Dilemma...

So I just put the kids to bed, Chance and Tanner share a room, and Taylor has her own... Perhaps I should define dilemma prior to moving on... Dilemma: a situation requiring a choice between equally undesirable alternatives.

So here is the dilemma... Taylor claims that it's not fair that Chance and Tanner get to sleep in the same room and that Carolyn and I get to sleep in the same room, yet she has to sleep ALL by herself... Of course to hear her say it, it sounds like the end of the world... So the SOLUTION she has come up with is to buy her a dog... What to do?!? I DON'T like animals in the house!! Yet, she does have a valid point! The dilemma is, she has over the past six years ended up in our bed because of this reason (luckily we have a king size bed!)... So it's either her in our bed or a dog for her... Hmm!

It's not that I don't like dogs, I just don't want to care for them... Dogs are fine! I'm just not interested in caring for or training them... If someone else is doing that, they are great! We'll see how this little scenario works out... :)

You Only Need An IQ Of 50...

To understand that concept... :)

First And LAST Time...

I build something that is... I'm done now with the framing, but WOW!!

FINALLY done!!

I'll NEVER do this again!! I say that now... :)

Now I just have to get the decking on the roof, we'll see how that goes! I still can't use my thumb, but whatever... I've come this far, I'll finish it soon! :)

Before Pics...

Posted by request from Jackie... You guys didn't know you could do that did you? :)

About to start grading...

In progress...

I didn't get much done today, I unpacked and packed up my tools though about 3 times today... Every time I unpacked and started working, it started raining, so I had to scurry around and put the tools away... Luckily though, I am off tomorrow because I got called in last night at 11PM and didn't get home until morning, so I'm off tomorrow and I don't think it's supposed to rain... We'll see! :)

Pool House Update...

Yeah, I've been working on it for a while it seems, but not really, because I took two weeks off to take my family to California... :)

I FINALLY figured out all the angles, etc and got the right side done... I'll finish the other side tomorrow, and it will be SO much easier because I already know all the measurements...

I CAN'T wait to get the roof framed, I've spent WAY too much time on it, but thankfully it is almost done!

Of course the kids swim while I work! Soon I may join them, I think I've only been in the pool about five times... :(

Personal Responsibility...

You know, I hear all these idiots talking about how we need to "bail out" the morons who took out loans that they should have known they would not be able to afford and it makes me sick! Then I hear many of the people who are running for the highest office in the land agreeing... Terms like 'predatory lending': who held a gun to these fools heads? Did they NOT read the terms of the loan?; 'consumer advocate': are you nuts? Advocates for what? Helping idiots AFTER they sign documents to get into a home they COULD NOT afford in the first place? Now the taxpayers are supposed to HELP them keep it?!?!?! Astounding!! That would be like me going to buy a whole new house full of furniture, that I could not afford, then when the bills came due, since I bought it on one of those 'Buy now, don't start paying for two years' loans, then when they came to pick it up, asking the taxpayers to pay the bill for me... Stunning! Yet I hear many people who are FOR the borrowers who can't pay their mortgage because of the exotic, idiotic loans they got, and now we are to bail them out?!?!? How about figuring out how much you can afford? Then either renting or buying something you can afford? If you make 30K a year, you CANNOT afford a 500K house!!! Even if you buy it on a 50 year, interest only loan! Yeah, I know you want to ACT like you are successful and can afford it! It however IS NOT up to the taxpayers to bail you out when the 'clause' in the loan saying that your payment will go up by $500 bucks a month kicks in!!! I am ASTOUNDED that there are people though who are blaming Bush for this, and are acting as if the Federal government should bail these people out, meaning the taxpayers!!! Doesn't anyone else find this outrageous???

Russo v. Soltz - Hardball Debate Aug 15th

For those of you who didn't get to meet Jackie's dad, here he is...

NO, I Didn't Get It Finished...

Me trying to get the rafter in place with only one thumb... :)

I didn't finish, but I ALMOST did... I wonder if that counts?

Pool House, Day Whatever...

WOW! Probably one of the most complicated things I've ever done! The frame is up though now, and tomorrow I'll finish installing the rafters, etc... I'm SO glad that part is done!

While I was doing it, the boys were having a good time in the spa... :) Which is where I should head right now!

