Birthdays and Visitors and Stuff
This just in: May is off to a great start. The snow has melted and we've had some truly beautiful days lately. I even planted some stuff. I may have gotten a little overzealous, though, and have some dead seedlings to show for it. Nothing like killing something that barely saw daylight, eh?
My dad and stepmom were in town for A's big birthday celebration. They've headed back to Maryland now. I gave my dad a couple of chores during his visit, and I must say he carried them out with great expertise. I asked him to install new faucets in both bathrooms. The old faucets came with the house and were probably the cheapest ones money can buy. One of them leaked and the other would only allow water to pass through it in a trickle.
My dad does not mess around. He drew diagrams, made a list of supplies, searched the basement until he found our water shut-off valve, and carefully studied the underside of both sinks. We went to Home Depot last week and got all the stuff. The next day, I had two new faucets. Woo hoo!
The funniest part was when he was lying on the floor in my bathroom, peering up under the sink to see how the old faucet was attached. Gideon made his way up under my dad's arm and started licking his face. Gideon counts it as a "win" if he can get his tongue in your mouth. "Awww, he's your apprentice!" I told my dad.
He also fixed a light switch during his visit. The dining room light has not worked properly in years. But now it does! As I may have mentioned, I did not marry a handyman. My husband does not mind if my dad fixes stuff around the house. It doesn't offend him in the slightest. However, my other half did decide that he needed to clean out the gutters all of a sudden. He dragged a ladder into the back yard. He was teetering on the ladder while my dad smoked a cigarette on the deck. Finally, my dad could stand it no more, jumped up, and grabbed a wrench so that he could tighten the bolts on the rickety ladder - while my husband was still on it. He felt like his son-in-law would plummet to his death otherwise.
Anyway, it was a good visit. Next up: my middle sister arrives next Saturday. She is running a half marathon while she is here. The kid and I are walking a 5K (part of the same event my sister is running). I think I've officially given up on running. Between my broken foot and my misaligned hips, I just don't think it's in the cards for me. However, I still want to be active and to set a good example for my daughter. So, we have our 5K next weekend (which we will walk/jog/whatever) and then a 10K in June.
Oh, and Mr. M and I have our 18th wedding anniversary on May 24th. We've been married for 18 years, together for 23. You'd think the boy would know where we keep the bowls by now, but . . . I digress.
I'll leave you with a few photos. Did I tell you what we bought the kid for her birthday? A speaker and a microphone. Yes, we are certifiably insane. The speaker has bluetooth so she can connect it to her iPad and sing along with all of the awful lyrics she loves. She's been singing non-stop since we gave it to her last Saturday.
My dad and stepmom were in town for A's big birthday celebration. They've headed back to Maryland now. I gave my dad a couple of chores during his visit, and I must say he carried them out with great expertise. I asked him to install new faucets in both bathrooms. The old faucets came with the house and were probably the cheapest ones money can buy. One of them leaked and the other would only allow water to pass through it in a trickle.
My dad does not mess around. He drew diagrams, made a list of supplies, searched the basement until he found our water shut-off valve, and carefully studied the underside of both sinks. We went to Home Depot last week and got all the stuff. The next day, I had two new faucets. Woo hoo!
The funniest part was when he was lying on the floor in my bathroom, peering up under the sink to see how the old faucet was attached. Gideon made his way up under my dad's arm and started licking his face. Gideon counts it as a "win" if he can get his tongue in your mouth. "Awww, he's your apprentice!" I told my dad.
He also fixed a light switch during his visit. The dining room light has not worked properly in years. But now it does! As I may have mentioned, I did not marry a handyman. My husband does not mind if my dad fixes stuff around the house. It doesn't offend him in the slightest. However, my other half did decide that he needed to clean out the gutters all of a sudden. He dragged a ladder into the back yard. He was teetering on the ladder while my dad smoked a cigarette on the deck. Finally, my dad could stand it no more, jumped up, and grabbed a wrench so that he could tighten the bolts on the rickety ladder - while my husband was still on it. He felt like his son-in-law would plummet to his death otherwise.
Anyway, it was a good visit. Next up: my middle sister arrives next Saturday. She is running a half marathon while she is here. The kid and I are walking a 5K (part of the same event my sister is running). I think I've officially given up on running. Between my broken foot and my misaligned hips, I just don't think it's in the cards for me. However, I still want to be active and to set a good example for my daughter. So, we have our 5K next weekend (which we will walk/jog/whatever) and then a 10K in June.
Oh, and Mr. M and I have our 18th wedding anniversary on May 24th. We've been married for 18 years, together for 23. You'd think the boy would know where we keep the bowls by now, but . . . I digress.
I'll leave you with a few photos. Did I tell you what we bought the kid for her birthday? A speaker and a microphone. Yes, we are certifiably insane. The speaker has bluetooth so she can connect it to her iPad and sing along with all of the awful lyrics she loves. She's been singing non-stop since we gave it to her last Saturday.
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