Joining Netflix

We rented Ray from Hastings and waited until the night it was due to sit down and watch it. We got the kids in bed, I put on my pajamas, took off my makeup, took out my contacts. We cuddled up to watch a movie together (a rare opportunity these days) and it skipped all over the place. Jumped past whole scenes. Now, this is about the 5th movie in the last year we've rented from Hastings for ourselves. It is the 4th from Hastings that has been unwatchable. So I put on my righteous indignation and drove up there in my pajamas and had it out with the night manager. I threw the raincheck back in his face (not literally!) and came home and signed up for Netflix. LOVE the website. If they come as quickly as it claims and the DVDs aren't scratched, I'm a happy camper.

Obsessing over house plans

Another thing I've been doing instead of blogging is obsessing over house plans online. Gene and I are buying some property on 18th St about 1/4 mile away from my Mom. (Can you believe my husband and my Mom are so close they both think this is wonderful?) Now, it will be at least a few years before we are ready to build. But I am obsessive/compulsive and I have now studied thousands of floor plans. I found the perfect one right off the bat but of course I had to make sure there wasn't a better one out there somewhere. After hours of searching, I can tell you that there isn't. Keep in mind we haven't closed on the property and it will be awhile before we can afford to build my dream house. By then I'll probably have it planned down to the baseboards.

Mowing the yard

Kiah just got onto me for not posting in a while. What have I been doing? Mowing mostly. My dad's birthday was last week and I've been missing him pretty badly. I've moped and felt sorry for myself and felt sorry for the kids for not getting to know him and sorry for my Mom who's getting ready to retire. They were looking forward to traveling together and being grandparents together and going on mission trips together. I've been feeling sorry for my Grandmother who misses him the most around his birthday and who is taking care of my bedridden Granddad who is lost somewhere else in time and thinks Zachary is Guy. I'm feeling sorry for my dad's brothers and sister who looked to him for leadership and peacemaking. I'm feeling sorry for my brother because I think he moved back to Ada much sooner than he would have if Dad hadn't died. What experiences did he miss out on? I've been feeling sorry for Gene who loved and respected him so much that Dad is his role model as a husband and father.

So on Dad's birthday I was searching for peace and found it--on his John Deere mower. We have had posession of Dad's mower since we moved here. It still has LOGSDON written in his handwriting on the back of the yellow seat. I wish I could transfer my mental image of Dad in mowing mode to print. Mom and Trey (and maybe Gene) are the only ones that can recall that picture of him. Let's just say he was dressed pretty funny and was really proud of his mower. So I got out there on the John Deere and basked in the memory of him.