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Barbara Fritchman Thompson Diary

Week of 16 December 2000 (Week 51)

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To respond or comment on something I have written email me. I would love to hear from you.  If you have problems reaching me at the first address, I can also be reached at fritchman@triad.rr.com.

Christmas 2000 at the Thompson house!

Read visit my WebCitings  page featuring reviews of interesting web sites.

You can view the Netwidows Recipe web site for recipes from myself and the other Netwidows and the Daynotes Gang.

Saturday, 16 December 2000

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We started putting together Sherlock, my new computer yesterday afternoon. We fired it up and it runs fine as is. We may add some additional drives today like a CD-RW but otherwise it is finished and ready for loading of software etc. It will still be a few weeks before I actually get it because we have to do some swapping around of network stuff. Since I am the server, Bob has to have another machine up and running as the server before he can take me down and give me the new one.

It is a dark, rainy day here. Instead of ice, like we were supposed to get, we have rain with a chance of thunderstorms. Then turn cold tomorrow. This has by far been one of the weirdest weather periods I think I have seen for a long time. Guess I will stay in today except for  being out with the dogs. 

We will finish up with Sherlock and I have some work to do plus wrap a few more Christmas gifts. 

And just for fun check out these two sites for a bit of literary humor:

Great Merged Books is a list of titles of classics merged with modern works to create new classic titles.

Here is another list of merged book titles. The second list comes from a weekly contest offered by Bob Staake of the Washington Post. He runs a column The Style Invitational each week which offers readers a chance to merge two topics into one such as quotes, tv shows, book titles, etc. I linked the archive page if you wish to go in and a read a few. Some are pretty funny.

Sunday, 17 December 2000

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Bob is redesigning a couple of my pages to the same format as he is using. If you want to take a look at my personal home page and my diary index page you can get an idea of the format. My weekly diary page will be the same starting January 1. 

I started an interesting book last night, Alice's Tulips. I have added a review on my favorites page along with the review of the other book I am reading Rare Ambition. I have never read anything by the author of Alice's Tulips so I must have read a review or blurb of the book that interested me enough to reserve a copy at the library. If you enjoy quilting and life in the United States during Civil War times you might want to give it a try.

No laundry today. Yesterday I did a load of sheets and when I went downstairs to put them in the dryer there was water all over the basement. It had not rained hard enough to come in under the foundation, so I suspected the washer. We had been having periodic small puddles under the machine for awhile now and we thought the washer was going out like the dryer just did.

After alerting Bob, we decided to put in a load and watch to see what happens. We saw. The pipe that takes the water from the machine to the backflow valve and out to the street was stuck and the water came pouring back over the pipe. Bob tried to flush out whatever was jammed in the pipe with the hose but it did not work. He called the plumber and we are first on the list for Monday morning. There is a soapy load of towels in the washer but at least we don't have to buy another washer. 

Speaking of rain. It poured last night and we had a major thunderstorm. Today there is a forecast of snow showers. It was cold and raw all day yesterday with drizzle. Today the sun is out but the winds are real high the the temperature is supposed to plummet as the day goes on.

I am going to clean house this morning and then go downstairs and see if I can straighten out all the empty boxes that are piled up in Lenore's old area. We had several of the larger ones stored in the basement which got wet on the bottom yesterday. I am going to move them all  into the other room and stacked. Right now they are just in a big heap in the corner.

Monday, 18 December 2000

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We finished installing two more drives in my new machine, Sherlock, and Bob is now loading software and burning in the machine. So far, everything is running smoothly there.

Not so with the plumbing. After I cleaned house yesterday morning and took my shower, we ate lunch and finished up with Sherlock. I then went downstairs to straighten up box piles and decided to clean the downstairs toilet while down there. After I flushed I noticed water pouring in under the bathroom wall. I quickly ran around into the basement and the area behind the bathroom where the pump is. Water was streaming down from above where one of the pipes runs from. Because the pipe is boxed in from the bathroom, it is impossible to see where the pipe goes and the water was coming from.

