Category: The Daily Grind

The elementary school held it’s PTA Carnival tonight. The girls wanted to go quite badly. I could tell Nancy didn’t want to take them so she ask me to take them and she went with Samuel to his final T-ball game of the season. The carnival was your typical PTA fundraiser – inflatable rides, sno-cones,… Continue reading PTA Carnival

Even though it threatened rain throughout the day the landscapers worked hard and got a few more things done today.  They first had to change a tire on the bobcat because it was flat.  After that was fixed they started work on our waterfall in the backyard.   I was playing with Thomas the Train… Continue reading Landscape Diary

We made our second-ever artwork purchase when we decorated our front room (our first was our purchase of some paintings on our trip to China). Nancy and I both really liked this print when we saw it at the furniture gallery. For some reason, the print wasn’t delivered with the furniture but it finally arrived… Continue reading New Artwork

Today the landscapers put the rock wall into place. Our front yard had a bit of a slope in it so we decided to level it off with a rock wall. Some of the houses in our neighborhood have large multi-level rock walls but we didn’t need anything that fancy – just something big enough… Continue reading Landscape Diary

Nancy has become a pretty good Asian food cook. She has learned to make a variety of Vietnamese, Thai, and Japanese dishes and we probably eat Asian food at least three times a week. Our favorite cookbook is Quick and Easy Vietnamese by Nancie McDermott. So far, every recipe we’ve tried has been relatively easy… Continue reading Summer Rolls

Our landscapers began the landscaping project this week. I would have liked to save money by doing the landscape myself; however, I know myself well enough to know that tackling a handyman project that large would be a disaster. My handyman skills are maxed out just by installing blinds. Installing a drip irrigation system? Fuggedaboutit!… Continue reading Landscape Diary

Nancy and I enjoy watching the BBC Midsomer Murders series. We first saw it on BBC America and, now that we are without TV, have been working our way through the library’s collection of DVDs. Each episode is about two hours long so it makes for a nice quiet date/evening at home after the kids… Continue reading A Midsomer Murder Date

With four kids playing soccer, Saturdays are pretty much shot during the months of May and June. Nancy and I take turns transporting the kids back and forth to the soccer field because the games are spread out all through the day. Today we had two games at 11:00, one at 2:00 and one at… Continue reading Soccer, Soccer, Soccer, and More Soccer

When we bought the house we debated whether we should spring for plantation shutters on all the windows. We eventually decided against spending the money and figured we would put up venetian blinds ourselves which are significantly cheaper. We did all of the windows in the house shortly after moving in but left the french… Continue reading Home Improvement

The summer months aren’t usually that fun from a sports standpoint but May has been pretty good what with the Jazz in the playoffs. Tonight the Jazz were idle so I went to a Salt Lake Bees game with some guys from work. Thursdays are “Thirsty Thursdays” where all beer is only $2.00 so it’s… Continue reading Go Bees Go