There's a lot to be said for planning

For those of you who have been to our house, you know how ugly our deck is (WAS)! When we bought the house, the deck was kind of shabby and painted dark red. We had it powerwashed SEVERAL times trying to get the paint off and get it back to that natural look. Well, the previous owners had painted it with BARN paint! That stuff doesn't come off with ANY amount of powerwashing. Instead of making the deck look better, it just looked shabbier and shabbier for a couple of years. OK, I'm getting to a point!!!!

So...I decided that it was time to fix the deck. We were going to replace the spindles and rails, rent a belt sander, and sand the planks, paint the decking a dark brown, just to cover the old paint. All of this was decided on Wednesday. Kelly, my stepdaughter from my first marriage, was here on Wednesday and was stuck helping us on Thursday. (all of the following is Kelly's fault - see pic!) So, after we got the spindles and railing off, Kelly asked why we decided not to flip the boards like we had previously mentioned. In a moment of insanity, Tom and I looked at each other and said "why not"? The expression "easier said than done" was invented with us in mind. The boards started splitting when we tried to get them up. Yes, we were using a crowbar and mallet. Reallllllly long story, realllly short....today is Tuesday, we started the project on Thursday and we're not finished. New boards on the deck. White PVC spindles/railing. New 4x4 pressure treated posts. New, wider steps. And divorce only mentioned once....

Stay tuned....

Happy Birthday Scott & Ross!

And to show you what a bad Aunt I am, I forgot my twin nephews birthdays! Yesterday was Scott & Ross's 14th birthdays. But it was also Father's Day AND we were at a graduation party on some friends houseboat at the lake all day. Not a good excuse to forget their birthdays, but dealing with a three-year-old Princess who fell asleep on the way home, but then DEMANDED that she "wasn't tired" when I tried to put pj's on her and put her to bed. She then went in to screaming, crying, "monsters in the bedroom" mode. Needless to say, I forgot to call Scott & Ross.

What is it about "monsters in the bedroom"? We keep telling the Princess that Buster & Shaggy won't let any "bad guys" or "monsters" in the house and that mommy & daddy will protect her. But, let me tell you - that crying until you hiccup will get you every time. She's always fine the next morning and usually wakes up by telling us, over the monitor, that the sun's up and it's time to get up. Of course, the sun comes up a little after 6:00 a.m....grrrrrrrrrrr...

Happy Father's Day!

My dad passed away in 1991 (or was it 1992?). I don't think about him every day, but I do think about him a lot - mostly when I see Tom and the Princess doing things together and seeing how much she loves her daddy. I hope she'll always be daddy's little girl. I know that I still am!

So, Happy Father's Day, Daddy! And Happy Father's Day to the other fathers in the family - Tom, Jr., my Tom, David G., Alex, Jimmy (Slim), David H., and Devon.

I guess it's time to start a blog

It seems that everyone we know has a blog. OK, now that I've said that, I'll get emails from everyone that doesn't have a blog. There are families that we met in China that have blogs that I love to check out so I can see how their beautiful babies are doing (yes, and how the parents are doing - nobody cares about us any longer either!). So, in case anyone wants to see how the Princess is doing, here we go.

So...welcome to our blog. I'm not sure what I'm going to write, or how often I'm going to post, but I'll try and post humorous things that the Princess says and does. She's getting quite full of herself lately, so there may be more posts than I think.

Oh, and

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELISSA!!!!