Kakuro and Sunglasses

Two things I want to mention about this past week:

The first is that I have become addicted to Kakuro puzzles. My sister Kim sent me a book of 250 puzzles for Christmas, and I can't seem to stop doing them. I have completed 152 puzzles so far. I think that I did probably at least 40 this week alone. These are not "quick" puzzles. Each probably takes 20-30 minutes, so you can see why I believe that I am addicted.

Too. Much. Time. Spent. Doing. Kakuro.

The second thing is that I lost the sunglasses that I carry around in my purse. This loss occurred today. I really don't know what happened to them, but the best that I can come up with is that they fell on the ground at our breakfast place this morning. (I had used them in the car, and I'm thinking I put them on my lap instead of back in my purse.) The sunglasses were not expensive, but I am bothered by the fact I lost them. I try not to be careless, so I'm annoyed with myself. I'll get over it.

New sunglasses already ordered on Amazon for $9.99.

A Productive Hour

Writing Prompt: In the last hour.

In the last hour I have done the following:

• Finished exercising
• Eaten two small squares of chocolate
• Had a drink of water
• Checked some banking info online for myself
• Checked some banking info online for parents
• Given the cats their afternoon goodies
• Read my e-mail
• Talked with my parents
• Worked on this blog post
• Claimed that I'm about to take a shower (soon, real soon)

And that's about it! It's amazing how much one can accomplish in an hour if one tries.  :)

I'm going to hit the shower now.... after I check a couple websites.

My five minutes are up!

Free Falling

By popular demand, today's throwback photo is from Verlie's skydiving adventure on her 75th birthday.

She was braver than I will ever be!  Smile....

Dad 242: Pump Up the Water

(I wish my Dad would tell us how he really feels about winter. Enjoy his post! ~ Tracy)

 

Derf Here! Woke up to another day with fresh snow cover. Will work on removing it later. Not supposed to receive any more snow in February. However, still may get a little on Monday. But that will be in March. At least today is a lot warmer than yesterday. It is about 15° this morning. Yesterday a record for the date was set. A balmy negative 11° in Portland. This was 6° warmer than the temperature in Lewiston. Please turn off the snow guns and turn on the heat guns. I'm ready for April! Enough about the weather.

 

Earlier this winter I had to replace our sink waste disposer (commonly called a "pig"). I tell you this because another malfunctioning device is now in question.

 

We have very low water pressure in this area. Well, we lived with low pressure for 30 years. Then in 2006, just before Tracy and Lew secured the home, the pressure was upgraded by installing a pump. The pump worked well for about seven years. The pump failed in 2013 and we replaced it. Well, the pump is failing again. This one didn't quite make two years. While doing a wash, Tracy heard a strange noise coming from the basement. It was our pump. It is quite noisy when it is increasing the pressure. Suffice it to say a new pump is currently being shipped to us. We hope the current pump works until the new one arrives sometime next week.

 

This winter has been horrible. It wasn't necessary to have two malfunctioning electrical devices to make it horrible. The snow and cold could have made it miserable with no help. I hate snow! I hate winter! I hate electronic devices failing! I hate cold! Enough for now. Sooo....

 

Until next time!

 

Toodle Pip!

 

Derf!

A Chili Challenge

I am entering a contest.

 

The contest is taking place on March 29th at our church.

 

You may be wondering, "What contest is that, Tracy?"

 

Answer: Our church's annual chili cook-off. (Also referred to as the ChiliFest.)

 

I have never made chili before. And regular readers of my blog know I am deficient when it comes to culinary skills.

 

But I am going to participate because I need to take more risks. (The combination of me and any sort of food preparation is definitely risky!)

 

My preparations for the contest are well underway:

• I have my new 6-quart slow cooker.
  
• I have signed up for the cook-off.
  

 

One minor detail that I have yet to accomplish is the securing of a recipe. (Note that I did not say a "winning" recipe. I have no pipe dreams.)

 

Once I decide on a recipe, I may wait to make it for the contest itself. That is, no trial run. Perhaps this is a bad idea, but I am seriously considering it. Feeding my first-ever-chili to a lot of people could be fun(ny)....

 

To Do:

1. Come up with chili recipe.
   
2. Get head examined.
   

Show Me the Movie

My Facebook news feed is full of articles and comments about last night's Oscars.

I watched none of the program. (Although I did look at live updates of the winners online.)

I perused the list of nominees to determine if I had seen any of the movies and came up with only three:

• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Into the Woods
• The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

There are some others I would like to see at some point:

• American Sniper
• Unbroken
• The Imitation Game

I suppose I should be interested in watching Birdman -- it did win the "Best Picture" award, after all -- but we'll see.

And that about sums up my entire interest in the Oscars.

Routine Therapy

This week has been about getting back into a routine. Lew went back to work on Wednesday and I attempted to get caught up on some stuff.

"Stuff" included exercising, reading, paying bills, preparing my parents' tax returns, following up on some correspondence, etcetera, etcetera. I did not finish everything but I did make good headway.

Lew and I had not done our weekly weigh-in since July, so we resumed that today. Lew didn't do too badly, but I weighed the most I have in seven years. (Too many York Peppermint Patties, I think!)  We even weighed the cats. Jerry was about the same but Kurt had gained a little bit.

I just did Verlie's 2014 taxes. Since she will have only a couple months of income for 2015, we shouldn't have to file for her ever again. The thought makes me sad.

Lew and I are slowly adjusting to our new reality. Lew says that driving by the nursing home every day is similar to wearing a black armband; it's a constant reminder of our loss.

Returning to routine has been therapeutic, but we also are enjoying a new toy: the Amazon Echo. It is an amazing gadget and I will not attempt to explain it here. But you should check it out.

Weather forecast: Cold. Snow. Cold.