Liberty Tile

We have been working all four ends of the candle for many months now. Yes, I know there are usually only two ends of a candle... Evidently, we just don't know when to stop or say no. So right after Labor Day I asked John if he thought we'd have time to install the tile in our living room before the book club came over on the 11th. He thought we would (and it probably would have been fine if we did not have anything else that came up requiring our attention). So we started ripping out the old carpet & pad on 9/4 and began laying tile on 9/6. Took Sunday off (but did take a picture, see below) and then resumed the project on Monday. John pointed out that asking him to lay the tile on a diagonal meant that he'd have way more tile cutting to do - but doesn't it look good? It was a family affair (even included kitty). We all tried to get it done before book club even cutting in the dark on the back porch. We did not make it, so we went to plan B and had book club on our back deck. That's another story.

Mower, The rest of the Saga!

As you might remember, we found out the mower was in deep trouble on Saturday, August 23rd. On Friday, September 5th my husband sends me an email at work "I called to make sure the mower was ready (as promised) and they hadn't started on it yet, so I told them to never mind and I will pick it up this evening. I will have to rig something up to get it to work." Then he headed over after work and did not come home with the mower as they promised that it would be ready on Monday, September 8th. Nope, wasn't ready then either. The wheel/part had not come in yet. But they absolutely promised that it would be ready on Wednesday, 9/10.

So get a lovely picture in your mind...no mower since 8/23 and ladies from church coming over on 9/11 for Book Club. Not mowing for 20 days is not usually a "look" you go for when you have people over. PLUS the Lacey House is on the market and we haven't mowed that for 20 days either - yikes!!

I called on Wednesday morning to see if the mower was ready for pick up. Yup, the part had not come in yet "but we're unpacking the order right now". Wonderful, then will you call me when you know it is there? I was assured I would receive a call. Ok, so 4 hours later I give them a call. It is now 2pm and they close at 5pm. The gal told me that the order in the a.m. was UPS and the order that my wheel was on was DHL and that order does not come in until 3:30pm but she would call me after that. She called to say - - can you guess now?! Yup, the wheel did NOT come in the order but she promised (yes promised) that it would definitely be ready on Thursday. So then I ask her the obvious, "How can you promise it will be ready when your store has already promised us FOUR times it would be ready and it was not?" This is the funny part, she tells me because her sister works at a store in the valley and they have the wheels in stock and she's going to swing by on the way to work tomorrow. I asked her where it was (about 10 blocks from my house) and I explained that I'd be happy to pick up the wheels myself because we'd be picking up our mower and fixing it ourselves. (As they had not done anything else on the mower either even though we asked for tune-up, etc). I don't know if they got it or not? Just a quick phone call on status would have helped them to not crash & burn with this bit of customer service. So, I went and picked up the wheels $16 a piece. And John installed them in 8 minutes. Lawn mower is happy, lawn is happy and most of all Sam is happy...

Pizza !?

The youth were having a Back-to-School event and asked many of the moms to make Rice Krispie Treat Pizzas. Jodi said to do it however we wanted, just to have fun! Here is my attempt.

Kellogg's Rice Krispies Squares Original Recipe
1/2 cup butter (I always double the butter, makes certain they don't dry out)
10 ounce package mini marshmallows
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
6 cups Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal
(I used 5 cups rice krispies & 1 cup of only the "fruit" in the Capt Crunch)
Melt butter in large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Stir in cereal until well coated. Press into pan. Allow mixture to cool. After making the rice krispie treats and pressing into a pizza pan, I got the double boiler out. I used a 3-way combination: Dark chocolate chips, Milk Chocolate Chips and Peanut Butter Chips. I spread the melted chocolate/peanut butter mixture on the pizza, being sure to leave a "crust". Then I set it in the fridge to cool off. One cool, but not set, I pressed in the remaining chips into the chocolate mixture and sprinkled with Mickey Ice Cream topping mixture for color. Audrey came home and declared it a "Winner" since I had only a small "slice" left and many others left with half a pan.

Reflection Lake

John's sister Marcie had two boys with birthdays within days of each other so decided to have the b-day bash up at Grandma Carter's lake cabin. Before that day John instructed me what to buy boys and where to get toys (he sent me to White Elephant for rockets). He is always in charge of "boy" presents (as he usually picks something they really like). Jake turned 12 and Derek turned 8. Marcie had Taco soup, pizza, cake and ice cream. Grandma Carter came up with Dena and they brought two new baby kitties who had lost their mommas, so they had to feed them every couple of hours.

Phone...

John was over at the Lacey house working and I was trying to get in touch with him. He's kind of funny with his cell phone. Sometimes it is not on, so goes straight to voicemail, but he does not check messages (ever) so it is easier for him to just see he missed your call. So I dialed his number, not sure what I would get (voicemail or John). A guy answers the phone. My first thought is that I've dialed wrong. I apologize and hang up the phone. I dial, double checking the number and the phone rings. The same guy answers the phone. Now I'm thinking that the circuits are crossed or something. I apologize again, but ask him what number I'm dialing. He mumbles something, not making any sense. I apologize profusely and hang up. About a 1/2 hr later John gets home... "Where's your phone?" I ask him. That is when we finally figure it out - the guy that kept answering the phone? He STOLE John's phone!! (And here I am apologizing to him!!) How frustrating!! We were able to run to the store, buy a new phone and transfer our number & minutes to the new phone. By the end of the weekend all was fixed, but it certainly does make you wonder about some people!

Flowers for Audrey

Audrey is getting a very good reputation at the high school as a fabulous helper. She is an office aide during 5th period so makes copies, sorts mail and runs errands. John and Audrey arrive at school at the same time in the morning but John does not get done until 3:30. So because Audrey sticks around the school until John gets done, she often is found helping teachers after school. One teacher needed help with her computer and came to get John, but took Audrey instead. When Audrey was done helping her, the teacher presented her with these beautiful flowers. Just try to imagine Audrey's reaction : )

Sunday Afternoon

We went up to Kathy's place yesterday evening to celebrate Brianna's birthday. They had an ice cream bar with all sorts of yummy toppings. Of course there was birthday cake too. Grandma Whisler was able to be there also. Doesn't she look marvelous!