Blessings

Here are two people who blessed me today:

Stan from Stan's Carpet Care in Eugene came out and steamed the daylights and the dirt out of my furniture. I had called around for estimates and all the other places were quoting well over $80 to do a couch and proportionally less for smaller furniture. When I called Stan's he quoted half those prices so I asked him to come, hoping that I wouldn't regret being cheap if/when I got results in proportion to the prices.

Well. He did a couch, two loveseats, a chair, and two ottomans for $130. And got the dirt off the arms of Emily's new loveseat and the oily stain off the back of the chair at the height of the teenage boys' heads. I was very happy.

Stan said he's been doing this since 1985. Judging from his hairstyle and a few other things, I gathered that he is in some ways stuck in 1985 like guys are sometimes stuck at age 20 for the next 50 years. But if his prices are also stuck in 1985 I am not complaining.

[At this point the loveseat is in the living room. Last night Paul discovered the painful truth that we may not be able to get it up these narrow stairs. We'll try it tonight when all the guys are home and if it doesn't go Emily will be very sad and I will have to put an ad on Craigslist.]

You may recall my past rhapsodies about the Kericho Gold tea from Kenya that I just love and was very disappointed to not get a suitcaseful of when our trip to Kenya was aborted. My friend Bernice Troyer who lives in Kisumu was aware of all this and told me in a recent email that I should be watching for a large "letter" in the mail. I hardly dared hope she would send me a box of tea but of course the thought crossed my mind.

It came today. A big box. I opened it and shrieked at the sight of SIX boxes of Kericho Gold tea, 100 bags each. Saying I'm overwhelmed with gratitude sounds a bit dramatic but it's true. And now I'm off to put the kettle on.

Quote of the Day:
"AAAAHHHH!! Oh-sis-unfa-shtandich-noch-a-mol!!"
--my daughters imitating me opening the package

P.S.--Well, the four guys flexed their biceps and got that loveseat upstairs. My only explanation is that Emily was upstairs praying it through the door, which measures 28 1/2 inches, while the height of the loveseat was about 33 inches and the depth thereof 34" and the length thereof about 51. Plus there's that overhang that makes everyone taller than 5-5 duck when they come downstairs. Miraculous.