11:58 a.m. - 2007-11-25
'Tis the Season
Well, it's officially the holiday season. Thanksgiving was nice - lots of driving, of course, but it was good to see kevin's family and mine.
I've begun painting my Christmas cards...if you're on my Christmas mailing list, you should be receiving one soon. If you're not, it probably means that I don't have your address. Kevin in his super-organized way kept a list of people and addresses from which we received cards last year so I could easily access it this year and not forget anyone. Then...our stupid hard drive on the lap top bit it and it's gone. So...I apologize in advance if you don't get one. This year, when I brought out my paints and brushes and such, I found two cards, one addressed to the Capes and one to the Rennichs, which means that they did not get one last year. The really sad part is that the one for Rob and Erin, I probably spent the most time on out of anyone else's. It was a painting of a Steelers Christmas ornament. That logo is complicated, yo. I usually stick with simple images like holly, Christmas trees, strings of Christmas lights, etc. I ventured out a bit this year and tried wreaths too. So, Rob Rennich, if you are reading this, I have a card for you from last year, and potentially one for this year, but still no address.
In addition to the holidays being a time for visiting friends and family and painting Christmas cards, it is also the time when many home repairs that have been put off all year finally get tackled by my husband. What this means is that while I do something like wrap presents or write out the freshly painted cards, my husband walks around our house in work clothes swearing under his breath, disappearing to wherever the site of the problem is, the sound of hammers pounding and the whine of power tools commence, and then the full-volume swearing begins. Occasionally he throws something. I spend a lot of time giggling and, when he comes stomping through the living room muttering under his breath like a crazy person, I spend a lot of time concealing giggles and trying to look encouraging and supportive.
See, in our house, when one thing breaks, it starts off a chain reaction of appliances, cars and structures just ceasing to do the job they were created for. Currently, the following issues are needing to be addressed:
Roombah. Status: moves but erratically and does not suck anything up. New brush was purchased but when installed did not affect the situation. Must consult professional. Warranty: expired, of course.
Lap top. Status: hard drive crashed. New hard drive purchased and installed but lap top is in need of various virus software updates.
Front door. The screen door basically just pulled the wood from the frame out and that arm/hinge thing that kind of makes the door close more slowly is dangling. This is the source of yesterday's swearing. Status: temporarily fixed with a hodgepodge of nails and screws.
Kevin's car. Status: the battery cable is loose which results in seemingly random total losses of power. This is today's project. I will make every effort to be at the grocery store while this is happening.
Toaster oven. Status: about 75% of the time, only the top broiler thing works and it takes forever to toast anything. Also, items must be turned over to toast both sides. But, for no apparent reason, sometimes, like this morning, it works fine.
Kevin is pretty industrious and he has fixed a lot of things, but of course pretty much everything requires purchasing of parts, and in many cases, either professional repair or total replacement. When I walk around our house, I just see dollar signs rising up and floating away. Ugh.
In other appliance news I finally replaced the brush head on my Sonicare toothbrush. I've been putting it off because you have to buy a 2-pack and it's 30 bucks. That just seems like a lot considering the toothbrush itself costs over $120. (I received it for free.) I have had this thing for well over a year - how gross is that?? So i bit the bullet and bought the 2-pack and while i was in line at the checkout I discovered that I had not only a 20% off coupon at Bed Bath and Beyond but I also had a gift card with 23 dollars left on it! I only had to spend about 2 bucks and let me tell you...what a difference. My teeth feel a million times cleaner. So, if you've been putting off replacing your toothbrush head, please proceed immediately to your nearest retail outlet and get a new one...or two, since they seemingly only sell them in 2-packs.
OK - I am trying really hard to accomplish the project of putting away all summer clothes so that the fall/winter clothes have someplace to go besides strewn about in our bedroom which makes Kevin want to smother me in my sleep.
