SEASON OF CHANGEa

  Iowa is a funny place.  The weather is so unpredictable.  Last Saturday it was sunny and dang near 70 degrees.  It was beautiful.  I was out on my niece's deck cutting tile for the bathroom remodel I told you about.
  Tuesday night I was over there putting the finishing touches on that project and I over heard her telling her kids that they had to quickly get to the basement.  When I asked why she told me the tornado sirens were going off.  So I laid down my tools and did what every red blooded intelligent man would do and went to the door to look for the tornado.  I saw a heck of a lot of lightening and the thunder was almost non-stop, but I saw no funnel.
  So I finished up the project and started for home.  Robyn called and told me to wait until the storm rolled past, said it was a small cell and moving quickly.  I tried to shot some video out the truck window for you.

  Sadly, Wednesday was install day and the torrental rainfall from the night before meant we had to haul the pieces thru the mud (new construction) to the kitchen in back of the house.  There was a bobcat with a fork lift adaption and rubber tracks on the construction site so it helped us move the pieces to the door.  Here are some pics of the kitchen and dinning table.

The inlaid tiles match other colors in the room

The spiral theme runs through-out the house

  Thursday the weather started turning cold again.  I realize it is only March and I have lived in Iowa all my life but once it gets warm I don't want it to change.  I just put away my flannel footie pajamas and now it is cooling off again.  

  Thursday night we had our small group.  The weather change caused Robyn some headache problems so she couldn't make it.  We were supposed to host but we were able to get the church to give us a room to use for the evening.  There were a hundred women (it seemed like a hundred to me) setting up the church for a women's function to be held on Friday night.  I was able to squeeze into the kitchen and make a couple pots of coffee for our small group.  It's a good thing I'm skinny.  

  We are doing a study on understanding the bible.  It's funny, the more I learn the more I want to learn.  I remember not so many years ago asking questions about Jesus, like was He more than just a good man, and was He just a teacher of things that were good.  I now know how silly those questions were but here is a quote from someone much wiser than me on these matters.  

    "A man who is merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.  He would either be a lunatic on the level of a man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the devil of hell.  You must make your choice.  Either this man was and is the son of God; or else a mad man or something worse.  You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.  But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher.  He has not left that open to us.  He did not intend to."    C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity

  As a post script I would like to add that C.S. Lewis was one of the most outspoken atheists before he began to study Christ and the Bible.

  The other day I overheard a quote on the radio station I listen to (99.5 The Pulse).  It was something along these lines..  'If you decide to search for the truth, you won't have to look far because the truth will find you.'   

  Anyway, back to the weather.  So late Thursday night as I lay all tucked under my quilt trying to stay warm, I was thinking about the weather changes and I made myself realize how much worse it could be.

It gives me a back-ache just thinking about it

Imagine my surprise when I woke up to this on Friday morning.

I never looked outside til the garage door opened

Thankfully, it was all melted by that afternoon.  So in less than a week we went from cold to sunny and 70 to tornados to tropical rainfall to snow.  We definetly get all the seasons in Iowa.  

  Friday I met up with a friend (JayBo) who does siding and we fixed the outside of my sister's house.  He made her an offer on residing the entire house (it really needs it) that was about 2/3rd less than a previous bid she had recieved.  She want's to think about it for a little bit.  She has several things she wants to do so she needs to prioritize.  

  So JayBo and I went out to get a bite to eat.  He had been talking about a place called Smokey D's BBQ.  He mentioned that he once had their BBQ nachos..  What?  Yup, BBQ nachos.  He said they were awesome.  I said I gotta try those.  I should have known something was up when he ordered a tenderloin.  They brought my meal to me on a serving platter.  The other patrons were gawking at me with my mountain of food in front of me.  Honestly, it was enough for a family of five.  But I wasn't going to let that deter me.  I ate and ate until I was stuffed.  BBQ pork, tons of spicy cheese, tomatoes, chives, jalapenos, sour cream.  My arm was sore from lifting so many bites to my mouth.  It was delicious,  and it was still a mountain.  I hardly made a dent.  Other diners had come and gone and I was still eating.  Man vs. Food needs to try to eat all that.  I'm sure it can't be done.

