No Sunshine Yesterday

"No Sunshine" in a metaphorical sense. Remember the great ad line about "A day without orange juice is like a day without sunshine." (Ok, don't know how to punctuate that correctly...) Well, maybe there are one or two people for whom a day without an Augustus Blog might be a day that has a cloud or two passing by quickly on an otherwise gorgeous day...Hubris, thy name is Augustus...

If I had my druthers you might be out of luck today as well. But instead, I am going to zip a blog post off before heading out to another day at the Opera. And by day, I mean - 9:30 till whenever, a little bit off for lunch where I rush back to the house, make lunch for mom and me, and then hurry back to the theatre. More rehearsing until 5 or so, then back to the house to create some dinner for the momster and me. Again, briefly here before heading back to the theatre. Until 10 or so at night when I return home to putter around until I go to sleep to get up early yet again to go into the theatre. This would be much easier without my mom duties, but that is what I signed up for, after all...So, onward.

Other than the opera, not a lot exciting has been happening. I haven't, obviously, gotten to watch much in the way of Olympic coverage. Not that there is too much that I am eager or even interested in watching. NBC is doing a great job of showing a lot of advertisements!

I feel like my life is on hold just now. I missed taking my mom to her doctor's appointment on Monday, which we will probably have to pay for. Sigh. My alarm on my iPhone wasn't tenacious enough and I hadn't set the same one on my computer. Glarg. I do feel that mom is being a smidge neglected, but not that much more than when I am actually here in the house all day. So maybe I will be able to figure out and find a job of some kind to bring in some extra income. Goodness knows it would help.

Ok, time to get motivated for today's opera stuff!

Breakfast for dinner on Sunday Night

Al directing

Shaving Cream and whipped cream - hope I don't mix them up!

The cast (mostly) of the Barber of Seville

Suddenly Sunday

Here we are, the beginning of the week. Or the end of the week. Or, if your week starts on Wednesday, I guess this would be the middle of the week. Does is really matter? It all seems so arbitrary sometimes. Often. In any case, it is Sunday. The Opera gets loaded into the theatre today so I will need to get out the door in the not too distant future. This post may take a long time to get finished. Or not. Maybe I will drill through it and get it done before I depart for the day.

First full day of the Olympics yesterday. If I had no life, I could easily see becoming absorbed in watching it. Oh, and if the coverage were a) more interesting and b) not so slanted and c) so sensational. Goodness, hype much? And I am minorly miffed that to be able to get streaming on NBC's website, you must be a cable subscriber. What the heck is that about? Oh, yeah, money. Sigh. The Olympics, like so much else, is more and more commercialized. And that is no fun for anyone... Ok, enough of that. It does keep my mom entertained a bit...

What else exciting happened? Oh, I got a call from the director of the Opera asking me to come help him pack up the rehearsal space in preparation for today's move into the theatre. That was fun. I do enjoy doing theatre related activities.

For dinner, more leftovers. I made a glop - a combination of a bunch of things tossed into a pan and heated up. And salad. I don't make a lot of salads for some reason. Too much work? Too boring? I don't know, I just don't make a lot of them.

After dinner, I headed out to Microclimate for a beer. I sat at the bar, as I usually do, and chatted with a bunch of people. Three nice couples from around the area. Very different and all pleasant. And another guy who popped in for a glass of wine. I don't know when next I will get there, as this week's schedule is unclear to me, but I hope to make it there at least once. They have a beer called Tusker from Nigeria that I would like to try. And I had Founder's Cerise last night - which was pretty good - a nice balance of sour and sweet. Yay beer!

Eeek, behind the sofa!

Packing up at Houghton House

Founder's Cerise

Happy Saturday

Here it is, really Saturday and it feels like Sunday. Whatever. It is just another day. And an overcast one at that, here in Beautiful Geneva. Karl and his cast of characters departed early yesterday and headed back to continue their lives in Connecticut. And left us to continue ours here.

