Home » Diary Home » Week of 5 March 2007

Photograph of Robert Bruce Thompson Barbara Fritchman Thompson Diary

Week of 5 March 2007

Latest Update: Sunday, 11 March 2007 2:00 p.m.


Monday, 5 March 2007

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]

Monday greetings. I am so happy to be back doing my assigned tasks again. I don't mind closing files but I have a lot of my own work that needs to be caught up and I really, really like my work doing destruction and data base cleanup.  

I have suffered the entire day with a surprise allergy attack. This morning I had the usual morning sneezing until my over the counter medicine kicks in. By the time I go in for my breakfast I am no longer sneezing. However, by the time I got to work things were worse instead of better. Instead of the usual couple of sneezes during the day I spent the entire day sneezing my head off. 

It's a little early for in the year for a full fledged attack but with the warm temperatures the trees and flowers are budding out early. I checked the pollen count web site and sure enough we are medium  to almost medium high for tree pollen. Oh well, I made it through the day and on to the gym.  As soon as I got home I used my prescription nasal spray and took a Zyrtec. Those 15 to 25 mph winds yesterday and today didn't help much by blowing all the pollen around.



[Top]


Tuesday, 6 March 2007

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]

Another interesting day at work. I had three major research questions using our databases to search for files. I just love the smell of the hunt!

I have taken a break from mystery reading to try the first book in a four book series by Adriana Trigiani. I read a review of the most recent book in the series which intrigued me enough to try the series. I was hooked on the first page. Here are a few sentences which struck me close to home:

   "This will be a good weekend for reading...The Wise County Bookmobile is one of the most beautiful sights in the world to me...The Bookmobile is just a government truck, but to me it's a glittering royal coach delivering stories and knowledge and life itself. I even love the smell of books. People have often told me one of their strongest memories is the scent to their grandmother's house. I never knew my grandmothers, but I could always count on the Bookmobile.The most important thing I ever learned, I learned from books...


As I young girl, I too waited each week for the bookmobile to come around. It made its stop on the street just behind our house. I can remember, even today, when the inside of that wonderful truck looks like. Even funnier, when I first started working at the library I met the bookmobile driver. He was very young when he started driving and yes, he drove that same bookmobile I used to visit.

More about the book and the series, Big Stone Gap. Before I started reading mystery novels I read a wide degree of authors some of which were light romance but not Danielle Steel. While I now have switched to mostly mystery authors I still enjoy a good story about small town America. While Stone Gap is fiction is appears from the biography on her web site to be somewhat autobiographical. Big Stone Gap is set in a small town Virginia mining town. Ave Maria, the main character is Italian, as is the author. I will not give away the reason she was named Ave Maria. Ave owns and runs the local pharmacy, is also part of the two man rescue squad, deliveries medicines to those who live back "in the hills" from town, and director of the local outdoor drama.

Trigiani is funny without trying to hard, writes very well, and has introduced a myriad and eccentric group of characters including a sexy librarian. She drives the Bookmobile. I  read the first 40 pages a work today and got hooked into the story at once. Hopefully it will continue.

As I predicted my allergies has completely cleared up by this morning. To be safe I did not walk at lunch with the pollen count still high and took another Zyrtec tonight with dinner. Bob is recuperating from having another tooth pulled. I had planned to go out shopping this evening after work but instead came on home to help with dogs and dinner. I will most likely do my shopping tomorrow night thus no I doubt there will be a post until the end of the week.


[Top]


Wednesday, 7 March 2007

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]

No update.



[Top]


Thursday, 8 March 2007

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]


I had a moderately successful shopping trip at the mall last night. Today was work through lunch to leave early for the Library Friends meeting. Stephanie just called to see if I want to walk in about ten minutes so I need to wrap this up quickly.

The Big Stone Gap continues to be a pleasant read. On the weather front, it was fairly warm yesterday but this morning it was cold and windy again. My jonquils and crocus are up in full bloom. With the warmer weather my pansies have also perked up a bit looking a lot better than they did a couple of weeks ago.


