Home

So my last post was a little cryptic. I know, but sometimes you just can't say what's really on your mind as children may be in the room!

I've just spent the last three days in Beaumont, TX for work. I'm glad to be home. Princess is bringing Domino's sandwhiches home for dinner - good thing cause I'm starved!

I think we're both still confused by what happened Sunday, much less angry, more hurt - we'll get over it, but some trust has been removed and it's going to take a while to rebuild it. That's all I'm gonna say.

Jim

Confused

Weird day at Church - extremely confused with people - just weird day - I should've stayed in bed.

Tomorrow is a new day - looking forward to it!

Home

Yep, that's right, I'm home!

I've just spent weeks filled with long working days on the East Coast working from our national office and our PA plant. Lot's to do, lot's to see.

While I was gone, the new sofa, chair, and ottomans arrived at the house. They really are nice and very comfortable to sit on. Princess is happy, I'm happy - that's all that matters.

I also think that the rain magnet is back. While on the east coast, it rained off and on during the two weeks. I returned home yesterday to strong winds and now it's raining! I'm not complaining, the east needed it, and so do we need it here.

Lot's to catch up on around the house today, spend time with Princess and the girls.

Okay - it's Easter

While I do realize for those of you "hopping" over to check out what it is Princess and I are up to, you are now noticing the new background, etc.

Yes, I know it's April, that's it's Easter Sunday tomorrow, but I REALLY love Americana, red, white, blue - stars, the whole shabang! I'm just now getting into the whole background thing with the blog (now that blogger has added some easy tools for us uneducated).

Enjoy - and Have a Happy Easter!

Jim

April

My last post, I complained about being a rain magnet. Remember? For all those that went on the Ward camp out - You're welcome - I came home, it didn't rain, and so you stayed dry. Dry but very, very cold! I however was home, in my cozy warm bed. It was great.

I was only home for about 42 hours, then I headed back out on the road. I spent one lovely night in Veracruz, Mexico, right on the beach at Boca Del Rio. The rest of the time was spent more into the interior of the country. Now mind you, it was all for work.

I returned home, jet lagged, tired, worn out, but just happy to be home safe and sound. Then the grueling began. Friday was a Dr's appointment (overall Cholesterol number really good, HDL, well within the good range, LDL - SUCKS - this number is too low) where the news was bad - gained some weight, and well you read it, my LDL is too low. What does this mean for dear Jim? It means he must exercise 30 minutes per day (LOL), eat a low fat, low cholesterol diet (have you seen me? I'm fat cause my Princess cooks...too darn well). I laughed and so now I'm taking a new drug called Niaspan - side effect - FLUSHING! Have you seen me, I flush at the drop of a hat - now it's going to be medically induced - great!

This weekend, we're taking the bed out of the Mickey room, replacing it with the couch from the living room as we prepare for the new sofa we bought on Saturday down in Austin. Then I leave again - this time to Wonderful New Jersey - It's gonna be a great time.

So now I've brought you up to speed on my "Wonderful Life", what's happening with Ya'll?
Jim

Philadelphia

Here I sit in Philadelphia, PA. I have come to understand that I am now a rain magnet.

Let me explain. I spent two weeks for work in New Zealand. It rained every day I was there - some days a little sprinkle, others a deluge.

I returned to Texas - and it rained - for three days straight.

I travelled to St. Louis - again rain.

Returned home to Texas and it rained.

Now I'm here in Philadelphia, and it has rained the past two days and is slated to rain tomorrow here and in Houston as I try to travel home to Texas. The best part of the whole deal is that every where I have been, the areas have needed the rain. So, wish me luck as I fly the friendly skies back home.

Jim

Aunt Mary

I just received  a sad phone call.  My Dad's sister, Aunt Mary, has been in the hospital for the past week.  She's been in a medically induced coma (unfortunately, she has had quite a few problems with her health since I was about 11 or 12).  They stopped medicating her, and did some neurological tests and found that only her brain stem is working, no other part of her brain has any activity.  I am so sad for my Uncle Ralph and their three kids, Glen, Allison, and Steve.  Uncle Ralph is such a good man, sweet, humble, teachable, really, a true Christlike man.  The family had to sign papers to remove her from life support to see if she will make it on her own.

