11/10/10 – (Weds) Saw Ro for a little while yesterday after work. We went to grade school & high school together. It’s always nice getting together with her.
Went to see Jack & Jonella last wk-end.
When I got to work yesterday morning, almost as soon as I first sat down, I snagged my very long necklace on something & it ripped apart, dropping about a billion tiny seed beads all over the floor & down my dress. Yes, down my dress – the front & the back. That was a very weird feeling – like little spiders on my body. Yuck. They kept falling out of my dress all day. I scraped them up off the tile floor with 2 pieces of paper, like a dust pan, & gathered them all together, in the hopes that I can have it re-strung. Probably won’t happen. Even today, I am still stepping on some. I guess the cleaning people don’t sweep under my desk.
I thought this cartoon was really cute.
The real reason dinosaurs aren't with us.
The real reason dinosaurs aren't with us.
When I got home yesterday, as soon as I walked in the house I noticed a terrible smell. Like plastic burning. If you’re old enough to remember the fun toy of the ‘60s, Vac-U-Form, that’s what it smelled like. Very strong. I ran to the kitchen just as Alex came down the hall & said, “Something’s burning.” As soon as I entered the kitchen I saw the crockpot on the stove just as a flame leaped from the burner onto it. I immediately put the flame out, turned the burner off, unplugged the crockpot, then stood there trying to figure out what was going on. The crockpot was completely black. The knobs were burnt off of it & seared onto the glass cooktop of our new stove. Needless to say, the burner itself was a black mess. Alex said Lewis called him about 5 minutes prior to this & asked him to take the crock part out of the refrigerator, place it in the metal part, & turn it on high. So he did that & turned the burner on high. I feel this is our fault because we never taught him how to cook or how to even use a crockpot.
Opened all the windows, turned all the fans on high, lit candles. Nothing seemed to help for hours. We all 4 sat outside on the back patio for a few hours to avoid breathing the noxious fumes from the burnt plastic & metal. I could feel it in my throat & Lewis felt it in his eyes, even though we weren’t in there that long, just long enough to open everything. When it was time for Sparky’s dinner, I got her meal together & brought that & her water dish outside with us. We thought about staying in a hotel that night, but as time went on, it became bearable in the house. There are a lot of hotels in our area that allow dogs.
But this got me thinking: What if I had not gotten home when I did? What if Alex came out to the kitchen to see the flames jumping up? It was a very scary thought. I asked him this morning what he would have done. He said he would have put the fire out, probably with the fire extinguisher that is just to the left of the stove. Okay, that’s fine, but I asked him, “Do you know how to use it?” You can’t take the time to read the instructions for the first time as the flames leap higher in the kitchen. We will review “Fire Extinguisher 101” when I get home today.
Lewis doesn’t work on Thurs, so we have the washer repair guy coming & hopefully, if they can work us in, the roof repair guy. The last time the roof guy came he uncovered some insulation & the birds have been in there every day pulling out insulation. It’s all over our front entryway. We keep cleaning it up & it’s there again the next day. Finally, Alex saw a bird in there. The next day I saw a bird too. So when the roof guy came a few wks ago, he must have left it exposed. It’s in that same spot. Also, I had to arrange for the stove guy to come next wk to get a new cooktop. That will run anywhere from $600 to $800, depending on the kind we get. More money. It never ends. The stove is still on warranty, but not for this!
If you haven’t seen the pictures from our cruise to Alaska (Ro), just scroll to 1 or 2 blog posts prior to this one & you’ll see them.
11/5/10 (Fri) - Cable guy is coming tomorrow to change us out from cable to Direct TV. I will have to take pictures of all of the remotes again & draw my lines & arrows. Now I will have to incorporate the Blu Ray player into it also & re-write all my instructions. The home theatre & whatever else we have all of those remotes for. Has anyone ever heard of simply ON and OFF ?
11/1/10 (Mon) - The day after Halloween. Not an exciting Halloween last night. We only had 2 doorbell rings. The first “group” was 2 little kids with their parents; The 2nd was 3 teenagers. And that is it! So depressing. I love Halloween so much. Lewis & I recorded some Halloween movies that we watched last night. Or tried to. We first watched the original “Halloween” with a very young Jamie Leigh Curtis. We also tried to watch a couple others we recorded but they were just too stupid to continue with. “Evil Dead 2” was 1 of them. Nothing going on in that movie but a lot of screaming & running. I can’t remember the other stupid 1. We ended up watching a very old, black & white movie called “13 Ghosts” which was goofy & campy & kind of fun, starring a very young Martin Milner. “Rocky Horror Picture Show” is always a good Halloween choice. I had the DVD out but we never got a chance to watch it. Not enough movie hours in a day. Can you believe Alex has never seen “Rocky Horror” ? I don’t think he has any interest in it either.
