Doors That Suck And Butt Flakes

Well, for all the time that Sean spent stripping the door he got for $5 then painting that and the main door, only to find out the $5 is 5" too short and that the main door is about 31/2" too short. I guess Sean learned a couple of lessons too:

1. when getting ready to buy a door, you should measure both the width AND the length
2. BEFORE starting to strip or paint a door, it's a good idea to measure it before starting in case you didn't do lesson one

So, needless to say, we have learned a few lessons about the importance of checking things before starting on a project.

Now for the "butt flakes".

Amy and Jon were out of town a while ago and Noelle had stayed over at their house with mom and dad to help take care of the boys. When I got there to pick her up, dad said that the boys wanted me to give them a bath.

I take Mr. Jack into the bathroom and start running water. As he puts his foot in the water, he turns, looks at me and says, "mommy says I have to pee". He then removes his foot from the tub and takes a seat on the throne. Once done, he returns to the tub and quickly starts to tell which toy belongs to which boy, he doesn't want too many toys, shows me how the letters stick to the side of the tub, we have to brush his teeth before he goes to bed, he wears big boy pants to bed, he gets to pick out two books to read. All of that information is provided in about 2.5 seconds.

Suddenly, Mr. Riley come plowing through the door removing his clothes and lets Jack know that he wants HIS Dora. Riley then puts his foot in the water, looks at me and says, "mommy says I have to pee". Jack starts to laugh and says "silly Riley" then continues his list of instruction of before bed routines. I'm thinking two things: first, this is a lot of information and second, Amy has amazing powers.


Once Riley is done and in the tub, he fills his little homemade boat with water and starts to put it up to his mouth. I told him, "Riley we don't drink the bathwater". He laughs and continues to lap the water from his boat. Jack, now repeating his list of before bed needs in case I missed something and instructs Riley not to drink the bathwater.

I again tell Riley we don't drink the bathwater with the assistance of Jack. Seeing this is going no where, I think to myself, "this is the PERFECT opportunity to payback Amy for things she taught my kids". I look at Riley and tell him, "Riley, you can't drink the water because there are butt flakes in it, we don't drink butt flakes". Jack who is repeating everything I say about a half second after I say it, pauses, looks at me and while laughing so hard he snorts tells tells his brother, "we don't drink butt flakes Riley, we don't drink BUTT FLAKES".

Jack is now laughing so hard he can't even talk as am I. Riley dumps out the water, looks at me with his head cocked, eyebrows raised and looks at me. "Butt flakes?" he says. "Yes, butt flakes" I tell him. He looks at his brother, who is still laughing and trying to say butt flakes, looks at me and says in a sing song voice "we don't drink butt flakes, we don't drink butt flakes".

Ah, yes, the joys of teaching my nephews things that will drive my sister nuts is really starting to take off. Soon they will start to remember the things I've taught them. I can sit back and laugh with thoughts of the boys sharing these things with random people, a waitress, the check out person at the store or a friend. Amy will feel the "did they just say that" and "oh no, what are they going to say next" feelings I had after she taught the kids to say fun little things...only in stereo!

The Shop...An Update

The carpet is down and we have planned out how we want the counter to be. Sean bought two counter tops and plans on building a kind of "L" shaped counter area. He also bought two doors, (one at the "Habitat For Humanity Restore" for $5!!) and a window.

The $5 door he bought will be the main door to the office and has a full window. Right now, there is a regular door with no window. The other door is a metal door with a window on the top half. It will go where the main door is now. That one has an issue with the door handle and since, right now, when you walk into the main hall the main door, office door and the door to Sean's shop are all solid and it seems kind of cold. With the new doors having windows in them, it will make it so much more welcoming.

In addition, there are two metal doors that currently do not have windows. Since the doors are over sized, and it would be too much to replace them, we, (read Sean) will be cutting openings and putting windows in. They will look just like the door that opens into the hall. We are hoping that people will use these doors as they open directly into the office.

However, the "smart people" who poured the cement didn't follow the drawings and poured it wrong. The first time it rained after it was poured, the area that is now the office was flooded. They "fixed it" by building a four inch wall, right where people will be walking. So now, we, (again read Sean), will have to somehow cut that out so no one trips.

