New Jobs for Us

Just to catch you all up on our boring lives:  Gary was taken off Targretin - his lipid levels were too high and we didn't want to incorporate a cardiologist into our clan.  Five doctors is enough, thank you very much.

So now we are going to try electron beam radiology when the new Dr. sets up an appointment.  He will continue the PUVA until further notice.  That's twice a week, and the Physical Therapist is once a week.  There is one more Doctor we are looking forward to seeing - a gastroenterologist.  We believe (and so do other doctors) that because of Gary's full body radiation two years ago now he has developed a condition called dysphagia.  This is an obstruction or spasm of the oesophagus which makes it very difficult for him to swallow.  Of course this interferes with one of his favorite sports - eating - so this is a doctor he is looking forward to seeing next week.  Onward...

After we cleaned off all the little fingerprints from every conceivable surface of Bella, we ran out to get some real food back in our cupboards.  However, when we did cook, the kids loved their food on a stick.

It was time to start the taxes and pay bills.  We will be looking forward to our refund doncha know.

We had a family birthday party for our 11 year old grand, Lance, who wanted turkey for dinner.  We got that in the oven around 5:30, cooked all the sides on the stove and finally ate around 9.  I love turkey and of course with all the melatonin the kids ate, they fell asleep practically at the table. 

I was getting a cold, which Gary will undoubtedly share with me, so we cleaned up and headed home.  Saturday I felt a little worse, but not too bad.  Gary got the sore throat warning, but also discovered a Harbor Freight Tools store nearby.  We thought we might get a jack there (since we couldn't find one at the flea market) to put under our steps.  But Bob, our next door neighbor said he thought it was just loose on one side.  We'll have to investigate how to fix that. 

I worked on Lance's 'base' for his school Wax Museum Day.  He is going to be a trophy of Jackie Robinson.  A baseball outfit will be sprayed gold, and his face and hands will have gold makeup, and he will stand on this for an hour!

That took a few hours of fun to complete. 

Then we tackled a few jobs around the homestead.  Gary put new grommets in our outdoor carpet for the tie-downs.  I completed restringing my bedroom shade and rehung it.  Gary fixed the stove burner that somehow (probably when cleaning) became detached and wouldn't light. 

And we added another panel to our fridge.  The problem was the strip casing was too long to slide up.  It hit our ceiling - even when we removed our air vent cover adding a couple more inches.

Taking off the door was not an option as there was a screw that was unaccessible.  We determined these panels needed to be put on before the fridge was installed.  The only thing anyone could do was to cut the strip as low as possible, remove both pieces and the handle, slide in the black panel and reassemble the strips and handle.   I got to saw the strip in half and it worked like a dream!  The last panel will need a corner cut from it to fit around the water dispenser.  We will need a very thin blade and a drill bit for the corner. 

I love tackling these jobs.  As long as they are solvable, it makes us feel more and more confident, and it's fun!. 

Oh, yeah, our jobs.  Daughter Michelle thinks they might need to move, and she was not satisfied with her present cleaning ladies.  She asked if I would like to clean their home twice a week for six hours a day.  Then, because of some fixit issues, asked Gary if he would be up to fixing a few things around the house.  We both said yes, so now I am a cleaning lady and Gary is a handyman!  We are also helping sort, donate and pack up stuff so they can start showing the house in a few weeks.  Hey, it's income.

Of course, I'd rather be in Texas doing another job, but we may get there one of these days.  I haven't given up hope yet.