It's been about 5 days since I posted here so I've got some catching up to do. No sooner did we get the lights fixed than Joe discovered that the garbage disposal, which is only 2-3 years old, would not work. Shortly thereafter, he discovered the dishwasher wasn't working. He concluded that it was all because they both plug into the same outlet under the sink, so that would mean replacing another outlet in a very un-handy place. Thankfully, he checked the breaker and found it had been thrown and when turned back on, everything functioned fine. Thank God! I was ready to puke!
I had noticed about two weeks ago that one of our cupboard doors in the kitchen was cracked. Actually, it was a bit more than cracked because the top part of the frame was broken. I've no idea how that happened. Anyway, a couple of days ago, Joe asked me if I'd been in the kitchen yet that morning. No I hadn't. "Well", he said, "I broke something in there last night". I had all sorts of visions of broken corning ware or broken dishes or.......... No, nothing that easy. He'd leaned on the broken door and completely broke it. So, now we have one cupboard with no door. He took it off with the idea of fixing it. I wish I had confidence that he is capable of doing that.......it really has to be matched up perfectly, glued, and then clamped into place til it dries, then braced, but braced in such a way that the screws do not show on the front. He seldom does "finish" work, even when he tries, so I'm pretty concerned about this....... And we won't even discuss why a grown man, weighing over 200 pounds, would lean on a broken cupboard door.
Jennifer and her three boys went to Ely, Nevada, for the holiday. It seems they got the last hotel room in town so, for two nights, the four of them ended up sharing a queen sized bed...cozy! The third night they stayed in a historic hotel that has been refurbished. It was built in 1928. I don't think there's a whole lot to do in this town. There is an old steam locomotive that pulls a train and you can ride on the train. There was supposed to be a train museum, but apparently it is not finished. They did go to the White Pine County Museum, but Jennifer indicated it was quite a disappointment. And, there are a number of historic homes, built anywhere from the 1880's to the 1920's. I know there is a walking tour, but I don't know if one is able to see inside of them. I understand, from researching on the internet, that there are quite a few places to visit if one is into lakes, woods, mountains, etc. I would have enjoyed that because of the photographic possibilities, but I have no idea how Jennifer and her little troop would have felt about it. Apparently, Atticus was quite the fan of the train ride. He kept using his sign language and saying "Mo, mo, mo......" Will got to ride in the caboose with some other boys his age so he thought that was good. If I had known she was going, I'd have hooked her up with a scrapping buddy of mine from Ely. Since Paula has lived there for years and raised kids there, she might have had suggestions for additional ways to entertain the troops. But, it was a good 20-25 degrees cooler than in Vegas, so that alone should have been refreshing. The oldest boy was not behaving very well. Jennifer finally told him she had not planned on bringing him and had no qualms about renting him a car and sending him home if he didn't shape up. I guess he did as they all returned to Vegas on Sunday afternoon--together.
Will is going to the same day care center that Atticus goes to this summer. Jennifer has investigated various "camps" for him, but he is happy there. He really doesn't want to go anywhere else which makes it very convenient for his mom. I'm just happy he's found someplace where he's comfortable.
We spent the actual day of the 4th sitting around the house. I worked on scrapbooking stuff--my continual job of unzipping and organizing files--and Joe did whatever he did. I've no clue.......... The we got ourselves ready and headed out with the camera and tripod, hoping to capture some shots of the fabulous display of fireworks that has happened for so many years from the rooftops of the casinos on the strip. They've always had this simultaneous fireworks show and it's been over the top. I haven't seen it since 2000, but I've seen pictures and it's amazing. Of course, we got lost for a few minutes, trying to get to the place we were headed for, and Joe almost got the van stuck (it's not for 4-wheeling Joe!), but we got the tripod set up and everything ready to go for the display. Ha! Things are tough enough in Vegas this year that the casinos opted not to do the fireworks show. What a disappointment! I did get some fireworks photos but certainly nothing like what I'd come for.
We had also discussed going down to the conservatory at the Bellagio to see what they had going for the 4th. However, we decided the day of the 4th was NOT the day to do it. We held off til Sunday, hoping the Californians would have checked out and headed home, thus reducing the crowds. Yeah, right........ I've no doubt it was better on Sunday than it would have been on Friday, but it was still really crowded. The center area was a huge display of red and white azaleas and blue hydrangeas. The theme this year was somewhere between hot air balloons and trains. They had built these amazing train tracks, complete with trestles and bridges in several areas and had about 4 electric trains running on them. They even had a replica of Mount Rushmore and I got a good photo of one of the trains running right past the presidents. It was very well done, just not what I'd expected. They had flags and replicas of bright colored hot air balloons suspended from the ceiling. They even had hot air balloons hanging in the shopping areas. I had no idea that the display changes from year to year. I thought about sticking around to watch and try to photograph the fountains in front. But, it was blisteringly hot and we checked it out and didn't see a single shady place to stand, so I'll photograph the fountains some other (cooler) time!
We had dinner Sunday night at what has become our favorite Mexican restaurant--Don Juan's. Joe and I even broke down and had a drink. We were so hot and tired from trooping around the Bellagio and praying for the air conditioner to conquer the heat that neither of us could resist the idea of a frozen Margarita. It's extremely rare for either of us to drink, and we probably wouldn't have given in this time either but for the heat and the way our butts were dragging. We were zapped.
I went to work yesterday, mentally prepared to "reconcile" the checking account for however many months I could do. That is way more complicated for a business than it is for a personal account because there are so many more deposit items and checks to follow up on. My theory is that, since the checking account has not been reconciled in 18 months, there are hundreds of thousands of dollars in unbooked checks and electronic payments. I'll also have to try to trace all the deposit items to accounts receivable to see if they are double booked, a distinct possibility given the way they've been operating and the level of "expertise" of their former accountant. But, of course, I found that they are missing the January, August and December '07 bank statements. Can't reconcile without those! Greg had told me he took those over to the accountant's office about two weeks ago, but when I called over there, they denied all knowledge of any bank statements! I'm starting to wonder about THEM too! So, I gave up and came home early, stopping on the way at my favorite market to pick up some meat for the next few dinners. This time we'll be having polish sausage, barbecued chicken, and stuffed beef rolls for dinner, supplemented by whatever I can dig out of the freezer. I had gotten some corn on the cob my last trip and it was excellent. I also snagged us some fresh brussel sprouts and Joe loved those. I'm going to try to deal with some of the frozen veggies for side dishes this week.
On the scrapping scene, I've been unzipping and organizing and unzipping and organizing. I think if I could just unzip and organize for about two weeks, 18 hours a day, I might catch up. I didn't do much scrapping. Both Amanda and Cori didn't put out any new kits for today, so nothing mandatory to post for them. LaWanna is working on a really cute kit around a pool theme. I'm excited for that to be complete though I'll be hard put to have photos to scrap with that unless Jennifer takes some.......the place she is staying has a pool and the boys are enjoying it immensely. Lynn had no new kit for this past Sunday. So organizing was the way to go. And now it's time for me to deal with laundry and dinner. Have a blessed evening.
Comments