Track & Field

Tv Stand Done! (Almost)

With only a couple of trim pieces left to do and a center channel speaker shelf in the box, my tv stand is pretty much done. I am pretty happy with my work, especially considering the design was all made up in my head. There's a couple of things I would do different next time but it looks great with the new paint color Kathleen picked out for our basement "redesign". The color is called Honey Beige and it really has brightened up our basement. We need a few pictures on the wall though since it looks pretty bare. I am exhausted from painting this weekend and to top it off, the whole family has a cold. But glad for all of God's blessings in our life.

Almost Done

I'm almost done building our corner tv stand. All i have left to do is a few pieces of trim work (most notably at the top where it isnt stained). Maybe 4 more hours and it'll be complete. I'm pretty happy with the design that I made up in my head but frustrated at the color that has turned out on the wood. I picked a stain that appeared dark brown on the can but has turned out with a reddish tinge. I finally realized that because I'm using red oak, the redness is showing up in the color. That's all Home Depot carries so I'm stuck with it. I'll feel better once I get my built in speakers in and tv on the stand and all the trimwork completed. Now we just have to find a paint color for the walls that will compliment the woodwork and our furniture...

More Cabinet Pictures

I've cut two solid oak pieces for the top and 1/4 oak plywood for the front. I've also started working on the box which will hold all the equipment

First Oak Cabinet Picture

So far I've built the base of our corner oak tv stand. I'm debating whether to add built in speakers into the two squares on the left and right.

Home Today

I'm home today with Braden. He was up much of the night with a high fever and labored breathing. Ibuprofen and Albuterol helps him immensely. Hopefully he'll feel better soon.

If you are a fan of the NFL, watch this story from 60 minutes about the place that produces the highest percentage of NFL players for its population size...
Football Island

Braden Sick

Braden has come down with a fever tonight and is pretty congested. He seems to be breathing fast so that always worries us. He hasn't had any issues with his breathing for over a year even though he has experienced numerous colds. Hopefully he'll feel better in the next day or two, but in the meantime please say a prayer for him.
Kathleen wants me to build a corner oak cabinet for our tv. I built the frame this weekend but am at a standstill, partly because I am tired and my back hurts and partly because I am not sure how to proceed without some more equipment. I'll post some pictures as I go along so the world can see just how bad a woodworker I really am!
Looks like we'll be heading up to Wisconsin in Feb to see Kathleen's parents. Hopefully they'll still be snow on the ground so the kids can sled!

Tax Time!

Yes it's that time of the year. I've begin to gather all my tax documents so I can begin working on my tax return. I've been doing taxes myself for the last 10 years using TaxCut. I highly recommend doing your own taxes. It's easy and cheap at only 35-45 dollars. Much cheaper than an accountant. Unfortunately I don't think we'll be receiving a refund this year. Looks like the health care reform bill may not pass now that the GOP has defeated the Democrats in Massachusetts. The particulary would make a difference for me since the bill unfairly taxes federal employee's insurance plans. Since I work for the government it would hurt me financially if the bill passes. While I'm not totally against government run health care for these who can't afford it, I don't believe the current bill is good enough for the American public. Well the wife beckons so good night!

Bad News

I found out some bad news today - the place that I was planning on having surgery is not in my insurance plan so I will not be able to get surgery (at least the type that I want). Unfortunately the doctor is one of only a handful in the U.S. that has the ability to perform arthroscopic microdiscetomies. My only other alternative is open back surgery but there is no way I am going to do that. I know several people who have had open back and said it was not fun and didn't work correctly... Guess I will have to suck it up until 2011 when I can switch to another insurance company that covers the facility. I'll be taking it easy this year - no sports, no running, no anything. At least right now the pain is a 1 on a scale of 10 and it's tolerable but anything can set it off.
Kathleen is working today and the kids and I have a holiday today, so I took them to play glow in the dark mini-golf and they had a lot of fun. Braden really enjoyed it and even got a hole in one. I miss Kathleen when she is away at work and I am off. I can honestly say I never get tired of being around her. We love our time together and when we are apart, miss each other greatly. I'm proud to say that even after 15 years of marriage, we still have passion for each other like when we we're dating. It's not hard to love someone who can be such a great mother and wife at the same time.

