Extreme Makeover

Thanksgiving Day was great as always. Mom always does a great job of fixing up everything down to the cranberry sause. Got together with my whole family and enjoyed some good family time. Even Grandma Cline was there. After lunch we watched a video from the trip my parents took on their Alaskian cruise. The kids played video games and ran around the house. My only regret is that I didn't get to watch any football... so much for traditions... :-)

On Friday, two of my wife's sisters came down for the weekend to help decorate and buy things for the house. And boy-oh-boy did they ever... I felt like one of those people on Extreme Home Maker TV show. They went out shopping on Friday afternoon around 2pm and didn't come home until after 7pm. Then we hit it again on Saturday. One of them is an excellent seamstress and made some new living room curtains to match our new "look". They told me it was the "French Country" style... whatever that means. She's also going to make some new dining room curtains, but the material had to be ordered, so it's being shipped to her address and she'll have them ready for Christmas. We had a really nice time with them, but I think we wore them out with all the shopping! HA!

Yesterday (Mon., 11/29th), the furiture store brought some lamps and was going to bring a new entertainment center for the living room (but it was damaged in transport, so they took it back). They also took back one chair we had bought and the downstairs entertainment center which turned out to be too big for the downstairs. We also had the guys move the couch & loveseat that we had just bought (which was downstairs) upstairs and our old couch, loveseat and recliner downstairs. Just glad I didn't have to move it. We may not get our new entertainment center until January as the other one they had in stock had a slight crack in the wooden leg, so they will have to order a new one. The salesman at the store told us that this is the time of year that all the funiture manufacturers take off for the holidays and vacations for the year. So any orders will be delayed until after January 8th... Anyway, it's been a little crazy lately with all the funiture moves...

Also, last Friday, we noticed the arched window in our bedroom was all cracked. AHH! It was the inside pane of glass too. Eariler in the day, there were tree service guys out there removing one of our neighbor's trees. My guess is that the loud noise of the tree chipper and stump grinder vibrated enough to crack the window. A guy from the glass company is coming out today to measure and give us an estimate on replacing that.

The previous owners of the house still haven't gotten the various items fixed that they were suppose to have done when we bought it. Plus, we still have their pool table and piano... Hopefully....one of these days... it'll all be taken care of and over with...

As far as sports over the weekend... Hooray for the local college b-ball and football teams and a double hooray for our local high school football teams that won state championships. One small 2A school won their very first state title (Blair Oaks beat Cameron 27-26) with an undefeated season. Congrats! The local pro football teams were a different story though.... Always next year I guess!

Blessings!

Snow!

The first snowfall has hit today... First it was a mix of rain/snow early this morning, but most of the day it has been coming down pretty good. It's a heavy wet sticking snow too, so it'll be good for snowmen/snowballs. According to the weather forecasters, it'll be ending early this evening, with sunshine for Thanksgiving Day. That should make a pretty picture!

Not to end on a down note, but local college team lost in the 3rd round of the Guardians Classic tourney in KC, MO last night to Crieghton. Now they play the consolation round against Houston tonight.

Yep, just checked... still snowing... :-) and I can almost smell the turkey... ummmm....

Blessings and Giving Thanks....

New Furniture

We went to the furniture store Saturday (Nov 20th) and picked out a sofa, loveseat, chair, entertainment center all for the downstairs family room and a nice chair for the master bedroom. They delivered it last night. Why does everything look better in the store than when they get it to your house??? My wife was a little disappointed... and a tad upset... so what to do? The entertainment center is a little big, but I think it will be okay... I just have this sinking feeling that some of it might be going back....

The room is still in a little bit of disarray since the previous owners still haven't picked up their pool table and piano. They keep waiting until some good weather so the ground will dry out as it's been rainy lately... and now the weather man is calling for snow tonight/tomorrow.... We may have just got a new pool table as well! :-) It is a very nice one... but very heavy. The slate top is all one piece. The piano is very old, out of tune, and about to fall apart....

The guy that is suppose to fix the little problems found by the home inspector was suppose to come this past weekend to fix them, but never called or showed up... Now it will most likely be after Thanksgiving. Just a little frustrating and has really upset our realtor. I hope it all gets taken care of soon. I don't want to lose any friendships over the deal. That's the one bad thing about buying a home from someone you know.

Got a photo montage video project completed last night for a co-worker. She wanted one done to celebrate her parents' 40th wedding anniversary. She only gave me about a week and a half to get it done, but at least she had already scanned in the photos which takes the most time. So I cut her a deal on the price... Although she would have gotten a great deal at my "full" price as well. I only charge $1 a picture which is probably "way" below most professional services. But, since I don't depend on this stuff for my actual income, I don't worry about it too much. The extra cash is nice though.

Well, it was a bad weekend for local sports teams (college & pro)... they all lost... so I won't go into it.

Blessings!

