AVR Weekly News ~ 608th Edition

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by 
Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer. 
~ Recap the past week ~ 
~ Show what's upcoming ~ 
~ Share news ~ 
~ Display book hauls ~

• Sunday ~ Meme ~ AVR Weekly News ~ 607th Edition
• Thursday ~ Tour Review ~ Trial of the Alchemist by Trevor Melanson (still not finished)
• Friday ~ Meme ~ Friday Featured Spotlight ~ BBNYA2024 Finalists 4 & 3

 

• Wednesday ~ Tour Review ~ A Necromancer Called Gam Gam by Adam Holcombe
• Thursday ~ Tour Review ~ Trial of the Alchemist by Trevor Melanson
• Friday ~ Meme ~ Friday Featured Spotlight ~ BBNYA2024 Finalists 4 & 3
• Sunday ~ Meme ~ AVR Weekly News ~ 609th Edition

Hello and Happy Sunday!

On the Home Front

Sunday ~ After making French Toast Bake for breakfast I spent the rest of the morning just piddling around. Then Anna and I went to Big Lots looking for curtains for the patio door. We didn't find what I wanted but we came away with some other stuff. Then we hit Harbor Freight for a few items. Still waiting for the power tools in my list to go on sale. Then we stopped at Lowe's. There was some kind of car show at the Dunkin parking lot with some really sweet oldies. Like a Rambler! Wow! It looked like it might be a 1963, but I am no expert. I found some sheer panels for the patio doors at Lowe's along with a rod and blinds for Anna's new windows. Then Anna ordered dinner for us all on the Culver's app and while that was cookin' we zipped through the Dunkin drive-thru for some frozen hot chocolates. Picked up the food and headed home. We also worked on washing all of Anna's bedding. Why does that girl have 2 comforters, a million blankets, and 100 pillow cases?!

Monday ~ Took Kyle to work then stopped at Lowe's looking for marigolds. Struck out, so I bought seeds. We'll see if they'll sprout in my flower boxes. Then I stopped at BJ's for gas. Anna spent the day at Wet n Wild water park with April and the kids. Trip spent the day binge watching Demon Slayer (minus the time he was helping me rake the gravel). I spent the day picking out my counters and edging (went with beveled) and the laundry room sink. No decision yet on kitchen sink, faucets, kitchen lights, or ceiling fan. So many choices! I brought home samples for backsplash even though I've pretty much made up my mind. I figured I'd let the kids check them out. The boys probably don't give a shit. Anna will be interested. When I got home, the siding guys were here fixing the two can lights. Phase I is now officially complete. Then I hopped on the Kubota and dumped a bit more crush and run by the security light, thus creating a bit of a "speed bump" that's not meant to slow anyone, just the water running down the drive when it rains. Then I got in the Pilot and ran over all of the crush and run, mashing it down hard before my 16 ton of gravel got here. I had the truck do a drive and spread from the shed to my bump. Then I had him back up to our parking area and dump the rest. I'll do the rest of the drive (which isn't that bad) at a later date. After he left I hopped back on the Kubota and scooped a bunch of piles to dump around. Then the raking began. It is so humid out (but only about 83º) that the sweat was rolling off me and Trip in rivers. Gross. Finished just in time to change my sweaty clothes and go pick up Kyle from work. I had to use the Pilot because Anna's car is acting up so she took Kyle's car to April's. Tomorrow I'll have to get the code reader out and see what codes show up for her car. Fun. Not. My body is so sore from raking and I am exhausted.

A sample of countertop sitting on a piece of my flooring.

backsplash behind stove

I'm going to "frame" the flowers. It's hard to describe.

Looks kinda like this except my area is much smaller due to my stove type and hood.

I think it will make for a nice pop of color & design in an otherwise mostly white kitchen.

Because I'm painting the cupboards white. 

example - this is not my kitchen

This is what I picked for the rest of the kitchen backsplash.

Kyle said it looks like it belongs in a bathroom, but I don't care. lol

I like it and it looks really good with the flooring and countertop.

Tuesday ~ Spent a lot of time online looking at ceiling lights and ceiling fans. I still need to look at kitchen sinks and faucets. I haven't picked any yet. Did some laundry. I'm tired. lol Made chicken and dumplings for dinner. Trip spent his 2nd day binge watching Demon Slayer. I think there's a movie coming out next month and that's why he wanted to rewatch it all again. Anna slept most of the day. Apparently she's feeling the day at the water park. lol While Trip was hogging my chair in the living room, I sat at the only chair in the kitchen and finished a hard cover book. Yay me! Anna drove her car to therapy, but it's still acting up. I haven't roused myself enough to go out and hook up the code reader. Maybe tomorrow if it's not raining.

