May 23, 2002 - I had a good talk with my brother, Jeff, last night. He was flying through from Toronto back to Fairbanks and he called me from the airport. It was nice to hear from you, brother. I hope things work out. We picked up a new dog from the pound last Saturday. He's about 9 months old and is a Labrador/Border Collie mix. A good dog so far. Mary Ann was getting tired of Zephen's antics with her dog and wanted a family dog for him to pick on, I guess. He is becoming pretty attached to me so far. I'm still fighting that damn cold. I was called in to work on Wednesday and was totally miserable. I'm back to work on Saturday and I only hope I'm feeling better by then. I cut down our Walnut tree that was in our front yard. It's really opened up the front of the house and now, of course, I need to do something with the yard.
May 21, 2002 -
HAPPY BIRTHDAY,
SIS!!! I left you a message on your machine.
May 18, 2002 -
It's DONE!!! It took two weeks to finish, but I finally had everything done
yesterday and the bathroom looks great. It obviously took longer then I anticipated.
I got all the drywall hung last Wednesday and I mudded and taped on Thursday.
On Friday, I realized the walls were less than perfect and opted to texturize.
Saturday and Sunday after work, I painted. Monday after work, I rested (I
needed a break). Tuesday, I got the bath tub walls up, installed the Pergo
floor and trim, and caulked the heck out of everything. Wednesday, I installed
the toilet, vanity, sink and cabinets. I also had started to get a cold 8(
Thursday, I painted the new door and door frame with clear coat and installed
the shower heads and fixtures. Mary Ann and I then went to an Eddie Money
concert at the Tacoma dome. I was pretty sick with the cold by then and didn't
sleep at all Thursday night. Yesterday, I framed in the door, put in new door
trim, and finished about a dozen little things. All I can say is it looks
awesome (as long as you don't look for the little mistakes). My budget for
the project was $1500, but I was a little off in the end ($2750, GULP!). I
would hate to think what the price would have been if I had hired a contractor
for the job. I should have some pictures up soon. I was really sick yesterday
as well and called into work sick for today. I feel a little better today,
but I also am just being a slug and that helps a little. I'll probably call
off sick tomorrow as well and hope to get back to work on Monday. I still
have a lot of construction waste to clean up around the house and I hope to
get that done early next week.
May 7, 2002 - Thanks for all your help, Dan. My brother-in-law, Dan, came out and helped me out quite a bit. He got the plumbing all apart for me, tried to rethread the sewer line, and left me a lot of supplies and tools to finish the rest of the job. The tub had a broken corner and we consequently returned it for a non-damaged one. We also got new pipes for the shower head and bath spicket, as well as some new valve stems. I had gotten the plumbing done and with the help of my neighbor, Bob (thanks, Bob!), we got the tub in with little difficulty. After shimming up a few of the corners, the tub was level and in place. I filled the tub and turned on the pump and .... SUCCESS!! No leaks. I took the first bath in it tonight (I just had to) and it is quite relaxing. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, Heather has a dentist appointment on Thursday, and Zephen has a doctor's appointment on Friday. With so much left to do and time being critical, I hope I can have it mostly done by Friday. Tomorrow is hanging the rest of the green board and taping and mudding. Thursday, I hope to paint, stain the new door and frame, and frame in the door. Friday is the Pergo flooring, gluing on the Fiberglass walls around the tub, hanging the wall cabinets, installing the new toilet and vanity and sink. Then I'm done ..... RIGHT!!! In an ideal world, hopefully I can have it done on Friday.
May 6, 2002 - I picked up the whirlpool tub today, wired in the GFCI switch for it, and made a little door in the wall behind where the pump will go. I had the old vanity from the bathroom, so I grabbed one of the doors off of it and used it for the hole (it's behind the dresser in our bedroom). I dug out the bath drain. It looks pretty rusty, but it looks like it'll still work.
May 5, 2002 - Zephen and I dumped the old bathroom at the dump this morning. I was shocked to discover our bathroom fan was only into the attic and that the baffle was rusted shut. I put in a new high-flow fan and some ducting to a vent in the attic, reinsulated the attic, and screwed in the green board onto the ceiling. A pretty good days worth of work, I think. I talked to my brother-in-law, Dan, and he'll come out Tuesday to help with the plumbing. I think my bath drain is rotted out and am not too sure what to do with that. Dan's pretty good at all this stuff and I'll appreciated the help.
