Oh no she din-nt!

I home today with a new plumber. This one comes very highly recommended by a man that my husband has worked with for a dozen years. He just showed up a few minutes ago and I like him already.

So the plumber is down in the crawl space dinkering around with the hot water heater. I make myself comfortable on the couch and cozy up with my traveling scarf. As I start to knit, my needles keep snagging on the yarn...what the hell? I can't knit. The damn yarn keeps sticking--yes, sticking--to the bamboo needles. Upon closer inspection, it appears that someone--I assume it was a 6-and-three-quarters-year-old girl, but I'm just guessing--tried to "sharpen" my bamboo knitting needles with the pencil sharpener.

I'm not real sure how I feel about that yet. I must admit that I am ever so slightly amused. (Think eensy weensy teeny tiny amusement.)

Anyone else had their needles sharpened for them?

Home repairs

I can't believe I didn't tell you about my Independence Day water woes. Long story short, my "PRV" went out. For those of you not hip on your plumbing lingo...PRV is a pressure release valve. It controls the amount of water pressure in your home. Normal home water pressure is 40. Code maximum is 70. The water pressure in my house on July 4 was 170. It was the same pressure as one would find on the fire hydrant that sits in my front yard. That kind of pressure can blow all the pipes in your house. Fortunately, we learned what a PRV was BEFORE the pipes blew and it "only" cost us $400.

Saturday morning my husband, through chattering teeth, reports that we have no hot water. Normally, this wouldn't be such a big deal. I mean, as far as home improvements go, a new water heater isn't THAT big of a deal...what are they? $300 maybe $400? I tell my husband, "You installed a new 220-volt outlet, you can install a water heater."

Our water heater is in the crawl space and it can't be more than 3 feet tall. Guess what...apparently they don't make 3-foot, 40-gallon gas water heaters anymore. What I want to know is, "WHY THE HELL NOT?!?!" Suddenly our $400 new water heater has turned into a potentially $3,000 ordeal (looks like we might have to go tankless). We've got a guy coming over today to see what can be done.

On a side note, my husband and I are both fortunate in that we have shower facilities in our office buildings. So this morning, we got up and packed gym bags with soap, shampoo, wash cloths, rubber flip flops, deodorant, blah blah blah. I found out this morning that my office building doesn't have hot water either.

I guess I should be thankful that it's July and not January. I should also be thankful that we have the money saved to take care of it. The down side to spending all that money on a new water heater is that it's one of those home repairs that we won't really notice. It's not like getting new windows or new carpet or new appliances. Oh well---hold me in good thoughts and I'll keep you posted.

Recipe--YUM!

So, Udi the Sandwich maker is a bit of a legend around here. The guy makes the most incredible sandwiches--I personally think they are sprinkled with magic dust or crack cocaine or something. But ANYWAY...the Denver Post (with Udi's permission) published his recipe for Orange Balsamic Vinaigrette. It is to die for! I served it on a spinach and grilled salmon salad and since I was home, I licked my plate. Udi also recommends it over chicken and mango.

(Makes 6 cups)
2 cups frozen orange juice concentrate (do not dilute), thawed
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup (scant) sugar
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
2 1/2 cups canola oil
In blender, combine all ingredients expect for the oil; blend well. On lowest speed, slowly add the oil while blending to emulsify. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Strings and Books

Howdy. Have you guys checked out Ruth's Massive DeStash yet? Do that, then come back.

And I am excited to be included in Sophanne's traveling scarf project. I'm almost ready to pass my first section along...Ain't it purdy?

I've been struggling with my summer reading. I grabbed a couple of NPR picks and wasn't impressed with either one. I couldn't even get through the first 30 pages of the first one (Too Close to the Sun). It is a biography of Denys Finch Hitton (the guy Robert Redford played in Out of Africa). The story was painfully slow. The second book from NPR's pick list was The Thin Place. I finished that one, but it was really weird. I'm still not even sure what the book was about.

I've been thinking about reacquainting myself with some classic Greek mythology. I put a hold on a book from my local library and stopped in last night to pick it up. It was a kids book. I was in a terrible hurry, so I ditched the kid book and grabbed Homer's Iliad instead. Holy crap. What the hell was I thinking? I'll be lucky if I make it through the introduction!! Maybe that kid book wasn't such a bad idea after all.

What are you reading? Got any good suggestions for me?

It really does take a village to raise a child.

Over the last 6 years, my family has become the neighborhood house sitters. And that’s cool with me. I have no problem watering your plants, picking up your paper, collecting mail, feeding and walking dogs, shoveling snow, or mowing lawns. We always have keys to at least 2 of our neighbor’s houses hanging in our garage and have watched up to 4 houses at a time. I really don’t mind. In fact, I’m honored that they all trust us.

My husband and I want to start teaching our daughter about money, so we recently announced our retirement from the house sitting business. However, our six-(almost 7) year-old daughter is more than happy to take over the family business…for a small fee. She charges fifty cents a day (a dollar a day if you leave the dog at home).

