MercyMe - I Can Only Imagine

I LOVE this song!

More Pool House...

Yeah, I'm sure everyone will soon tire of the pics again, but whatever, I'm determined to get this thing done SOON!! :)

It was freezing out today, okay, it was in the mid 50's, but the wind was blowing, and it was freezing to me!! Did make it around the side, and you can't really see it, but I got the steel mesh up on the bottom for the stone...

Another side shot...

Now I just have to get around the right door and do the other side and the back! I fear I may run out of siding though and not have enough for the back, EVEN though I went for stone on the bottom to conserve siding!! Oh well, I'll come up with something creative if that is the case, because I have to. They don't make that siding anymore, so there is no where to go get anymore... :)

So There We Were...

Merrily slapping siding on the pool house... Okay, maybe NOT merrily, but we were doing it. We? Yeah, Zach came over to help me again, he has turned out to be a great help lately! We had just turned the corner, and I was actually quite looking forward to moving around to the other side when it started POURING down rain, and of course I had all my tools outside, so we quickly put them all back up and had to stop...

So this is how I left it...

Hopefully it doesn't rain again tomorrow, because I REALLY want to get this done! We'll see... Not much anyone can do about the weather... So off to watch a few movies I suppose, and yes, unfortunately, ALL those people are still here! :)

Why Matt, Why??

Why I let three 'other' boys spend the night at the same time I have no idea...

But I do, and it's a constant getting up, "What's going on?" type of thing, but whatever, I'm about to put them all to bed... We'll see how that works out. Of course it will work out fine, because when I say it's bedtime, bedtime it is... :)

Whew!!

What's that Matt you might ask, or not, whatever... :) If you recall, before construction started on the pool, we had to cut down about 40 or 50 trees... They have been laying out behind the pool area ever since. So about three days ago, Carolyn and I decided to clean it all up. We have been burning, cutting and clearing for the past three days and I might add we are both rather tired right now. To make matters worse, we finished this evening about sevenish to come in and clean up and watch Survivor. IT'S NOT ON!!! What a letdown! Basketball?? Who cares? I suppose millions do, we DON'T!! I'm sure we'll survive though... :)

Moving the firewood we had Cory split up for us last year took a WHILE! I think we have enough firewood now to last us about ten years!!!

I don't actually have a before picture, but if you can picture that area covered with trees and limbs, that's what it looked like about three days ago before Carolyn and I tackled it! Of course if you MUST see a before picture, you can peruse the old posts, there is one in there somewhere... :)

Tis done... Right where that little tree is standing is the center of where I am going to build my kids a playground. The tree will come down of course. But Matt, don't you have about a gazillion other projects going on right now you might ask? Of course, but why not start another? :) I've been promising my kids a playground for about two years, so why not start another project is my opinion!! We'll see how that works out! :)

Hillary WASN'T LYING! Bosnia gunfire footage discovered...

Pretty funny. Don't these people realize that everything they have done in public life has been recorded??

Easter Egg Hunt 2008

So this is THE Easter egg hunt on Easter Day... The kids love this for some reason. The video cuts off rather abruptly because my camera batteries quit... That's Bo barking in the background, he wants to join in on the fun, but we have to keep him tied to a tether now because if we don't, we have to chase him down the road, and I'm NOT doing that! Hope everyone had a great day!

Yeah, That DIDN'T Happen...

What's that you might ask? Or maybe not, whatever... :) I thought I'd get the siding on the pool house this weekend, I didn't! I did get the soffit covered up though, and the connections for the flood lights done, but this is as far as I got on the siding:

Yep, part of two walls... Going to look nice though. Why did you start up so high Matt? Because I'm putting stacked stone on the bottom two feet, mainly because I don't have enough siding to cover the entire house, but hey, I got it off Craigslist for practically nothing, so that's why... :)

I also FINALLY got all the roofing complete. Although the only thing I had left to do was to cover the ridge and the corners, but at least it is finally done! I MIGHT have this baby open for business in the next month or so, we'll see...

