Is This Thing On?
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Looking Like a Wall!
Well, what do you know! Our friend Moose was right!
And, as evidenced by the picture to the left, our dog really likes him, too.
On Sunday night we started our project of running some wires through the wall in order to hang a television above our fireplace.
The problem is that there weren’t any electrical outlets on that wall, and there were thick supporting beams around a window and door that would make it difficult to run wires from the television to the component units like the satellite or DVD player.
Our good friend Moose, he from Kaiteur Coffeehouse, came to our rescue.
What a saint, this guy. After working 12+ hour days every day, he still come over to our house about 3 or 4 times this week to pretty much do most of the work on this project.
I’ve learned quite a bit, myself, and after Moose spread the first coat of compound on the walls, the rest is up to me.
Moose did something this week that I, in my selfishness, don’t think I could ever do. He graciously and willingly gave up so much free time just to help a friend run some stupid wires through a wall. He never lost his patience, and he never complained.
I could learn a lot from Moose. I certainly did this week.
You rock, dude!
Below is the wall, coming back together. Like a puzzle, we re-inserted all of the drywall that had been cut out.
And here’s the wall in its current state. The gaps have been taped and compound smeared on quite liberally. I put another coat on this morning, and will do another later in the day. It’s actually looking like a living room again!
Tim Drake, Donating Stuff, and Show notes – 9/25/08
Another great guest joined us on today’s “The Catholics Next Door” – Tim Drake, head writer for National Catholic Register and author of a new book about the stories and behind the scenes of the movie, Bella. The book is released today, and you can pick up a book and DVD combo here. Thanks for joining us, Tim! We hope to have you on again soon.
And, as always, below are some behind the scenes photos and other things we talked about:
Below, during one of our breaks, Jennifer removed her headphones in order to remove a hair clip. The resulting effect was something that looked quite a bit like a haircut straight from a 1980’s John Hughes movie.
I never thought of my wife as a fluff chick before.
This photo shows her in a whole new light:)
Random photo of the day: Jennifer’s coffee mug with her name on it, in the same style as the font used for our That Catholic Show video series.
Here’s all the stuff we left out in our driveway to donate to charity. The truck actually showed up during recording the show and they quietly took it all away. And our dog Jody didn’t bark a single time.
And lastly, here’s a photo of the picture Sam drew at school when asked to draw a picture of himself in the future. We always wonder what his public school teachers think whenever he tells them he wants to be a priest.
The Destruction Continues
As always, our friend Moose rocks. He was here until almost midnight last night as we continued the living room renovation.
Gone now is the entertainment center and old television. Moose has successfully installed a new electrical jack above the fireplace, and he assures me the hard part is complete. Possibly tonight we start the drywall repair.
Our bedroom and the living room look like bombs went off.
Below is a picture of Moose, cutting another swatch of drywall out of our living room. He assures us in the end it’s going to look awesome.
I trust the man with my coffee. Why wouldn’t I trust him when it comes to drywall?
What Moose Hath Wrought
Our buddy Moose has been helping us bury some cables in our walls and installing a couple new electrical jacks.
I say Moose is helping, but really, he’s doing the whole thing and I get to work the drill every once in awhile and pick up a pencil if he drops it.
Moose rocks. So does his coffeehouse.
A Photo Meme
Our friend Maria had a fun little meme activity on her blog today. Maria, for those of you who don’t know, helped us write all of the episodes of our That Catholic Show video series.
Apparently, Maria got the rules for the game from Zina, another podcaster we know. She and her husband do a Battlestar Gallactica podcast that looks at the religious elements of that series.
Anyway, the rules are below. If you happen to do this, why not post a link to your blog so we can all get to know you?
Pretty cool how this Internet thing works, eh?
Here are the rules:
1. Take a picture of yourself right now.
2. Don’t change your clothes, don’t fix your hair – just take a picture.
3. Post that picture with NO editing.
4. Post these instructions with the picture.
Sadly, my photo looks like pretty much every other photo of me: sitting at my computer with a blank stare, wearing a Rosary Army t-shirt, and still bald.
Saturday was Sun Day
Saturday was a day someone should have said, “Excuse me, bald man, but today would be a good day for a little SPF 50.”
I had no idea my scalp was a neon red until I walked into the bathroom a minute ago and looked in the mirror.
Ouch. Where’s the aloe?
Good Will Hunting
On Friday’s show on The Catholic Channel we talked about the massive amount of stuff we were going to sell in a garage sale but have recently decided to just donate it all to charity.
We’ve been cleaning out just about every closet, attic, nook, and cranny in an effort to simplify, simplify, simplify,
If we haven’t watched a DVD or listened to a CD in over a year, it’s gone. Gone are just about every VHS movie we ever bought. Gone are books and clothes and knick knacks. Gone are the 10-year-old computers and three kids tables that we never quite knew what to do with them, or where to put them. Gone are things that we don’t know why we bought them, and gone are things that we don’t even know where they came from.
We want space back in the house, and it’s space we’re getting.
We’ve been using the garage as a staging area for the past couple of months as we’ve cleaned everything out. As I said, our hope was to do a garage sale. But after going through the amount of work it took just to get the stuff to the garage, we were totally de-motivated about the idea of organizing and pricing all the items to make them ready for a garage sale.
And in all honesty, someone else could benefit from this stuff more than us.
We plan on donating some heavier pieces of furniture to a charity that will come pick it up, but today we took the time to itemize everything we have to give away and it ended up being over 300 items! Instead of waiting for the next scheduled pick-up, we decided to just load everything we could into the van and I ended up taking two trips to Good Will today.
And we’ll still get a tax credit.
In the meantime, we’ve managed to raise about $550 selling stuff on Craig’s List, and we came up with a few more Craigslistable items today that could bring in a bit more cash.
Our goal is to save enough money to buy a new sectional for the living room that will replace the two run-down couches we currently have. One of those couches we’ll be giving away, as well (or trying to get $25 or so from Craigs List), and the other will be going to Rosary Army’s office. But when we get a sectional, it will also free up a lot of space and make our living room look a lot roomier.
The photo below is of Jennifer sweeping out the middle of the garage after we loaded all of the stuff to give away into the van. You can still see a lot of stuff on the left that we’ll be tossing somewhere, but we actually got to park in the garage again tonight.
Just Gotta Dance
Yes, it’s true. We’ve been taking dancing lessons.
And furthermore, it’s true we have a secret soft spot for High School Musical movies.
In fact, we’re talking about camping out just to get tickets for the new High School Movie Part XIII.
We’re certain it’s going to sell out for weeks.
And now, for the first time, we display for you our hard-earned dancing skills.
Enjoy.
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More Weaponry From Sam. This Time With LEGOs.
Sam and Walt have somehow come down with strep throat – AGAIN. I think we just need to give Walt antibiotics every day along with his Flintstone’s vitamin.
Unlike when I got strep as a kid and felt completely miserable, Sam and Walt somehow always feel great when they get strep. I don’t understand it.
We refused to let them spend the entire day watching television or playing video games, and they’ve read just about all the comic books they’ve got, so somehow they got on a kick of playing with LEGO bricks.
Usually, this is Ben’s thing. As a matter of fact, we just keep most of the LEGO bricks in his room, and that’s where Sam and Walt spent most of their time today while Jennifer were broadcasting the show.
Did they make super fast cars like I did as a kid? No.
Did they make uber cool space ships? Actually, Walt did (with Sam’s help).
What did Sam spend most of his time on? Very well designed weapons, of course.
If he doesn’t become a priest, I think engineering is in his future.
