Checking in

What a frustrating day. V spent several hours up in the attic this morning stapling down wires and cleaning out old mouse contaminated insulation. Unfortunately, this kicked up so much dust and crud from the tiny bit of old cellulose insulation that was up there that, even though he was wearing a mask, after a few hours of working he was starting to feel ill. So, we only got about a third of the insulation done before he called it quits. We worked out a pretty good system. V and J15 were up in the attic installing and I was outside supplying the insulation. Our penchant for not throwing things away paid off- V strung up an ancient hammock onto the end of a rope that we used as a cargo sling to haul the insulation up through the gable vent. It worked really well. Actually, I would have much rather been up in the attic than standing outside loading insulation rolls into the sling. It was much warmer up in the attic and they were out of the wind. I could load insulation much faster than they could install it so I ended up spending time standing around outside waiting. That wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been 23 with snow flurries.

Anyway, we knocked off work around 3 this afternoon so I took the time to bake some cookies. So far, Thursday and Friday evenings I baked 2 batches of biscotti (pistachio and a chocolate, cherry, almond one) and this afternoon we made gingerbread cookies.

Don't think the boys got off work since we didn't let them up in the attic (we're worried they would forget about only stepping on the joists!). I had a list of things for them to do. They were responsible for cleaning the cats' litter box, emptying the compost bucket, vacuuming and sorting a huge basket of socks.

I did manage to get all my holiday shopping done and even some wrapped yesterday. Tomorrow, I'm taking I12 to church early since he is playing for both services. J15 and I will attend the early service, V and K9 will come for the later service and bring I12 home with them. After church, J15 and I are going shopping. Not my favorite time of year to go shopping but I desperately need some pants for work. One of my favorite department stores is having a sale and I ended up with a coupon for 30% off my entire purchase so it seemed like a good time to go. J15 is complaining that she needs new bras so she's coming along. I'm hoping that if we can get there in the morning that we can miss most of the crowds in the afternoon. I would still like to find a little something more for V's stocking but if I don't, it's OK.

I did bake a squash this afternoon since another one was developing a bad spot. I ended up making 'pumpkin pudding' - like pie without the crust. I've been doing much better at eating from stores recently. We'll see if I can keep it up. Tomorrow afternoon is vanilla cookie time.

Even though we really need to get the insulation done (especially since there is now only a sheet of plastic stapled up over the gable vent) V wants to take a day off to let his lungs and head clear of whatever made him feel bad this afternoon. Looking at the weather it looks like there may be a nicer day this week. I'll be at work but we figured that I12 and K9 can load insulation into the sling for V and J15 to install.

I hope you are all having a peaceful weekend. If you're on the east coast of the U.S.- stay warm!! I need to call my sister in Maryland and see if she is going to be able to make it this week.