Easter egg hunt part II... They cleaned up once again. I posted a video on YouTube, but it hasn't shown up yet, it might soon.

Early Easter Egg Hunt...

We decided to hunt eggs this morning as LeRoy and Timberly and the kids stopped by on their way down to Walt Disney World...

About to get started...

Scouring the yard for the last remaining eggs...

The kids with their loot...

Of course my kids say that we have to have another hunt tomorrow because tomorrow is actually Easter... :)

I Hate It When That Happens...

What's that you might ask, or maybe not, who cares, I'll tell you anyway... I was trying to grab stills from a DVD and it kept coming up blank. I tried for two hours to do it, finally got it. Not sure what it is, but if there is something that I can't do technically, I'm not happy, so I figure it out. I FINALLY did! Why did I want stills? Well, years ago, 1985 to be exact, Joel and I were extras in the movie 'The Sluggers Wife' and I just recently bought the DVD, so I was trying to grab the stills where we were in it. I think I was about 17, I guess Joel must have been 20, I still remember telling Boyd and Candy where we had been when we got back from the shooting of the movie. Kind of funny now that I think of it... Anyway, here are the two stills I grabbed:

See if you can spot me in this pic. Michael O'Keefe was heading up the stairs to go into the bar... Joel is standing next to me but you can't see him because I had so much difficulty grabbing the still...

The funny thing is, Joel and I had gone outside so I could smoke, which is the only reason we were even in the previous shot, but once Michael O'Keefe got in the bar, Joel was one of the bartenders as you can see from this shot. I was dancing behind the bar, but it's too dark so you can't see me.

Wow! Blast from the past! Joel and I spent two days shooting that scene, I think we got paid $35 a day, but we had fun doing it. Chance saw the scene, and he was like, "You were in a REAL movie?" LOL! I told him that yeah, I was an extra in a movie 23 years ago... :)

Enough of that... You want pictures of the pool house Jackie? Here they are...

Still not 'pretty', but hey, I'm trying... I got most of the beadboard ceiling in and got the ceiling fan hung. The only reason I did not get the rest of the beadboard hung is because I miscalculated and did not have enough... So I'll get more this weekend and finish it... :(

This is what I have been doing, the electrical and the plumbing... Nearly done though!

FINALLY got the water heater set. I was actually going to buy a water heater stand but they were $40 and I was like, "Yeah, I can build one for about five bucks." So I did... I'll have more pics after this weekend, hopefully I get all the plumbing done... :)

I Just Don't Feel Like It...

Although I probably would if there was more interaction... Blogging that is. I could go on and on about the Presidential race, we've not seen one like this in our lifetime and it is fascinating to watch. Obama's speech? Yeah, I could go on and on about that as well. I'm sure Bill and Hillary are cracking open the bubbly as I type, as is McCain...

Bear Sterns? Yeah, I could go on and on about that as well, it's a shame our government has put US on the line for 30 billion dollars so JPMorgan can buy the company for a song... I could actually go on and on about that for days...

Pick a topic, I can go on and on about it, but I won't...

I did finish the electrical wiring in the pool house, now on to the the plumbing, which will actually be easier than the electrical was, we'll see.

No, I still have no pictures, I'll take some this weekend. I'm off Friday, and then there are the Easter festivities this weekend, so that will be fun. Hope everyone is well, we are! :)

15Amps Or 20Amps...

So yeah, that's what I've been up to... Normally I wouldn't even bother, electrical work is quite simple, it's the "code" you have to follow... I've been working, working, working on getting the pool house ready and finally got all the electrical boxes installed and am ready to wire it all this weekend, but just want to make sure I wire it to code, because I DON'T want to redo it... Inspectors I might add can be quite different... Just like the deck, one told me, "Just build the damn thing, then we'll check it out" another told me, "We have to inspect the holes for the posts before you pour the concrete"... Government...