Humor...

Trip Pictures...

So Joshua asked me if I was going to upload pics from our trip and send them out, well... I WAS going to, but didn't until he asked. They are uploading now, and I'll send them out. If you DIDN'T get them and want them, let me know... I have a very short list I send them to... :) I'm happy to send them to whoever wants them though...

PTA...

So I had to go to the school today, because I suppose I'm now 'involved' in the PTA... I'm not REAL sure exactly what I'm supposed to be doing, I think they just want Dad's to become more involved in the events at the school and they chose me to chair the "Dad's" committee... I think I'M the one who is supposed to come up with ideas to get more Dad's involved, hmmm... I've always just done it because my kids all go there, wasn't sure if there needed to be more of a motivator than that, who knows, I suppose I'll call a few dad's and see what they say and go from there... :)

The Tricky Part...

Framing a roof by yourself, particularly if you have never done it before... I decided to do a hip roof, seemed a little confusing at first, but I think I've got it now.

I built those temporary frames to hold the ridge board...

Then I measured and cut my first rafter... Angles, seat cut, tail length, etc... So I went up to see if the rafter fit, but I had the ridge board about 5 and a half inches too high, I did not account for the 2 x 6 that I nailed the frames to that hold the ridge board... So I decided to call it a day! The rafter though looks like it will fit like a charm, so who knows, maybe I'll get the roof up tomorrow... Time will tell... :)

Why Bother?

I'm not sure why I do...

Pool House Day 24...

I thought for sure I'd at least get half of the roof framed today, it didn't happen... :( I did finish everything below the roof though and get it wrapped, so we'll see what I get done tomorrow... :)

I didn't put the house wrap in the middle there, was wondering if I even needed to... I suppose I will since I have about 100 feet left and I doubt I'll be needing it for anything else EVER again... :)

Yeah, it's a LOT harder doing this with only one thumb, but it's amazing how you adapt! I use the four fingers on my left hand in more ways than I thought I ever would! :)

Pool House Day 23...

This has turned into the project from hell...

I'm nearly done though! Hopefully I will finish the framing tomorrow, we'll see how that works out... :)

Happy 11th Anniversary Carolyn!!!

Happy Anniversary Baby!!

"...to have and to hold from this day forward for better or for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish as long as we both shall live."

At least that is my intention... Some I know don't pay any attention whatsoever to what they say when then enter into Holy Matrimony. Myself? I made a promise before God and to Carolyn that I not only intend to keep, but I enjoy keeping the promise immensely!! Here's to many, many more years together as we journey through life together as husband and wife!!

Pool House Day 22...

Back at it... I told my thumb to just get used to it! :) Although I have become used to only having the use of one thumb, amazing how you adapt when you have to...

Hopefully I'll have this thing covered with plywood by tomorrow so I can frame the roof! We'll see how that works out... :)

Life...

I'm sure a lot of people actually do live their lives this way...

Blogging...

You know, how long does it take? 10 minutes? 20? ANYONE who claims they are too busy to blog is an idiot! How about a time management program?? If there is anyone who thinks they are too busy to spend a few minutes to type a few lines, then they obviously are misguided souls who have no clue... There, my post for the night... :)

Back To Reality...

Well, almost, but not quite... I didn't do any construction projects today, just got the kids settled in school, and as I think I've said, I'm a chairman of a new PTA committee, so I was seeing what all that involved, and oh yeah, back to work... :)

Chance has a poster that is due tomorrow, that of course we just found out about today, so I'll be helping him with that in a moment... Did I mention that there is a fundraiser starting ALREADY?!?!? School JUST started two days ago!! Anyway, the kids just got through swimming...

Can you tell that they redid the pool deck while I was gone? They also fixed that flagstone that broke off and caused me to spend hours in the ER literally RIGHT before we left for San Francisco... Do you think they are trying to cover their ass? It does look MUCH better though, I will admit! :)

Home Sweet Home!!!

FINALLY!! We made it home! One thing about travelling, I HATE airports, the whole 'hurry up and wait' thing... Then there was the little thing with Chance, he had two bottles of bubbles and a very small pocket knife on his carry on, so that held us up for a minute, while they scanned his bag several times, tested it for explosives, patted him down, etc... Of course Chance just wanted to know what they were going to do with the bubbles and knife, to which I replied that they were going to throw them away, now come on... :)

Whatever though, I'm at home, sitting at my desk!! Not sure how the kids are going to be tomorrow going to school, but they are in bed and we'll see tomorrow!! :)

Back In San Francisco...

