Normalcy Returning

With the outside getting its layer of winter dirt removed, and the inside under control, I went to the salon for a manicure, pedicure and waxing.  It felt good to have it all done at once.  When I came home I made reservations for us to fly to FL in a few weeks to visit my 89 year old father who is experiencing difficulties.  Fares into Fort Myers were outrageous so I looked at Tampa and they were better.  But if we were going to have to drive for two hours we would rather fly into Orlando, visit with Larry and Kristin, and drive three hours.  We will be with the kids 3.5 days and then we will all travel to the west coast for a day and a half of visiting.  Any more wears my Dad out so we will limit our time there.  We had leftovers for dinner from our Saturday night visit to Olive Garden and Easter dinner and it was all just as yummy the second time around.

Tuesday we spent shopping at Lowe's. Isabelle was coming Thursday to clean and I needed some supplies.  Ted wanted topsoil to fill in our critter holes in the yard.  We bought a new outside light because the old one keeps burning out the bulb.  But the new one isn't working so we are having a handyman come in case there is some disconnect between the switch and the fixture.  Or ... we may have just done it wrong though I have hung lights before.  I bought 30 impatien plants and planted them out front.  We also bought a new faucet end that twists to be spray or stream but it didn't fit despite being "universal."  And our master bath toilet may need a new float.  I put on a new flapper and that didn't fix the problem and since we have a handyman coming anyway I will let him fight with the old float.  I'm missing my 38 feet of RV right about now.  We save our problems, take it to the factory and everything gets fixed at once!

I thought the light was working!  I remembered the outside electric outlets work off a GFI in the garage and hard rains will trip it.  I pushed it and the light worked.  I felt vindicated.  But by afternoon it was off again and we were no longer in business.  Guess we will have Gordon come after all.

Ted had to go to the Chronicle on Wednesday so I straightened up around the house then went shopping for some cards and gifts plus stopped at the grocery.  I made a chicken pot pie with leftover roast chicken I had in the freezer for dinner and called it a day.

I was up early on Thursday.  First up was making a fruit salad for a funeral at church and then I had to get ready to go play Shanghai.  I dropped the salad off and visited with Kathy and Betty for a bit, then went to the bank followed by a sandwich at Chik Fil A, complete with fresh flowers on each table.  Delightful!  I arrived right on time to play cards.  I had awful cards and came in dead last.  But we had a lot of fun at our table discussing snakes and Blue Whales.  Believe me, you don't want to know.  

I came home and started revising the Blue Book which is a manual for whomever is the chair this year for the Women's Shelter Gift Distribution in December.  It is due in May so I want it ready before we start all our April travel.  I told Isabelle to just leave my desktop alone and I would polish it once I had my book put back together.  We had leftover pot pie for dinner and settled in for the night.

Friday was our first lazy day since arriving home.  I finished up the Blue Book and it is ready to pass on.  I checked my hours and with the five work days I have scheduled I will have my hours in for this year.  So despite being gone all summer and winter I chaired an event, got all my hours in and am ready to pass on the info so I felt good about that.

I did clean out a few more drawers and topped off the 8 bags I have for the Paralyzed Vets coming Tuesday.  Two phone calls filled my morning, one to my friend Gerre to get caught up and one with Kara who was in Florida and was driving from Fort Myers to my Dad's for a visit.  Traffic backed up and I was able to get her off the interstate to a parallel road to get around the problem and then back on using my Google Map app.  Her GPS just kept trying to make her get back on the interstate so it was no help.  Technology can be great when it works!

We met John and Vivian for dinner at Sweet Tomatoes and had a two hour dinner doing more talking than eating.  When we came home, just for fun, I flipped the switch on the new outdoor light and it came on!  OK so maybe it works off a light/dark photo cell.  It was still on when we went to bed.  But it was still on this morning!!  I did shorten the chain on the toilet float and it has been working fine, the manufacturer is sending us a whole new faucet for free but we have to have it installed so Gordon is still scheduled to come and maybe he can figure out what is going on with this crazy light fixture.