The day after

Before I forget, I face dialed someone the other day. In case you're confused, face-dialing is an arcane art praticed by budhist monks in outer mongolia and jedi knights (pre-clone wars only). It is similar to pocket dialing but has the added twist of using the face/cheek while on the phone with one's father. It is extremely dangerous and I admonish you to not try it at home lest you invoke a golbal thermonuculear detonation. You have been warned.

Moving on... So, been doing more digging and I'm hoping my communion with the backyard soil is near an end. I have run pipe as of this weekend from the drain line into the basement. Just a trial run mind you. I'm not brave enough to glue it yet. But I've now had a couple nights to think and regret and nothing has come to mind so I think I'll try it. It'll all end in tears I know, but I have to try.

The fourth was interesting. We spent most of the day @ church because we had a monring service, lunch, then afternoon service. Looong day. Of course, then we had to do some fireworks ourselves but it doesn't get dark until 10 or so. Man was it hard keeping the kids behaving until then. And the boys were so excited it was really hard to keep them in line. That combined with the fact that where we had decided to set them off (i wasn't consulted and was too lazy to make people move) was below a tree that is dying. Man, was I scared that something would land in it and we'd have a 4th that we'd never forget.

well, I'm going to reboot my ubuntu now. first linux OS that I've ever used that is easier in most ways than windows. but they have mac envy.

Dirt was never so much fun

Some parents take their kids to disneyland or on a cruise. zor <gasp> a world cup game! (man, that would be child abuse in my mind). But few let their offspring dig ditches for a family event. Yes, well, I like to have my kids earn their keep. It has the added bonus of tiring them out so much that they fall fast asleep quickly. Unfortunately, sometimes they fall asleep on their shovels whilst still still on the job. Then I have to cut their food rations as punishment. Sad, but necessary.

Ok, give me a break. Have you ever tried to dig a ditch with two 3 year old girls, one five year old boy, and one six year old boy?? it's chaos! First you have to try to find shovels for everybody and then you have to keep the oldest boy from splitting the girls'' skulls open as he shovels. Then you have to show one girl how to use a garden spade while the other girl fills in the hole that you're digging. And while all this is while your other boy is digging up the grass where you don't need it dug up. Let's just say I was relieved when they had to go inside for dinner.

tomorrow we have a father/son firearm extravaganza @ the Sherrif's dept. shooting range here in Payette. Pretty cool. Bring your guns, bring your ammo, and prepare to expend some rounds. I swear I can see a quarter instead of a round fire out of my .357 every time I shoot it. Maybe that's because the last time I bought ammo for it that's how much it cost. Well, hopefully nobody shoots anybody else. But if it happens, I'm sure it'll just be a flesh wound ;)

Odds and ends

I put up a tire swing the other day. I had been promising the kids I'd do it for about a year but kept forgetting (just kidding, I just didn't want to do it). So, I had the tire (a white-wall no less) but no rope. Something kept tickling the back of my brain. After I killed the spider I remembered that I saw a tow cable in my truck. Since I haven't had to tow anybody (in the past ten years) I decided that my kids (and my sanity) would appreciate using it for a greater cause. I climbed up in a tree right when we as a family had to go somewhere and while my kids were screaming at me, I looped it around a branch. Rebekah came out to hear the screaming, saw me in the tree, and proceded to continue getting ready to leave. It has worked out pretty well, although the nylon has stretched a couple times so I've had to adjust it. The sun will destroy it soon I'm sure as it does with all things plastic, but I figure a couple foot drop isn't too big a deal.

My Dad was here this weekend and we spent most of friday figuring out plumbing issues. He gave me a lot of good ideas and it was gratifying to talk to him and actually have some good ideas already. I think now I am ready to start working. I'm hoping to get the plumbing and a toilet in before the year is out. Seems pretty low expectations to some, but with a full time job and various obligations plus 6 kids I think that's a realistic goal.

In other news, I'm hungry and I am going to eat a sandwich.

