Watched some news this morning that Osama Bin Laden was killed yesterday. After breakfast news went outside and tilled the garden. The tiller started right up. Planted the tomatoes then prepared the grow boxes for planting. Put two tomatoes in there as well but they need an electrical fence for protection. Next i mowed the front lawn for the first time this year. Also picked up the outlet covers and plaster for the playroom job. Much going on!!!!
For dinner we had crabcakes with tomatoes Libbie picked up at a vegetable stand on Kildaire Farm Rd.

Managed to get all new outlets installed on the South wall of the playroom and under the fan window (3 outlets).

I started working on the plaster job in the playroom. When Libbie came home started putting the green paint on. Made it all the way around the room in 2 coats except for the wall that needs repair. For dinner we had Libbie's wonderful pizza. It was great that she was able to do this despite the fact she worked all day painting trim in the playroom! I ordered a fruit basket for Arlene's 60th birthday this week from edible arrangements. Luckily i used Google and found a coupon code to get 10% off. Getting ready to go to Sarasota this week. It's one of the few weeks i can do this!

I'm not feeling too sore today after doing the paint roller yesterday. The Met Facebook page is requesting pictures from inside the HD theater today so they can post it on their site.
Took a few pictures outside the theater of the line and also a few inside but didn't use them. We loved Trovatore!!!! it was perfect. The HD camera also focused on a group of ladies waving panties to Hvortovsky. Unfortunately those 2 annoying ladies from last week sat down next to me. I moved to the other side of Libbie to get away from them. i could still hear them but it was better. After the theater we stopped at BJ's for ribs and sundry other groceries. Dinner was ribs with broccoli and Shiraz. Very nice. I worked a little more on the Hiroshima Peace building then sent it to the virtual paintout. I'm going to redo it but first i want to participate in the May painting.

When I turned GMA on this morning the Royal Wedding had just finished and they were in the registry signing the book. Saw the procession and drive to Buckingham Palace as well as the replay put together by ABC called 4 hours in 40 minutes. Enjoyed it all, especially the funky hats.
I started the Hiroshima Peace Memorial painting again. It's going better this time, I decided to use a wash for the building and then add weather effects. The sponge worked especially well. I hooked up the wire snake and pulled the last wire into the knee wall for the Playroom rebuilding project. When Libbie came home we opened the new paint I bought in Home Depot this morning and started rollering. Made it all the way around the room to the front window. I have some serious plaster repair to do for the other half of the room. Got cleaned up and drove to the Chapel Hill Town hall for Kim's Art show of her sculpture. We had some nibbles and stayed around a little looking at her artwork and chatting. We next went to Thai Palace on Raleigh Rd where we had Spring Rolls, Chicken Pad Thai and house burgundy wine. The bill with tip was $44 which was excellent. We got home about 9:30 and watched a little of the replay of the Royal Wedding between Will and Kate which was today.

I heard from Joyce Stork today supporting my offer to convert the AVSA website to PLONE. She said she and some AVSA ladies were praying for the AVSA website and she thinks I am the answer to their prayers. I don't thinks so. Changed the toner in my printer since it stopped printing while trying to get a few pages of the Plone theme manual printed. After lunch I planted the Marigolds we bought last week. They looked pretty dried up. Hope they make it. Libbie brought my tomatoes home from the greenhouse today that Jennifer started. Dinner tonight was 15 bean soup with the leftover Easter ham. We had Libbie made corn bread with the soup.

I did a lot today. Moved the pinestraw pile from the front of the house to the azaleas in back. Put the oil in the mower too conclude yesterdays oil change and mowed the back yard. Spackled and sanded playroom wall for further painting. Moved the ladder to the front window and to the side window and power washed both window frames then bought new screws for the window fan and re-installed it. It's now properly hung. Libbie cleaned the windows prior to me installing the fan and I used the power washer from far away to clean the screen before putting it back. Still need to paint the windows on the outside but first i'll have to hook up the trailer and fetch the ladder. I played with Plone some more and then sent an eMail to the entire EC saying that I could port the AVSA website over to PLONE inless than 90 days. Dinner tonight was the leftover Rotisserie chicken and potato salad and macaroni salad. Listened to Trovatore tonight live on Sirius. It's pretty nice, can't wait to see it on Saturday.

