To Care and Not to Care

John and Kaylee Krout brought us a bonzai tree as a house-warming gift, we shared prawns and mango spring rolls for a great dinner.  Janell laughed so hard her arm fell off,  Ben shot beer out of his nose (i know, right?!) and Amy gave everyone a mean look and walked off into her room to read through old utility bills.  And then the conversation turned to love languages, and it was conclusively determined that when dating,  a male's love language has nothing at all to do with physical affection,  he is simply a bit zealous in his carnal pursuits.  (horny) Schwango!

Regrettably I neglected to post an instructional video of our good friend and brother about Strategic Tool Implementation (STI). Here you go and we all will regret no longer.

(This first part is written by ben). So I've started. The Decemberists are rounding the needle and in the room behind me as i write this, my very first blog. It's possible that it will be my final entry as my contemporary seems to be F. Scott--thanks a lot Jay. Now onto our story: Janell and I met on a warm early summer's day, as teenagers, in the back of a stuffy chapel at camp. Our lives in full swing, we lived for each moment. Making experiences last and amplifying all our senses. The summers seemed hotter then, the food was better (or worse), the nights were longer and each movie was more formative. Along with all of this, our relationships seemed much more meaningful. As you know, (or not) we married after 5 or so blissful and arduous years of dating. Soon after I worked to provide at many-a-terrible job where the only value was the dollar made and the friends found. As Janell finished her degree at Multnomah Bible College we began to ask the age-old question, "...

scouring Craigslist "Free" section for building materials can be quite the adventure.  most often,  unless someone is getting rid of size 18 baseball cleats or broken toilet bowls,  the good free items get taken within hours,  and often sooner.  I am convinced there are people who spend all day refreshing the free listings to go and horde more crap for themselves. "free couch?  yes!  free broken up concrete?  sweet!  I can put that under my new free couch,  next to my new free table, or it can support my new pile of wood that i got for free!" We are looking to use cinder blocks in a few projects in the yard,  so we have been checking fairly often for cinderblocks (among many other items...) and yesterday i found a just posted ad for 100 of the little suckas. today Amy and drove over and loaded all of em up,  and met a pretty cool dude in the process.  interestingly enough Eric (who shall remain nameless)  and hi...

another great day at the Manor.

The DEQ (department of environmental quality for you non-learned folk) doesn't allow the inclusion of a non-authorized fireplace insert in the sale of a home. We bought our house with 2 DEQ (department of environmental quality for those of the memory challenged variety) non-authorized fireplace inserts. We were required to remove those inserts (which weigh about 300 lbs each) within 30 days of the sale of the home. Done. posted from Bloggeroid

Amy, Luke and myself employed our feet battering ram style to "modify" our Family room... and also teaching all the kids a valuable lesson about why it's a good idea to buy a surplus of sheetrock for each project.

The Olympia star voted Luke streckfuss funniest man alive, and gave him an all expenses paid trip to Downerson Manor. So we put him to work. Tore out a wall and painted a floor. posted from Bloggeroid

(This first part is written by ben). So I've started. The Decemberists are rounding the needle and in the room behind me as i write this, my very first blog. It's possible that it will be my final entry as my contemporary seems to be F. Scott--thanks a lot Jay. Now onto our story: Janell and I met on a warm early summer's day, as teenagers, in the back of a stuffy chapel at camp. Our lives in full swing, we lived for each moment. Making experiences last and amplifying all our senses. The summers seemed hotter then, the food was better (or worse), the nights were longer and each movie was more formative. Along with all of this, our relationships seemed much more meaningful. As you know, (or not) we married after 5 or so blissful and arduous years of dating. Soon after I worked to provide at many-a-terrible job where the only value was the dollar made and the friends found. As Janell finished her degree at Multnomah Bible College we began to ask the age-old question, "...

Working in the backyard has its hazards.  Here is an instructional video to help you understand the hazards of removing a crappy deck.  

First big work day on the house. in order to see a bit what we are doing,  see our photo tour before moving in , and  Jay and Amy's reasons for living in a huge broke-down house with another couple .  Jim and Annie and Susie, Janell's Ma and Pa and Auntie came up and lent a huge hand in some demolition.  Jim mowed the mess of a yard, helped tear out part of the lower deck, and then helped truck a load of disgusting vomitcarpet to the dump.  Annie and Susie helped tear up what remained of the carpet (we had an original blitz the night before we moved in to remove the upstairs carpet and helped tear out the suspended ceiling in the basement.  Overall a really productive day.   Ben and Jim pose with the remains of our deck-olition Ames giving the tack strips the old wonderbar what-what. Janell and Amy pretending to work.  Annie and Susie tearin' it up! Portland has an indoor dump,  which now has carpet that is considered to toxic to u...