We had Michael's cousin & his family over last night for a barbecue, and had a great time. The weather was cool, but warm enough to be outside for a few hours. M handled most of the menu - he grilled kebabs, potatoes, tomatoes & made rice & a yogurt sauce. I made a veggie tray with hummus, as well as salad shirazi (tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper & green onion finely diced, combined with lime juice, olive oil, salt & pepper). It was all great. We had champagne by the pool while the kids played, & laughed & caught up.
Having guests over was a good excuse to do hours & hours of yard work & patio clean up, as well as house clean up. The house is really coming along at this point, which is exciting. Not that there's not a tremendous amount of work to be done, but it does look better.
In disappointing news, M was with the electrician/pool guy yesterday for nine hours, trying to get our pool heater installed. No good. It won't light up, which means that the gas line is not powerful enough for the new unit. The previous pool heater (it wasn't working when we bought the house) was 35 years old, and required a reduced amount of gas. Anyway, to fix it, we will need to increase our gas line, which is quite an expense. On top of the $2000 we spent on the pool heater, and the $400 we spent yesterday for the guy to come out to no avail. So frustrated!
I slept in a bit today, & then power washed the patio furniture, as well as part of the paved outdoor area. I'm guessing the patio furniture hadn't been cleaned in 5+ years. It's a big stone/granite table & chairs that the previous owners left behind. We'll see if we can bring them back to life for a bit before we replace them with something more usable.
I also sold a kids table & chairs set this morning for $30, so that was a nice win.
I'm looking forward to relaxing today, and taking care of a few chores that linger. I'm planning to make goat cheese crostini & steak salad for dinner. Yum!
What about you? How will you spend today, and what's on the menu? A special thanks to all of those who have served, or supported those who have served. Many thanks to those that make our freedom possible.
Sounds like you had a lovely long weekend.
ReplyDeleteDo you need to have your pool heated year round, or does it just extend the pool season? We are thinking of getting one because we think we could use it from mid March through mid December that way.