Back and Forth Across the Pond

In five days, we're hosting our Christmas party. It seems like just yesterday that it was Thanksgiving and we had weeks to get everything done. Now it's just days. Still, we're in good shape. Thanks to Steve's tenacious work, we've got 95% of the outdoor projects and decorations done. I should finish the indoor decor today. But that's just the tip of the preparation iceberg. I've got several hundred cookies to bake, plus a buffet of party food. I've got two guestrooms to prep and freshen, because Andrea and a couple of her friends are staying the night of the party. And there's still a lot of grocery shopping to do. Before I can bake those hundreds of cookies, I need the supplies. But at this stage of the game, I'm not overly stressed. Yes, I'm going to be busy busy the next few days. But I don't think I'm going to be up at 4 a.m. the day of the party just to try and get everything done. I managed to host Thanksgiving dinner without a...

Remember that bruise I mentioned two posts ago? Although it remains uncomfortable, it's healing pretty quickly. The nice thing is I don't have the constant bruised feeling from before, so I think the treatment worked. The area only bugs me if it's bumped, which is to be expected of a bruise. Here are a couple of photos: This picture was taken Saturday night. The line to the left is my incision scar. The size of the bruised area is about the same as that of my palm. This was taken last night (Sunday). It's not nearly as red, anymore, and you can see the yellow halo where the bruise is healing. I'm hoping it will be healed enough in another couple of days that it doesn't hurt, anymore. I would really like to get back to sleeping on my stomach! Deanne

We've always wanted to have a pool table. When we moved back out to the house and decided to use the livingroom as the main seating area rather than the den, we decided to make the den into a pub room. As luck would have it, Sears was having a close-out sale on some of its pool tables and we were able to buy one for half of what we expected. It sat in its boxes for ages. Steve finally had time to begin building it the week before Thanksgiving. He finished it today. Here are photos of the progress: It took almost no time at all for Steve to put the basic frame together. This part was a bit more tricky. The cross boards had to be just the right measurement on the diagonals to insure the frame was square. Now Steve is adding the slatron surface. We couldn't afford a proper slate table. Slatron is just a type of MDF. It won't last as long as slate, either. It lasts about ten years. By then, maybe we can afford slate. The slatron is now in place. Adding the felt was another ...