Kitchen remodel

Here are the pics of our kitchen... we painted the cabinets, put on new countertops and backsplash. We're not thrilled with the backsplash we chose, but it works.

Josh the Red

So my lovely wife has been subjected to about 10 years of me talking about wanting to color my hair red (just for fun). This year, for my birthday, she finally relented and embraced the redness. I'd always intended it to be a bit more drastic, but this is probably the more mature (if that's even possible here) way to go about this. I'm assuming a lot of this will wash off later, even though they CLAIM it to be 'permanent'. If it lightens up too much, I may do it again... Maybe a less 'natural' shade next time. :)

Bathroom Remodel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are the pics of our (finally) finished bathroom remodel.

First, the "before":





















And, the "after" pics.

PS - I hate blogger. The posts NEVER look like they look in my preview and I always have to go back in and edit them after I post them. Meh. (Or, as in the case with this one, I had to go back in FIVE TIMES to edit it...)

Just finishing up a little plumbi........NOOOOOOOOOO!!!

What does a bathroom remodel have to do with the step going into my bedroom? Well, the bathroom remodel/plumbing revamp (replacing the old galvanized pipe under the house) birthed a leak in the PEX pipe under the step going into our bedroom area. Long story short, I turned the water off, did my work, turned it back on and, a day or two later, found a large puddle in my crawlspace. I thought it was just a bad connection so I ran to the plumbing supply store, bought what I needed, came back and patched it up. Turned the water back on, still leaking... turns out it's coming from up higher....like above my floor! This is where my bad decision making led me to run a pair of lines up under the step, under the laminate floor, (which is on joists above concrete) and over to the other part of the house. In the first picture here you can see the discarded "tee" connections on the left, which I cut off after realizing they were leaking. The floor is partially dried in the above photo.

My bad decision was to put too much pressure on some pex fittings... they don't do well under pressure and began leaking when I turned the water on. SOOOOOOO.... we've been without water for the last 12 hours and I've torn out a rather nice (if I do say so myself) step, exposing a leaky mess... the water spread several feet, even getting my bedroom carpet wet. I'm replaced that section of PEX with copper and put it all back together today. This picture shows the copper "manifolds" I soldered to fix the problem.

The Mother Lode

I'm not sure how someone like me is so blessed, but somehow I ended up with a GREAT mother (completely out of my control... only by God's grace) who loved me unconditionally, even when I was rotten.... AND on top of this I managed to coerce an AMAZING woman named Corey to become my wife and the mother of my children. By God's grace she was enamored with me and my faults, or maybe it was pity.... but at any rate she's mine and she's wonderful.

I was loved unconditionally, and still am, by my mother. My kids are loved unconditionally, and always will be, by their mother. My little girls have some AMAZING role models available to them... I hope they follow them.

LITTLE GIRLS, HEAR MY WORDS! FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF YOUR MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER!

They are...

• Patient
• Joyful
• Wise
• Smart
• Loving
• Christlike
• Diligent
• Creative
• Intentional
• Patient (yes, I know it's on their twice)
  
• Gracious
• Compassionate
• Generous
• (and your mom is hot too... you don't have to follow that one, though it's a nice bonus for your spouse)
  

It's just too bad that it takes a national holiday for me to say this, but it's all true nonetheless.

I've been sick for 2/3 of the winter... what's your excuse?

If I could type this blog entry by banging my head on the keyboard, I would. I've tried, but it just looks like this afrlfhvFHUN;sdvf;svfnsdfsdjklchnsdlhfdsfhlfsdhl;asdfhl.

After a couple of weeks of blissful health we again, once again, got sick....again.... did I mention that this has happened to us a few times this year? So... we're miserably pathetic as we fight off some odd variant of the plague. If you're keeping track at home you can go ahead and write us down for the following:

• Fevers
• Coughs
• Snot
• Ear infections
• Snot

Soooooo.... go team.

Trapped in my office during a butterfly fairy princess invasion...

My daughter is having her 4th birthday party today and the theme is "Butterfly fairy princess". So, accordingly, the little girls are all dressing up in princess outfits. I was told by my daughter that I was, essentially, not welcome because I'm "a boy and boys don't dress up like that". I was allowed to pass through, eat pizza and take some pictures though.

Oh well... she's worth it and I'm glad she's girly.