Where the heck have I been?

I've been busier 'n a 1-armed wallpaper hangar all week long and with the extended hours of daylight in the evenings, I haven't even been sitting down until I'm too tired to tell you all about the fun in my life.

In a nutshell, I've been working on the yard, fixing and replacing sprinklers and a couple lines that got plugged up with mud. Its a typical springtime activity around here and I'm running late this year and except for 1 busted line that the neighbor pointed out this evening, I'm about up & running. Now I'll just have to remember to turn the sprinklers on routinely. And mow, since putting water on the grass only encourages it to stay green and get taller every day. I've also trimmed tree branches, sprayed Round-Up on a dilapidated vegetable garden that's gone to weeds and carried out the furniture from upstairs that the BSU insisted be tossed out. I still need to make a run to the landfill to get rid of those.

Today I had to take a few hours and go to Salt Lake and make some repairs to the eldest's car. He called yesterday to say that he had hit a rock and apparently punched a hole in the car's oil pan. Sure enough, that is exactly what happened, he had a small hole in the edge of the cast aluminum oil pan. So we jacked the car up, cleaned off the grit and oil and used some JB Weld to patch up the hole and it seemed to work just perfectly.

The renovations have begun on the kitchen and dining room and I suppose it will only be 3 or 4 weeks before everything is back together, painted, tiled and topped. The BSU and I purchased the new base cabinet this evening. The old flooring was removed on Friday and the new tile arrives on Tuesday. I understand that the construction guy is going to do the painting and sheet rock repairs first and then do the flooring last. We still have to get the counters measured for the new solid countertops and pick out a new sink. The counter measuring folks better get over here quick because I understand that is a 2-3 week wait for the tops to get made.

We still haven't come to a decision about the new sink. The BSU insists that it be deep, gloss white and with a center divider. She is leaning towards the rimless style that is below the surface of the countertop, I prefer the traditional rimmed stle sinks because I think the rimless models look unfinished or like they are missing something. We have looked at Home Depot and Lowes and neither place seems to have the perfect sink. And I'm real certain we won't be buying the display Kohler model that we saw; it was 800 bucks and still required 2 of the $110 drain stoppers! Seems to me that if you're buying a $800 sink that they should throw in the stoppers and there is just no reason that the stoppers should cost over a hundred bucks each. That's just crazy talk!

I got started on the refinancing of the house this past week too. We are aiming for a 15 year mortgage instead of the 21+ years we currently have, I'm paying for the renovations and the new windows from last fall with some of the equity and I'm still going to be paying off the mortgage early.

So, its been a busy and exciting week. Youngest son has taken possesion of his Suzuki C50 motorcycle that he has been working to purchase. He got it today, complete with a leather jacket, helmet and saddlebags from the previous owner. He called to let me listen to it on the phone! Yeah, he's pretty excited. He still has to get a Colorado drivers license and sign up for a motorcycle safety riding course. But, most every young guy needs to ride a motorcycle for a year or two and I'm happy for hime. I think he will do well and maybe he become a enthusiastic rider for many years.