Sick Family

Kathleen spent most of the day complaining of a "twisted colon", attributing it to doing crunches after running on the ellipitcal. It was bad enough that she wasn't going to eat with the rest of the family but felt better after taking a shower so we went out for dinner at Chili's. Right when they delivered the food to us Braden vomited all over the table, chair and me! So Kathleen took him out to the car and let the kids and I finish our meal. I guess that's the real reason Kathleen's stomach hurt, and come to think of it, my stomach hurt Thursday. I thought it was just upset from a crushing headache I had all day, but I guess I had it too. Bottom line is Braden vomited once more in the middle of the night and no one else has. Everyone has recovered and is fine today! So now we are having my family over today to celebrate our birthdays. I, my mom and my sister's husband all have birthdays in January so we just celebrate them all at the same time. I'll be 39 on Tuesday. I'm relieved I still have a year left in my 30's. It's depressing knowing that I'm on the wrong side of my youth so I have made a commitment to be in the best shape of my life by the time I am 40. I actually made this commitment this time last year but the herniated disc has delayed my plan. Still thinking about surgery and probably will do it so I can do the things I enjoy like basketball, softball and weightlifting. Please pray for me that things turn out positive. At the very least I want to be involved in coaching my kids teams and being active into my old age. I'm not the type that will ever be sendentary. If I am healthy, I still plan on playing sports for as long as I can - hopefully into my 60's!
Karly scored 6 pts today in her basketball game. She is a pretty good basketball player and I am looking forward to when she can play for her school next year. See ya!

Early Awakening

It's about 6:45 am and the house is quiet. It's usually pretty loud and crazy with three kids running around the house. But they are still sleeping so I can get some work done before they get up and get ready for school. One of the perks of working for the federal government is their big push towards teleworking in case there is a national disaster and we need to keep a legitimate government up and running.... Karly is attending a spelling bee today. She is the best speller in her class so she was chosen to represent her school in the 3rd grade category. She is nervous but I think she'll do fine. I'd like to attend but it is an all day event and I just don't have enough time off right now to attend with all the vacations planned for this year. Speaking of vacations, Kathleen and I are still undecided where we are going to this year during the kids spring break. For the first time since in 13 years (and before we had kids) we are going to get away alone with each other for a romantic getaway. The kids will be staying with their grandparents in Wisconsin during spring break and we'll be heading somewhere! We want to go to the Carribbean but it's pretty expensive (at least compared to staying in the midwest). It all depends on how much we can save between now and spring break. We need this trip so we can spend time focusing on one another again - a big challenge when you don't get the kids to bed until 9:30 every night and you have maybe 30 minutes alone with each other! We try to go out on dates on a regular basis and this helps us to have an "us" but it never seems long enough. One thing we focus on is making sure we have a passionate, loving and romantic relationship because "we" are the foundation of our family. Stay tuned for more thoughts on how to have a happy, successful marriage and family....

Long Day

I woke up at 5 am this morning and got to work by 6 am. On the days Kathleen is off I try to get in by 6 am so I can get off at 2:30 pm to have more time with my family. Work was slow today so I had a bit of free time to get a few personal things done. One of the biggest decisions I have to make right now is whether or not to have surgery for a herniated disc in my back. Last April I hurt it landscaping and I have been paying for it ever since. I didn't know I had a herniation until I had an MRI in October of last year. November and December we're extremely painful for me. Basically I wasn't able to walk or sit or sleep without significant pain down the back of my buttock, leg and calf. To top that off, I have had extreme numbness and hot/cold sensations. The MRI showed that my nerve is severly impiniged. So it's been a rough last 3 months for me, so I visited a surgeon this week and he is able to do what is called an arthroscopic microdisectomy, where he is able to use a cannula to basically suck out the loose, bulging pieces of my disc. It sounds painful, but it's an outpatient surgery that requires no hospital stay. It appears to be a much better alternative to an open disectomy where the surgeon basically cuts six inches and spreads your back wide open, cutting and mutilating muscle and dura to get to the disc. The problem is that my pain and numbness has diminished significantly over the last three weeks. I did have two epidural steroid injections in November and early December but they didn't seem to work very well. So my dilemma now is should I be happy with just being able to walk without pain? Or do I go ahead with the surgery so I can get back to playing basketball, weightlifting and running? Not sure what to do....

Destination 2015

Today I had some downtime at work and began working on my plan to change my "family tree" as Dave Ramsey likes to say. The last couple of years I've been feeling the pressure to eliminate our debt and build wealth so that we can "live like no one else" (another Ramsey saying!). But as I've learned it's one thing to get all fired up about a plan and another to actually execute it. It seems like there is always something that interferes with my goals - anything from a painful herniated disc in my back, to the costs of raising three children, to paying for food and other expenses. So anyway I came up with a plan to be totally debt free by 2015 (except for the mortgage) and along with this goal, to invest in the stock market, save for the kids college and build up an emergency fund. It's scary knowing that Kyle starts college in 8 years and we only have a couple of thousand each in Karly and Kyle's college fund!