Went to Barnes Noble in Cary looking for a Plone book. Saw a demo of the Nook color. I really like the toy but it would be just that, a toy. Maybe we can buy one passing through Delaware next month to avoid the sales tax. I figure we would save $20. Came home and found a used Plone book on Barnes and Noble website for 1.99 which I ordered. When Libbie came home we had a nice ham sandwich for lunch then with her help we pulled another wire from the attic into the knee wall. The attic wasn't too bad, mostly becauuse it was rainy and cloudy outside. We have the house A/C on since the window fan is out of commission until the window is painted. I washed the fan in the garage today, it was pretty greasy. Dinner tonight was a rotisserie chicken with potato salad and macaroni salad for the trimmings. Krogers had the salads on a 10 for $10 sale ($1 each). Listened to Rigoletto live tonight while studying Plone themes.

Played some more with Plone then went outside to do some work. Drained the oil from the lawn mower and cleaned the pine needles off the shed roof. When Libbie came home we set the ladder up in front of the house and I raked the pine needles off the roof. Also hooked up the pressure washer and washed the garage door and corner wall. This really was a pressure washer test for doing the windows. Upstairs I picked up some screws and outlets to wire the playroom. I also went to the greenhouse where a bench in house 3 collapsed. I repaired the plumbing. Not sure how to repair the bench which is flat on the ground. I didn't think this could happen. Dinner was pasta. Earlier I managed to send the first 20 pages of Jessica's album to her.

This was a busy morning. Pulled the wire from the knee wall to the stairwell outlet. Cleaned up and left at 2:00 for the RLT play. The play was Last Night at Ballyhoo which was about Jewish segregation and was wonderful as usual. Today is Easter Sunday. Enjoyed the bikini's in the Rose Garden on coeds. Very colorful. Libbie mastered her pizza in the new oven tonight. Previously she had been having temperature control issues with the lower oven. I now have 20 pages of Jessica's album complete. I also volunteered to implement the AVSA website using Plone. Wrote an eMail to Richard and Winston.

Worked on Jessica's wedding album in the morning until it was time to go to the Opera. We left a little after 11:30 for Capriccio at North Hills. Libbie made sandwiches which we had in the theater. There was no intermission so it was a long 2 1/2 hour opera. The best part of course is the last 20 minutes which features Rene Fleming's solo aria. Very good. On the way home we stopped in Trader Joes and got some Shiraz for our dinner. Dinner was Ham, Apple Sauce, mixed veggies.

I worked on the window in the playroom, sanding and repairing. Need a handle for the upper window and a splice plate for the lower. It's cool and raining today. Took advantage of the cooler weather to snake a roll of 12/2 from my shop into the attic and then down into the wall adjacent to the stairs going into the playroom. I cut a hole for a double wall outlet in the playroom wall. Next step will be a run from the knee wall to this hole which means another trip into the attic. Watched some web videos from Jerrys Artarama on colorful watercolor painting of a building. Tried it on my Hiroshima Peace memorial building but it doesn't look as vibrant or good. Will keep trying. Listened to Walkure live on Sierra which started while we were having a dinner of ham, yam, mixed veggies, Apple Sauce and Shiraz. Started reading the "Burn" novel by Linda Howard. After a slow start I started really getting into it. I want to read Libbie's Neptune book next which is about a St Simon island slave.

I worked on Jessica's album this morning and got 12 pages done. I also did a little on my watercolor painting but not nearly as much as I wanted to do. Helped Libbie a little with removing the fan from the window for her playroom painting. We went to Home Depot for more paint and I picked up a roll of 12/2 for adding more power to this room. $82 for a roll of wire! Ouch. It should be worth it since the bedrooms are woefully inadequate in power. Dinner tonight was the Easter Ham with yam, apple sauce and broccoli. It's nice to see all the veggie options we have been having. Yum.

Worked outside today.Picked up some bark in home Depot and spread it where the Marigolds will go. Did some more light weeding then walked around the yard and picked up branches and sticks. When Libbie came home we had lunch then went to Payless shoes for a new pair of sneakers for me with the coupon that came in the mail. We also went to Kohls for underwear for Libbie. she had a gift card for that purchase. Dinner was the Easter ham with beets and asparagus. We had strawberry shortcake for desert.

