1. Chimney Update. That noise I heard in the chimney on Monday? I said I was going up on the roof and (routinely) dropping a rope down the chimney (again) so the squirrel (so we think) could climb out? Well . . . FirstHusband had the rope in his truck. Which was parked at the airport. Because he was out of town. Since I didn’t have a rope, I connected two long outdoor extension cords. I left them hanging in the chimney for about 2 hours. But I got bored watching to see if anybody climbed out. Since I didn’t hear anything for the rest of the day, I figured our little friend had left the building.
Tuesday, I heard nothing. All day. Until around 9:00 p.m. Then I heard the scratching on sheet metal noise again, but only once. Must have been my imagination. umm hmm, just my imagination.
Wednesday? Quiet. Wednesday night, around 7:30 p.m., LOTS of scratching noises. FirstHusband and his rope were home, so he and PinkGirl climbed out our second story bedroom window and hung out on the roof for a while. Nothing. No happy escaping critter. More scratching through the evening.
Thursday. I don’t know. I wasn’t home much of the day. Thursday night, while I was at praise team rehearsal, FirstHusband began taking apart the fireplace from the inside. The mini-demolition openings he’s managed to make didn’t provide the access we need. No critter.
Friday. Quiet all day. Then a torrential downpour. Then a LOT of scratching noises. I watched the rope for more than a few minutes. No escaping critters.
Tomorrow? FirstHusband is cutting into the fireplace. We want to be pro-active and get into the chimney BEFORE the smell, right? I’m hoping we find a live critter. In perfect health. Which we release. And don’t have to nurse back to health. I don’t want to think about what PinkGirl will do if we find an injured critter.
2. They Don’t Call it Armor for Nuthin. It only took us 4 years to figure this out. We used to buy FavoriteSon backpacks for less than $30. Up until 3rd grade, they were fine. In 4th grade, the homework picked up, along with the load home every day. The backpacks fell apart by mid year and we had to buy another. During Christmas break 2007, we found ourselves once again shopping for a new backpack. But THIS time, we bought an Under Armor backpack. For $75. ouch.
But it lasted a year and a half before suffering two full blowouts – one on each side. It’s been stuffed and over stuffed, dragged, tossed, and generally abused under the care of a teenage boy. We bought a new one yesterday for $65, thanks to a $15 Sports Authority coupon. Here’s hoping for two years.
3. Ewww. There’s just no other way to describe this one.
4. And Ewww Again. It appears Bob the cat was mad at us for going on vacation. This is what he left us as a Welcome Home present.
Say hello to my little friend.
This little baby is amazing! I set him down, (what? you don’t refer to your robot like appliances using personal pronouns?) push the button and he cleans the carpet for me. Either 3 or 6 minutes, depending on the how bad the stain is. For this little yellow carpet road, I ran 6 minute cycles over and over and over again, emptying the output tank 5 times. Keep in mind, I didn’t do ANYTHING but reposition him and push a button to get FIVE tanks of this yucky stuff out of the carpet.
When the cycles were done, I went back over the entire area manually using Spot Shot too. I just sprayed the Spot Shot and used the hand tool to suction it up. You can’t see it too well, but the yuck in the output tank is significantly darker than in the automatic cycles. Spotbot and Spot Shot. Amaz Zah Zing.
5. Speaking of Vacation. When we arrived at the hotel, our coffee maker was sans carafe.
After FirstHusband called the front desk, they brought us this:
A brand new Cuisinart automatic coffee maker. How COOL is that?
6. My Favorite Coffee Mug. It reads “What is Good to Know is Difficult to Learn.” Ain’t it the truth?
7. Did 50 Crunches Today. First time since surgery, nearly three months ago. Another follow-up doctor appointment on Tuesday, but everything is looking good and seems to be healing really well. At his request, I’m still wearing the medical binder. I went without it for a few hours each day on vacation, but I felt . . . unprotected. And I realized I still needed the support. I actually wanted to put it back on every day. Doc says the longer I can wear it the better. I went to praise team rehearsal last night and had to loosen it to get enough air to sing. First time I needed to do that, so I’m thinking I’m using my diaphragm more. That has to be good.
Join in with your own 7 Quick Take Friday post at Conversion Diary hosted by Jennifer!
You’re killing me with the squirrel story. What ended up happening after FirstHusband took the fireplace apart? Were you able to save the poor little guy?
On the subject of backpacks… if this one doesn’t last as long as you’d like, check out the LL Bean backpacks. My mom bought me one in early 1993 because we ran into the same ripping issues when I started all my AP classes in high school. Not only did it get me through the rest of high school, but it got me through college and is still sitting in my garage completely intact (although it is pretty stained at this point).
Um, ewww on the PB and pickles.
Congrats on the crunches! That’s so fantastic – glad to see that things are healing so well. 🙂
Okay, I want that coffee mug. Do you know where you got it? On the cat ewwww, what do you recommend for lingering smells? And, lastly, congrats on the crunches. I’ve been working on my own as well to keep my back strengthened.