[Top]


Friday, 9 March 2007

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]


No update.



[Top]


Saturday, 10 March 2007

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]


Greetings. First off, Happy Birthday today, to my sister Francs. Happy 61st anniversary to my folks, yesterday.

Gerald started on the bathrooms yesterday. When I came home last night our bedroom was full of stuff from the bathroom; toilet, sink, cabinet, etc. I had made a grocery store run after work and picked up Subway sandwiches for dinner.

Both bathrooms had the new tile installed with spacers to let it settle. This morning Gerald was back over to install the new ceiling fans and grout the tile. He is still here working. In the meantime Bob and I took off around 10:15 for Home Depot and Lowe's. The Home Depot stop was to look at fixtures for the bathroom and pick up primer and paint.

For the bathroom we needed the following: 18" and 24" towel bars, toilet roll holder, towel ring, medicine cabinet, sink fixtures, shower door, shower fixtures, and light bar.

I was not impressed with what Home Depot had so after purchasing paint supplies we moved on to Lowe's. Neither place had a shower door to fit our shower. After looking at towel bar sets we settled on a Moen in brushed nickel. We then started looking at medicine cabinets and light bars. What we have now is brown wood with a boxed in light bar. I wanted to move to white with a chrome finish light bar. The selection was pretty limited in the light bar category and not much better in medicine cabinets. After spending half an hour or more looking at our options we bagged that and went to look for sink and shower fixtures. We ran into a couple of problems there trying to match the fixtures with our towel bars.

For one, we have to be careful what fixture replacement we buy for the shower. In order to prevent having to drill through my office wall we have to find something that will fit the fittings we already have. Also, the shower door size seems to also be non-standard. By the time we had deliberated for another half an hour on the fixtures we bought the towel bar sets and came home for lunch. It was 12:00.

I have several decisions to make about what I want to do about a mirror, a medicine cabinet and lights. We have to wait on Gerald to find out if he can get the shower fixture in brushed nickel and a shower door in brushed nickel.

It is a beautiful day. I think I will do some yard work. I need to pick up sticks and run the mower over the lawn. Unfortunately, one of the wheels on my mower is stuck in the height it is set at which means I can no longer raise or lower the deck height for the mower. It needs to be set down one notch right now but I will just have to mow it as it is.

Frances and the folks are coming over at 5 for an informal birthday party. We are ordering Wing Zone delivered and having birthday cake in the downstairs area. They will get to see the new floor and the new couch cushions.

We slept in the den last night since the bedroom was full of junk. Most of it was stacked along the walls where they like to sleep.

[Top]


Sunday, 11 March 2007

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]


Last night while everyone was over for the birthday party we were brain storming about bathroom redecorating. Frances has been doing the same thing at her house. She suggested we replace the shower door with a shower curtain. With all the new materials they now make shower curtains not as prone to mildew like they did in the old days. Bob liked the idea because he has to stoop down to get in and out of the shower. Plus, the door is so low the water actually bounces off him and over the shower doors. With the decision made it put other things in place.

This morning I went back to Lowe'w and picked up the faucet set we liked as well as a matching curtain rod. Next week I will make a trip to Bed, Bath, & Beyond to look for a curtain.  While at Lowe's I also looked at lights again and saw several that I think will work real well. That too will be another trip to either Home Depot or Lowe's.

I primed the putty spots Gerald did yesterday and have now put one coat of paint on the walls. While I was waiting on the primer to dry I finished priming the hall walls too.

It was a beautiful spring day today. I hate I am tied up with the house stuff and dad and I could not play golf. We may not get another pretty day like this for awhile. It is to be 70 degrees today and close to 80 by the middle of the week. Way to warm for March around here. We may pay for it yet.

I have another coat of paint to put on the walls before I finish up with todays painting. I will save the trim work for next week. Oh, I did set the mower down a notch yesterday and used a bungee cord to hold the wheels in place. Worked like a charm.

I finished reading the Stone Gap book. Excellent story. I shall reserve the next one in the series.

Top]


Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 by Barbara Fritchman Thompson. All Rights Reserved.