Another Day Is Gone...

Where does the time go? We did get a lot done today though, Cory came over and did some Bobcat work in the back, a remarkable improvement I might add! Slowly but surely, although all this ALWAYS takes much longer than I anticipate... I'm ready for there to be NOTHING left to do so I can relax and do the things that I enjoy! All in good time though.

I'm not sure what the appeal is, but kids like to play in dirt. Marci and Joe dropped Canyon and Hunter off to spend the night, and the first thing the kids did was head for the dirt pile. Tanner is covering himself with it, they later covered Canyon as well. Not me... I hate being dirty!

The kids then got the idea to 'slide' down the dirt pile. Tanner going down...

Canyon and Hunter having a race down the dirt pile. I made sure all of them knew that they were NOT allowed to go upstairs on the new carpet, and once the day was done, we flipped coins to see the order of who was going to take a shower first. One after the other they went, so now they can go upstairs... :)

I couldn't help it! I put more hostas in on the left side to kind of tie in the ones on the right. You can't see them, but there is also a hosta in between each of the azaleas... I think it's time for me to go take a shower... I wonder if there is any hot water left?

More Yard Fun...

Of Carolyn claims that the only reason I'm doing yard work is because I don't feel like finishing the trim and wainscoating... She just might have a point... :)

More outside fun for today... :)

Chance and Tanner LOVE the Bobcat...

Cleaning up the back yard, getting rid of that pile where I used to burn tree branches, etc... Looks like the PERFECT place for another flower bed! Of course some of you who were here when we first got the house may recall that there used to be a dogwood and flower bed there. When the tree died about four years ago, it became the burn pit...

Still At It...

Well, still at the yard work, but starting tomorrow, it's back in the house to finish trim (something I don't really like doing I might add...)

Planting the last of the plants in the bed in front of the house...

Now the fun stuff, I had some dirt delivered so we can actually plant grass. You can't plant grass in the clay. That's Cory on the Bobcat, and of course the kids having a good time watching Cory and playing in the dirt...

A picture of the 'finished' front, I use that term loosely, because I may or may not actually be done... :)

More dirt I had delivered in the front to fill in the tracks the bulldozer and dump trucks made in my front yard. I'll use the Bobcat to smooth it out and then reseed... Fun, fun... :)

I Can't Help It...

My yard has looked like crap for the past four years, and I'm determined to FIX it this season! So on I go...

Redoing the bed behind the patio, because after I finished the patio, all I saw there was that one scraggly shrub...

I'm sure everyone will get tired of the pictures, but that's what I'm doing currently... :)

Yeah, I Know...

Yay! Another picture of the finally finished product! :)

Whatever... I'm glad it's finally finished, of course now it's back inside for the dreaded chores...

How about the whole Iran thing? We'll see what the UK does, of course as I recall, the last time Iran took Americans hostage, they were held hostage for 444 days... Oh yeah, nevermind, Jimmy Carter was President then... Stunning how the world allows this lunatic little nation to do what it is doing. I know a lot of it is that no one likes the big dog (USA) and so no one wants to agree with us, we'll see what happens, it will be interesting to see it play out...

The whole US Attorney thing is ridiculous... They all serve at the pleasure of the President, if he wants to fire them because they were not adhering to his policies, that is his perogative. Doesn't matter how, when or why they were fired. The President can hire and fire political appointees at will, regardless of the reason. Just more "let's trash Bush" BS!! I DO hope he vetoes the bill just passed by the House and Senate, it will allow a LOT more exposure into all the pork that was thrown into the war spending bill, should be interesting.

GREAT! Just what we need, old Dobson made the following statement about Fred Thompson:

"Everyone knows he's conservative and has come out strongly for the things that the pro-family movement stands for," Dobson said of Thompson. "[But] I don't think he's a Christian; at least that's my impression," Dobson added, saying that such an impression would make it difficult for Thompson to connect with the Republican Party's conservative Christian base and win the GOP nomination"

You can read the whole story here: Article

Who does that moron Dobson think he is? How about shutting your mouth Dobson, and if you don't think he's a Christian, how about asking him?? If he's not, then try witnessing to him... Stunning really, and people like Dobson REALLY irritate me. Many of them almost act as if they speak for God Himself at times, and I hate to burst their little bubbles...

More later people, back to the chores... :)

The New Patio...