Anniversary fun

three interesting things today.

1. Trinity was so excited when she saw me today that she waved at me. The first wave she's ever done. very cute.

2. The whole family went off-roading (I actually used 4-lo) and enjoyed it. Although, the last hill we went up had Rebekah freaked out a bit. I was a little afraid we might get stuck but Titus really enjoyed it and was kind of making fun of Mom for shutting her eyes.

3. baby Clell was trying to stand on his head for us and just waved goodnight to me as well. He always is at his most goofy when we get him up after his normal bedtime for some reason.

That is all.

Go fly a kite will ya?

I did some minor repairs on our little picket fence. when i was done i took the boys and we went and flew the dragon kite we bought when the girls were babies. That seems pretty simple, right? Well, it wasn't too hard. I had to fight off the boys cause they were so excited. I was going to fly it over my neighbors field, but since he had just planted some crops I figured he wouldn't appreciate us tromping around. So, we meandered over to the middle school which is close to our house, Titus got pretty tired when I couldn't get the kite to achieve the flight to my satisfaction, so he wandered around playing in a dry irrigation ditch. I made Forrest help me most of the time. After a bit I finally got the kite up pretty far and Titus got to hang onto it. He was able to fly it for a bit before the wind failed us and it returned to earth. Forrest didn't get quite as long of flights but he was able to fly it more on his own. He even managed to keep it from crashing once. All told I was pretty impressed and the boys had fun. I hate to say it but I even enjoyed it a bit. Now if I could figure out some way to put a wireless webcam on there, that would be cool.

My wrists are suffering from overwork. We've had too many outages at work that required long hours, so they are hurting me pretty bad. I can't complain too much since it's been over a year since my last major flare-up. I just have to be really careful with them for about a month.

In other more boring news, i'm close to deleting my facebook account. I guess my anti-social tendancies are flaring up too.

good news and bad news

What are hills without valleys huh? We managed to pay off some significant debts with our tax return as well as put some into savings for wood purchases, furnace oil, etc. Unfortunately, we had some expenses unplanned for and so my funds for working on a new bathroom are non-existent. But due to my willful ignorance of our financial state combined with Rebekah's difficulty in keeping me in the loop I have taken over the management. So, at least now if we don't have money I know about it. Of course, Rebekah was kind enough to do the finances before because they stressed me out so much. Hopefully, I've matured a little bit and I can manage to be a little more mature about it.

Titus was working on something tonight and I guess he was using my tools to put some "signs" up. Normally, I wouldn't approve of a child hammering nails into my trim but the piece he was "working" on was so beat up that I decided it couldn't look any worse. After that he took a hammer and and pencil and paper and sat at the table deep in thought. Sometime later he went and got a plastic sack and went around the house picking up toys. Without being asked. Very sweet. He frequently asks when we're going to go visit Grandpa too. We need to make a trip that way, but just for gasoline we're talking $70. Tack on some meals and stuff and it's at least $100. <sigh>

Sigh...

Ever have one of those days when it seems like the only thing that will quench your anger is the spilling of blood? Sometimes I don't understand myself. I just had to apologize to my oldest because he moved a cup full of juice to the wrong table and baby Clell spilled it all over. I think on days like this I need to just withdraw from human interaction to minimize the collateral damage. Speaking of which, Forrest knows what collateral damage is. I bet not too many kids his age do.

Forrest is being home schooled with public school curiculum via k-12. It has been working well because there is a plan and accountability. It works well, because we can ignore some of the secular humanist teachings while still educating the child. Forrest graduated Kingergarten early and was promoted to first grade. The nice thing is that if he's doing well in one area he can go as fast as he wants. But so far he hasn't had any issues so he's working on first grade math and phonics. Rebekah is planning on going over things with him all summer. So, I am pleased. Titus has different strengths and weakness so he'll probably be a bit tougher, but I'm sure he'll do fine too. He'll start up in September. Rebekah is working with Titus and the girls, but oddly enough Serenity knows almost the whole alphabet which is more than either Titus or Liberty. Shows like Word World on PBS help as well.

