Spring in Durham

 

This is the view of Spring off our deck.  They are wild dogwoods and redbud.  Might have to plant a couple of real redbuds in the back.  The tomatoes have arrived and we are going to have a bed dug out and plant the tomatoes along the back fence.  Mom does say she wants ONE tomato on the deck.

 

Mom had a lovely birthday ~ family, food and flowers with some other presents and ice cream. 

 

The orchids that I had tenderly nurtured and had to leave with Amy did beautifully!

 

We took Mom to The Bleu Olive for lunch - Lori met us and it was superb!  Fresh, delicious - Mediterranian cooking - definitely a place to go back to!

 

Then we had Jim, Lori, Maren and Jesse over for dinner - chicken parm with rottini, fresh made garlic bread, salad and ice cream cake. 

 

News:  Zoe made it into the summer program at Carnegie Mellon (very exciting) and Amy is having her knee done next week.  She likes her orthopedic surgeon who says "I do these all day long!"

 

Amy has also been trying to get a carpender in to put in the dog doors to no avail.  We are replacing the screen door on the porch because it is installed badly, so we found one that has a dog door already in it.  Genus.

 

So last night, we were talking about where we would put the dog door in the house and who would install it and Lori says "this is just a thought, but why don't you just put another new door in - with the dog door built in?"  GENIUS!!!!

 

Why didn't Amy or I think of that?  Anyway, it is probably cheaper and easier and we found both doors at Home Depot, and they will install.

 

Anything for the dogs.

 

Back to the boxes.

 

Oh, last night - big thunder storm with lots of hail! 

 

Enjoy (really) the Spring!

 

Love, Leslie





Amy's Room

Amy got her room set up, the cable guy came and installed the work cable, so she is all set up to work and recover when she has her surgery.

The work station

I got the boxes off the screened porch, so tomorrow after my 4th trip to the dump, I am going to purge some of the wicker and put it someplace else and start setting it up.

I have watched 3 baseball games and we are planning to watch the Duke - Wisconsin game tonight.  Why it has to be at 9:00 pm is beyond me.  I will watch the San Francisco Giants during the commercials.

 

 

Celebrate Sunday

 

Happy Easter !

 

 

Please know that no dog ate any chocolate or Cadbury Easter eggs!!!  He would if he could, but we don't share.

 

 

Also, congratulations to the Duke Blue Devils ~ we watched the game on big screen splendor in our new living room ~ very comfortable!!!!!  I stayed up to watch Wisconsin, hoping that they would beat Kentucky and YES YES YES!!!!! They beat them, and then some of the Kentucky players showed their true poor sportsmanship, which looks bad for all of them. 

 

 

And for me, today is the most sacred of days, Opening Night for Baseball!  I will be watching and am ready to watch the Boys of Summer.  I have on my Madison Bumgarner shirt and my counted cross stitch for Carole that I will finish before the 2015 World Series.

 

 

So, enjoy your Easter Sunday!

 

Love, Leslie

 

 



Amy Moves In

I just finished a fast vacuum and took the dogs for a walk.  Amy, Nancy and Drew should be here any minute to move Amy into the house.

This is the entry and I am going to lower the picture.

The living room.

The living room with the big television (to watch Duke tonight)

The Keeping Room ~ off the kitchen.

Mother's 12 tomato plants that I HAVE to plant.

Maren and Drew on our deck.

Well, they arrived ~ and it took them 4.5 hours!  A new land record!  We unloaded Amy's stuff and it is in her room and the garage.  That is for another day.

Drew and Nancy loved the house and sitting on the deck was great.  I need to get the umbrella up out there.  Maren said her black pants "were on fire!"

Our beloved Maren with her freakazoid Aunt Amy behind her.  Oh the trials and tribulations.

 

It is good to have us all together again.

 

Love, Leslie

 

 

"Oo De Lally"

I love this! (make sure your volume is up to hear the song)  :)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnVuqfXohxc&feature=player_detailpage


It just makes me smile.  As does Easter...

I divided the jelly beans ~ I don't like the licorice ones, so they didn't go in the eggs ~ but someone here does like them.

 



The neighborhood is having an Easter egg hunt tomorrow.  Everyone with kids were asked to bring 15 eggs per kid.  Since we have no little kids, we are still taking the 15 eggs, but not attending.

Nancy, Drew and Amy are arriving tomorrow!!!!! Nancy and Drew are bringing a truck and Amy's car, dropping her, Buffy and her stuff off and then flying back home.  That is a real drive by drop off.

Nancy says that if Zoe goes to the Carnigie Mellon summer computer program this summer, she will come down and visit.  Drew can't stay because he is allergic to all the dogs. 

More later.

April Surprise!

What a surprise!  The doorbell rings this morning and it was Torii and her daughters out looking at colleges!  They had just come from Elon and dropped by!  They brought Dad's vanity license plates from the silver Honda CRV that they bought.  It was a great drive by ~
they couldn't stay, got a brief tour of the house, lots of hugs and left.

I was on my way to the dump.  Again the recycling people wouldn't/didn't pick up my boxes so I loaded my car and off I went.  It was spectacularly easy - with some minor glitches - but I made two trips and will go again on Saturday - they are not open on Good Friday, but are open on Saturday.

So, my crankiness is gone and I am off to JJ's for my two hours of work.
Enjoy the day and friends!!

Love,
Leslie

Last Minute Aggrevations

Why do people do this?  Amy received the inspection list yesterday, that the buyers have had for a WEEK!!!

And they knew Amy was leaving this Friday.  So wrong.  Anyway, most of the stuff was being taken care of ~ except the master bath ~ which was being sold "as is", hence the price cut.

Now the POTENTIAL buyers want it fixed.  Hmmmmm.  Amy was upset, mom was upset ~ but we talked it out and if the buyers want to back out, so be it.  We will have a crew in, fix the bathroom and sell the house for more money.  And Amy will be here getting ready to have her knee surgery and Nancy will ride herd on the redo.  And all will be ok.

Now for my personal success:  I put together Amy's new bed!!!!!! Amy feels that as soon as she lies down on it, it will collapse.  Ha - not going to happen.

Here are the directions and the Allen wrench they provided:


 

This is like those crazy word problems in math.

Please note my supervisor and my props (dog door box and two reams of paper) ~ it worked!

 

TA DA!!!!  And here it is ~ finished.  It is low so it is easy to get in and out. 

 

May April 1 be successful for everyone!

 

Love,

Leslie

PS ~ I wonder if this is too much:  tomorrow is our recycling day (every other week) and since the city of Durham blew me off on my SCHEDULED pick up, I wonder if they will freak out when they see this:

You can't even see the giant blue recycling bin!

And here is what is left in the garage:

 

All the bags are paper that I have to take out and roll up and tape shut - I have 30+ in the giant pile at the end of the driveway.  I will get these ready for the next time.  I don't want to have the recycling people to have a coronary.

Oh, I forgot to mention my other success ~ I successfully deposited my first paycheck into NFCU via my iphone!!!!!!! I know, I fought the iphone and look what it can do! 
My paycheck?  I am working my sister Lori's afternoon job at her father-in-law's office while she is vacationing.  He will be a good reference!