Got a lot done this weekend, although it may not sound like much. I took Friday off from work, so it’s got to be included as a part of the deal. Friday I cleaned out our old entertainment center; my brother came over and helped me move it to the garage (not sure what’s going to happen to that monstrosity yet). Then I cleaned the carpet where it used to sit. This was all in preparation for the delivery of the Toshiba 50HM66! It is now a welcome addition to our family room. This was a part of the home improvement that I deemed absolutely necessary! On a sad note, my aunt passed away earlier in the week and the visitation was Friday evening 4-7pm.

Later Friday night, I went to see Spatterdash. Wow. The Missipi Brewing Company was PACKED! And, as always, Spatterdash didn’t disappoint. It was a great show. There were a lot of people there from work (the lead singer and I work in the same department at our company) in various states of inebriation. Let’s just say that eveyone thad a great time!

Saturday was a busy day. KC left in the morning for Orlando for a conference. This left me to do the shopping and some cleanup. Then in the afternoon was my aunt’s funeral. What a downer. She was a picture of health. Yeah, she was 70, but she looked younger than her daughter. She and her husband played tennis a couple of times a week, rode bicycles and went on walks each day. They really didn’t “act their age”. It was really a shock to the family to lose her. The pastor of her church delivered a wonderful eulogy and it just seemed to be over all too soon.

Sunday was a day of rejoicing. I went to the Cedar Rapids Airport and picked up Breezomatic! She will not be going back to the cruise ship she was working on. She thought the work was OK (although 15-16 hours a day of chopping vegetables and washing dishes didn’t sound like OK to me) and she got a long with a number of the crew, she did NOT like the head chef. After hearing her side of the situation, I don’t know that the chef will last much longer. He didn’t seem to get along with anyone on the ship. Oh well, chalk the situation up to experience and another line on her resume.

Also, Sunday, I continued work on the deck. All the side fence and seating are off. One third or so of the floor is off - the third farthest from the house. The joists below that third have been treated with a cedartone stain/sealer. Next step is to get the floor boards to replace the ones I took up. The new floor boards are going to be plastic/composite, so I don’t have to stain and seal the deck every year. Next step is to put down the new floor boards. Right now all of our deck furniture is packed in close to the house. Hopefully it will stop raining long enough for the crew I hired to paint the house soon. We haven’t had three non-rainy days in a row for so long that they haven’t been able to work on my house! In the mean time I’m going to continue work on the deck.