I think it's interesting how many experiences in my life were invaluable, and others were detrimental. My public school experience had such hugely negative impressions on me due to my classmates that in this day and age it's difficult to seriously consider putting my kids into a school system where teenagers decide they're lesbians and environmental propogranda is the rule of the day. That being said, I don't look down on parents that do use the public school system. Anyway, I am right and you are wrong. And if you don't agree with that statement then you just proved my point.

You are getting very sleepy

Oh wait, I am getting sleepy. I have no idea if you're sleepy or not. But, I'd guess if you have kids then you are. Today I spent some time working on building a Windows Home Server for my brother. It seems like whenever I try to help someone it gets more complicated and takes more time. Oh well, I usually learn something in the process.I did other miscellaneous things. We have a bad goathead infestation so we've been working hard on that. I've sprayed all the weeds twice and today rebekah and I pulled a whole bunch out of the lawn.

Today was an eventful day for Titus. Rebekah took his training wheels off and the timing was good because he's grown enough that in a few short hours he's gotten the hang of it. Not quite as good as Forrest, but he did really well considering how many times he crashed. We had a little girls bike that I fixed up for him because he was getting frustrated with his But after he rode it for a little bit, I think he decided his wasn't so bad. Now Forrest is riding the little bike and Titus is back on his bigger bike. The boys enjoy playing outside a lot more now that we've greatly restricted their other entertainment outlets. A few minutes ago, Rebekah said that they were trying to put my big aluminum ladder up against the tree so they could climb it. And they have hassled me all week to take a walk. So we finally went for one today. We can walk about behind our house down a field to the middle school. Not much there but lots of room to run. I think the boys will sleep well tonight :)

i need to get back to work on my bathroom renovation project but there's so many outside things dragging my attention away now. I've got 3 trees that I need to cut down. Hopefully, when my dad visits he can help me. I also probably need to try to climb up and limb some branches. But, that's a big and dangerous job. I'm lacking motivation to do much because they're all just "work" and not projects. Well, I'm too groggy to be clever and just want to watch some streaming TV about a vampire with a soul named Angel. In case you're curious, that show was created by the same person that created the show Firefly and Serenity.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Day 2

Due to Forrest's mouthy attitude and disrespect to his mother, we have implemented a child-wide ban on watching TV, playing computer games, or playing the Wii. This was Rebekah's idea, and I am supportive. To be honest, I wouldn't have gone this extreme but I don't like my kids being entertained too much. Not sure why, as I did it as much as my Dad would let me get away with. But, I must say that so far, so good. It is only day two, so we'll see. I think we need to go at least a week, but Forrest's attitude will determine how much more than that it goes. We may keep it largely in affect, or much more tightly regulate these things from now on. I'm not sure. But I stayed home today (vacation) because I couldn't get to sleep last night due to some various things. We have a goathead infestation on our property. I didn't realize how fast that stuff moves. It's hit the edge of our lawn and on close examination we have two feet of the edge of our lawn hosting those nasty things. I used all my herbicide yesterday and starting ho-ing (not the female kind, but the garden utensil kind). I'm gonna send Rebekah in town to D&B to round up some more. Until them, I'm trying to motivate myself to start focusing on working on our house again. The past couple windstorms have ripped a bunch of shingles off. Scary places too. Hope I don't fall off when try to fix them.

7 Days later (actually, closer to 8)

This is meant to be a follow-up post about our car purchase, but a lot has happened this week so bear with me. Sunday was our first run with the "burb" and it went well. There are some considerations to factor in loading/unloading but we were pleased. By the way, if this post seems a little scatter brained, it's because I'm typing it while being swarmed by four little ones demanding graham crackers. Ok, back to your regularly scheduled programming...