Wow! I don't think I've done this much manual labor in 10 years... I will say though, it's one of the few projects I've started on the weekend and actually finished (almost that is, still have to fill in around it with dirt, then sow seed, hmm... Wonder when that will happen :)

Just about have it leveled... What a MAJOR chore...

Final leveling stage...

That compactor came in REAL handy, I had originally bought a hand tamper, yeah, I'll be taking that back, I never even used it, finally came to my senses and rented the real one...

Pavers all laid, Tanner helping me sweep the sand in the joints...

The (almost) finished product... Just have to get the yard back in shape!

We will get much enjoyment out of it though! We hang out outside ALL the time during the Spring, Summer and Fall... I'm glad it's done, but I'm exhausted now... :)

Ever Get Sidetracked??

I got SO tired of working inside, I decided to start yet another project. We pretty much live outside when it is warm enough, and I decided to make a little patio in the front where we had some wicker furniture, which we sit in all the time I might add. WOW! I almost wish I had stayed inside! If you have never been to Georgia, the clay here is almost like concrete. So I've got to dig down about four inches in order to put gravel and sand to lay the pavers on. So I started with the little tiller I had...

Tanner and Taylor are quite excited about the project...

Chance had a friend over, so wasn't that interested. I've marked out where the patio will be...

Me with my little tiller, I spent three hours with that thing and barely made a dent in the clay...

Tanner and Nate decided they wanted to help, so I let them load the dirt in the wheel barrow...

The little tiller I had actually broke in half while trying to do the work. So I was like, you know, and went to Home Depot and rented a real tiller. You can't really tell from the photo because I was just starting, but that thing got rid of more dirt in 30 minutes than the other one I had been using did in 4 hours. So hopefully this time tomorrow, we'll have a patio there... :)

Contractors...

You know, I HATE dealing with them... The guy who I've been dealing with on this called my wife this morning and acted like they were done. LUCKILY I have not yet paid them! I have, in the past, made the mistake of paying people to do work before they were quite finished, and then the work doesn't get finished. So Carolyn called me and said he thought he was done, I called the guy and was like, "No, you haven't smoothed it out yet, nor have you seeded it yet, and there are still five stumps in the back that need to be taken out." He tried to argue with me and say that wasn't part of the deal. He then drove out and looked at what his crew had done and told Carolyn, I'll have the guys out to smooth it out, then seed, then I'll have the stumps taken out. I think he was even embarrassed about how it looked. Of course if I had already paid him, I doubt he would have even come out.



They have not yet ground the stumps down in the back, but until they are done, the payment will not be made. I suspect they will be out tomorrow to do that since I've not heard from the guy again since our conversation this morning... I think it looks a 1000% though myself...

Getting There...

I'm sure for many of you, this is not very exciting stuff! It IS for us though! That dump truck did mess up my front yard a bit though, you can't really see from the pictures, but the ground must have been pretty soft, nothing that a little top soil and grass seed won't fix though! :)

Starting on the front, I can't WAIT until it's done! They are going to seed it for me as well!

Back is pretty much going to be left like that, so I'll have to take it from there...

Doesn't Take Long...

If you know what you are doing, and have the appropriate equipment... :)

Clearing out the back so I can build the kids a playground (something I've been meaning to do for years now :)

Dirt from the back is being used to fix the mess I (and Titus I might add :) made...

Four Years Later...

I'm sure the ones who have actually seen my yard will understand more, but I've finally got some pro's in to finish what I 'obviously' was not able to do myself... :)

Tearing the place up... With Titus's help of course... :)

Yes, that was the first time I had EVER operated a backhoe...

Calling in the pro's...

About to get started!

I'll post pics of the (finally) finished yard once they have completed it!

Pretty Funny...

Okay, pretty lame post as well... :)

I Was Going To...

Post that is... However, my cousin has a post going that took all my free time tonight. I'm busy people, but soon I won't be and will have all the free time in the world! :) I have been working on this house for almost six years, and guess what, it's almost DONE!!! My wife is super happy that she will no longer have to live in a 'construction zone', and I did it for her actually. I'm GLAD she likes it! Sorry for not posting any posts other than my house lately, but that's what I've been doing. More posts coming soon! Stay with me!! :)

Electrical Wiring...

LUCKILY I decided to replace a few lights as I'm trying to finish up this remodeling gig... So up to the attic I go to find the wire I need, this is the mess I find:



I was like, "Huh?". I fixed it, then fixed a few more things, then said screw it and cut the power to anything that went up in the attic and ran new wire. I've cut ALL power to the circuits that went to the attic and run my own circuits, I am rerunning it ALL!

