TAKE A BREAK ALREADY

Uf-da!  The remodel goes on.  And on and on and on.  Sunday night I was able to get the grout on the tile.  That's about all.  Why, you ask?  There have been some disruptions in my plans.

My brother, Steve was in town.  I don't get to see him very often so I thought I would run to my sister's house and visit for a bit.  He flew into Kansas City and rented a car to drive up to Sioux City for  Christmas.  He stopped by Des Moines to see his son and daughter before driving back to K.C. for the flight back to Florida.  The great thing was that he rented a small car for good gas milage.

Steve and his clown car

Unfortunately, it only got good milage in town.  There was appearantly too much wind resistance on the highway for the one cylindar engine. (I'm just guessing on the engine size, it could be a pedal car)

After a short visit I had to get home.  There was more remodeling to do.  But we went to Best Buy instead.  If you remember, a few blogs ago I talked about getting a new dishwasher because ours in on the fritz.  Well, that turned into a dishwasher and a microwave.  We are going to get a oven and fridge to match next year.  Robyn wants to have stainless appliances so the house will sell faster when we put it on the market in a couple of years. (After canyon graduates)  So I opted to install the micro.  An easy task, one would think.  

The microwave isn't like most that I have installed.  I won't go into the gory details here.  Suffice it to say that when you buy the inexpensive model there will be blood... and tears.

Sparkley

Canyon helped me and wanted to be the first to use it.  He made microwave popcorn.  Robyn hadn't even seen it installed yet.

Killroy,.. I mean Canyon was here

While the install was going on, Robyn was upstairs painting the guest bath.  Yes we are fixing that one up too.  If you look at the pic you can see the blue color from the 70s.

I think an update is appropriate

that looks much better

Canyon got the microwave cleaned out before she had a chance to see the mess.  

Now you can understand why I was only able to get the grout done this week-end.  But it is looking good.  Here are a couple more pics of the remodel in progress..

coming together

needs a few finishing touches

Oh,  and I forgot to mention that Canyon wanted help assembling one of his Christmas presents.  It took several hours but the pay off was great.  He won't admit it but I took him to school in ping pong.

live action shot of a spanking

Monday at work I was given this...

the picture is not actual size

We are going to use this pond in the show.  I need to fabricate a fiber optic cap to go on the wall around the pond.  It will have a fountain, fish and the lighted wall cap.  It should be awesome.  

I also added a second tier of shelves on the mod table base

ready for a coat of finish

Tuesday we poured two more of the pieces for the Iowa State University job.  We demolded them later that same day

looking kinda rough now

We continued the processing of the first two pieces.  They want a green product for their project, that's why they chose concrete.  But what really sold them was the fact that we could use recycled glass as the aggregate.

It really looks pretty

Tuesday night I had to bartend.  It was an unusually slow night and I was all alone in the bar.  100% of the people in there were named Dan.  I was stocking the coolers when a friend came in.  His name is Danny.  Still holding the 100%.  It was only 10 minutes later that another regular came in, and his name is Dan too.  Honestly.

Then a friend from church came in.  No, her name isn't Dan.  It's Joleen.  She just happened by and had never seen the place.  I introduced her to Dan and Dan.  She took my number down to 75% though.  But in the most unique of coindinces, another couple came in.  I hadn't seen them in a while and although her name slips my mind, I could never forget his name.  Yup.  Dan.  Six people in the bar and 80% were named Dan.  I had to get a pic for the blog.

From right to left, Dan, Danny, Daniel, Dano and the girls

Wednesday at work my boss texted me a pic of a cabinet he saw in some showroom.  I texted back to see if he wanted me to build one for the show.  He said Yep.

professional blue print

I whipped up some drawings and built a cabinet.  

looks just like the blueprint

Wednesday night we had to go up to the hospital.  Robyn's brother was admitted for pancreitius.  This is a guy that likes to eat.  But the treatment includes a no food diet.  You may be able to tell in this picture that he was looking at me in the same way Wile E. Coyote looks at the road runner.

I'm staying just beyond his reach

Thursday at work I made this bench for my other new tool.  I got this from the same garage at the Speck USA main offices.  Between the band saw and this disc sander, I will be able to produce much higher quality foam knock outs.  (Used in pouring countertops)

Bob Villa would be jealous

Although I had nothing to do with this next thing, I had to get a pic.  We have a client that wants this pattern on her lower level concrete stamped floor.  This is a sample for her to take home.

Partridge family?

Friday at work Chris and I went to a clients home to reseal some countertops.  This rarely happens.  There was a bad batch of sealer but at least it is fixable.  We spent most of the day getting everything taped, covered and tented.  Chris was going back Saturday to finish.

thats alotta tape

Saturday, my plans to work on the bathroom were foiled again.  Robyn and I are thinking of switching to the new cell phone plan from Wal-mart.  Unlimited minutes, texts, and web for only 45 bucks.  So we headed up to Verizon to cancel my phone.  I'm not sure what happened but this guy is one hell of a salesman...

Tony closed the deal

My first smart phone

I found out that I wouldn't get the coverage I wanted if I switched.  This phone will cost a little more but after several hours of weighing the differences we chose this route.  My new phone is called the Commando.  It is made for people in the construction industry.  I am told there is a video on you tube of a guy affixing one to his tire on a off road truck and taking it for a few laps with no real problems to the phone.  The screen is gorilla glass.  The thing is built like a tank.     

Uhrg uhrg uhrg.  (Manly grunts, in case you weren't sure)

Sunday morning Robyn and I served at church.  Afterward, I thought I would quickly install our new dishwasher and then finish the bathroom.  I thought wrong.  When someone asks me what I know about plumbing I always say I know that you call a plumber.  I feel the same way about electricity.  So why than did I think I would install a dishwasher.  That job dosen't call for any carpentry skills, just plumbing and electrical.  So, after several hours, a couple bloody knuckles and lots of tears, here is the devil machine..

two appliances down, two to go

That evening we got a phone call from one of our pastors.  He had been up to visit Robyn's brother in the hospital.  He told us that Mike had accepted Christ during his visit and asked us if we would take him a bible.  Of course we did.  Mike was excited to show us his re-birth certificate.  Praise God.

On a personal note, I have been told by both Robyn and Canyon that I have been quite crabby lately.  I've noticed it in myself too.  I want to believe that there may be too much on my plate for the last few weeks.  Maybe it's finacial, or a lack of sleep.  I also noticed that I feel like I have fallen away from Jesus.  I'm not sure why I feel that way but I don't want to be like that.  So I prayed.  I prayed that He would forgive me of my sins because I am a sinner.  I asked God to ease the burdens that tether me down.  I asked for His peace to once again rise up in me.  And I ask these things knowing that He will do them, because of His promises.  God loves me.  

God loves you.

Now I think I am going to take a hint from Canyon..

mblkxzz.. slobber.. cvhfqjk

Peace

Dan