Wednesday, September 26, 2012

My Dad and I (The Greatest Man I've Know)

I wrote this blog a couple of weeks ago as part of my healing.  My summer was spent dealing with my Dad's health issues working on my parents paper work to straighten out mistakes made by others.  We also had problems at the house with our water and are trying to get some remodeling done (mostly flooring and bathroom).  I wanted to include some pictures, but they are buried in all stuff we removed from the attic.  So here is my healing blog.


A little over 62 years ago I first met the greatest man of my life.  About a week ago I lost this man, but he will always have an influence on me until the day I also die and am with him again.  My Dad, Melvin Amos Smith, was always a person I could look up to in times of good and in times of bad.
I learned early in life that he loved his family and did everything he could to provide for us. He planted a large garden, which we traditionally did while listening to the Indianapolis 500 on the radio.  His interests in gardening went beyond providing vegetables for us.  He also grew grapes, rhubarb, strawberries and had several fruit trees.  Our house was surrounded by flower beds where he planted roses, moss roses, lily of the valley, passion flowers and lots of perennials that mostly provided green ground cover.  While he enjoyed all the plants and working with them he made sure his family also participated and learned all about gardening.
Harvesting was usually a family affair.  This sometimes was good and other times not so good.  I learned how to choose the ripe fruits and vegetables and leave the young items to mature.  I also learned to not step on the end of vines that may be crawling along the ground, because that would prevent the plant to continue growing and provide more fruit.  The one thing we did was to harvest the horseradish.  It wasn't so bad digging the horseradish, but then it had to be sorted, cleaned and ground.  Now I love horseradish, but that stuff is not easy to clean and grind when you just have a potato peeler, knife and a hand grinder.  We did this outside, because of the smell and the gasses get into your eyes.  It tasted so good once it was in the jar with a covering of white vinegar. 
Continuing the harvesting even our dog enjoyed the adventure.  She would eat the corn cobs, odd shaped cucumbers and any other item that happen to hit the grass at our feet. Occasionally the dog would even steel directly from the garden, but that never bothered my father.
I remember also learning how to shoot a gun, clean any game that was killed during a hunt and my favorite fish.  Fishing often times was a family outing, sometimes even camping near the river. 
When the summers were warm we often went swimming.  We did, when I was really young, have a small pool which my Dad would also get into.  I really remember our trips to Lake Michigan to swim and play in the sand.  One day we were jumping off a tire.  It seemed like a huge tire to me.  My Dad was holding it up with the help of someone else.  All the kids would take turns and either dive or jumped off the tire.   One time I remember diving off the tire, but kept turning in circles.  Maybe a wave caught me or something.  My Dad reached into the water, grabbed my arm and it seemed to me saved my life.  When we didn't have a tire to jump from my Dad allowed us to jump off his shoulders.
I learned many other things from my Dad.  Car care at our house was more of a do it yourself type work.  He always needed a gofer to get him the tools he needed or the oil, break shoe, spring etc.   
My Dad quit high school during WWII and enlisted in the Navy.  He never talked much about being in the Navy other then he worked in the laundry part of the time, met my Mom while in Washington, DC and served on the USS New Hanover.  I know he served in the Pacific due to seeing some pictures of him and his friends while on leave in Hawaii and a few comments he made about other islands his ship made port.  I remember his blue wool uniform that he wore when my Mom and he were married shortly after his discharge.  As I have been going through boxes I have found my Mom's wedding dress (which she used the underlining to make my Brother and I each a vest one Christmas), but have not found his uniform. 
While I was very young my parents, with the help of others, built the only house I really remember as a child.  It was done in stages, so I was able to learn much about building. When we first move into the house I think my brother and I shared a room, because there were only two bedrooms on the main floor.  Later on the upstairs was finished enough for my brother to move to his own room.  Then my Grandmother (my Dad's Mother) moved into my room and I moved into another room that was finished upstairs.
My father often times worked a full time job and picked up extra work doing plumbing, electrical or even building houses.  It was not unusual for him and his brother(s) to work on projects together to support their families.
When my father was offered a chance to work at Inland Steel he needed a High School Diploma.  So he took his GED test and passed on his first try.  Believe it or not someone was tuning the piano located in the same room.  He then decided to continue his education and we all took an electronic class via DeVry Institute home study program.  Back then the lecture was recorded on a record that was sent to him via mail.  They also shipped different kits to him he had to assemble.  Tests were also taken at home.  So we all sat around the kitchen table and listened to the records, did the homework and took the tests.  We also watched and sometime held things in place as Dad assembled the ohm meter and a few other items.  After that he took classes at Purdue University Calumet campus and eventually earned a degree.  This allowed him to advance in his job.  By him showing us that an education is important my Brother and I both graduated from college.  My Dad for the most part paid for both of our undergraduate education.  We both worked during the summer and vacations to supplement the costs.