Alex went out with a friend of his, but they didn’t go trick-or-treating, just walked around for a while.
Lewis made jambalaya from scratch yesterday. He worked on it all day & we had it for dinner. Alex & his friend even liked it. It was delicious! My husband is quite a good little cook.
Well, another discouraging fact - - It is now Nov 1, & the weather forecast for today is 86 degrees; The forecast for Weds is 96 degrees! Uuuggghhh! Will it EVER cool down?! No! I don’t believe it will. I’m so tired of this d**n heat!
10/25/10 (Mon) Lewis & I took Sparky to the park yesterday. It was such a gorgeous day! We took a blanket, some water, iPod, & speakers. Sparky really had a good time sniffing everything in site. She even made a new friend. She sure slept well last night.
We spent Sat. with Lewis’s family to celebrate his dad’s birthday, Allan & Candy’s anniversary, & Alex’s birthday. Went to the Bamboo Club again. I do like the food, but this is the 2nd time we’ve been there & everything went wrong. 4 out of 8 of us were served cold food. (It wasn’t supposed to be cold). Other things happened that I won’t bore you with. But Lewis & I decided we aren’t going back.
Alex started the Key Club at Chaparral High School, found a teacher who was willing to be their sponsor, & completed all the forms for the Kiwanis. He felt it would look better on his resume that he initiated the Key Club at the school rather than just belonging to a club.
I’m very sluggish today. I feel like I didn’t sleep well. I’m going to munch on some cashews. That might help. I can take a nap when I get home. I did make an appointment to go back to the sleep doctor this wk.
This wk-end I entered Sparky into another cute dog contest. A catalog called Everything Dog is calling for cute dog pictures. I don’t know if she actually wins anything, but I know that the winner will get his/her picture on the inside cover of their next magazine. And we all know how adorable she is! Sometimes when I enter her into a contest & she doesn’t win, I am totally amazed. My dog really is the cutest, sweetest, prettiest little baby. How could any other dog be cuter than her? It’s just not possible.
Lewis got the new Doobie Brothers CD. It’s very good. They can still bring it! I’ll need to load some of the songs onto my iPod.
Our Sisters’ Dinner is later this wk. We all 3 really look forward to that. We just don’t get to see each other enough.
Wow. I am really tired. My eyes won’t stay open. I don’t know what that’s about.
We discovered the 3rd door of the garage is broken. Lewis & I use the double portion of the garage. That 3rd part is supposed to be for Alex’s car but it’s never uncluttered enough. So now we have to call the garage guy. We just had the roof guy out last wk. It rained & our roof was leaking in the hall by Alex’s bedroom. Now we have to find a drywall guy to fix the inside of it. It never ends.
10/21/10 (Thurs) When I woke up this morning it was pouring rain. It was wonderful! Until I went to Alex’s side of the house & noticed a roof leak & a very wet floor. I got a bucket & put it under the leak – a VERY FAST drip. Then I moved everything around it. It’s in the area of Alex’s desktop computer. He usually uses his laptop. We called the roofing co., told them it’s an emergency. They should be calling me this morning to schedule a time to come out here & fix it. So I’m home today with Sparky. I took her outside this morning & it was actually COLD. Not just cool, but cold. I’m thinking of putting on a long sleeve shirt.
Opened all the windows, turned all the fans on high, lit candles. Nothing seemed to help for hours. We all 4 sat outside on the back patio for a few hours to avoid breathing the noxious fumes from the burnt plastic & metal. I could feel it in my throat & Lewis felt it in his eyes, even though we weren’t in there that long, just long enough to open everything. When it was time for Sparky’s dinner, I got her meal together & brought that & her water dish outside with us. We thought about staying in a hotel that night, but as time went on, it became bearable in the house. There are a lot of hotels in our area that allow dogs.
But this got me thinking: What if I had not gotten home when I did? What if Alex came out to the kitchen to see the flames jumping up? It was a very scary thought. I asked him this morning what he would have done. He said he would have put the fire out, probably with the fire extinguisher that is just to the left of the stove. Okay, that’s fine, but I asked him, “Do you know how to use it?” You can’t take the time to read the instructions for the first time as the flames leap higher in the kitchen. We will review “Fire Extinguisher 101” when I get home today.
Lewis doesn’t work on Thurs, so we have the washer repair guy coming & hopefully, if they can work us in, the roof repair guy. The last time the roof guy came he uncovered some insulation & the birds have been in there every day pulling out insulation. It’s all over our front entryway. We keep cleaning it up & it’s there again the next day. Finally, Alex saw a bird in there. The next day I saw a bird too. So when the roof guy came a few wks ago, he must have left it exposed. It’s in that same spot. Also, I had to arrange for the stove guy to come next wk to get a new cooktop. That will run anywhere from $600 to $800, depending on the kind we get. More money. It never ends. The stove is still on warranty, but not for this!