  Saturday morning I slept in until 10.  I haven't slept that late since I was a teen-ager.  It may have been from all the hours I have been working or it may have been food coma, but either way I had things to do.  I got dressed and went to do a small side job, then Robyn and I sat down to watch Idol we had taped.  They all sang pretty good. 

  Afterwards we decided to give Calvin a hair cut.  We bought clippers so we can try to save a little money.  His groomer costs us 50 bucks every couple of months.  It seemed like a no brainer.  I can tell you that he has a LOT of hair.  Here are some pics to tell the story.

Just a little off the top, please

If you make my hair look like yours I will bite your shin while you sleep

Anybody need a wig?

We had done some research on Google and knew that a bath was next.  But it took nearly an hour for the haircut so we sat down to rest for a few minutes.  Oddly, when we said it was bath time Calvin went straight to the tub.

He couldn't wait to get in

Then he couldn't wait to escape

After we towel dried him somewhat, Robyn took him downstairs and dried him completely with the blow dryer.  The wash and dry took another hour and I'm sure it was very stressful on the poor little guy.  It was a little stressful on Robyn and I as well.  So Robyn and Calvin went off to bed and I decided to blog.  But I rushed back into the bedroom to get a pic of the finished product.

His eyes tell me I should slowly back out of the room

Now we just need to get this one up on the counter and give him a clipping..

Whut?

That might be a lot more stressful on us.  Perhaps another time.

Peace

Dan

 

BEFORE AND AFTER

Holy smokes!  It has been quite a while since I posted last.  I left off with a mention that Robyn and I were going to spend some time together.  So, Saturday morning we got up, showered and pointed the car towards town.  Our first stop was the Home Builders Assocation Show at the fairgrounds.  I wanted to show off the booth that Speck had there.  It was really drawing a crowd, and why not?  We had some of the neatest stuff there.  (Don't mean to brag, but darn it, it's true)  We met our friends from church there and spent a couple of hours checking out all the latest gadgets and what not for your home.  We also entered a drawing for a new car (and recieved several calls about water purifiers in the next couple days).  Here is a pic of the busy booth.

Check out the hottie in the tan pants.

Afterwards, Robyn and I decided to grab a bite to eat.  We found a fast food place that has A&W and Long John Silvers together and thought that sounded fun.  They have root beer on tap from a keg and frosted mugs.  YUM!  Here's Robyn enjoying hers.

Cheers!

I had the seafood feast pictured over Robyn's left shoulder.  It was delicious.  It really was, but we figured we could do better than the cooks at a fast food resturant, so we made plans to cook a turkey that had been hibernating in our freezer for the last few months.

We took the turkey out and let it thaw for a couple days.  If you know me, you are expecting something really bad to happen here, however it all went surprisingly well.  We followed the directions on the wrapper.  It said to cook it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes a pound (or something like that).  Unfortunatly there was no weight given on the wrapper so I weighed myself on the bathroom scale and then weighed myself holding a turkey and figured out that the turkey weighed 12 pounds.  I used my excellent skills of deduction and arrived a cooking time of four hours.  Four hours came and went but the little button didn't pop out.  

We decided to put in a call to the master chef, mom.  Of course she dosen't cook her turkey that way.   So we just had to wait it out.  Five and a half hours later this is what we took out of the oven...

The house smelled as good as this turkey looks

That picture may be pretty, but that was before the carnage.  One hour later...

I never saw the vultures that did this

Speaking of turkeys, I went ahead and did an extreme make over on my self.  Robyn has complained for years that I am stuck in the 80's.  She dosen't complain about my platform disco shoes.  She dosen't even complain about me cranking up the sound track from Saturday Night Fever every once in a while.  No, her beef is with my hair cut.  So I'm not trendy, what's the big deal?  Do I look 80's to you?

Hey, it's better than a mo-hawk

So, because I love her so much, I decided to make a bold move.  We went to the barber shop (hair salon) and I said 'bring me into this decade'.  They offered to wax my eyebrows, but I politely and quickly declined.  You have to draw a line somewhere.  After watching hair fall to the ground like snow in a blizzard, here is the new me...

Is that Ryan Seacrest?

Does that haircut make my face look fat?  Don't answer that.  Robyn tells me my hats fit better now.  So I got that going for me.

