The Housewife Tour: What's been going on & some ranting

Let me get the ranting done first. 

You know my game of using coupons and sales to get the best price.  Do you ever feel like you REALLY need to watch what the cashier is doing to make sure you get every single coupon?  That's what I have felt like lately.  I guess it's because we are really watching pennies right now (that's coming up).  I need to create a system where I know how many and how much each coupon is.  It's stupid that I need to do this, but the cashiers are messing up my game!  Never mind the fact that I need to remind them to deduct the reusable bag discount (which I forgot this time).  I leave the store feeling I was taken advantage of because someone didn't do their job correctly.  Yes, I could go and say, I don't think all of my coupons were deducted but is $3 worth the time of me complaining and them pulling the cashier's drawer?  So, I need to be proactive.  Next is how?  Do I have a running excel sheet (or just a list) of the items and the cost & coupons I have?  Luckily, I usually go shopping when it's slow so I can take my time.  It's just going to be a lot of work, but I guess if it will make me feel like I'm getting the best deal, it will be worth it.

So back to "watching pennies now".  My husband is a government employee.  He is one of the few that isn't furloughed, which means he does have go to into work.  He will definitely get his next paycheck, but the timing on the next paycheck is questionable.  That is because the people who process paychecks are furloughed.  I feel bad for the people who are furloughed, but they are getting a paid vacation.  No matter when they go back to work, they will get their full paycheck for the time they were off (BTW - that is why the Pentagon pulled their civilians back to work).  To me, that is not fair to the people who did work.  What about giving them 80% of their paycheck (or whatever percentage a person gets when they are on short term disability)?

With the paycheck issue up in the air, plus the end of the housewife tour (September was the "goal" to start looking for a job), time for me to make some money. 

The first way, is helping a friend out and giving some social time to the pups.  The "E-Z Dog Care" business is open!  My friend, Michelle, and her husband got a (pit) puppy last week and I offered to watch her during the day.  Today is the 2nd day, so still in the get to know each other stage, but the pups are doing well with her.  They give her the warning growls when she's a little too much in their face.  It also reminds me that I will not get  a puppy again.  FYI - the business name is a joke - I would only watch a dog for a friend.

The 2nd way will be starting soon and will pull from my skills at my previous job.  I will be editing secret shops for the company that used to do our customer service training at the airport.  More than likely, I will be editing airport shops since I know what to look for in the shops.  I've know the owners of this company for as long as I was at my previous job (14 years), and always had a good relationship with them.  When we were closing up shop, they mentioned to me to call them if I needed anything and if I wanted to do editing/work with them.  How great it feels that someone "offers" me a job.  This will also help with the next big adventure.....

I am starting my own business!  Over the years, I have heard and thought about becoming a virtual assistant.  Now is the time!  I will be specializing in social media but will be open to administrative work.

Business licenses are all in order for Clark Virtual Business Solutions.  Now the real works comes - getting the business!  I have created a business plan and let me just say, it has really helped me with my ideas.  At first I didn't think I needed one, but boy does it help! 

I think that brings us up to date.  Now, to work on the business.

The Housewife Tour - The Week in Review

OK - maybe I should say the catch-up entry....

I've kind of gotten into a rhythm and a funk at the same time.  I haven't really felt like doing anything out of the ordinary/special projects around the house.  No new cooking recipes.  Just the same stuff.

I have been shopping though - not good when you aren't working, but I guess I can say it is a project.  I have been trying to decorate.

We FINALLY painted our living room in June.  Esa had fun with Daddy-o running around with no furniture in the living room!

Part of the decorating was new curtains - all of which I got for free (saved $40) using Amazon gift cards that I got from Listia or trading in items to Amazon.



The fabric over the sofa table is new also - it's a pashmina from AC Moore that was $2.50.  I just wanted a little color.

We bought new end tables for the living room.  We lucked out and found 2 of these at HomeGoods for $100 each.  We got sucked in to applying for a credit card so that we could get an extra 10% off.

So, the living room is coming together.  I bought the pillows at Kohl's for $16 each (regularly $40 each).  I have ordered some (gray & black) throws too from Kohl's.

The pictures were in storage.  We had bought them on a cruise in 2003, took me 5 years to frame them and another couple of years to hang them.  The dog plaque was on clearance at HomeGoods.

