If you are gonna go..... go big! (1 of 33)

So for many years I have been a Toronto Maple Leafs fan. I had shirts, hats, banners.... I have still have 21 Borja Salming Hockey cards (all the exact same) from 1979. I went and saw them play in Winnipeg back in 1991 (and they got kicked). Then they signed a whole bunch of players that I could not stand and I had to quit (at some point you have to take a stand or you are just cheering for jerseys and not the players themselves right?)

So I have declared myself a Chicago Blackhawks fan!

Why? Well - good young team - fun to watch - I have had Blackhawk uniforms since I was little (first b/c the Moose Jaw Canucks wore them and then b/c the rec hockey team I played for wore them). I even got my 4th or 5th grade school picture taken while wearing a "Hawks" jersey (I missed the real picture day and I forgot when retake day was - I thought it was cool - it looked like a hockey card! I was even missing some teeth at the time I think) :)

Anyway - Sun 102.3 (our local Fm station) has a new morning DJ and yesterday he declared - on air - that he was a Chicago BlackHawks fan..... and did he get made fun of!!! People kept calling in and asking him what he was thinking, why he was so stupid, etc (oddly enough - he kept playing these calls on the air).

So today he said, "If there is even one Hawks fan in town - please call me!" So that was my chance!!!! A clean break with me Maple leaf loving past!!!! So I called in.......

"Hi this is Sun 102.3"

"Hey, Matt" I said, "I am here to save you"

"What??? Are you a Hawks fan?????"

"Yep! I have two jerseys in the closet - a white one and a red one"

He then accused me of lying - so I had to convince him that I actually knew the players, who was good, what was going on - etc. He was so happy at the end - I think I have a new best friend! :) Sari played it all over the school - people asked if that was me on the radio today.

So the next time I go to the radio station to record "Ministerial Moment" I am going to introduce myself to Matt as "The only other Hawks fan in Southeast Sask". I am sure he will be happy to meet me - either that or he will worry that I am stalking him - one or the other!

So how many people get to declare their changing of hockey allegiance on the air????? It must have been meant to be! :)

PS. I told you that I would post something for 33 straight days - I did not say that they would all be life changing or even interesting. If you are unhappy with this post, I cannot offer you your money back (partially b/c you did not pay for it) but I would be glad to replace this post with a new one tomorrow. Please come back then! :)

33 posts in 33 days

Ok - so here is the deal..... we stink at the blog thing (at least lately anyway). We have done nothing!

I have a friend who about a year ago promised to post 30 things in 30 days on his blog. He did not promise that they would be inspiring or interesting or even good in any way - just that there would be 30 different posts in 30 consecutive days. Well - that inspired me and since we need something to push us to do this...... we are doing 33 in 33 days (just because I am competitive and think that id he can do 30..........) :)

So - it may be me or it may be Sari. The posts may be long or short. They may be funny or serious. Interesting or uninteresting. Original or stolen..... who knows? The point is - keep coming back here b/c every day will have a new post (unless we are out of town and then - come on - as if I am going to waste my time doing this - am I a dork?)

Ps. If you ever do wander by here - please leave a comment. Even just sign your name so that I know that someone still looks at this thing. Tell your friends/neighbours to drop by (the $100/month charge will seem like nothing after you see the stuff I have for you - I promise!!!) :)


33 posts in 33 days!!!!! Guaranteed or ....... well...... or nothing. What are you going to do about it?????? Huh, punk???? :)

Quick update

Hey all

I am sorry for not updating this thing more regularly.... stupid Facebook - taking everyone away from blogs...... well I refuse to let it die! REFUSE!!!!!!! (Whew - that feels better!) :)

Things are busy around home these days. Kids are busy at school with cross country, volleyball and helping mom out. Speaking of "helping mom", Sari is really enjoying her job and the feeling that she is not just doing a good job (which she is) but also that she is helping the kids. She loves the staff at the school too and has met some really interesting people - so that is good. We are still adjusting to life without her at home full time - but it has not been that bad.

As for other things, we have been working like dogs in the yard and on the garage. I will post some pictures soon - but since the last time I updated things, we have built an all new back fence, worked on the patio (we currently have 50 patio blocks stacked in the back parking space just waiting for someone - you - to come help place them) and have wired the garage. Yes it is true! I have power and lights out there now. On to insulation and sheeting - soon hopefully. I am very happy about that.

I am going to play hockey tomorrow - first time this year - wish me luck! :)

So we are healthy, happy and good. As I said, I will update this more regularly and I will post pictures. Thanks for coming around to check on our space on the net - I will not let it die.... Facebook or no Facebook! :)

Faster Pastor 2008

Estevan Motor Speedway held its 2008 version of "Faster Pastor" (This is the race when ministers from around town get to jump into cars and race one another) on Sept 20. Due to the fact that they only had a few cars available, we ran 2 heats of races (4 cars in the first heat and 3 in the second).

