Scattered Thoughts . . .

I've been wanting to upgrade our collection of television/media remotes. Sheila doesn't even have a clue how to access anything on the television at all so I have been on a hunt for a good universal remote. The deciding factor was that I like technology which truly makes life easier...  not just technology because, "I can"... but technology which makes my life easier. A good and effective universal remote could indeed make our lives easier! We went from this mess... Logitech has a good selection of advanced remotes and I have had my eye on one of them but the price was crazy. I've been in no hurry (as in almost all of our purchases) so I would periodically check the price. I've been doing this for about eight or ten months. I finally found a good bargain just after the Thanksgiving weekend so I immediately put the remote in my cart and pressed the "Place Order" button. I bought a Logitech Harmony Ultimate One remote. It arrived today and I

(As mentioned previously, please do not let Lukey or Kenzie know what they are getting for Christmas... I'm only posting it here because they cannot yet read.) In my previous blog post, I wrote that I had started working on Lukey's Christmas present... an HO scale train set in a dog-bone shape with a donut hole.  Well, for those who could not envision what I was talking about, here it is after cutting the rigid foam to shape... It is looking good!  I wanted a free-form, flowing type of thing rather than just a rigid rectangle or even a perfect oval...  I want the landscape to roll and flow with a nice train running through it. That area adjacent to the train station on the right is for a future town... maybe a couple of small houses, a firehouse, a gas station...  then a road coming toward the front of the photo and leading around to that little freight station on the left side... and, I left some room over there for some other building or detail. With a little town a

(If any of Lukey's or Kenzie's older cousins are reading this blog... please don't tell them what they are getting for Christmas!) Now that Kenzie's dollhouse is finished...  "finished" meaning finished enough for Christmas...  I'll add more details and more things to play with for future presents... now I am focused on Lukey's Christmas present.  Lukey's present will be a set of trains with some basic scenery. I came up with a plan which would make it large enough for any kids in the 3-5 year old range (actually, it would seem very big to kids this age) yet small enough to easily store in our storage shed or a spare room.   A bit over a year ago, I picked up a "metal train" series of cars and a diesel locomotive which is made specifically for children. The metal cars and locomotive make them a bit more sturdy for young, fumbling hands. The company that manufactured this "metal train" series was going out of business and

The dollhouse is finished and ready for Christmas morning! As I've mentioned in previous blog posts about this dollhouse, I designed this dollhouse to be a Georgetown-style townhouse with a brick sidewalk and small patio. I wanted to build a townhouse-style dollhouse so that the dollhouse could sprawl vertically, rather than horizontally, saving precious floor space in our small home. This was the right idea for our small home. I'm quite happy with the design but actually wish I had more time to add more details. If I were to add more details today, I would add curtains, lighting, pictures to hang on walls, window boxes with flowers, and more kitchen details.  As it is, however, it is definitely ready for Christmas morning and an excited grandchild. I'm sure Kenzie will be glued to this dollhouse the moment she sees it! Kenzie will also be receiving a doll family to use with this 1:12 scale dollhouse... a mom, a dad, a young girl, and a baby...

Although one would never know it by our unseasonably warm weather and very obvious lack of snow, the Christmas season is here!  Each year, we kick off the Christmas season by going to dinner with friends so, yesterday afternoon, we headed up to Stowe to begin our Christmas by celebrating with this Christmas dinner. Stowe was having their annual Charles Dickens day yesterday as well so this quaint ski town was decorated for Christmas and filled with Christmas Carolers strolling around the streets and establishments in authentic period clothing. Even considering the obvious lack of snow, the atmosphere was definitely filled with a vibrant Christmas vibe. We spent some time in the bar for a few cocktails and appetizers before dinner. The pork belly appetizer was mouth-wateringly delicious! The drinks were delicious! The beer was delicious!  And, thankfully, the bar service was outstanding! Once seated at our table, we were treated with a very professional and knowledgeab

Today is one of those boring days of rest and recovery. On days such as this one, I must be extra careful to not tax my body and health... I must get extra rest... if not, my health will fail again quickly. I was having great difficulty with my vision all week but I didn't think much about it since it is a relatively common problem for me. Vision problems come and go regularly. I purposely try not to think about it because losing my vision or hearing can really get me a bit anxious. As the week progressed, e ventually, some other symptoms started to appear.  Yesterday evening, my health crashed. I spent some time in the bathroom... sick... I was so dizzy that I almost fell over while sitting in the bathroom! Needless to say, I needed emergency medications.  I'm feeling a bit more stable today but rather drowsy from all the emergency medications and extra medications. Regardless of last night's problems, I had planned to take it easy today anyway since we have a Christ

Yesterday was a very hectic and painful day but we managed to get the bedroom finished enough to move into that bedroom and sleep there last night! Being able to lie down in that room last night was very nice. I say it was a "very hectic" day because we were on the move all day long... clearing out the room of building materials... laying underlayment... laying carpet... installing baseboard trim... moving in bedroom furniture (which involved moving it all out the back door and in the front door... in the snow... finally, some snow!) ... moving my office/computer stuff to the new desk... cleaning and installing the mini-blinds... installing curtains... and probably a few other things I can't remember right now. It truly was a hectic day because we wanted to get into that bedroom before the Thanksgiving weekend was behind us! I say this room is "finished enough" to move into it because we still need to hang photos and art on the walls and there are a few o