My father came from a large family.  My grandparents had 4 boys and 6 girls.  They all went on to marry and also have children.  We usually tried to meet as a family twice a year.  One time was Christmas Eve at my Grandparents house where families came and went at will.  There was singing, tales told, food, games and lots of fun.  Then midsummer, usually around the time of my Grandmother's Birthday, we would have a family reunion.  It was held at the Lake County Fairgrounds.  Every family would bring food to share and games to play.  Baseball, horseshoes, Bunco as well as other games were enjoyed by all.  This was usually the time we would get to know the extended family.  Great Aunts, Great Uncles, second and third cousins and my Great Grandfather were always welcome at the Smith family reunion.
My Mother was from Cleveland, OH.  My father made sure we made a trip at least once a year and sometimes more to see my mother's family.  Usually we traveled at night across the top of IN and OH until we arrived at my Grandparent's house.  While there we would also visit my Mom's Brother and his family and sometimes we even made a trip to the other side of town to visit my Mom's Aunt.  When I was really young my Mom's Uncle Walter was also someone he made sure we saw while in the Cleveland area.  My father made sure we knew both sides of the family. 
My parents had great love for each other and family.  They did things together.  They usually included my Brother and me in various activities.  They supported our education endeavors by attending school activities.  They went to school plays to see friends of ours perform.  Football and basketball games my brother participated in as a player.  They visited each of us for special weekends when we were in college and allowed us to bring friends home even during Christmas vacation.
As we were growing up we had rules.  If we broke the rules we faced a punishment.  Those punishments changed as we grew older, but we knew we would be treated fairly and the rules were there for a reason.   We were never abused verbally or physically. 
I remember both my parents sitting me down and talking to me about becoming a woman.  When my grades were not the best we would sit down and talk about them and if I needed help I could turn to my parents for help as long as they understood the subject. They both cried when they dropped me off at college, but we all survived.  When I left home to pursue a career my parents helped me find an apartment.  Helped me find furniture to make due until I could buy my own furniture.  Then they helped me move several times.  When I really became very unhappy with my job, my parents asked me to move into their new house in KY.  I didn't realize back in 1984 I would still be living in that house, but it has been a good thing.  They encouraged me to pursue a new career and I opened a Quilt Shop.  My parents helped me take a building with a concrete that had a 2" slop to one side of the building to level wood flooring with carpeting.  We shopped together for furnishings and my initial supplies.  Thanks to the Small Business loan and the support of my parents the store opened and stayed open for about 18 years.
Shortly before I closed my shop Bill and I married.  My Dad surprised up both at the wedding when asked "Who gives this woman away?"  My Dad answered "My Wife and I will share her!"  Bill and I had already been asked to live with my parents, but it was a shock when he said in front of God, relatives and friends that I would need to be "shared" between my husband and parents. 
We all lived together until my mother had to move to a nursing home.  We could no longer take care of her because she was falling, was doing things that put all of us in danger (putting plastic in a 350 degree oven) and ended up with a severe infection that affected her abilities to walk.
Prior to my Mom moving to the nursing home my Dad learned he was diabetic and lost his big toe on his left foot.  Bill and I cared for him as much as we could at home, but infection was a big problem.  He ended up losing all his toes on his left foot over about a 17 week period of time.  Dad was determined and learned how to walk at first with a walker, then a cane then with nothing.  He even went back to gardening, helped with some remodeling and even did some canning of excess vegetables and cooking because I was working and Mom was mentally and physically declining.
Once Mom went to the hospital, then on to the nursing home he went to see her every day except when weather did not permit.  He stopped driving on his own so this meant that Bill and I (or one or the other) would take Dad into town.  He stayed with her for about 4 hours every day.  During this time he got to know many residence of the nursing home.  He also created friendships with many of the workers, but I don’t think he ever understood why Mom could not understand conversations or remember things he remembered so clearly.  This took its toll on all of us, but especially Dad.   Around Christmas of 2010 Dad got a cold.  He still insisted on going to see Mom.  The cold turned into pneumonia and he ended up in the hospital early in January.  He had such a hard time fighting off the infection and was bed ridden for nearly two weeks he ended up in the nursing home at first for rehab then permanently. His balance was bad and he was falling at first at home and then in the nursing home.
Things were going well in the nursing home until early this summer.  We were told he had an ulcer on his right foot.  I would take him to wound care every other week. The nursing home would make sure his wound was cleaned and dressed as directed.  They kept changing his antibiotics, but nothing seemed to help.  A surgeon was consulted and on August 14th his little toe on his right foot was removed.  Unfortunately the infection and his diabetes worked against Dad getting better.  He did go back to the nursing home a few days, then back to the hospital. It was discovered he had pneumonia, another type of lung problem and possible complications with a blood clot.  The hospital did do some tests, took x-rays and gave Dad different antibiotics.  Wound care came in and managed to get the wound healed enough so he just needed gauze wrap, but by this time Dad was too weak to make it much longer.  I insisted he be returned to the nursing home so he could see Mom and be with those who have known him for several years. 
Sometime around 10am on Labor Day, September 3, 2012 my Dad passed on to be with our Lord and those who passed before him.  We love you Dad and miss you so much.
Rest in Peace.
Melvin Amos Smith
12-22-1926 to 9-3-2012