Let's talk about something else.  You remember that concrete piece that broke in half?  here's a reminder for you..

Bummer

Well that was then and this is now..

Chris is pretty excited about this one

It will be installed Wednesday along with the rest of the kitchen and dining room table.  I will post some pics of the whole thing later.

Well last Thursday was St. Patty's day.  We are old and don't really celebrate that much anymore, but the 17th is also Adam's birthday.  He is the son Robyn adopted out when she was only 18.  It is a wonderful story that I will share another time.  He now owns a tattoo shop in California and Canyon wants to go visit him this summer and get a tattoo.  Ah, to be young and carefree again.  We told him to do that when we were no longer in charge.  Speaking of Canyon, he has been putting in the hours and earning the pay.  We are very proud of him, but not just for his work ethic.  We recieved this e-mail from one of his teachers...

refridgerator art of the 10th graders

One final thing.  I said several weeks ago that I was going to work my magic and turn a turd into a diamond.  My niece's bathroom needed an extreme make over worse than me. (I know that's hard to believe but trust me on this one)  I am very proud of this job.  Here is one more set of before and after pictures..

The turd

After a little abracadabra alakazam, this is the result..

The diamond

Yes, that's the same bathroom, and yes, my back is killing me.  I will go over tomorrow and add some finishing touches, then we can say welcome home Tucker family, welcome home.

I have been putting in a lot of hours myself, between my full time job, overtime, bartending and side jobs.  With several more side jobs on the horizon and projects at work really starting to pick up, Robyn said something that really makes sense.  Because we decided to give my entire raise as part of our tithe and bring us closer to the ten percent we want to give, we believe God is faithful in his promise to provide.  He is raining blessings down on us just like He said in the book of Malachi. 

 "Test me in this, bring in your first fruits to my storehouse, and I will bless you abundently, so much that your grain bins can not hold it all, your vats will overflow with fine wine."

  

Sure my back hurts, but it hurts so good.

Peace

Dan

THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE UGLY

  We got a phone call last Saturday morning from Wayne, one of the pastors at our church.  He had back surgery on the 26th and it was more than the doctor had anticipated.  We had visited him the day after the operation and he thought he would be getting out the next day.  We were surprised when he said he was still there but he had gotten a urinary infection and was just starting physical therapy.  All that to tell you he called us to see if we would bring him some coffee because "the coffee there was horrible" he told us.
  We quickly showered, got some coffee and headed to the hospital.  After several minutes arguing with the nurse at the desk about whether he had been sent home or not, he called to tell us he was at a different place since Monday.  Apoligies given, we headed to the therapy place.  The 'good' is he was healing nicely as seen in this pic.

He always smiles like that when he's next to a pretty girl.

The 'bad' is the recovery time is longer than expected.  Here is a pic of the 'ugly'.

OUCH!

We decided to stop at subway and grab a quick bite to eat.  That was a 'bad' idea.  It wasn't so quick.  There was a tournament of some kind in town and appearantly every player wanted to eat a five dollar footlong.  The line was out the door.

Where's Jared?

When we finally got our food the line was still out the door.  Those teen-agers behind the counter earned their paychecks that day.  It got 'ugly' when we got home because we weren't the only ones in our house who were hungry...

After church on Sunday, I went into work to get some projects done for the Home Builders Association  show the following week-end.  On the way in I stopped by a local watering hole to wish Nick, my brother-by-a-different-mother, a happy 55th birthday.  I bought him a birthday beer and gave him one of the daily devotional books we get from church.  I think he was delighted.

Waiting for cake and ice creame

At the shop I worked on a couple projects that we are really excited about.  The overtime was greatly appreciated.  The projects continued on throughout the week.  We also have other jobs going at the same time and while this table for the show is 'good',....

I may do countertops in my house this color.

...this bar for a client quickly turned 'ugly'!  

Holy crap!  This ain't 'good'.

This dosen't happen very often.  It is a rather expensive glass mix design with inlayed tiles.  It cracked completely in half as we tried to flip it onto a cart for processing.  I've had a few pieces crack in the years that I've been doing this, but I have never seen one crack in half.   Depression set in for a short time, but we can't do anything about it so like a lizard losing it's tail, we will make another one.  As a matter of fact, I just finished the mold today so we can pour it next week.   Besides, this next project makes me almost forget about that broken bar.  This sink is way 'good'.

