Archive for the ‘Small Victories’ Category

The Fiberglass Monster

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009
Work continues on the Ofuro, our home-built Japanese soaking tub.  The wood frame and interior is now pretty much complete and fiberglassing is pretty much all I am doing right now.  The seams are taped and I’m currently starting on the plywood sides.
Yesterday was spent sanding all the seams, which was like working in a small, itchy sandstorm.  This was followed by perching upside-down to lay down fiberglass cloth on the floor section.
I also drilled the inlet and outlet ports for the wood fired Chofu heater which we will hopefully order sometime soon.
aka Fiberglass Monster

aka Fiberglass Monster

MRI

Monday, March 2nd, 2009

mri

Eden was as brave as any 10 month old could be on February 19th.  Tim and Michelle took her to Sacred Heart in Spokane for an MRI so their pediatrician could determine how her brain is developing.  As you can see in the picture, Eden was not quite sure what was attached to her arm.  After some nasty tasting oral medicene to calm her, she got her IV started and the test was done.  She recovered well and we all waited for the results.

We got the best news ever!  Eden’s brain IS developing at a normal rate.  You can’t imagine how thankful we all were.  Yes, she has low muscle tone but that can be dealt with.  Eden receives regular weekly physical therapy and will soon start water therapy.  We have seen a lot of improvement over a short amount of time.  It’s exciting to watch her reach for and play with her toys.  She has her favorites!  She sits and observes what is going on around her, babbling the whole time.  She is one adorable baby girl!

Twins

Monday, December 1st, 2008

These two little darlings joined Greg and Maria on November 4th!  The smaller of the two is Lyla Hope on the left and Harlow Nanette is on the right.  I was fortunate enough to go to Arizona and help take care of the twins for a week.  They are just adorable.  They are identical and right now you can tell them apart because Harlow is a couple of pounds bigger than Lyla, but when Lyla catches up, it is going to be downright tough!  They love to sleep as close to each other as possible.  It was just precious to experience.

Inside

Saturday, September 20th, 2008

We’ve been working really hard to get the garage cleaned out.  First, we moved the weight machine and then the rowing machine to the ‘exercise’ room.  That action cleared out enough room in the garage so we could see what was left, what would stay and what else would go over.  We spent the better half of last weekend moving all of David’s tools and accessories into the pole barn.  The previous owners had left us oodles of siding, which we put in the loft for future use.  We also had a lot of spare metal siding from the pole barn erection.  That went up in the loft too!

David built some fantastic shelving units which are now covered front to back with all his tools.    He’s a little disappointed that something is wrong with the power feed to the barn that doesn’t allow him to operate any of his tools yet.  The lights work, but little else.  The electrician is coming back Monday evening and I hope they are able to figure out what the problem is.

The little car is on blocks for the winter, David’s bike is stored away too.  Eventually John’s bikes will live in there for the winter months.  On the whole, the pole barn looks great and is a great addition to our property!

We swept out the garage and both vehicles fit in with plenty of room to spare.  We’re ready for those cold frosty mornings!!  I’m glad we won’t have to scrape our cars, at least not in the morning!  David is hoping to go cut MORE firewood with our neighbor.  We’ll be very cozy inside.  We’ve had some really hot days lately, yet it gets down in the 40’s at night.  We appreciate our wood stove and the heat it puts out.

Michelle recently celebrated her 27th birthday!  Boy, that makes me feel old!  My youngest, not counting John, of course, almost in her thirties!  For her birthday, David has been working in her basement with Tim’s help to finish off an art room for her.  The room itself was just a step above a ‘Michigan’ basement, and they’ve put up wall studs and wall boards, done some new electrics, and eventually it will get painted and carpeted.  Then David will build her a worktop so she can make her murals with ease.

Just look at ALL those candles!

We’re all doing really well, staying healthy and keeping busy!  See you soon!

They never mentioned THAT bit…

Monday, July 28th, 2008

Started the new job today at the hospital. Was ready to leave 15 minutes early, which was a good thing as I had left the lights on on the motorbike and the battery was dead. After pulling off the side panels and the seat and jumping it from Marty’s car, I got underway.

Said “Good Morning” to everyone as I got to HR dept. and was lead straight to Occupational Health.

