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