I decided after last year (when I raced very carefully and "nicely"), that this year I was going to go hard ("Checkers or wreckers" as they say). I was in first heat in car 21 - have a look! :)



With 2 of the three trophy girls after the race (the other one was taking the picture) :)

Back To School!!!!

So Back to School has a new meaning around these parts. I recently, like a few days ago started a job at the girls school. I am the admin assistant and have more stuff to do than I know what to do with. I love the people there and so that is a great part. I am on the same holidays as the girls and I am of just after them and Tim can be home with them when I can't be. It worked out very well so far. Tim thought I should update the blog with more than just the boy stuff. So that is my new news for a bit and i need to head to bed soon because I may fall over. Well I am excited and look forward to a lot of fun with some really great people who are busy educating and loving our kids.

All Dressed Up

So the shop is sided. Thanks to Sara, Shane, Corey and Sara's Dad Dave, we got soffits, fascia and all the siding done. Now all we have to do is..... build a fence, dig trenches for power and gas, level the parking spot, make the patio larger, landscape around the shop, put on evestroughs, wire the thing, put up door openers and finish the inside...... so I am thinking that it will be done sometime before 2023. :)

I am glad to have it finished on the outside - I think it looks good. Huge - but good! :)

PS. I am racing in the "Faster Pastor" stock car race at our local track this week (on Friday). Since I love racing so much, this is one of the highlights of my year. Pictures to follow. For now, here is the shop........

My Shop may be Blue, but I am going to Grin and Fascia it!

Have a look at the pictures below and you will understand the title........ Get it? "Blue" as in sad - but I am going to "Grin and Fascia" it (Like "face it".... but the twist is that the Fascia - the part that goes on the front edge or the "face" of the eve - is the next part to go on)....... oh never mind! :)

Anyway - as you saw, I now have windows, a door, the weather wrap is done and the soffit up. This may not seem like much - but it is a lot of piddly work that just takes longer than it would seem to. Thanks to Sara's Dad (David), Bob and Tom Goud, Skip Hill and Corey Olver and his boys for helping out over the past few days.

The really exciting thing........ YOU can have YOUR name added to that illustrious bunch of workers noted above!!!!! Siding starts this week!!! Any takers????? :)

PS. I changed oil on both of my vehicles in my new shop for the first time this week! I almost cried!!! :) It was a beautiful thing to see them inside - to work inside - to not have leaves fall off the tree and into my engine.... it was great! Thanks too to Calvin Elford for coming over and wrestling with a stuck oil filter. I really appreciated that!

Things are changing

Now that we are home from holidays, things are changing and progressing here.

First of all, my garage now has overhead doors. Skip and Bob helped me put the first one in and I did the second one by myself. Here is the result.....


Secondly, we bought one of those steel garden sheds and put it together on Saturday. We needed to sell our other shed to make more room in the backyard since some idiot went and put a huge garage back there. :) It will hold all of Sari's stuff (gardening tools, etc). We put it over in the side yard that was just wasted space anyway - so that is good. We know that these are not the best buildings in the world, but it will do the job for now.
And lastly....... after 7 years of faithful service (seriously - one of the best vehicles I have ever owned in terms of "no cost driving") the time has come to say goodbye to my old 1990 GMC pickup - otherwise known as "Becky" - and it is time to say a big HELLO to "Becky II" (or "Bella" or "Samantha" - I have not decided yet) :)

Becky II is a 1997 GMC pickup - not really my dream truck (if it were my dream truck it would not be red like "Becky I"- I have had one of those and would have gone for something else) but it was a smart buy I think.

I bought it off of a friend of mine (Greg Temple for those who know him). It was the truck that he used for his painting company - which means two things.......

1. Greg was very particular about this truck just because that is the way he his in general, but also because it represented his company. "A nice clean truck tells people how you work" (He did not actually say that - but I can hear him saying it) :)

2. Because the company paid for everything, he fixed everything. Intake gaskets, brakes, u-joints, tires, idler arm, pitman arm, steady bearing, water pump, fuel pump, ignition switch, signal light control thinger and wiring harness in the steering wheel...... and too many other things to mention have been replaced on this truck in the past two years.

So that means either it is in tip top condition ..... or it is a total lemon that will be in the garage every other day! :)

Greg showed me all the bills and they totaled almost as much as I paid for the entire truck! As well, it was $3000 cheaper than any other 1997 in the "Auto Trader" - so I figured that I had to buy it. I could have waited and bought something else, but then I would have likely paid more and still had to fix the water pump, the fuel pump, the idler arm, the pitman arm, etc, etc on top of that. Hopefully, that is all taken care of with this one.


