Well…as I said this morning, the arm finally broke off from the handle on my toilet this morning so that meant a trip out to depot to get another one, but they didn’t have one for the Elger like mine so I had to buy an universal one for 5 bucks…when I got back here, I needed to fit it to this toilet which is kind of weird with an oval tank so it’s not a front or side mount but in between…and that meant cutting it down with my side cutters since the arm was too long and heating the plastic arm up over the stove so I could put a bend in it so I could connect the chain and the arm wouldn’t hit on the inside of the tank…surprisingly, it all worked out well and this one has a connection to the handle that is almost twice the thickness of the broken one so I hope it will last a while longer than the last one…and I had all of that done before 8:30 this morning since I hate having things hanging that need to be done…but I have only done the bike ride after that…oh, and made some chicken for lunch but I’m not going to do much else with Man U playing in a while and  State playing Pitt at 7 tonight in a bowl game….

Well…darn, up at 5:14 again today but was able to get back to sleep for a while…but, the repair on the toilet handle failed and it broke this morning so I need to go out and get a new one here in a while…it didn’t snow last night so the streets should be dry but we’re supposed to get a big storm Sat with up to 6 inches of snow so it looks like I’ll be in for a few days….I did find a hand car wash the other day right over by depot so I’ll have a place to wash the car if I do have to go out in the snow…..had a busy day yesterday but today looks a little easier…need to get after the next window in the kitchen but my back has been hurting like it used to so that is going to make it a bit of effort…it’s been quite a while since it has hurt like this but this pain has been with me my whole life and I just  I forgot about it….and I’m a little irritated that just chopping veggies for soup hurt my thumb so much that I had to take something for it…and I don’t think it’s going to get better with all the damage I’ve done to it….not much to do today…think I’ll just take it a little easier than yesterday but I do need to get on the bike after I get back from the errand…and I need to find the instructions for both bike computers so I can zero them out Sat and start a new year of miles….more later…

Well…darn, another day and more busyness…it’s 1:30 and I am now just taking the first break since first light when I went out to shovel the snow…then on the bike for a hard 10, got laundry going, and then right into making soup and I just put 3 containers into the freezer and have a half of another one in the fridge for tomorrow…damn, it takes a lot of chopping to get the veggies ready and my thumb hurts from it….this time, I think I skimmed enough fat off the top so it won’t leave that orange layer on the top of the soup like last time….and I had to throw out two ham bones that have been in the freezer since last year to make room for the new soup but that’s okay…still have a turkey carcass to make some turkey soup later in the winter so that will work….the clean up from the soup is always a pain, too, and have done two loads of dishes already today…but dinner will just be another bowl of soup so only a couple of dishes to wash….now I am going to try to find a topic for later…still need to do more of those but topics have been scarce….

Well…darn, another 6:11 morning today and I am just so worn out…didn’t sleep well and I know I’m going to feel it all day…and we had snow out here last night that I am going to have to shovel as soon as it gets light….and my right shoulder already hurts from sleeping on it last night…broke the flush handle on the toilet yesterday so I had to take it off and jb weld it overnight…just put it back together and I hope it holds up until I can get out and get another one…but I don’t want to take the car out in the snow and salt so it will have to wait for a couple of days….didn’t get much done yesterday but it is going to be busy today with shoveling, the bike ride, and making soup later this morning…and I want to get started on the next window…and I need to order the rest of the blinds and that is going to cost a couple of hundred bucks and that is hard to spend for me….but the ones I put up in the kitchen look good so I guess I can live with the cost….not much to do today…just work and work and work…and I do need to clean some, too, but I don’t want to make it an all day thing…I am retired after all and want to act like it….more later….

Well…running late this morning…again…haven’t been able to get started and it’s 8 and I just poured my first cup of coffee…so, it’s going to be a while before I can get going on the errands I have to run today…going to wait til I get back to ride the bike…but then I’ll be in for the rest of the week….and I don’t mind that at all…have lots of work to do after finishing the first window yesterday…hope to get the other kitchen window done this week and then work on the door frame and baseboards in there….and I need to make soup to use a couple of the ham bones I have in the fridge but that will wait til tomorrow….still have to get the kidney beans that go in it and that means a Meijers run this morning….going to use the instant pot since that takes the cooking time from 4 hours down to about an hour…but I do need to find room in the freezer for the two containers that will need to go in there…maybe I’ll get some crusty bread to dip in it….it is so comforting to have the furnace working again after the fix of the thermostat yesterday….and 66 is pretty warm and I don’t have any chills today…..not much to do today…just the errands and riding the bike…and I may order the rest of the blinds for the kitchen and living room since they take a week or so to get here and I don’t want to live with newspaper on the windows for too long…..more later….

