Kitchen Money!

We went and sat with our contractor tonight. It was as I expected.... A little more than we wanted to spend... But we know that it will be done right. The total with floor, cabinets, ceiling, and utilities was about 17,000.00. This also included demolition of floors. We are having him break out the cost of the floor, since we have received one quote for that already. The tile quote we had was 2400.00 for the Kitchen, Bathroom, and Pantry. This is for 13"Ceramic Tile. Don's computer is down this weekend. They downloaded the "Bonsai Buddy", and he took possession of many of the computers root functions. I have seen him create havoc at Fort's and I warn any of you from downloading this freaky purple monkey. I found the support disk to restore his system, so he should be back up and running early next week. I have to fine tune my artistic skills for the weekend... I am painting a rainforest tree in Bill and Sandra's nursery. Angela told them what a great artist I am... I hope she is right. Superbowl. Did anybody notice that my All-Time favorite football team is in the Superbowl? I have been a big Giants fan since 1986. I sold them out this year... Who woulda thought? I guess I could get out my old hats and T-shirts! Does anybody remember that the VOLARE had a Giants bumper sticker? Has anybody noticed? It seems to be a big fad lately to list what you are listening to. Don did it the other day, and I have had a few emails this last week that did the same thing. So, not to be one left off the bandwagon, I have created my Top Ten of All Time page. Enjoy.

Bored Don?

Going to a Tile Specialist tonight. This is part of the 50K renovation in the kitchen. Just kidding! I know I freaked some people out when they saw that number the other day. Tile for 3 rooms will probably run 2 grand with installation. I watched the final show of the current "This Old House" project. They spent 360K on the renovation of a historic townhouse in Boston. So we are not THAT crazy. Thursday we are visiting with the Contractor on the Kitchen. He told me that he is eager to start. Got a letter from Don yesterday. He writes letters longer than Dad! Wow! He must be in some kind of Mid-Life Crisis.... He is jamming 80's hair bands around the house. I have spent 10 years trying to forget, and BOOM!, he fills my head with visions of "Special Collector Editions" of crappy albums with Video cassettes and double CD sets. And the worst memory of all... Being bored enough to actually sit in the basement and watch that crap with him and Robert. AAAAAHHHHHH! Will I ever have peace?

Getting started with the kitchen

Finished the Barn door. I was going nuts with power tools, and it paid off. This door slides easier than any other door we have. I will get a picture for all of you kids to see. We had a Kitchen contractor come out this week. I about choked when he said it could go to 50 Grand! I said... What can we get for 10? So this week we will find out. We will get a second opinion, but these guys have never treated us wrong before. We really want this done before Jr. arrives. We finally started getting things put away from the final pieces of the old house. We had brought in a few last pieces before vacation, and they have just sat in the foyer for a month. Finished the new Drapes in the foyer. They match the new drapes of the living room. We went to Damon's on the Peoria Riverfront last night. I can say that it was the worst service of my life. It took over an hour to get my food! The waitress bought me and Bill off with a free round of beers. So we weren't as upset as our pregnant wives. They both ended up with free desert. I ordered some nice picture hooks online. Here is a link to one of the only manufacturers that I could find. We bought a few 880's and 550's. I hope they look as good at our house as they do on that site. Rumor has it that Steele is dating again! Watch out ladies! I got the scoop from Bernie.

Lots of News

Spent my whole weekend in that Darn barn. (Yes, I said Darn... I am becoming kinder and gentler with my language, so that Jr. has a good vocabulary!) I spent Saturday putting up a 12 foot header for the sliding rail of a new outside door. It was 35 degrees, and made the work pretty easy. It was easy until I went down to the other Barn to retrieve the door! Oh my God! This thing must have weighed 300 pounds. It is solid Wood and measures about 9 by 10. I tipped it over.. And was done! Ang was really wanting this done, and tried to help. That went real well. I just kept yelling at her to quit, and she was yelling that she wanted it done. I tried to get the truck down there to pull it.... But the truck just kept getting stuck in 1 to 2 feet of snow. So I got it out before I had more problems to worry about. When it was all said and done... The Door never moved more than 10 feet. Sunday, Bill came out and helped me early in the morning. I put handles on the edged of the door, and we strung a chain though them to create some leverage. It took a ton of pulling, and we managed to get it through a 4 ft. drift. By the time it was over... I wanted to go back to bed! We got Hershey back today. And we are also boarding another horse. Her name is Sabrina. She is an Arabian... And this is all I was willing to learn. Went to Lunch with Tom over in Bloomington. He got a big raise! So if you need cash, call him. Maybe he can buy himself a better web site! Ha Ha Tom, I know you read this! BIG NEWS! Our car passed the Tom test! Tom sat comfortably in the back seat of the new car! I can rest easy knowing that I can accommodate anybody. You never know... We may have kids who are 6'5"! I have some pictures from Christmas in Florida. They will be listed somewhere when I revamp the Pictures Page. But you can view them now: Don with his Portable Enema. Don't Ask! Family shot that was pasted together. Was it so bad when Mike was invisible? Here is a picture of the "Family Cruiser"... Our new car. It is quite a stretch from the little Convertible... But I am insisting she drive this "Big and Safe" car till July. I don't know if anybody cares... But I had a photo of my car too. Photo of an Antique Chair that Ang Refinished for me for Christmas. Photo of the new Drapes that we bought down at Tim's store over the Holiday. Photo from the Christmas card that Angela's, Aunt Shirley sent. They are posing with their classic International B Farmal Tractors.

Happy New Year

Its a new year! We just got back from Florida after a week and a half trip. We had Christmas and New Years with the family, plus the Wedding. Speaking of the Wedding... You need to check out the photos that Ang took. Click here if you missed the link on the Home Page We got a new car! I will get some photos later. We have had it since Mid-December, but wanted to surprise the Family when we got to Florida.