Morning project

This morning I pulled up almost all the vinyl tiles from the bathroom floor. The perimeter tiles were easy to remove since they were all smaller than 12 x 12, but the full size tiles, that was another story. It was hard to get the putty knife under the tile, and when I did it would break in little pieces. Hmmm... I certainly didn't want this to be an all day project! Off to the computer for a search on how to remove self adhesive tiles. A few sites listed using your iron and a wet washcloth to heat the adhesive on the back of the tile, allowing it to peel up easily with the putty knife. It worked great! I was done in 2 hours!

A quiet Thanksgiving!

This year I stayed in North Carolina for Thanksgiving instead of traveling to New York to be with family. It's not that I didn't want to spend the holiday with my family, I just didn't want to travel. Thanksgiving is the worst travel time. It's a 12 hour drive one way, and the traffic is awful. Unless you leave very early on Sunday morning, say around midnight or 1:00 am, it usually takes 14 to 15 hours to get home.

Dennis has been in NY since the 16th. He goes every year at this time to hunt. Haylee really wanted to go to NY for Thanksgiving, so she took a flight up on Tuesday the 22nd. That left me spending Thanksgiving with the cat and the dog!! Another reason to stay home--it's not cheap to board the pets. 

I'm enjoying my peace and quiet! Yesterday morning I cleaned out the front closet, and while my Thanksgiving dinner was cooking I put the contents back in. Funny how you can get so much more done when you don't have to worry about someone watching everything you're trashing. Translation: my husband's a pack rat and wants to keep everything. I didn't go crazy and trash too much, only about half a garbage bag!

As always, I am thankful for family, friends, and Dennis' health being stable.

Finishing and Decorating!

I'm taking on a major project, finishing and decorating the house.

Dennis and I built an addition on our house over ten years ago to transform a 765 heated sq ft bungalow style home into a 1400 sq ft. 2 bedroom home with a study. Our septic is only for 2 bedrooms, so our guest room/study has no closet to keep it legal. There is sooo much that needs to be done, and I'm tired of all the unfinished projects! I still have a plywood floor in my bedroom, and the soffit and fascia have never been done. How sad is that?

My first project will be redecorating the main bathroom. Yesterday I purchased an unfinished mission style table to be used for towels/storage since my bathroom has no closet. Haylee really liked the table when she saw it. Personally, I think she wants it for her bedroom! I also looked at shower curtains and found a few that were okay, but nothing great. I'll look again today while we are out Christmas shopping for the nieces and nephews.

I'm really excited to get back to work on the house!! It's been way too long!

Time Change... Ugh!

Up at 3:30 this morning!

I love that it will now be lighter in the morning, but this time change really messes me up. I usually wake up at 4:30 - 5:00, so I knew I would be awake around 3:30 - 4:00. I tried to go back to sleep, but that didn't happen, so at 4:15 I got up and made coffee. I love how people say you get an extra hour of sleep. Yeah, only if you actually fall back asleep!!

I hope it doesn't take too long to get back on track!

College Campus Tours

My daughter, Haylee, is a junior in high school, and we are now starting to tour college campuses. Yesterday we attended UNC Charlotte's open house. The campus is beautiful, and Haylee really liked it. I also think she likes the idea of living near/in a big city. Before touring UNCC her number one choice leaned towards ECU, which we will be touring on November 12th. Now she's not so sure about ECU. She's also interested in UNC Wilmington, which we will tour on December 3rd.

Yesterday she kept saying she didn't know if she wanted to be a Pirate, a Seahawk, or a 49er! After she tours the other campuses I hope her choice will be easier!

Normal Labs

Dennis had his labs done yesterday and the results are normal. I did notice 2 items flagged with a "L". RBC was 4.40 (range 4.50-5.90), and Absolute Lymphs 1.1 (range 1.5-5.0). I'll have to check Google University to see what these numbers mean. More good news, Dennis has gained 6 pounds! It must have been all the brownies he ate while at his moms this past week.

His next CT scan will be on December 2, with the results, labs, and Zometa infusion on December 5th. I'm glad there will be one more scan this year since the start of my insurance year will change from March 1st to January 1st. Unfortunately, this means I'm screwed out of 2 months since I hit my out of pocket maximum. We will have an information session about our insurance today, and I have a few questions about our prescription drug plan. Needless to say my monthly insurance premium will be increasing AGAIN, along with my prescriptions and co-pays!

Insurance - it's a love / hate relationship!

Grandfather Mountain

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous out, and I decided to take a trip to the mountains to view the fall foliage. The leaves are just starting to peak in the higher elevations. I traveled north on 421 to Boone, picked up 221/321 to Blowing Rock, and hopped on the Blue Ridge Parkway towards Grandfather Mountain, which was my final destination.

Panoramic view from the Blue Ridge Parkway before the Linn Cove Viaduct.

Viaduct straight ahead!

View from Grandfather Mountain

View of the mile high swinging bridge on Grandfather Mountain.

Trail from the lower parking lot to the swinging bridge.

It was such a beautiful drive I might have to do it again next week during peak!!!