Weekend update

So this weekend my family had to suffer me with a hardened heart. Not a lot of fun. It's how I get when things don't go as I planned them. I pretty much camped out in my own pity trying to make sense of everything. Not understanding fully the motives behind certain situations. Especially when I shouldn't be worrying. Ultimately, I would be just fine if I wasn't such a pessimist.

Remember my huge cottonwood tree we took out last October? Well the roots that are left behind from that s.o.b. are sprouting little miniature trees. There's like a 20 or 30 every day after I break them off. So today I got out the matix and dug up those roots. It was a good way to take out aggression.

The kids summer time volcano sprinkler broke last week. So this weekend we built our own sprinklers. We have more in the works. We'll have our very own water park in no time.

My mom visited us from the Bay area for her birthday. That was nice to see them.

We bought grocery's at Trader Joes. I splurged and bought myself extra extra sharp cheddar as a treat for myself and come to find we left it in the trunk over night. I'm guessing it's toast. I'll still try it and give you an update.

Our friend John Miller read Jakes blog and gave Jake a HUGE box of Rocknbots. So we got that tonight and are making ready for a cool building weekend next weekend. I'm setting Jake up to be an engineer or architect or something.

Our kitchen was invaded by ants. It was pretty overwhelming. I quartantined the kitchen and nuked it with chemicals. It's when I play the daddy card and no body can stop me. Ants are pretty much cleared out.

Lastly, I am blessed enough to have such wonderful cousins, Rob and Joni Voss. It's the true essence of family and I miss them so much. They speak words of encouragement to me through emails. They pat me on the back when times are good and say well done and they speak a word of encouragement when things look down. This is one of the reasons we still have them as our legal god parents for our children. I was hoping Rob would get a job in Redding this summer and move back to Redding as they are so far away in Nebraska. God had different plans. Love you guys.

Here comes Monday. Goodnight.

Memorial Day Weekend

Here was what I did:
-Friday after work: Put a second coat of paint on the house.
-Saturday morning, painted the door, cleaned the paint equipment I borrowed and returned it. Thank you Darin Beaver for the sprayer. Then we dumped all the Legos all the living room floor and built some huge creations. We did this the rest of the day.
-Sunday: Went for a morning jog. Then to church at 10. Then shopping, then naps, then Nintendo 64 with the kids.
-Monday: Slept in, went for a family bike ride. We did 9 miles and Jake kept up the entire time. Then we came home and built a homemade sprinkler from PVC. Then we had Financial Peace University.

Now it's off to bed early for work tomorrow.

Checking out.

I have lost motivation and ambition to update this blog.
It will remain stagnate for awhile.

Too many things against me right now to fake a smile and a witty story.

Painting part 2

So here is the middle part I should have blogged last weekend. It was HOT!! I love hot weather, totally, but not when I'm painting. I love to play in the hot weather, not work.

So here is a before and after shot. Big whoop.

I'll post shots of the front of the house with the tape down and screens up. Apparently it looks good. People pull over to say so. I'm proud.

Before:
After:
More to come.

My son's Blog!

Jakob said to me the other day, "Dad, I want to start a blog just like you and post pictures of my Lego's I create." Why not?
He's pretty creative. He's a SUPER slow typist. So he talks as I type.

Check it out. http://jakobcable.blogspot.com/

Painting part 1

Finally! A pressure washer that works.
I have neighbors that have every tool ever needed to be a home owner. It's great. And I hate being one of those neighbors that ask to borrow things. But this time it was suggested that I borrow after they saw what I was working with. This bad boy pressure washer was AMAZING. (I just got jalapeno juice in my eye). Anyways. I was able to peel the paint from under my 2nd story awning from the ground.
Plus it sounds like a jet engine when it's business time. LOVE IT! Chickens hate it. I had the gate wide open, so they were like, "Break for it! GO GO GO Gates open!!" But I was standing there WITH the business end and lit up their WORLDS! They like were blown backyards like a pile of screaming leaves. I laughed so hard. The chickens hate me.

Some things I learned:
I have wasp nests on every side of my house.
I have black widows in every possible nook.
Never pressure wash a stucco house while wearing shorts.
Don't pressure wash mud, unless you want a mud shower.
Hosing down the awning while on a ladder with a pressure washer WILL give you an instant shower. Gravity i guess.

Here's a picture of my new friend Betty the black widow. Thank you for eating the unwanted mice and birds that you may have caught.

Also, my brother -in-law brought down his puppy's last weekend.

Painting the House

Not excited. There's many outdoor projects that I love. Painting is not one of them. It ruins clothes. It makes a mess of everything. I'm not good at it. So far I have realized that the prep work is kicking my butt. I think I'd rather pay someone to do it. But the savings of doing it myself are too great. Our stucco is dirty white-ish with mud stains from previous renters dogs.

Ugh. It bums me out just thinking of it.

There is a brighter side to it. I was able to borrow a friends super powerful and loud pressure washer. Lots of fun. Also, I'll be firing that bad boy up at the crack of dawn on Saturday and wakey wakey the noisey neighbor boys. HAHAHAHAHA!!! Also, chasing the chickens with it is fun. Who doesn't like a pressure washer?? Besides my neighbors and chickens.

Anyways.

There's my weekend. Sunday night I imagine I will have the crusty painted knuckles.

After this. Replace the fence and RV gate.

Paint the playhouse to match.

Replace the water heater with a tankless water heater.

Yep, there's my intro to summer. Hopefully there is a happy ending here. Like that new kayak. We're still praying about it.
good night.

Yacts

Or is it Yaks.
I was at Yaks last Saturday morning with the other life group leaders, listening to Nate. God whispered once again, so I quickly took notes.

I was prompted to breathe life into the part of me that is hibernating. My servant heart. I had these overwhelming thoughts to start a new life group this year.

I'll reference this blog as I do not keep a journal, this is the next best thing.

The group will consist of those that have a heart to serve others. We will sharpen and hone our servant hearts on one another. We will serve. Help. Donate our time. Harvest the mission field. Remain accountable.

Feed the homeless. Pray. Do yard work for others. The elderly. The single parent. Pray. Grocery shop for families in need or the hungry. Wash cars. Rake leaves. Mow lawns. Load moving vans.

These are my tools for the foundation.

Acts.

Accountable
Christ-followers
Together
Serving.

Bocce Ball

My son bought himself a Bocce Ball set. Our backyard is large enough and it's not a full contact sport, so he enjoys it. I was tired of him trying to play it with hacky sacks in the hall way. It's also neat how the ball lands in chicken crap, adds a little texture to the sport.

He picked up this cool game from Aunt Raina's parent house. Whenever we go there, they have it out to play.
Good times.