The window is actually a "dummy door". It will go in the wall that faces John, the mechanic's, shop. By adding these windows it will allow it to feel more open and it will be nice to have so much natural light.

I'm fixing up one of the bathrooms so the women will have a nice, pretty bathroom to use. I picked out a boarder and asked them to match the "suggested colors" from the back of the package. I picked out a few things to spruce it up and started to work on today.

Well, I learned two very important lessons:

1. when you go to pick up the paint you ordered and they say "it called for five drops of purple", stop and say, "whoa, really, purple?". Don't just assume the computer got it right.
2. double check the paint in the can against the sample you wanted the paint to match...in natural light.

Needless to say, I did neither of these and I wish I had. The thought of those came to mind AFTER I had cut in the room and painted the trim and the back of the door. Did I think to hold the boarder up to the wall and look to see if there really should be purple, regardless of how light it was? No. BEFORE I even started to paint and Sean said, "oh, it's kind of purple" did I look at the sample? No.

So now, I get to spend another three hours redoing what I spent three hours doing today. This time when I get the paint, I will refer back to the lessons I learned.

I've included two photos of the office after the carpet was put in and we moved some furniture.

Moving Right Along!!!

Things have been going crazy at the shop...CRAZY good.

We officially have a mechanic. Not only is a fantastic mechanic, he has an IT degree, so we will be able to network the body shop, the mechanic shop and the office.

The city FINALLY signed off on the paint booth!!! We have ordered it and hope to have it up and running within a month.

We are getting carpet put in the office tomorrow. We also have a Heat Surge. In case you're wondering, it really does work great and it does look nice. We have a couch, desk, chairs even a coffee pot. We are starting to look like we know what we're doing.

One of our friends in the chamber of commerce said that he has heard of Rent A Center providing furniture if they are allowed to place something stating it was provided by them. I'm planning on talking to them sometime this week.

I've included a photo of our sign as well as before photos of the office. We are also going to be switching to an electronic LED sign instead of the reader board we currently have. Believe it or not, we don't need a permit or anything as it is classified as an "improvement".

I'm not holding my breath on that one.

Crazy Busy

That's a good thing. I'm almost afraid to type this, but things are really starting to come together all at once at the shop.

We are ordering the paint booth on Monday. The city is the big hold up right now. (big surprise on that one) However, it takes about two weeks for the company to construct the booth, so hopefully by the time it's done, we will be ready to have it put in.

We now have a mechanic!! His name is John, and it turns out he is someone I went to high school with. (should be fun when we get a call for either Sean or John at the shop)He is a hard worker, is good at what he does and best of all, he has the same values we do. As a bonus, he repairs computers, that said, we now have a fantastic computer at the shop making paperwork much easier.

Noelle, as usual, has been quite the social butterfly. In the last two weeks, Liberty had their "Fall Festival" and this week was Homecoming. She has been to parades, football games and dances. (NOT HOMECOMING~she IS only 13) With all of her socializing, she manages to keep her grades high. She has inherited her Aunt Amy's ability to pretty much ace anything when it comes to academics and it appears she has her mom's ability to battle between first and second chair in band.

Speaking of band, it looks like we will be having a trumpet player in the house. Michael has selected the trumpet. He is already practicing and they aren't even playing in band yet. He watched the DVD that came with the book and has taught himself to play two songs. He had a very, VERY cold soccer game this morning at 8 am. Indoor soccer is getting ready to start and it could not be soon enough. Michael has had a couple of pretty bad flair ups with his skin. One was so bad he missed three days of school. We are trying a few different things and they seem to we working. One good thing was the man at the music shop where we rented the trumpet saw Michael's hands and asked if he had eczema. He said he also had it when he was growing up and it got better around age 14. Still three years away, but a promising sign.

Sean and I, are of course, busy at the shop. I've worked a few shifts, but I've up at the shop quite a bit. I'm hoping things will slow up enough for me to get the house in order and finish cleaning out the garage. Our house looks like a bomb has gone off. I hate that. If we could get to where we have a "normal" schedule, that would help. Between the shop and the stuff the kids are active in, it feels like we are going in 100 different directions at times. I know some day I'll look back and wish we were going in 100 different directions. I need to appreciate it now.

