Scattered Thoughts . . .

We had a very quiet and peaceful Thanksgiving this year.  The food was pretty good for it being a pretty vile bird, the drinks were cold and refreshing, and the decorations were festive.   Unfortunately, Liza's kids were sick so they stayed at home which made for a very quiet day for us with a lot more food than we really needed.  Whitney and Ellie visited with us for a while though which was really nice.   We usually decorate for Christmas through the long Thanksgiving weekend but, this year, we finished all our Christmas decorating by the day before Thanksgiving Day so it looks like Christmas in our house.   As many already know, I truly despise  Thanksgiving so having the house completely decorated for Christmas helped my mood and attitude significantly since Christmas is my favorite time of year.  Maybe we should do this every year...  Thanksgiving Day as Day 1 of Christmas.  Hey, if some guy in a big goofy hat with symboli...

I started our Thanksgiving prep today by making some homemade cranberry sauce.  I had that completed by 9am which was nice!  I was up at around 4am this morning because I was having great difficulty breathing.  I was actually having a very involved dream about being unable to breath and when I awoke I instantly knew why.  I really  was having difficulty breathing.  I had to get up to use my inhaler and take some other medications.  I was able to fall back asleep for a bit but I really did not get nearly enough sleep last night and what little sleep I got was while not getting enough oxygen.  Instead of sleeping later this morning, I chose to get up early and start some Thanksgiving prep work in the kitchen.  I ended up having difficulty breathing on and off all day long.  I'm hoping tonight will be better than last night so I can get some much needed rest.  Of course, it is good to breath easily too!  Breathing difficulties ar...

W e've had a number of Leviton smart switches in our home for quite a long time and, until the past year, they worked flawlessly.  However, one by one, they started failing or burning out about a year ago.  This wouldn't be so bad if we were still able to use them manually but that wasn't the case for us.   The switches failed completely. Having smart switches has always been a major first-world convenience for us especially when we travel.  No matter where we are located, we can still control our lights.  Actually, our thermostat and cameras are also able to be controlled no matter where we might be visiting.  This is a tremendous plus as far as we're concerned and especially when we travel in the winter when we must be sure our furnace is keeping the house above freezing. So, a significant number of our Leviton smart switches were broken and this morning I decided to replace four of these smart switches.  It should have been a very simple little...