Chapter 225

 A few weeks ago, Carissa mentioned that "the baby" would like hardwood flooring in her parent's room so her parents didn't get stuffed up at night. That was a fair request since the carpet in that room was the only original carpet left in the house from when we built in 1982. So Bob, taking his new role as grandpa very seriously, started shredding the room immediately to begin the project. 

Removing cloud curtains, adolescent wall colors and original "maple" colored carpet was all part of the update plan.

 Although we took out the old carpet and popcorn ceiling, painted, and installed hardwood flooring, 

Carissa would not let us paint over the wall mural that her Uncle Scott and I painted for her and Kyanne's nursery, also circa 1982 so it lives on. I must say that mural looked better in a nursery than than it does in Bob's office/guest room. Bob feels it detracts from the manliness of his office. I dare say if we live here as long as we plan to, we will once again enjoying the bright colors with our rheumy eyes while sitting comfortably in our wheelchairs.

Here Bob is on the home stretch of laying the new floor and we are ready to move back in.

The room is ready for the baby's parents to visit again. I redecorated the room with a couple of cheap window valances, pillow cases and a half yard of striped fabric to make a pillow and add a bit of color to the purchased items.

There were several items of interest in the time capsule labeled "live animals" that I found last week. One of which was the only item of clothing I had that was small enough for the girls at birth. Here I have compared the little sleeper to my (new) shoe which appears to be roughly half the size of my babies.

Speaking of baby clothing, Scott and JoAnn came up from Albany with a LOAD of baby clothing and a bassinet from Jenna and Kyle. There were bags and bags...and bags of clothes! Here is just part of them.

There was so much stuff that poor Chris was in shock as he Tetrised the bags into his car to take home. There were so many bags of clothes to transfer to Carissa's car that it started to get dark before we were done. Many thanks to Kyle and Jenna for thoughtfully sharing their bounty with Chris and Carissa.

Annnd, speaking of cars, the regional Concours (high-end British car show) scores were published in the latest Jaguar publication and it shows that Bob's convertible placed 2nd overall in the region. He's delighted to see that all his hard work is acknowledged. I'm less than delighted that there will be another pewter award dish on my new kitchen shelves.

While the family was here delivering what was referred to "as a few baby clothes", we had a nice family dinner. While I made fish tacos with mango sauce and chicken tacos with fresh roasted peppers, fresh Mexican vegetable medley, and flan for dinner, JoAnn brought a contribution from her new 4 ingredient cookbook. The "salad" was quite a topic of conversation. It had pecans, Jell-o, cherries, and Coca Cola. The general consensus was that the garbage disposal was probably going to refuse it. Here Chelsea is diving into a bite of this appetizing selection. It even matches her jacket!

Although it's tough to get this crowd to settle for a photo, I got a pretty good one just as we sat down to dinner.

Finally, the fog lifted and we are having a spot of much needed sunshine. The little birds and hummingbirds are using the bird feeders as a singles bar and are flitting all over trying to impress one another. I guess I'll have to start hanging the nesting material out pretty soon.!

And in closing, I saw this little gem offered for sale on TV one evening. I know I have never had the urge to use the internet or watch a movie while in the shower. Beside that, the whole electricity vs. water thing that was drilled into us at an early age just creeps me out, even with that thin sheet of plastic separating us.