Monday update

Today I am taking 8 boxes of things I have "edited" to the thrift store. So far I have not had any second thoughts about the things I have let go. I have sorted flower vases, candle holders, dishes and Christmas stuff. When I am in the basement, I say to myself, "What was I thinking when I bought this?" A lot was from garage sales, but still what was I thinking?

Gerry has pretty much recovered from his trip to China. He really did have his days and nights mixed up, not unlike what a baby does at times. Ha! He talked a lot about the food there: fish heads, eyes, cow stomach, and chicken feet. He is willing to try almost everything. I am sure my cooking is quite boring in contrast.

Computer savvy - not!

Sometimes I think I know just enough about computers to be dangerous. At least enough to be very frustrated at times. Daughter helped me start an photo book for my mother for a Christmas gift. Today I spent several hours finishing it. If you were in my house you would have heard a few screeches of frustration. But I did it. The hardest part was uploading the pictures from the computer to Snapfish.

A quick report on hubby. He has returned from his two week trip to China. The jet lag is giving him fits. At 10:30 at night he is just starting to go strong and I want to go to sleep. I will ask him to give a report that I can post on the blog.

New Hat- Tour Guide

Yesterday I finished my painting in the basement. It seems as if I need to finish one large project that is hanging over my head before I can concentrate on another. So today I have spent several hours planning a trip to Savannah, Georgia for the beginning of April. There will probably be 8 women going. I am trying to schedule it for when the flowers are in prime, but that is pretty hard to predict. This is the time that on average the flowers are in bloom. There are so many things to do in Savannah that I don't think I will have trouble filling our days.

Soup and Wine

Today our women's club (of which I am President) had their annual soup and wine luncheon. Twenty-seven attended. We had five soups, great bread, dessert and of course wine. The Chicken Tortilla soup I made was a hit.

http://fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com/2008/10/chicken-tortilla-soup.html

The lady who hosted had to set up her house to accommodate us, which I am sure took some time, but it took me at least three hours to make the soup and then the cleanup. What makes these events great is that everyone does their part and the whole is great. I am encouraged with how everyone volunteers. We had our Holiday House Tour in December where we went through five homes and had a luncheon too. We made about $3000 which will be used for scholarships for local students who are going to college.

Snowed In

Today I will stay home, snowed in by choice. It has been snowing for 24 hours with a steady wind and will continue to do so for another day or so. I could start the snow blower and blow out the drive way but will wait until the wind stops since it will just blow it closed again.

Instead I am working on the basement painting. No excuses now.

I am grateful for heat. DH is staying in a four star hotel where they do not turn on the heat until it gets to 12 C (54 F) in the rooms. He is very cold blooded so is probably sleeping in his winter coat.

Clouds of dust

Remember Pigpen in the Snoopy comics? He walked around with a cloud of dust surrounding him. That is how I look these days. The mudding, sanding and cleanup of dry wall dust on the walls to be painted is almost complete. I need to sand two spots yet, then am ready to start the painting. I hope to do the primer today.

Gerry is in China for two weeks for business. I did not envy his 15 hour trip there. He was awake for 27 hours traveling. I don't know how much "tourist" activity he will be able to fit in. Hopefully some.

New room in basement

During the week Andrew and Renee Michelle were here, Gerry and Andrew started building walls to make a room in the basement. As you can see, we had to move stuff around to make room for them to work. I am happy to report it all has drywall on it and is ready for me to paint next week. It was hard to get a good picture to show the hard work they did.