crazy time

"No, there is too much, let me some up." It all started with the idea that Renae was going to have a baby at the end of last month. i have a specific list of things i have to get done during the month so i started early and got a bunch done but then there where some break downs that needed attending to. so i did not get every thing done at work until the last Friday of the month. then we packed up every body and dropped off the kids at the grandparents house then R and i went to hospital to have a baby. that was the thrilling event that it always is. she had clayton about 5:50 in the evening. the whole fam came to see the final addition and i made a decision and went on home when they where leaving. i took trent with me and went to bed. after the day of being in the hospital i got a little sleep, got up and lost my mind. trent and i had breakfast and then proceeded to destroy my kitchen. it took almost two hours just to get every thing out of the cabinets. then we took the cabinets out and into the basement. of coarse to do that i had to take the counter top off and disconnect the sink. i knew we where going to redo the floor so i had to rip up the old floor. the problem with that is that our old ugly linoleum floor was glued fast to some under sheathing which was stapled(with the staples about 3 inches apart all the way across the floor, fun to try to get off) down, with another layer of old ugly linoleum, which was glued down to a layer of vinyl tile (which had been there for at least 60 years). the people i had expected to show up to help did not so most of the day it was just me and trent. it took way longer than it should have to get off. we got some help from a guy down the street and that made a dif but it was too little to late. the next day i had to go to the hospital to check on renae, she was experiencing complications from the epidural (they had hit a nerve and released some spinal fluid, sounds like fun). i got back home and my dad and trent had gotten enough of the floor off that we could begin building the walls. i have to build sub wall on all the exterior wall of the house because the way our house was built there is no way to insulate except to build a sub wall and put some in. so by now, renae and the baby are ready to come home and home is not ready for them. so we lived at the in laws house. and now i have built walls, done some of the mud and taping, put in cabinets, cut and installed counter tops, cut a hole and put in a sink, put in the plumbing for the sink, redid bunch of plumbing(an old valve broke in the basement and was running water into the floor), installed a dish washer(converted it from a roll around to an in cabinet), framed in windows, done the trim work on one of the windows, and started tiling the wall. we still have a bunch to do but its coming to gather and is going to look really good(regardless of the fact that i have done all this work with other ammeters). i have had to go to work for my employer too. its been very busy there too because the plant went on a maintenance shut down for a week and a lot needed to be maintained, now we have started a new installation project that i am having to design and build myself. if it had not been for the help of friends and fam (big props to trent an my dad here, although the in law parents have been helping out a lot too, especially with baby sitting early on), i could not have gotten nearly as far as i have at this point. i plan to post some pics when i get done. so with the new baby, the kitchen, my job being a little nut right now and trying to work out and loose some weight life has been a bit crazy. whew! im tired just thinking about it all. ill go and take a Sunday afternoon nap now.

do you remember me

sorry i haven't been here for a while. I've been crazy busy. i try to get back soon and let you in on some of the stuff that has been going on.

why does it have to hurt

as many of you know, we have a lot of projects going on around the house. last night was the roof on the garage. it is about 11 squares. i had to go get the shingles. unload them. then i packed them all onto the roof. each pack is about 100 pounds. so up and down the latter 33 times with 100 pounds on my shoulder. then we moved them into a better place and started putting them on. lots of work. i have two friends over to help, so we got allot done. we had to get a lantern out because it got dark. we finally came down at bout 9:30. all of us dirty, tired and i was hungry(ended up going to taco bell). we did not quite finish though. still have about 1 square to go. ill have to do that tonight by my self. the problem though, is that this morning.... the word ouch comes to mind. i took a bit to process the fact that i was in pain. i slept through my alarm. renae had to wake me up. when i got up i knew i was in trouble. my feet felt like they where on fire, my back popped no less than 5 times as i sat up and my shoulder feels like its broken. not to mention several abrasions all over. but hey, at least my garage roof looks good.

my turn

having read lizes poem the other day i remembered one i did a while back. now i have never tried to be a poet but, one day an idea for one popped into my head. i have no expectation of quality on this, its just a short little diddy i put down. i know some wont like it because it rhymes. i know, how boring, a poem that rhymes. but, for what its worth, i think you will see some truth in it(at least the line about me talking to much) and i like it so there.