Sunday, May 6, 2012

A little update

Just thought I would let you know about a birthday giveaway celebration at http://catpatches.blogspot.com/  She is giving away some beautiful Ty Pennington fat quarters.  She is brave by even telling her age, but you must know spanish or irish to read the numbers.  So a sense of humor abounds with cats in hats, a cake on fire etc.

By the way, we still don't have running water, but making progress I think.  We decided it is a short in the pump or in the wires going to the pump.  We are still trying to get connected to the local water district.  Always something.

Happy Sunday and it is now time to watch the race from Talladega...Go Jr.  It is his race. 
Peggy

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

LIVING WITHOUT RUNNING WATER! Not Fun!

Living Without Running Water

I think it was back about April 5th our neighborhood was hit somewhere by lightening.  It hit so close the adapter or battery or more on my lap top is not functioning, I saw a blue flame like image come out of the electric outlet, our coffee pot stays on all the time unless it is unplugged etc, etc, etc.  The item that bothers us the most is our well pump was somehow affected.  Well being raised to do-it-yourself type person we first checked the things we can see. The pump is submerged about 100 ft into the ground.  So we opened the control box and the capacitor had exploded.  We really were not too happy about this, because we had just replaced the control box about 2 months prior due to age.  So I took the side of the controller that was damaged into town and had the part that was destroyed replaced.  We put things back together and everything was working fine.  Then on the following Sunday we again had no water.  After close examination the same part had a leak.  So we were without water the rest of that day, because the store with replacement parts was closed.  On Monday we went back to town and replace the capacitor and the relay.  We also this time increased the pressure in the holding tank.....I don't understand all of this, but I listen closely when the plumbers we know take about common problems with wells.  And again everything was put back together and it all worked, that is until last Saturday.  Again no water.  I checked the capacitor and it was still OK, but a little warm.  That should have been my first Clue to let it cool down.  I put it back in, the pump worked....for about 2 minutes \#$??@. So now we have accepted the fact this problem is beyond us and need to find someone else to work on the problem.

First I did some checking about cost of a new pump. The size we need would be at least $500.00.  That doesn't include the labor to pull the old pump.  If the tank is bad also I don't know how much that will be at this point.  Hopefully we will get a call soon to let us know someone is coming to our house to look at the problem.

On top of all of this we are trying to get a mortgage so we can do some updates to the house and make it so it can be sold in the future.  The loan requires us to be on a public water system if it is available.  We have one available and had contacted them prior to out water problem.  The wife stopped by the day we contacted them and said that we are not on the water system and she would talk to her husband when he got home that night.  We tried to explain to her that we were on the system prior to 1984 when our well was put in.  All the pipes are already in place, we just need to be connected to the system.  We even went as far as finding their turn on valve, but we can not find our pipe close to the connector due to it's depth and the hardness of the soil.  (By the way there has been at least two owners of the water system prior to the couple who own it now.  Records from the first owners were more in their head as far as where things are located.)  I guess the man never came home, so we are not connected to that system either.

A few things I have learned over the years is to always be prepared for the electric to go off.  Always have water for drinking and flushing the toilet and washing our bodies.  The things that have not been done is the dishes!!! We have been cooking and eating at home, but it is almost to the point that we are going to run out of plates and silverware.  Fortunately we have another well supplied kitchen and will need to start using things from that kitchen tonight.  I just hate to use the water we do have to wash the dishes.  We use disposable things when we can, but I like real plates, knives and forks. 

