This morning Kenny stopped by to talk about fixing the water spots in the ceiling (on the ceiling?) from the earlier roof leaks and an overflowing a/c something-or-other years ago, but I decided to go in a whole different direction:  finally getting that wallpaper up in the kitchen.  Only disappointment is that the three rolls I have won't cover it; Kenny says it'll probably take the best part of two rolls just for the wall separating the kitchen and dining room.

So that wall will be papered and most of the rest of the kitchen will be painted a gorgeous lavender that perfectly matches some of the wisteria (there are both blue-with-lavender accent wisteria and purple/lavender wisteria.  I'm trying to think how to utilize the remaining roll.

Anyway, I'm very excited about it.  

Then this afternoon I went downtown to the courthouse to turn in the defensive driving paperwork, and afterward stopped by the Social Security office to arrange for a replacement card since I can't locate mine for nuthin'.  After that I went to the grocery store and then by Dave Offutt's (if you need insurance of any sort here in Texas, he's the man to see) to turn in the other defensive driving certificate so I can get the 10% discount, and we had a nice visit.

When I got home I checked email and discovered the COBRA is about a hundred dollars a month less than had been thought so I've overpaid a $1000, which covers June and July's payments! 

I like days like this.

Oh, and here's a photo Joe took of Max that I cherish and might print out and frame:

Who needs Walker, Texas Ranger when there's Max? 

For the record, I received a nice email from the lead pastor at TCBC letting me know they're moving forward with other applicants who better fit the job description.

I appreciate the notification, as so often people don't bother and just let you hang there.

On a bit of a plus side, the quote came in from the contractor friend of Dave Offut to fix the plumbing, and it's a good deal less than the others I'd had. Woo-hoo! BTW, the plumbing company he uses is one I've seen around, so it's not a fly-by-night operation or anything.

Maybe before too long I'll be able to use both the dishwasher and disposal again. Wouldn't that be cool?

This morning a man from church who is a licensed electrician's apprentice came over and after we made a trip to Lowe's (it was very handy having him with me), he spent the next few hours installing a ceiling fan in the dining room, switched out the entry hall light and the front porch light, installed a small light next to the back door, plus replaced a burned-out flood light above the garage.  No one else will be terribly interested, but for Alex and Beth in Japan, and other family members, here are the newbies:

(Okay, yes, I need to clean that area.  I know.)

This afternoon my brother, Louis, picked me up and we went to the county courthouse to present Don's will for probate.    I very much appreciate his and Dad taking the time and trouble to make those arrangements for me, and Louis was right....it was over quickly.  Need to do an inventory and turn it in to the court, and maybe other stuff.  Haven't yet read the instructions the judge gave me.  Still, I couldn't get through it without crying.  Big surprise, right? 

This evening I had my voice lesson then proceeded to the church for the audition.  Turns out they were running quite a bit late, having discovered that often the allowed five minutes wasn't sufficient.

I think I was in there right about that amount of time.  By golly, I sang "Wells Fargo Wagon" (a couple of verses), then read a scene as Mrs. Shinn (the part I covet), followed by a short dance step.  Turns out those line dance lessons (which start up again on Saturday) were helpful, as I surprised them by knowing what a jazz box is and how to do it, plus another step.

In general it went about as well as it could have.    I wasn't especially nervous, but compared to Don's funeral and today's probate hearing, what's an audition?  A mere nothing. 

Haven't heard from Trinity Chapel so presume I didn't make the cut for second interviews.  Oh well.  Can't have everything go right, can one? 

Dmitry misses Carolyn though he talks to her frequently, as due to the swine flu scare she is being kept at home.  Poor lamb.  No school yet having to remain at home and unable to see Dmitry.  He's going to drop flowers and a card by her house tomorrow, which I'm sure she'll appreciate. (Mum's the word!)

Tomorrow morning I'm going to go down to the city courthouse to turn in the paperwork for my speeding ticket and the defensive driving class.  Got my official driving record, which is clean as the proverbial whistle.  This'll help it stay that way.  Of course, I've got the court date on June 24th, but surely that'll go alright.  Surely? 

"Carmen" cast taking their bows., originally uploaded by Anne_G_Ivy.

The cell phone camera was clearly a bit overwhelmed by the scene, but still, y'all can get the gist. This was at the very end, when I felt reasonably comfortably sneaking a photo. It's a pity y'all can't tell how sumptuous the costuming was!

Never mind Regency England, I wanna dress like the women did in Spain back then.

Nothing huge, ye ken, but a series of small frustrations.

First, the Harvesters' party scheduled for tomorrow was canceled out of fear of rain.

Second, Handango was having a sale so I popped a few (as in about 11) bucks on three programs for the Dell Axim x50v (Don's old PDA), none of which I can get to work.  The one I was most interested in was the e-Piano program, and the page for it mentioned that it might be necessary to download some virtual runtime program.  Well, okay.

Well, no, because it turns out Microsoft no longer provides downloads for it, so the e-Piano thing won't work.  That's highly annoying, having a program held out as suitable for my PDA only it turns out for it to run it requires a no-longer-provided program. 

Okay, it cost all of $6.95 (PLUS TAX), but still.....  

Then Carolyn's sister's obstetrician (her sister and bro-in-law live with them currently) has advised that Carolyn NOT go to "Carmen" on Sunday afternoon, for fear she'll bring flu home.  Now two expensive student tickets are going begging.  The worst aspect, of course, is Carolyn's bitter disappointment....she'd been looking forward to "Carmen" since I promised her she'd go when we went to "Turnadot" last year. 

Got my court date for the "invalid" license:  June 24th at 4 p.m.  I think I'll go down a day or two after my birthday and renew my license and get the missing SS# on it, and - I hope - a statement saying my license was NOT invalid.  I'd been hoping someone would look at it at the court house and realize it ought to be dropped, but that didn't happen so heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to court I go. 

When I left for the church to help act as an usher for the Big Band concert, the "rear hatch ajar" light was on.  No biggie.  I went ahead and drove to church, then went around to close the hatch properly.

Didn't work.  Tried it again.  And again.  And again.

Wouldn't latch properly.

Don't ask me why I did the following stupid things, for I don't know, but I first used my key to move the latch up, which it did, locking in place.

Great.  Now the hatch can't be shut at all.  Tried and tried to move the latch hook back down, to no avail, so finally slammed the hatch down in a fit of exasperation.

Gee, that was helpful.  A little piece broke off and the latch hook went where I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to go. 

Drove it home, put it in the garage and asked Dmitry if I could borrow his.  Back to the church, to be placed over on the left side of the sanctuary so as to both guard that door (only the main door was to be used, not the side doors) and nicely encourage people to move to the middle.

What I'd not thought of is how much Don and I enjoyed big band music.  We went on a big band cruise when we went through the Panama Canal several years ago, and had regularly talked about going on another.

Wound up crying and telling Jo Helen I couldn't do it, got my purse and hurried out to the car.  Had a breakdown such as I truly thought was behind me.  Carolyn and Jim Boyd (he was the pastor who took Don's service) noticed me and came over to pray over me, bless them, worriedly offering to drive me home.  Assured them I only live a few blocks away and can make it, which I did.

After spending time in the Word I'm much better.  Isaiah'll do it every time. 

Especially Isaiah 25:8a:  "He will destroy death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face..."

I can't wait.