Eric is on vacation for today and Monday.  We’ll be heading out to the farm to do some camping this weekend and hang out with the family.  We bought some supplies for camping last night, but we’ll have to return some stuff today (I hate finding out stuff is broken AFTER you get it home!).  And other than that, I have a few things to do to get the house ready to be gone for a couple of days…isn’t it odd that I have to clean my house because I won’t be in it?

Thankfully, Karen is going to water our plants for us…so hopefully they won’t die while we’re gone.  We’ve gotten a lot of zucchini already, and the tomatoes are doing very well.  We have TONS of peppers growing.  But the beans are still “on the way.”  Don’t know if we’ll end up with any of those really, but that’s okay.  We have gotten a small harvest, which is a good thing for our first try!

So yesterday…I cleaned the kitchen and swept the floor, emptied the fridge (and then the garbage!), vacuumed the floors, washed the sheets and remade my bed, loaded up the recyclables and dropped them off, then worked on my other projects for the afternoon.  Not really that exciting, I guess.  But it’s funny how just a trip to Home Depot to empty our recyclables containers is enough to feel as if I’ve gone out and done something!

Last night,  we met my parents and Karen & Erik for supper.  Then Erik went to orchestra and I went home (no drama this week). He got home early, though, so I didn’t have to amuse myself for too long.  We both climbed into bed to read for awhile about 9, but we didn’t get to sleep until 10:30 or so…use your imaginations!   I had really strange dreams all night, though.  I always wake up tired after nights like that.  Apparently, I need to be less active in my dreams!

Today is laundry day.  Eric is taking off Friday and Monday, and we’ll be heading out to the farm for the weekend.  We were going to go to Chicago, but we waited to long to book a hotel, so it was more expensive than we’d wanted to pay.  Oh well, c’est la vie!  So we’re going camping for a bit and we’ll probably do some running around in Amish country as well (trip to the bulky store and Pearl Valley Cheese…YUMMY!).  But before we can go, I need to do laundry…so that’s my agenda for the day!

Nothing too exciting…

1.  Eric got a new “toy” yesterday (he’d ordered it last week)…wireless headphones that he can use with this computer.  It was amusing to watch him walk around the house all evening with them on (he was listening to music!).

2.  We went out for Greek food last night…yummy!

3.  We watched some tv when we got home (Travel Channel and Discovery Channel).

4.  Today I have no interesting plans at all.  I might clean the kitchen…again.

Yesterday, I was planning to go to Cedarville, but I changed my mind.  I was going to order textbooks and work on class planning in my office.  But then I realized I could do the requisitions from home.  And then I found out that both of the books I used have been upgraded to a new edition, meaning that I can’t plan a class until I have the new books in hand.  Dumb newer editions!  Anyway, I figured there wasn’t any point to going to CU if I couldn’t do very much. 

So, instead, I bought shoes for myself (3 pairs!).  I got a new pair of
casual brown shoes, a new pair of brown sandals, and a new pair of
“beater” flip-flops to replace the ones that got soaked in Ryan’s
flooded basement.  I also ran a couple of other errands while I was
out, but the shoes were my big find!

Not sure what I’ll do today.  I could drive to Cedarville to drop off some yard sale stuff and check my office mail.  But that just doesn’t seem like a very significant reason to drive the 2 hours.  Maybe I’ll get my oil changed instead!

On Friday night, about 10:00, Ryan (Eric’s brother) called.  The result of their discussion was that we left our house around 9:45 on Saturday morning to work on Ryan’s flooded basement. It turned out that his sump pump had burnt up (the motor was shot), so Eric pulled it out, we bought a new one, and then he installed it.  When he plugged it in, the water gushed out of the basement with the sound of a thousand gallon toilet being flushed.  Unfortunately, his sump is not at the lowest point in his basement.  So we ended up spending a couple of hours sucking up the water in Eric’s wet vac and pouring it into the sump to be sent out to the street.  He has a VERY large basement, too, so we figured we dumped around 150 gallons of water just by ourselves.  There was also lots of trash (and some stuff that is not trash) all over the basement, and (here’s the kicker), the cats who live in the house seem to like to poop just in front of the litter boxes, rather than in the litter boxes, so the water was not clean water and the whole place had a very rank smell.  I found myself repeating my theme word regularly while we worked…YUCK!

Anyway, the day got better from there.  We got home, cleaned up (YEAH! ), then drove to Cedarville for Chris’ birthday party.  It was actually a lot of fun.  The girls are very amusing to watch, especially when they are entertaining each other.  Holly was a bit grumpy to start out, but she got over it.  And Chris seemed to like his gifts…always nice!

