Yes, indeedy, it’s time once again for 12 of 12!

9:30 am: Putting it all back together

Friday and Saturday were spent watching someone else put down hardwood laminate in our house.  Although it doesn’t carry over the photos, it’s a fairly thick (12 mm) laminate that has a hand scraped look to it.  The living room, dining room, and kitchen are all joined together, and we had three different types of flooring down, so we decided to bite the bullet and replace it all in one fell swoop.  I like the look, but it’s going to take some getting used to.

We’re also going to be spending months putting everything back the way it was … and we need an area rug or three.

For the insane among you, there are “before” shots here, here, and here; and more “after” shots here, here, and here.

10:27 am: Bougainvillea Break

I recently … once again … acquired a bougainvillea.  I think they’re gorgeous, and I would love to live in a climate where they can grow outside year round.  Unfortunately, we’re on the wrong side of one of those USDA “hardiness” lines.  All I know is that they grow fine in San Antonio (60 mi/100 km south), but here they’re really delicate.  It’s been really windy lately, and the flowers keep blowing off.  Last night there was a torrential downpour.  So … I’m taking photos so that when I invariably kill it, I’ll remember what it looked like.  Sigh.

11:27 am: Fixing the FloorMate

We own one of those Hoover FloorMate things that scrub hard surfaces.  Now that we have significantly more hard surface to clean, I imagine that we’ll be using it much more often, however, the cleaning solution wasn’t dispensing properly.  So, Ray decided to fix it, which he can do …

12:18 pm: 10 Pounds of Love

My folks invited us over for lunch.

Barney lives next door to my parents.  He’s such a cute little dog, very sweet.  He always runs right over to the fence whenever anyone is in the backyard to say hello.

My parents are starting to look for another dog, and mom says she wants something a little larger than Barney because, well … there’s something alarming about a dog that you could accidentally punt over the fence.

12:44 pm: Mocha

Mocha, as usual, is completely immune to Barney’s charms.

12:45 pm: Backyard chat

It was pouring first thing this morning–just in time to drown out all those sunrise services–but by early afternoon it was beautiful, sunny, 80 degrees.  Just perfect!

1:13 pm: Hope Springs Eternal

Mocha knows I won’t feed her from the table.  My mother, on the other hand, is an easy mark …

2:08 pm: He is Risen!

I’ve pointed out before that my parents live in a community that’s a little reminiscent of Stepford.  A good number of the houses had these plastic crosses in front, given out by the non-denominational church that serves the senior community.  Apparently, you’re supposed to put them up on Good Friday, blank side out, and then turn them around on Easter Sunday to reveal that “He is Risen!”

We went by one house where the cross hadn’t been turned around.  “They didn’t turn their cross around,” my mother observed.
“Maybe Jesus saw his shadow and decide to sleep for six more weeks,” I suggested.

Yes, I’m going to Hell.  No, that’s not why…

6:15 pm: Using the FloorMate

Making a rare appearance in my own 12 of 12, I decide I’ve had enough of the remaining sawdust on the floor and use the FloorMate, since my previous broom-and-dustpan, dustmop, and vacuuming hasn’t quite done the trick.

7:11 pm: Burgers on the grill

Quick-and-simple meal.  Because it’s such a lovely day, I decide to grill something in order to spend a little more time outside.

7:34 pm: Making Mocha Miserable

Mocha hates to be picked up and/or held.

7:50 pm: Entourage

A little crap tele to wind down the weekend.

And how was YOUR day?