Aunt Mary is the baby of the family.  She is just slightly older than my Mom, and has been very close to both of my parents.  In spite of her health difficulties, Aunt Mary always smiled.  She always laughed and she always made sure that you laughed too, only not at someone else's expense.  As a little boy, I was drinking a coke.  My cousin David asked his Mom if he could have one.  Of course, she said no, and when he protested saying I had one, she said "we don't care what Jimmy is drinking".  Aunt Mary would have none of that - she said "Oh yes we do" and promptly snatched my coke bottle out of my hand, poured what was left down the drain, and said "We do care, he can have a grape Shasta just like the other kids".  That has stayed with me my whole life (for the record, this June will make 4 consecutive years that I have given up caffeinated cola drinks - I think Aunt Mary would be proud).  When her time is up, she will be missed, not just by her husband, children, and grandchildren, but by her nieces and nephews, and all the kids who lived on her street at one time or another (little Scott, big Scott, etc.)  I will miss her smiling face.  I will miss her love of Mexican food, and of buying jewelry at the pawn shop (she got some great deals), and her infectious laugh.

Because of work obligations, I don't know if I will be able to fly home if and when she passes.  And I hope that my extended family will give her the best send off they know how.  She certainly deserves it!  She's a great lady.

I love you Aunt Mary!  Jimmy

NZ photos

Sheep on a hillside near the east coast town of

 Taurunga, North Island

New Zealand Temple

New Zealand Temple - small village next to the temple is called 

"Temple View", and this is a suburb of Hamilton, New Zealand.

View from my hotel room in Whangarei

located on the Northeast side of the north island

Bluff, New Zealand - most southern point on the south island

All in all, I had a good trip.  The countryside was just as beautiful as last year, although it rained every day while I was there, it was still beautiful.  I will post more photos later.

Last Day

It's my last day in New Zealand - it has been a whirlwind two weeks! I'm tired and excited to fly home and be in my bed and to hug Princess and get kisses from my girls!

It'll be a long trip home - leaving Hamilton, NZ at 11:00 AM and arriving into LAX the same day - and then on to Waco arriving in at 10:30 at night!

I've been to Church, mingled with the Saints, visited the Temple grounds, mingled with the Saints. And had the opportunity many times to talk about the Restored Gospel in many different settings.

I've been blessed with safe passage - to and from each destination. I've had great company and great food along the way. I've seen countryside where the Hobbits ran from the ring wraiths. I've seen Mordor from an airplane window - and I've seen hundreds and hundreds of cows and sheep. This NZ (NZED) is a magical place - I know I'll be back.

Look out Texas - here I come!

Jim

G'day

Kia Ora from the wonderful island of New Zealand!

Wow! This has been an incredible trip so far. A short run down of my activities since I got here:
- Visited the vendor site in Invercargill, went to the southern most point of New Zealand called Bluff.
- Then went to Christchurch, middle of the south island, for a couple of working days.
- Travelled to Whangarei for two days, and then yesterday, travelled to Hamilton.
- I'll be in Hamilton the rest of the trip, flying back stateside on 13 March! Yep, I know it, but I'm not superstitious at all.

Just finished my Church block, went to the Hamilton East Ward, Glenview Stake. It was Ward Conference and a really good 3hours of meetings. It's really refreshing to be able to attend Church in another land. Fussy kids, kids fighting with their siblings, Ward Choir, all the usual things that we experience on a weekly basis in our own little part of the world in Waco.

Tomorrow, I'm off to a town called Te Rapa, then Tuesday to a town called Waitoa, and Thursday to Edgecumbe. All of these locations are new for me to audit, so I'm excited about that. Thursday I'm doing an audit for the Australian unit.

It's going to be nice to be in one hotel for the next 5 nights (6 in total).

Here's to Princess - Love you, Miss you, and can't wait to be back home in your arms again. I Love you.

For those loyal followers, thanks for your patience. Internet service here has not been very good in the smaller towns.