Now I write upon this pad
Words of wisdom from your dad

I will tell you all I may
So you need to listen to the words I say

I hear you gasp and see you roll your eyes
You say I talk too much and this you despise

I have a lot of things going on in my head
But I may keep it to my self instead

I might learn to hold my tongue as you say I should
But someday you may decide my talk was good

My words that were then tedious and so much ado
In the future may seem very important to you

When that day comes if I no longer live
I have still this advice to give

Of all the knowledge that I may have had to impart
I’ll say what I believe with all my heart

It is good to be strong enough to fight
To face the foe will all your might

But when life troubles their ugly face have shone
It is much harder if you must go it alone

Those who have been truly blessed know this to be true
Life is much sweeter with a good woman next to you

So when troubled times start to draw near
Try never to cower in fear

And if the trials of life have you floored
Stand next to your wife with faith in the Lord

i win!

ok. let me fill you all in on some thing. my wife rocks. all you men out there, i don't care who your wife is, mine is better. case in point. the other day i hurried home to try to get the grass cut be for it rained. i was using the big mower in the back yard when i looked up to see my almost 8.5 month prego wife out doing the trim work with the small mower. it was like 90 outside and the humidity was way up, but there she was helping me beet the rain. she tries so very hard to be good. she is a great example to me. i usually have dinner fixed for me. i have only washed laundry maybe 3 or 4 times in the 14 years we have been married. she doesn't complain too often about my spending habits. she claims to like bigger me(some thing she only did after i got fat), she makes beautiful babies. and she is hot. so say what you will about yours, mine is better, and nothing you say will convince me otherwise. I'm going to stop now and go spend some time with her. so bye.

uhhhhh... no!

After reading Dania's recent blog i decided to tell this story. apparently women not only get hit on by jerks, they get propositioned for prostitution allot to. well i have been propositioned in the other direction on a couple of occasions. it all happened one day(i love stories that start that way), when i was going to college. my class was going to go on a tour of a manufacturing plant. one of my friends from class lived right down the road from the school. the school was not in a very good section of town. i drove to his house so he could ride with me as he had no car. when i got to his house he was already gone. he had decided to meet me at the school. so i turned around and headed back. when i stooped at an intersection my passenger door suddenly opened and a woman hopped into my truck. taken slightly aback i asked her "can i help you?" "yeah take me up this way." i figured she really needed a ride(no pun intended) and thought i looked like some one she could trust. after going up a couple blocks she asked "what do you wanna do?" i told her "i need to go to school." "you didn't want nothing." "no, just on my way to school." "dang, i was hoping to make some money." at this point i chortled a little and said "sorry, i only got about a 1/4 tank of gas and $3, so i really can't help." she looked at me like i was trying to play her. when she realized i really "didn't want to do any thing" she turned and looked out the window, and immediately jumped out when i stooped at the next intersection with out a further word to me. when i told my friend about it, he laughed real hard. he had me describe her. he recognized her and even told me her name. apparently she is well known in the area for "wanting to make some money."

I get the message

A couple times recently at the Tae Kwon Do school i attend i have been reminded of the fact that i am a large person. example #1. I went to judge some people testing the other day. the head instructor called all the black belts to gather for a conference before it started. At one point he told the group "Now when we get to self defence, i want you all to switch in and out a lot. we have some big guys testing today. both Levi and Mark go about 210." then he looks at me and says, "well they are big to us normal people." then the other night i went to demo practice. the instructor way giving out assignments for every one on self defence. when he got to me he paused for a sec and said "i think we will just have you be a fall guy(the person every body get to smack around and generally abuse), your so big it would just look like you where picking on every body." so basically i get to go get beat up by several people, and hold boards for breaking(take the chance of getting my fingers kicked). i will git to have one bit of fun though. i get to be a chucker(nun-chucks) during the weapons section of the demo. but only because every body loves to watch nun-chucks and I'm the only person at the school who can do it well. other wise it would have been "why does that big guy need a weapon, what a jerk." just because i look like i could break you in half does not mean...... well maybe he has a point.

