Friday Catchup

Here are a few random "catch up" thoughts:

1.  We are all enjoying a few days off from school/work.  Yesterday was of course Veteran's Day, and day is a furlough day for all California schools (and Jason's regular day off).  The result:  A fine four day weekend.  We were talking about going over to San Francisco for a quick visit, but considering that Jericho had a parade until three o'clock yesterday and has to be at school to leave for a football game tonight at 5, that didn't leave us a very big travel window.  So we stayed home, which I secretly am just thrilled about.

2.  Jacob tried out for the school basketball team the first part of this week.  The three evenings of tryouts culminated in all of the boys and a few parents waiting at the school after tryouts Wednesday night to see who made which team.  Let me just say now that as the waiting parent from our family, I thought I would  surely develop a raging set of ulcers in just that short amount of time.  As some of you know, our sports experiences here have been somewhat less than gratifying, especially since I have such a hard time letting go of the angst of it all.  However, while I was wondering if I would need to go home and get out my "Whatever" mug, Jacob came over with a big smile and the news that he made the varsity team.  Granted, they may still cut some guys, and who knows which boys will play, but it was a happy night for all.

3.  As a result of #1 above, I had a big sanding day yesterday.  I have several objects that I want to fix up, and just haven't had the time to work on them.  So, I got them all out of the back porch and sanded away.  I especially enjoyed using my new larger palm sander that I bought at our neighbor's yard sale.  I still used the little mouse sander for the smaller edges, but liked having both of them.  Here is one think I'm really looking forward to having fixed up:

It's a free treasure from our neighborhood's "Throw Your Trash By Curb" days.  I'm planning to put it by the front door when finished.

The only thing I didn't get sanded was the door.  I think I'll carry that out there today and sand it, too.

4. Finally, I'm finding that my stitches aren't bothering me so much.  While they are still tender, I don't need any Tylenol anymore, and more importantly, I can look at them without getting completely grossed out. 

As long as I don't look at them for very long...