Mom, exhausted from the kids and from her antipathy for Candace, went to bed. I had a hard time getting her up to do anything.

While she was recouping, I did some work on Flippety, adding a feedback option, so that people can send me email from within the application. Hopefully lots of raves, but I am sure if enough people play it, bugs will be found. And feature suggestions will come in. I love how other people think that their ideas are so great. If they are so great, why don't they write an app and publish it? Hmm?

I was feeling a bit enervated as well. I even took an hour long nap. Yay napping. I do enjoy napping. Sadly it has been seemingly forever since I had someone to nap with. Still naps are great, even alone.

After napping, I took a walk to the library. My Connecticut friend (yes, I only have one friend in Connecticut...) said that she and her family were listening to The Hobbit on their drive to the shore, which inspired me to go to the library to see if I could find The Lord of the Rings in Audiobook format. I did, a condensed version. But I am going to look online in the catalog and see if I can find an unabridged set. It was great to have a nice long walk.

Mom did eventually come downstairs for dinner. I made leftovers which turned out pretty well. We will have left overs for the next couple of days, in fact. Yay leftovers! Then we watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. I was miffed that they chose to run it with commercials. I know that NBC wants to make as much money as they possibly can (maximizing revenue seems to be almost mantra like in our society. Joy.). Still, some of it would have benefited from being seen straight through. Bits I liked especially were the transition into the industrial revolution and the forging of the Olympic rings - the health care stuff was good, I liked the flying doves/bicycles. I was underwhelmed by Paul McCartney at the end. I didn't like the June and Frankie thing all that well. I did like the way the Olympic Cauldron was created. Good thing there wasn't a technological glitch. And I liked the faux Glastonbury Tor with all of the flags of the various countries represented.

Candace and Jenna

Jacob and Skyelyn

Working on the porch

Leftovers take one!

The storm recedes

Or at least it is supposed to. My brother and entourage are working to depart by 10 am. Oops, it is 10:10 as I start this blog. Not too bad, really.

We have been having some rain here in beautiful Geneva, NY. Yippee for rain! We certainly need it. Though I would be happy to ship it to anywhere that has a worse drought than we do. I don't believe in hording. Well, not a lot, at least.

You know how some days just feel like other days? Today feels like a Saturday so far. I wonder how that happens. Our brains are weird and whacky things.

Yesterday was my first day doing actual Stage Managing and Production Managing sorts of duties for the Opera. It didn't go too badly. The goal was to move the piano (a Steinway, Grand Piano) off the stage and into the pit. There was a professional piano mover who guided the whole process and it went off without a hitch. I don't think anyone hurt themselves and the piano seemed unscathed. Yippee! I was first in the building and last out of the building, as any self respecting Stage Manager ought to be. But it was an early start and an enervating enterprise.

As I drove up to the house, my brother was getting mom into his van. They were going on a lunch adventure to Wagner's across the lake. Asked if I would like to come along, I politely declined, looking forward to a couple of hours of blessed solitude. Inside my mind I was doing a fairly energetic Snoopy style happy dance! I tried not to let it show...

So I had a pretty blissful next four hours or so. I guess they had a long lunch! I showered, worked a lot on Flippety, did my blog and generally relished the silence.

The party did eventually return to the house. Candace went food shopping in preparation for cooking dinner. Mom and Karl and the kids, I don't really know what they did besides run around a lot. Karl and I did manage to find time to talk about mom, money, the house, the future and all that fun stuff. I suggested that they come to Geneva for Thanksgiving and they are taking it under advisement. Which probably means "no" but only time will tell...

Candace cooked a tasty dinner indeed! A lot more veggies than I prepare generally. I didn't really observe how much of what mom ate, but she seemed to enjoy it over all as well.

