Jeff’s Place

I am back from vacation.
I have been back for a while.
When I was driving home I called my lovely wife to tell her I was on the way and she told me that I had a couple of days extra for vacation. “Oh, Okay! Cool!” I said. Then I was smart and asked Why? Well she informed me that since we were slow at work that she had asked my supervisor for a couple of extra days so we can work on our bathroom. Well I jumped at the chance since we have had our new cabinets and countertop in the garage since April. Excellent!
So on Sunday, the day after I got back, we jumped into the bathroom to start demolition. The girls were at the pool with two cousins and Nana and Grandpa.
PERFECT!
The morning continues like this:
Countertop pulled off and dumped out in the front of the house.
Trim & baseboard pulled and dumped in the front of the house.
Cabinets pulled from wall and… BLOOD CURDLING SCREAM!
My lovely wife had missed the last step on the stairs and sprained her ankle.
She couldn’t walk or put any pressure on the ankle. Now we add a trip to the emergency room to the list of duties for the day. I run and tell Nana that we are going and then get Liz and help her hobble to the car. We reach the ER in record time and get ushered into triage. Then she was ushered to x-ray.
About fifteen minutes later she came back and they put a splint on her ankle and said I quote, “Rest, Elevation, Ice and Off!” Oh MAN!!
After about two hours, which included lunch we were back at home and I was back to work. One person, or half of my workforce, short! Oh well! Since the bathroom was demolished I couldn’t stop, now could I! The cabinets came down and were shattered. Walls were fixed and painted, I was mad! Yeah, I was really mad! Why? First I love my wife DEARLY! I really do! But you have to understand, every time, or almost every time, she breaks something or does something to herself when we have a project planned.
When we planned to do a landscaping project, she had to have surgery.
We planned the first phase of the bathroom, (Tub, enclosure & tile) she broke her arm.
This time, which we even joked around about, she “Breaks” her leg, okay well sprained her ankle, but still!
So YES, I was mad. I took off to the hardware store to get stuff and calm down. I called her to tell her I was picking up dinner and which is very unlike me, I let her have it on the phone. Not yelling or anything just telling her how I felt. She understood and we both knew there was NOTHING either of us could do about it. But it made me feel a little better and it was nice to not have to hold that frustration in anymore.

I am still in the process of the bathroom, Liz is doing small things and she can now put weight on her foot and she is limping around nicely. Getting better each day! YEAH!
I will post before and after pictures soon. Of the bathroom not the ankle!

My vacation with the guys was very cool!!
I rented a kayak for the trip and had a blast! During the day it was really smoky from the fires in Northern California. But at night the sky cleared and we saw stars, a lot of stars. Satellites, comets, the Big Dipper! When you are in the city you just can’t see how many stars are in the sky! In the mountains you can even make out the Milky Way! On that note, I set up my trusty tripod and waited for the dark of night. I had never tried to take a picture of stars before. What the heck, I tried! This is what I got for my troubles!

Not the best shot, but there it is the Big Dipper!
I tried for two nights and taking pictures with a 30 second exposure is really hard. But it worked out okay.
Here are a few more of the lake and the kayak! Click on the picture for the Flickr Set.

It was only three nights but way worth the 6 hours drive. Seeing and hanging out with old friends is the BEST! Way too much food and a lot of fun!

Liz is doing fine and the girls are doing great. they just finished two week of Chinese School summer camp and they both didn’t want it to end! Very Cool!
Here is a picture of the little ones!

Until next time!!