Libbie took the Corolla and I took the Prius to Leith for a 10:45 am appointment. They said they didn't have a key blank for the Prius. I complained and got a $25 gas card for the trouble. When I was checking out the service guy came in with a new key. He didn't know they didn't have any!!! I chose not to get the laser key since it was another $125 and we didn't need it on the spare electronic key anyway. The electronic one is the keystone since without any left they would have to tow the car and replace the engine computer. On the way home I stopped at Tigerdirect for a GPS mount to rig up my satellite radio, Trader Joe's for Tuesday groceries and Kroger for old geezer day (Tuesday) groceries. Afterward Libbie and I went to the Farmers Market for veggies and trays of annuals. I started working on Jessica's album by transferring her choices to my desktop machine. Dinner was chicken with beets and asparagus. Very nice dinner. Libbie made a shortcake which we had with the Farmers market Strawberries and whip cream.

Went out to do some gardening. Weeded the flower bed then spread one bag of mulch on the Pyracantha. They have buds this year! When I turned the second bag over, there were termites everywhere. Took this bag to the Camelias and spread it around then hooked up the electric fence wire on the new posts around the azaleas. Still need new posts on the front of the azaleas. It's time to get some Marigolds from the Farmers Market.

Worked on my watercolor of Hiroshima some more. Started over, still not happy. It takes practice. Talked to Jessica about her wedding album. She wants to still go through with it even though it will cost $500. Dinner was Chicken Pad Thai. Replaced the toner cartridge in Libbie's Laser printer today. I'll order a new one from NewEgg for myself. She got the one I was going to use.

Hooked up my laptop to watch GMA from Sarasota since storm coverage dominated the local programming. Went outside afterward and blew the driveway off, planted the Lily of the Valleys and also the Dahlias. Spread 2 bags of mulch around the bed in the back. The ballet is on according to the web site.
Downtown was a disaster. Traffic lights out, streets blocked by trees, wires down everywhere, broken glass and twisted metal scattered about. The glass doors on the Progress Energy Center are missing, part of the roof was on the sidewalk and Oak Trees are snapped off everywhere. Saw an accident at one of the intersections without traffic lights.
Monet impressions was totally enjoyable. We had a little trouble coming home since we had to zigzag around some closed streets that had power lines and downed trees on them. For dinner Libbie made her yummy pizza which was excellent again. The crust came out nice and crispy.

I started and finished painting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in Watercolor. This was a good practice experience for me. Tried listening to Wozzceck on the radio but i didn't care for it. A really bad storm with tornadoes came through at 4 PM. We waited and watched while tuned in to WRAL watching the Doppler radar. It missed us and hit downtown Raleigh. We went out a little after the storm to check the greenhouse. That was a mistake. Traffic lights are out and tree branches are everywhere. We stopped in to Krogers and picked up some store deli counter ribs. Not great but we didn't want to go anywhere else except home. We had Lima beans and Shiraz with the dinner. I studied my painting some more to figure out how to improve the next version.

Leith called that they couldn't verify my credit. I spent time on the phone with Experian and then they did. This went on all day until we found the problem was the Jessie Rd address vs Downing Place. I need to go back to sign the loan papers. Dinner was parmesan Tilapia with mixed veggies (Steamfresh) and a bottle of Shiraz.

After breakfast I went into the garage and disassembled the console. Installed a power jack for the Sirius radio that sits on the floor under the shifter. Drilled a hole in the back of the iPod door to run an audio cable to the aux jack. Put everything back together and ran a cable bundle from next to the steering column over to the radio. Everything worked out neater than expected. I'm happy with the installation. Took a ride to the old Sams area on Weston Pkwy. The flowering plants are done. Too bad but it was a good joy ride for me and my new Corolla.
In the afternoon Libbie and I went to the greenhouse in the Corolla. She walked the aisles talking to some woman on the phone giving her inventory while I walked around outside taking pictures. Dinner was frozen pad thai froom Trader Joes.

I had an appointment with the Toyota dealer at 11 today. I left home at 9:30 to go to AgriSupply to get fence wire and to use some of the half tank of gas I had left. I got to Leith Toyota at 10:50 am. My salesman, Mark, was pretty nice. We test drove a white Corolla, then they appraised my car. They didn't like the cracked windshield and gave we 1,000 dollars less than the guaranteed value. They eventually raised the value by $500 making the payment $256 per month. Had some trouble getting an Experian Credit report. They said they would try another method and eventually I drove out of there with a new Corolla. They called later telling me that I needed to get Experian to unfreeze my account since Southeast Toyota won't finance the deal without the credit report. Amica soon called saying that Leith called them. I verified the info with them. It will cost $92 more per year insurance. I went outside and mounted the old trailer hitch which fortunately fit right into the mounting holes. Next step was to run the Sirius satellite antenna wire and mount the radio. Did a test drive but did not care for the radio hitting my knee. This needs more work in addition to getting a more permanent electrical connection. I temporarily plugged the Sirius radio into the cigarette lighter. Will fix tomorrow or some other time. I also still need to wire up the trailer lights. This is a difficult job. Last time I wired up the brake lights only. Dinner tonight was Briyani. I saw tonight on Entertainment Tonight that Karina from Dancing with the Stars is going to appear nude in Playboy. I'll have to keep an eye out for that issue.