After dinner, and a little cleaning up on my part, I opted to escape to Microclimate for my Thursday night out. Stephanie and her husband Ramone were on duty. We had a long chat about beer and did a triangle taste test because I thought the Cream Porter I had wasn't quite right in taste. Turns out my taste buds were not as cute (or acute) as I thought. Which is one reason I don't plan on ever being a Cicerone...But I did get some Peche Lambic out of the deal! :)

Does anyone remember the song Ironic by Alannis Morrisette? Well, a part of one of the verses happened to me (in essence and gender switched, but still). And who knows if someone you meet once in passing briefly is really "all that?" First impressions are good and everything, but the proof is in the pudding (whatever the heck that means). And in this case, it doesn't really matter since the person in question is in a relationship of some pith. Oh well. Onward.

The room I normally sleep in transformed

Candace cooking

Karl Kutting

Skyelyn, Candace, Jacob, Karl and Mom at dinner

Yum! And a salad too!

Safely Over Whelmed

Last night, just before midnight, the hordes descended. It took a while to get everyone settled in their various sleeping situations, but it did happen. Eventually. And unfortunately, today, of all days, I have an early morning appointment. Yay.

Yesterday was laundry day! Yippee! Clean-ish stuff for everyone! I had been looking forward to doing laundry by myself, running a couple other little errands and basically having some me time. But it wasn't to be. Mom wanted to help the entire day. Joy. I think it is wonderful that she is showing interest in helping. But like a child, her help is often less helpful than if she would just let me do it and get it over with.

It started with her wanting to help vacuum. She has been pestering me for days about vacuuming. So I set her up to vacuum. But she couldn't find the receptacle. So I found showed her the receptacle. Then she couldn't plug it is, so I plugged it in. Then the cord had a knot in it. So I unplugged the cord. But she couldn't manage to undo the knot, so I undid the knot. Finally, she vacuumed while I continued to do what I needed to do. Then she called because she couldn't get the vacuum down (hard to explain - but an easy fix). Am I complaining? Sort of. I could use a vacation. A real vacation. Two weeks being pampered in a luxury resort. Or even two weeks alone in the house. It could happen.

Meanwhile, I vacuumed my room - even moving furniture - that's right, Mr. Muscles Moved Mucho! And made the bed in the red room. And got the laundry together - only to find that mom wanted to go with me. So that was exciting. Mom folded a bit. At one point she lifted a bath towel and said - this is too big for me to fold. Sigh. She did great with the socks and underwear...

There is still a new place moving into the mall, but they are moving in really, reallllly slowly. I haven't a clue what it is going to be. Big excitement in Geneva!

After our hard day getting ready for the onslaught, I opted to not cook and to take mom to her favorite dining local - Friendly's. I find the place to be hit or miss - last night was a miss. Our server was slow and inattentive, my fries came out cold despite being double dipped and I never was asked how my food was or if I wanted a refill. Oh, I take that back, she asked me if I wanted more tea - I had half coke/half orange soda in my glass. Sigh. Mom had fun though, which in the long run made it ok.

We watched My Fair Lady on DVD last night. I thought Audrey Hepburn was ok - sad that she didn't sing her own songs. Overall enjoyable. And it does give me hope for a December/May romance! :)

A clean room (will last until noon on Friday)

Mom gayly feeding quarters into the washing machine

Candace, Jenna and Mom

Karl and Jenna

Jenna and Mom

Jacob

Mom and Skyelyn

Almost Karlmegeddon

Yes, it is almost upon us, the visit of the year - Karl and Candace and Skyelyn and Jacob and Jenna are descending upon this poor, suspecting, quiet household! Eeeek! Run for the hills! Hide the silver!

Seriously, it isn't a big deal. It is more of an issue for Karl & Co. than it is for us. The kids are still young enough that they may be a handful, but they are, over all, manageable. Karl has to contend with two longish drives in three days - or more like 36 hours. Personally, I think he is a little crazy, but he wants to do it, so he is coming. Tonight. Late. Which still gives me time to get the house even readier than it is already.

