I just finished Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver. I can’t recommend it highly enough! I know I’m a real sucker for Kingsolver’s writing, and this one didn’t let me down at all. Borrow it from the library, or buy it, or whatever, but get yourself a copy and read it.
I truly didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It’s very emotional.
We had a lovely lunch today in honor of all the birthdays and anniversaries here at Tobey Jones. I had a pork chop with sauerkraut, green beans, and home fried potatoes, and Big Al had Salisbury steak with mushroom gravy, beets, and home fries. We both had ice cream and birthday cake for dessert, and sparkling cider with our meal. It’s really nice the way they take care of us here, making sure we don’t get lonesome or pine for our former lives.
After lunch, I went to the wellness center and worked out on the recumbent cross trainer!
I did a mile and a half, and now I’m ready to take a little nap, I think.
We got the shelf supports up in the living room and in the garage, and have the DVDs and components on their shelves. Now to find somebody who knows how to hook up a Home Theater system. I can wire up a computer system, but audio/video hooking up is beyond me. The big problem is the back of the TV isn’t marked with any particular input places – and I’m not smart enough to trouble shoot which left goes in which hole, and which output does what. So we’re still just watching TV with no DVD player and consequently no Netflix. *sigh* Of course, the ideal situation would be to run the DVD through the Cable Box, but somehow, I don’t think that would work at all. And then we wouldn’t be able to add the speakers unless we hooked them up to the TV (but that’s also beyond me).
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/afresh1/
Huh???
We are moved, hooked up to internet, hooked up to cable, stocked up on groceries, and mostly unpacked.
Big Al’s room is all set up.
My room is mostly set up.
The kitchen is in pretty good shape.
The living room is pretty bare, but we’re working on it.
I’ve done four loads of wash, including sheets and towels.
Tomorrow the guy from maintenance will come help us put up the container store shelves in the living room and garage. Once they’re up, we can finish hooking up the TV with the DVD player and hopefully get Netflix through Wi-Fi. If not, I’m going to have to strongly encourage them to run a Cat.5 wire from the router/switch in the bedroom to the DVD player.
Then, hopefully, we’ll be able to put some pictures on the walls, and be completely moved.
Until then, we’re suffering with whatever is on TV for entertainment in the evenings. (GAG)
All in all, we’re in pretty good shape for only 5 days since the move.
Tomorrow, I strip the beds, gather the towels, disconnect the computers, empty the refrigerator and freezer, swallow a cup of tea, and we’re ready for the movers to come! Big Al has done yeoman’s duty packing boxes!
The birds are going to have to get over themselves when I move the feeder. They’ve been stomping around the patio all afternoon, since Al emptied the bird bath.
It’s been foggy and cloudy for over a week now – no rain – but tomorrow the rain is supposed to roll in. Oh, well, we need it. We’re working on the longest dry spell in January on record (record is 14 days and we’ve gone 12 since it last rained). At least they will be able to back the truck up to the garage to unload. It’s just getting the stuff from the apartment to the truck that we have to worry about.
I probably won’t be blogging much until I get the internet hooked back up. I called, but the woman who is supposed to set up the appointments hasn’t called back yet. I’ll try again tomorrow. At least we have iPads that can hook up to the cloud, so we won’t be totally bereft of our connections.
See you on the other side!
It’s funny, living here on the left coast, we got up this morning to headlines on the internet saying “Obama sworn in in public ceremony”
“Huh?” we thought, “I thought it wouldn’t be until noon today.”
Duh. We live three hours behind the rest of the world! It was noon there, just because it was only 9 a.m. here!
Facebook has been full of memes from Martin Luther King, Jr. today, as well.
I know I complain a lot about the state of the world, and worry about what this country is coming to, but, DAMN, don’t we live in the best place on earth? We have to keep working and worrying and snarking to keep it that way, but, here we are, just 55 years after Little Rock Central High School was integrated, and their band marched in the second inaugural parade of a Black President!
The kitchen is almost done. The bathroom is finished. The laundry room is done. We don’t have to pack hanging clothes or books, or electronics (they get moved on special stands/cabinets/wardrobes. Also, clothes get to stay in dresser drawers and the cedar chest goes as it is. Also, the movers will pack the lamps.
I think we’re going to get it done by Wednesday!
Big Al is doing the lion’s share of the work because he doesn’t approve of my spacial abilities (I don’t fold and fit stuff in like he likes…) I’m glad he doesn’t mind doing this.
I’m filing and sorting all the pieces of paper that have taken up residence on my desk. I do almost everything electronically. Where does it all come from?
As near as I can tell this is the first picture of the bouncing baby boy. His Grandma Grayble is holding him, and I think it was taken on a warm day in March 1941, so he was about 2 months old.
And this is the boy as he looked this summer! Not much change that I can see.
Big Al and I managed to get four boxes packed and taped and taken down to the storage room. Extra cups, linen, the booze (most of it) and some of the CDs are down there.
I don’t know where my life/time goes, but it seems like all I did today was wash and dry the sheets, go to my Tai Chi class, go to lunch and trundle the boxes to the storage area.
And here it is, after 5 p.m., and it’s dark, and I’m ready to quit for the day.
photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/steffer/
I did get a chance to visit with my sister on the phone for a little while at noon, and that was nice.
These winter days that get dark early make me want to crawl into my cave like an old bear – although I can tell the days are gradually getting longer!
I know, I didn’t get a blog posted yesterday, but it really wasn’t my fault. I came home after doing Tai Chi, and playing bridge, to find my computer had been attacked by nasty something. It was a Trojan of some sort which set about scanning and reporting all kinds of malware. When I tried to go to Microsoft Security Essentials or Malwarebytes to confirm the scan, I found they had both been erased. Of course, I immediately called Bill and he spent several hours last night cleaning the hard drive. Then this morning, I spent several more hours running a couple of scans and finding more evidence of nastiness. I think we got it all (I hope.)
This afternoon, Big Al and I went to see Hyde Park on Hudson. I highly recommend it!
Now, the computer is behaving oddly again, so I’m signing off to run another scan. 😦
An Aging Liberal Hippy from the Left Coast 