Yesterday we were invited to our "Adopted" families house for dinner, shower and clothes washing party.  It was so nice of them to allow us to so that at their house. 

I can say one thing about this experience.  I prefer to be without Running Water then No Electric.  We can survive by carrying in water, but no electric means no computer, TV, stove, lights and again NO RUNNING WATER!  

Surviving just fine with out water, but want it fixed!

Peggy

Friday, April 27, 2012

Summer Picnic Row pattern

Yesterday I went to the AQS Quilt Show in Paducah and today I am dragging. So I am sorry some of you have been to my blog to gather the pattern, but it is ready now.  The writing of this pattern was a bit difficult due to the fact that my lap top was hit by lightening and everything for this row was in that computer.  I usually save to an outside source, but a few days prior to the lightening it became full.  I did not realize it was full until I checked it on this computer.  I do not have EQ on this computer, so much of what was saved I can't open on this computer.

Here is a picture of the row. The pie is appliqued, but I explained how to sew the pie together before appliqueing.  This picture does not show that the pies have half circles to create the crimp on the crust as seen in this picture. Ignore the machine stitching around the edge, as this is my sample.  It is crooked and the way I explained to you will give you a much better appearance.  I even sent you to a tutorial in another blog to help you understand how to use fusible interfacing to turn the applique.

If you want the pattern go to http://freepdfhosting.com/0e241a769d.pdf

Sunday, March 4, 2012

I HATE Passwords!

I try to use variations of a few combinations of words, numbers, capital letters and characters for my passwords.  This has served me well for a long time. Some area where I am not as concerned about being hacked I was letting the computer remember the correct combination.  I don't hide anything from my husband, so if he wanted to look at my mail, facebook, or other things I don't care.  He is the only one with easy access to my computer(s).

A few weeks ago I was having trouble downloading some fabric to use in a design contest.  I never could get the fabric to load to the correct size, so I was not able to participate.  During the process I decided maybe I needed to do some cleaning out and backing up of my files.  I always run the anti virus, but am sometimes a little lax when it comes to the rest of the cleaning.  Some is set to automatically happen, but other updates and cleaning I do myself.  Well I must have done something, down loaded something etc that made me loose some of my passwords.  Some of the places asking for user name and passwords I don't remember ever needing them in the past.  So I try to recover the information by doing as said on the web sites I can't get into and I have not been getting a response.  Thank goodness I have all the important ones recorded elsewhere away from the computer on cards in a container.  One I really need I at least have the administrators e-mail address so I can write to her and find out what is going on.  Sometimes I think it is IE, so I switch to Chrome and still no luck.

What I really want to announce is I am doing a row for the Patchwork Posse Round Robin.  Mine will be April 27, 2012.  The theme of this round robin  is Summer Picnic.  At this point I am still designing, but that is because I don't want to repeat what others have already created.  Check out http://www.patchworkposse.com

Check back here for my pattern.

Have a great week,

Peggy

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

It Took Two Days

My last post I talked about the TV bought back in June, but not opened until two days ago.  That left the huge TV box, which we will need when we move, and the old TV sitting in the living room.  Well yesterday I managed to get the box up the steps to be stored on the main level of the house.  That left the old TV sitting on the floor in the living room.

This morning I said to Bill I want to move that TV so the cat's don't ruin it.  (Where the TV was sitting on the floor it was in their running path from the back of the basement, around the corner, into the living room and up the steps to the main level of the house.  We have two cats and it is a real ritual for them to get their daily exercise by running up and down the stairs and all over the main floor up to the second or is that the third level of the house.)  He said we would do that before supper. 

We went into town for a bit this morning.  When we arrived home Bill ate and I could tell he was tired, so he fell asleep in his chair, but not for long.  Shortly after that he went to the couch for a proper nap.  When he got up I mentioned the TV again.  We both decided we could manage the TV.  It is a slim TV, but 42".  When it was sitting on the floor it didn't look big, in fact I thought about carrying it up myself.  I am glad I didn't try, because that would not have worked.  Since Bill can not walk backwards, I went up the stairs first.  My balance isn't as good as it used to be and going up stairs backwards was difficult for me.  The TV barely made it around the corner of the landing since these steps are enclosed. I had previously cleaned the area where the TV was to sit.  Much to my surprise the surface area was large enough for the TV base, but the TV did not fit into the corner.  Finally we got it set up. but the cord to attach the TV to the cable on the wall is a bit short, but I got it to work.  Then I could not find the cable remote.  Now for the rest of the story.........

