Once I broke my rule about dating someone I work with or that works with for a company that we employ.

I went on a date with John. A year ago. He works at our plumbing & heating supplier. It was an odd moment when I was in the plumbing shop and  he said “do you want to go out on a date” and I said “yes”. The date was nice, but not something where we wanted to go further.

Today we had an after hours off work crisis. John was the man I needed to speak to… because he was the on-call person. “You need to call Bonnie to get this $$$ charge approved.” He had them call me. Then because they didn’t know what they needed I told them to put him on the phone. He was a constant stuttering. I don’t know why I felt more sorry for him than the people having the crisis. They were calm. We got it figured out.

After that, everyone was asking “WTF was that all about?”

I’ll never again break my rule.

Building a screen door did not make the list of things to do this weekend. Cleaning the garage did.

I haven’t seen my garage floor for at least 6 years. That was always LilBro’s hangout place when he lived here & since then it’s been my pile all of the junk in there place.

Enter Matt & Fresca. Fresca has been cleaning my house for a couple of years. It’s worth it to me for $30 a week because my house is incredibly clean in a couple of hours. She loves to clean.

Her boyfriend Matt is a neat freak. They were really broke the other day & I had mentioned to them that it was good weather to clean the garage. HOLY WAH! My garage hasn’t been that clean since the day I moved in 13 years ago. It cost me an $80 prepaid phone card.

I had to LOL at Matt when he found a couple of small laundry-basket containers! “OMG! Look at all of this storage!” All of LilBro’s sockets & wrenches that were strewn about the garage are now sorted.

According to StatTracker these are my most popular posts:

• title this pic “how to unwarp a sheet of plywood”
• flip the bowl
• homemade laundry powder
• wishlist: green driveway

It’s been on my kitchen table since Thanksgiving 2011. It did warp again a little bit, but nowhere near where it was. I did add some fancy routed 2x4s to the edged & stained them to match every thing else. I get a ton of raves when people come over to my house & wonder where I got that table. Love my vintage trash to treasure + a sheet of plywood + three 2x4s + stain. Other than the hours sanding & staining … my investment is a $40 sheet of plywood + three $3 2x4s + $10 quart of stain. Not bad for a table that seats 12.

Suzzie still flips the bowl. This dog is very much stuck in a routine. Eat 5am, Pee 5:03am, Sleep 5:05am, Poop 5:30am, Sleep 5:35am, PlayInTheYard 5:45am, Sleep 6:05am … get the picture? Some days I still forget to fill her water bowl. She will flip it to let me know it’s empty. AND … god forbid … I accidentally fill & leave it on the countertop … non-stop barking!

The homemade laundry powder didn’t last quite a year… it’s been 8 months. I have a couple of scoops left to finish of my laundry this weekend. I really do love it. and will make another batch before next weekend. I’ll probably skip the Purex Crystals because they only add scent. I get that when in dry my clothes using Bounce dryer sheets. That’s the only dryer sheets I use because the work really well on dog hair.

A green driveway was my dream, but I couldn’t deal with another spring of a muddy parking space plus save up to have someone do it. That’s not a DIY project. Soo …. I went with a concrete slab & I love it. That boring slab has proven itself way beyond my expectations. I guess that’s what happens when you hire someone you trust and their motto is “by the workmen, you know the work.” This spring was a true test of its worth … freeze, thaw, snow, flood, snow, thaw, freeze.

LilBro has been at my house since March 25. That was a Monday … AKA dialysis day. After dialysis which is 6a-10a, he always stops by my house to rest for a while before going home. March 25 he stayed overnight because the 26th is our birthday and the 27th we were leaving for Madison for his heart bypass surgery on the 29th.

He’s been recovering at a remarkable pace since getting released from the hospital on April 2. He’s been surprising the doctors at how quickly he is recovering. He started driving on his own on the 16th! He was going to go home on the 21st … but the day before there was a setback.

Not a major one … but enough to make him not confident to be in the country where it takes an ambulance at least a 1/2 hour to arrive then another 15-20 minutes to get to the hospital. At my house, we’re 10 minutes away from ambulance arrival and 5 minutes to the hospital. All of these times are while sirens are on. On a normal trip, I’m 10 minutes to the ER from my house. (The dialysis center is next to the ER so that’s why I know how long it takes to get there on a normal day.)

His protein levels are really low. The lowest they ever have been. That’s what’s causing the problems. He does take protein supplements, but they are not keeping him at minimum. It doesn’t help that any high protein foods he likes has to be fried for him to be able to eat it which pretty much kills any benefit.

On Monday, he’s going to talk to his doctor about the protein supplements they use when he’s at dialysis. They’re tasty to him. They are also expensive for him and not covered by insurance. $100 for a 2 week supply.

He’s talking about going home tomorrow. We’ll see if that happens. A huge part of me wants my house back to myself and back to “normal”… but I don’t want him to go if he’s not up to it. I’m not influencing him in any way. I’ll let him make his choice & the bed he’s been sleeping in for the past few weeks will stay in my living room just in case he feels the need to come back.