With the painting, came moving around furniture.  Dan painted the ceiling in the living room & dining room (they are open to each other), so to prepare, I moved the dining room table into our breakfast nook.  I had thought about this before, but wasn't sure if Dan would like it.  But he does!

We also bought the 4 drawer end table at HomeGoods.  This replaced a larger white cabinet we had here that held dog supplies & recipe books.

So right now, our dining room is empty except for a hope chest, plants and china cabinet.  Not sure what I want to do in there.  I'm almost thinking of extending the living room into it.

I have been working on some scrapbooking.  I completed the challenge in June and got 2 albums done.  If it wasn't for the challenge, I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten them done.

Our camera gave out in June and I got an early anniversary present out of it.  A FANCY Nikon D3100.  So many buttons, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'll be learning!  I found a website/youtube channel from Fro Knows Photo that seems pretty good.

The Housewife Tour will be ending soon, so I've been starting to look to see what is out there job-wise.  I really want to be able to work from home, but we'll see.  I really don't know what I want to do so I think I need to figure that out first!

Oh, I did start volunteering a little more.  I've added a couple of hours doing admin work at the shelter in addition to the mobile adoption unit.  I'm enjoying see what happens at the shelter "behind the scenes".  Everyone is wonderful there.

The Housewife Tour 2013: Yardwork

Today was yardwork day.  I'm ok doing yardwork.  I just hate being sore afterwards!

Today, my workout consisted of:

• pulling weeds
• pruning the rose bushes
• digging up & raking dirt
• putting down patch seed mix

Here is a portion of before:

Our yard looks like this all around the patio

(that we put in SEVERAL, SEVERAL years ago).

The workout tools

After the workout

 

Zed checking out the work so far - I ran out of patch mix. :(

We've got bare patches on the right side (of the picture) too that run down the side of the house & the fence.  They were patches of weeds, but we used lawn weed & feed that worked wonders.  Now, to patch.

Hopefully all of this will work and we will have grass soon.

 

 

The Housewife Tour 2013: The Week in Review

OK, so I haven't been too good about posting the last couple of weeks.  I've been busy doing odds & ends.  Nothing in particular - here's what I can remember.

• I have been spending Wednesdays as my scrapbooking day.  Since we were done with the digital classes, the meetups have been cropping time.  Instead of driving about 1 hour one way, I have been working at home.  Here are the 4 pages I worked on this week from our 10th anniversary in 2008.  These aren't quite finished, but are getting there.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I am participating in a summer scrapbooking challenge that started this week.  The goal is 90 pages by the end of the summer.  Four down, 86 to go.
• Packing for the beach - yep, going to the beach for the week!  We are going to the same place we went last year, Broadkill Beach, Delaware.
• Volunteering with the Loudoun County Animal Shelter.  Saturday is my volunteer day.  From 9 am to 11 am, I am with the Mobile Adoption Unit.  Usually, it's at Unleashed by Petco.  Last night the shelter had a foster orienation/presentation at the library around the corner from our house, so I told them I would come & help.  Good thing I did!  There were over 70 people who attended! One of the pictures I took was feature in the Facebook post.  Once we get back from vacation, I plan on helping out at the shelter some additional hours with probably administrative tasks.
• Washed the car inside & out.  Wow, what a task.  I wanted to get this done for awhile now and finally did it.  I kind of got sucked into some car wash/wax spray when I was at the gas station one day & spend $35.  See my post/review about the adventure.

On the horizon:

• When we return from vacation, we've got some redecorating scheduled.  I already picked up some paint for our living room!  We are both really excited about this. 
• I've already have a list of things to do when we get back home.  A lot of little things, but little things add up.  Look for those posts when I return from vacation.

The Housewife Tour 2013 - The Week in Review (with some Adventures)

Projects:
So, not too many projects completed this week, but putting a BIG dent into organzing and pricing for the yard sale on the 18th!

We have so much CRAP!  I still need to spend time on basement storage- where everything ends up that we don't use.  Up until the yard sale, I'm posting things on Listia and on Ebay to see if I can sell them that way.  Especially the items that I know will not sell at the yard sale or I won't get offered what I want to get out of it.  People are looking to spend pennies at a yard sale and I price my stuff low to begin with.  I rather get some money (or credits in the case of Listia) out of it than donate.  Donating is the last resort.