My follow-up to my car buying experience is largely unchanged. This is good. Occasionally there is euphoria that wears off after a bit of a reality check. Well, I was very happy to have purchased a vehicle that met our needs so certain things were largely ignored. Mileage, certain vehicle features, etc. I have to say though that although our Durango was a nicer trim level, there isn't much that I preferred over the burb. In fact, things like the ride, exhaust/engine sound, dual zone AC in the front, make the burb nicer than I expected. Most importantly I haven't found anything odd like replacement doors or anything to indicate that it'd been in a crash. Of course, I wasn't expecting to find anything like that since I had asked for a carfax first. Always ask for a carfax before buying a car. If the dealership won't give you one go somewhere else. Hometown didn't offer me one, but when I asked it was no big deal and I had it a few minutes later. So, how does this story end? Well, for most people it would be over. For us, we still have to see if they have a spare burb key and I need to give them our spare Durango key. That sucker is expensive so whoever buys it will appreciate having a spare. So, in conclusion, if you're in the market for a new car, do your homework and know the value on what you have and what you want to buy, find a good salesman like Mike Brufffet, find a good dealership like Steve's Hometown in Weiser, and probably most importantly, follow your gut. Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to have a good car-buying experience.

One last comment: I didn't go through their financing people as I wanted to use my credit union. I have been a member of Capital Educators Federal Credit Union since I was a kid. My Dad --a teacher-- used to have a guy come up once a year and sign kids up. In that many years, there have been a couple of mistakes made when I've done business with them, but the great thing about these guys is the level of service they provide. Anytime anything went wrong, they were obsessed with making things right and what more can you ask for? Happily though, this last experience was flawless as Cecile @ the Kuna branch worked on my loan. The service was prompt and friendly and I got a great rate. So, if you're not happy with your financial institution, I would strongly recommend these guys. They have really been branching out (hehehe. what a great pun) and so it's pretty convenient. I do wish they'd get one over in payette county though, but since they are in the credit union co-op, I can use one of the other local credit unions to get cash out.

Now for something completely different...

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blogging for a brief jaunt into where many fear to dread... buying a new car! Ok, it's used. But you still gotta deal with normally unpleasant things such as car salesmen, haggling, more hagggling, walking away, crying wives, crying children, kicked dogs, emasculation, and broken bank accounts. My first experience trying to buy a car about a year ago ended in tears, well actually laughter, as I was offered $6500 on my Durango when I owed $17,000. So, needless to say I was dreading this but we just couldn't put off the purchase any longer. After a few weeks of research we settled on a Suburban and found one at Hometown Motors in Weiser. (Here's a link to the vehicle, but it will be gone from the site soon). I was cautiously optimistic because my Dad had purchased his pickup from there a few years ago and he had a relatively pleasant experience from what I could remember.

After much hemming and hawing, we decided to go ahead with "trying" to purchase it. Part of me was dreading this so much that I partially hoped somebody else would buy it before we were ready. After taking care of some housekeeping, we finally got approval from our Credit Union (Capital Educators FCU) this morning for a 3.9% interest rate. So, my wife called the salesman we had been working with and let him know I'd come up about noon. So, I trudged up there with my shiny durango to see if we could work a deal. Mike met me as I pulled in. I was ready to fend off the various tricks. I had super-glued my keys to my hand so they couldn't hijack my vehicle like another other dealer had (ok, I didn't really. But I wouldn't hand them over). So, I met Dan who would evaluate my vehicle and went with him while he drove it. Even that was pleasant. We chatted while he checked things out and the whole thing was painless. It took a bit while he got numbers on the durango. Mike and I chatted about things from drywall texturing to plumbing with PEX. He even offered to help me out and loan me tools. Was this a trick to lull me into a sense of ease so that I would lower my defenses? My cynical self would typically think so, but with Mike I honestly believe he was just trying to be helpful. We had many things in common, not the least of which was the fact that he had twins in his family as well. An identifiable, personable human being a car salesman? What will they think of next?? Anywho, we finally got numbers and right out of the gate they were pretty reasonable. I dickered on one point and without push-back or anything high pressure we came to an agreement quickly. I think we both got fair deals without any real stress. I think that's important in a car purchase and pretty rare. Maybe it's a game to some people, but I don't want to beat somebody out of everything but their shorts (that's my dad's saying). I simply want and need a fair price with good service. The car dealership and salesman need to make a profit too. I could go on, but suffice it to say the experience was actually enjoyable and the people genuinely friendly and helpful. I would strongly recommend the guys in Weiser and a special thanks to Mike B. our patient low-pressure salesman, Dan the friendly and fair appraisal dude, and Jake the guy who put it all the docs together and put up with all my questions while we signed papers. If this experience is typical, I will be a repeat customer. Any of my Oregon/Idaho friends, I encourage you to check these guys out.