Sunday was pretty uneventful. Church, dinner (grilled hamburgers and the first zuchini of our harvest (also grilled)!), then we just hung out.  Eric read, worked on his computer.  I surfed the net, cleaned the kitchen and then just worked around a bit.  We watched some TV before going to bed. 

I’ve apparently decided to teach myself to dance this week.  I was hurrying to get some
cookies out of the oven yesterday afternoon.  I must have gotten a thin layer of flour or
something on the floor because my sandal just slid forward when I stepped on the kitchen floor.  I didn’t fall, but I invented a new twisting motion in keeping my balance. (I’m 
pretty surprised I’m not sore today!).  I did the same thing on
Wednesday, except it was because of the rain (wet flip-flops) and it
was in my garage.  Again, I didn’t fall, but I did a funny twisty
maneuver to stay standing which I’m sure looked like a modern dance…okay, apparently I am a clutz, and I should start wearing only treaded
shoes.  Seriously…I’m sure there are easier (and less painful) ways to learn to dance!

Other than almost breaking my neck, the day was productive. I made lots
of cookies. Then I cleaned all 3 bathrooms, mopped all the
non-carpeted floors in my house, and dusted and vacuumed the
downstairs . Eric’s aunt, Patti, was coming, and she had never been to
our house, so I figured there would be at least one tour.  I tidied
the rest of the house, but didn’t stress too much about her seeing a
little bit of clutter!

The party went very well.  It was actually pretty fun, and those who came seemed to have a good time. (Karen ditched us in the end …so everyone decided that she should now host a party to make up for it and to show off her new house! )  Also, being the hostess, I got free stuff and discounts, so that was also great!  Most people left about 9, but I wasn’t done with my order and then we stood around chatting with the designers.  They didn’t leave until after 11:00, so it was almost midnight before I was asleep. They are very funny people, but I’m too old to be up that late!

Today the agenda is really about finding a birthday gift for my brother.  Don’t know what to get him really, but since there is a chance he’ll read this entry, I won’t include any of my ideas or specific plans.  Suffice it to say that I’ll be doing some shopping today. 

How funny…yesterday I got more comments than I’ve gotten in a while, but I had the shortest entry I’ve written in a while.  Are you guys trying to tell me something? 

Things that annoy me:  Back-to-School sales and displays in JULY!  It’s barely past the fourth of July and the stores have already filled their aisles with glue sticks, notebooks and writing utensils.  There should be a law that back to school stuff should wait until August! 

Okay, on to other things. 

• Yesterday we had a fun adventure with two dogs who were running lose in our neighborhood: one black, one gold.  A neighbor tied the dogs into my next-door neighbor’s fenced yard (the gate was open so she figured the dogs had escaped).  The black dog came to meet me when I came out.  I wasn’t sure what to do, so I went back inside and kept watch.  But when I went out again…the black dog was INSIDE the fence.  I was totally confused!   Turns out..she could actually jump the fence, but the gold dog couldn’t, so the black dog refused to leave.  She just jumped in and out all afternoon to be with her friend.  I think the neighbors eventually let them out.  I met their owner this morning hanging up missing signs (they were wearing collars with invisible fencing transmitters but no tags), but the dogs weren’t next door anymore.  Hopefully, she gets them back…they were really sweet dogs.  And the moral of the story:  PUT TAGS ON YOUR DOGS!
• Tonight I am hosting a Home & Garden Party thingy.  It should be fun (I think there are about 10 people coming), but I have to clean and get ready.  So that’s my agenda for today!

Again…not much to blog about today.  Yesterday, I did some cleaning and ironing.  Went to WalMart.  Read a book for a while.  Nothing exciting, really.   Today’s not shaping up to be much different.  I’m hosting a party thing on Thursday, so I should do some cleaning for that, though it could wait until tomorrow.  I need to think of and buy my brother’s birthday present, so I may end up running around for that.  We’ll see…

I did realize this morning that having Karen get a house is going to be VERY happy for my storage situation.  Our house does have good storage room, but I’ve been holding some of her stuff in closets (like her wedding gown and slip) that take up a lot of room.  How fun it will be to put that stuff in HER new closets!

Still no rain…good thing I decided to water even some this morning!

Not much to say today…I think it’s supposed to rain up here.  Now I’m trying to decide whether to water my plants this morning or just let them get rained on.  Of course, if I wait, it won’t rain for hours.  If I do, it’ll start raining before lunch. 

Yesterday wasn’t terribly thrilling.  I did some cleaning.  I played on the web.  I went to a bible study in the evening.  Today doesn’t promise much better.  Some more cleaning.  Maybe a quick trip to WalMart.  Maybe a load of laundry (then the ironing which will be necessary as a result).  Don’t know what else…especially if it rains.  Oh well…I’m sure I’ll come up with something creative!