The heat...oh the Heat!

All the rain we had, all the nights we had the gas fireplaces lit as we sat and read, each one of us getting chillier and chillier until one said...Turn the Jotul on.  I will never stop being grateful to Dick for talking me into gas fireplaces. Yes, I miss the scent of wood smoke but not as much as I love having instant heat. Well all that ended this week...and I'm counting the days til there's a chill in the air again!

But now we are in the 'install the last window a/c units'. Every year, there is a problem with one or the other or as it is this year with two. Putting the units in the cellar seems to bring issues with the effin accordion panels on the sides. Plus the unit installed in my studio does not seem to cool at all and Mr. Engineer has determined that the coolant may have leaked out somewhere, sometime. This room rarely gets below 80° now. Not good. Not good at all.

I am now tasked with checking Best Buy on line to see what units fit the profile he's given me. The trouble is I have to do this research in the hot humid room without working a/c. I'm trying to be grateful for such 1st world problems but right now it's not that easy. I'm getting there because I can laugh at the 'privilege' of it all.

And people wonder why I don't want to go to Costa Rica.

Five on Friday: July 10, 2015

Ah  this summer is just moving along despite a LOT of rain.  We all wish we could send even a portion to California but that's not how it works.

1. If every time you move, you find the same people, well...What does that tell you???

Original

2. I haven't been watching almost any movies, Redbox or Netflix but I have started a few new tv shows that give me about 1 show a night 'on demand' during the week. An hour a day is enough tv for me. "The Crimson Tide", another season of "Last Tango in Halifax", "Humans" and slowly watching "Poldark" as well.

3. We had planned to take Granddaughter#1 out to dinner for her 16th, just her after a visit to family on her actual birthday. She likes Italian and so he selected a restaurant in Alexandria. However, this week of rain had an absolute deluge as we were on the beltway and Alexandria was already getting flooded. Change of plans to a nearby restaurant and fortunately we didn't look like drowned rats going in. 

4. It looks like my plans for dog sitting next month are scuttled. I've done this for quite a few years as my son and family head to the beach. This year Grandson#1 will be home working and not going. Sigh...I'm no longer needed. That's a mixed blessing. 

5. Yesterday, his air conditioner started spitting ice cubes again. We've put off doing a whole batch of Mitsubishi wall units for a while and so off to Best Buy he went for a much bigger one. Lucky for him, there is construction across the street so he was able to get a few of the men to carry it up to the attic and install it for him. Pretty much all done in a little over an hour from the time he left to drive to Best Buy. Would that all things went so smoothly. 

And me? I'm off on a retreat down in Southern Md. Thanksgiving in July meaning we women get a reminder about how to be grateful for what is as it is.

See you all next week!

Five on Friday: March 15, 2013

My goodness the year is going by quickly. My goodness, this doesn't seem to happen when you're young, does it! That tells me a lot...

1. I am back to eating oatmeal again. The days of the morning aerobics class did not lend themselves to oatmeal before exercise. No, I didn't want to get up early to have 'digestion time'.  No, not at all.

2. Cardinals must be on the 'short bus' in the bird kingdom. We have reflective glass on our deck doors to preserve heat/air conditioning. The cardinals either think they have a rival for the females attention or think there's a female Right There just waiting for them.  I've put images of owls on the panes of the windows to no avail.  Right now, I'm getting kinda tired of hearing ping ping ping as those fiery red fellows give themselves headaches flying into the glass. Apparently as with human males, sex trumps common sense.

3. Yesterday, we had some tremendous winds that even blew through my air conditioner and ruffled the curtains. I balk each year about taking that window unit out since I have to put it somewhere. Getting it carried down and back up to the cellar no longer seems a good option. Each year as the months go by, I wish I had put a plastic sheet over the unit. I suspect it will be back to duct tape to seal it up when summer comes. Oh fun...

4. Yesterday, the old Advantium was taken out and the new microwave  installed.  After a day without a working kitchen, I decided it was a dinner out. He's always happy with Old Country Buffet and, truthfully, I am too since we can both get what we want. Snigger if you will, it works. Last night was no exception. We did not have one item in common all night. But apparently Thursday is family night and OMG, they had a cotton candy machine! I planned to get a few strands but by the time we were ready to go, the cotton candy man had 4 people waiting for banana splits, his other specialty. I suspect the idea of cotton candy was really enough for me.

5. On this day in 2001, a few months before our wedding, Mr. R. and I went to the mall for my wedding/engagement ring. I reminded him this morning that I would be up for a trip to the mall again for an additional band of diamonds. He mumbled somethingand went on to reprogram the thermostat. That's my engineer!