Summer Deck Project

This spring marked 20 years in our home.  

I have wanted a deck over the patio for, well, 20 years.  

This year was my year!

It started early summer by ripping the bottom courses of siding off the bottom of the house and installing metal flashing.  

Why are projects always so much more complicated than they should be?  

I am just glad that Bruce has a clue about what needs to be done in regards 

to all the details of this sort of thing.  

We had to purchase all the building supplies we would need.

Concrete deck blocks,

Loads of 2x10' pressure treated lumber for the deck joists.

Miscellaneous lumber and the composite deck boards.  

Tons of deck hardware and special screws.

Most importantly was the help.  

All of us got put to work on the deck but the kids were invaluable.

They work really hard and are seriously cheap labor.  ;)

My job was to keep the lemonade flowing, help when they needed an extra set of hands, 

help when it came time to "skin the deck", and to photograph the process.  

Allison got very experienced with the cordless screwdriver.  

What did we ever do before power tools?  

Skinning the deck was my favorite part.  

It is nice to have a job where the progress is really quick - we could skin 

a whole section in a couple of hours with two of us skinning 

and two measuring and cutting boards.  

Every job needs an attentive supervisor.  

Especially one who likes to snuggle during breaks. 

We put up the deck in sections so that we could frame out a section 

and complete it before moving along to the next one.  

This section that wraps around the chimney and extends out into the stairs was the trickiest one.  

The height of the deck extended it to the third step.  

My smart hubs figured out a way to make this happen without having 

to permanently affix anything to the masonry.  

After getting all of this brickwork replaced the last thing we wanted to do was hack into it.  

A visit from the job boss.

Waiting for the next deck boards to be trimmed.  This is section 4 going in.  

Section 4 a few hours later!

We have enjoyed the deck so much already.  

It is really nice to have a dry, shady place right outside the kitchen 

to kick back on nice evenings.  

Why did we wait to long to build this thing?

Drivers vs. Non-Drivers winning 3-1

Today is a big day in our household.  

Today begins the end of being the chauffeur of our children,

 er, 

I mean our first kid has gotten his license.  

We went to the DMV for an appointment that we made a month ago only to have it start sprinkling as soon as we arrived.  We got all of the paperwork done but we had to make a return appointment to come back for the driving test because the roads were getting wet.  Not much, but enough to cancel our testing plans.  So we made a new appointment - three weeks for the next appointment.  

On the way home we stopped at the green grocer.  When we came out about 20 minutes later the sun had come out and dried up the roads.  We weren't far from the DMV so we took a chance and went back.  So glad we did.  Ben got his road test and passed with flying colors.  Whew!

I took some pics of Ben when we got home to mark the occasion.  It was a happy coincidence that he was standing in front of the picture that Erin Cobb took of my kids 2 years ago.  

Man, how times have changed.  

In fact, look at the height and weight on Ben's permit and license.  

In two years the kid has grown almost a foot but has only gained 30 pounds.  

He is a lean, mean driving machine.  

Congrats kid, I am proud of you.  

Now be careful out there.

Breakfast of Champions

I can't believe how long it has been since I got around to blogging my everyday, mundane life for your reading pleasure.  

One of the things that I have been doing since I last blogged in MAY (what!!!) is to spend a disproportionate amount time on Pinterest.  I swear that I sit down to just take a quick look to see what is new and look up and 2 hours of my life have disappeared.

  

OK, maybe that it a little bit of an exaggeration.

Not really. 

OK, maybe an hour is missing from my life.  

Anywho, I recently saw on Pinterest several posts by folks raving about these easy homemade doughnuts.  Since it is Saturday morning of a long weekend and we were having a slow start to our morning I thought I would give them a try.  

This recipe starts by popping open a can of refrigerated biscuits.

Yes, I already had them in the frig.

Don't judge. :)

I flattened them out a bit and then cut a hole in the center.

Made a couple of quick finishes for the doughnuts:

a simple vanilla sugar glaze and cinnamon sugar.

When my oil hit 350 degrees I popped those bad boys into the oil and the magic began.  

They got really puffy and browned beautifully.  

 Peaches was playing possum in the kitchen floor.  She always hangs out in the kitchen when I am cooking.  She may look asleep but I can guarantee that if the slightest morsel of food hit the floor she would have been the first to know. 

This is how the doughnuts looked when they came out of the oil.

GB&D - golden brown and delicious!

"Mom, drop something already!"

Here is the finished product.  

Half of them dipped into melted butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar and the other half dipped into the vanilla sugar glaze.  

What, you say?  You only count 8 doughnut holes?  

If I have heard Gordon Ramsey say it once, I have heard him say it a hundred times to taste the food that leaves your kitchen.  

Who am I to question a man with several Michelin stars?  

They were wonderful, pillowy, melt-in-your mouth doughnuts.  

Who knew you could do that with refrigerated biscuits?

My Babies Are Growing Up!

Today my oldest child turns 17.  

At what age does he need to be before I stop referring to him as a child?

He is finishing his junior year of high school, is working toward his Eagle in scouts, 

and is a pretty cool, funny guy overall. 

He is handsome too I think. 

My beautiful youngest child turned 15 a few weeks ago.  She is growing up so fast also.  

She is finishing her freshman year, loves church and her friends and is a joy to be around.

What I want to know is how I can have a 17 and 15 year old when I am so young! 

Heh.

Pretty neat trick for a for a 39 year old.  

My last days with a 16 year old son

Soon this young man will turn 17. 

Time has been flying so quickly.  

He is getting more handsome everyday.  

In my humble opinion.  

Well, as humble as a momma can be.  

Nerds will be Nerds

For the next few days my family is in Knoxville for the FIRST Robotics Competition.

The kids are team members of the Redstone Robotics club.  

Redstone Robotics is comprised of students from several Huntsville City High Schools. 

Our team is very young with most of the kids being freshmen or new to robotics - or both.  

The last few weeks have been a bit of a scramble so it will interesting 

to see how the robot will compete.  

The team seems to be coming together nicely now.  

I hope this competition will be an exciting, motivational, bonding experience for the kids.  

Redstone Robotics' robot is called Overjive.

There are teams from all over the Southeastern United States here.

 Our team's booth was next to a castle.  Look at their framed medals.  

This ain't their first robot rodeo.

The "pit" is the area of the exhibit hall where each team has their booth set up.  

Although there are some very simple booths there are many teams 

who have invested much money and time into their areas.  

Tools, equipment, rolling tool chests, spare pieces-parts displayed in creative booths - 

these teams are ready for whatever robotic emergency arises.  

There seems to be a few common threads amongst all of the teams.

First, they are all highly intelligent teens.

Second, they are excited to be here.  The team spirit is running pretty high around here.

Finally, these kids are nerds.  Plain and simple.  

But having married a nerd and been around them most of my life, I gotta tell you that nerds rule.

The stage is certainly set for an exciting competition - I mean - look at this! 

Cool huh?  

Some final adjustments being made by the officials.

Bruce and I are looking forward to sitting in the stands cheering on our kids 

and the Redstone Robotics team.  

Ode to Christmas Lights, part two

Oh Christmas lights, why do you insist on hanging on for so long?

I thought you got the hint last year.

I dissed your green cords.

I dissed your dim bulbs.

In all honesty, I did like the homey light that you shed during the holidays.

You certainly made it easy for folks to find our home at our Christmas party.

Yes, I know that it has rained often since the new year.

Yes, I know that it is dangerous to get the ladder out when it is muddy.

But it is time for your to find your way back into the Christmas stuff. 

Like I said last year, how can we miss you if you won't go away?