Margret Sloan

Had lunch with Rhonda today and hashed out her plans for the house in California that she just inherited. Originally she was going to fix it up a little - spit and polish - and then sell it. It’s a great house on a marvelous lot outside of San Francisco in this west coast picture perfect town called Pacifica. But with the housing market in the tank she probably won’t get much for it.

Being on the coast, the house has suffered a lot of weather damage and actually needs a lot more work than just spit and polish. She met with a contractor while she was out there settling the estate and he went through the house to give her a detailed estimate for repairs.

The contractor works for American Home Craft Inc and seemed to be very knowledgeable and thorough. The most pressing repair is to actually replace all the windows, especially the ones on the western exposure. Since I just went through the same ordeal with my house, I was able to give her a few pointers about replacement windows.

We checked the references for American Home Craft Inc and they have an outstanding reputation in California. They have a nice web site, too, with good information on their services and the products they recommend. When they replace windows thay have a special window just for coastal homes, called Simonton StormBreaker Plus® windows, which are energy efficient and impact resistant. All their windows come with a lifetime glass breakage warranty, so that really boosts her comfort level with that brand.

Rhonda is going out to Pacifica again next month to get some of the work started. I have a funny feeling that she is going to like it out there so much that she decides to move there permanently, or at least for a few years until the housing market improves and she can get a good price on the property.

This morning the doorbell rand and the UPS guy left a box for me at the door. He knows I have a lot of dogs and he doesn’t need a signature for most deliveries, so he rings the bell and then dashes back to his truck before I can even get to the door.

The delivery was the father’s day gift I ordered just a couple days ago - a way cool flashlight from a website I came across that specializes in hobby and tactical optical products. Those are big words for some really cool guy stuff, like binoculars, rifle scopes, flashlights, etc.

I was actually looking at riflescopes for hubby, as he has really gotten into hunting again. But when I got to this site, I thought the flashlight would be a much more useful gift for year round use and maybe I’ll get the riflescope for him for Christmas. They have all the good name brands and a helpful article on the site about how to choose the right riflescope, so I know I can pick out something that he’ll really like and appreciate.

Warren is home for the summer and his dad has informed him that this past week of sleeping until noon is his only luxury. Time for Warren to get busy and find a summer job. He had looked half-heartedly before he left school, but it’s getting serious at this point - his spending money for the next school year depends on what he can make this summer.

My friend Tom has offered him a spot on his work crew building decks on new homes. It’s good money and relatively easy to learn. The only drawback is he can’t work if it’s raining and we’ll need to spot him some money to buy a pair of good workboots.

There’s a website called Work Boots USA that gives a quick overview of the different types of boots and it carries all the major brands. You can easily tell from the short description under each photo if the boot has a soft toe, hard toe or steel toe - the type of toe you need depends upon the type of work you’ll be doing and what kind of workplace hazards you have to protect your feet from.

I told Warren that if he picks out a pair of work boots from that site I’ll put them on my charge card. They can have the boots delivered by the weekend and he can start work for Tom on Monday.

OK - I’m willing to admit that we cheated a little on the tomato plants this year. We bought two plants at the Publix grocery store when they had some seasonal plants out front of the store. Each plant was only $12 and they both looked very healthy, so we brought them home and had a nice head start on tomatoes this year.

My goal has always been to have fresh homegrown tomatoes on the vine ready to pick by the Fourth of July each summer. Well, believe it or not, we’ve been picking ripe tomatoes for two weeks already! They are not really big tomatoes, but they are sweet and meaty and we are very pleased with ourselves!

Maybe this abundance of fresh tomatoes will encourage hubby to eat more fresh garden salads this summer. He eats them in restaurants when salad comes with the meal - no cucumbers, no fancy lettuce - just iceburg - ranch dressing is the only dressing choice - but salads at home are always disdained. If I was a completely confident cook I’d be offended, but it’s not me - it’s him.

Condo life sometimes means putting up with little nuisances that you might not have to deal with in a single family home with a yard and good distance between neighbors.

Even though this condo development is upscale and the construction is high end, there can still be nights where the noise from your neighbor’s TV or sound system creeps into your bedroom and makes sleep difficult. I don’t have a garage band next door, but for some reason the neighbors like to listen to rock and roll ALL night. Now, I like rock and roll, but not at 3:00 in the morning when I’m trying to sleep.

So we’ve come up with a solution other than calling the police and filing noise complaints against the neighbors. We bought a little machine called Sleep Mate, which makes a nice little sound during the night called white noise and you don’t have to listen to that rock and roll or even hubby’s snoring anymore. I’ve known about White Noise Machines for years, but it wasn’t until we moved here that I needed it.

And to take the chill off in the morning, I bought a pair of foot cozy heated slippers from Vat 19 - the same site that sells the Sleep Mate. A good night’s sleep is a whole lot easier now, and getting up in the morning is just a little nicer, too.