The room we put the TV in has had all the end tables removed, loose item sorted and much of it removed, so I could not find the cable remote.  So Bill returned to the basement, but I stayed upstairs for a while looking for the remote. I first looked through the things  in and around the TV stand.  NO LUCK.  So I moved to the fireplace mantel, NO LUCK.  So I decided to check the hearth, NO LUCK.  While checking the hearth I found two metal boxes.  I decided to go through one of the metal boxes and it was pictures.

Most of the pictures were from the 70's.  Many of the pictures were of my nephew, because he was born in July of '76.  This was also the time frame when we were building the house Bill and I are living in now, so there were many pictures of the two story garage and the basement of the house.  A few pictures of other relatives and people I did not know.  One picture of my first house, which was in the backyard of another house in Muncie, IN.  There was pictures of our house in Griffith, IN and a couple of floods both in IN and KY.  A few pictures of my first brand new vehicle bought in Feb of '79.  

None of those pictures bothered me.  Even the pictures of my maternal Grandfather's funeral. (He died in Yugoslavia, so they took pictures so my Mom could have some type of closure) Then a picture came up of this same Grandfather standing the in kitchen of his home. It was such a good clear picture of him smiling that sly smile of his I just started to cry.  He died more then 20 years ago, but a few days ago I was chatting with someone who grew up in the area of Cleveland, OH where my Grandfather lived.   My Grandfather out lived 3 wives.  I only knew his last wife and she was very dear to me.  When we went to Cleveland we would usually leave after school and work.  This started because my brother and I would sleep most of the trip.  The trip for the most part was on a toll way and my Dad would drive all night.  When we arrived at my Grandparents house it always smelled soooooo good.  My grandparents had been busy preparing for us.  All kinds of baked goods, but most of them were not the type we usually had at home.  Mary, as I called this Grandmother, was a great baker.  She made strudel from scratch.  Usually she made cheese, my favorite, and apple.  She made nut roll with white raisins in the nut filling and a really light fried cookie of some type.  She kept that all in the basement.  On the main level was home made noodles that were cut so thin they were like slivers.  The home made bread had a coarse texture that held the butter.  My Grandfather would make sure to go to Santa's.....a local store that made it's own sausage, smoked  hams and had specialty luncheon meats depending on the season.  They were all good.  The best part of the food was the home made soups.  I have Mary's soup pot.  It is a porcelain cover iron pot.  Very heavy.

I learned a lot from Mary and my Grandfather.  They always had a large garden. My Grandfather taught us how  to take slips from roses to start new plants.  He also knew how to graft fruit trees, divide clumps of flowers and grew so many grapes he would make wine after all the jellies were stored.  He had asparagus, rhubarb and mild green onions.  Sometimes my grandfather would take us to the river.  We may go just to play, sometimes we would go fishing and other times we just went there to wash his "machine" as they both called the car.  Mary liked to sew and she would usually send an apron or two home with us.  I think she made her own clothes and maybe some of my grandfather's clothes.

At least once while we were visiting my Grandparents would have an argument of some type.  We never knew what the arguments were about, because they were speaking a foreign language, most likely Croatian.  After my Grandparents sold their nice brick home they rented an upstairs apartment from family friends.  The friends lived in the lower apartment.  I remember it was near an elementary school and had an old wooden garage in the far back of the lot.  One day my grandfather was in the garage and my father and I walked into the garage to greet him.  My grandfather was always gracious to us and would greet us warmly.  This day he acted funny immediately putting his hand in his pocket instead of hugging us.  My Dad and him started exchanging greetings and just doing some general chatting when all of a sudden smoke started coming from my grandfather's jacket pocket.  He had been hiding in the garage smoking a cigarette.  Mary thought he had stopped smoking!!!!   He also never stopped drinking.

My last memory of my Grandfather was at Mary's funeral.  They were catholic, but I am not sure how much they attended church.  Mary's daughter was not catholic and she "took care of the funeral".  I remember during the service my Grandfather crying and yelling out "That is not right!" and then he yelled out what Catholics believed.  I cried then also, because my Grandfather's heart was broken. 

