As of Thursday I have a pretty-good-sized bruise on my right foot. I DO remember dropping 'something' on it Wednesday, and I DO remember thinking 'this is going to leave a bruise' - but I just CANNOT remember what it is that fell.
Deb and Jerry arrived around 5:30 Thursday evening - it's great to see them! She is hobbling around after breaking her hip and pelvis (last month?) but is doing great, considering. However that leg is definitely shorter now after the surgery, and twists to the outside; Jerry likens her current (waddle) walk to Charlie Chaplin's.
No doubt there is yet more (corrective!) surgery in her future...
My mission while Tom is gone is to have the ceiling fan (with light fixture) in the family room replaced.
The serious wobble is bad enough - but the noise has been driving him nuts.
So he, in turn, has been driving me nuts.
After dinner Thursday night Jerry offered to help fix it. He took off the light fixture and the blades, and the motor ran perfectly - NO wobble. But the main housing was stuck in the ceiling, and after MUCH unsuccessful trying he decided to go up into the attic (in the HEAT, with the SPIDERS...!) and see if it was bolted from that side. Except that apparently you cannot get there from the access hole in the laundry room without some additional wood for support.
Time for a SIDE NOTE: When Alex got home from work he stopped over to say hi to Deb & Jerry while all this was going on (and even found pry bars in Tom's shop for Jerry to try to get that last piece out of the ceiling, though of course that didn't work either.) After he heard about Jerry's aborted attic sortie I learned that years ago, while Alex was in high school, he came home without his keys so he went into the garage (where there's also an access into the attic) and crawled through the attic and dropped into the laundry room. That would not have been MY solution to the problem...
Anyway, after Jerry left Friday morning (for his woodworking symposium at the Convention Center downtown) Deb and I headed off to Home Depot. Michelle was very helpful, and showed us how the housing should be able to come down once we removed the decorative ring that was covering up some more screws. She was sure that the housing could not be bolted from the attic side, so at least I didn't have to buy planks after all for that, though I did get a package of blades that Jerry thought might solve the problem. Of course when we got home and I tried (heartily) to remove the ring as Michelle had instructed, it only turned slightly and just would not slide down. At least after Jerry got home and we had dinner he was able to use her instructions to remove the ring. AT LAST!
(I've watched so many of Terry Fator's performances on the the computer, and really, really, really want to see him live, in Las Vegas. Maybe one of these days I will. It would make a great birthday gift...)
It turned out that the replacement blades were not usable in our old unit so I headed back to HD to return the blades and buy a new fan/light. I'd wanted one with a single dome instead of the individual lights, but there were various issues with each one I looked at so I had to get another unit similar to our old one. This morning when I got up at 6:00 Jerry was already at work getting ready to install it.
However...
Turned out that one of the screws had stripped out (which was probably a major factor in the wobble) so later this morning I'm off to nearby Ace Hardware up 35th Ave. to buy a Tap and screw. And that's the current state of affairs in the on-going Fix The Ceiling Fan saga.
The fan in that room is nice, but what I'm really missing at the moment is the light over my quilting table. (Did I mention that Jerry is the woodworker who built that table for us?) He really does some beautiful work.
When they leave here on Monday they're headed to California to deliver a custom bedroom set to his sister. It's loaded on their trailer which is currently parked under the carport at the back house.
Friday afternoon Deb and I made a trip down to 35th Ave. so I could pick up some backing fabric for my challenge quilt and also Marilyn's <g> placemat fabric. (Because of the way the pattern runs on that fabric, once I got home I realized I'm only going to be able to get 6, not 8, placemats out of that yard. However I'm sure I will figure out something to do with the leftover fabric - maybe some hot pads for her table?)
FYI - Everyone at 35th Ave. who saw my book quilt absolutely loved it, which is always nice to hear. I am so looking forward to being able to post a picture of it on my blog, after the competition in October.
When it was time to check out I thought I had two 35th Ave. coupons, and was going to 'use' Deb to go through the line separately so I could avail myself of both of them. Unfortunately it turned out that one of the coupons was for Mulqueen's...
When the mail arrived later yesterday afternoon it included the latest 40% off coupon, so at least I'm all set for my next <g> visit.
While at 35th Ave. I ran into a couple of ladies from Nightowls, and one of them had an adorable Denyse Klett Summertime panel with her that was just too cute. Unfortunately 35th Ave. does not carry that line, so once I got home I searched online, and have already ordered my own panel ... along with (naturally!) 3 of the companion fabrics!
While I have no definite plans for the fabrics yet, maybe I'll use them to (finally!!!) get something done 'one of these days' with the flip-flop and ice cream blocks I won years ago, Joyce!
Speaking of ordering online - Alex ordered a handful of things from a Chinese website just a few days ago, so he was surprised to hear Thursday that he had a package here already. He was also surprised when he saw how small the package was. Obviously they are mailing the items separately. Another small package arrived on Friday. Maybe there will be another one today.
And speaking of Alex - he woke up with pinkeye Friday. Of course by the time he got home from work yesterday it was past business hours at our doctor, so he headed over to Urgent Care (where he had hoped he could just get a prescription without paying to see a doctor...) LOL
Alex took care of irrigation for me 'last night' at 1:00 am. He was going to a 10:00 movie so even though he had to be up early this morning for work it wasn't that much of a stretch (for him) to stay up just a little bit longer and take care of that for me. Sure was nice (!) not having to set an alarm and get up and schlep out back
though at least there would have been plenty of light with the full moon.
Deb ended up going downtown with Jerry today to the woodworking seminar, so I'm on my own. I've got some laundry going and am out of here shortly to run a couple of errands (though it's too late to say 'before it gets hot'!)
Then I'll do some sewing, as planned - just without Deb.
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