Poll Time...

So... I'm thinking of putting slate down around that flagstone instead of finishing with the flagstone. I'll cut a straight line on the flagstone, then make the slate level with the flagstone. What do you think? Why you might ask? Because I'm a cheap bastard, and I rather like the thought of slate at $.99 a sq. ft. as opposed to flagstone at $6 a sq. ft. :)

Lightly Matt, Lightly...

So I decided to "lightly" sand that bar today and give it another coat of stain... Sigh. I ended up sanding, sanding and sanding some more... Oh well, I'm always of the opinion, do it right... :)

So let the three day process begin... Tomorrow I will give it another coat of stain, and then Tuesday will put the spar urethane coats on it to protect it from the weather. Looks pretty good if I do say so myself, it will look like a piece of furniture in three days... :)

Yesterday I went over to my neighbor's house for a BBQ (Jimmy's), but dinner wasn't ready yet. One of Jimmy's friends has a kid who has MD and he was dying to get in the water, so I took him over to swim while they finished cooking. Anytime you think you have 'issues', just go visit a family who has a child with a disease like that, it will make all of your 'issues' seem quite small... Great kid btw!

Chance with his snake yesterday, yes, he still has quite a LOT of pets... Yes, I AM aware that he needs a haircut... :)

This picture is for you Brittany! It is our sunflowers. Our neighbor gave us some when they were about 3 inches tall, it hasn't flowered yet, but I'll post another pic when it does... ;)

This IS The Life My Friends... :)

Yeah, even though I have toiled on this thing for three+ years, I LOVE it!! It's exactly how I envisioned it when I planned it and started building it... I'm sure everyone is tiring of the pool house blogs, but I'm SO stoked to almost be done with this thing, it's about the only thing on my mind these days... :)

My "workspace"... :) Once I have completed everything, I will sand that bar down again and put another coat of stain on it and about four coats of spar urethane on it... I did that before, but obviously I didn't put enough coats of the urethane on it... ;)

My neighbor Zac's kid. Zac has helped me over the past three years do a lot of the building of the pool house. I'm pretty sure he is also glad it is almost done! :) Carolyn was watching Cylee today, and she LOVES the water!!

I'm Always Glad When The Weekends Are Over...

Most people live for the weekends, I actually prefer the weekdays... :) Don't get me wrong, I DO like the weekends, it's just that my job requires zero physical exertion, only mental, and on the weekends I wear myself out...

I FINALLY got the gas run to the hot water heater in the pool house!! That thing has been sitting there unused for about three years... :) Another milestone down!

Carolyn saw these chairs on Craigslist for free! I was skeptical at first, but went and got them this AM. We put this one in Tanner's room so he can recline and watch TV if he is so inclined... That chair is SUPER comfortable! Nothing was wrong with it either except the piece on the bottom needed a screw put back in it... Gotta love Craigslist!

We also got two of these leather chairs! Super comfortable and they recline! Nothing wrong with them except one needs to have the piece on the bottom reattached. No holes in the leather, nice leather too! Not sure why the guy was giving them away, but give them away he did, so we took them... We'll put the other one like this in Taylor's room...

So after I got the gas run to the hot water heater yesterday, and after I made the 'chair run', I decided to build a little deck to get back to the hose because Carolyn did not like tripping over all that crap on the way to get the hose. I basically had all this wood just laying around from building the deck. I had to buy three boards I think...

The finished product! Worked out quite nice if I do say so myself... LUCKILY my neighbor Jimmy had an extra deck board laying in his basement, because otherwise I would have had to go to Home Depot for the sixth time this weekend! Whew! Thanks Jimmy!

That pretty much sums up my weekend, and I'm GLAD tomorrow is Monday! Many people hate their jobs, I love mine! Hopefully everyone else had a great weekend as well! Is it nearly September ALREADY?!?!?!?! Sigh. The cold is coming...

I Can Taste It...

Yes, I can!!! As most of the viewers know, I have been working on this damn thing for over three years now... I am SO close to being done I can taste it! Literally! ;) Still a lot left to do, but the major things are nearly almost done... I LOVE it too I might add, the pool house that is! :)

(Although, if I DID have it to do over, there would be a swing set there, without question! :)

So I do have wireless out at the pool house, but I MUST have hard wired ethernet!! I have run this cable out there now three times!! Third time is a charm, so they say... Of course the problem now is I got so fed up with it not working that I just ran an ethernet wire out here outside of the conduit! Whatever, it works, I'll duct tape the wire to the conduit and bury it anyway... :) It's FINALLY working now, don't mess with a good thing!

The switch I installed at the pool house, so essentially I have seven hard wired connections up there... :) The more the merrier I ALWAYS say when it comes to ethernet connections... :)

Works GREAT I might add!!!


Yes, I did finally get all the towel holders, toilet paper holder, towel rings, robe hooks, etc, etc, etc all installed!!

So yeah, this is a great moment for me, particularly since I've been screwing with that hard wired ethernet connection for about three days now... :( Whatever, I am so motivated to get this done you can't make it up, I have many, many more things to concentrate on... So yeah, major milestone in this project from hell... :)

The Project From Hell...

I call it the 'project from hell', but it is something that I have done of my own choosing, so I guess I should really stop bitching about it... :) Anyway, it is actually nearing completion, even though I've been saying that for about two years... This time I mean it! :) A few pics of what it looked like as of this AM...

The shower/sink room... Kind of small, but it works quite nice!

Shower/sink room again... I only actually have some paint touch-up to do in that room believe it or not...

Toilet/sink room... All that's left in there is hanging the towel rod, toilet paper holder and a robe hook... (All of which I've had for about two years... :)

Kitchen... I think the only thing left in there is putting the end on the laminate countertop...

Kitchen, different angle...

Ditto...

My new hangout! Satellite, Internet, phone, fridge, microwave, shower and shitter; what more does a man need??

Front view...

All in perspective...

I've been working on this thing since June of 2007... At the time, I was under the impression that I could build it all in six months, yeah, three years later... :) Anyway, other than the items I mentioned, about all that is left outside is: finishing the flagstone on the walkways and stairs; finishing the fire pit area (which you can't see in this view, but it is going to be about where I'm standing to take the pic if you can picture it... :); finishing the slate on the back and sides and a little trim work on the outside, so all in all, not bad since I did it all myself... :) It is, however, time for Matthew to relax for a while!!

Yeah, I Have A Lot Going On...

Wow! I have way too much going on! I'm slowly, but surely narrowing the list of "things to do" down though, of course there are still MANY things left to do... :)

My neighbor (Kathy) took Chance, Tanner and TJ to Helen before school started, they had a blast! Does look like fun...

The three amigos... Tanner, Chance and TJ... They have a blast together!

Yes, I am about to FINALLY install the sinks and toilet in the pool house, man will I be glad when that effing thing is done!! It seems like I have been working on it forever!!

It's nearly done though, and it's actually a lot further along than these pictures suggest... :) I need to take more pictures though, because it seems like I hardly ever take any these days, I'm so over it, I just go work out there and never have the camera with me...

Today, Matthew and I rebuilt the front porch on Marci's house, yeah, the one she fell through and banged herself up. The wood was all rotten, so we just rebuilt it today, which is why I'm tired... :) Glad it's done though, and it turned out pretty good!

Other than that?? Yeah, just work, kids, life, etc, etc... :) It's all falling together though...

Happy 14th Anniversary Carolyn!!!

Happy Birthday Carolyn!!