For a TB test and Rubella titre…

After that, the day was great and a lot less painful…

I’m off to the Hospital…

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

Despite eight hours of interviews, reviews of past work, background checks, drug tests and the best efforts of a panel of judges, Bonner General Hospital in Sandpoint, Idaho offered me a marketing position today, which I gladly accepted.

I’ll make up 50% of the entire marketing department as they move to becoming a modern, marketing-oriented facility.

Idaho wages are not quite up to Michigan levels, but this looks like a real fun opportunity to make a real difference in people’s lives.

Another small victory…

firsts

Monday, July 7th, 2008

Marty - Today was my first day at work at Spokane Teachers Credit Union, or STCU. I think I am going to like it there just fine! As the name implies, this credit union is based out of Spokane, Washington. So for the first two weeks, I am commuting to Liberty Lake, Washington for training. Not too far, really. A 40 minute trip, similar to what I had in Michigan. Nice drive in the coolish morning.

After training, I will be working at the branch in Post Falls, ID. Post Falls is another small community around 20 miles from us. Our church is also in Post Falls, so we’re familiar with the area.

David - One of David’s activities for the next two weeks is doing the inside of the pole barn. He’s busy building the walls for the different rooms that will make up the interior. It’s all coming together really well. We’ve used our little trailer more in the past 6 weeks than we did in the past 6 years. Even though it looks like we have oodles of 2×6x16’s, we still need more. And OSB? We need around 40 more sheets. Thankfully, we have a friend who buys the stuff in bulk and we think he can be our ’supplier’.

David has yet a third interview at Bonner in a couple weeks - this time with the same two gals he’s seen for Interview One and Interview Two, along with the CEO, CFO and two more department managers. If he doesn’t get it, at least he will have really honed his interviewing skills.

John - He’s adjusting to his new daycare. It’s in the same school district where he will one day attend school, so the kids he is playing with now will someday turn into classmates. One of his favorite things to do is watch the fish in the HUGE aquarium they have. During the school year, the curriculum is ‘preschool’ and we are really happy about that!

‘Life is Good’, God is Great and we feel very blessed!  Blessings to all!

That’s better!

Friday, June 20th, 2008

We now have some lovely dark green shutters around the windows on the front of our house.  They look so great.  David really felt the house looked ‘naked’ without them and he is SO pleased.  It adds a bit more color.

I am pleased to say that I have once again joined the work force.  A week or so ago I had some testing with Spokane Teachers Credit Union, and then last week, an interview, and this week a job offer, which I eagerly accepted.  I am also very happy that it is less than a 10% pay cut from Michigan wages.  Training starts on July 7th!   God is SO awesome in providing for our needs.  Medical, dental and vision benefits will start August 1st.  There will be a short lapse of coverage but not enough to count against us for ‘pre-existing conditions’.

This Sunday Ironman, a triathlon, comes to Coeur d’Alene and we are going to a barbecue (boy, there are a lot of barbecues around) on Sunday to watch some of it.  Tim and Michelle have gone the past couple years and say it is awesome.

Today is June 20th.  Lyla Grace was born a year ago today.  We went to her graveside yesterday and put some flowers on her little grave.   It was a sad moment, remembering, but as we look at circumstances now, we can’t help but feel so very blessed.

The roof has been raised on the pole barn and David will post a time lapse video of the construction soon.

Blessings to all.  Have a terrific weekend.

Chasing the Green Paper

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

Well, we’ve been here a week - Marty was offered a SECOND job today after an interview, but prefers the first one. She has an interview tomorrow morning.

And I’ve got an interview too, having applied for maybe three positions over the last few months. I was planning on a long “retirement” of tinkering and rural living, supported by Marty, but I guess I’ll just have to do something productive too.

Still, two incomes won’t harm…

Small Victories

Sunday, June 1st, 2008

After the bike repair, we’ve started to get all those other little things done. Last night I got the wood stove fired up for the first time, and again this morning. It burns well and provides a lot of heat - it should do us well this fall / winter.

Marty has been unpacking like crazy and is busy making the home a real home. I fixed the lawn mower that hasn’t run for years - not that we have much grass to grow.

We’ve put up some mirrors and pictures - that makes a real difference.

Today we get to woodstain the futon and make it more presentable.

Then later a bar-b-q with the local small group from church where maybe we will meet some new people.

Instead of adding an addition to the house right away we are considering a pole barn next to the garage and getting some quotes together.