LOVE OF BOOKS

It was so great to get to spend time with the family in Kansas. Kate & Gabby love their books. We took Kate a Dr. Seuss book, "Green Eggs and Ham" and Gabby a Hippo Book. I think both books were a hit.

KANSAS TRIP

While visiting the grandkids in Kansas Gabby took my sandals and put them on her Paw Paw.

GETTING ORGANIZED

Our kitchen was running over with "stuff" until handyman built my new pantry/laundry room this summer. Now I can spread things out a little more and organize better. Here are a few of my before and after pictures.

YUM YUM

Handyman has been working so hard for me all spring and summer I thought it was time I did something special for him. So tonight I baked his favorite cookies - chocolate chip. Even after we munched on them while others were baking, two wouldn't fit in my grandmother's cookie jar. Handyman just came out on the porch and said he'd help me out by eating those two cookies. I had no doubt that he'd find them and take care of the problem.

FIXING UP

I spent Saturday working on our sunroom. Handyman had put whitish beige paneling up when he built the sunroom some 11 years ago. I was sitting out there a couple of weeks ago and decided that the paneling needed to be painted the same color as the siding that was on one wall. This was while Handyman was building the addition on the house, so I went outside and found a piece of the vinyl and told him that the next time he went to Porter Paints to get me some matching paint. There aren't a lot of walls to paint but they had to be painted Kilz before I could put the regular paint on it and I thought it was going to take 2 coats of regular, but as it turned out one coat was all it took. Handyman then put down the baseboard, which I've been waiting 11 years for!! It looks so much more finished now.

INTERNET ISSUES

This has been a week of Internet problems. Last Friday there were issues with Twitter (which I don't use) and Facebook running slow. Then yesterday when I tried to get on my Blog, I was rudely redirected to another site and told that my domain name license had expired. I don't even pay for my domain name since I use Blogger. Have you ever tried to contact Blogger about any problems - well, good luck. I found a site to post problems that they hope "others" will help you work out. I found out on there that someone else was having the same problem that I was. They said they had emailed their problem in. Gee, I wish I had found that email address. I did finally find a place where I "think" they might have seen what I posted. Then today my two "My Family" Sites had ads to appear on them. I pay extra in order to NOT have ads on these family sites. I contacted My Family and told them they could either take the ads off or refund my money. Evidently they're having problems with several sites and are still working on the problem. So if you see ads on there, they will eventually go away. They even took down the sites for a while today while they were trying to resolve the problems. It makes you wonder about becoming so dependent on this little contraption. I receive most of my bills thru my email, pay most of them online, keep in contact with extended family, do a large amount of my shopping, and my job is totally dependent on the thing. I love it when it's working like it should, but it sure does mess up my day when it isn't!!! Well, I was going to upload a picture, but that's not working either....now several hours later, the photo uploaded. Yeah!!

CIRCUS SQUARE PARK

The city has been trying to revitalize downtown B.G. Circus Square Park was opened last year and Concerts in the Park were held there beginning last year. The park has a nice fountain in the middle. There is no ponding so it's safe for children to run and play in. It's beautiful just to watch. There was an old building on the corner of the property that had been a service station years ago. The city has spent more than $200,000 to renovate this building into restrooms that can be utilitzed when there are activities at the park. Above are some pictures of the renovated property.

CONCERT IN THE PARK

Friday night Handyman & I went to the last Concert in the Park for this summer. The band that has closed it out for the past nine years, Skip Bond & the Fugitives played. This is a local band made up of guys whose ages go up to around 60. Some of them were in high school when I was. They do have some younger guys who play with them. They are employed in a variety of jobs including Plastic Surgeon, State Representative, County Magistrate, businessmen, and the lead singer is a Judge. They play a variety of music, but a lot of them are from our old schools days. They play a variety of instruments, including, guitar, keyboard, bass, trumpet, trombone, saxophone & drums. The crowd was huge last night. I always enjoy hearing them play. Here's a clip - it's not great, but it provides just a quick clip from the concert.

SLEEPING BAGS

We ordered the grandkids sleeping bags earlier this week from Amazon. They arrived today and Kristy uploaded some pictures for us. I love the bright pink!!

Aren't the girls cute?

BUSTING THROUGH

Handyman Husband made the first step in our next remodel. The wall is coming down between the old laundry room and the living room closet! This is the start to our new powder room. This is a fairly simple project compared to the last one. The wall comes down, repairs are made to the wall, there's some plumbing work in the walls and under the house, a new tile floor, electrical is to be moved, doors turned around so the doors open in, as opposed to out, new paint, fixtures set (pedestal sink & commode, hang mirror, wall sconce lighting, towel bar & paper holder. VOILA --- new bathroom!!

Well, it won't be quite that simple, but it shouldn't take nearly as long as the laundry room/pantry.

CHRISTMAS IN AUGUST?

I was on the web the other day making my daily stop at WOOT.COM. They had a turntable with all the attachments and software to convert old vinyl LP's & 45's to digital files. We have several of those old albums lying around collecting dust. I thought it would make a good Christmas present for Handyman. I ordered it last Friday and it arrived today. I had it delivered at work so I could hide it until Christmas. I opened it up and read some of the information that was included. The warranty paperwork stated that it only had 90 days of warranty from the date of purchase. Oh no, come Christmas, if it didn't work I'd just be out my money because the warranty would no longer be valid. So I came home and gave Handyman his Christmas present in August. He's been playing with it tonight and has a Beatles album playing now. We can put the files on a CD or on our MP3 players. Hopefully it'll be a nice change of pace from what we've been listening to. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

ANOTHER BUSY SATURDAY

We got up on our "Sunday" time this morning (6:20). Handyman Husband was going to work at the Habitat House and my plans were to make pickles. I had mixed up my sour dough bread yesterday and after letting it rise overnight, put it in the oven to bake. Handyman cooked breakfast for us and then he left to go to the Habitat House and I took off for the Farmer's Market to buy cucumbers. When I got home I had to thinly slice 7 pounds of little cucumbers and 4 white onions. Then I had to grate 2 green peppers. After mixing the salt with the slices, I had to ice it down and let it sit for 3 hours. In the meantime, I started cleaning house. I got the downstairs all done, but still haven't gotten to the upstairs. After 3 hours I had to make the syrup and put the pickles on to heat for 2 hours and then fill 21 half pint jars with finished pickles. While I was filling jars, Handyman Husband came in and then left to go pick beans. He brought home about 3 - 1/2 grocery bags of beans. We broke 1-1/2 bags and we have enoughtfor 1 canner of pints and about 1/2 gallon to cook. I just didn't have the energy tonight to can the beans, they'll have to wait for another day!!