A Working Vacation and Celebrating 86 Years!

I'm in the middle of a two-week vacation from work but I'm doing very little relaxing. I decided to tackle one of the jobs on my growing inventory of things-around-home-that-are-in-need-of-attention-but-can-wait-until-I'm-retired list: I painted the basement.

It was ten years ago that our Extreme Basement Makeover was in full swing and we've done very little to it since with the exception of some stained-glass work for the cabinetry. We both liked the sage green color we used on the walls down there at the time but I grew tired of it a while ago when I began to notice how there was little warmth to it. So, I put in a text to Karen to see if she could find some time in her schedule to sit down with us to help select some colors that would work well together. And then we (mostly I) got busy!

After the better part of 4 days, we had this to show for our efforts.



It's so nice to have it done. I'm writing this from one of my favorite spots in the house, down in the shop at one of the workstations. I enjoy being down here again! ...and so do the pups!

I was cleaning my bike recently when I noticed a crack developing where the spokes attach to the hub on my rear wheel. That's not good and I knew right away that I wouldn't be riding these wheels again. I put in a call to Adrian at Flanders Bros Cycles in Minneapolis to see if he had something similar he could sell me. He had nothing on hand but could have an even better pair for me in less than a week. They wouldn't come cheaply but hey, I'm still employed.

I was a little disappointed that this would have to happen while I was on break and intending to do lots of riding but this gave me the excuse to do the basement painting project. I'm happy.

The new wheels are the sweetest I've ever ridden! Adrian was telling me all of the selling points of them but most of what he was saying was over my head. I was content to take his word and know that these are more wheel than I'm worthy of and if I can get 33,000 miles from these as I did my last set I'll keep singing their praises.

Junk-mail seldom makes it beyond the trash can in our garage after being retrieved from our mailbox. There was one piece last week though that caught my eye because the name on it looked vaguely familiar. I opened it up to find a check for more than $600. I had to look at it closely to make sure it wasn't some sort of a come-on. It wasn't. It was my payout for a class-action lawsuit I'd entered into several years ago, never expecting to see much more than a few dollars if that. And to think, that piece of mail came so close to ending up in the trash!

Mom turns 86 today! We took her out to brunch at Cracker Barrel then brought her by our home to open some gifts. I think it was a nice start to her birthday. With her frail heart, each year I think it's going to be her last but each year she is happy to celebrate another.

She had already received 6 calls this morning from friends wishing her a happy birthday and she was telling us of more she was expecting to get. I love when she has something to look forward to because it makes her day. With that in mind, we need to take her out more often than we do. She's always so insistent on how she's happy to stay at home but I need to be more insistent that she needs to get out. Simple as that.

The rain has let up and I've got a yard full of leaves that need attention. My practice retirement is going almost too well! I could so easily get used to this! Hmm...let's see...to do Christmas/holiday lights this year or not? Hmm....