Jim

Still Alive

Yeah, I know you don't believe it, but I am still alive.  

The Kitchen re-do has taken on a life of it's own.  I'm back to traveling AGAIN, so I haven't painted anything except the primer coat.  Princess and I are probably going to look at having someone come in and paint the kitchen ceiling, trim, and walls.  I'm just getting booked up again and sacrificing a weekend to paint is just too dreary a thought.

I was home for Valentine's day - again, third year in a row.  We had a very nice time, we went to Austin for the day, ate at Cheesecake factory, went to the Apple store and lusted, and came home.

I'm off to Georgia tomorrow.  I may get to see Princesses cousin Matthew while I'm there.  

When I get home, then it's off to New Zealand for two weeks auditing.  Yeah and boo.  I have to travel coach!  The business class fare was about 4500 more than last year, and I just couldn't justify it with my boss.   Oh well, I do have a job so I better quit whining.

I'm not gonna promise to post more, I'm just gonna plug along.

Jim

Pictures

Frosted Roofline

Frosted Roses

Frosted Trees

Just thought I would share our wonderful fortune from yesterday morning.  It's still been a little cold here - lows in the mid 20's, but the rain moved on and no more "frosted" roads, trees, etc.

Frosted

Yep, that's what it feels like.  We've been frosted, like as in sugar coated, dipped, iced, you name it, but it wasn't with sweet sugar, or chocolate icing, but with frozen rain.  It started yesterday afternoon.  Newscasters claiming everyone should stay home, frozen bridges, car accidents galore, Gloom and Doom.

So Princess says to me "Should we park your car in the garage tonight"? And I said, "Why?"   So we went outside and sure enough, O'le blue had a half inch thick layer of ice on her.  We warmed her up for about twenty minutes, let the defrosters work, took off a bunch of ice and she stayed nice and warm in the garage all night.

Princess is on her way to Portland, OR for work {maybe I should say trying to get there, their flights are delayed out of Dallas}.  I worked from home today, may do it all week as I tend to get more done here than at the office.  I took some photos of the roof line, rose bushes, and the trees so you can see our "frosting" we got last night.  No rain tonight, but it's gonna be a cold one again, so bundle up.

Fun Times

Last night we had our Texas family (the Blackhursts) over for dinner.  It was a lovely spread.  Princess grilled London Broil, made potato casserole, country bread, vegetable medley, and for dessert, butter pecan bundt cake.  The Lovely KJ babysat the Blackhursts' girls while we had an adult night.  It was fun.

We played settlers of Zarahemla - kinda like settlers of Cataan.  Princess won - even after Todd was evil with his resource cards andt STOlE all the wheat and the stone cards from all players.  Alas, all evil deeds do not go unpunished, and Princess won.

   Lindsey toasting with Mormon Champagne (sparkling apple cider)

 missing the toast the first time

 Cute Couple

  Enjoying out dinner

  FUN TIMES!

Complete

Well, the priming of the walls that is.  Again, the color did not turn out the way I had hoped for in the priming, but we're still negotiating the wall colors.

Here you can see the wall between the living room and the kitchen, with some trim and the cabinets.  The primer color is just too much lime sherbet for me.  Princess says the color is growing on her.  Here is the wall above the cupboards.

Dining room with the hutch

More dining room with the hutch 

Trying to Finish

Well this past week, we have waited for the contractors to come and repair the ceiling cracks so that we can continue on our Kitchen redo. Of course, Mother nature did not help us any. Sunday was beautiful, and that's where the good weather ended. It progressively got colder and colder until the contractors showed up yesterday.

They came, repaired the cracks, then we had to use a hair dryer to dry the "mud" so they could then texture the repairs. It was comical watching them, but they did it, finished the job, and I began priming the walls. We picked this color for the upper walls, so we decided to tint the primer that color for both the upper and lower walls. The lower walls are going to be this color for the wall under the chair rail. I'm not quite sold on the two colors. The celery is coming out too much neon or lime color green and I'm not liking it too much. We'll see, it is only paint after all. It can be changed much easier than WALLPAPER! Especially wallpaper that had no primer coat on the drywall before it was put up!