We spent Thursday setting up our booth at the show.  Just seeing the pieces we put in our booth keeps me reminded of why I got into this business in the first place.  We have some really cool stuff, and it is nice to see the finished product and know that I had a hand in creating it. 

Thursday night Robyn and I had small group.  It had been almost a month since I was able to meet with everyone so I really enjoyed the discussion. (And the cheese cake)  On Friday, almost as if on cue, the devotional grabbed me by the ear and made me realize what all the 'ugly' this week was for.  Here, you read it.

The devotional has a way of working right into my day.

Friday night Robyn had a dinner date with some of the girls from small group, so I picked up a few extra   overtime hours working at the HBA show.  Here is a picture of the sweetest booth at the show.

It's all 'good'.

Saturday Robyn and I are going to spend some quality time and I am looking forward to that so I am going to sign off for now and get some rest.

Thank you Lord for another week.  You are 'Good'.

Peace

Dan

  

NOTHER DAY, NOTHER DOLLAR

It was a long week.  I didn't hardly see my family in six days.  As you most likely know I was working on my niece's bathroom and that was on top of my full time job and another part time job.  Anyway I was able to complete the first half of the job.  The shower stall and window will be done when we get some nicer weather.  Although I already posted some of these pics, I think it is interesting to see them in succesion.

Easy..

..as..

..one..

..two..

..three!

Just needs a coat of paint and it is showroom sweet.

At my full time job we are busy getting ready for the Home Builders Association Show at the fair grounds scheduled for next week.  We will have a booth and always like to have something new and cool for the people to see.  In my last post I shared a purple curly table that we made for a client.  We liked it so much that we made one for our showroom, and to take to the show.  But we didn't go with purple, we decided to use a secret mix design.  Take a look at this.  It's my new favorite piece.

I can hear you saying "That's concrete?".   Yep.

As I tell everyone, it isn't easy bending the concrete into that shape, you have to keep it at just the right moisture level. (Oops, I have to quit sharing all our company secrets)  Another piece is a bathroom sink I designed.  It has some unique features.

I may take this home

It slopes to a front slot drain.  The faucet is mounted IN the bowl with handles on the side.  It is going to be way cool when it is done.  With the other projects going on we are blessed to be quite busy.  It sounds like I may be working some overtime.  We can definetly use the money.  But it's not all bad,  I had my review at Speck last week.  Because of the awesome things we have done in our first year we all got raises and we will get another review in six months.  Keep your fingers crossed.

At my part time job things have been a little busier than usual too.  I had a soldier on leave stop in with some of his friends on Wednesday so I stayed open later than usual for them.  My brother and sister stopped in also and kept me company.

The smart one and the good looking one.  You decide.

On the way home from work I had to stop and fill up the gas.  The price of gas just about made me puke.

I may need a forth job

When my tank was full, I read the meter and I almost passed out.

My wallet actually made a gagging sound at the sight of this.

Since I have been working late all week, we have been taping Idol.  Robyn and I sat down tonight to relax, drink some wine and enjoy three days of Idol.  Tape one was supposed to be the female singers but for some reason the VCR (yes I still have a VCR) decided to tape Regis and Kelly over Idol.  So we changed tapes to watch the male singers.  There are some awesome singers this year.  After that we put in the results tape and as can be expected with the Griswolds, the tape ran out half way through the show.  So I need to know who stayed and who went.  Somebody help me.  This did turn out to be a blessing because we popped out the tape and Bucket List was on TV.  We love that movie, so we drank our wine and laughed and cried for a couple hours.  I like the way Morgan freeman's character approaches Jack Nicolson's character about faith.  Not pushy, he just says "what if you're wrong?".  That has to make someone want to dig a little deeper and find out for themselves.  I say do the research and find the truth.  I did.  Now there is just one man I put my faith in.

He has never let me down, and He never will.

So even though this week has been a lot of hard work and gas prices are astronomical and my VCR seems to be posessed,  I like to keep a positive attitude.  So I focus on whats good.  Like this sunset I caught outside my nieces house.

I wonder if I can make concrete look like that.

Life is beautiful.

Peace

Dan