Fun at the Ballpark

The last Sky Sox ballgame we went to got rained out, so I went and exchanged the tickets for tonight's game. Bruce wasn't excited about going, but we drug him along anyway. Bev got home from her sister's earlier today, so she came also, since we had an extra ticket. During the 4th and 5th innings, it started raining again, but gently. It then stopped and pretty much cleared up for the remainder of the game. Bruce still does not understand how you can have fun at a ballgame, even when you lose...which we did big time. But Bev and I manage to enjoy ourselves, no matter what. Since tonight was fan appreciation night, they had fireworks, even though they usually only have them on Friday nights. Lexi enjoyed that. By the time we left, it was pretty chilly. I actually wore my jacket during the entire game. Still can't get used to wearing a jacket in August.

Is that Elvis I hear?

Today while we were out doing our magazine route, we were driving next to a young guy who also had the window down on his car, as we did. Instead of the normal hard or alternative rock or some disgusting rap music that we usually hear, I heard a familiar sound. Could it really be. . . especially coming from a young person? Yes, he was listening to Elvis, and singing along! How refreshing is that? As we came up next to him, I gave him the thumbs up, and he smiled and returned the gesture, then went back to singing. My day was complete.

Christmas in August...

Today was like Christmas. I finally got a china cabinet after being without one for 5 years. When we left Arizona, we sold our dining room set with the house, because we knew we would not be able to move it or store it (while we were in the apt.). So, all of my crystal and china has been packed in boxes and stored in the crawlspace for the the last 4 years. Every time I needed it, Bruce would go drag the boxes out of the crawlspace and I would unpack the dishes and goblets, etc., wash them off, and then after I was done, I would carefully pack them up again...since there was no place else to put them. I now have a china cabinet that matches the dining room table and chairs that we purchased after moving into our home because the family was coming for Thanksgiving. The dining/living room area now seems complete, and it has freed up allot of space in the crawlspace and in the hall linen closet, where I had all of my tablecloths, placemats, napkins, serving utensils, and silverware. It was necessary for us to rearrange the pictures on the wall to make room for the cabinet. Bruce helped me with that and we like the way the groupings turned out. Happy day!

Meet Rosie...our new vacuum cleaner!

A few days ago, we purchased a new vacuum cleaner. This is a Bissell Cleanview. It cost only $75 on sale at Target, but does a terrific job, and has some nifty attachments. We vacuumed the entire house tonight, and couldn't believe how much power and suction it had...you should have seen all the dirt it picked up. So, as for now, we are very happy with it. The carpet is nice and soft again. Bruce decided we needed to give the new machine a name, so we decided on Rosie, since she makes our days "rosie" now that we have a decent vacuum cleaner. We will try to take good care of Rosie, so she will be good to us.

Vacuum cleaner bites the dust...

We are in the market for a new vacuum cleaner. I actually, if you can imagine, bought this vacuum cleaner several years ago as a birthday present for myself because I was tired of using the old reconditioned Kirby that we had received as a wedding gift from Bruce's parents. I guess it was OK for awhile, but now it is a piece of junk. This is why:

• The thing no longer stays upright without propping it up on something
• The thingies that hold the cord on are broken off
• The rubber bumper guard thingy will not stay on
• Each time Bruce vacuums (I refuse to with this heavy piece of junk-I'm using the word "junk" here to replace a different word that I usually use starting with the letter "c"), another screw falls out and he vacuums it up.
• The entire front part of the vacuum is now falling off because of the missing screws. Bruce refuses to hunt through the dirt to find the missing screws...as a result the vacuum cleaner is now held together with sealing tape (probably because we ran out of duct tape). It reminds me of a "Red Green" moment.
• You can only run the vacuum cleaner for 5-10 minutes before the motor overheats, and then you have to wait for 40 minutes before it will start running again for only 5-10 minutes and on and on...you get the picture. Therefore, it takes all day to vacuum our 1700 square foot home. Last week, Bruce swore at the old piece of c___ and went and got the shop vac out of the garage and got down on his hands and knees to complete the vacuuming task.
• The attachments continue to fall out of their assigned place, so part of them are missing.
• This heavy piece of c___ is a bear to take up and down the stairs, or even use to clean the stairs, partially because remember, it will no longer remain upright.
• As you can see, the ugly piece of c___ has wall paint scratches all over it from getting too close to the wall areas that we were trying to clean, which should have been cleaned with the attachments that were missing because they had fallen off somewhere and we couldn't find them.

So, I have been spending my days researching vacuum cleaners on the internet, and I think I have found one that is not too expensive, is lighter weight, and will do a decent job. I might even take over the task of vacuuming again. I will write another post when we actually purchase the new machine...which will need to be soon because the floors are getting dirty again, and Bruce refuses to use the old useless piece of c___ one more time.

