Many months ago I bought a plumbing toilet for the basement only to discover that it did not meet code. Since then, it has been sitting in my garage waiting for me to do something with it…

Finally I got up the nerve to post it on eBay (the packaging and shipping of the toilet scared me a bit)… Sadly, it did not sell.

So I lowered the price by $50 and tried again. This time, it sold!  

The great part is that the buyer was pretty quick on the draw and paid the asking a day after the auction ended. This allowed me to swing by FedEx and ship the item.  

All in all, I re-gained 57% of the cost of the boat anchor. Not to shabby.

Yelp. It is done. And it only took me two years, 22 minutes and 17 seconds. Well…. At least that’s what my fingers think.

The only thing I can think to say is “Praise the Lord!”

 This is my very special reading nook…only I haven’t added the books yet… =? 

We spend half of the Memorial Day weekend working on the basement (the other half was split between driving and hanging out with friends). Below are some pictures of the newly sheetrocked basement:

At least it seems like its update #2541…

Today I have good news: we have past both the plumbing inspection and the building inspection. This means we can start laying sheetrock whenever we want!!!  Praise the LORD!!  Things are starting to come together.

*the-sound-of-a-breath-being-released*   It feels good to have those inspections done….  now we can start covering things up and making it look pretty.

Onward we go.

Sitting in big easy chair by the fireplace in my favorite coffee shop – a cup of Vanilla Moon and "authentic" Chai mixture in hand – I realized that it was a good day.

I felt relaxed for the first time in a long time. Maybe it was the relaxing evening set up last night by my glorious bride – or the sleep – I don't know. All I know is today… today is a good day.

You see for the past two or three weeks I have been getting comments like "are you ok?" or "what's wrong?"  Nothing throws you off quite like comments like that… especially when you think your doing fine. =/

Monday I finally admitted to feeling a bit "off"…

It's funny… you go into ministry for love of One Person, but the longer your in "the ministry" – the more you "fall out" of love with that Person…. Yet if you truly love Him – you will do things…. good things… things that count…

It's almost like your walking a tightrope over a canyon with arrows flying on one side and bullets on the other….

The guys in my Bible study said "take a break. Don't do so much".  Yet… how do you sit by and do nothing when your heart breaks?  Yes – you have to use wisdom…. but when does "too much" become "too much"?[@more@]

Today was a good day.

Nice chair. Excellent tea. My mind finally understands the book I reading.

Not to mention that the plumbing inspector past our basement bathroom. Our accountant called with good info. Shoot – the fact that he called was good.

Yet, at the end of the day… at the end of the day, it is the truffle that counts.

The man who truly and disinterestedly enjoys any one thing in the world, for its own sake, and without caring twopence what other people say about it, is by that very fact fore-armed against some of our subtlest modes of attack. You should always try to make the patient abandon the people or food or books he really likes in favour of the "best" people, the "right" food, the "important" books. I have known a human defended from strong temptations to social ambition by a still stronger taste for tripe and onions.

-CS Lews, Screwtape Letters

Following the demands of the Queen, I ran around town today during lunch some various errands (well, I drove to certain locations on the west side – running would entail too much work). The Queen demanded new rocks in her toilet – or she would stop using it at the endangerment of all her royal subjects.

Seeing how this situation could get worse – I decided to follow her Majesty’s orders to the letter:

• Two 30-lb buckets of cat litter. Check.
• One 20-lb bag of food (senior care variety). Check.

Did you ever wonder how 20-lbs of food can turn into 30-lbs of cat litter? hmm..maybe it’s better NOT to go there.

What? You thought I was taking about E?!! Oh, you of little knowledge. She is the High Queen; Jasmine is just The Queen.

Speaking of the High Queen, the plumber installed her toilet today as well. Yelp – the basement toilet was installed today! Well, I THINK it was installed…. I haven’t actually SEEN it as I’m still at the office…. but I know the plumber was there today. Generally, if you choose a good and reliable plumber then you can be sure they will have done the job on the day they tell you. Here is the website of a trusted, reliable plumber which you can visit now. However, some plumbers will give you a time or a day on which they will do the work and then won’t turn up for whatever reason. Hmmmm…. maybe I should hold off on this post?

Guess what? I got chicken fried steak and mash potatoes last night!!! Ah, the small joys in life.

We held two Paraguay Parties – one Friday evening in Boise with the other one in Sweet on Saturday afternoon. While we didn’t get the attendances we where hoping for, we had a fun time sharing the heart God gave us for Paraguay. (see Saturday’s post for more information about our upcoming trip to Paraguay)

Sunday turned out to be a bright, sunny, and busy day. We started it out by going to the small Methodist church near our house (going down the mountain did not appeal to us yesterday)… actually, I should say that we tried to go to the Methodist church since we didn’t actually attend the service. As we were walking up to the front door, Em remembered that the time had changed during night… we were an hour late!!!!