Tricycle races

and plastic egg fights. That's my two older boys for you.

Today I put in a new hot water heater. Since my brother was coming sometime I was in a bit of a hurry, so I decided to be a little reckless. My hot water heater was up on some cinder blocks so it could hook into the water pipes. Instead of taking a couple hours to drain it (it was plugged up with sediment) I decided to unhook it and then move it. Move is actually kind of a euphemism because i kind of did a pull, shove, and then dive. 50 gallons of water is quite heavy and once it started falling off the cinder blocks I knew I couldn't control it like I had hoped so I got out of the way and let it come falling down. When it hit it took out some of my furnance pipe that I had removed and set aside. But, I wasn't hurt and I got it out of the way. Unfortunately, the water was now draining out into the basement. Not a big deal as it's seen water before but the water had to go somewhere. So, I kept putting buckets under it as it drained out for the next hour or so. Then I started working on installing the new HWH (hot water heater). It was the same size, so I knew I shouldn't have any major issues but I couldn't safely lift it up the foot I needed all by myself. I guess the inside tank is glass coated and is kind of fragile. If you bang it around you might break the glass and have a leaking HWH before it was its time. This world has enough pain and sorrow and I didn't want to add to it by crippling a HWH in the prime of its youth. Thankfully, I have a very strong wife so with her help (I think she did most of the heavy lifting) we hefted it up and put the HWH where it belonged. A few tweaks and we were good to go. While I was working on the furnace pipe (el crusho flato) Tyler and Amy and offspring arrived. We chit chatted and all was good and nice.

Lately, I've been rolling with the punches pretty well I thought. But it seems that I keep getting punched. The cynical part of me says that If I start throwing hissy fits and temper tantrums then maybe it'll stop. There's some logic to that as God says he won't give us more than we can take. I just don't want anymore things to load me down anymore. I guess it's all just a matter of priorities combined with offloading the burden to God. Everything seems to work a little smoother if prefaced with prayer.

Trinity (T-bone) and Clell (Sea Biscuit) are walking now. Trin has been a walking fool. Clell walked first, setting the precedent but now he's content to let his sister have the limelight. What a swell guy huh?

Gotta go. Titus just got sick. too much excitement with not enough sleep and he throws up. Kind of weird, but i'm the last person to be critical of someone with stomach problems.

Ok, so here's the situation: Trinity and spiders

So, I crawled under the house yesterday. The spiders were a little irritated, I think, but for the most part they kept quiet. In fact, I only saw one that was alive, although I confess that I wasn't looking too hard. That one spider (must have been a female) was right in my way on the drain pipe that I needed to work on. Of course, it had to give me a piece of her mind about going where I didn't belonged. I tried to point out that it was my house, but since it wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise, I squashed it. Conversation over.

Getting my large frame down there was fun (not) but my boys thought it was cool. I remember really thinking it was neat when my dad was under the house and I remember crawling under too. But i figured my boys would be a little more squeamish and be afraid of the spiders, but boys will be boys and they got under right along with me. Alas, I had no luck getting the cap off the pipe. But I did find out that the drain line isn't as elevated as it should be which is probably related to why it drains so poorly much of the time. But, I learned that I didn't want to run any more bathrooms into that line. So, I get to run a new line. Although that doesn't sound like fun, at least I can do that more on my own terms and can stay out from under the house.

