Home again, home again, jiggity jog

We were home in time for dinner Friday night which made a nice change. Even better was the chance to sleep again in our own beds. Saturday was dedicated mostly to running errands.

While we were gone the house was struck by lightening in apparently dramatic, shower-of-sparks-type fashion. The surge protectors gave their lives so that our electronics could live... except for our Vonage router and one set of cordless phones. Without the router the phones were out here at home for the next 10 days. Luckily the Sharmas primarily use their cell phone anyway. I spent an hour or so talking through the reboot procedures with the Vonage technical assistant only to find that the ports were fried and the warranty expired. I opted to purchase a new router from a local store rather than wait for a shipment. We once again have our landline but only three functioning handsets. I just don't plan to answer the phone until we get an extra set.

The kid's bathroom was re-tiled and painted while we were gone. The new tile looks great but the walls (now textured and the color of biscuits) looks a little plain. The kids were unable to agree on an accent color or on accent art to jazz it up. So we bought watercolors and spent some time creating frameable masterpieces. Apparently we need to spend some more time on the venture as we've not yet produced anything we want to see everyday.

Sunil (with Sheela's subtle manipulation) chose a western blouse for me to wear to the rodeo dance. Western wear is extremely expensive for a cheapskate like me. But they chose a relatively simple white blouse with silver studs and white fringe (for western wear that is simple) and it was on sale. This almost made up for the shock of seeing $200 blue jeans in person.

We managed to drain the hot tub but we haven't cleaned it out yet (it keeps drizzling and I don't really want to do it). Once I overcome the mental block we can refill it and begin the processes of balancing the pH and charging the sanitizer. This is a quarterly activity.