Kris's 8th Birthday

X-Box 360 was at the top of the gift list

Kris you have to come and eat somewhere in time

Kris chose the family party over the school friends

Dinosaurs and Volcanoes were the theme this year

More gifts at the family party and money in the cards!

Kris's Birthday was the 27th but we had his party yesterday so everyone could attend. Everyone has a job so we have to plan around their schedules. Sunday seemed to be the magic day so Sunday it was.
Kris had to decide between a family party and a school friends party. He has found out over time that he comes out much better at the family parties...gift wise...than he does with his friends at school.
We had a dinosaur and volcano theme party. Kris has always been fascinated with prehistoric times. He loves studying volcanoes and knows most all of the dinosaurs and the period they lived in. 
His most wished for gift was an X-Box 360. Sherri and I along with his grandmother got it and a game. His brothers and sisters got him some more games and money in his cards!!! He loves money...who doesn't? Sherri and I got him a giant plastic Coke bottle that is a bank. He ought to have enough for a college education when he gets that full!
Over all the party went well and Kris enjoyed the day with all his family. All we have to do is figure out how to get him off the 
X-Box long enough to eat! 
I am trying to figure out how to keep up with all the gifts for these birthdays! They are getting closer and closer together...

Somewhere in Time 

What is it with Walmart

Sherri and I packed up yesterday to head to Wally World for some things we needed for the house. We had made a list and felt sure this was all we needed. We have to make sure that we have every thing on the list that we need because with the price of fuel now days you can't just drive back and forth to the stores to pick up things. It is not that it is so far away but it does use up fuel that could be spent on going somewhere exciting.
We had a list for Dollar Tree also. These were items for Kris's Birthday party. His Birthday is on the 27th but he is having a party on Sunday. We have a theme party in mind and the Dollar Tree is the place to get all the fix-ins for...you guessed it a dollar each!
OK now I have set the stage so you can see that we are really organized for this trip to the big city.
We pull into the parking lot at Wally World and Sherri gives me the same old speech about why she would have parked in the next row and how I don't scan the lot before I land...Oh well we got parked and yes we had to walk and extra parking space to the front door, but we made it safely.
We had three items on the list one of them being the new lawn mower. The other two items were a crock pot for the house and some paint for our outside bench.
Now here is the question...Why is it when you get to Wally World and while you are gathering up your listed items other things get put into the basket and before you know it your ticket is tree times the amount that you set out to spend!
One time when we were traveling we stopped in Wally World to get Kris a tooth brush and ended up spending over $200.00 bucks! I will have say that was the most expensive tooth brush we have ever bought.
I could go on and on about this but I know that all of you out there have your own story to tell. For me I can see how shopping at the old Mom and Pop stores of years gone by was so much cheaper. Now that you can get any and all you need in one Mega store you have a tendency to spend every dime you have in one visit...

Somewhere in Time

Final touches

I had to rebuild some of the old cabinets to work in the new openning

We put a wine rack on this cabinet which may not be used for wine?

Trimmed off the tops with cove and we are ready for the next project

As you know I have been working on some projects around the house here. One of them was getting my shop moved from the lake. I have a two car garage that my truck wont fit in so I have converted it to my new shop.
Over the years I have accumulated many woodworking tools and now have a nice place to use them. Sherri has many pieces of furniture that she wants me to build and now with the new shop I can.
Most all the tools I have are on roll around platforms so they can be easily moved around in this small area to where ever I decide to use them. With the storage I have built I can store away all the odds and ends it takes to build my projects.
So much for the shop. I had to get it completed and set up so I could start some of the inside things Sherri needed done.
One of those was the opening in the kitchen, which I showed you my step by step photos of earlier on. Now with the shop completed I was able to finish out the cabinets and trim in the kitchen.
There are many more projects to come and I am anxious to get started on them...

Somewhere in Time

Gotter Done

Love the surf

Love the sand

Kris loves it all

Our trip to the trailer place went off without a hitch...No I mean with no problems...we got the hitch. Now it is time to start planning where that hitch will take us this summer.
We are planning on going somewhere around Thanksgiving and then again in Christmas. Most likely to the coast for our gulf fix. We love to wake up in the morning to the sound of the waves on the shore line. We love to stroll down the beach with our coffee and watch the sun come up over the horizon.
We have all kinds of plans to pursue and will be putting together some trips...

Somewhere in Time

Getting the new hitch

Here I have all these hitches for sale and I am going down to get one of my old ones installed on the new  trailer. I wish I could sale some of these that I have bought over the years.
I have to be down at the trailer place at 9:30. That means I have to go take Kris to school then drive out to the lake and pick up the trailer and drive back to Canton! I can't say anything I made the appointment so I have to live with it.
My BIL is in the hospital and recovering from blood clots in his lungs. He is doing well now and we look for him to be coming home here in the next week. He has been doing much better since he fell at his house last week.
Sherri and I are doing well and looking forward to traveling this coming summer. I need to find some young man to mow my lawn while we are away. There are several teenage boys in out neighbor hood that I am sure would like to make some money this summer.
Time to get Kris ready for school so I better go. I have a lot of miles to cover...