I’m SO GLAD she remembered before we entered the building… think of how embarrassing it would be to walk in and sit down five minutes before the sermon ended?! Not a good thing!!

Soooooo…. we went back home.

Since we had some more time on our hands (not counting the hour we lost in the time change), I started working on the car trying to get the radio to work (the radio stopped working about 2 or 3 months ago). It turned out to be a fairly simple fix – the fuse in the back of the radio was blown. Granted, I had to check a Hyundai forum to find out how to take off the front console.

Later that afternoon (as well as a bit after church that evening) I build some shelves in our bathroom closet. This was a much needed project that had been delegated to the bottom of the list as the basement was sucking all my time. Yesterday, I decided enough was enough… I wanted a project I could do in a day versus ten years.

[@more@]Below are some pictures of the fun:

The above pictures are before hand – well, kinda… You see that black air duct? It was sitting on the floor. I raised it up so it would have better air flow before I boxed it in. Although, I probably could’ve done with getting in touch with somewhere like this professional air duct and dryer vent cleaning company in Dunwoody, GA to make sure that the system was completely clear and clean before boxing it in again. But at least I know who to contact should something happen in the future.

Here are the during and after shots… the during pic being after I walled in the air duct, but before I cut the shelves.  The final picture is after Em started placing items in her new bathroom closet.

Are the topics today. Both subjects have been around for over a year – and both are on the road to recovery.

Bum Knees

Some of you will remember that I have been problems with my left knee for over a year and a half now (ever since that fateful hike in June 2006). Well, I finally had enough with it and decided to go to a doctor to find out what is wrong.

The doctor poked and prodded as all doctors do. (is it logically for them to stick their finger under your knee cap and ask “does this hurt?” as you scream in pain? Hello!! I’m screaming!!! Can you not hear the vibrating sound waves echoing off your office wall? If not, then what makes you think you can here the answer to your question?! sigh). In the end, he informed me that I had “Patellofemoral Paid Syndrome” – otherwise known as “Runner’s Knee”.

Before you all start calling your lawyers to try to get a corner on my will, Patellofemoral Paid Syndrome is not deadly (unless you count the doctor who stuck is finger under my knee cap….). In layman’s terms (did you ever wonder why it’s call “layman”? Did someone think all non-professionals where lazy and not doing anything but laying around? Gezzz) it means that my knee cap has been pulled from the center of my knee to the outside where it is rubbing on the bone (think of two rocks grinding together every time you bend your knee).

The good news it that the knee cap can be moved back to the middle (where it belongs) by strengthening my inter-quadriceps muscle (for those lying down, that’s the muscle group on your thigh). Luckily, my gym has a rehab doc who takes my insurance card… I talked to him yesterday (the rehab doc, not my insurance card) and received a work out schedule exchange for some dough (chocolate-chip, not oatmeal).

Lord willing I will be back up and ready to tackle the world this summer – yelp, it takes a while to move your knee cap (anyone have a crowbar?)[@more@]

Missing: a dark, cold, bare dungeons complete with chains and spikes. Call Elvis if you see one wondering around.

We installed full spectrum natural lights in our dungeon basement this weekend. I also added another light switch (why? Because I could!)…. ignore that clause as I must tell the truth. When I originally wired the basement lights, I messed up somehow – notably because they didn’t work (talk about a fail prove system of testing – it’s either light or wrong).

Part of the problem was that we were using old fluorescent fixtures that did not work. With the help of Joy, we were able to pick out some nice four foot new fluorescent lights that brightened up the old dungeon.

The other mistake issue was due to some layman electrician who didn’t have a clue how to wire up a three way switch (don’t ask who that was). You’ve got to be so careful when choosing a contractor to do some work on your home, but especially when it comes to electricians. You want to find a trusted and well-renowed company like AC Electrical (visit company website). Make sure to check reviews and ask around to see if anyone you know has used the company you’re interested in. Anyway, the lazy electrician wised up one day (lighting struck) and he asked a professional to visit. The professional drew a diagram (which way is north?) to which the layman pinned to the ceiling where he could read it. At this point I’m sure it would have been a better choice to do online research into various other electricians such as the services that can be provided by this company you can find at myseelectric.com/costa-mesa-ca-electrician-services-electrical-service/ or similar. At least the lighting has now been rectified!

Luckily for the man lying down, there was a maiden in the dungeon who lit up the place with a pair of pliers and an electrical cord (don’t ask). Now the whole place looks wonderful!! Lots of light where there was darkness before (where did that dirt come from? It wasn’t there before!).

Only now the maiden wants to move one of the fixtures and is thinking of setting up more – maybe I’ll follow the dark dungeons example… (If you wish to proceed to a qualified electricians guild, click here to continue.) Only time will tell which way we go, after all there are many paths that we can consider. I’d rather not leave it to the roll of a d20.