Paint!

My whole house smells like paint. Jeff put two coats of primer on our new sitting room today. Next up is the grasscloth, assuming it's still any good and that I still like it. Or perhaps the floor. Really I have no idea what part is next. It might be window sashes and sills and moldings for the doors. There is still a long way to go. But slowly, like the tortoise, it is happening.

The east wall with its two coats. That is door to the "hall" bath. There is no longer a hall, instead each room upstairs has its own bathroom.

Alice checking out the furniture in the sitting room. Lots of sunlight in this room.

Jeff painting the inside of the closet. This will be "his" closet when everything is finished.

More of Jeff painting. I don't mind painting, but if someone else is willing to do it, that is just wonderful.

The south wall with its two coats, plus the draped couch and cabinet, which doesn't have a home anymore.

Well, I'm off to pick up D from the airport. This was the last time (I hope) that she flies unaccompanied. Next time she is on her own.

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Why does the cat…?

Why is it that every time I do anything on my computer the cat (Greymalkin) wants to curl up on my arm? Not happy next to me or anything, it has to be on my arm!

After the last post, I added labels for all the posts of the last year (only 61). I think either this post or the last one will make this year equal all of last year. I have been working on scrapbook pages and actually finished two dps' (double page spreads). I still often think in yearbook publication terms. I haven't taken any pictures of them, but I might and I might post them.

Last year at this time I was reading Randy Pausch's and Jeffrey Zaslow's co-written book The Last Lecture. While reading, I wondered "is he still alive?" The day I checked was July 25 and he had just died that day. I finished reading the book, but now the poignancy was almost overwhelming.

This year, I was thinking about reading Teacher Man by Frank McCourt. Both Jeff and my parents gave it to me for Christmas in 2005. I had just read that McCourt had meningitis and was gravely ill. Last Sunday (7/19) he died. On Wednesday, I picked up the book to read. Again the poignancy was there, but not quite as much as McCourt lived to be 78, nearly 79.

I hope no one minds that I borrowed the images from Amazon. I then opened them in Photoshop and deleted the "see inside" arrows. I could have scanned the covers of my books, but it seemed too much trouble when they are right there on the web for the viewing.

2nd place

Softball has finished for the year. We took second place in the Lion's Tournament on June 27. The game should have started at 8:00 p.m., instead we didn't get started until 8:50. The officials called time at 10:18. We lost to an accelerated dominated Manti team 16-7. We had beaten them before in Manti, but this time we just weren't getting hits.

Preparing to hit at the Manti game on June 23. This was the game that we should have won, but due in part to the idiotic ump (see no face mask) we didn't.

D playing 1st base. This was her usual position this season.At the Lion's Tournament in the first game against Gunnison. It was a close game that we won 8-7.Waiting at third to steal home. We stole a ton of bases. The other teams didn't like that too much. We stole the field twice at Manti in the game we lost on base on balls. Twice!!

Deirdre getting her 2nd place trophy from Lion's President Rasmussen.

The whole team that participated in the Lion's tournament. Back row: Jeff, Amy S. (ass't coach), D., middle row: Hannah S. (all the way from California), Olivia M. (holding up her cousin H.S.), Nikysha R., Bailee N., Savannah P., Sarah J., Taylor N., front row: Hannah O., Megan J., and Shonacee S. Missing are Jessica R., and Riley M. Neither were at the tournament.

June has ended and the summer is now half over. On to working on the house and getting ready for a new school year. Finishing out this post is a picture of "Miss Queen of the House" Greymalkin.

More updates without pictures

I'm not exactly sure where my camera is at this point in time—suffice to say somewhere in the house. I am typing this with a very loudly purring cat curled up on my arm. Greymalkin has been making herself known a lot lately. When Eddie died, she decided to get on our bed for the first time. Now that Rocky has died, she has to be on one of us almost all the time. We probably won't get another cat for awhile, because each time we lose one, Greymalkin changes her behavior.

There is really not a whole lot to report. You know if anyone actually reads this blog. The remodel hasn't had anything new happen for a few weeks. Jeff is finished with the spring semester on Friday, so maybe things will start to happen. BUT, softball starts really soon, so nothing might happen. D and I have another four weeks of school. We both finish on May 22, just in time for Memorial Day weekend. The people around here have a major problem if students have to continue into June. I've grown used to it—you know that 17 years being here thing, but it still seems strange to not go until June.