After checking all the codes, that is what I intend to do this weekend... :)

Yeah, I haven't much felt like blogging lately, I might have some pics this weekend, for some reason I have not been taking any... I need to though, as I have documented this whole process via photos, so I have to remember to take the camera with me when I start working... :)

Who knows, we'll see if I finish this wiring project this weekend, I should, we'll see! :)

Taxes...

How hard is it?? I hear people at work talking about it, I hear people on the radio talking about it, but it takes an hour or so unless you are an idiot! Three or four hours at most if you want to double check everything a dozen times...

I normally do my taxes earlier, but for some reason didn't get around to it until now... I reached into the bin where I put all the documents I've accumulated over the past year, and yeah, I have just as many as anyone else, if not more, and typed in the information into the software program... It really only took about thirty minutes, but I'm anal, so I double checked everything about three times and then hit file... It just makes me wonder about the people who say taxes take them hours or days... They either have to be complete morons, or they don't know where any of their documents are, or they are trying to cheat. Astounding!!

The Last Mile...

Okay, so it was only 55 degrees today, but I decided to get out there and get the power run to the pool house...

Well, I got it all in place, now just have to hook the wires up, but that is the easy part!!

I'm hoping to get the whole house wired, the plumbing all done, etc within the next few weeks so I can get it inspected and then start slapping the drywall up, etc... We'll see how that works out for me... :) Most of the rest of the stuff left to do is rather easy, just have to do it. As the weather warms though, I don't mind doing it AT ALL, but when it is freezing outside, I just can't, not sure why. So with any luck, within the next two months, I JUST might finish all this crap, then I can relax... Of course I THOUGHT I would have had this all done by Christmas, so who knows... :)

I Suppose It's Time...

To put up a new post that is... I haven't felt much like blogging lately, and so I haven't... :) Have I been busy? Well, not really, I guess it really all depends on your definition of busy... I've just been working around the house, trying to finish up inside and outside projects before Spring arrives! For some reason, I've not taken any pictures either, I suppose it's just too cold to be bothered with it! :)

Of course yesterday we didn't do much of anything but watch movies, which turned out to be a COMPLETE waste of time:

*Beowulf - WOW! This one is SO stupid, I'm surprised anyone even made it, and it cost like $150 million to make...

*Rendition - this one was actually pretty good, and it's the ONLY one we actually sat through the entire movie...

*Michael Clayton - Wow again! This one was so stupid, I fell asleep about 30 minutes into to it, which is just as well...

*Survivor Season Two: Australian Outback - of course we loved this one, even though we watched it when it came out in 2001...

Of course it was freezing out yesterday and snowing, of course none of the snow stuck, but today it will be 55 degrees again, so I suppose I'll finish wiring up the pool house, and with any luck, all the wiring will be completed, we'll soon see I suppose... Perhaps I'll take some pictures to post later... :)

03.04.2008...

Yup, it's that time of the year... :) To me just another day, but the kids are THRILLED! They asked me yesterday if I was excited about it, and of course I told them I was so excited I could hardly contain myself, I'd expound further, but they read my blog sometimes... :)

The whole affair lasted about 10 minutes... I never eat the cake when we have parties around here, just don't much care for sweets for some reason... Everyone else enjoyed it though, I got some great presents from Carolyn and the kids, and now it's back to work... :)

What have I been up to you might ask?? I'll tell you anyway... It has been warm here lately, so I have been toiling away on that pool house, I hope to get it done in the next month (or so)!! :) I'm finally to the point to where I am running the electrical and plumbing, once that is done, drywall and finish and it will FINALLY be done!! I don't have any pics of my progress, but I'll take some and post them... I only had a few pics Carolyn took at the party, but I bought these "batteries" that were cheap, put them in the camera, takes six pictures and then says replace the batteries... You get what you pay for...

On another topic, tonight shall be interesting seeing the results come in for TX and OH... I might have something to say about it, who knows? Right now though, it's back to work... :)