Follow-up to Follow-up...Trip to Utah

So here is a follow-up to last week's adventures:

1. Brent and family made it home safely to Utah on Friday morning. Van requires minor clean-up. I forgot to request that kids do not wet pants in my van.
2. Bruce and I flew to Salt Lake on Saturday morning. We spent more time in the airports than in the air. . . quick flight, but was nice to not have to drive through the night on Friday.
3. We arrived in Salt Lake. Brent and 3 grandkids are 1/2 hour late to pick us up.
4. We drove to the Utah auto auction in Salt Lake. Bruce and Brent previewed minivans while the 2 boys slept in the the van.
5. We left Brent at the auction and went with the 3 grandkids back to Provo, with a detour and photo shoot via the new Oquirrh Mountain temple.
6. Brent found a nice minivan for his family at a fabuloso price at the auto auction. Bruce proceeds to instruct grandchildren on proper care of the new minivan.
7. Bruce sent me to get sub sandwiches for the family picnic. I made 4 U-turns before finding Subway and returning home.
8. We were supposed to take family pictures before the picnic, but Rachel had to work. New plan...picture taking after church on Sunday.
9. We went to a park across town and had a nice family picnic. Grandkids had fun playing together.
10. After church on Sunday, we changed into picture-taking clothes, and had a friend take family pictures for us. Eddie took pictures with beard, due to bike injury, but looked great. Bruce still had minor scab on face. Most of Jacob's facial scratches were gone.
11. We drove home to Colorado. Arrived home about 11 pm. Paula and Eddie left after we did, passed us, and got home about 10:30.
12. We are exhausted again, but Bruce got up early to go to work this morning. House is clean.

4 of the grandkids in front of new van

Family making goofy faces

Grandchildren

Oquirrh Mountain temple

When Murphy comes to visit your family. . .

I'm sure you are all familiar with Murphy's law, which states "If anything can go wrong, it WILL go wrong. Well, Mr. Murphy came to visit our family this week. Hopefully, he is now gone...and we will not miss him!

It all began last Friday. . .

1. I dinged up my van (see previous post).
2. On Saturday, Eddie had a bicycle accident while coming home from work (see Paula's post).
3. Brent and Rachel came to visit and drop off Aaron to spend a few days with us. On Tuesday, Rachel was was making a left turn into Target to pick up a couple of items, and a guy ran into her, totalling their van. (She had a green arrow, by the way, and thank goodness Rachel did not get hurt).
4. So now we have one vehicle (Bruce's pickup) for 9 bodies, because my vehicle is in the shop getting repaired until Thursday, so everyone is basically "stuck" here at the house.
5. Brent tried to rent a minivan to get family back to Utah. No one in Colorado Springs would rent interstate.
6. Bruce went with Brent to Denver on Wednesday to look for a van to purchase. . . no luck.
7. I took the two oldest grandkids to the Skysox game with Paula and Eddie and girls. (Remember, this was supposed to be our time with Aaron, but Bruce is in Denver with Brent.) We had to make 2 trips to the ballpark since their jeep was not large enough for everyone. After 1 1/2 innings, the game was rained out...bummer. At this point, we just threw the grandkids in the back of the jeep without seat belts, so we could all come home at the same time.
8. Bruce incurs a head injury at work, leaving a nice gash in his forehead. (2nd time same injury, same location on head.)
9. We got a phone call from my sister-in-law, Karen, last night informing us that our niece, Olivia had a burn accident the previous night. (She appears to be doing better, thank goodness.)

So, we're hoping that Mr. Murphy has now left, and this is our follow-up:

1. We got my van out of the shop on Thursday afternoon. It looks nicer than it's looked in a long time, since they detailed it both inside and out before returning it to me. (I would recommend Arthur's Collision and Paint-this is 2nd time we've used them.)
2. Reluctantly, I gave my key to Brent, and they took off to Utah in my van, with the promise that nobody would eat or drink in the vehicle.
3. Bruce and I got tickets to fly to Utah on Saturday morning.
4. Aaron was never able to spend time with Grandpa and Grandma, but we will make that up at another time.
5. Eddie is recovering from injuries (scabs on face still very bad), and they will leave for Utah later this afternoon.
6. Bruce has scab on forehead, but is OK.
7. Youngest grandson, Jacob, has scratches and scabs on face that he continues to pick off.
8. We are still planning on a family portrait on Saturday evening. We will try to strategically place individuals in group, so injuries show as little as possible.
9. House is trashed, but cleans up quickly after everyone is gone. (It is expected, and a small price to pay for having grandkids visit.)
10. Bruce and I are exhausted, but he still found enough energy to get up go to work this morning. I am still in my pj's and writing this blog post. I will clean house, do laundry, and pack for our trip this afternoon.