Here it is, Monday already! In fact Monday is mostly gone. But we have had a very fruitful week. We finally made it through all our stuff, once anyhow. We really need to go through it again because we still can't fit it all into our closets, cranneys, and storage areas. We nearly had to back the car out of the garage so we could store stuff in there. But my dear sweet Zephaniah drew the line there. It's still occasionally snowing and freezing here, and he doesn't want to scape the windows of the car.

What a wonderful feeling to have at least moved everything around, even if we didn't get rid of much. We now have a BIG open area in the family room. We just need to rip out the carpet on the kitchen side of the family room and we can start taking down the ceiling tiles. Zephi wanted to start today, but we couldn't because we are going to have company at any moment. My two brothers are coming to help me edit the fabulous journal we have been transcribing, and I don't think they would like to have a shower of mouse droppings. That's what I think we will find in the ceiling. We had the neatest little mouse trap when we were having trouble with the pesky little critters. Zephi was looking into a leak from the bathroom upstairs, and took a ceiling tile out of the bathroom downstairs. He didn't find the problem at first, so the ceiling tile did not get returned. Then, one day thereafter we found a drowned mouse in the toilet. I guess the little beasty had been cavorting along the ceiling tiles and didn't notice that one had been removed and that it was conveniently above the toilet. We just had to flush to dispose of him. We purposely left the ceiling tile out after that and drowned a few more of the little critters. The word must have gotten out in Mousetown because they stopped coming into our house just after this. We didn't miss them.

I am hosting a slumber party Friday night for my granddaughters, and expect it may last until Sunday night. I have sent for some leis and we are going to have a luah (however you spell it.) We won't have any grass skirts, but we may try the hula dance. I have a lot to sway and hope to get into the mood of things. The boys will join us on Saturday and we will play conference Bingo. Should be fun. I expect I will be sleep-deprived for several days after. Maybe I had better get tanked up on sleep in advance.

By the way, I wish Coach or Boss would fill me in on how to send comments. I am sure it is very easy, but I just haven't figured it out.

Ta Ta from Zsa Zsa

Say, I just read about how the Boss is sorting, packing, and saving all her valuables prior to moving. That is very interesting to me because we (Zephaniah, my one and only heart throb and I) have been sorting, packing, and saving all our valuable junk, I mean treasures, also. We are getting ready to remodel and renovate our abode. Just because we have lived here for over 30 years and really haven't done much in the way of upkeep--Ok, we did put on a new roof a couple of times, and we invested in some double-paned windows and stuff--but our kitchen is late 70's pure and simple. I am sick of the green sink. When I have to wash dishes I think that my face turns as pea-green as the dull ceramic finish of the sink. It was shiny once, but even though I scrubbed it and scrubbed it, I could never get the green off and it never turned white. Our yellow formica is so stained that it is hard to tell exactly what color it was originally. Anyhow, we have some major work to do in the kitchen. BUT--before we can do anything about that part of the kitchen, we have to look and see what is wrong with the floor. We know that it creaks and groans, and that it is very uneven. Could we have termites somewhere under the wooden expanse? There is only one way to find out. We will have to tear out the ceiling of the family room right under the kitchen. That way we can see the boards holding up the floor and see if there are any unwelcome critters in there. But, before we can remove the ceiling, we have to get all the furniture, etc. out of that room. And we have stored a LOT of stuff in that room. Before we can move all that furniture and the boxes etc. stored there, I feel that we need to sort, give away, and throw away all we can. What I don't understand is why the keeper boxes fill up so much faster than the throw away or give away boxes. Take yarn for example--that's right, yarn. Over the years I have started some projects with yarn, and sometimes I just bought yarn for a project but never got around to starting it. Then there is the fact that I inherited all the yarn my mother had collected. Her collection put mine to shame! I found skeins and skeins of varigated green yarn, varigated orange and brown yarn, and mottled unknown colors. I found baby yarn, finger yarn, sport yarn, worsted yarn, chunky yarn, heavy yarn, specialty yarn, fuzzy yarn, and most of it is out of style. Still, I can't throw it away, can I? If there is a depression I may need it to knit hats for my grandchildren. I finally got it all into one place. I devoted nearly a large closet just for yarn. I gave away four boxes--that's right four boxes--but it didn't even dent the total supply.

Well, you can see the problem. We are stuck in this pack-up mode so we can get on with the fix-it-up mode. And of course Zephaniah wants to do it all himself. Well, he is handsome and strong, but he does have white hair and doesn't move as fast as he used to. So, we may be ushering the next millenium in, still packing and sorting, getting ready to tear out the ceiling in the family room so we can examine the supports for the kitchen floor so we can tear up the kitchen floor so we can replace it, so we can replace the cupboards, counters, sink,--oh dear. I am getting so tired just thinking about it. I think I will take a nap. Oh, Boss, would you like to swap your irridecent green glass for some yarn?

Well I declare! I finally was able to publish my picture--well, it isn't a very good picture--on my blog. Of course, maybe I am better looking all blurry. But at least for today I have won the battle. It is always a battle between me and my computer. Somehow, this wonderful invention with the shiny face just wants to defeat me. It seems to say, "You must unlock all my wonderful features, but I will stop you if I can." Well! I just look the thing in the eye and say, "I will do my thing!" And now I have published my picture. I surely hope it doesn't scare anyone off, as I am sure I will have a lot to say over the next several years. As my children can testify, I always have a lot to say.

Let me introduce myself:

I never thought that I, Zsa Zsa Zootenhorst would be creating a BLOG (what a funny name for a communication tool)! However, no matter one's age, one must keep up on the technological advances of the generation in which one lives. Having lived a long time (even though I am young--at heart) I have seen many technological advances in my day. Like television. I can still remember the first television we had when I was young. It was small, black and white, and had terrible reception, but we thought it was great. We children crowded around it, anxious to see "The Honeymooners," "I Love Lucy," and other great shows. Before TV we had to rely on radio. But there were some great shows for imaginative minds ("The shadow knows!") I can remember Tom Mix (a cowboy show), The Cinnamon Bear (a yearly Christmas special), Fibber McGee and Molly, and other wonderful fodder for young minds. And then there was the birthday party I attended when I was about 7 or 8. We were taken to the theater for a show. The star of the live presentation was Sally Rand, a fan dancer. I can remember seeing a lot of large ostrich feathers and a lot of leg. My mother was upset when she learned where we had gone, but I thought it was kind of boring.

But I am rambling. Back to technological advances. I remember having an infectious disease before penicillin, and I had to stay in bed to recover. It took a long time. I remember when airplanes (not jets) were new and my dad and I used to go out to the airport to watch them take off and land. I remember the Great War and the air raid sirens and black-outs. We didn't have radar then, so we had to black out our cities so the enemy couldn't see them (and we couldn't see them coming either. Thank goodness they never got around to bombing us here in the USA.) I remember ice boxes instead of refrigerators. I remember walking instead of taking the car everyplace. (We never did have a horse and buggy, however.) We had a big cookstove that ate coal and wood, but it kept us warm as well as cooked our food.

Well, anyhow, I have seen a lot of life. And I can say absolutely, even though I have lived in two centuries and two millenia, I am a 21st Century woman! I love our computers, our transportation, our computers, our communication systems, our computers, our medical advancements, and our computers! My vision is turned to the future. I love living now! I'm going to get right busy--as soon as I go take a nap.