Puttering Day

Let's see...the day after Christmas is called Boxing Day in some parts of the world. I think the day after retirement surely must be Puttering Day. Having lost the urgency of "gotta get it done before the children come home" or "gotta get it done before the work week begins," I just did whatever I darn well pleased today! Did I actually accomplish anything? Not much. Did I care? Not much!!!!

I did clean up in front of the house a bit, picking up children's messes and sweeping up maple helicopters, largely because the lovely potted plant that Judy and Phil left for me looked like a "sweet little petunia in an onion patch". Had to clean up in front just to show off the planter! (Besides, it needed cleaning up, big time.) The yard and flowers were neglected last year due to the garage remodeling project. THIS year, I hope to have the energy to at least get things cleaned up and set up for the children to have a decent place to play. Right now, the mosquitoes are pretty formidable!

Apparently Robin called Meg from Muncie yesterday, all excited, to tell her that they took the training wheels off her bike, and she was riding. Yay! I think I was in second grade before I learned to ride a two-wheeler. Both Robin and Ryan are now riding, sans training wheels.

Meg got a letter indicating that Ryan does NOT qualify for all-day Kindergarten for next year. Guess they save that for students in need of extra school preparation. Ry is pretty sharp. All they/we need to do is figure out how to channel his energy!

The kitchen floor replacement project is scheduled for Thurs/Friday of next week. Getting rid of the FILTHY kitchen carpet will be a huge morale boost, even if it disrupts the whole house for a couple of days. We had budgeted $1,000 for the project, but it ran over about $500. Don't care! It is quality stuff and I trust the guy installing it. The household hygiene should go up considerably when the job is done. Frodo the Wonder Dog (now over the Rainbow Bridge) really did a number on the carpet. Even after shampooing, it wasn't clean. It has prevented us from wanting to have anyone in the house. The children haven't been allowed to walk barefoot in the kitchen for the duration. It will be nice to have the situation rectified!

Listening to a Skywarn net on amateur radio right now. The National Weather Service asked us to call up a spotter's network for severe. The net control operator just asked me if I could take over should he lose power. Ugh!