Well…finally….the blinds were delivered around noon and I have them  up already…pretty easy job and they look pretty darn good with the grey against the white of the window frame…and now they are level and even with each other, too, something the old ones weren’t. So now, only 10 more to go and I’ll get started on those tomorrow…and I’ll post a photo on FB later after the sun goes down and the crappy camera on my tablet can take a picture that shows anything….break time….

Well…has a little scare this morning when I felt a chill and just couldn’t get warm…thought I may be coming down with something and we all know what that would be…then, it dawned on me to look at the thermostat since I hadn’t heard the furnace run for a while and it was blank…so I pulled it off the wall and put new batteries in it that, luckily, I had picked up fro HF a couple of weeks ago…once I put the batteries in, it lit right up again and even had the programming still in it…and the temp in here was only 58 degrees when I have it set for 66 degrees normally…once I put it back on the wall, the furnace lit right up and now it’s all the way up to 62 in here already and feels damn good…it may be too warm at 66 degrees…probably not…I’m just glad that was all it was…the furnace has been really reliable and I need to keep my fingers crossed….

Well..running a little late today with waking up around 6 but going back to bed depressed that it snowed last night….stayed in bed til 7:30 or so and had some weird dreams that involved me lending people stuff and everyone of them brought the stuff back broken…and my car never came back so I wonder what that is about? I was going to run an errand this morning but that will have to wait til the snow melts this afternoon and I think I could wait til tomorrow….need some more drop cloths to put on the kitchen counter and sink so I can get sanding the small window in the kitchen….and if the blinds come today, I’ll put them up, too….and I need to get back on the indoor bike since I feel like a slug with not riding yesterday…I think I’ll need to shovel the snow from last night, too since we got a couple of inches and I’m not sure how warm it’s going to get today…could wait for it to melt but I know it’s getting colder later in the week and I don’t want ice on the walks….not much to do today….just the bike ride and work on the house…and I think I’ll shovel before I get on the bike since I’ll be too sweaty if I do it after the bike ride…..but I need more coffee first….more later….

Well…I finally did it…took the day off and did absolutely nothing today…I was going to put the new blinds up but they were pushed back another day so I’ll do that tomorrow….I did find the brass cap for the outdoor faucet and put that on yesterday since one of the plastic valves I left on it had started leaking after it got cold out here…was pretty sure it wouldn’t survive the winter but couldn’t find the cap until yesterday…so, no more leaks…at some point, I’m going to have to climb into the crawl space and put a new valve in….that’s a summer job…I did get some new neighbors this week in the house that has been under renovation across the street but probably won’t meet them until spring since I don’t have anything to do outside but shovel snow if it snows….I will have to do another one meal day today with not riding and that sucks a bit since I spent 3 bucks on a loaf of rye bread to go with the ham I made…I suppose I could put it in the fridge to keep it from spoiling too soon…darn…

Well….up at 4:45 this morning but I was able to go back to sleep for an hour or so…and I went to be early last night so that’s not too bad….just ran out of steam at 10:15 last night and I’m not sure why other than doing an outside ride and getting lots of fresh air….I wonder if that’s why my back hurts today? Didn’t get anything done yesterday except the bike ride but that set’s me up for taking the day off the bike if I want….I really do need a repair day every once in a while…but, we’ll see…it’s supposed to be in the 40’s today so I may just go outside for a ride again today…..the blinds might be here today so I might have to work some this aft and put them up but I sure don’t feel like doing it right now…just want to sit here for a while and have coffee…it looks like the EPL matches have been cancelled so no soccer for me today and that’s disappointing…but the Lions are going to lose this afternoon so I guess I could watch that…not much to do today…going to ease into it and get to reading the news here in a minute…it is so nice to have my car in the garage and to not have to scrape the ice off the windows to go out for the paper….and to not have to shovel the snow so far…keeping my fingers crossed that we don’t have any blizzards this winter….more later….