Dreary Last Day of March 2011

Just gave a deposit to the guy who will be installing a solid mahogany wood floor!  I promise to stop my hoarding!  I have begun to clear out our living/dining room area.  I am now pushing the "stuff" into the bathrooms, the spare bedroom and the family room, the front porch and the garage!  Just remembering the George Carlin routine about our "stuff".   We buy stuff to put our stuff in.  I am not really a hoarder but I can easily understand how one goes down that slippery slope. I have about 200 pounds of photos, books, linens, stereo albums, afghans, small tables chairs and benches. April first tomorrow---I used to be a third grade teacher and it was always fun to think up a prank for the class but all things come to an end.

Thinking Pink for My Bedroom

My bedroom hasn't been painted in 30 years and my carpets are 35 years old.  So I am due for updates of all kinds on my house but I still like my real oak kitchen cabinets so I am not taking on that job just yet.  I am getting a new water pump, got the new front door, new siding, and taking down the very rustic halfway paneling in the living room.  So I will be priming the walls today. And posting my photos from my trip around South Jersey.

Saturday "On the Way to Cape May"

Read the manual to my new Sonata and it said to drive at varying speeds for breaking in the engine.  So I spent some time driving 65-70 miles an hour on the Garden State Parkway in NJ but that was on the way back home from our visit to Cape May, New Jersey.  My sister came along and she wanted to visit an alpaca farm called Jersey Shore Alpacas.  I had been there on a previous visit and found the animals to be delightful.  Ok, I know they are motivated by the habit of getting carrot treats from visitors but I felt that they genuinely wanted to greet us.  Soon the barn emptied and were jostling a bit at the fence to get near.  A couple kept pushing their narrow snouts in the fence openings. The owner greeted us and provided us with carrots to dole out. My sister explained that she wished to purchase the raw wool to use in her dance shoes.  My sister still performs in dance recitals at age 62.  She wanted to try the alpaca wool for extra padding in her shoes instead of the usual lamb's wool.  We traveled along the rural roads in South Jersey stopping to take photos along the way.  We had a nice lunch at the Lobster House. After we stopped at the seafood shop there where she purchased a loaf of bread, shrimp and clam strips to take home for dinner. We also stopped for soft custard.  I will post photos tomorrow.

End of the week

Got a minor paint touch-up on the bumper of the my
new car. Sat in the service area waiting room and another fellow had his 11 month old poodle--so well behaved.  I used my new camera to take a photo of me and the car.  I used the timer and then I jumped itno the shot.

Birthday Week

Monday I turned 64 and spent most of the day finalizing a purchase of a new white Hyundai Sonata.  Although I purchased two previous cars on my own, my son's help in negotiating was helpful.  Recent life changing issues had recently left me feeling a bit vunerable and really didn't want to re-visit the grueling sales pitch from the sales person and the sales manager as I remember it.  My son gave me a nice camera--an EOS Rebel XTI which has inspired me to start a blog. On Tuesday I drove two of my friends (former classmates--both named Patty)  out to lunch at a Mafia hang-out that was filled with signed photographs of 50's celebrities including Frank Sinatra. On Wednesday I went out to dinner with my former colleagues from the elementary school where I used to teach.  They were all meeting to go before the board of education to express concerns about staff cuts. Wanted to post a few photos here but just realized this laptop does not accept the big memory card that comes with this camera. I hope my desktop will accept the card or my enthusiasm for keeping the blog going will diminish quickly.