As for the garage, I'm finally parking in there. We are using a "manual" garage door opener as the door is slightly "tweaked" from me backing into it a few years ago. My goal is to get the third stall cleared out. It's good to have a goal.

WOW!!!! A Get Away

I had told Sean back in February that I would like it if he would plan something for our anniversary. I figured since I've been the one in the past to plan our special day, not to mention the BIG real day, it would be nice if he planned this one in honor of our 15 years together. (married, time together is actually 22 years)

Well, I never said any more and I was surprised when he said he had planned a get away. Sean made reservations fro us at a place called Rock Eddy Bluff. It is so beautiful here. With the leaves changing, the sounds of nature and the weather it's like heaven here.

We got here late Sunday night. We turned off the main road on to a gravel road. From there, we turned on to the property. As we got close to the house, we saw several skeletons hanging from the trees. We both laughed as I asked Sean what kind of a place he was taking me to.

We were greeted by the owners as well as their dogs. They asked what time we would like breakfast and showed us to our room. Actually rooms. We have the whole upstairs. It has a bedroom, a common area and a sitting room. The views are unbelievable.

Monday, we took a drive to see an Amish woman who owns a greenhouse. On our way, we passed some Amish school children who were playing baseball. It was just like suddenly watching something out of "Little House On The Prairie". There was one little boy waving for all he was worth. We waved back and we soon had just about each of them waving and smiling back at us.

Around the corner, we came to the greenhouse. She said her plants didn't look "to good because of this time of the year you know". We picked a plant that she said was called a "Vic's Plant". When you pick one of the leaves, it really smells like Vic's. (we are a mentholatum family but the plant is neat) We also got something called "chicken gizzard". It has pink stems with leaves that are green some are pink and green.

Once we got back, we hiked down to the river. There is a sloo that is great for a canoe trip. We grabbed a canoe, paddles and some seat cushions and hit the water. We had a great time, that was until we tried to get the boat out. We got the canoe to where we had put it in the water. I put one foot on the bank area, Sean said, "look out, look out", the canoe moved back into the water and my right foot went in. Luckily, it was only my right foot and nothing else. Regardless, it was fun and we had a great laugh.

Later, when we headed out to dinner, we saw a raccoon family running along side the road. There was a mom and four little ones all in a line behind her. The last one took a tumble and they all stopped. I've often wondered if animals have "talks" with their kids like we do. "Ok, we are headed out to check out some trash cans. Share what you find and stick together".

We head back home today. I've included a couple of pictures. One is a view from our room, you can see the Gasconade River. The other is one with the sun shining through the tree's on our way to take out the canoe.

You Say It's Your Birthday...

It's My Birthday Too!!! (I cheated and changed the date so that statement would be true)

Well, it was. I turned, ahem, 40. I don't feel 40, although, does anyone really know what any age is supposed to feel like?

My day started out with Sean and the kids singing "Happy Birthday". I then met mom and dad for breakfast. I got to open the first of my "week of presents". (mom and dad started a tradition years ago Amy and I get a present every day for a week)

I sat down next to a box wrapped in "over the hill" paper. I opened it and it was a laptop!!! I was so excited, I started to cry.

Later, I went by the shop and saw that Sean had put "Erin Prideaux is 40" on the sign. For dinner, Sean, the kids and I were going to eat at Red Lobster. We got to the exit and I told Sean I didn't feel good and wanted to go out to eat another day.

We got home and I was in bed by 8. I woke up this morning and still didn't feel to well. Seems I have a sinus and ear infection. I spent the day in bed with a heating pad on my face.

One of the things we had looked forward to was going to see the "Toy Story" movies. We saw the 3:30 showing of both "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2" in 3-D. There was one other family for the first and we had the theater to ourselves for the second. The super nice thing was since we were basically the only ones in the theater, I put up the arm rests on three of the seats and laid down.

I have included a photo of me, mom and dad from breakfast and a photo of the sign from the shop.