Dog Gone It!

Well, it has finally been accomplished. The dog is gone. After failed attempts to find her a new home, we finally just took her back to the animal shelter where we got her. Our son took it kind of hard, but I think he understands. He never really played with her or wanted to take care of her anyway, so I don't think he'll miss her "that" much. I really hated to have to get rid of her, but I didn't know what else to do. She wanted to be free and I didn't want to leave her caged up all the time. It was the best thing to do.

On a happier note, we had our Thanksgiving luncheon yesterday. Man, that was some good eat'n! Sure was hard to get any work done that afternoon...

Well, today is Friday... so I can't complain about that either... :-)

Blessings!

Happy 13th Birthday!

Forgot to mention in my previous post that today is the 13th birthday for my twin nephews, Justin and Juilian. Happy Birthday guys! Man... to be a teenager again... :-)

Blessings!

Meeting and Another Win!

The church board meeting went pretty smooth and we actually got out pretty early. The financials for October were up (due to there being five Sundays in October) and there were no problems to solve this month. The Chinese food was good and the Peanut Butter pie was awesome too. Next month we set the various ministry budgets, so I imagine the meeting will go long.

Whoo Hoo! Another win for my local college basketball team. They are now 2-0! They are playing in the Guardians Classic Tourney and last night beat Houston 77-61. They now head to the semi-finals in Kansas City.

Blessings!

Today's Update...

Wow... I kind of let time slip away and haven't updated my blog in awhile...

We're slowly getting adjusted to our new house. There are still a few boxes around that need to be unpacked and a few rooms still need to get setup, but we'll get there eventually.

A co-worker of mine has some land, and he's been clearing out trees and giving away free firewood, so one night last week I went out and picked up a truckload. Now we're set for some nice fireplace warmed evenings...

I think we're planning to go out this Saturday to look for some furnature for our downstairs family room. It's getting kind of hard to sit on the floor all the time to watch TV... Speaking of which, college basketball has finally started! Woo Hoo! My local college team just got a brand spanking new arena to play in. They had their first "official" game of the season last night and beat Brown University, 68-60.

We still have our dog... One shelter we talked to was full and not accepting right now, and another gentleman that lives on a farm close to my mother-in-law said he didn't have time for another dog. I have written to another shelter, but haven't heard back yet. I just hope this gets settled soon.

I've got a church board meeting tonight... Just hope it doesn't go long... I'm tired as I woke up really early this morning (around 3:30am) and couldn't go back to sleep.

Blessings!

We're In and It's Over!

YES! We're finally in our new house! It seemed like it was a long road with it all starting back in July when I saw the house on a realtor's website. Last Friday (Oct 29th) morning, we met to do the closing on our "old house" which was a little bumpy with some of the paperwork not correct, but we made it though and got our check. Then we had to run by the insurance place to pay the first year for our new house. Then off to the other bank for the closing on our "new" house. After that we rushed home, scarfed down some lunch and then the moving help started to arrive.

We got more done than I had planned on (which was great). The weather was a little "iffy" on Friday afternoon as dark clouds kept passing overhead. It did rain fairly hard on the east side of town, but we only got a few sprinkles a time or to. I guess God had His hands over us. Saturday, the second crew of movers showed up at 9am and by 12:30pm, we had all the big funiture items moved. We bought pizza for everyone and then a few stayed to help move the rest of the small stuff like clothes, etc. We were totally done by 4:30pm. Saturday's weather was beautiful....not a cloud in the sky.

We went out to McDonald's for dinner and then went back over to the "old" house to clean it up. My mother had cleaned out the cabinets during the day whiched helped tremendously. My wife cleaned the bathrooms while I vacuumed and after mopping the kitchen, we finally left at 9:30PM.

We were going to take the dog that evening also, but I had trouble starting my truck due to the anti-theft getting engaged when my son had moved the steering wheel before I got in the truck. The key wouldn't turn and I didn't know what to do. After getting back home from cleaning, I tried one more time and after jerking the steering wheel, the key finally worked and the truck started! Whew... I thought I was going to have to call the service people. It was pretty frustrating after having a long two days of moving to have that happen.

So, Sunday morning, I went back over to the "old" house and let the dog out for a bathroom break and then went on to church. After church, I came back and picked up the dog and took her over to our "new" house. We're still trying to get rid of her, and hopefully we can before it gets bad weather.

I"m still tired and a little worn out, but slowing we're getting unpacked and settled into our new home. The stressful part is finally over and we can finally enjoy our new place.

On another topic, yesterday was Election Day. Thankfully, my wife and I were able to vote via Absentee ballot since we were moving and we were able to avoid the long lines at the polls. As of this morning, George W. Bush has defeated (narrowly) John Kerry for the Presidency. I'm just glad all the election stuff is over for now... All those radio/tv/print ads were about to drive me crazy.

Blessings!