hotter than hot

14-aug. took the 10.45 train to the house. plans for the weekend include visit from mum & don (step-father).

one of the hottest days of summer, but soo nice to have vs. the cooler summers of the past few years. though AC would be a nice touch at the house, but that's not in the cards for several years yet.

had a couple hours to run some errands, clean house & do some yard work before the family arrived. picked up some groceries, mowed the lawn & prepared the bedroom for guests. i slept on my camping cot on the back porch that night.

i showed the guests around town as much as possible in the short period of time we had that afternoon. the plans were to hit the outlet mall for them & then home improvement store for me. we started w/a late lunch at the shoreline brewery.

after several hours at the mall, we went to menard's where i was finally able to redeem my long-awaited rebate cards (from purchase in march), i decided to apply the rebate $ towards a new attic window.

the gutters & ladder i purchased in march included 2 rebate forms for a total of $46. i promptly submitted them & waited & waited for the $46 checks to arrive. finally in june i followed-up w/an inquiry when i was told they were already processed. after some back & forth, i was told they would cancel the originals & reissue for me. finally by early august (nearly 5 months after original purchase) i had received both rebate checks.

two things: never buy an item requiring a rebate submittal from menard's ... and i will be spending most of my remodel budget next door at lowe's. my shopping at menard's will be as limited as possible.

saturday night i grilled up some brats & prepared a tomato/cucumber salad for dinner.

sunday morning started WAY too early, mom & don were up around 6am, i was dragged out of bed before 7. i decided to try to make a breakfast casserole that i found recipe for online, it actually turned out great! improvised the cooking instructions a bit for the grill (cooked in half the time). mom & don headed back to michigan around 9am. i headed back to bed around 10 for about an hour.

i decided to install the attic window after my nap & the install went exceptionally fast. i only had to add 1" trim to the frame to accomodate the new window. installation took less than 2 hours start-2-finish. now the attic has some natural light (replacing the boarded up window opening) & better ventilation.

took the 15.40 train back to chicago.