Better days!

Well after my short spell of "down" yesterday, things started to look up as soon as Steve came over with Liam.  Steve put the new paneling in place, and now I need to paint it to match the walls and I'm good to go.  Then I will get Joe to put the trim around the windows and I can buy some curtains.  (Click to enlarge the photo.)

While Steve was working , Liam noticed my new coffee grinder that arrived the day before.  He was very curious as to how it worked, so I put a scoop of coffee beans in it and let him at it.  He ground it with ease, but about midway through the grinding I decided to adjust it to be a little more coarse.  After making coffee this morning with those grounds, I think I will go still more coarse although it was pretty good.  Now I will have to do it myself a few times!  It is a very simple device - put the beans in the top section, turn the crank, and watch through the little window at the bottom to see the grounds pile up.

My mood lightened considerably when they were here and this morning I awoke feeling great.  To make it even better, the mailman showed up today with the Melitta coffee pot.  I ordered a 6 cup system and now wish I had gotten the 8-10 cup, although this will work fine.  The one Jeannie has is 8 cups, so if we are camping together we can actually use both.  I drink about 6 cups in the morning, although that is only 3 standard size coffee mugs.

I drove to Costco this morning and was able to drive right up to the gas pump - not much traffic there, and filled my tank at $2.49/gal.  California always has higher gas prices especially for their summer formulation, and I think they are trying to add another tax for road or bridge repair - whatever it is, it is probably desperately needed.  Out of all the roads and bridges across the country, I'd be surprised if half of them were in good repair and safe to drive on.

I bought a lot at Costco and the first order of the day when I arrived back home was to put the ice cream in the freezer!  I figure life is too uncertain with all the idiotic world leaders, living in the shadow of Yellowstone which doesn't look promising, and the threat of a mini ice age or global warming, whichever you want to believe, plus misc. earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis.    So I will give up a lot of things in the interest of good health and frugal living, but ice cream isn't going to be one of them!

But other than the fact that it is so hot it was almost unbearable to go out and get the mail, I'm in a happy mood.  Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel on this window is taking a lot of stress off of me, and of course, the big bowl of ice cream I've already eaten has helped as well.