Shortly after the funeral my Grandfather left for the "old" country to visit his family.  When his brother died we were notified to go clean out his apartment.  He decided to stay and take care of his Sister-in-law.  When he died several years later we received a telegraph message.  The only time I ever saw a telegraph message.  It was written in broken English, but it was clear that my Grandfather had died.  He is buried in what was then Yugoslavia, but may now be part of Croatia.  Later we received pictures of his funeral.  The one I remember the most was not in the pictures I saw today.  It was of a beautiful wooden casket being carried through town by a horse drawn carriage.  It was so old world. Today was the first time I saw the other pictures.  The grave yard was nothing like ones we see here in the states.  It also looked like some military or official uniformed men lead the processional.

One more thing about my Grandfather.  He used to tell us he came over to the United States on a boat in a potato sack.  I knew he was just pulling my leg, but it is a fond memory I have of my Grandfather.  When I first started using the computer about 11 years ago I found a record of my Grandfather passing through Ellis Island.  It recorded his name, age, destination, job status, who sponsored him and how much money he had.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Yesterday being the first day of 2012 I had planned to write a post.  That didn't happen.  First, I stayed up too late the night before chatting with new friends, so I was tired.  We went into town for breakfast and to see our adopted family.  Ashlee was working as our waitress and usually her husband brings their 11 month old son in so we can see him.  We were also hoping he would bring in his daughter so we could say good bye to her before she left to go home in AL.  We learn in chatting with Ashlee that she had been sick since we last saw her on Christmas day. She also told us her son was cutting his back teeth and is not sleeping or eating.  So the father, son and his daughter were staying home.

We did a little bit of shopping and then Bill decided to go see the rest of our adopted family.  We got home about10 or 10:30am.  I was sitting checking my mail and catching up on news when I heard noises in the back of the house.  I knew Bill was back there, but thought he was just doing something in the kitchen.   Remember I was tired and the conversation we had had in the restaurant didn't make me figure out the noise.  The noise continued so I finally got up to see what was going on in the back.

To help you make some sense of all of this a little background information is needed.  Bill and I thought we were going to move back in June.  We were bidding on a house, was going to have an auction at our house and we thought for a while we might be living in two different states for a while.  Packing would need to be done here and someone would need to supervise repairs that needed to be done at the house in WI.  We were shopping one day and saw a friend of ours was standing by the TV's.  He was buying a 50" TV for his child's family as their TV died.  He was telling us what an incredible buy the TV was and since a friend of ours works there we asked him about the TV.  He looked over the specks and agreed it was a good buy.  Since we had the truck and the back still had the sand in it for winter weight we went home to get the van.  This was going to be the TV for the new house and our other TV would stay here until we finished moving.  While at home I checked the TV out on the internet and it had good ratings.  We went back and bought the TV,  stored it in the back room and that is where it stayed.  Needless to say the house deal fell through and we didn't take the offer made on our house.  So the TV has been in the back room for over 6 months.

The noise in the back room was Bill getting the "new" TV out.  We had talked about this in the restaurant earlier, but I have been hearing that we needed to get that TV out for over a month.  So guess who had to connect the new TV!!!!  You are right, ME!  I knew it was wrong the first time,  so I tried again.....no luck.  We were trying to bypass the DVD player.  That could not be done and I could not figure out why Bill wanted it that way.  Then he said we could not use the DVD because he lost the remote.  I sat on the couch and looked over to the table and there was the remote to the DVD player.  Then he said he needed the other remote also.  He needed the remote to the TV to be able to put the TV in the right mode.  Guess what.  He no longer needs that remote.....new TV!

Well I did get the TV connected and it is a nice TV.  It has a better picture then the other TV.  Now do you know why it was so important to get the TV hooked up yesterday?  Wisconsin is playing in the Rose Bowl today.  It would just be a shame to have to watch that ball game on a little smaller, but still nice TV.

Today I guess I get to put the TV box away....move the old TV to a new home within this house and cook.  Well the cooking is started.  I put the ingredients for two loafs of bread in the breadmaker.  The dough should be ready to make into loaves shortly.  I don't bake in the bread maker.
I also have pea soup in the crock pot.  If Bill doesn't want that for dinner he can have left overs.  I already have had my breakfast, made a dessert for Bill last night, so once I get the bread into the loaf pans I can move on to other things.....like the TV and box.

Bill went to town.  He won't be back for a couple of hours due to the fact he must wait for a couple of places to open.

I do hope everyone has a great 2012.  I plan to continue to pack things we don't need and sell things we really don't need at all.  I am also working on some patterns.

GO BADGERS