Pool's open...almost

Wow, is it Saturday, already?! I wish I could say I slept through Friday, and that's why I failed to write anything, but it was anything BUT! It was another one of those, "Okay, it's Friday, and I don't have to go to class or work, so I'm going to be oh-so productive today," kind of days. HA! It's 24 hours later, and I honestly cannot remember what in the world I did all day. I remember getting up around 6 a.m. (only because Missy had to go outside). While it was still cool out, I decided to skim crepe myrtle blossoms off of the surface of the pool (which is a lighter shade of green than before :-) and trim the ground cover that is true to it's name and actually covering the "ground" (i.e., deck that's supposed to be clear to walk around the pool). I came back in to a quiet house around 7:30, peeled some oranges and cut up a canteloupe so I could get the "food trash" out on the curb before the garbage ran. I must have washed some dishes, too, because I remember thinking I was so tired of standing on my feet. At some point I checked e-mails...nothing lifethreatening there. I decided to watch the video that came with my ATI materials for nursing school for an overall review for my upcoming final. Then, it hit me that I should record the presentation as if it were a lecture so that I could listen to that instead of my books on tape/cd just until after the final next week. Naturally, the moment I close my door and turn on the tape recorder (yes, I have an "old-fashioned" cassette tape recorder/player), both Aaron and Alisa decide it's time to come in my bedroom and climb in my bed to "visit" with me. I had to shush them and remind them to close the door behind themselves. All morning long I had barely seen them, then suddenly when I need quiet, here they come! Their antennae must have picked up the "mom's busy and therefore inaccessible" signal which in turn triggers the need to have mom's attention. Go figure! I must have nodded off a time or two while the program was running, but I managed to get the whole thing recorded.
Around 3:00 Lani called to say that she and Lorenzo, Jr., were stopping by for a brief visit. The kids and I were still in gowns and pajamas, so we had to do the hustle to shower and get dressed quick and in a hurry. I always tell them to get up and get dressed as if they have somewhere to go or something to do, because you never know...Yesterday, we were all busted! Thank you to Lani for helping me get the pretty background from Shel's Scraps on my blog!
At 6:50 p.m. I remembered to call Leslie's Pool Supply...I just couldn't understand where my entire day had gone. The one I normally frequent closed at 7:00--no way to make that, so I called the other location on the north end of town, and lo and behold they were open until 8:00 on Fridays. I filled my "sample" bottle and headed to Leslie's on the north side where Lee tested my water and wrote down everything I needed to deal with the algae and get the pool in tip top condition. I purchased a couple of the products I needed then headed to ACE hardware for the D.E. powder (I'd already priced it and knew it was about $5 cheaper at the hardware store). I decided to start "the process" this morning instead of last night because there were several steps: add Alkalinity Up then run the filter for 4 hours before adding...then run the filter for 4 more hours, etc. Oh shoot! I didn't get any "Alkalinity Up" while I was at Leslie's and didn't even think of it at ACE. I stopped by Wal-Mart grocery store after dropping A & A at Aunt Shannon's to spend the night. Luckily that particular Wal-Mart had a small "seasonal" section with some pool supplies, one of which was something similar to "Alkalinity Up" so I was in luck. Mike beat me home from work, and he didn't get off until 10 p.m. if that gives you any idea what time I was perusing the aisles at Wal-Mart. Shopping late is a bad habit of mine.
I guess this catches me up 'til today. I woke up at 6:10 a.m. and waited three minutes debating whether to call Barrett and wish him a happy birthday (he was born at 6:13 a.m. on 6/27/??). I opted for a mental wish and dozed back off. Then, I heard Aaron's alarm sounding around 6:30 (remember-he and his sister were at Aunt Shannon's house). If I didn't normally wake up before 6:30 that alarm would have truly aggravated me, but I was getting up anyway, so I just shut it off. Back out to the pool I went: empty the skimmer baskets, skim the crepe myrtle blossoms from the pool surface (yes, again-my neighbor planted a row of them along the fence that divides their backyard from ours. Unfortunately for me, the blossoms look like a snow drift headed right for my pool EVERYDAY!), backwash the filter, add the alkalinity up stuff and so on and so on. I came in, ate some cantaloupe and a piece of leftover chicken, took a bath and put on some shorts (actually a skort) and a tee shirt in preparation for spending Barrett’s birthday with him. We had a nice time…drove across Lake Grand Prairie, headed to downtown Dallas (B wanted to see the West End during the day), and ended up at Randol Mill Park. We did a lot of talking about the past year and the year to come. We saw some cool crane-like birds down in the creek, heard the locusts droning lazily and the scamper of squirrel claws racing up and down the bark. At one point I looked up and saw a tiny hummingbird checking out the tree that offered us its shade. It actually lit on a branch for a few seconds then went on about its business. I immediately thought of Barrett’s mom, Helen Carol. She loved hummingbirds and bird of paradise flowers. I figured she must’ve stopped by to wish her boy a happy birthday even though she has been “gone” since 1995.
When the combination of heat and hunger got the best of us we made our way back to the car and headed to The Sweet Tomato for lunch. (I stopped by the house to add more stuff to the pool.) It was delicious, and we were both full as ticks by the time we left. Shortly thereafter, Barrett continued his birthday celebration with “the boys” (i.e., Derrick, Aaron & Xavier treated him to go and see the new Transformers movie). I took a nap, tinkered on the computer for a spell, and ran to three different stores in search of a pool chemical tester kit (I wasn’t aware that mine was missing the test tube and some of the chemicals while I was at Leslie’s and ACE hardware yesterday).
While I was at Kroger a man came in the store with a dog tucked under his arm. He was leaving his name and phone number at the customer service center. Apparently, someone had left a couple of dogs in the car, and the man had managed to get into the trunk of the car and get the dogs out! Hel-lo, people, today was the hottest day this year at 103 degrees. Imagine what the inside of that car felt like to those poor pups, even with the windows cracked!!! The lines in the store were long. It appeared that only one or two lanes were open. So, even if you were just running in for an item or two, you’d have to wait 10-15 minutes just to check out. That’s too long for anyone or anything to be left in a hot car. When will people learn? I left the building before all #&!! broke loose. The man that found the dogs was shaking he was so angry.
I’ve been on the computer, and on the phone. Now, I’ve got to go pick up A & A so we can all get ready for church tomorrow. Good night. Until next time…