Heading Into The Closet

Remember the boy's rooms from last year? The ones that still need a better floor, and their closets fixed, and some more paint and doors to be put in? You know the ones I will not forget.

Yeah those.

Well, I have started working on them again. Yay!

First step, putting in the closet system. Check. We went with the Rubbermaid system and it looks pretty good, if I say so myself.

Next step, doors. At least for Andy's although, to be honest I really don't see the need for them, but my vote doesn't count. In fact, my FIL just commented on my Facebook status about said doors - because they are in his garage. I will be picking them up, post haste. Or at least after church, sometime tomorrow. I think.

Jenni says definitely. Which is pretty impressive since she is asleep at the moment. Must be that secret language that all husbands and wives share. Fellow husbands, you know of the one I speak.

We finally found Guitar Hero World Tour for the Wii today, so Benjy and I just "jammed" on it for the past hour and a half. Fun stuff, but I think I need to move up past easy, because easy is just too boring, and uh, easy.

Andy's doing a solo tour on the drums right now as I type. I must say that the drums are WAY nicer that the Rock Band drums, by far. Oh, and an FYI for my fellow Guitar Hero/Rockband fans out there. The Wii version of Rock Band is NOT compatible with Guitar Hero guitars, we found that out earlier today when I picked up the drums and the game of Rock Band for the Wii, figuring I wouldn't need the guitars because I already have two guitars for Guitar Hero as is, so why not. Wrong oh, captain. Luckily Sam's Club took the drums and game back AND gave me back my money, which we didn't think we were going to get. Whew!

Well, hat's it for now. Church is in the morning and I need my beauty sleep.

Good night and God Bless!

I'm Covered With Paint, And I'm Happy

That's right, my hands and feet are covered with spots of paint, but I couldn't be any happier.

Why, you ask?

I'm surprised that you even had to ask, I mean I've only been complaining about it EVERY OTHER DAY!

I just looked over at the TV, first time today thank you very much, and I saw the Florida State University cheerleaders wearing sweats! I mean is it cold down there, or what? It is in Florida, and it's not supposed to get cold, right? Especially since I have less than three weeks to go until we head down to Disney World, it better not be cold. :)

The kids were all great helpers today, and we got both of the boy's rooms painted, and also painted the floor. We painted the floor as a quick and cheap fix because we don't want to blow all of our money on this project. Especially since we are going to Disney World in about eighteen days, we better have some "fun money!" I would really hate telling the kids; 'sorry, but all the money we had is in the boy's bedrooms and the downstairs bathroom." That would not be a pretty picture. Trust me.

Alright then, I am off to the shower, so I can clean this stuff off.

See ya!

Have I Mentioned How Much I Hate...

Drywall!

Okay, not really the drywall, but the taping-and-mudding-to-make-it-all-look-pretty part of drywalling a room, or in this case three.

What a pain in the arse!

Okay, hate is over, now for new stuff.

Anyone ever read "the book of Matthew (a macabre novel of suspense)" by Thomas White? I was at the library tonight, picking up some books for the kids and was perusing the "new" aisle and this caught my eye. If you get it we can start a reading group or something.

I also picked up the first disc of Doctor Who, season three. Apparently I have a friend in the library system that put it on hold for me, too bad I was only one disc into season two (also put on hold by my invisible friend). So, do I watch season three, disc one now and then go back to season two, discs two through five?

I'm so confused.

Besides, I have a project that NEEDS to be finished SOON, because family is coming to visit on November 21. That gives me eleven days, and I don't think I can blame the plumber on this one, although he does owe me a new toilet (coming Wednesday or Thursday, he promises (again!)). So maybe I should just forget all about Doctor Who, for now.

Where I've been...

I'm not where I'm going yet, so you'll have to wait. :)

Okay that's it for now.

Good night and God Bless!

How the Boys (and a Girl) Got New Bedrooms - Part III (Procrastinating Plumber)

Welcome back to my never-ending story…

Previously we saw that Roger got some rain, and saw a really good baseball game (AFF, don't follow this link, you don't like it remember), and got his butt put into a ringer, or frying pan, whichever suits your imagination better.

We continue…

“Jenni, they said that they cleaned it up.”

“Does THIS (showing me sopping wet towels) look like they cleaned it up?”

“No.”

“Well, why didn’t you check on them?”

“Uh, uh, because they said that…”

Okay, I think you get the drift of what was going on, and what kind of trouble I was in. I am sure that I would be in trouble with each and every one of you dear readers as well, but…

Really no excuse will be good, unless it had something to do with child birth, and that wouldn’t be a good thing to have happen wither, since my lovely bride has not been pregnant since March of 2006.


