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Barbara Fritchman Thompson Diary

Week of 30 November 2009

Latest Update: Sunday,  December 2009 1:30 p.m.


Monday, 30 November 2009

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Last week when Marcia and I were out driving around the loud grinding noise from underneath the right side of the suspension reappeared. Also, the screech when it cranks cold was getting louder. Late yesterday afternoon we drove the car out to leave at Tim's for him to look at first thing this morning. Not only could he hear the screech but it would save us from having to leave early enough to rush out there, leave the car, take Bob back home, and me get to work on time.

On the way out to drop off the car I stopped at the Domino's and ordered the pizza. On the way back we picked it up then made a quick stop at Walgreen's for a couple of things Bob needed to pick up.

I was not too  far behind when I got back today. It took until this afternoon to clear up most of the backlog and gave me time to get started on a new project that come in while I was out. It felt good to get back into the regular routine.

Bob called me this morning to let me know Tim needed to order parts for the car that would not be in until at least Friday so we went back out after work to pick the car up. 

After a somewhat warm day yesterday it turned cooler overnight.  It was pretty windy this morning and by mid-afternoon the rain finally got here. By the time we took Malcolm for his after dinner walk the wind had blown the clouds out. It is already down in the mid 40's now with lows tonight back into the 30's.

Several of Bob's readers offered good suggestions for my tree top problem. With a busy week ahead it will be this weekend before we can give them a try. Thanks so much. I will let you know how things turn out.

We are watching new episodes of The Last Detective and some more Dexter.

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Tuesday, 1 December 2009

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Heavy frost last night. I walked to the post office at lunch time. The sun was out making things a little warmer with temperatures making it to the mid 50's. Gym tonight.

Bob said Malcolm looked at Bob around 5:15 and gave a yip asking where I was. Later he pestered Bob to go out front to look to see if I was outside. With it getting dark early he expects me to be home. Just what every home needs, a Border Collie to run things. There is an old Far Side cartoon with a bunch of sheep standing around at a party talking about no one knowing where to stand, when to eat, etc. The door is open an a Border Collie is standing at the door. One of the sheep says "oh thank God . Here Come a Border Collie".


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Wednesday, 2 December 2009

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Happy 55th birthday to me. It was raining when we got up, it rained all day, it is still raining. I have no idea how much we've had but with the 10" we had last month we sure don't need any more rain. Of course this time of year we are thankful it was not freezing rain, sleet, or snow.

I had a good day at work getting several cards and one happy birthday song. I picked the folks up after work to meet Frances at nice little restaurant west of Winston. They had eaten there before but I hadn't. Steak, burgers, pasta, fish. Very good food, good portions. They brought me a free brownie with ice cream in a birthday bowl for dessert. After we ate I opened my gifts. The theme this year was penguins. Pajamas, book mark, small ceramic dish, and ornament. Some of these things were inside a very cute fabric pop-up penguin with wire sides and felt feet. 



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Thursday, 3 December 2009

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We had a little over 2 inches of rain yesterday. By this morning things had cleared up nicely. It was windy but not cold. I met Bonnie for lunch. Afterward we stopped at a arts/craft show being held downtown to help support the Sawtooth Center for the Arts and local craftsmen. Very nice stuff reasonably priced.

Gym and grocery store tonight. We were running low on a few things since I did not go to the store last week. We will be needing to do another Costco run in the few weeks.

I am reading another Teashop Mystery by Laura Childs, Chamomile Mourning.

Trash and recycling are out, time to relax a little before going to bed and starting all over again tomorrow.



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Friday 4 December 2009

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No update.



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Saturday, 5 December 2009

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Bob and I went out for dinner last at Zoe's for a belated birthday dinner.

Today is another wet, cold Saturday. We barely missed snow and/or ice. The mountains are getting snow.

This morning I picked Frances up at her house around 9:15. We took off for High Point to go lamp shopping. I had done a Google search for lamp stores in High Point, printed out locations, etc. High Point is about 15 minutes from her house. Of the eight stores I found listed, several for very near to each other. I used Google maps to get us from Winston to the first store on Hampton Street. The directions said to turn left on English, right on Hampton. Except, English was one way, a right turn only. We drove a ways before I turned off on a side street. Frances called the number, it was disconnected. She started calling all the other numbers. All had been disconnected or changed except one, they were not open on Saturday. We headed back to Main street High Point where we had passed one store earlier. They had no floor lamps. The owner said most or all of them were either out of business or only open during the Furniture Mart.

Frances suggested we go to Home Depot, the next block down. Bingo, I found a very nice bronze finished swing arm lamp with a matching table lamp. I bought two floor lamps to replace the one on my table and the table by the kitchen door. Bob got a new lamp for his table. The three up here will go downstairs in the finished area to replace those down there.

We drove back to Winston making a stop at Walgreen's then on to Panera Bread from lunch. While at that shopping center we went to Dollar Tree and Tuesday Morning. I found some Christmas gifts at all those stores. Final stop, gift certificates for my folks at a place they like to visit. One last stop, at the Walgreen's near our house to buy the lighted penguin for the front yard. He only stands 28 inches made of chenille fabric on a wire stand. Very cute little fellow.

We have put together two lamps and the penguin. He is now installed out on the lawn. We have one floor lamp left to go before time to cook dinner.



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Sunday, 6 December 2009

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We've been as busy as beavers all day. I unloaded the downstairs big freezer to start defrosting while I pulled the bedding from the air mattress so Bob could wash those sheets with ours. The freezer was not all that iced over but doing it before it gets bad is much easier and less mess to clean up. I folded the blankets and bedspread and did a general tiding up of the boxes and stuff we had hauled back down again until after Christmas.

Thanks to whoever suggested the twist tie solution to my tree topper problem. I used one long tie to get the cut off branch secured to the tree than used several more to make sure it was tied on tight. So far, it looks like it is holding its own up there.

While I was doing my chores Bob had started one of six loads of laundry which included my work load. For months he had been wanting me to get one of those old fashioned over the door hangers to hang my shirts up as he sorted them rather than having to take the time to spread them out across the back of my chair in the bedroom. I started looking for the over the door hanger when Marcia and I were out shopping but could not find one anywhere. When I can't find something I am looking for I always let Frances know. Her and Al are champion "finders" of things. Sure enough, they came found what I wanted. It was one of my birthday presents. Currently I am listening to another one of my birthday presents, the Christmas 25th Anniversary  Collection by Mannheim Steamroller. I have some of their earlier Christmas CD's.

I cleaned the bathrooms and ran the vacuum to at least get the leaves and dog hair. By the time I finished that the freezer was ready to be wiped down and turned back on.

To continue the story of my MP 3 players from Bob's page. My Sansa 250 I use at the gym needed to be reloaded with music. As Bob relates on his page, when he connected the USB cable to the player he did not get a list of music on the player. After messing around with it for awhile I mentioned that it was not a coincidence that he had blown up another of my players. He brought the player and cable back to my office where it worked fine. We decided he would load the music on my PC for music management (and safety for my players). After the upload he decided he should vacuum the back and inside of my system. The fan had been increasing in noise level lately. Once he did that and rebooted the fan was louder and the PC didn't recognize my the 4 GB Sansa Clip it had recognized earlier. We loaded music on the Sansa 250 for now.

I'ved had Malcolm out back to play and help refill the bird feeder. It is cold today, mid 30's right now with a forecast high of 41. I'm not sure it will make that even with the sunshine. I still have some bills to pay and the rest of my desk to organize. Next, I will get some wrapping done before calling it a day.



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