Yesterday and last night I spent some time working on the house. The rooms I most wanted to get done are the room Karl and Candace will be sleeping in (the room I use as my bedroom). I am glad that they are going to use this room (where I am typing right now). This way I get to clean it up, sort and organize a little bit. Yay! Mostly done - I just need to toss a few things in the closet, remake the bed and vacuum. All tasks for a little later in the day.

The other room I wanted to finish yesterday was a neatening and reconfiguring of the dining room. It has been a long time since the dining room was used for dining (except for breakfast for Sam and Lewis when they were here). And even longer since it was really cleaned. It had become the repository of boxes to be sorted - leaving the living room mostly clear of boxes. If I were stronger and braver I might have taken all of the boxes down to the basement room. But I wasn't and am not, so I opted to move them to behind the yellow sofa in the living room. Yes, back into the living room, but in a less prominent position. And there weren't as many as I had thought. Maybe 20. That is good news to me. Though mom seemed surprised that there were so many. She sat on the sofa and asked if she should be helping. And where they all came from. I didn't really have an answer to either of her questions after the fifth iteration of each.

After the boxes were all out (leaving the stacks of over 200 New York Review of Books) I took out all the chairs and put an extra leaf in the dining room table. Mom got her act together and did a good job polishing it. I cleaned off all the chairs and the legs of the table and vacuumed the room. It is looking pretty spiffy (and will do so for at least three days after Karl & Co. leave). Yay!

One more task for the evening - getting all of the stuff that had been accumulating in the room at the head of the stairs up into the attic. Eeek, the attic! Spiders and bugs and who the heck knows what all else. I really want someone to come help declutter the house. Maybe when I am rich. Someone without ulterior motives would be nice. An impartial, third party. It may happen eventually. So, it got up there, but I wasn't thrilled about doing it on lots of levels.

Oh, at some point, I also wandered downtown to Red Dove for a delicious Slyfox O'Reilly's Irish stout. Chatted a bit with Abby and the servers there, though they were sort of busy. Saw Elena and Jim, which is always pleasant. And then wandered home, stopping at Microclimate - not because they were open, but because James was there having a meeting of some kind! Yay!

Oh, I did do a dating post - not so rant-like. I just can't bring myself to rant...

Boxes out of sight, mostly

Dining room more better

A view of the lake

Pretty

Bonus Post - Dating Rant take 3(?)

Ok, dating rant time.  I think this might be the third or fourth time, maybe the fifth, that I have ranted thusly. It never gets old for me. It won't get old until I find myself in a romantic relationship. Or end up cremated and my ashes spread over someones breakfast...

As some of you are undoubtedly aware, I would like to be in a romantic relationship. Not everyone does want to be. That being said, I am very happy on my own. I love me, I am great. I am leading a very full and interesting and creative life. Overall, "things" are great. I would, though, like to have someone in my life with whom to share lives. My mom doesn't count in this situation, on many levels and in many ways. Now that we are clear that I am not "needy" or "desperate" we can move on.

I will admit that I am eager to be in a relationship. Although I do enjoy being on the lookout for a potential partner. Sort of. I like having my antennae outstretched, my gal-dar (radar that picks out women in the vicinity) set on high. I love meeting people and getting to know them.

I have written most of a book on Attraction, Sex, Dating and Relationships - as some of you may know. It needs a lot of work to get ready for the public - and that may never happen. The reason I bring is up, is because I have given a lot of thought to these subjects.

Let's start with Attraction: I know what attracts me in a person - in an objective way. What looks, what level of intelligence, what state of mental health. Fine and good to know that. When it comes to actually dating someone, this knowledge doesn't actually mean much. I date who appears and appeals in the moment. I don't hold out for some idealized person who may or may not actually exist (which is why the idea of a soul mate appeals, but is not something I am depending my romantic life's happiness on finding).

