Day 17

Got up a bit late today. Almost 9am. Worked on fans until it was time to talk to Istanbul.

I love video conferencing. When I see everybody every day like that, I never feel lost.

Got the fan fixed, installed. I took off all the hand rails and child gates around the stairs. There's a lot of stuff there. I will pack up the kitchen and dining room tomorrow. Also, I'll get the boxes around the cabinets straightened up and start sorting out the boxes the cabinets are in so I can put cabinets together in the evenings.

My goal is to be to the "turnaround point" in the kitchen by close of business Monday. You reach the "turnaround point" when you start putting the whole thing together.

I finally got pictures of the deer that has been coming around in the daytime. She went into Rosanne's back yard and just stood there, finally.

Day 16

Monday, July 6, 2009

This was the day for running errands.

Got to the Children's Manor School at 9:30. Visited a class. Talked to everybody about everything. After you checked out some school or another 10-12 times, the process becomes kind of routine. It looks good for our purposes. They have a very good front office, which doesn't say much about the teachers, I know, but maybe there's some continuity.

Got back home to visit with everyone in Istanbul. The word game is turning out to be a lot of fun. T, especially, is really wanting to stretch for some really hard ones. M just wants to stay in the game. So cool.

Then back out to Bright Stars Academy. A superior school, by every measure I could think of, but there may be some demographic issues.

Then to the library to return books and back to start my workday at about 3:30pm, as it turns out. I refurbished the furnace blower we got from Rosanne. The other one I'll set up in the house so I can control air flow and the dust. Whatever room I'm in, I can open those windows and close the rest and all dust will go out the window and NOT into the rest of the house.

Love...

Day 15

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Kind of a blah day. Much activity in the shop and the house and not much accomplished. There was one interesting thing, though, a bird flew into the house through the deck door. It flew around for a little while and found its way out. Anyway, I got a couple of pictures...



Love...

Day 14

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Fourth of July. Got some more painting done. Got the lawn mower fixed so it will mow TALL. It shows, too, Most of the lawns are starting to turn but ours is still green. Need to water the trees.

Mowed the lawn. Went to the Baltimore Museum of Industry with the Rowens. Took our folding chairs. They forgot theirs. Brought an old beach towel, just in case. They forgot their blanket. Brought some peanuts and cashews. It turns out Martin LOVES peanuts.

You sit right at the edge of the Inner Harbor almost directly across from the Aquarium. The barge that all of the fireworks launch from is only 200-300 yards away. You can see all of it clearly.

The fireworks were as impressive as always. We've seen fireworks like this so many times, however, that it's hard to say, "Wow".

One of the neatest parts was the weather. There was a breeze out of the West and the temperature and humidity were so much like Istanbul that I could tell the Rowens this is what it's like.

There was a musical group (A banjo, a guitar, a mandolin, and a couple--sometimes three --violins). They were sitting in lawn chairs 15-20 feet over playing all kinds of old American Folk Music.

So it all felt a bit like sitting next to the Bosphorus in the evening and a little like sitting on the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris all rolled into one. Very nice. I was really wishing you all were there.

Love...

Day 13

Friday, July 03, 2009

I guess I'm more or less caught up. I had gotten a TV antenna but it turned out the control box lettering was in Spanish. I've returned it and the folks know about it and will refund. I tried to get the appeal letter to JoAnn Murphy but the post offices all closed early. Will send it out Monday.

Got some more painting done in the shop. It's looking good, but it's not the kitchen, is it...

Love...

Day 12

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Boy, did this get behind. I guess I'll just put in fillers until I get caught up.

Love...

Day 11

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Boy, did this get behind. I guess I'll just put in fillers until I get caught up.

Love...

Day 10

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Boy, did this get behind. I guess I'll just put in fillers until I get caught up. There was one thing. I did my civic duty and built a cake for the Westchester School Float for the Catonsville Fourth of July parade. They promised me pictures. Here's the picture of the "cake". It's six feet wide and six feet tall. Harry said later that it is "magnificent".



Love...

Day 9

Monday, June 29, 2009

Boy, did this get behind. I guess I'll just put in fillers until I get caught up.

Love...

Day 8

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Boy, did this get behind. I guess I'll just put in fillers until I get caught up.

Love...

Day 7

Wow, I just can't get over how much fun everyone's having. I'm very pleased and happy. This vacation is going to make the boys smile all winter.

Still getting things done in the shop. Leaving the things around the deck/patio for later.

In very broad strokes, I will finish up in the shop. Even though it has taken up considerable time, I'll get most of it back in time saved on the interior of the house.

Then, it's all house until it's done. Then the remainder of the yard/patio/deck stuff as there is time for.

I'm getting the appeal letter done and I'll take a bit of time to get a camera going tomorrow. We'll actually see each other then.

I've never heard the guys so excited and happy. It's just wonderful...

Love...

Day 6

Today is so wonderful that I have started posting early.

Baggins is CLEAN!!!! It was an intradural cyst, after all. NO evidence of a mast cell tumor. YES!!!!

