Bobby the Builder

I am about worn slap out.

We have had several projects at our house that have been needing to be done. But as busy as we always seem to be, the list never gets shorter... in fact it has been growing lately at an alarming pace!

So this weekend, Daddy (Bobby) came up, I brought out my checkbook, and we worked all weekend getting things done and redone. In fact, just because the weekend is over doesn't mean that the fun has stopped. Daddy is still here and will probably stay with us another couple of days in an attempt to finish up the projects we have started. God bless him.

Daddy got here Friday afternoon, much to the pleasure of Hershey. We had told her that Poppy was coming, and she had been excited for 3 days. He tends to spoil her more than just a little bit, and anybody who knows Hershey knows that she is definately a high maintenance little dog who thrives on attention from everybody.

We decided to hit Lowe's wide open before we went to eat. So we loaded up in the Volvo and prepared to go spend. We started looking at kitchen sinks and faucets. Our original plan was to get a new stainless sink. When the tree fell on the house, and the kitchen had to be redone, four years ago, the painters used our kitchen sink to wash out their paint rollers and brushes and ruined it. In the midst of arguing over everything else that needed to be done in the rebuild, we gave in on the sink and decided to replace it ourselves. So 4 years later, here we are.

Heather suddenly decided that she didn't want stainless steel anymore. She found these granite sinks that she loved. I wasn't so sure, but decided to just go with the flow. We picked out the faucets, but couldn't decide on a sink, so we decided to keep looking.

Basically, Friday's purchases ended up being a new fan and light for the den. And a few other small things we needed. Then we went to eat at Kobe, which took forever. So by the time we finished eating, there was no time for Home Depot.

Saturday morning, after ham and cheese croissants, we tackled hanging the new microwave over the new stove. Not bad at all. We got that done with no problems. So we decided to hang the fan in the den. No problem. Looked great! We were pleased.

So that was Saturday morning. After a lunch of some chili-dogs (on burned up buns because I forgot they were toasting under the broiler), we put up the new lights on the outside of the house. No problems. An easy job. And I got to use my new ladder, as well.

Then we went to the other Lowe's to look at sinks again. They guy who helped us kept telling us that the single basin sinks were special order. Not a problem since we wanted a double basin. But he kept saying it over and over. Then I actually saw a single basin sink in the spot on the shelf where our double basin should have been. Of course I pointed this out, which confused the mess out of him. The he went on and on about how it was a mistake and how he could special order our sink and have it here within 4 days or so. He then told us that they provided installation for an additional charge. I replied that my dad was going to install it for us. Lowe's fella replied that my dad couldn't offer the warranty on the installation that Lowe's could. What????? No thanks, dude. We moved on.

Then we went to Home Depot and stayed forever! We needed siding to do some repairs on the garage wall, and we finally found what we needed. Then we looked at fans for our bedroom.

How is it that these home improvement stores hire these employees who are complete idiots when it comes to knowing anything at all about what they sell? The lady in the fan section was completely clueless to any questions that we asked. She kept running up and down the aisles muttering to herself about the new fans that they were about to start putting up for display. Then, when we made our decision, she pointed out that the fan we were getting was not a Hunter fan, but an EnergyStar. My dad pointed out that the EnergyStar logo on the box was letting us know that the fan was energy efficient that that the Hunter logo in the corner meant that it was a Hunter ceiling fan. She looked at him as though he had spoken Swahili.

Then we headed over to look at Home Depot's sinks. They were awful, and were higher than Lowe's. Heather had almost decided on one of them though, but I vetoed that vote and said I would drive back over to the first Lowe's. So once again, we left a store without a sink. But we did get another fan.

We headed home with our lumber and siding, and Heather volunteered to go back and get the sink. She was tired of looking and was ready to buy anything. At this point I had grown to really like the granite. We were just differing on which one to actually buy. Then one I liked had 2 different basin shapes and 2 different depths. The one Heather liked had identical basins. Mine was more expensive by about 50 bucks. So I figured she would come back with the one she wanted.

We got home and unloaded the truck, and Heather and Hershey went back to the store. Daddy and I started tearing the old siding from the outside of the garage. That's when we hit the first big obstacle. The wood underneath the siding was soaking wet. We have a moisture problem. We basically took the siding off the bottom part of the house, and then left it to dry. Daddy is probably out there right now trying to deal with what has hopefully dried out. So who knows what else is instore for us with the garage when I get home from work. (Yes, I blog at work.)

Heather and Hershey came back with the sink...my choice! They had also stopped and picked up some ribeyes and porkchops for the grill. So we stopped working, got cleaned up, did a little grilling, and just chilled out the rest of the night.

Let me share with you here, that our new microwave will cook a baked potato until it shrivels up like an old piece of leather. Heather set the thing on an hour and left it to cook! So we just had salad and asparagus with our steaks.

Sunday morning we went back to Lowe's for some plumbing items and then came home to install the sink. Second obstacle. Our countertops are evidently thicker than normal, and the brackets that came with the sink to hold it to the countertops were not big enough. That sink took over 6 hours and still another trip to Home Depot before it was finished. But oh my goodness, it does look good with our countertops! I'll post pics later on when I get a chance.

It was beginning to get a little dark when we decided to hand the bedroom fan. Third obstacle. The base of the fan wouldn't fit into the beam at the top of our bedroom ceiling. So after quite a bit of unsuccessfully trying to make it work, we packed it back up and I will be returning it at lunch and getting another one. I'll probably get the same one as in the den, only white. We can hang it this evening.

I think Daddy will get to go home by Wednesday evening. Then they head back up here this weekend for the Blue Angels.

Moral of the story: No rest for the weary. But if all you do is rest, then you end up waiting 4 years to replace your sink.

More later.