I'm not even an electrician, and I'm done now. It took a few hours to run it right. I told you about all the lamp wire I found up there. Makes me want to go check everything in the house, and I likely will.

So if you are wondering where the "finished" pics are of the rooms, that is why they are not available as yet, I really don't want my house to burn down, so I am correcting all the crap I find that the fool who built this house did...

I'm nearly done though, fixing the crap that is, and HOPEFULLY will have some pics tomorrow... Whew! I'm really glad though that I discovered all the inadequate stuff and have been able to fix it all. It's been time consuming though, luckily, I "think" I almost have it fixed!

The ER...

I think I've actually commented on this before, but wow! My wife called me at work this AM, and was seemingly having possible complications from a surgery she had about 3 years ago. So of course I came home, and off to the ER we went... I guess we got there around 10:30AM... Then of course the waiting game begins. Want to confirm my theory about the stupidity of people? Go sit at the ER for a while, you'll find it hard to come up with an argument against my theory! I might add that we just got home about 30 minutes ago, and here it is after midnight!

I'm not sure if ALL ER's work the same, but I've been to a few in my life, and from my experience they are all similar. You sign in, then wait (although) the first wait isn't really all that long. (Tip: ALWAYS say, when they ask you, "On a scale from 1 to 10, how bad is the pain?", a 10! Then make a reinforcing comment about how you think you are about to pass out because you are not sure if you can tolerate the pain for a second longer! Then possibly a few swoons, if not just fall out of your chair and lay on the floor as if you ACTUALLY have just passed out. If you do that, from what I've seen, there is virtually no wait!) The next wait can be an hour or more, and the next 'station' is the "Where is your insurance card?" Even though you have been going to the same hospital for the past 8 years and nothing has changed, they want to see it all again. Not that I blame them on that one though. Then it's wait again. This wait can also be an hour or more. Then the nurse takes your vitals and verifies the information that you've already given. (This step doesn't surprise me either, after most people have waited for 3 hours already, the status could have changed, refer to the 'Tip' listed above, and act accordingly here as well). So once that step is done, then you wait YET again for someone to call you to go to the 'final' waiting room. This wait can also be an hour or more. You finally get back and the nightmare continues.

The ACTUAL time anyone sees you varies, but out of the 12 hours Carolyn waited today 'between' the steps, she was seen for maybe 45 minutes of that, and that included the MRI!

Of course I couldn't stay the whole time, I had to leave at 1:45PM to go collect the kids from school, then home. Taylor (luckily) decided to spend the night at Sarah's house, I guess when she got over there, the first words out of her mouth were, "My Mom is in the hospital!" So my neighbor called and asked if there was anything they could do. They did offer to watch Chance and Tanner as well, and looking back, I should have said yes, I didn't however.

So anyway, that's how I spent my day, watching the kids, and hanging out at the hospital (I HATE hospital food btw)... Luckily I had brought a book with me to read, I had picked up a copy of "Somebody's Gotta Say It" by Neal Boortz. I don't agree with everything the guy says, but I do agree with a lot of it. The reason I actually even bought the book was because of the first words that were printed on the front inside cover of the book, and I even disagreed with the first thing I read:

"I've come to the conclusion that roughly 50 percent of the adults in this country are simply too ignorant and functionally incompetent to be living in a free society." ~ Neal Boortz

I think it's actually around 90 - 95%, and in my opinion, THAT is a conservative estimate... The book has turned out to be a good read, and I would recommend it to anyone...

The Scam I Got Roped Into...

Err... I mean fundraiser at my kids school... So yesterday, as we were getting the kids ready for school, they all wanted to know where their Boosterthon pledges were... Huh? Then I remembered the 'packets' that had come home a week ago that were laying on my desk. So I quickly filled them all out, listing Carolyn and myself as 'sponsers' at $1 a lap. Chance wasn't happy with only two sponsers, so I wrote down Uncle Titus's name as the third sponser for him.

Of course I'm thinking a 'lap' is around the track... NO! I got to school this morning, and inside of the track, they have this 'ring' in the middle of the track that is about as big around as a hula hoop... I was like, huh? (Okay, it was a little bigger than a hula hoop, but not much!).