Wednesday ~ Took Kyle to work. Came home and showered. Fed the furries and managed to walk the dogs while it was not raining. Contractor came to measure my kitchen window. Even though I replaced all my windows 2/1/22, I'm going to get a casement window for the kitchen because my short ass cannot open a regular window without help or a chair. I wish I'd thought of that 3 yrs ago, but the kitchen remodel will fix that. Did laundry. Went through emails. Made an appointment for Artemis to get vaccines and an eye pressure check next week. Hooked the code reader up to Anna's car and got a speed sensor circuit failure. So we'll drop that off Friday for Timothy to fix.

Thursday ~ Have so much to do and did nothing of it. I just need some time off before I have to really dig in before Phase II starts. Was doing dishes when I smelled hot plastic. After sniffing around I thought it was the outlet next to the sink. It has a night light plugged in, but it wasn't on. I unplugged it and it was hot! So I checked the outlet cover, also hot! That is not good! 😱 Danger, Will Robinson, danger! Went to the breaker box and turned off the circuit for the kitchen outlets. That meant the microwave was off, so I moved it to the breakfast bar. Also moved my electric kettle over there because I did not want to do without my tea.

Friday ~ Took Kyle to work. Came home and showered then made scrambled eggs for me and Trip. Without toast because that outlet was off. Anna was still sleeping. Before the electrician showed up at 9:00ish I moved all of my tea and other stuff cluttering up my kitchen counter so he would have easy access to the outlet. He came and fixed the hot outlet. Yay! Safe again!  Then we dropped Anna's car off to be fixed, dropped some things off to the wasband, stopped at Lowe's to look at sinks and faucets, got gas in the Pilot since it was down to about 10 miles left (eeeee!), hit the pet store for some new banners to go on my mailbox, and stopped at Carpet One to pick a backsplash for the laundry room. While picking up Kyle I got a text that Anna's car was done, but to wait to pick it up until tomorrow because a semi truck hit some low hanging power lines on the side street next to the place and there was a pole with transformer down in addition to the lines and it was a mess there. Whoops. Ordered Chinese for dinner. I was so tired I went to bed at 9:00pm. On a Friday night. Wow. I am officially old.

laundry room backsplash

Saturday ~ Got up at 8:30. Almost slept 12 hrs and I'm still tired. Made tea and worked on clearing emails and things then when Anna got up we picked up her car. Came home and did the cleaning. I also boxed up a ton of my tea and other counter-cluttering crap. I'll have to do it eventually, so figured now is a good time. I did leave some tea out to tide Trip and me over. I have a lot. I'm not even kidding. A. LOT. The bird's nest out on the back deck now has 3 babies and 1 egg left. Anna went out and found some worms to leave for MamaBird. Then we saw her find them. Success! Ate left over Chinese for dinner. Anna cleaned bird baths and I filled feeders. Then we went to BJ's and Food Lion for groceries. We left at 8pm. All because I didn't want to do it when I got up and I needed a few things for breakfast and dinner tomorrow. Put stuff away, sent dogs to bed so cats could come out, and worked on this post. It's nearly 11:30pm.

Baby birds

Today  I plan to mow first thing after walking the dogs then shower, throw my clothes in the washer, and do nothing. Well, I'll probably try to read. Or I may putter around a little bit. I have a million things to do in the house. If I do one thing then maybe I won't feel guilty.

Construction News ~ Picked out backsplash for laundry room. Thought I had a faucet, but then read the reviews so I'm back to not having one. I think I have a sink picked out. I'm going to wait until the baby birds leave the nest then I'll get Raul to come stain the back deck. That will just leave the front porch which we'll do after Phase II is complete.

Touching Nature: Hot and humid. Rain, then not, then rain. I heard somewhere that we haven't had a rain-free week in over 4 months. I believe it. This has got to be one of the wettest Summers since I moved here in 1998.

Book News:  Finished another audiobook. Still need to write a ton of reviews.

Don't Touch That Dial!: Alternating between Buffy and Angel. Skipping episodes I don't feel like watching.

At the Flicks: Nope

Cyberspace Playground: Wordle, Word Lots, Crossword Jam, Solitaire, jigsaw puzzles, the Finch app - is anyone wants to be friends just let me know.

Randomness:   So that's how they did that!

Carol's Nuggets of Wisdom: My daughter said she read that if your lips are dry you're probably dehydrated and you should drink water. I said, but that's just common sense. I thought everyone knew that. As well as, if your pee is yellow then you're not drinking enough. It should be a pale yellow to nearly clear. The darker it is, the more likely you need hydration. Though some meds can cause a different color. This is just a general rule of thumb.

That's it for me. AVR News Update signing off. May all your books enthrall you.

From the library

Nope

Sale price for a wish listed book on Chirp.

And a Friday Freebie.

Smoke Bitten

Wind Catcher

Freebies

Free at time of drafting.

Gaze twice, click once.

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