So at one point, I did a spreadhseet showing how many people, out of a thousand migth actually be potential romantic partners for me. And they were not encouraging. Basically, since I am somewhat picky (I need to be attracted to my partner - go figure) and I know I am not everyone's cup of tea - despite my many wonderful qualities - I ended up with .5 in 1000. (Lest you think that I am being unreasonable - here is the math:
Most of these are guestimates - the "No Major Issues" includes things like a woman's relationship status and mental health.) (Another aside - I think this math might hold true for most people - unless they a) have no standards or are b) really really physically attractive or are c) really really fiscally fit or worldly powerful.) Which in Geneva, a town of 14000 people, means that there are about 7 people who might be a romantic match for me. That's the good news (I guess). The bad news is - how does one find them?

Right now, my main method is the dating site Plenty of Fish. I write to women who catch my fancy for one reason or another. Most of them never respond. Some that have responded, write to say "no." Sometimes when they write "no" I say to myself "Phew!" Other times I think "Double Phew!" I mean, someone who takes the time to write to say no is something that I don't understand. When someone I haven't written to writes me, I don't say no. I invite them to let us get to know each other, even if every fiber of my being believes that the chances of us being a romantic match are 1 in 6 billion. Why? Because I believe in saying yes, in giving people a chance to show themselves to be good, interesting people. Heck, I might not be a match for them, but someone I know might be a match for someone they know. Anything is possible. Why say no? Life is too short to say no all the time. There are endless reasons/excuses to say no. Too far, too old, too much hair (what they say about me). Sigh. I think you get the point.

Hope springs eternal. Sure, I get sad every once in a while about not having a romantic partner in my life. Then I think of all the good things: socks, pillows, trees and having most of my teeth (my wisdom teeth are long gone...) and I perk right back up again. And who knows, maybe one day, in the supermarket, someone's cart will bump into mine and I will take her to court and sue her for her life's savings! Ah, true "blave."

A regular daily post before a rant

I think it is just about time for a dating rant. Or lack of dating rant. But before I do that, I will write a bit about my day yesterday and see how I feel.

Yesterday...what the heck happened yesterday? Oh, right, I had a couple of meetings and took a trip to the NY DMV and to Wegman's. So, a full-ish day!

First meeting was in downtown Geneva, with Kelly from the Smith Opera House. We wanted to get on the same page about her expectations and my expectations about working together. I think we chatted for about an hour and got a lot of things straightened out. Turns out that she wants me to act as sort of the production manager in addition to my stage manager role. I can do that! We also talked about getting creative with the curtain speech about cell phones and such. We shall see if anything comes of that. It would take some effort and I don't know that the effort will be forthcoming. Everyone is always very busy (even when they aren't) (I should know about the latter...).

I also went to the DMV. Did you know that you had 30 days to get a new license and to re-register your car after moving to a new state? Well, good thing I haven't moved, yet. And I need to have insurance before I can get the car license. And for that, I need to find my car's title. I am sure I have it somewhere. Maybe I will look for that later today. Maybe not as well. I might just wait until after Karl and crew leave (on Friday). Wow, I am talking about them leaving and they haven't even arrived yet.

Second meeting was with Donna, a friend of a friend of a friend, who had an idea for an iPad application. We also chatted for about an hour. I am going to help her with the project. Mostly because it seems pretty simple and straightforward. I don't know when I will be able to focus on it, since I want to get Flippety done and the opera is getting closer to being in full swing. I told her that it would be at least two weeks before I had something for her to look at. I was thinking of working with a prototyper application and seeing what it can do before moving on to actual coding. Yay, another project! One that might actually bring in a dollar or two. Literally.

Next, mom and I went to Wegman's. Mom came along because she was determined to help by doing the recycling of the deposit cans and plastic bottles. Go mom! As for the shopping, I had a list, so it was pretty easy - in and out pretty quickly. Yippee! I like easy. Mostly I was getting ribs for dinner - which turned out pretty well, if I must say so myself. Mom liked the meal so much she had seconds!