May 4, 2002 - I totally gutted my bathroom today. Walls, ceiling, tub, vanity, sink, and toilet were all removed. We are down to the studs and bare floor. I had borrowed a friend's truck and will be taking it all to a waste transfer station tomorrow. I'm a little worried about how the plumbing looks and it is what I am most apprehensive about dealing with. I'm also starting about 3-4 days later than I wanted to. I had this past Tuesday until next Friday off to do this project, but my doctor stuff this past week delayed the project. Well, I guess I'll need to work fast.
May 3, 2002 - I've had a real scare the past few weeks. I've been having a lot of pressure and discomfort/pain beneath my lower ribs on the right side. I went to the doctor a few weeks ago and followed that with an ultrasound at a radiology clinic. The ultrasound showed a cyst or hemangioma on the upper part of my liver. Now, most often these are benign, but I was a little concerned. Unfortunately, my doctor was out of town for 2 weeks and so, I went to see the doctor covering for him. She wasn't really forthcoming with any information to ease my worries. I got another blood draw to screen for hepatitis and some cancer marker enzymes and got scheduled for an abdominal cat scan with contrast. I didn't have gall stones. I got the cat scan Tuesday and went in to see another Doctor today to get the result. The good news is it is a hemangioma. It isn't too large and may have been there my entire life. It was recommended I get another ultrasound in 6 months to confirm it isn't getting bigger. The hemangioma does not cause pain, but the pain I had been feeling a few weeks earlier has slowly been subsiding and it may be that it was some strained intercostal and/or abdominal muscles compounded by indigestion brought about by worrying about it. So with a sigh of relief, I get on with life a little more appreciative of the things I have.
April 10, 2002 - Well, I've really gotten away from doing anything on this page lately. We've had a busy spring and Zephen has been quite a bit of work lately. I'm planning on remodeling the bathroom and will be taking the first week of May off to do it. Mary Ann and I looked at a nice Jacuzzi bathtub as well as other fixtures and I'm looking at a budget of about $1500-2000. I'm both excited and a bit nervous at getting it done and hope I do a good job. Work has slowed down a bit the past month and I didn't have any OT for over a month until last week. I'm hoping to get a miniDV camera first thing this summer. I've been having a lot of fun editing video right now and I'm feeling a bit creative as of late. I started a herbal cleansing regimen yesterday and plan to do that for at least a week. I also clean up and rearranged the family room so I can finally start using the home gym again. I don't think I've ever been this heavy and now that summer is around the corner, I need to fire up and start losing weight and get in some type of shape by June.
February 14, 2002 - Happy Valentine's day to all the women who are important to me; Mary Ann, the love of my life; Heather, my little girl who isn't so little anymore; Mom, who has most to do with the person I am and is my mom, after all; Marla, the best dang sister I've ever known.
February 4, 2002 -
Happy birthday
to the love of my life, Mary Ann. This is "your song" (borrowed
from Elton John).
It's a little
bit funny this feeling inside
I'm not one of those who can easily hide
I don't have much money but boy if I did
I'd buy a big house where we both could live
If I was a sculptor,
but then again, no
Or a man who makes potions in a traveling show
I know it's not much but it's the best I can do
My gift is my song and this one's for you
And you can tell everybody
this is your song
It may be quite simple but now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you're in the world
I sat on the roof
and kicked off the moss
Well a few of the verses well they've got me quite cross
But the sun's been quite kind while I wrote this song
It's for people like you that keep it turned on
So excuse me forgetting
but these things I do
You see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue
Anyway the thing is what I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen
January 10, 2002 -
Today is the 53rd birthday of my brother, Steve. Happy birthday, big brother!!!!
woo hoo!!!
January 9, 2002 - Hi, everyone. This page has taken a back seat to other things as of late. Our holidays went well. Zephen has been back with us and things are going along okay. I wouldn't say the road has been smooth, but we have all been trying to make it better than it was before. Christmas was a lot of fun, but the New Year left Mary Ann and me feeling under the weather. We have both been experiencing really bad headaches and body aches. I'm finally just now turning it around and am at least feeling a bit less lethargic and tired (although I could probably use another 4 hours of sleep or so). The headache still lingers, but at least it is no more than an annoyance right now. Zephen's birthday is next Monday and we really have no money to do anything. We took the kids to a dinner theater last Friday and watched "Grease". It was a way for Mary Ann and I to celebrate our 9th anniversary with the kids and I think we all enjoyed it. Of course, it was our "fun" money for the next 2 weeks and the bills just took a big bite out of our finances. Zephen did get to go snow boarding just after Christmas with the boyscouts and the $70 spent was part of his birthday gift. I guess we'll have to keep it simple.
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