Cleaning up a two-day old flood damaged basement is not fun.

I do not recommend it for anyone. Ever.

After going through and looking at the damage, which was way more extensive than I would have believed, honestly, we came to the realization that some major work was going to have to be done.

Pretty much all of the outside walls were trashed, the carpet on Benjy’s side was full of some sort of mold and mildew and was quickly becoming a toxic hazard. Something big had to be done.

So we talked to my neighbor. I’m still not sure if we actually went over and asked his opinion, or if he just took control of the situation and told us what to do. It’s all a blur. Although he did have a good suggestion, which was to contact the insurance agency we’ve never had to do that before, so we didn’t know if I should stop what I was doing, to wait for an assessor, or what. Turns out that we could keep on cleaning up, especially when we mentioned that the environment was probably not good for my asthmatic daughter.

With the go ahead, destruction could once again commence. That was kind of fun, I have to admit. I mean how often does one get to destroy walls, and not get into any trouble. We also decided that we would redo the downstairs bathroom, and give the boys separate bedrooms, they had been sharing a really large bedroom for a really long time and we figured that we could just as easily break the room into two. So Andy will finally get his own room again, of course that’s until we move Danny in because Andy will be going off to college in August (*fingers crossed), and at that time each of the kids would have their own bedroom.

I should mention that during our great planning sessions for the bedrooms and bathroom remodel, we also decided to build one of the girls (Jessie as of this writing, but always subject to change) a room of their own down stairs.

Whew!

The kids have been helping where they can, and if we (Jenni and I) can motivate them into helping, and we are finally at the point where all the electric is working and the walls are up. By this weekend we are hoping that the rooms will have some primer on them, and that the boys will have picked out a color, or two for their walls. The floors are going to be tiled – no more fiber on the floor, thank you very much.

I should also mention that we re-graded the side of the house where the water came in also. That’s when really evil and mean Roger showed up, and a story I shall not ever repeat. Sorry, but it really is pretty bad, and I’m not trying to tease a story, I promise.

What did I forget to mention? Oh yes, the bathroom. Well, the main reason this project has taken so long is because we have been waiting on my neighbor (yes, that one), the plumber, who apparently is also an electrician, carpenter and flooring expert, to finish his part, which was (I thought, silly me) to do all of the plumbing. Long story, short, we are still waiting on him, but get this, he says he’s waiting on me.

And he’s serious.

Here I am leaving parts of wall undone, so he can have easy access to the piping and now he says that he is waiting on me.

Well slap me silly and call me a cab. (Don’t really know, it just popped into my head)

Anyway, in the next edition – oh yes there has to be another, heck maybe two more at this rate, I hope to tell you that the project is done. With pictures even. No promises though.
Continued (unfortunately)…

I Have a New Project!

Now let's see if I can follow through with it.

I have an interest in a Saint of the Catholic Church - piqued by a one-man show that I saw. The show itself was about Jesus, but he previewed a play about this Saint. Caught my interest, so now what?

Well, I have started to read a few things about him, and now I want to read more. Could this, daresay, turn into a writing project? Maybe it will outsell Harry Potter. Okay, I like fantasy, but I know that would be unlikely, I'd appreciate the support and the cash, but let's be real here. Harry Potter is seven books, this would only be one.

(Ed. Did you just say you are going to write a book?)


Uh, did I say that?


(I believe that you did. Your wife and kids will be so happy to see you finally sit down and do some productive writing.)


What do you call this?


Do you really want me to answer that?


Maybe, not. Anyway, now I would like to get input on this, so if I open another blog just for this work, will people come? It seems to work for others on the web, so why not for me? Oh well, it is just in the infant stage, so it may take a while to get set up. We'll see.








Do you know this man? I am speaking of the picture above. His name is Saint John Mary Vianney. ( 8 May 1786 - 4 Aug 1859)


Also known as: Cure of Ars; Jean Baptiste Marie Vianney; Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney; Jean-Baptiste Vianney; John Baptist Vianney.


Here is a quote, or two from his writings...


If people would do for God what they do for the world, what a great number of Christians would go to Heaven. ~Saint John Vianney


Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges itself. ~Saint John Vianney


And just think, he almost didn't get to become a priest. First being conscripted into service for Napoleon, and then he couldn't pass the final exams while in the seminary, and he had to have special permission from the vicar-general.


He was loved by his parish, where he was at for forty years. The same location that boasts over 100,000 visitors annually today, and 20,000 while he was still alive...


Anyway, I was actually thinking of doing an historical fiction piece, that remained true to him. I think I can pull it off, but only time will tell. Who knows, maybe I can get into writing about saints for a living - no, not the one's in New Orleans!

Anyway, that's my thought, for now.