So today all of my kids come home with t-shirts on, and on the back there are marks for each lap they ran. Chance ran 31, Tanner ran 28 and Taylor ran 19. I went to the calculator, and realized that I have to send $187.00 to the school tomorrow!! I wonder how many calls the school will get tomorrow? I'll bet a LOT! I'll go ahead and send in my $187, but the paperwork that was sent home was rather confusing, and it didn't mention that they would be doing laps around a hula hoop!

A Fresh Face Perhaps?

Not that he is an unknown, but he's got my vote if he runs...

No, I Don't Have Much To Say, Again...

Sad to say, but I barely know what's going on in the news right now... I read the highlights of course, but I'm just trying to get these rooms done. So there I was, painting away (ugghh! Yeah, I'm STILL painting!)

It's AMAZING how much has to be painted to trim out those two rooms!

So then I all of a sudden realized, wait a minute! I have people coming out with dirt in the AM to fill in the front. LUCKILY I had some of that drainage hose, because if not, it would have meant another trip to Home Depot. I had two drains in the front that needed to be extended or else it would have meant MAJOR drainage issues later if I had come home from work tomorrow and the dirt was there, and underneath, the soon to be clogged drains... Whew! I'm SO glad I remembered that, or else I would have been digging later to find them...

The other side looks pretty much the same, but I ran that drainage hose on each side far enough beyond where they are filling in so I can do something with it later. Pretty crude, but better than later wondering why I have issues with drainage, then it all of a sudden dawning on me, "Oh yeah, I forgot to do that, and they are blocked now"

Chance and Nate did a LOT of work on their fort today, I don't have a pic, but it doesn't look half bad. Now EVERYONE wants to be in the 'fort'. I had to finally go up there and work out a solution between my kids and the neighborhood kids. Speaking of neighborhood kids, one of them (Nate) has literally been over here for two whole days. Has gone with us to eat, to the store, went with us to church this morning... Stunning!

Have I Mentioned...

How much I HATE painting? Well, today I started painting all the baseboard, door trim, etc... I'm barely halfway done...

There were a gazillion of these things to paint...

Of course I still had that tree laying in my front yard that needed to be cut up. Then I got a phone call from one of my neighbors asking me if I wanted it. I told him, well, I was going to cut it up for firewood, but if you want it, come get it. I've got some people coming out Monday with dirt, so it had to be gone by then. He came over and cut it up. I helped him a bit as did the kids. It's gone now though thankfully. One less thing I have to do.

One of my neighbors cutting the tree up. He saved me a TON of work!

Of course while I was painting, etc. Chance and Nate kept coming in the garage asking if they could use this board and that one. I finally told them, you can use all those boards over there. Some time later, Chance and Nate came running up to me and Chance was like, "Dad, I know you will probably say no, but can Nate and I sleep in the fort we made tonight?". I was like, "Yeah, I guess so.". A while later, I decided to actually go look at 'the fort'.

'The fort'... I was like, "You guys actually WANT to sleep in that??" Of course they said they did.

I told them, you can play in it for a few more hours, but you'll sleep inside! I would never willingly sleep in something like that. Boys will be boys I know, but still... Well, back to painting... :(

Time's Up...

That's it! The week is up, the carpet installers will be here in the AM. I always think I'll get more done than I do. LUCKILY Joe painted for me or it would have been worse. I was thinking that once the weekend got here I would be able to relax for a minute, yeah, that's NOT going to happen!

Taking the couches to the garage, Tanner was like, "The Goodlings are done with this", he is so funny. They did serve their purpose though. LeRoy dropped them off a few years ago, I think they were intended for Andrea. If you want them Andrea, let me know, otherwise, they are getting thrown in the trash... :)

Wrapping up the rug that was in the living room. We have a LOT of rugs throughout the house, but this rug is probably the only one that actually is Persian. It might even be worth money, who knows, all I know is, it's going in the attic, if the kids want it when they move out, they can have it. I wrapped it up pretty good though, so if one of them wants it, it should still be in good shape...

I thought I would get so much more done than I did... I didn't though, but tonight it was like, okay, the carpet installers will be here in the morning, let's clear these rooms out. A week ago, I was thinking, "Yeah, no sweat, I'll get that all done." Yeah, right! It DID not happen. The rooms are cleared out now though, but I'll spend the whole weekend putting the trim up and painting the second coat on the 'other room', as well as putting the wainscoating up in the 'other room'... Good intentions, but I've always been that way I guess, shoot for the sky, if you don't quite make it, oh well...

For many of the readers, I'll have more interesting posts next week! :) For now though, you'll have to do with posts about what I am doing because it is consuming ALL of my time... :)

What Was I Thinking?