Thankfully, Trinity hasn't met any spiders yet, but I bet they wouldn't scare her. I mention her because it's just the two of us @ home right now. My stomach was bothering me so I stayed home from church and Rebekah left Trinity. She has really bonded with me. I can usually get her to stop crying when nobody else can and if she's really upset a sing a little song to her that is set to "Chim, Chiminey, Chim Chim, Cheroo" and so far that always works. Obviously parents shouldn't have favorite offspring, but is it wrong to return the same affection to a child that seems to prefer you? Me not sure. I've been working harder to spend more time with Clell to avoid any expensive psychiatry bills for him in the future, but although he likes to try and rip my face off, he seems to prefer the mom vs "not the mom." So, striking a balance is always fun. I have Trinity as the wallpaper on my phone and Rebekah has Clell on hers. I think it balances out right?

Spiders fear me

Not the other way around. Well, that's what I tell myself at least. I'm going to crawl under the house and try to break open the plug on the cast iron pipe underneath my house. I'm realistic. I doubt I can do it, but I need to try. I'll let you know how it goes.

Boressed

a combination of bored and stressed. I'm at Carl's Jr. right now with the four oldest children. I've got my cool little netbook running Ubuntu netbook remix (linux) and connected to the free wifi. Pretty cool, but a little paranoid that somebody will steal my baby. Not my children. they make too much noise.

Why am I here? because I'm such a good husband and father? Not really. because I was hungry. True, but that's not the reason. Maybe I'm trying to pick up a single mom? Nice guess, I wouldn't have thought of that one, but no. For the free wi-fi? Not that desperate. Because my wife needed to work on finances and asked me to? Wow, you're good! But right now, I'm wondering just how much work my wife is getting done since I see she's posting to facebook. I might have to nominate her to midget status if she's not careful :)

I saw a friend who used to work @ woodgrain today. He and his wife have finally decided to join the rest of zombies and reproduce. The Bible says be fruitful and multiply but I think most people divide. either 2/1 and have two kids or 2/2 and have one kid. Rebekah and I took it to heart and multiplied by 3.

My back has been hurting me prety bad, and I think I've figured out it's something in my neck. I've had a pain in my neck lots of times but they're usually of the child variety.

Titus doesn't feel well, so I'd better post this and check on him. he tends to get sick when he's tired and playing.

Bonding with the boys

I think it's interesting that "they" (not sure who they is) seem to think that in order to spend time with your kids you have to have "quality time" or direct interaction. My Dad always stated that he thought "quantity time" was more important and I think I agree. Forrest and I started watching Dr. Who and now the boys are hooked and ask regularly to watch it. Since it's a good show with a minimum of language I've been letting them watch it with me. Every once in awhile I have to brace myself ask one of them comes racing over to cower by me because something scary is going on, but it's pretty mild stuff. I compare it to some of the old radio programs that I listen to. Lots of suspense and that combined with "bad guys" and aliens seems to be a winning combination for us guys. I was amused to hear Titus and Forrest playing Dr. Who tonight after dinner. Somehow, playing star wars makes sense to me but Dr. Who? I guess they like it more than i thought :)

Well, after I worked on my fire hazard over the weekend I forced myself to go outside and try to do something with my squealing truck. At least that way I got away from the squealing girls. Anyway, I was pretty sure that it was a belt that was loose, but since I'm not a mechanic like the rest of family I'm stumbling around in the dark. So, Forrest and I went outside and he helped me put the truck on ramps and get things together. I was really pleased with the little bugger. Granted, he's a bit more motivated since when he does well I put some money towards his "Super Mario Brothers Galaxy" fund. But since the kid has been wanting it for at least a year it definitely won't be an impulse buy. The good news i think the noise was just a loose alternator belt. If not, well, I guess I'll just have to club a midget in sacrifice to the car gods and try again.