We've had a GREAT time out here in California, and Titus and Jackie's wedding was beautiful and we were THRILLED to be a part of them joining together in Holy Matrimony, but I AM READY to go home!!! We left the house we rented in Monterey this morning and made our way back to San Francisco and checked into a hotel close to the airport because our flight leaves at 12:30 tomorrow afternoon...

Of course the FIRST thing the kids wanted to do was to go swimming, this is the first time they have been able to do that since we got here, other than splashing in the Bay a couple of times...

Myself, I just want to relax... We are about to go eat dinner and celebrate Carolyn's birthday, then it's back to the room and just wait around until we have to check out and then head for the airport and back to Atlanta! I CANNOT wait to pull into 415 Grist Mill Drive... :)

Happy Birthday Carolyn!!!

Happy Birthday Baby!!!

More Titus and Jackie's Wedding...

LeRoy and Timberly out on the dance floor! I think LeRoy said it was the first time Timberly had done that...

Chance absolutely LOVED dancing! He had a GREAT time!

Cory and Jessica finally decided to get out there on the dance floor!

Nearing the end of the festivities, I think Titus and Jackie were ready to get back to the Carmel River Inn! They both had a LONG day though, but the entire wedding and reception were absolutely wonderful and everything went off without a hitch!

Chance and Tanner getting ready... We got there at 2:00 and the wedding didn't actually start until 7:00, so I was AMAZED that they were both still all together when the ceremony actually started. They were though, and both of them did a GREAT job!

Congratulations Titus and Jackie...

Jackie, Christina and Alex came to our house and picked up Taylor about 11:30 in the morning, then off they went to have lunch and go get ready for the wedding. Taylor was beautiful!

Tanner and Taylor walked down the aisle together, Taylor said she didn't want to throw any petals out, but she did and they both did great!

Here comes the bride! Jackie was a beautiful bride!

The soon to be husband and wife! The ceremony was well done and everything was perfect!

The first dance! Which Titus and Jackie did wonderfully!

Titus and Jackie's Rehearsal Lunch...

So we got up today and got the kids haircuts and picked up the tuxes, then we headed out to Tarpy's Roadhouse for Titus and Jackie's rehearsal lunch. The kids had their own separate table, and they were surprisingly well behaved... :)

Me welcoming everyone and giving a little toast...

The priest who will be officiating the wedding said a prayer for the lunch...

Titus and Jackie passing out gifts to the wedding party members and the parents...

After the lunch we headed to the Pasadera Country Club to practice for tomorrow. This is actually going to be the backdrop for the wedding. You'll have to wait until it's over though for more pics... :)

Last Night...

Yeah, a little late, but we've been busy today... :) Last night we had the wedding party over for dinner (minus Peter)... Seating at the table was limited, so we had to get creative!

Jackie, Christine, Alex, Titus and Timberly. Everyone had a great time...

Tanner LOVES Sophia!!! So I might just have to get the boy a dog!

Monterey Day 5...

Timberly called this morning, so we went down to the Dennis the Menace park and the kids played with Nicky and Binky for about an hour or so. Joshua met us there as well, so Timberly, LeRoy, Joshua and I sat and talked while the kids played...

They all seemed to have a good time...

After we left the park, we decided to go hang out at the beach for a while. Which the kids thoroughly enjoyed I might add. Of course we did as well, it was relaxing just laying out on the sand for a few hours watching the kids play...

There was a McDonalds across the street, so LeRoy and I walked over and got the kids something to eat. I guess some of the birds ate Tanner's cheeseburger before he could, so the guys spent the next hour "hunting down the birds that ate Tanner's lunch"... It was rather comical at times... :)

Timberly was helping Taylor build a sand castle, not sure why I didn't get Timberly or the sand castle in the shot...

Now we are about to get ready to fix dinner for about 23 people who are coming over to the house this evening (of course that includes the 7 that are already here)... Should be a great time though, so I might have pics of that later, or not, we'll see... :)