11/27/2010, 7:09 PM

By Wednesday before Thanksgiving Day I had finished removing the old tile in the two remaining bedrooms and in the kitchen.

We planned to go to San Antonio on Wednesday to spend the night with Oseas before going on to Killeen to spend Thanksgiving Day with Jean Paul and his family.  Lenise, Allyson, Johnathan, and Justin went with us.

Oseas went with us to Killeen early Thursday morning.  We all had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner and family get together.

We had originally intended to spend the night in Killeen but Lenise and the kids had to be back to Alamo early Friday afternoon, so we went back to San Antonio to spend the night at Oseas' house before coming home Friday.

One interesting thing about this trip was that I did not do any driving!  Adinete and Lenise drove to San Antonio and Oseas drove to Killeen.  Lenise drove all the way back to Alamo.

Today, it was back to the flooring project.  Starting around 11:00 am, I was able to put down the ceramic tile in one bedroom before I quit around 5:30 pm.

I have to start earlier the next few days so I can finish the whole house by December 1st.

11/21/2010, 6:45 PM

Another productive day.  I removed the tile from the hallway and bathroom.  Instead of doing the kitchen, I decided to do one of the back bedrooms. It went faster than I expected and today I used my gloves. 

The two remaining bedrooms are on my list for tomorrow.

11/20/2010, 7:41 AM

My Retirement

As far as being "retired, laid back, and cruising", during the past couple of months since I have been back in the States, I have installed a water heater, removed a built-in gas stove top and replaced it with a regular stove, mowed the tall grass on three properties, repaired an asphalt shingle roof, repainted the interior of a three-bedroom house, replaced rotten boards of the roof edging on a house, and repainted the exterior wood trim.  Tomorrow I plan to start installing a ceramic tile floor in the entire house.

Other than that I have not done much of anything, but once in a while I do get aggravated about the federal government debt that my grandchildren and great-grandchildren are going to have to repay.

By the way, isn't great that the Chinese just bought 18% of the GM IPO shares recently sold.  They probably used part of the interest the U.S. paid on the treasury bonds they hold.

11/20/2010, 7:28 PM

Let the good times roll!  Today I started removing the old glued down vinyl tile from our house in Edinburg.  What fun!  It took half a day to remove the base boards and to remove the old tile in the living room. 

Not only are my hands blistered from pushing the tile scraper but my back and knees are sore. 

Tomorrow I start on the hallway, bathroom, and kitchen.  It is going to be a great day.  I am going to be sure to take my gloves.