scott's car in July and they never sent us the sticker or the paperwork and I didn't notice.  I thought his car was the 1995 model and Julia's was 1996.  Here they are both 1995's and thus the confusion.  Now we have a $150 ticket!  and two cars that aren't up to date.  Scott will have to go in and get a duplicate car registration and another sticker.  Scott took Julia's car in to get inspected right after she got home and of course it failed.  He is going out tonight to try to get it fixed so she can finally get this resolved. 

It has not been a good day.