I fetched Bob and he came down to help investigate. He watched while I flushed again, and of course more water streaming in on the floor and running down the wall. By now we had water all over the bathroom floor, running under the carpet of the little hallway and into the kitchen. We have no idea where it was coming from.

Late in the afternoon when I went to start dinner Bob was going to take his shower. He called me back to the bathroom and what do you know? Backed up sewage all over the floor of the shower. Same thing in the hall bath tub. I called the city because they had been working on the main lines that week and the lady across the street had the same thing happen to her earlier in the week. The city came out and said the blockage was somewhere between the house and the street. So, we called and cancelled the plumber and the rotor rooter man is coming today. In the meantime I have two sinks full of soaking dishes that we could not rinse last night and we cannot flush the toilets or run any water. 

There is a load of cloths soaking in the washer and a bucket full of wet towels need to be washed in addition to two huge loads of cloths for a week. 

I am off to get a haircut this morning and run errands. I also need to shop for groceries. I will leave Bob here to handle the plumbing problems.

Tuesday, 19 December 2000

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The weatherman finally got it right and of course on the day that I had something planned to do. We awoke to sleet and freezing rain already falling. It is supposed to turn to snow before ending this afternoon. Dad and I were to go shopping this morning for various things while my mom volunteered at the hospital. 

They don't go anywhere when the weather is bad. I guess we will wait to see what tomorrow brings and see if we can reschedule.

The Thompson house is back to normal. The rotor rooter guys showed up right around noon. After getting the main drain unclogged we scrubbed tubs and flushed toilets and finished washing the load of cloths that had been soaking since Saturday. Now, we just have about six more loads to do today. 

All the leaves have finally fallen off the Bradford Pear trees next door so yesterday afternoon I went out and raked leaves out of the natural areas. Then I decided to go ahead and give the lawn a final mowing to pick up all the leaves and stuff in the yard. 

Guess that is about it from snowy Carolina.

Wednesday, 20 December 2000

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We had a nice snow yesterday although only about 1/2 an inch stuck to the yard and trees and was all over by mid-day. I played outside with the dogs a couple of times and worked on the book. Bob did most of the laundry backlog. Last night it turned real cold and windy. When we took the dogs out for their last time it was about 5 degrees wind chill, which is pretty cold for here.

I am off this morning to shop with Dad for his television and run some last minute errands on that side of town. I will also bring gifts from their house so they will not have so much stuff to load in the car and bring over Christmas morning. We also have to coordinate the Christmas day menu.

That's all for today. 

Thursday, 21 December 2000

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Happy Winter Solstice to one and all. We have cold weather here, which is nice. Some years it is shirt sleeve weather in December. They were calling for more snow for tonight and in the morning but that has been cancelled. Which means we could have a blizzard if you believe the weather people.

I had a nice day yesterday running errands with the folks. Dad found a 20" television he liked at Best Buy, so we hauled it home and got it all set up. We ordered the standing rib roast for Christmas day. I have never cooked one of these before and decided that is what I want to fix for Christmas dinner. I am so excited, I hope it turns out as good as the picture in the magazine that gave me the idea. Dad is picking up the roast on Saturday. 

We then headed out for mom's doctor appointment and then stopped for some lunch. Back home, I loaded the trooper/sleigh with presents from mom and dad to bring over and put under the tree. 

This morning I am off the the library for a couple of hours to get some books and do a little volunteer stuff with the gift books. This afternoon Bob and I are going to tear down Kiwi and clean her up for a rebuild.

Friday, 22 December 2000

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Finally, I am off to the gym this morning, the first time in several weeks since fighting this sinus infection. I really miss it when I don't go.

I have to stop at the grocery store to pick up a few things we need and some stuff for Christmas day eating. 

Everyone have a nice weekend and try to relax and enjoy the Christmas season.

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