Alright, Already! (an update), Part 1

Things are going good in Thackerland. (Ooh. I LIKE the sound of Thackerland.) Life is smooth for the most part, we're happy and healthy, our plants are growing, our house is standing, and our cars are running. What more do you need?

Money

Money. We need money. Do you know why money is the root of all evil? Because the minute you have a little money, things break. As follows:

The TV

I've already reported on the TV and it's inevitable demise. I have since decided, though, that we will wait for it to die completely until we buy a new one.

The Lawnmower

Our lawnmower broke. Again. It's a hand-me-down lawnmower that was a godsend when we got it over 3 years ago, and that has served us well enough since then. We have been grateful for it, of course, but it's been one step past dead for years. We've welded parts together, jerryrigged it into working, etc. Now the part that we welded has broken again. ... Luckily, lawnmowers aren't that expensive. At least not the kind we'd buy. In a month or two, $200 will make us the proud owners of another cheap mower.

Speaking of lawnmowers, we're thinking pretty seriously about buying an old fashioned mower. You know, the no gasoline required kind. Just you and the blades. If anyone has any expertise/knowledge/advice about these, pass it on, please!

Rob's Palm Pilot

You know what the Palm company doesn't make any more? Palm Pilots. Rob's Tungsten E2 broke on Monday. It's been dying for over a year, but we've been waiting for it to completely biff it. Which it did, of course, only days after the lawnmower died. What's with that?

Rob is lost without a PDA. I used to think it was a luxury to have one, but Rob is such a better person with something that has an alarm on it to remind him about mundane things that repeat on a weekly basis and so he really should remember it anyway because, Hello! Trash Night is ALWAYS on a Thursday!, that we instantly bought him a new one. $200.

You can't buy JUST a PDA any more, though. People don't want JUST a palm pilot. They want a phone/radio/camera/PDA/internet browser/waffle maker. What cracks me up is that Rob bought a multi-function phone that he will never use as a phone: the Centro Smartphone. And that's funny.

The phone arrived today. So Rob won't forget that Thursday is Trash Night.

Rob's Wedding Ring

It didn't break, he just lost it, as I've previously reported. I tried to convince him to hold off for a few years or something, but the idea appalled him. He NEEDED a ring. And that's cute, you know? The symbol of our union and all.

Anyways. We went to the mall where I bought my ring a year and a half ago. Went to the same store and asked if they had the same band, so that we could get Rob a matching band. They had one, but Rob would have to come in and get his finger sized before they ordered it. ... My ring was $350, before the price of gold shot up. So we figured his would be about $500. No: $700. Ouch. The guy told us they'd have that style probably through December, so we should watch the price of gold (right. We don't WATCH the price of gold!) and if it dipped, we should buy it on that day, cause it'd be about $20 cheaper, say, if the price fell from $900 to $600 an ounce. Woo hoo.

We moved on. I took him to another store that had similar bands that were beautiful, but he was determined to get the matching band. Fine by me. We've always wanted, but never had, matching bands. It'd be nice to have them finally. ... At the end of the night Rob was disheartened. $700 was more than we wanted to pay, for sure. And Rob HATES spending money on himself. I told him to look at one last store (I didn't even know it was there. Tucked back by the kids' play area) and guess what they had: the matching band, in Rob's size, for $450. We bought it on the spot and Rob wore it home. How's that for fate?

They also told us that if Rob found his ring within 30 days, he can return the ring for a full refund. For jewlery, that's an incredible return policy. Our 30 days is up May 1st or so. After that, if we find the ring, we'll pawn it. (Just kidding. I'm not sure what we'll do with it if we find it. But pawning it is an option. It has platinum in it.)

... I think that's the entire list of unplanned things to spend money on lately. Rob says we should pray that nothing else breaks. Amen, brother Rob!

We are fortunate, though. We've been working really hard regarding our finances, so we had money in the bank for all these purchases. In fact, we could go buy a lawnmower and TV right now, for cash. We just don't WANT to. We have better things to do with that money. Like get out of debt. (Still in love with Dave Ramsey.)

The Home Project

Ah, yes. That. Rob's mom and dad came down for 3 days and Rob and Vaughn tore into the project! Before they came down, Rob and I spent hours and hours and hours and hours and hours tearing down wallpaper. Shouldn't have thought it would have taken so long. But it did. Here's Rob scraping the last of the paper off the walls:

Rob took some time off work while his parents were here so that they could do as much of the project as possible. They put up the frame. Worked really well and it looks great! Before, remember, it was just a piece of wood across my ceiling and that did not make me very happy. One of those: "If you think that's going to fly, think again." The frame gives the space a little depth. It's perfect.

They then tackled some of the smaller things, but the things that take some expertise or precision. Like putting in tile down a 2-inch space. Fixing another tile. Mudding. Lots of mudding. Caulking. Puttying.

On the 3rd day the options were to start on the floor or to finish up the little things here and there. Vaughn said that we wouldn't want to finish the floor till last, but they could replace the subfloor and leave it like that for a while. Umm, no. Mentally that would drive me NUTS! I have a particular psychosis revolving around floors, apparently. So they finished up the little things. Hurray!

They also finished stripping our cabinets, and put the new cabinets up. The new cabinets are a Home Depot basic set that a neighbor helped us adjust so it would work for our doors. We now have 4 excellent, brand new cabinet doors, if anyone wants them. Though, what would you do with doors and no cabinets? I don't know.

Vaughn, stripping a cabinet door:

Rob's mom kept saying, "I'm not being very helpful." But she was the person who kept me sane the whole time. It was a little frustrating to have our home multitasking as a construction zone, and Carolyn kept the kids entertained and provided me with someone to talk to while the guys were making a big mess. Here's some pictures of her playing with the kids and reading them books:

I am afraid that any home project picture will look like we've made a step backwards instead of a step forwards. The doors are all off the cabinets. Nothing's painted. And the frame they spent so much time on still needs painted, so it won't look right if I take a picture right now. ... But I guess if you can have a little vision, I'll post this picture of what it looks like now:

I'll have to continue this later. Elijah says it's his turn to play on the computer.