If you haven’t seen the pictures from our cruise to Alaska (Ro), just scroll to 1 or 2 blog posts prior to this one & you’ll see them.
11/5/10 (Fri) - Cable guy is coming tomorrow to change us out from cable to Direct TV. I will have to take pictures of all of the remotes again & draw my lines & arrows. Now I will have to incorporate the Blu Ray player into it also & re-write all my instructions. The home theatre & whatever else we have all of those remotes for. Has anyone ever heard of simply ON and OFF ?
11/1/10 (Mon) - The day after Halloween. Not an exciting Halloween last night. We only had 2 doorbell rings. The first “group” was 2 little kids with their parents; The 2nd was 3 teenagers. And that is it! So depressing. I love Halloween so much. Lewis & I recorded some Halloween movies that we watched last night. Or tried to. We first watched the original “Halloween” with a very young Jamie Leigh Curtis. We also tried to watch a couple others we recorded but they were just too stupid to continue with. “Evil Dead 2” was 1 of them. Nothing going on in that movie but a lot of screaming & running. I can’t remember the other stupid 1. We ended up watching a very old, black & white movie called “13 Ghosts” which was goofy & campy & kind of fun, starring a very young Martin Milner. “Rocky Horror Picture Show” is always a good Halloween choice. I had the DVD out but we never got a chance to watch it. Not enough movie hours in a day. Can you believe Alex has never seen “Rocky Horror” ? I don’t think he has any interest in it either.
Alex went out with a friend of his, but they didn’t go trick-or-treating, just walked around for a while.
Lewis made jambalaya from scratch yesterday. He worked on it all day & we had it for dinner. Alex & his friend even liked it. It was delicious! My husband is quite a good little cook.
Well, another discouraging fact - - It is now Nov 1, & the weather forecast for today is 86 degrees; The forecast for Weds is 96 degrees! Uuuggghhh! Will it EVER cool down?! No! I don’t believe it will. I’m so tired of this d**n heat!
10/25/10 (Mon) Lewis & I took Sparky to the park yesterday. It was such a gorgeous day! We took a blanket, some water, iPod, & speakers. Sparky really had a good time sniffing everything in site. She even made a new friend. She sure slept well last night.
We spent Sat. with Lewis’s family to celebrate his dad’s birthday, Allan & Candy’s anniversary, & Alex’s birthday. Went to the Bamboo Club again. I do like the food, but this is the 2nd time we’ve been there & everything went wrong. 4 out of 8 of us were served cold food. (It wasn’t supposed to be cold). Other things happened that I won’t bore you with. But Lewis & I decided we aren’t going back.
Alex started the Key Club at Chaparral High School, found a teacher who was willing to be their sponsor, & completed all the forms for the Kiwanis. He felt it would look better on his resume that he initiated the Key Club at the school rather than just belonging to a club.
I’m very sluggish today. I feel like I didn’t sleep well. I’m going to munch on some cashews. That might help. I can take a nap when I get home. I did make an appointment to go back to the sleep doctor this wk.
This wk-end I entered Sparky into another cute dog contest. A catalog called Everything Dog is calling for cute dog pictures. I don’t know if she actually wins anything, but I know that the winner will get his/her picture on the inside cover of their next magazine. And we all know how adorable she is! Sometimes when I enter her into a contest & she doesn’t win, I am totally amazed. My dog really is the cutest, sweetest, prettiest little baby. How could any other dog be cuter than her? It’s just not possible.
Lewis got the new Doobie Brothers CD. It’s very good. They can still bring it! I’ll need to load some of the songs onto my iPod.
Our Sisters’ Dinner is later this wk. We all 3 really look forward to that. We just don’t get to see each other enough.
Wow. I am really tired. My eyes won’t stay open. I don’t know what that’s about.
We discovered the 3rd door of the garage is broken. Lewis & I use the double portion of the garage. That 3rd part is supposed to be for Alex’s car but it’s never uncluttered enough. So now we have to call the garage guy. We just had the roof guy out last wk. It rained & our roof was leaking in the hall by Alex’s bedroom. Now we have to find a drywall guy to fix the inside of it. It never ends.
10/21/10 (Thurs) When I woke up this morning it was pouring rain. It was wonderful! Until I went to Alex’s side of the house & noticed a roof leak & a very wet floor. I got a bucket & put it under the leak – a VERY FAST drip. Then I moved everything around it. It’s in the area of Alex’s desktop computer. He usually uses his laptop. We called the roofing co., told them it’s an emergency. They should be calling me this morning to schedule a time to come out here & fix it. So I’m home today with Sparky. I took her outside this morning & it was actually COLD. Not just cool, but cold. I’m thinking of putting on a long sleeve shirt.
Had some rice pudding for breakfast. That’s 1 of the few foods I was able to eat when I was pregnant. Holds good memories for me.
