Friday Night at Windy Oaks

It's been a long week, and we're just taking it easy and hanging out talking about life/politics/etc.  Deidre is watching Netflix and cuddling with Ayiah (Egyptian god; Google it).

Life is good.

Camellia-sinensisphilia is on the rise in Pepperell

 
I arrived home this evening to a tea tasting.

For months now, Meredith and Emma have been becoming tea afficianados and ardent patrons of Teavana. Somewhere along the way, Deidre also become a fan of tea, so it didn't surprise me when she wanted to spend the money she raised selling lemonade this weekend at our yard sale at Teavana when we were at the mall this weekend prior to my ill-fated visit to NTB. The prices at Teavana were quite dear ($18 for a few ounces of tea!!) so Fiona decided to channel Deidre's interest in a different direction and took her shopping at the local Asian market and a health food store today.

When I walked into the kitchen, spread out before me was a regular production line for making loose-leaf tea, and several samples waiting in line with sheets of paper for each, giving the name of the mix (Fiona's favorite is #10, Fruity Tutti), detailed ingredients list and some notes about the quality of each as a hot tea and an iced tea. Deidre had already made seven different mixes and was working on the eighth while she was asking Fiona if she could run a loose-leaf tea stand at the next local fair to sell her own mixes.

As the evening progressed, she ended up with ten different mixes (five of which I thought were quite good) and a promise from me to try to sell the tea to my fellow commutants. Quite the little budding entrepreneur we have here.

A Budding Artist

 
Deidre was selected from her classmates to have a piece of art she made included in an exhibition at school. Here is the finished product after Fiona framed it today.

Pretty darned good for a 10YO if you ask me.

Things to do in Nashua when your brakes are dead

Now, I'll be the first to admit that I haven't been stranded in Nashua since 9:00 AM, but with a current estimate of a completion time of 5:00 PM, 8 hours for a simple brake job seems a little excessive.

We dropped off Meredith's car at 9 this morning to have all four brakes replaced. Two hours later (after going to church, hence I haven't been stranded *all* day), we got the call from NTB that the car would be ready in an hour, so we went for lunch. Fee dropped me off and headed home with the girls. I went inside and settled up with the guy at the customer desk, got in the car, and headed for home.

"That doesn't feel right," I thought as I came to a stop at the first light, after reaching maybe 25 mph. I caught all of the next few lights, so I had no reason to use the brakes until I reached an intersection about 1/2 mile from NTB. At that point I had to slow down from 45, and the shuddering/shaking was pronounced. I made a u-turn and headed back to NTB.

After taking the mechanic on a test drive, they agreed it wasn't right and would take another look. 30 minutes later, they told me that their decision to re-use the lightly worn springs didn't work out and that they would replace them at no cost to me, and that I should be out of there in another 30 minutes.

So there I am 30 minutes later when the guy comes out of the back with a rather pained expression on his face. He actually was quite hesitant to start speaking. 

"The new drums we installed were warped, and the closest replacements are in our Chelmsford store (30 minutes away)."

Ugh.

So, I'm sitting in the UNOs next door enjoying a Sam Adams Octoberfest or two waiting for them to finish up. So much for the honey-do-list stuff I had planned for this afternoon.

Bag 'O Crap Update

I managed to score a Bag O' Crap in a recent Woot-Off, and was asked by multiple people to let them know what I got, hence this post.

In the upper left-hand corner is a "Footflush".  I trust the name is self-explanatory.  I'm not sure that Fee will let me install it.  It looks kind of interesting.

Moving counter-clockwise, we have the "Rub-N-Color Solve the Mystery  Game Book".  Deidre is very keen to check this out.

The two colorful blobs below that are labeled "wibbly FUN".  Again, Deidre was keen to get her hands on these.

Below those is a "Furniture Cleaner and Polish".  Fiona is very keen to have me get my hands on this.

And last, and probably least, is a pink handbag with a flip-flop design motif.  I suppose I can carry the furniture polish in that.

So, in closing, yes, I certainly managed to snag myself a "Bag O' Crap".

EDIT: Despite my "rotating" the pic on my tablet before uploading, the pic is rotated 90° to the left from true. Sorry.

A new chapter

My oldest daughter started college today. I'm very proud of her. Good luck, Meredith. Impress the hell out of them!

Essential Equipment

I finally acquired a vital piece of equipment for my workshop this morning at a local yard sale.