Somewhere in Time

Kris starts soccer

Kris is not really a sport minded guy. He likes bowling on the Wii and playing golf on the same but watching sports or playing them in real life...NOT.
We wanted him to have some inter-reaction with other kids his age. Being a part of a team is a part of growing up that you have to have some experience in. Even in the work place your on a team so to speak to accomplish certain goals. Knowing how to operate on a team is very important.
I don't think that Kris will ever be a sports star but I want to give him that chance in life. So many children in life never have that opportunity and miss out on so much. I played Pee Wee football and really was never very good...but then I never really liked it enough to be good. I was more of a hands on guy and loved working with my hands in my wood shop. I love to fish and before I went into the Army I loved to hunt. Carrying a gun around in the woods never did appeal to me after that.
So much for me...Kris did fairly well  for his first practice. I only saw two standouts in the bunch and they were the coaches kids...Go figure. We are going to see how long he last at this and then we might let him try something else. He wont be able to say that we never let him try.
Today is a stay at home day. I have several projects to finish up here. One of them is mowing the lawn. Not my favorite thing to do. I had the lake lot that I had to mow sometimes but it was not an every week thing. Here in town your lawn has to be cut or they will write you a warning.
Sitting here telling you my life story is not going to get anything done so I better get busy and start my day here...

Somewhere in Time

We are back at home

Our time away was great but all good things must come to an end sooner or later. In our case it was sooner but we had to get home and do the laundry and get ready for the next week.
Kris starts soccer next week and we have to get ready for that. I have some more projects to complete.
We did finish our last project and it turned out real nice I think.
Here are some pictures of the project as it progressed...

We started out with this 

Cabinets and walls came down

Electrical Relocated

Living room side 

Re-sheetrocked kitchen 

Tape and bedded living  room side

 Trim installed 

Kitchen side

Well just a few more touch ups and this project is history. Not to worry I have plenty to keep me busy here...

Somewhere in Time 

What a great time we had

 My first time to back in...No Problem

 Great weather for sitting out 

 Love our new outdoor kitchen

The patio was the place to be all week

We made our reservations for the spring break. Kris was out of school and we took Franki with us. Franki is Kris's cousin/niece...well you know what I mean. They get along so good together and Kris has someone to play with.
This being our maiden voyage in the new RV we were not sure what all we would need for a "Camping Trip". Having lived in our RV for 8 years we had everything we owned in it so we had no idea what a weeks needs would  be. 
After three or four trips to the store we finally decided we had just about everything that we needed and settled in for a fun stay. 
The site we had was just right for our RV. We have the outdoor kitchen and this site had an area just where it was located for us to use the kitchen. The picnic table was also located close enough to be useful in our outdoor cooking. 
The weather was idea for sitting on the patio and enjoying the sunshine. At night we had a campfire which was real nice to warm up by. Yes the nights are still cool here and will be for some time. I could not have asked for a better week to go and try out the new rig.
Everything worked great and we neither one have any complaints. I know that this summer we will be enjoying some long trips in our new weekend house...

Somewhere in Time  

Travel Day

Today we are headed out for a week of "Camping". Yes we now camp. We lived in our RV for 8 years and now we live in a house on the ground. So we did not really "Camp" we lived where ever we let our jacks down.
It is quite different now being as we have to pack up our clothes and food and head to the lake lot and get the RV ready to head out. But the excitement is still the same as when we were traveling in our home.
We love our new home but it is so nice to get to go somewhere and get away from the everyday schedule that we have. Being able to get up in the morning and fix your coffee and sit out by the campfire and relax. This takes me back to the time when we took summer vacations in our little pop up camper. Some of the
best times were spent in Colorado in that little camper.
We will not have WIFI where we are headed so I will have to post everything when we get back.
I will have some pictures of our adventure and too some pictures of our kitchen renovation. We have been busy this last month designing and building and now we head out to relax and have a good time camping out...

Somewhere in Time

Mother Nature has been nice this week

We woke up this morning to sunshine and warm temps. They say that they should stay this way all week long. We fixed our coffee and sat out on the porch for the second time since we bought the house. It is so nice to be able to use the screen porch. It is one of the reasons we chose this particular house.
I spent most all of the day out in the shop putting up workbenches and storage. I will glad when this is all done and I can bring my woodworking tools out and get them set up.
Today will be more of the same. I will try to get some pics posted later when I get everything done...

Somewhere in Time

Warm weather finally came our way!

I woke up this morning and for the first time in a long while I noticed the heater was not running. Maybe our electricity had gone out? No it was on so there could only be one other reason...it's warm! Sure nuff the temps this morning were in the upper 40's. No cold wind or rain and the sun was starting to peep over the trees.
We have been longing for a day like this so we could get some out door things done.
The back porch needed to be cleaned for months now and today it would get clean. The truck has not been cleaned out inside since we bought it back in December. Well today was the day all that will happen.
It will be in the upper 60's to mid 70's today and I can hardly wait to get out there and get started.
If this weather holds out for the next couple of days I will be headed to the lake to get some more stuff loaded up and brought to the house.
We have been cooped up for so long! It will be such a joy to be outdoors...

Somewhere in Time