I still have a lot of old/antique stuff that I need to look up for pricing.  That's a process!  Anyway, if I can at least get rid of some stuff sooner rather than later, that works!

I did add a wreath to the front door this week.  AC Moore had new large flowers that they didn't have when I was there a couple of weeks ago for a wreath project.  I thought it would look good in the meantime until I get the project done.  It pretty much matches the real flowers that are on the porch.

Adventures this week (minus the pups):

Just some fun adventures I wanted to mention that happened this week.

This was the 2nd week of the digital scrapbooking class at Orange Leaf.  We went over Memory Manager 4.0.  I tell you, having a class every week is keeping focused on getting at least something done with my digital stuff!

I had lunch with my long-time friend, +Nancy Williams.  It's about the company and not the food as we had lunch at Wendy's!  I'm not saying that Wendy's isn't good, but I bet you thought we would be at some sit down restaurant.  We both mentioned how we don't get to Wendy's that often.  I only get there if I'm traveling and don't stop at McDonald's.

Since Thursday, I have been a single (dog) parent.  Hubby is up at the family cottage in Canada with is uncle & cousins for a summer-prep/opening the cottage weekend.  If it was longer than 2 full days, our whole family would have gone, but it's just too long of a drive (12 hours) for Esa all at once.  It wouldn't be a problem for Z.  He would just curl up and sleep.  Esa doesn't relax in the car like Z.

The Housewife Tour 2013 - The Week in Review

No big projects this week.

• shipped out a bunch of stuff that "sold" on Ebay & Listia.
• Attended a scrapbooking class on Wednesday.
• spent about a day getting ready for a scrapbooking crop on Saturday.  Man, it takes time to get computer files organized!

Slow week - but it was productive!

The Housewife Tour 2013 - The Week In Review

Well, I really don't feel like I did much this week.  Maybe because the things I did took time.

Projects:

• organizing and posting items for sale on Craigs List, Ebay and Listia.  Luckily, some things have sold.  I have figured out that 3 day sales are the best.
• New toliet paper holder in the 1/2 bath.  I saw this a LONG time ago and have been wanting to do it, but it seemed like whenever I went to the craft store, they didn't have the vase I needed or they weren't on sale.  Score this week!  In stock & on sale (40% off).  I know, something so simple - but a GREAT idea!



Before



After

 
• Painted the door bells (yes, we have two - one regular door bell and one intercom system).  This project wasn't as easy as I thought.  I though both plastic covers came off and weren't connected to the wall.  Wrong.  So I ended up doing a backup plan.  Newspaper around the covers and spraying.  It didn't come out as clean as I thought it would (see around the edges - you can see some paint).  The paint was running down.  This wouldn't have happened if it was on the ground.  Oh well, it looks better than it did!  Last step will be changing out the house numbers.  I ordered them on Ebay and they forgot to put a double number in the order.  We should be getting that within the week.

 



The Housewife Tour 2013 - The Week in Review

Wow - I didn't realize how long it's been - almost a month!

This week was basically back to normal - groceries, errands and the biggest project - yardwork! What a chore, but some good exercise!


What does that entail - ALOT!

• raked the front yard (tons of leaves from the fall)
• washing the porch*
• buying flowers for the porch
• pull weeds in the flowerbeds
• remove some old plants in the flowerbeds
• mulch the flowerbeds
• add topsoil to the liliac bush
• weed & feed the yard*
• place ant traps in the flowerbeds
• change/add downspout extenders
• put out yard decorations in the flowerbed

*hubby helped/did these things

Esa helping in the flowerbed

The end result -

There's still some things I want to do with the front yard.

• expand the bed - since the bushes have grown, the bed needs to be expanded out
• our front yard is sinking and we need to get filled in
• DIY craft - creating a wreath for the front door.  I was thinking about something like this but to match the flowers.

"The Housewife Tour 2013" - The Week in Review

Projects:

• Cleaning & organizing the kitchen - this was a big project!  We have so much extra STUFF (mugs, kitchen tools, plastic water bottles, etc.)  Here are some highlights on done cabinets & drawers -

EVERYTHING MATCHES!!!!

 

This is only 3 cabinets/drawers of 15 cabinets/drawers.  I still need to do under the sink.

