Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend 2010 activities included swimming, shopping for a vacuum cleaner, and flying to Brenham. Bill and I spent Friday together, he finished installing the new bathroom sink faucet (see previous blog posting for pictures of updated bathroom.) Saturday morning we planned an early trip out to Hooks to fly the plane a bit and wash it. Bummer, the battery was dead and the plane wouldn't start. Bill used some heavy duty airplane battery jumper cables to hook the plane battery to his CAR!! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of that, but it didn't work and no one was happy about that! So we pushed the plane back into the hanger and hooked it up to a battery charger.
Sunday Bill had to take an early morning trip to Marfa, and back by mid-afternoon. I swam in the morning in my own salt pool (no chlorine smell or eye burns). It is really nice to be able to swim at my own time and convenience. I have to make a lot of turns and the laps are short, but I still get in about 40 minutes and really enjoy the water.
Later on Sunday I had to shop for a vacuum cleaner. I checked out some ratings on the internet, then headed to Sears. The sales guy was an idiot, and tried to sell me the "top rated vacuum every consumer report guide", the Sears Kenmore brand. It weighed about 100 pounds, or at least more than I wanted to carry up and down stairs, so I said I would just look around. I found the Hoover that was most like my old one, still heavy but it had lasted over 10 years. He then tried to sell me a Dyson with a 5 year warranty (a bit more than I wanted to pay, but as he said, no filters, no bags, no belts, 5 year warranty, the cost would all even out over time.) But still heavy. I had read about the Hoover Platinum light-weight and saw it sitting there. It looks very old fashioned, simple zip up cover for the bag, no filters, but the entire bag is a HEPA filter. Rated by Consumer Reports as one of the cleanest light weight vacuums. No attachments, but it is sold with a small, hand-held canister vacuum, with attachments, for upholstery, etc. It was LIGHT WEIGHT! More expensive than the other Hoover like I used to have, but I just kept coming back to the weight. It is even designed to lift by hand to do stairs. (I tried it and it worked!!) So I decided that weight was a very important factor for me, and this was rated one of the cleanest vacuums, so I bought that one. Oh, plus it has a SIX year warranty.
Monday Bill and I headed out to Hooks to try to start the plane again, and maybe wash it. It started up great, and I flew in the left seat, did VERY well, I thought, and Bill agreed. We flew to Brenham, and our Memorial Day lunch at the airport diner then flew back to Hooks.

On final approach into Brenham airport

I had forgotten my camera, and I took these pictures below with my phone and emailed them to myself. Worked out pretty well!

Leaving airplane and heading for diner, it was hot.
Jan in diner with lunch.

Bill in diner
Little girl and her Dad had flown over for lunch also. She was wearing the poodle skirt like the waitresses do at the diner.

We flew back to Hooks, decided it was getting way too hot to wash the plane, so put it in the hanger, got the AC going in the car and headed to my house to jump in the pool. Cooled off, decided we had already had our Memorial Day meal and didn't want to heat up the grill. It was a great weekend, with success in vacuum cleaner shopping, swimming, and flying, all in a relaxed, "don't have to hurry or do anything" frame of mind. My kind of life... RETIREMENT!

Twins nearly crawling

The twins are getting more mobile every day. One day I'll show up and they'll crawl to meet me, and it won't be too long from now! They have passed the 8 month mark and are at a really cute stage.

Uncle Jason teaches Claire to walk.

Jake is pleased with himself, he can do push-ups now.

Video of Jake doing push-ups and rocking on hands and knees. You can hear Claire "talking" in the background.

Claire and Jake watching and laughing at each other.

Claire gets around in her own way, by spinning and rolling. She is also trying to sit up.

JanMa tickles Jake!

Bathroom Almost Done!

My bathroom, for all practical purposes, is done. Oh, the dis-colored grout needs to be redone, and the tub faucet handles and spigot need to be changed out, but the paint, new sink faucets, cabinet knobs, shower head and new towels are all in place. Oh, and the mirror frame. So here is the saga... The tile was done last summer, I selected a tile to remind me of the beach, sort of white with some texture.

Selecting the paint. BTW, Home Depot paint samples are cheaper than Sherwin Williams. Home Depot also has the paint/primer combination, and the painter said it was excellent paint!

After living with various shades of blue on various parts of the bathroom walls for several weeks, I decided to hire the painting done rather than do it myself. There are just too many door frames, mirrors, etc. for me to deal with.
I bought new towels...
then took them back and tried a different color scheme... much better.
Then I selected the faucets and other hardware. I wanted the brushed nickel, and decided I liked the look of the Moen brand the best.
I switched out the cabinet/drawer hardware myself.
Jason installed one faucet when he and Ashley and John were here for a weekend.
Of course, this required cleaning out the junk under the sinks, which needed to be done anyway.
Bill installed the shower head and the other faucet on the other sink.
Faucets look good.
I did a little research on mirror frames, and decided on a company called Mirror Mate. You send them the dimensions and some other info, select the frame you want, they cut and ship along with instructions and stuff for putting it together and installing. You don't need to take the mirror down at all. It really wasn't that hard to put together. I did it myself.
Bill helped me put it up, it is a large mirror and frame, and took both of us.
Here is the final product so far, just a few things to go in the shower.