not how i intended to start may day

i told you all about how my life is a bit on the crazy side right now. all the projects(there are many) 4 kids and a prego wife, its hard to get a chance to breath sometimes. i, for some reason thought it would be a good idea to add one more thing to the list and be part of the show my martial arts school is putting on this Saturday. because renae should be delivering late this month and i will be taking a week of work i need to get way ahead so who ever takes my place for that week wont screw any thing up. but despite all this, i try to be a good dad and hang out with my kids. last night we set up the tent in the back yard and slept out side. problem one, the zippers for the doors are broken, so you cant close it properly. problem two, a thunder storm rolled in at about 4:50 this morning. i forgot to mention, no rain fly on the tent. so i had to get all the kids up and into the house, go back out and find a tarp to try to keep as much water out as possible. i then went back into the house and figured i would try to get a little more rest before going to work. next thing i know my cell phone is ringing. "hello, this is Bruce." "hey man, this is Jason,(Jason is my boss) I'm up in your office and it looks great. you did a good job cleaning it out" "your in my office? what time is it?" "8:05, where are you at?" "hold on ill be there in about 20 min!" like i said not what i had in mind for the start of my day. fortunately, my boss know i get all my work done and will make up the time, so he was pretty cool about the whole thing.

just too cool

I know we all figure things out in our own ways. i joined the church several years ago. it was a good time. i should tell the whole story some time. any way. i have had my testimony built in many different ways, but i think this was pretty cool because other people(my daughter) got to grow from it to. we have made a tradition to have a family night and a round of fathers blessings the night before school starts(we also do one before each new child is born). i don't remember much about the blessings this year except for one line from lydias. the blessing said that she "would begin to excel at school this year." when i pronounced this blessing it made me kind of nerves because i did not want lydia to be disappointed or disillusioned with blessings and the power of the priesthood. you see lydia has had to work very hard for mediocre grades up to this point, with no signs of real improvement. she has been known to spend hours studying for her weekly spelling test to end up with a poor grade any way. her teachers always say what a joy she is to have in class, how hard a worker she is. but the grades were never there. though she never said so, i could tell this bothered her. she is very bright but always seemed to have some sort of block when it came to schooling. so now back to the blessing. i remember pointing out to her after the blessing was done, "wow, lid, sounds like your going to get some good grades this year." but in the back of my mind thinking "crap, this could go bad." of course part of the problem is that i worry about my worthiness, and if i am pronouncing the lords blessing and not just my own thoughts. well, i am happy to tell that lydia just got her fourth quarter report card and she made high honor roll(honor roll for first three quarters). one B+ and the rest A's. she even got an A in spelling. her teacher gave her the most improved student award. when i spoke to her(the teacher) this morning she said she had seen a remarkable change in lydias ability to chatch on and get through her work, like some thing finally clicked. i know this was not just my desires for my daughter to do well. i could not have known she would make such a dramatic turn around. it truly was the lord blessing her. John and i where talking about this recently and he said some thing like this, "when i occasionally wander if the church is true, i come back to a solid wall of evidence. blessings are real!" to that i say amen. blessing are real. and i, through the priesthood have had the opportunity to pass them to my family. that is a very humbling thought. i must keep my self worthy so i can be the conduit for blessings from heavenly father to others. its just to cool to pass up. crap i have rambled on. any way blessings rock, and i and my daughter(I'm sure others around me do too) know it. by the way, on the national(terranova) tests, ross was ranked in the 97% and mark was in the 98% in the country. so they rock too.

and now you will be punished

the other night my cousin called me. now you have to remember that he has problems. drinking, smoking, and a variety of other drug issues. he said "hey man i want to get back in shape. lets go running." i asked "tonight? its 9:15pm and im not home yet." "yeah, why not?" "ok, meet me at my house. we will go." so he shows up in skater shoes. so i got him some old running shoes of mine. past their prime but still o.k. we stretch and go out side. i decided to take him on a about 1.5 mile flat coarse run. we walk out to the street and he says "hold on a sec." at which point he runs over to his truck and gets out a...dun dun daaaaaa!!! you guessed it. a cigarette. he lights up and says lets go. like i said i WAS going to take the flat course. instead we turned right and went on the "holy crap this sucks" course. he made almost a quarter mile before he had to walk the first time. of the two mile "run" we ran maybe 1 mile. on the home stretch he said something about me being better about distance. so we did a small sprint and yep i beat him. i was going to be nice and take the easy trail but the sig flipped a switch inside, and i said to my self "ok fat boy, time to teach this kid (he is 25) a lesson. he was hacking up a lung when we finished, so i told him "smoke another one, maybe that will make you feel better." every body starts where they are at, but don't light up while we go running.