Becky II is also a "means to an end" as this allows us to buy some sort of camper in the future if we want. She has a hidden hitch and is wired for a trailer. It also has working A/C and it rides really nicely - so we would not be worried about taking it on holidays and pulling a camper with it. "Becky I" went to the lake a lot (3 times this spring alone) but she was not what you would call a "long hauler". :)

I do not like some of the pin striping (especially the wheat on the back) so that will have to go. I thought that I was going to throw the "topper" off right away as he also gave me some box rails that were on the truck when he bought it (I think that the rails would make it look less like an "old man" truck), but the topper has been useful so far. And since I have no place to store it in the mess that is our backyard at the moment, I think it will stay on there for now.

So, here are a couple of pictures of "Becky II"..... Anyone want to give "Becky I" a good home? She could be the girl of your dreams! :)

The Home Stretch

We have created a tradition with the Mooneys of stopping in on some leg of our holidays and this time was no exception. We had a great day at the beach and getting caught up and anticipating the future of taking 3 more to the beach :). It was a nice way to truly relax before heading home.

3rd Leg of the journey

We headed on to the Lewis and Clark Caverns which are really something to see. Then on to Calgary to be with the Watts family and the Davis family. We spent an afternoon at the zoo and really enjoyed watching the kids be together. After our visit we headed to Drumheller and saw lots of dinos. The girls went for their very first flight with their dad and had a blast. A lot of full days of fun. moving on......

Montana and Spirit Lodge/Second Leg

We spent the better part of our holidays on the mountain with family from all parts of the world. It was great to catch up and enjoy time together. Tim and I went on a great hike and the earlier pics are also of the mountain views and the inside of the cabin. At left is the fire place. Moving on....

The First Leg

Please scroll down to see the beginning of this trip. I am blogging in reverse... this was our stop at a road side turn out, the girls did a Lewis and Clark imitation. Then onto Pompeys Pillar where we indulged in the typical touristy thing. It is actually a very pretty spot in the midst of some very barren bits. We climbed to the top and enjoyed the view.

Summer Vacation Intro :)

We just got home from a great holiday to Montana. We hit all the little stops we could and enjoyed a grand time through Montana and then onto Calgary to see the Watts bunch. We stopped at our traditional spot in Regina with the Mooneys and then headed home tired but happy.I will try to post bits from each part of our trip.
SP

I have shingles - and (oddly) I like it!

The garage is now at the "shingled" stage - thanks to John and Margaret Dyck, Bob Goud, Adam Jocelyn and Bob Starky (who were all here for bits and pieces of it) - oh and to Mel Jacobs who loaned me his air nailer.

I used to think that air nailers were sissy - I have helped shingle a lot of roofs and thought the traditional pouch full of roofing nails was the way to go - but I am sold on the air nailer now! We did each side of this roof in less than 2 hours (visiting included) - that is what a good crew can do - I think we are going to turn pro now ("pro" at what I am not exactly sure but....)

For your viewing pleasure - a couple of pictures courtesy of my eldest daughter.... and - yes for all you people like me who would wonder this - the lines are almost perfectly straight! (just so you know!) :)


PS. I am now accepting applications for the "Windows and doors" team and the "Siding crew". Any takers?

A roof over our heads

So the continuing garage saga..... continues. In fact, these pictures are a few days behind but they will give you an idea of where we are at in the process.......


The funny thing is that the garage is so huge that you can't even see the house anymore!!! :) Actually, that has turned out to be a cool thing too - now when we sit on the patio (which is in between the garage and the house) it is way more private. No one looking in over the fence - gawking into the backyard. It is like our own little world back there (a world with one big honking garage in the middle of it!!!!) :)

Finally

Well - a lot has been happening in our lives, but you would not know it from this blog. In fact, I am proud of you for having the gumption to keep checking back here - I would have given up on us long ago. However, I have posted several new things - so keep scrolling down. Not a lot of description - I will simply let the pictures speak for themselves. I hope you enjoy it.... because we enjoyed most - but not all of it! :)

Even more Garage stuff

The garage is moving forward. Since I know that Roberta (in particular) has been just dying for some new pictures, here are "concrete day", "Framing Day" and "Day before trusses go on if it is not a monsoon out there tomorrow" pictures. Enjoy! :)

Camp roof

For the past 7 weekends we have been working at Clearview Christian Camp putting a new metal roof on the old mess hall. For those of you who may be interested - here is the finished project. Looks good - all things considered, hey? :)

Megan's Not so Excellent Adventure

Megan had her appendix removed last week. It was hard on her, but way worse on her parents!!! :( I will spare you the details, but write if you want to know more. (By the way, she is up and about and doing great now. Just got done kicking me in a game of "Disney Scene it") :)

We are so thankful that she is doing better... we can't even begin to explain it.

Here she is with her sister and just some of the stuff that her friends, family and church family gave to her while she was in the hospital


Stitches - which are now out! :)

Track and Field

We did not get a lot of pictures, but here are some from Katie's track and field day at school.... She finished first in the 100 meter dash, but we do not have pictures of that ( so maybe just draw one of your own - k?) :)