October 16, 2007

•  Mom and Beth have visited, thus my longer than normal time without a blog. Okay, maybe I am just slow and don't seem to get around to old Xangaland as often as I used to in years past. It was nice seeing both my mom and sister, but I am glad I was not doing all that driving!

  While they were here, I took them up to Julian, an old mining town in the local mountains.

  

  (I didn't take this photo, but it is a picture of Julian)

  It was only my second trip to Julian, but I really love the place. It is best know for the apple orchards in the area, and of course this is peak apple season. You can get the BEST pie up there!! There are lots of fun shops up there and we went to a lovely tea shop for afternoon high tea. There were finger sandwiches, soup and yummy dessert. I also took them out to do crafts. We made Halloween greeting cards and really pretty fall door wreaths. I hope they had a nice time.

  Anyhow, they are back home now and I am swinging back into the normal schedule here. Being a Girl Scout leader takes a lot of my time currently. This week we are taking the girls on a horseback riding field trip. I have also been working on setting up a time and location for a spring tea. Yes, I know it is not even winter yet, but we are trying to get the schedule all worked out for the year. Meanwhile, I have to fill out forms, get a background check done and go to various training courses required for new leaders.

  Tonight we are decorating a pumpkin to look like a penguin for a contest Megan is having at school. I will try to get a picture and post it. She also has a field trip tomorrow to Old Town San Diego. This year they learn about the history of the state of California and this is part of the hands-on learning.

  Becca had her first coaching session for her school's Science Olympiad. She is studying Amphibians and Reptiles as well as Meteorology. Today she did the critters and Friday will be the weather.

  Joe got a CPAP machine yesterday for his sleep apnea. It was weird to not hear him snore and I actually had a lot of trouble sleeping! I kept waking up thinking he was not in the room and something was wrong and then would remember he had the new machine! How weird is that? I am really glad he is finally being treated. I have been really worried about the strain on his heart from not breathing while sleeping. He has to go back into the doctor on Thursday because they may have found something a lump in his colon in his last exam. The doctor is pretty sure it is nothing, but wants to be sure. Please think good thoughts for him!

  Meanwhile, we are still working on the old house. I was there most of today, mostly painting. Tomorrow I should be able to finish the iron railing next to the den. It looks really good, even with just primer.We picked out and brought over new vanities for the bathrooms and I unclogged two of the three toilets and then scrubbed all three of them down again. They were gross from neglect and workmen. I also got some more primer down on the cabinet part of the kitchen. I have been working on the doors. Soon I should be able to finish up and reassemble the first section. Three more to go after that! Baseboard molding was delivered today. The new electrical panel was inspected. All the outlets and switches have been replaced. New lights have gone into the girls old rooms, and the HVAC guys were in figuring out what parts then needed to start work tomorrow. We also had the plumbers by to get measurements for the new water heater and other stuff. And finally, the door installer guy was by to help us figure out what doors we need to pick up at Home Depot. The guy running our project is really nice and is having us buy the stuff, because it will work out cheaper for us in the end.

  We are getting a lot of compliments on how great the yard is looking now (by workmen who saw it before) and how great the house will be overall. Lots of positive response. I hope that means we might do better than average when we can finally put it on the market.

  So anyhow, if you made it through all this, you win my hearty thanks. As you can see, life is busy as ever around here, but good. If all goes well, we hope to have the old house done in 3-4 weeks and then life should be a lot less insane! Hope everyone is well!

  • 9:58 pm
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