"The Housewife Tour 2013" - The Week in Review

Projects:

• Started the yard work - what a project!  Ended up with 3 yard bags and still have a bunch to do!
• cut back all the rose bushes - I always forget how sore my hand is the next day from using the clippers!
• raked the daylilly bed
• raked the flower bed that I'm going to redo - The flowers back there really didn't do that great.  Not sure what I'm going to plant back there.
• Cleaned one kitchen cabinet - where the dog stuff is and all of my recipes
• getting rid of a bunch of dog bandanas, treat holders, water bowls & toothbrushes.
• I threw away a bunch of recipe magazines and recipes that I ripped out of magazines.  I haven't used them yet, so why keep them.  I still have a BUNCH of cookbooks and recipes that we have used in the past.
• Did some grocery shopping & ran some errands on Monday & Tuesday.  Had to go to the grocery store again on Tuesday because I forgot my coupons!!!  I hate when that happens!  Once again realized that Dollar Tree is AWESOME! After cleaning the bathroom cabinet, I had to throw away a bunch of expired meds.  Dollar Tree was an inexpensive way to replace these items.

"The Housewife Tour 2013" - The week in review

Projects:
This week was a little more productive than last week (because hubby being sick & me not being at 100%).

• Finished going through my (walk-in) closet.  I still need to pack away some clothes that don't fit (of course I'm keeping them until I lose weight - haha) once I get one more underbed storage.  The result (this also includes Dan's clothes) -

All have been donated to The Lupus Foundation.

• I went through all of my jewelry.  I have so much old vintage jewelry that was my grandmother's and my Aunt Helen's.  Pieces that have just been siting in old jewelry boxes and I have never worn.  I am at a point in my life where I am ready to get rid of items.  They need to go to someone who will appreciate them and not just have them sitting in boxes.  I also have pieces that were gifts to me and I just never wear.  Now the next step (as with all of the items I have been going through) to sell them.
• Organized the kitchen pantry.  Amazing how much easier it is to see what we have now!

• Organized the linen closet & under the bathroom sink. Boy did I find some OLD medicine in there! LOL.
   
 

"The Housewife Tour 2013" - The First DIY Project

About 10 years ago (when we moved into our house), we bought a sectional - a cream color sectional.  Not a big deal back then since it was just us and my cat, Babe, who basically shedded in clumps.  Seriously - clumps.  She would pull clumps of fur out or we would just find clumps sitting around. EASY TO CLEAN UP. 

Enter Esa - blond, but fur just kind of blends in.  No big problem.  Enter Zed - black fur - enter the fur problem with the couch.  I know, the easiest way to keep the couch clean, keep Zed off the couch (or get a new couch).  Luckily, all of the cushions have covers we can take off and wash so every once in awhile, I do that.  Today was that day.

The couch - all undone.

 

Still fur on the back of the couch after a lint brush AND using a rubber glove

 

 

Zed - thinking "What are you doing to my bed?" 

 

The other issue that happened was the fabric underneath was ripped at the front of the couch.  This is what happens when toys get stuck under the couch and a certain pup (Esa) tries to get them.  I bought replacement fabric for it awhile ago and today, since I was tearing the couch apart anyway, was the day to fix it.

My first DIY project!  AKA something I've never done before - couldn't be that hard could it?  All I need for the project is:

First step - removing the fabric and the extra staples -

Mid project with the supervisor checking out the work -

 

The finished project - 

 

Not bad - let's see how long it lasts (hopefully until we get a new couch (not sure when that is).  The staples didn't go in all of the way, but are holding the fabric & the corners are "wrapped" around the legs.

 

The couch is put back together and half of it is covered with blankets to keep it clean for a little while.



"The Housewife Tour 2013" - The Week in Review

Projects:

• Finished cleaning the Scrapbooking/office closet.  The end result -

That's just 2 days - I think I had already threw away 2 other bags full of shredded paper.

• started going through clothes for a donation pick up on the 18th.  I went through all of my dresser drawers today and threw away one bag of clothes (unworthy of being donated) and have about 11 t-shirts to donate (so far).

"Becoming Better Crocker" Approved:

•  I tried a new product this week. La Choy Stir Fry Orange Ginger.  It was on sale for $1.79 this week and I had a coupon for 50 cents off 2 (which doubled).  I used 1/2 a jar on chicken.  It was really good.