Her first customers were out of town for 7 days. This lady has the most incredible wave petunias I have ever seen and they require watering twice a day when it’s hot. My daughter got up early every day so she could take in the newspaper and water the plants before school. After school, she watered again and carried in the mail. On trash day, she dragged TWO trash cans and TWO recycle bins to the curb, then toted them back later that afternoon. The child did an outstanding job and was rewarded with TEN dollars…more than twice her fee.

Thursday, B and J went out of town again. And they (B and J) had been watching J and J’s house. So now, my daughter needed to water B and J’s flowers AND J and J’s flowers. J and J would be home on Sunday.

This morning, J and J saw my daughter watering the flowers at B and J’s house and came over with a thank you card. When my daughter opened the thank you card, there was a $20 in it. I really wish I had known that was coming. I never would have allowed it.

I’m sure that B and J told J and J that my daughter would be taking over watering the plants for a couple days and that my daughter is earning money for Disney World. I’m sure that J and J thought that was cute and wanted to help my daughter earn money. Maybe $20 wasn’t that big of a deal to them. But it defeats the purpose of our money lesson.

How can my child learn the value of the dollar when she gets $20 for splashing water on a couple plants for a few days? Even the $10 that she got a few weeks ago is too much. They only owed her $3.50. Five dollars would have been acceptable, but $10 is too much.

I this is a great example of why “It takes a village to raise a child”. I need my “village” to help me teach my daughter about earning money. Money is not free—you have to work for it. And sometimes that work is hard, dirty, smelly (Mike Rowe), and sometimes we’d rather go play with our friends. But if you don’t work, you can’t have that cute little stuffed polar bear from Kohls.

Catch up

I found THIS on the outside of my office window today.

Crazy bug was 7 stories up and missing a leg! After I downloaded the picture, I found two months worth of snapshots on the camera--most of them had completely slipped my mind. Like this one...

We went to Fort Collins back in May to meet my sister-in-law. She and her husband were about to move from Wyoming to Tennessee, so we met them "half-way" at a city owned and operated park called "The Farm". Very very cool place...highly recommended. They have chickens, ducks, pigs, cows, horses, sheep, and goats. We spent $2 on a bag of oats and let my daughter feed the animals. She was petting one goat and a second one snuck up and ripped that bag of oats right out of her hand. Fortunately, she thought it was hilarious and laughed until her face turned blue.

I also found these pictures:

This year's Parker Country Festival was on Father's Day weekend. I think it was the 23 or 28th year and it just keeps getting better. They block of "downtown" and set up a carnival (rides, food, games, arts, crafts, beer, and bands). It is SO much fun. And this year, my daughter's girl scout troop was invited to participate in the parade. They were "Scouts on Scooters". What a blast. My daughter is the one sporting the "firecracker hat"!

What a nice surprise...finding all those pictures.

Truth Hurts

I’m sure I’ve mentioned that I work in a very small office (two people, including me). I usually wear jeans or even shorts to work, but Monday we had a visitor from corporate, so I had to dress up. I wasn’t sure if that visitor was going to be in our office today, too, so I figured I'd better dress up again, just in case.

My “dress-up” wardrobe is almost non-existent. I dug out a really cute 8-year-old sundress to wear on Monday. This morning, I was digging through my closet and could only find one other outfit that fit me—and it is tight! I said to my husband, “I look like a stuffed sausage!” My husband (being the well-trained husband that he is) replied, “No you don’t, hun, you look nice.” At which point my daughter chimes in, “Well—yeah, mom, you kinda do look like a stuffed sausage.”

I’ve never met a 6-year-old who lies about the way you look, so I squeezed into a girdle and committed to a day of discomfort. It’s 1:00 and my face is turning blue.

No...corporate didn't show up. My coworker is in jeans.

Priorities

It's been a long time since I've posted because I really don't have anything to talk about. Same shit, different day. But then today, on the way to work I heard a news story that threw me over the edge. I have to express my disgust...

The "news" was that a syndicated radio talk show host's contract was renewed for $400 million dollars. FOUR. HUNDRED. MILLION. DOLLARS. I immediately turned to my husband (we car pool now) and asked, "What the hell is WRONG with us?" FOUR? HUNDRED? MILLION? DOLLARS?

What kind of society is willing to pay a pompous jackass $400 million dollars to flap his trap and piss people off when there are millions in our country going hungry? We have citizens that can't afford to pay for life-saving medications and thousands of schools that are literally falling down while student share outdated text books. Our military personnel are fighting a war while their spouses stand in line for food stamps. And this son-of-a-bitch is making $400 million dollars. NO ONE, I don't care who you are, NO one needs $400 million dollars. Not even over an entire lifetime.

And this is only one example. Don't even get me started on the "stars" (sports, movie, or otherwise).

It makes me sad.