I am finally recovered from the plumbers who were working on the house last Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The hot water heater broke around Memorial Day and when the plumbers were here, they discovered that all the incoming water pipes needed to be replaced. It was crazy. We were originally told the job would spill into a second day. Then after the first day, we were told it would take another day and a half, which ended up being three full days. There were two plumbers, two apprentice plumbers and a gentleman watching all their equipment which was spread across our garage and driveway. It was loud, not as dirty and you would expect, and only a moderate inconvenience. There’s still some patching and painting work that needs to be done so we’ll see when that happens.

Even though I wasn’t actually doing any plumbing work, it took a lot out of me. I’ve been working on my Chevron Love mittens. I have been having some gauge issues and it’s taken me a bit to get the measurements just right, but I think I’m almost there. The mitten kits provide a very generous amount of yarn. So far I’ve knit 2 practice mittens and one actual mitten and am on the matching mitten so that’s 4 mittens. They are fun to work on and I’m hoping to finish my last mitten tomorrow.

Yesterday I rearranged the furniture in the living room. Bill was a little surprised when he came home but he likes it. We’re going to live with it for a bit and see how it goes. The problem I am having with the living room is that it is a living room, tv room, and a dining room. Truly my biggest problem is the dining room table. I confess that we normally don’t eat dinner at the table, but I have a table and I like the option of being able to eat there if we want to. So now it’s in the far corner of the living room by the windows and sliding glass door. Bill says it’s almost like eating outside. As I said, we’re going to live with it and see how it feels.

Today, we walked to the farmers market in downtown Campbell. I didn’t know what to expect but I was very pleasantly surprised. It was three blocks long. One block was crafty/artsy type stuff, one was baked goods and prepared food stands, and the third block was fruits, veggies and flowers. We bought sweet corn, green beans, two types of peaches, plums, potatoes, an orchid plant, orchid stems, a loaf of cinnamon bread, and a bear claw. For me, the highlight was the orchid stems. I used to buy them (albeit a different variety) at the Amish Market for $3 a stem. Five stems would last me 3 – 4 weeks. The orchid stems I bought ( which are hanging out of Bill’s backpack) are huge and cost me $5. Total. The largest bloom measures 5 inches across. They are absolutely gorgeous. It will be interesting to see how long they last.

We walked home and Bill cut some 2×4s for me to help organize my books and our entertainment closet. We are big readers and while we’ve really cut down our collection, we still have a lot of books. I want to do two tiers of paperbacks to maximize space and I’m using 2×4s to raise the back tier of books so you can still read the name and title. I want to do a similar thing in the entertainment closet with our DVDs. We’ll see how it look and works.

Bill just finished up his yard work. We are lucky enough to have people come every two weeks to mow the lawn, trim the bushes, etc. but we still have poop patrol and compost turning. We also have to pick up the fruit that’s fallen off the trees because I don’t want bugs. We discovered that neighbor’s tree which hangs over our fence is a fruit tree and we are curious to see what kind of fruit it will produce. It looks like it might be nectarines.

It’s early in the afternoon and the chores are complete. I think it is time to sit out on the porch and relax with a book. I’m looking forward to dinner. Tritip on the grill with some baked potatoes and green beans. Now if only we could get some decent wine around here…

Tags: life