 

 

 

"The Housewife Tour 2013" - The Week In Review

Projects:

• We (yes, hubby & I) cleaned out and organized our geocaching stash (things we trade and things we have found).
• Filed all photos on the top floor of our house.  I stress "on the top floor of our house" because I'm pretty sure there are still pictures in storage that I'll have to organize once I get to that portion of the house. :P 
• I started cleaning out the closet in the scrapbooking room.  I have so much paperwork from years ago (work reference stuff, awards, taxes, investments, etc).  Thanks to the internet, I can look up what the timeline is for getting rid of paperwork!

Couponing to the next level:
So one of the things that you are supposed to do as a couponer is make a list of your best prices.  This is a project I have always wanted to do, but who has the time?  To the rescue comes Southern Savers!  They created this handy list of target prices for frequently bought products!  WOOHOO!  Couponing goes to the next level!  See that list on the left of the items you should get for free - not if you live in the DC area!  At least I haven't been able to do it yet.  This list is now in my coupon binder for inspiration and guidance.

Adventures: Smoke Alarms in the Middle of the Night

That's right - Smoke alarms blaring at 3 am in the morning.  Talk about a shock!  First thing you think of is "Why are they going off?" - which was exactly the question hubby said out loud. 

First thing I did was grab the dog leashes & put them on the pups.  BTW - Esa was at the back door ready to get out of there.  Zed was still in bed - he came running down maybe about 20 seconds after I did.

We both ran around trying to figure out if there really was a fire.  We didn't think there was because there was no reason for a fire - we keep everything unplugged if we are not using it and there wasn't a storm/lightening that might have caused it.

Then Dan did something out of habit - he pulled the smoke alarm by the kitchen.  We have ALWAYS had issues with that smoke alarm.  The builder install smoke alarm was ALWAYS going off - it was just too sensitive.  About a year or so ago, we installed a "kitchen" smoke alarm and it seemed to fix the problem.

After a couple more screeching beeps, it stopped.  Obviously, it had to be that right?  (Timeline for all of this action - 10-15 minutes.  Seriously.)  Then we sat there wondering, should we call the fire department? (Timeline - another 10-15 minutes)

The alarms never went off again, so we assume that was the issue.  The alarms would have gone off again if there really was a fire.

Which comes to one of projects I have been meaning to do FOREVER.  A control log.  I've been trying to find templates on Pinterest, but they are mostly for cleaning and a family schedule.  I want something I would grab in case of an emergency or just so hubby knows what is what (especially since I oversee the finances & such).  I have a book that lists a lot (mostly for estate planning) called All Together Now that helps with what I'm looking to include in the control log.

The next question - what to grab if there is a fire.  That went running through my mind too last night.  I have 2 hard drives that have all my digital pictures on it & another that has all of our files on it (ie taxes, scanned old bills, etc.).  This list would also be something that would be in the control log.

Insurance companies say to have a house inventory.  There's something that goes through your mind - would you be able to list EVERYTHING in your house for proper reimbursement from your insurance company?

Next question - emergency guides say to have a security deposit box.  Need that too & decide what to put in it.  I know one item that needs to be in it and is biggest item that we have been talking about and been putting off - a will and estate planning items.

So - those 30 minutes last night all of these items/projects were running through my mind.  One of my biggest fears is losing everything. Not that I'm materialistic - I think it's just that I want to be in control and make the decision of what I get rid of and what I don't. 

OK - maybe it has something with losing my parents when I was 20 & my life was turned upside down.  It may also have something to do with the generation.  At one of my previous employers division meeting, we had a marketing session that talked about the different generations and I remember - "OMG - that describes me to a T!"  Of course I can't find this information now, but I remember it had something to do with the cold war and the threat of being bombed at any time.  I can remember having bomb drills in school.

Anyway - future Housewife Tour projects:

• control log
• house inventory
• set up a security deposit box
• get the "estate" in order

"The Housewife Tour 2013" - the week (or should I say year to date) in review

Here it is, January 23 and I haven't been doing great on my blog entries.  The days seem to be flying by and I don't feel like I'm getting much done (maybe because they are big projects?).  So, time to catch up on what's been going on.  Entries for the 8th & 9th were typed in on those days.

Tuesday, January 8
The Housewife Tour is going well.  Yesterday was regular errand day - groceries, laundry - things we usually do on the weekend. 

Today started the cleaning.  I figured the best way to start the whole cleaning process - with something I HATE to do - clean the bathroom.  Specifically, the shower.  YUCK!!!