Went to Jerry's as well as Trader Joes before I had to be back at 11 for a potential Home Depot phone call. The call came exactly at 11 saying delivery would be within 30 minutes. At 11:25 am the new cooktop arrived and they took the old cooktop as well as the hood. The new top dropped right into the slot after I made the electrical connections. Bolted it down and proceeded to clean the Stainless Steel surface. I looked for Stainless cleaner in Krogers but found nothing. will check online. Did some more looking at BP then payed the Visa bill which was over $2400. Had to transfer $1000 from Scottrade to cover. Later in the pm I climbed on the roof of the greenhouse garage building to nail down the fiberglass sheet which had come loose. It was bent backwards and completely off the opening. I nailed it down pretty good. It's a breezy day today.
Dinner tonight was spinach ravioli with tomato sauce sprinkled with cheese.

Spent some time this morning removing the cooktop. Ran to Home Depot for a cable clamp and caulk. I wanted to clamp the cable where it comes out of the wall and put some caulking around the opening to keep bugs from going into the wall. This was a success. I'm dealing with lots of car dealers calling after I filled out a car appraisal sheet and also went to Consumer Reports to try their build and buy service. Finally Leith called, I set up an appointment with the fleet sales manager for a replacement Corolla. Now the fun began. I unbolted the trailer hitch, cut the cable for the trailer lights, removed the satellite radio bracket, emptied the trunk and gloveboxes. The hard part was removing the radio and putting the factory radio back into the dash. I did a pretty good job. Unfortunately, Home Depot called with an 11:30 slot which means I postponed my 11 am Tuesday car meeting. Libbie and I went to China Chef for 3 meat Szechuan and picked up dinner which included egg rolls. We had a bottle of Shiraz with dinner.

I practiced smooshing and found out that how wet the brush is makes a difference. The violet ladies showed up here at 8 am for the trip to New Bern for a meeting at Barb Odgers house. I went out to Fresh Market looking for pizza dough. They kept telling me the freezer case but I came up empty handed and bought a prepared pizza instead. Spent some more time looking at BP.
When Libbie came back from New Bern she heated the stone and made the pizza. Our lower oven doesn't seem to get as hot as the old one did.

I spent the morning getting caught up with documents and backups on the computer. I also tried some smooshing with my watercolor brush. It was not a success. I hurried up at 11:25 to get ready for the opera. We left the house at 11:30 for a 1 pm showing. The Rossini opera was a delight with lots of fast singing, sextets, quartets, the chorus. It was also campy. We started late since Juan Diego Florez was attending the birth of his baby at 12:25. Wow. We had two girls behind us who liked to have loud guffaws. During the intermission we moved to the end of the row. These seats were much better for our enjoyment. On the way home we stopped at Trader Joes for wine to have with our ribs. We also had some skinny minty for desert. I stayed up almost to midnight studying BP since my TER id is active again. I submitted some fake reviews to activate it for 2 weeks.

We were at breakfast at 7 this morning. We had cleaned up everything last night so it was just a matter of gathering our paintings. first we had an art show where everyone had their paintings taped to the wall for critique. He had very favorable things to say about mine and Libbie's comparing it to the work Tony van Hasselt who was conducting an advanced seminar next door. Lots of good vibes and we had lots of interest in carrying it further. We checked out at 10, picked up our box lunch which was a turkey sandwich, apple, chips and cookies. Very nice. Traffic on I-95 was horrible. All the Canadians in their giant RV's are going home. The traffic finally lets up when we reach I-26. I-95 from that point onward thins out and is lighter. We stopped at Lake Santee rest area for bathroom break and Florence for gas. When we got to Dillon I wanted to look for fence wire so we stopped at Harbor Freight Tools. It wasn't worth the stop. Got home at 4 pm. The trip wasn't too bad, more RV's and campers than normal because of the snowbird migration.
We went out to LaCocina for dinner tonight then picked up milk, OJ and fruit at Krogers afterward. I had a margarita and Quesadilla La Cocina.