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All my news...

August 27th, 2018 at 12:35 am

It's been a while since I posted here.

This morning I visited a beautiful Japanese garden on a country estate.



This afternoon (I don't know what got into me), but I began ripping up the wall-t0-wall carpet in my family room. It's 23 years old and has many stains and I really couldn't wait to get rid of it. I think what motivated me was that I finally got around to doing a lead test on the paint, because I wasn't sure if I would just paint over it and use area rugs or, if it had lead, just replace with new wall to wall carpet.

Turns out it tested negative, so that inspired me. Ripping up the carpet, and the spongy thing underneath, then rolling them and cutting into small pieces so I could take in my car to transfer station was the easy part.

The harder part was pulling up the gazillions of nails and staples. I used a hammer and another tool that I used as a crow bar to pry up the tack strips along the wall perimeter, and used a pair of pliers to pull up the staples.

The game plan is to putty holes and deep scratches, then lightly sand and paint, probably in the color of the baseboard, to make it easier. I'll have to repaint the baseboard becus once I removed the carpeting, you can see the different color on the bottom half-inch of baseboard.

Once that's done, I'll move the furniture on this half of the room back in place, then start moving furniture on the other half. A big project!!

Yesterday my cousin from Jersey came up for the day (just the 2nd time she's been here), and I had my father over too. She's a talker. Smile I did a ton of cooking for just the 3 of us, so now I have plenty of leftovers. My dessert came out really great: vegan ice cream which had a great ice cream-like consistency. So easy to make and great for anyone who's lactose-intolerant. You just combine in a food processor: frozen cherries, 1-2 tablespoons of peanut butter, a dash of vanilla, a teaspoon of honey, a tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa and a small amount of almond or soy milk.

I have a new walking partner who I try to walk with twice a week, in addition to my other jaunts. She has a German shepherd, so she walks twice daily regardless. She used to live on my street when she was married, but now she's divorced and lives very nearby but on another street. So I can walk there when we go. When I walk with her, we walk much longer than I would otherwise do, so this is good.

The only problem is, she's used to walking from her house, and we both live in an area that has limited places to go for walks that don't involve busy 2-lane highways or a very steep hill. We have ended up walking along the busy highway for short distances, or even crossed it, but I really feel uncomfortable doing that on a regular basis. Drivers just don't expect to see pedestrians in these areas, and it only takes one distracted driver. Even her dog was spooked the other day when we were trying to cross.

I did say I wasn't crazy about doing this and that there are nicer places to go if we hop in the car, but somehow we've ended up always walking on these streets. So I really need to be more firm about it, I guess.

Together with some adjustments to my diet, I've lost 7 pounds! My neighbor asked me if I'd lost weight. The adjustments involved reducing my portion of (homemade) granola for breakfast, mostly staying away from pasta and watching those portions, too, and eating not quite as many nuts.

5 Responses to “All my news...”

  1. Jenn Says:
    1535339344

    It may be that your walking buddy isn't receptive to car rides because it'd be a pain to get the dog in the car, or maybe he gets carsick. Also, since she has the dog, she would have to drive, which may not be enjoyable to her. Just putting myself in her shoes...

    Congrats on the weight loss!

  2. PatientSaver Says:
    1535368405

    Actually, Jenn, I offered to drive and she said no, she's the one with the dog, we should drive in her car if we were to go. We just haven't gone. I think the dog can get in the car as easily as we can, but it's a bit more trouble to drive a few miles than walk directly from the house. It's just a habit and a preference, I think.

  3. rob62521 Says:
    1535382909

    Wow, you have been ambitious! Sounds like you are doing a fine job on getting rid of that carpeting.

    I agree. finding a safer place to walk is vital. One of my high school classmates was out walking in the morning a few years ago with some friends and a distracted driver hit and killed him.

  4. Dido Says:
    1535391746

    Good luck with the family room project--and getting the walking buddy to be willing elsewhere. And congrats on the weight loss!

  5. frugaltexan75 Says:
    1535914609

    What a beautiful garden!

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