I finish at the U this week. I have classes on Wed., and Thurs., and my term paper for one class is due by 5 on Friday and everything for the other class is due on Saturday. I don't know how to go to school and not work full time, but this semester has been hard. I won (earned) a scholarship for next year, so I have to take three classes a semester. I haven't decided if I will take the summer off or not. I registered for a class for the summer, but can always drop it. The class I would take in the summer is one I could take in the fall, but I found a class to take in the fall to replace it. I don't know whether to work on the house and lesson plans for next year over the summer or do those things and take a class. So many decisions. Jeff and I have to talk it over, plus I need to talk with my adviser at the U. The department I am earning my degree in is a part Ed. Psych., Education, and Linguistics. With all the budget cuts, it is being absorbed by the College of Ed. No one in the department is happy. I, however, need to find out how this absorption affects my degree program.

My mother remains in a care facility receiving physical therapy twice a day to help her nerves regrow. I am clearly not the best daughter in the world. My sister would be calling my mother everyday to chat. I just don't have that in me. My aunt calls my mom and visits too. Obviously I can't visit, but I just don't have that much to say. In my mind (and I have thought this for a long time—three years) the wrong daughter died. The one who called everyday and checked in was not me. I will go to my grave believing that my sister should not have died and if anyone was going to, it should have been me.

I did get the book my mother wanted and will try to ship it off this week along with the Girl Scout cookies she ordered before her surgery from hell. I also need to round up the scrapbooking mysteries I have been reading lately and send her those as well. They are pretty lighthearted and entertaining to boot. I wanted to send her a cd player, but she was afraid it would be stolen. My parents have learned, from Jane's long stays in nursing homes, that if it is something valuable it will probably be stolen by a nurse. Actually we have know this since my grandfather died back in 1979. His wedding ring was stolen in the one week he was in a nursing home. Hard to believe that in June it will be thirty years since I graduated from junior high and he died (one week later).

Well more later. This will be a hectic week, with finishing school, soccer games, Scouts, and all the other activities that are part of our lives.

In Memoriam: Rocky—April 1993-February 9, 2009

Well, Rocky has finally decided that he had had enough. He died this afternoon about 4:30. He had hidden himself under our bed. Jeff found him, wrapped him in a towel, and placed him on top of a heat register. Less than an hour later, Rocky died. So, now he's out with Eddie in our backyard. Rocky never really got over Eddie's death in Feb. 2005. Jeff dug the hole last November when we thought we would have him put to sleep.

We think he had diabetes. He drank tons of water all the time. He also had a voracious appetite, but kept losing weight. He didn't seem to be in any pain, though.

We first got him in May 1993 as a very small kitten, maybe six weeks old. Jeff opened his office door to find the girlfriend of a colleague's son standing there with this little tiny white kitten in her arms. He hadn't even been weaned properly yet. We think that his mother figured out that he was deaf and kicked him out.

Rocky loved to watch things fall. He chewed on glass objects. When in the right mood, he would sit on your lap forever. He hated being picked up. He was only secure against a body or a lap. We will miss him terribly. The girls are a little confused right now, but at least they have each other.

The best way to get photos of Rocky was when he was asleep. I'm sure I have some somewhere of him awake, but these were on my computer.

Oven cleaning

I have banished everyone to the basement. Yesterday when Jeff cooked the roast beef for his birthday he commented that the oven could do with cleaning. So, I turned on the oven to clean this afternoon. The whole upstairs is pretty much full of smoke. Luckily not enough to set off the smoke detectors. We have windows open (it's 20º outside), fans going, and some unhappy cats. Greymalkin came downstairs crying, but when I followed her back upstairs to bring her back down, she hid. Hope we never have a fire where I have to find her!

Jeff has put in the studs for the new door to what is now the hall bathroom. After we are finished with everything, this bathroom will open into our new room. I decided not to go to school today. So, I am organizing "my" room. This used to be our guest room, but we don't have guests and I need a place to scrapbook, stamp, and do homework. I need to bring down a desk that is upstairs. First I have to convince Jeff to help me bring it down. It's pretty heavy. It was built in the late 40's or 50's when a lot of furniture did double duty. This desk has three small side drawers and knee space, but it also has a pull out table with ugly rattan on it. So it's a desk/table combination. D has a desk/dresser that was my grandmère's. It is a secretary type desk with three drawers below. When the top is up it takes up almost no room, when the top is down it is the desk's writing surface. It is from the same era. I believe these were built to accommodate the many people who were living in small homes and apartments after WWII.