I also worked on excavating my room a bit for the imminent arrival of Karl and his cohort. (Ok, not quite 480 strong, but still a good sized bunch.) My mom loves to stand in my doorway and say things about how messy my room is. Really, it isn't. It is just cluttered and disorganized. I will post before pictures today - and hopefully after pictures tomorrow. :)

The dating rant is going to be its own separate post. Yippee!

Not messy, just disorganized...

Again, disorganization rears its fearsome head

An Opera Day

Not a day at the opera - that is something else entirely. This was a day where a good portion of it was used doing opera focused activities. To start, was a stumble-through of the entire show. I don't mean to impugn the performers - it is just a common name for the first rehearsal where most of the blocking/staging has been roughed in. Getting the whole thing on its feet and seeing how it flows from beginning to end. There are almost always places where things are rough and the actors might have problems. But the principals are all trained professionals and did well. All in all, the rehearsal went pretty smoothly. Al, the director, had me and the lighting designer in to watch and take notes.

Next, a trip to Houghton House to transfer props and unload some furniture. While there, I ran into Elena who was clearing out her office in preparation for eventual retirement from the Colleges. She said she was letting go of a lot of books, so I helped myself to four. Being a book-a-holic, I could have taken a lot more, but I managed to show some restraint. Go me!

Lastly, there was a "picnic" put on by the cast. Before I could attend, I made dinner for mom. She didn't really think it would be a fun experience for her. So I whipped together breakfast for dinner for her: scrambled eggs (with bacon, onion, broccoli and mushrooms) and a piece of corn on the cob. Ok, I admit, I had a piece of corn and the leftover eggs before I headed out to the picnic.

The bbq was a whopping five minute walk from my house. I love Geneva! The singers are staying in a college dorm that I think used to be a Fraternity House. It is one of the big, imposing, beautiful houses on South Main street, overlooking the lake. I don't really know many of the cast or crew that well, having only worked with some of them for a little bit last year. But they were all very nice. I chatted with most everyone I think. At least a little. The food was great. I helped by boiling some corn. The corn was actually softer that way - so I might have to try making some like that at home. Some people played games - cards and frisbee mostly. I sat and wandered around a bit. At the very end of the evening, some of us talked politics. My idea of national service and not letting anyone under 21 be deployed into a combat situation seemed to go over ok. Making drugs and prostitution (amongst other things) legal met with a little push back. A world without money didn't go over so well. I didn't tell them I was planning to run for president in 2024, so I don't know if any of them will vote for me (if I make it onto any ballots...).

So, an opera-full day! Yay! Oh and at night, we had a good rain storm. Yippee, even!

By the way, I posted another brewpub blogpost. 

And I had an idea for a dating website...still thinking about it...

Guests gather

Frisbee and the view!

The picnic table moved to escape the rain

I was hiding

People chatting

And eating

And more chatting and eating...

Some dinner and a Dundee Stout - not too shabby a beer

Fruit!

All about Saturday

Mom agreed to go to Eisenhower College's homecoming dinner Saturday night. Just after she took her shower (under the newly installed shower head), a huge box was delivered - it was the new shower seat/transfer bench. Drat. I would have liked to have seen how mom liked it. Though, to be honest, I need to find or make something to put under the legs to enable it to work. We have old fashioned tubs in this house - cast iron with legs that put the tubs much higher than in modern bathrooms.The legs on the device aren't quite long enough. A two by four or two will probably do the trick. I haven't measured yet...

The Homecoming/Reunion event was in Seneca Falls, which makes sense since that was where Eisenhower was. The event was held at the Clarence Hotel. Part of the reason we went, was in the hopes of running into Elaine Thiesmeyer. She was being honored as a Distinguished Faculty member. Sadly, she was unable to attend.