So somehow I thought that I would be able to completely 'redo' two rooms in a week... Wow! Luckily Joe painted the main room for me, the mantle, and the crown molding, because I would not have gotten it done. Almost done though, but wow...

Joe, painting...

I NEVER would have gotten this done without Joe. The carpet installers are coming out on Friday. I'm sorry I haven't posted anything exciting for the past few days, but give me a few more and I will! I HATE remodeling now. I used to like it, I don't anymore. The next house Carolyn and I buy WILL require ZERO work!

No, I Don't Obsess...

I know some people who read my blog, may at times think I obsess about the whole family thing, that is not the case. I'm busy doing other things. It irritates me at times, and I blog about it. I help out when called on regarding family matters, who doesn't? Well, some don't, I do however. Nothing surprises me these days, do things infuriate me from time to time, of course! I quickly let it go though, particularly the older I get. I've actually been busy getting ready for the carpet installers who are coming Friday, and haven't had much time to do much else, I must say, I'll be glad when Saturday arrives! Giving the mantle a facelift, also painting the crown molding white as well, almost done...



It's going to look nice I might add! :)

Chores I Hate!!

There are several: finishing drywall; painting and grouting. The rest of it, I don't really mind doing. Electrical, plumbing, carpentry, framing, etc... Some of it I actually LIKE doing. I do it all myself though, whether I hate it or not, simply because I'm NOT going to pay some moron to come in and do it. I was actually making quite a bit of progress today, I finished the drywall (which I've already said I HATE doing), Taylor was snapping pics btw:



Luckily, the drywall finishing went rather well, as much as I HATE doing it. I'm not even sure I'll need much more than another light coat tomorrow.

I took down the fan and the lights in that room, because we are putting up ceiling fans. When I took down the fan, turns out, the fool who built this house used lamp wire to feed electricity to the fan, wtf? Some of the things the guy who built this house did just stun me. Luckily I am fixing most of them. I know it's my birthday, but I have carpet installers coming out on Friday, so the next week will be work, work, work... Ugghh!! Oh well, I'm sure we will all be pleased with the results. I am going to put wainscoating up in that room as well, I dragged my 100 foot air hose up to the room, turned on the air compressor, and was marking the walls where the studs were (which brings up another issue, the fool who built this house has studs everywhere, just not 'the standard' length apart. Some are 15 inches, some 18, some 24, etc, it's a nightmare.) I've got them all marked now though, so no big deal, but damn. Anyway, I heard this hissing sound, and it was my 100 foot air hose succumbing to the halogen work lights I have in there. So I obviously could not install the wainscoating, because I have to use my nail gun to install it... I'll have to get another one tomorrow. I'm rambling now, so I'll stop. I have 4 more days to get it done before the carpet installers are here... We'll see how that works out... :)

The Big Four Oh!!!

So I went to Home Depot this morning to get a few things I needed to put a few lights on the wall in that 'other' room I'm redoing for the kids, and when I got back I saw all the kids tear into the house, so I figured something was probably up. I can't say that I was super suprised, but I was mildly surprised when I walked in the door. Thanks Carolyn and kids!!

The welcoming party!

Singing...

I guess I'm getting too old to haul around the hand held leaf blower, so now I have a backpack blower! :)

New work attire! Can always use that!

Of course the best present Carolyn and the kids got for me was the widescreen flat panel 22" monitor I am currently looking at while I type this!! So Happy Birthday to me!!

The 'Other' Room...

We have this room in our house, we call it the 'other' room, because it really serves no purpose... According to the woman who sold us the house, her dad built it, it was supposed to be a 'garage' for his volkswagon. I'm not sure how he was going to get it in there, but having 'fixed' many of the things he did, I'm sure he was insane. Anyway, we decided to turn the 'other' room into a room for the kids. We are going to have carpet installed next week, so I had many things to do. I'm not done yet, but I did get a lot done today.

The railing had to go...

New wall going up... (Yeah, I know the boards are crooked between the studs, I only put them there so I could have something to secure the cabinets to I am going to put on that wall :)

Finally up! The bitch of it was I had to move that HVAC vent, and what really sucked was I only had to move it over 3 inches... Oh well, it's done.

Tomorrow I'll rip down the lights and put up ceiling fans, install wainscoating, and paint (uggh - I HATE painting)... Will be nice once done though, and the kids will love it! So anyway, that's what I've been doing all day.