Claire and Jake Baptism

Sunday, May 23, the twins were baptized at Faith Methodist Church.
The babies get passed around before the service starts. Cousin Courtney takes her turn holding Claire.
Jake gets involved before the service even starts, by chewing up the Sunday bulletin. Jake is being held by Shannon, Jennifer's college roommate and good friend.
I hope someone saved this bulletin for Jake's baby book.
Jeremy keeps Claire focused and calm.

Jake then falls asleep during the service.
Jake continues to nap, right up until the sprinkle of water!

The babies were very good, no crying or fussing at all.
Afterwards, Jake smiles at JanMa, letting her know he is cool with all of the goings on.
Claire was so good the whole time, and she gets ready to express her delight and pleasure.

Back at the house, Aunt Becky and Granny Tammy have set up a nice lunch feast.
It's a photo op for the Robin family.

Shannon and her Dad take their turn holding the twins.
JanMa holds Jake


Aunt Jamie holds Claire...
while her son, cousin Travis, plays hide-and-seek inside a Specs liquor store bag.
Cousin Allison holds Jake...
And then Claire. Both babies like their cousin Allison.

That's Life!

Stuff happens, and that's just life.
Two weeks ago I was going to tackle installing my bathroom faucet myself, but the shut off valves under the sink didn't completely shut off the water. I went outside to shut off the water to the house, and that didn't work either! No telling how long that valve was non-functional.
I called a plumber to replace that valve, he did, but not cheaply. But dang it looks good and at least now I can turn off the water to the house in case of emergency.
Try to do good, by collecting paper and cardboard and taking it to recycling center. I always use the dumpsters at one of the schools, Reaves or Rice are convenient for drive bys. Nothing bad happened during this trip, but I have run over junk in the further reaches of the parking lot and had tire problems in the past.
Tried to vacuum the stairs and the upstairs bedroom, which had a lot of debris on the floor from the AC guy visit to my attic to blow out the AC lines. Again, trying to stay on top of maintenance around the house and avoid overflow water during the summer from the AC drip pan in the attic. Well, after lugging out the vacuum cleaner and carting it upstairs, I found out it doesn't work. So a trip tomorrow to the vacuum cleaner repair guy and I hope it isn't the motor, which would probably mean a new vacuum cleaner. I'm indifferent to vacuum cleaners, I rarely use it, the housecleaner does though, and she might like a new one. I just hate to spend money on a vacuum cleaner.

So far the washing machine still works, but I have noticed a little squeak from time to time. I know it has nothing to do with the fact that I have started washing all my clothes together. What your mother told you about separating laundry, .... it really isn't necessary when the laundry consists of shorts and Tshirts and underwear. I just don't wear anything that really requires special handling in the wash anymore. I was keeping this a secret, about washing all my clothes together, but I mentioned it to my friend Lillie, and SHE DOES THE SAME THING. So there are probably a lot of folks out there that are over the age of 50 and don't separate their laundry. (College age kids don't count, especially boys, since it's doubtful they separate their laundry, or even do much laundry, with all the laundry services these days.)
And now my ice maker is problematic. The metal rod that you can move up or down to turn it on or off depending on how full the ice tray is, came off, and I cannot figure out how to put it back. So far the ice keeps churning on out, and I just dump some of it each day so it doesn't overfill. This will require some Bill expertise, but he has been in Italy for nearly 2 weeks. He doesn't have a clue of the extent of the "honey-do" list I'm keeping.

So stuff happens and you have to deal with it. As my friend Lillie says, at least now that I'm retired, I have time to deal with it. And although these things can be resolved, that usually costs money, and being on a fixed income and all..... But when I hear of friends who are facing serious illnesses or severe tragedies in their lives, having too much ice or not vacuuming the stairs are rather insignificant. So I count my blessings, and deal with the stuff.

Twins developing

Jake and Claire are developing faster every day it seems. They both can manipulate things on the activity center, but it seems to hold Jake's attention longer than Claire's. Jake will be an engineer! See the first video below of each baby playing with the activity center.

Claire at the activity center

Jake in the mirror playing with the activity center

I predict Jake will be an engineer.

Twins watch Sponge Bob while I get their dinner ready

Twins have a drink while I empty dishwasher.

Jake, then Claire, playing at activity center.

Jake can get on his hands and knees, very close to crawling. Claire rolls over and can spin around on her tummy to get where and what she wants.