Mom was understandably a bit anxious. She was afraid that she wouldn't recognize anyone. I told her that she needn't worry, that people would recognize her. And mom did get talked with by a bunch of people. She got a lot of much needed ego stroking! And she even remembered a few people and names and Eisenhower events. Funniest meeting was with a fellow teacher, to whom she said, "Oh, I remember you, we used to hate each other." Needless to say, he was at a loss for words for a few seconds. I wonder if mom has been recognized as a Distinguished Faculty member and we just didn't know it. I am sure we would have known. Maybe she will be thus honored before she loses it completely.

Overall the evening was quite pleasant! The food was decent - though the cheese could have used some crackers. I was happy to see a Caesar Salad as one of the options on the buffet. Although the bar in the ballroom was not very well stocked, there was a decent beer selection in the main bar. I might actually have to venture to the Clarence Hotel again on some night out. I like the bar area, the beers are actually pretty varied and they have good specials!

Mom's new shower seat

? and mom

Warren and Mom

Mom and David Dresser

? and Mom

? and mom

Two women from the class of '83 and mom

dessert

Vicki and mom

Jim and mom

 

Winner by a TKO

In the second round of the Augustus vs. The Shower Head, I came back swinging - well, after I took some quality time in my corner. First, I got all geared up. I got a couple of vise grip wrenches, a can of the spray stuff (that a very nice older gentleman (yes, even older than I am) led me to) and some CLR (which I didn't end up using). I got back to the house and immediately sprayed the petroleum based PB onto the various threads that I wanted to loosen. I got my vise-grips out and went to work. Before I could count to ten, I felt something give, in a good way. Sure enough, the shower head came off! Yay!

Next step, install the new shower head. Seemed easy enough. I had gotten a new flange thing from Lowes that expanded the smaller tube coming up from the shower handles into the size that is now standard. Onto that I screwed the new shower head. Last step, attaching the hose with the handle. As I was doing this, I noticed that only one end had a washer in it. I looked at the instructions which said three washers were included. I had seen one in the shower head, there was one at one end of the shower tube and that was all I could find.

Off to the hardware stores - the hardcore, hardware stores. First stop, the hardware store in downtown Geneva. The man in there seemed a little surprised that someone actually came into his store. He had a few washers, but nothing that came close to the one I had in my hot little hand. So, on to the next hardware store. There, I was helped by a lovely young woman - together we managed to find a couple of things that might could do in a pinch. Lastly, I went to Lowes, the scene of the crime, so to speak, where I had purchased the replacement shower head. Sadly, they had no good answer for my problem, nothing better than the previous store had had at best. So I returned to the bathroom with slight feelings of trepidation.

I put in one of the o-rings I had purchased and attached the hand held shower part. Now, to see if there were any major problems. I turned the shower on - lo and behold, everything worked! Yay! I won! Next step, cleaning up the mess I had made doing this project. As I was neatening, I found the third washer - replaced it into the hand held tube and tested again - still no leaks. I still think that my trip to the hardware stores was a win. I got to putter around, and met a nice young woman. Yay! (Hope springs eternal!)

See, I can be handy!

And that was the whole day. Pretty much. Well, I made mom lunch, worked on Flippety - yes, I really did work on Flippety - I can't believe it myself, but I did. Made dinner - fish for mom and left overs for me. Lastly, we watched Ed Wood.

I am a fan of Johnny Depp and Tim Burton. And overall I enjoyed the movie. I was never a big fan of Ed Wood's movies, so much of it was lost on me. I thought Martin Landau did a great job as Bela Legosi (I thought Martin Landau had died before Ed Wood came out...) (just joking - it is an allusion to the movie...in fact, as I write this, Martin Landau is still alive!). Generally, I would recommend it, but only mildly, unless you are a big fan of all three personalities: Ed Wood, Johnny Depp and Tim Burton. Otherwise, watch Edward Scissorhands again!

Coin rolling - $48.50

The PB stuff

Vise-grips for everyone!

Mom seems to think that she used to frequent Miller's...

The new shower-head - in place!