We're going to work some more on it today, buy the paint for the ceiling and trim (same colors as we have now, just going to give it a new coat to freshen things up. We're also going to Devin's 29th birthday party at Shogun. Princess is making the cake, so we'll see how much they like it.

Have fun!
Jim

Progress

I spent this past week in Beaumont, TX for work. For those of you unfamiliar with Beaumont, it is a city right in the heart of Hurricane alley. They got hit with Katrina. They got slammed with Rita. Now three years later they get hit by Ike. Those little towns around Beaumont and Beaumont itself just can't catch a break. I wasn't there for rebuilding purposes, but for work, inspecting purposes. Everywhere I looked, roofs were covered in blue plastic, signs down, businesses rebuilding walls that had collapsed. It is just sad. Makes me wonder if the benefit of living along the Gulf Coast is worth all the sacrifice and hassle that one has to go through to live there.

While I was gone, Princess continued putting the house back together from Christmas. Even doing a reduced Christmas, we have quite a bit to put away. Now we are on the search for some pictures that go on the mantel. Pictures of Princess, her sister, and her parents when all of them were much younger. Missing, I can't remember where they are. Princess can't remember where they were put, and I'm dreading going back up into the attic to search through bins to find them. Princess keeps saying "they'll turn up", to which I mutter under my breath, "yeah, next Christmas cause I'm not searching through all those bins". We'll see when they turn up - my money's on Fall 2009!

The Kitchen Walls have been textured. The job was so great, that I didn't notice a couple of cracks along the ceiling! Now our plans to paint the ceiling tomorrow have been put on hold. The drywall guys will be back next Friday to fix those, and I'm going to throw a couple in the Master Bedroom their way too. So tomorrow, we're going to get a tinted primer and give a first coat in the Kitchen so the drywall mud has something to soak up before we paint the walls the selected color. Keeps the project moving along, although, not completed. Oh well, the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. I'll have some pictures once we have the primer coat on.

Jim

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Hope you had a safe and Happy New Year's Eve!

Jim

Kitchen Update

I tried to post this yesterday, but experienced some "Blogger Problems". So here is the Kitchen update (the pictures are not in the correct order - I have to remember to upload them backwards to tell the story).

Here I am "mudding" the torn drywall spots

Here I am scrapping the last of the wallpaper off the Kitchen light.

Here I am soaking the wallpaper above the cupboards.

Here I am scoring the wallpaper above the cupboards.

With all the wallpaper off the walls, the torn spots repaired, Princess (who became the event photographer which is why she is missing from all the photos) and I cleaned all the crown molding, chair rails and baseboards removing all the fabric softener residue. We both smelled "mountain fresh" as the package stated. We cleaned up all the "stuff" from the cupboards, and invited friends to come over and shop through the tins, plants, and dispensers that had been on top of the cupboards. I am happy to report, we got rid of, er were happy to share quite a few of these items with friends.

We've gotten a verbal quote and are waiting for a written quote to texture the wall. We hope to have it textured by next week, then the painting can begin. Yee-HAW! We're excited about the fact that the walls are going to be whole again, something that hasn't been there for quite a while.

Once this project is completed, we're going to remove the wallpaper from the entry way and the Master bath - maybe even the guest bath as well. We'll see how that goes. As it warms up, we're going to clean the house trim, prep it and then paint it. I'm just a little excited about all these "little" projects!

Busy

Yesterday, Princess was under the weather and we both stayed home from Church. I got bored, and started a project that has been six months in the making. Removing the kitchen wallpaper. I posted some pictures below to show the progress I've made, and the work yet to be done.

Kitchen part, wallpaper yet to be removed.

Windows looking to the backyard

Area above kitchen door, in progress at this point

Same shot, showing the "bigger picture".

I will be getting more fabric softener today, finishing the wall next to the fridge, and then moving all the "stuff" from the top of the kitchen cupboards, removing that paper, and sanding and floating the wall so that I can texture. Then comes painting, then comes putting it all back! Yeesh!