Picture of Alex on his 17th birthday.10/20/10 (Weds) Alex turned 17 yesterday. We didn’t hardly see him. At 10am yesterday he went with the DECA club to a conference in downtown Phx. (That’s a business club). Afterwards, they went to dinner & then to the Suns game. He didn’t get home until about 11:00 pm. I then took a picture of him because I always take pictures of him on his birthday & the first & last day of school. I am nuts with pictures of my baby. I also sit down with him every year on his birthday & go through the “baby book.” It is pictures of the night he was born & my baby showers, the first wk home with him, etc. He hates it & thinks I am torturing him. Every yr he says, “Why do we have to look at the baby book every yr on my birthday? My friends’ parents don’t make them do that.” But I don’t care. It’s important to me & I will bet it’s important to him, only he doesn’t know it. His birth, to me, is always reason for celebration since we almost didn’t have him. And I can never forget that. Since he wasn’t home to go through the baby book with me, I did it myself. Lewis popped in the living room once in a while to look at some pictures, but he was watching some sports on tv. I put the book at Alex’s place at the table so he could look at it when he got home last night - - like that was the first thing on his mind! He saw it last night & said, “I’ll look at it tomorrow at breakfast, ok?” Hmmmmmm.. So he actually considered it & was resigned to it. I am doing my job as a mother!
Today (10/20) would have been Jonathan’s 4-yr wedding anniversary. He has been gone 3 yrs now. I miss him every day.
Oct 19, 2010 (Tues) - Alex Kowal’s 17th birthday. My baby is now 17. And we are so proud of him. So proud of the young man he has become.
This is also the first day I was able to drive to work with the windows down in the car & no air conditioning. There was even a point in my journey this morning when I smelled fresh mown grass. Fresh mown grass in Oct. What a wonderful place this is - - as long as I’m not living in the desert.
Speaking of the desert, when I took Sparky out this morning to go potty, I noticed 5 of our purple sage bushes were in full bloom. I did notice it yesterday & the day before, but this morning, they were really FULL. Each bush was a little different shade of purple. One was extremely dark. Just gorgeous. After we came in the house, I got my camera & went outside to take a few pictures. This bloom will only last less for about a wk. They bloom about 3 times a yr but it lasts for such a short time before all the blooms start dropping. By now, these bushes are quite large – taller than me. We’ve got a few of them in the front yard too.
This is also the first day I was able to drive to work with the windows down in the car & no air conditioning. There was even a point in my journey this morning when I smelled fresh mown grass. Fresh mown grass in Oct. What a wonderful place this is - - as long as I’m not living in the desert.
Speaking of the desert, when I took Sparky out this morning to go potty, I noticed 5 of our purple sage bushes were in full bloom. I did notice it yesterday & the day before, but this morning, they were really FULL. Each bush was a little different shade of purple. One was extremely dark. Just gorgeous. After we came in the house, I got my camera & went outside to take a few pictures. This bloom will only last less for about a wk. They bloom about 3 times a yr but it lasts for such a short time before all the blooms start dropping. By now, these bushes are quite large – taller than me. We’ve got a few of them in the front yard too.
Alex’s Deca Club (business club at school) is going to a convention today at the Phx Convention Center downtown for the whole day. When it’s over they are going to a Phx Suns game. We probably won’t see him until around 10:30 or 11:00 tonight. But it’s a fun way for him to spend his birthday.
10/17/10 - (Sat) Sparky just got back from the beauty shop. She is gorgeous. This is her first time at this particular beauty shop because her regular stylist retired. I like the way this person did her. She is so pretty.
Alex will be 17 yrs old in a couple of days. I just don’t know where 17 yrs went – so quickly! He took the PSATs this morning & then came home with a couple of friends.
I had a restful morning. After I dropped Sparky off I went through some more boxes in the garage. There are still way too many out there & I need to clear out that area for Alex’s car. I figure I’ll have it all cleared out & ready about the time he’s ready to leave for college.
Anyway, I sorted some kids’ books for a guy at my office who has 4 little kids; Also put a few bags of Alex’s clothes in the trunk for another person at my office. It’s nice that someone can make use of these things. It’s nicer to be able to get them out of my garage. There are still a lot of boxes that I have to take to the animal rescue thrift store too. Unfortunately, there are still a lot that we will need to keep.
I found some old photo albums in there too & started flipping through pages. Lots of memories. A couple pictures are of me & an old friend/neighbor of mine from the early 80’s when we went water skiing & snow skiing the same wk-end (New Yr’s Eve). It’s a picture of her & her ex-husband & me & an old boyfriend. That old friend of mine is remarried & has 2 daughters now. One is in Alex’s class & has been since about 5th grade. It’s funny that our kids are in school together. Now I really feel old.
That's it for now. Keep in touch.
Hugs,
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