The Smoke Alarm Works

Tuesday, July 13th 2010
Subtitle: Burning Down the House - the sequel

Dayna began painting her dresser.  She made jewelry while waiting for the paint to dry.  Last night she bought beads, stretchy jewelery cord, and charms.  She made two necklaces.  Today she's making matching bracelets.  I sat waking up with my coffee.

We went to pick up Dayna's best friend, Maddi.  Then we stopped at CVS.  Then we came home.  (It's so nice saying that..."home.")  Maddi walked in and said, "It's so big!"  Dayna replied, "I know, it's bigger than our old HOUSE!"

The girls painted the dresser while I worked in the kitchen.  I cleaned out the cabinets and began contact papering away!  Some areas are bubbly and wrinkly but I'm not too worried about it; I doubt anyone will be sticking their head in to critique my handiwork.The girls decided it was time to go.  We packed up and left for Elizabeth.  Maddi will be sleeping over with Dayna up there until Thursday or Friday.  Then Bryan will take Maddi home and bring Dayna to me through Sunday.  We stopped at Roy Rogers on the way up.  It's the only one I still know in existence.  Awesome cheeseburger!  Mmmm.

When I got back home, I unpacked boxes of DVD's and VHS tapes into the media cabinet.  When I ran out of room I unpacked them into the entertainment center cabinets.  I left the pegs for the shelves in my pants at Mom's house, but I don't want to completely set it up because Dad said he wanted to fix it - the back is falling off and it's wobbly.  I think I spent $200 on it at KMart about 7 years ago, so it's had some use and survived three moves.

After I unpacked three boxes, I decided it was time to eat.  I got out some veggies and cut up some kielbasa.  I put the pan on the stove and turned the knob to what I thought was low.  I was wrong.  I made the mistake of turning it like a gas knob, which it was (why they'd put a gas knob on an electric stove I do not know).  What I initially thought was low was actually high and BOY did it start smoking!  On the bright side, we now know the smoke alarm works!

I decided to try to set the TV up instead (I was afraid of the stove).  I untangled the cables and cords and tried to make sense of them.  I am not very good with TV's.  I always let someone else hook them up.  This time did not prove to be any different.

...small white cable from antenna to little off-white box...white cable from white box to black converter box...black cable from converter box to TV...power on...no signal.  OK...small white cable from antenna to white box...black cable from white box to converter box...black cable from converter box to TV...power on...no signal.  Call Dad.  I couldn't understand what he was telling me to do.  :-(  I'll have to have him set it up next time he's here.

I decided to brave the stove again.  I used a different burner, one with an actual electric stove knob!  I started with low.  I added a little olive oil.  I dumped in kielbasa.  The burner was getting hot.  The kielbasa was doing nothing.  I turned up the heat to medium-low.  Not much different except the food was starting to get warm to the touch.  Yay!  No smoke!  No obnoxious beeping!

I added garlic (because I love garlic).  I sauteed until I could smell the wonderful aroma.  I added a partially thawed Italian Vegetable blend (cauliflower, carrots, flat green beans, lima beans, and zucchini).  I covered it and let it go!  Soon after, with a little stirring, dinner was served!  I played Solitaire while I ate.

When Dayna and I were at Michael's yesterday, I bought a little wooden tissue box holder.  I began painting it after dinner.  I watered down the lavender paint Dayna picked out and went to town giving it a base coat.  Since I thinned the paint, you can see the wood grain through the light purple.  It's pretty.  I'll paint flowers on it tomorrow.

Another day done!  Bedtime!