Yet Another Garage Sale--And Remodeling News.

Yup, that's right. I'm having another garage sale. I kept everything set up from the last sale so all I had to do to get ready for this one was to add some stuff, put the ad in the paper, and open up at 9:00 this morning. Now that's the way to have a garage sale.

Brad the Concrete Guy has been doing a fantastic job. So much so, that Mr. Snowbird keeps hiring him to do more jobs. As I said, when you have a 100 plus year old home, it becomes something of a money pit. The base of the house is made of stone taken from a nearby quarry. The mortar was starting to erode so Brad took care of that. Then Mr. Snowbird decided that the basement windows needed replacing and caulked--which actually they did. We are also hiring him to fix the inside basement walls which tend to leak when we have 100 year floods. And apparently he paints too--so he will paint the basement and a couple of the windows upstairs that need it. Geez, I wish I had known he painted before we hired Bob the Builder!! Speaking of Bob the Builder--haven't seen him or anyone of his crew for a couple of days. Have no idea when they will make their next one day appearance!

I hope the Olympics get done tonight a lot earlier than they did last night. I'm a sucker for gymnastics and I finally gave up at 1:30 this AM before they were even over. But, tonight is the Women's all around so they will probably run just as late. Makes it tough to get up and out to the barn for the garage sale. But hey, the Olympics only come every other year so I'll stay up to watch them. Of course I guess I could tape them, huh?

Thoughts of the Day

OK, I am officially in Olympics overload! I watched them for most of the weekend. I love the swimming and the gymnastics the most. Why Gymnastics? Because I can't believe some of the things the gals and guys can do. I wince everytime I see some of their programs. Amazing. Swimming because I used to teach swimming and was an interim Aquatics Director at the YMCA for a short stint. Both of my kids grew up in the pool and were on various swim teams over the years growing up.

So I groaned and moaned right along with everyone else during the US women's gymnastics qualifying last night. Luckily. despite injuries to two of the members and even with horrendous mistakes, they are so strong they pulled it together to qualify second for the team all around.

But WOW, that 4 x 100 men's relay last night has to have been the most exciting relay race ever--except for maybe one that my son swam in when he was in high school. Dave was never the strongest swimmer on the team but managed to earn points for the team. In one meet, Coach Rock Snow put Dave as anchor on the Free Relay Team. This was the last event in a meet and the outcome of the meet depended on this event. As far as I can remember, Dave had never swum anchor on a relay! This normally goes to your strongest swimmer. When Dave took to the pool, he had a substantial lead. The swimmer from the other team was their strongest freestylest. Dave managed to hang on and win by about as much as the US team did last night. I just remember standing on the side of the pool (I was supposed to be scoring, not watching) screaming and yelling my head off. Those feelings came flooding back last night when I watched our US team beat out the French by 8/10's of a second and break the world's record by 4 seconds. It was such a fast race that even the 5th place team came in under the old world's record. So, thanks USA, for bringing back such a great memory of another win years ago.
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Could someone explain to me how you can gain two pounds by eating a small bowl of Cheerios and two cups of coffee and then not gain an ounce eating a huge meal which included 2 glasses of adult beverages and a big yummy bread pudding desert?
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The Concrete Guy is busy, as we speak--well, at least as I speak--putting the finishing touches on his job. And Brandon, Bob the Builder's son, is "busy" painting the living room. He said that there were several other guys supposed to show up but I haven't seen them yet. More later.
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These are some random thoughts that I received in an email from a friend today. Enjoy.
1. Can you cry underwater?
2. How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of murdered?
3. Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up like every two hours?
4. Why are you IN a movie but ON TV?
5. Why do doctors leave the room while you change? They are going to see you naked anyway.
6. Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane?
7. If the Professor on Gilligan's Island can make a telephone out of a coconut why can't he fix a hole in a boat?
8. If corn oil is made from corn and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?
9. Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?
10. Do the Alphabet Song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?
11. Why did you just start singing the two songs above?
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Olympic medal count as of today
Gold Silver Bronze Total
1. China 9 3 2 14
2. South Korea 4 4 0 8
3. United States 3 4 5 12

USA! USA! USA!

Let The Games Begin

Wow, did anybody watch the Olympics Opening Ceremonies last night? I was GLUED to the TV for 4 1/2 hours! China totally outdid everybody when it came to putting on a show. I would hate to be any country who has to follow in their footsteps. Those were the most amazing, fantastic, spectacular, gorgeous, mindboggling (and lots of other superlatives) Opening Ceremonies I have ever seen! And where else but in the land of fireworks, would you see such a magnificent display of pyrotechnics--over and over again?

Then came the Parade of Athletes. I swear, I have never, ever heard of half of those countries. But they all looked proud and so excited to be there. I just think it is sad that the athletes had to miss out on the Opening Ceremonies. I'm sure that they were televised wherever they were but still. And that so many of the athletes (swimmers and gymnasts to name a few) had to miss the Parade because their events were today. And how about Yao Ming carrying the flag for China with the tiny little 9 year old earthquake survivor walking beside him? Or Yao holding the little one so he could see what what going on?

And how about the way they lit the torch. The poor guy must have been exhausted from walking on air when he finally made it around the stadium to the torch. Again, amazing.

So, I'm pumped. I will be a TV junkie for the next couple of weeks watching as much as I can and will have a horrible case of withdrawal when it is over!

Now, if the terrorists and politicians can just let the athletes do what they came to do. And wouldn't it be wonderful if the terrorists and politicians could take a lesson from the athletes? They showed pictures last night of athletes from different countries meeting, greeting and taking pictures with each other on friendly ground. Unfortunately there has already been a very sad event where a Chinese man attacked 2 American relatives of one of the indoor volleyball coach's. One of the relatives was killed. We can only hope and pray that this is the last such event.

Anyway, Let The Games Begin and may the best men and women win! And yeah, I hope the US gets their fare share of gold, silver and bronze!

Oh and as for the daily medal count --just google Olympics.

Olympic medal count

				Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1.		China		2	0	0	2
2.		United States		1	1	1	3
3.		South Korea		1	1	0	2

(3 medals in women's fencing. Way to go women!!)