Tonight I decided that I needed to cut something and my finger still hasn't healed so I got my saws out and started working on making a crawl space in one of our bathroom closets. In case you haven't guessed, using power tools is therapeutic. So, after a couple hours cutting and whatnot, I now have a big hole in the floor. All in a days work right? I am looking forward to communing with the spiders and crawling down there soon to try to tap into the plumbing.

Must do something

Right now I haven't gotten anything accomplished today other than deal with my electrical outlet. I took the outlet out and the house wiring was good and it didn't look like there was anything wrong. So, I put an expensive GFCI outlet in (no wonder I normally shop @ home depot. It cost twice as much in here). I don't think the GFCI will help with that sort of an issue, but it make me feel a little better.

In other news (if you can call it that) our girls had to go cold turkey on Little Einsteins. But after talking to a friend I started recording Clifford and Curious George. Now my government dollars are doing something worthwhile as my girls are rabid Clifford (the big red dog) fans which is broadcast on PBS. And it's free! I think we'll totally cancel the satellite in a couple months (right now it only has "family" programming) and save $30. But, I'm taking baby steps because I love my wife (and to a lesser extent my family).

Except for Trinity. She ties with Mom me thinks.

Fun @ 4

AM that is. We woke up to the sound of an incessant beeping. Rebekah investigated as I was totally out of it. She reported that the breaker had tripped and now it was smoky upstairs. I assumed that without power the pellet stove couldn't vent properly and thus it was the cause of the smoke. We had a oil heater plugged into an outlet and so I figured that tripped the circuit. Odd, but not unheard of. I was holding Clell and so Rebekah in her jammies went out and flipped the breaker. As we debated the cause in the dark, a few minutes later I heard a pop and the power went off again. Again, the brave beka went outside, but this time when she flipped the breaker I heard more pops and flashes of light and then one solid wavering light. While still holding Clell I ascertained that the outlet was emitting something commonly known as "fire." I reached down and unplugged the heater and thankfully the fire went out. But needless to say, we were and are greatly disturbed. It was old wiring in the house and now that we think about it we have had some issues before, just nothing near this magnitude. The power to that circuit is currently off, but I have to turn it back on eventually. I am going to remove the outlet and make sure the wiring up to the outlet is ok. Then, i'll put in a GFCI outlet. My Dad thinks that the problem is with the heater since the problem seems to be external to the plug. I hope this is the case as that's a much easier "fix." I'm gonna go get started working on it and if there's anything eventful I'll post back here. If I don't get electrocuted or burned up in a house fire that is :)

itty bitty polka dot

computer. Well, it's itty bitty at least. No polka dots though. It is blue for what that's worth. I've had my eye on one of these for awhile but didn't really need one. It's a netbook. Too small for most people but perfect for facebook and blogging. I bought it from a friend who is taking the funds and redirecting them towards an iPad. Unfortunately, my wife is eyeing this poor defenseless netbook with a lustful eye. Kind of inappropriate if you ask me. I mean, she is a married woman. But anyway, I am hoping to be able to blog a bit more now. Probably won't really, but the point is that I am happy. I even put Ubuntu Linux Netbook remix on it. Fast little bugger. I think it's pretty amazing myself, but without being able to see it, it's hard to understand. I had it at church tonight (ya know, so I could play Farmville on Facebook during the service) and people just thought it was my Bible. Anyway, I got it for a nice price because I was patient and my friend gets to further Apple's invasion. Win win if you ask me.

It slices, it dices!

my finger that is. I cut my ring finger really bad with a box cutter tonight. Usually, I use dull knives so the damage isn't bad. This cut was deep though, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to stop the bleeding. But, pressure does wonders and a tight bandage seems to be keeping the green (oops. I mean red, my blood is red. not green. nope. no green blood here. move along) RED blood in pretty good. A bit hard to type, but not too bad. The good news is that Titus' little play area is almost done. I have some mudding and trim left to do and Rebekah has to paint it, but I think I'll let the kid move in this weekend. Then I'm onto my super big project--putting a new bathroom in upstairs. Gonna be fun!