Dads are Great

A typical Monday finds me heading to my mom's house for conversation, dinner, and a bit of television. That wasn't this typical Monday. Mom is out of town for work and instead of heading to her house, I spent the day with my dad.

My dad is terrific at teaching me how to do things around the house. For example, when a good deal comes around and you get a new stove for $10 but it is a gas stove and your prior stove is electric, Dad knows how to find the right pieces at the hardware store to pipe the gas up. He has all the fancy wrenches and even had this pipe glue stuff that makes the pieces fit tightly together.

Dad also knows how to help pick out some fancy new (I cannot believe I'm going to type this) window treatments for my living room. The awful curtains are gone - well, they will be once Thursday comes along and the garbage truck makes a visit. Dad suggested pulling a Scarlett and making a dress, but even she couldn't turn these curtains into a fashionable getup. That, and the fact I don't wear dresses.

Dad did forget one thing today. While working on the pipes, he turned off the gas to the house. We shut off the furnace and thermostat while the gas was off and that was good. After he turned back on the gas (main line to the house), he told me he turned the furnace back on.

He did, sort of. Dad turned the power to the furnace back on and turned the thermostat back on. After 4-5 hours and layers of blankets, I tried to figure out why the temperature of the house kept dropping when the furnace was supposedly on. That's when I discovered that the gas was turned off to the furnace.

We're supposed to get quite a bit of snow tomorrow (Tuesday). The forecast was 6+ inches. Not looking forward to that much white fluff, but at least it's not that cold out.

Hope all is well.

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I opened my email the other day to find a note from Joe wondering why I've disappeared (again - I'm getting really bad at this). No promises, but I'm not giving up on this blog yet. I hope to write more and maybe this time I'll be able to follow through.

One thing that will help will be the shiny new laptop I picked up last week. I shouldn't have to restart 7 times to get a program to run. This new system has more RAM and runs a heck of a lot faster.

On a serious, sad note, I have been dealing with some unfortunate family events. On January 30, my godmother, Cheryl, passed away. She lived with Crohn's disease since 1967. My mom is broken hearted over it and I miss her very much. Cheryl was a wonderful woman who loved animals, always made anyone feel welcome, and loved a good story. She is missed by many.

The next day, January 31, my grandfather passed away. He had been battling lymphoma for 2 1/2 years. He was surrounded by his children and my grandmother when he passed. I spent much of the week with my dad, my two aunts, and my grandmother.

During that same week, I was doomed to the unpleasant experience of food poisoning. DM and I went to eat and chat one night at a local restaurant and I spent the next day realizing how awful a day could truly be.

It was good when I returned to work but busy. February was a short month to begin with, but missing the first week of it for bereavement put me way behind. I've caught up now that it's March. Thankfully.

The first winter in the new house has been great. I'm learning how to stay warm with blankets and sweatshirts (trying to save a few dollars in the heating costs). My snowblower likes to work a little more often now and I had the experience of finding out what happens when there is a newspaper buried in 6 inches of snow and you accidentally run it over this past Sunday. If you're curious, the end result will be you in the garage - freezing and cursing as you try to cut the newspaper out with a knife. Yes, next time I'll dig in the snow before I run the snowblower again. Yikes!

I cannot wait until the snow melts. In the spring, I'm going to finish off the fence and add a furry friend to my life. A puppy will add adventure to my life. I'll probably have a lot more stories to share when there is a puppy here!

I'll try to update a little more often. Hope all is good in your lives. It will be good to visit everyone.