The doctor is sending the report. Details soon.

Love...

Day 5

Sorry, nothing to report...A dull, overall do-a-lot-finish-nothing-day...

Love...

Day 4

First thing today is that I woke with a full night's sleep.

Second, Baggins continues to get better. I don't know why, but I am sure the biopsy will report a benign growth.

I cleaned up the shop I am getting it finalized. I'm confident the time used now will be recovered over the next several weeks just because everything's organized.

Tomorrow, I should reach a stopping point in the shop about midday and then I will return to the mulch/patio.

I found it:

ESEA - Elementary & Secondary Education Act. It's just the abbreviation of the official title of the "No Child Left Behind" act.

This is going to be a short one. It sounds like everyone there is having a GREAT time.

Love...

Day 3

My, My, what a day of ups and downs.

• Baggins came through her surgery with flying colors but the growth was suspicious enough that the good doctor sent it off for biopsy.
• M's request for testing for early admittance into kindergarten was declined. But there is still an appeal level or two and there is a good chance he can get into kindergarten this year and first grade next.
• I got all the materials I need to stay busy for days but because of the above I didn't really get anything done today.

Baggins is the center of attention today...

She's eating a light dinner here. She drank all of her water. Notice the hourglass shape of the shaved area. It was originally square. The new shape is from pulling the incision closed.

A close-up of the incision...It's quite clean. The sutures are all inside and will dissolve.














If she shows an inclination to lick it, I'll put a t-shirt on her. So far, so good. The hospital gave me pain medication but she seems comfortable, but, as you can see below, she is tired.















And then there's the new sink, just arrived today. I tried to get it as close as possible to the old one for comparison. It's definitely larger. It looks very, very nice. It will be beautiful.
















Well, that's about all for now. Between getting up early and it being such an up and down day, I'm pretty tired. It's 9pm and I'm going to get cleaned up and go to bed.

Love...

Day 2

Well, they arrived!! A very, very good trip by all accounts. T and M are already scootering around. I suspect they went to sleep quite easily. I hope. Evidently, it was about 90-95 when they arrived. Fortunately, the humidity is usually in the 30s instead of the 70-90% we are accustomed to.

Today I:

• Put up the tent.
• Took a bunch of before pictures.
• Mulched some of the new trees. (We have a LOT of mulch left in the gazebo)

_____________________Before_________________________________________After_______________

Well, that's cool. If you click on the image, you get the full sized image. My word, those BlogSpot folks just thought of everything, didn't they.

• Ate the last of the spaghetti and meatballs.
• Took back a bunch of stuff that we are not going to use.
• Made a (possibly) complete list of things to get to finish the patio, deck and shop
• Got some of them.

Big day tomorrow!

Baggins goes for surgery! The office called this morning to confirm the appointment. The growth will be benign.

If I get up early enough, I'll get the rest of the patio, deck and shop stuff before I take Baggins. If not, after.

The rest of the list of Day 1 is still in effect. I'll also return some stuff that we didn't need for the trailer lighting on the way back from taking Baggins to the doctor.

I'm sure everyone is having a good time and that everyone will wake up rested and a bit grumpy from the heat. Maybe C will put M's tricycle together and then they can start riding up and down the street. That will be so much fun.

F should be checking out camp tomorrow.

Anyway, it's the end of my day and I'm going to get cleaned up and go to sleep.

Love...

Day 1

Well, they're off!

It's finally the day that the boys and Mom take off for Turkey for two months.

And, as if that weren't enough activity for one day, T had a swim meet this morning. He did very, very well. He didn't win either event he swam in but he was swimming against 6-8 year olds for the first time and it was also his first competitive 50 yard swims.

If he had won, they would have thought he is weird.

All in all, it was a very smooth day. We got out of the house and to the airport just in time for everyone to continue on to the gate in a steady fashion. I am so happy we packed yesterday.

It was really hard to see them go.

On the way home I stopped to return the DVDs we had as well as the borrowed one. I also went to two Giants to get egg cartons for all the stuff in the kitchen, etc., that will need to be moved from cabinets, closets, etc., to get ready for the renovation.

I also got some work boots and a couple more pairs of jeans and some paper towels for padding the dishes.

Now it's time to get to bed to get started early in the morning.

Some of the things to do tomorrow:

1. Get out the old Sony camera so we can have lots of before/after pictures.
   
2. Set up video conferencing by 10am.
3. Set up the 'kitchen' in the upstairs bathroom.
4. Put up the tent.
5. Cut the remaining pavers that need it. (Even though it's MUCH more efficient that dry cutting, it's still a wet, messy job and I really want it over).
   
6. Put the retaining edge around the new patio so the pavers towards the edges of the patio will stay where we put them. (Requires a trip to Lowes).
   
7. Finish bordering the trees and mulching.

After lunch:

1. Install blower fan in T's room so I can ventilate the house appropriately
   
2. Install barrier 'doors' in the stairs.
3. Clear the kitchen, front closet and sideboard.
4. Remove the oven.

Now we'll see how much I actually get done.

Love...