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Barbara Fritchman Thompson Diary

Week of 21 December 2009

Latest Update: Sunday, 27 December 2009 10:30 p.m.


Monday, 21 December 2009

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As I suspected the icy/snow section at the bottom of the sloped part of the driveway gave me problems this morning. I couldn't get enough of a run and turn the corner to start up the driveway nor could I back down and get another run. Instead, I shifted into four wheel, drove up the drive into the street, took it out of four wheel and continued onward. There were still some ice and frozen snow patched in the neighborhood but once out on the main roads, all was mostly dry.

Work was a zoo. With some of the support people out for Christmas I was running in ten different directions at the same time. Oh well, the day went by really fast. I did take a quick walk at lunch. Most of the sidewalks had been cleared though the curbs were piled with snow making crossing streets a bit tough.

At the gym it was a true nightmare. He has parking space problems to begin with, not enough for the number of users. Part of the lot was never finished after he opened the building. The dingbat the scrapped the lot plowed the snow in long row between the front row of spaces and the back ones facing each other. Part of the lot was still covered in the patches of snow and ice. If you parked in a backside space you had to walk all the way around the wall of snow instead of straight through to the building. The far edge of the paved lot is not finished. They could have plowed the snow straight back all the way to unpaved part instead of blocking the middle of the parking lot. 

The sun melted off some of what's on the lawns but a lot is still hanging around. Fortunately for us as of today, the weather folks have changed the Christmas Eve, Day sleet and freezing rain to just rain.

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Tuesday, 22 December 2009

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Another day trying to do six things at one time. After work, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up stuff for Christmas day and a few things we needed.  I like to keep the shelves and freezer stocked during the winter. We don't get the really bad winter storms very often that keep us in for days but you never know. In years past we have had some big snow storms or a really bad ice storm. It' still a good idea in the winter to keep shelves and freezer stocked with lots of soup and canned goods plus extra bread, frozen foods, etc.

Sunny and warm again today but there is still a lot of snow lying around. If it does rain on Christmas day it should wash most of it away.


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Wednesday, 23 December 2009

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I have three days and one hour of PDO time to take between now and the end of the year. Today I worked through lunch and took the 1 hour leaving at 3pm. It was another day of putting out fires. I don't know when I have been so tired and stressed out after only three days of work. We are closed tomorrow and Friday.

We met Frances, the folks, and Al for dinner at Zoe's. Bob got to see all the neighborhood snow creatures. Most of the snowman's heads have melted but the larger body areas are still standing. One yard has a snow duck. All the shaded yards are still completely covered in snow. One half of our yard is almost free of the snow, the other half still covered.



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Thursday, 24 December 2009

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Merry Christmas Eve. I left the house this morning around 9 to go over to Costco. I have a few things to pick up I missed when we went with Paul and Mary. I did a quick cruise around the store just looking in addition to picking up what I needed. I think Bob mentioned on his page about Coke and Costco being at war. Costco canceled all their Coke products due to a price war. As you might have guessed, Costco won. I called Bob to let him know they were back.

From Costco it was across town to our local grocery store to pick up some things I missed Monday night. Being out and about early I missed all the traffic. There was hardly anyone in Costo, the same for the grocery store. I was home by 11.

I have now completed two more tasks on my end of year to-do list. Bob wants me to start driving the white Trooper a couple of days a week to keep the battery charged during the winter months. With no AC, I can't drive it when its warm. It needed a good vacuuming of the front floors and cleaning of the dash and drink wells between the seats. I gave it a good clean while Bob removed the map and eye piece cases from the back passenger side seat. I need it clear just in case I am driving it to work and need to go pick up mom and dad for some reason. We left the scope and other astronomy gear in the far back which also requires the other side of the back seat to be folded  back to fit. I then vacuumed out my car including the very back still littered with tree needles.

The next job was to sweep out and clean up the basement. Since the white truck has to driven once its cranked to recharge the battery I first loaded it with a cardboard load. Bob road along with me to take the cardboard and to drop off something at Paul and Mary's. When we got back I swept out the floor where his truck goes before pulling it back in. Then I backed mine out to finish sweeping all the leaves and dirt from the last six months or whenever I organized and put away all the lawn equipment for the year, tidied up the work bench, etc. Malcolm was down helping with all this. He really wanted to play some ball but the yard it just too wet and muddy. We played a little on the driveway.

I've got a few indoor chores to do. Dinner and a quiet evening at home. I will be spending tomorrow with my family at Frances and Al's.

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Friday 25 December 2009

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Merry Christmas.

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Saturday, 26 December 2009

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As usual we had another wonderful Christmas day. Lots of laughs, great gifts for everyone, and good food. The early morning rain did not turn into freezing rain as predicted. I left here about 9 to pick up mom and dad so he would not have to drive back home in the dark. It was pouring rain and so windy when I walked mom to car under the umbrella she was almost blown sideways off her feet. It pour rain all day putting 2 inches on top of snow and already wet ground but it did not wash all the snow away. At least it washed the snow melt off the driveway and sidewalk. By the time we sat down for dinner it had pretty much stopped raining but was turning cold again. I left around 6:30. Al was taking the folks home. 

Today I sorted and put away gifts stowing boxes and bags in the work room to be organized with the rest of the wrapping stuff later. I've deep cleaned our bedroom moving all the furniture, polishing furniture, wiping down walls, etc.

White I was up here cleaning Bob sat downstairs manning a load of table top cloths for the tables in the dinning and living room along with the blanket and bed spread. He then washed two loads of floor rugs.

In between I had Malcolm out but not to play ball. Way to muddy for that today. The sun has not been out very much to dry things off either. It's been in the mid-40's with lows again tonight back down into the 30's.

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Sunday, 27 December 2009

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I finished the Dalziel and Pascoe, up next, another Sister Frevisse The Maiden's Tale.

We've been watching season 1 of Nurse Jackie. Oh gosh, what a hoot. It's sort of a cross between ER and House as a comedy rather than a drama. Strong actors, great writing, etc, etc.

After the bathrooms, the next worst room in the house to deep clean is the kitchen due to all the scrubbing. That's the project for today. Clean and remove all the stuff from the refrigerator and freezer to clean shelves, scrub down cabinet fronts, clean light fixtures, move everything and clean the counters, and vacuum and mop the floor. While I am doing all this the oven is self cleaning itself but I have to clean the racks. I also need to lemon oil the This End Up pine kitchen table.  

Frances and Al gave me two different sized wire baskets for organizing small stuff in the freezer. For our freezer, the small one will fit on the top shelf, the larger one on the bottom. I can't wait to get those in place to make it easier to store and find things.

Since we had a very hard freeze last night I had Malcolm out this morning to play ball before the yard defrosts back into a bog. Grilled steaks and chicken for dinner.



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