May
3
cupboards, stimulus check, and false alarm
Filed under house, taxes, government, friends at 4:00 pm | 1 Comment
It’s been a good Saturday thus far, and by good I mean I’ve been able to get a lot done.
For starters, I installed hardware on all our kitchen and bathroom cabinets. When we moved in, the cabinets had no hardware and the finish was starting to wear off where we constantly grabbed the doors and drawers. Not wanting to install new cabinets simply because the finish had worn off, we decided to finally put on some knobs. Not being a big fan of home improvement work, I’m pleased to report things went fairly well: only 1 mid-project trip to Home Depot, 1 broken refrigerator magnet (don’t ask), and 1 mechanical pencil accidentally vacuumed up.
I also noticed we had a sizable deposit in our bank account today, thanks to the generosity of the government’s Stimulus Package. (As an aside, if Rachel and Micah hadn’t been out of town when the bill was signed by the President, we had an opportunity to be there at the White House.) While I’m happy just about any time the government decides to give us some money back, doing so during an election year has me questioning the motives. Perhaps we’ll do our part to stimulate the economy by paying some extra on our mortgage, or tucking it away in savings. The best part is we received our second snail mail letter from the IRS today letting us know the money was coming. Helpful, and well worth spending money on postage.
Finally, being from Grand Rapids, MI, I’ve been casually interested in Cornerstone University’s recent hiring of Joseph Stowell as their new president. I saw a headline today that made my heart stop for a moment: Cornerstone University President Joseph Stowell takes life, Christian school in a new direction. No, he didn’t commit suicide. False alarm.
Now we’re off to have dinner with some good friends who are in town from CA!
Jul
4
patriotic gift
Filed under holidays, house at 2:18 pm | Leave a Comment
I received an early birthday present today. It’s now flying proudly in front of our house. My first American flag! Happy 231st, USA.
Jun
30
it’s never that easy
Filed under house at 11:58 am | Leave a Comment
Though I didn’t dare say it out loud, I knew it sounded too easy to be true. 
The author forgot to include the parts about becoming one with the toilet while trying to reach said bolts, the vice grips, the hacksaw, and the 2 inevitable trips to the home improvement store of my choice.
When it comes to me and home improvement, things are never that easy. I’m happy to say we were victorious with this battle, however. The wall is now freshly painted behind the toilet.
Update: You can now classify the post above as a premature declaration of victory. In the euphoria following the removal of the tank, I couldn’t fathom what could go wrong in the reassembly process. Add to the list another trip to the home improvement store, returning a new gasket for a different new one, and spending a good long while pleading with the tank to refill itself after reassembly.