Anyway, now that that horrible task is done, I feel good and ready to do the rest of the house. LOL!

Wednesday, January 9
I've decided to change this up and just do a weekly entry since I doubt this is going to be interested until I actually do a project!

Today has been dreary, but we got in two good walks (my main goal every day!).  I did some (more) organizing in the scrapbooking room and the guest bedroom.  I still had my boxes from work that I unpacked and pulled stuff out of them to put in the scrapbooking room.

Wednesday, January 23
OK - now for the backtracking on our adventures and my projects.

Let's start with the projects.  I think I have finally finished organizing the guest bedroom.  I had so many boxes of photos (framed & unframed), boxes that never got unpacked (from 10 years ago when we moved into our house).  I moved photos and scrapbooking items into the scrapbooking room for organizing (that's coming up next on my to do list).  I have a bunch of stuff to sell/donate.

While I was doing that, I was also converting cassette tapes to MP3 files.  What comes after that - getting them all into Itunes.  And of course, I end of having some user issues.  First I can't download Itunes 11 to our desktop (where hubby does all his syncing).  I had to delete the software and start from scratch.  Then user issue of opening the files to the wrong folder.  GREAT!  DOUBLE TRACKS!  Needless to say, so far, everything is working out ok on the desktop.  We'll see what happens once hubby gets on and syncs his iphone.

The picture of the remaining tape collection. 
The majority of these weren't converted yet when I started the project.

The one thing that I did do that I've been promising to do was convert my mom's PTL Club tapes to CD for my niece.  She was 3 months old when my mom died and now that she is born again,  She is interested in the music.

Wow - what memories those tapes brought back.  My mom used to play them ALL OF THE TIME.  So much so, 2 of the 4 tapes I had were really warped.

Another project - a budget.  I made an excel budget, but really wanted to start using Quicken more.  THAT was a pain.  Mostly because I couldn't figure out what I wanted to show on the report and what I didn't want on the report.  I created a report that shows our budgeted number and what we have spent so far for the month.  Hopefully, I saved it right so I can track the numbers easier!

Now for the Adventures.

On Friday, January 11 I went to lunch with 2 of my former bosses!  We had it planned before the work doors closed on the 31st.  Even though it had only been two weeks since I've seen them both, it seemed a lot longer.

We did something new - When I was growing up, I used to always go to the local RV dealer's open house with my dad.  I used to enjoy checking out the RVs.  We never owned one or went camping.  The closest was "playing" in our neighbor's RV when it was sitting in their driveway.  Every year (I'm not sure how many years this event has been going on) there is an RV show at the Dulles Expo Center.  I've told Dan for several years that I wanted to go.  Well, we finally went (January 12)!  I think Dan enjoyed it too.  One of our bucket list items is to get an RV and drive across country and Dan said that this helped him get an idea of what was out there and what we will eventually want in the RV (We'll probably rent one first to try RVing out).

Here are the ones that caught our eyes:
Winnebago 2013 Vista 26HE
Rockwood MiniLite

That same weekend (Sunday, January 13), the weather was in the 50s and Dan wanted to go geocaching.  We went to Lake Fairfax in Reston to find 7 geocaches hid by the National Wildlife Federation.

The trails were a little muddy because of the rain 2 days before, but not bad.  We ended up walking close to 5 miles and found all of the 7 (there are 8 on this trail passport, but Dan had already found one).  We did meet up with 2 other geocachers and found one of the caches together.  We had already spend probably 5 minutes (because it said do not cross the bridge but didn't say what side of the bridge) and it was on the other side of the bridge!  Lesson - don't always follow the hint!


This was at the one geocache that took us awhile to find.
Somehow, Esa became a water dog and was really getting her paws wet!

Mama & Baby Girl waiting for Daddy-o to return. 
Zed was there too, just not in this picture.

The biggest thing - HOCKEY IS BACK!  Last night we went to the opening night home game.  It was so nice to see hockey back in action even though the Caps lost.

Hubby just headed out to the yearly cottage winter visit to to go play in the snow.  HAVE FUN - I had enough of the snow and cold growing up.  So the next couple of days, I'm a single parent.  But I will have a visitor on Friday - my nephew!

That gets you up to date.  Let's see if I can do my entries in a more timely fashion from now on....