A Mid-Weekend Report

Rob has a three-day weekend and to him, that means it is time for a project.  Good thing for him we have a leaky shower that needs fixing.  He was having a hard time deciding if he wanted to just fix the 4-5 bottom rows of tile or tear out all the tile and install a fiberglass tub surround.  Go ahead and guess what we are doing.  Here's a hint.

Looks like we are getting a whole new tub surround!  He actually bought that last night.  I took this picture early today and by now, he has it all down to the studs.  The surround is actually being fitted right now and he thinks he can get it up on the walls tonight and then finish it up tomorrow.  That is excellent news since it is our only shower. I plan on going to the gym tomorrow morning to work out briefly and then get a shower.  I skipped it today and that is all I can take.  Hopefully I will be able to share the finished project on Monday.

Rex has a fever to make things even more interesting.  He is carrying around the official Blue Bowl we use for, well, you know.  I think every family has a certain tub or bowl for that when someone is sick.  He hasn't used it yet and with the bath all torn up, I'm very hopeful it doesn't come to that.  The tub could be functional pretty easily if we need it so that is some good news.

I'm excited about the new shower going in but I'm also really excited about the CSA I signed up for today.  I wish I could share a link to the actual farm but since I try to keep our location somewhat under wraps, that wouldn't be a very good idea.  I bought some vegetables from this farm at our farmers' market last summer and they were great so I'm very excited to be getting a whole box of veggies each week.  Last year was their first year and 18 of the 22 people they had last year signed up again so I thought that was a pretty good sign too.  I think it will be fun to get a variety of things I may not usually buy and have to figure out how to use them- kind of like my own Iron Chef competition.  Without any competition.  Hmm.  I probably needed a better analogy there.  Anyhow, looking forward to my first delivery in the second week of June!

A Bus Trip and Some Fish

Today was finally warm enough to take Wyatt out on a little bus trip around town- something I've been wanting to do for a while but, hello, we are not going out when it is like 5 degrees.  I decided we could take the bus to Play Pals and then ride it back home.  That worked out great and Wyatt had so much fun.

We used to go to Play Pals a lot during the summer but we haven't been back since school started last fall.  We were all sick for forever so we stayed home and now I'm scared about him picking up germs from other kids whose parents or daycare providers aren't as cautious as I am.  You've got to live a little though, right?  After we had that big adventure and got back home, Rob called and asked if we wanted to go out to lunch with him- duh, of course we do!  So we went and picked him up and had lunch with him.  You'd think with me being home for the last 5 1/2 years we would've done that a lot.  But we haven't.  This was a pretty rare thing for us.  Anyhow, today was a busy and really fun day around here.

I should probably write a little something about our two new friends in the house, Buster and Ethel.  A friend gave us a gigantic (55 gallon) fish tank recently and Rob has been working on it for quite a while, getting it all prepped up and ready for some fish.  We even bought one fish for it a month or so ago and it lived two days.  That was Lucho- he didn't turn out to be much of a fighter after all.  Should've named him Muerto.  Anyhow, Rob worked on the tank some more and Rob and Rex brought home two new fish this weekend.  I am so not into any of this but the guys all think it is great.  Here they are feeding Buster and Ethel for the first time.

I guess my big news for the past week is that I have jury duty. Not just any jury duty either- it is for the federal courts and is in Des Moines which means quite a bit of driving.  And it gets even better.  I am on the hook for the entire month of February.  I don't go every day but I have to call in each Friday and get my assignment for the week.  The instructions said that you typically serve 2-3 times during the month.  I'm hoping that means just 2-3 days.  The one good thing is that between being paid for service and mileage, I make about $80 each day I have to go.  It's extremely difficult with only one car and no family around.  Rob will have to take off work any day I have to go and he will be stuck at home all day with no car.  Thank goodness we only live a few blocks from Rex's school.  I don't know how we would manage if he needed a car to get Rex to school.  It could still be really cold though so say a prayer for them that they have warm weather on the days that I have to go to jury duty and they won't be outside walking if the weather is really bad!

New Year- Same Resolutions

I need to blog more.  Or at least on a schedule- that would be good.  I would really like to post something at least once a week.  I get discouraged though because I don't know how many people even read this anymore.  I sure don't get many comments and that is the only way I really have of knowing what is a visit from someone I know or who just stumbled across my blog because they googled "churchill hotel vanilla paint".  People losing interest is probably my fault though because I have been a blogger in serious decline for the last year or two.  So no more!!  Here is my post for the first week of 2014 and hopefully number 1 of at least 52 posts for the year!

I haven't shared hardly any of our Christmas activities so let's get to it.  The last week of school, Rex's kindergarten class did a performance in the school auditorium for their families and then had a little party afterwards.  I thought it was lots of classes and a whole big deal so I asked Rob to take off work early and stay home with Wyatt.  Well, it turned out to be only Rex's class and the performance lasted about 10-15 minutes.  I was really bummed because we all would have gone if I had known that.  Here are some adorable kindergartners- and as you can see, I was not the only proud parent snapping away with the pictures.



Once he was on break, it was time to do a little Christmas baking.  They helped until the first batch of cookies came out and then they were just cookie snackers and very little help.



We had a wonderful Christmas Eve over at some friends' house.  Their two kids play so good with our kids and it gives the adults a chance to just talk to other- and that is awesome.  I wish I had taken a picture of how beautiful it was that night.  There was just a little bit of snow falling and then the delicious dinner and great company.  It was just perfect- a little snow to really add to that Christmas feeling but not too bad to drive home in.  The next morning the kids woke up early (for the first time ever on Christmas) and got right to it.

Today was supposed to be Rex's last day of vacation.  It is going to be so cold tonight and tomorrow (with the wind chill it will be 40-50 below) that the school district canceled school for Monday. I'm more than happy to keep him home and stay in our nice warm house. Brrr!!