No Longer a Sunken Shower

Well, here are the results of the shower project. We are almost finished or should I say that Brother Ortiz is almost finished. Tomorrow he will do some work to lower the drain about a 1/4 inch so the water will completely drain. He also has to finish the curb along the front of the shower. I broke one of the tiles and he has to cut a new piece with the saw while he is at his regular job. The picture on the right is actually the left

side of the shower and the picture on the left is really the right side. Go figure! Only the crazy Dad could manage to do such a silly thing. Hey, it took me about 45 minutes to get these two picture uploaded to this blog. That is about a long as it has taken Brother Ortiz to do this remodel job, well maybe not quite so long. Sister Ortiz asked if we were going to paint the green walls a different color and I said, "No", we needed some contrast. Well, Mom went to my favorite place, yup, you guessed it--ACE is the Place--and got some paint today and as you can see, we now have "Pita Bread" paint on the walls. I hope I don't get hungry in the middle of the night during one of my several trips to that location of our bedroom--ya know, Pita Bread. Hey, don't get old, it is hard to get an uninterupted night when you are over 60. When Mom went to check out at ACE the cashier asked if she had a rewards card. She told him that her husband did and when she told him "Kovacs", he said, "Oh, Tony. He is in here every day that I work." Yup, ACE is the Place and I am well known there! Well, 'tis getting late for this old timer, so I will say good night. Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we do the real thing. The only thing better will be when we can turn the water on and get wet.

Dining Room Remodel - Finally

Well, Mom got tired of waiting for Dad to tear out the wall so she went and hired it done. It is amazing what a little bit of income tax return can do for a person. So here it is for all to see. This first picture is at the end of the first night of demolition (actually taken the next afternoon) and some framing. I should have taken some pictures as the work progressed, but you know how the mind goes when you pass 50. Well, maybe you don't! This is from the dining room looking into the kitchen. The door on the left leads to the utility room and the one on the right is the pantry.

This is after the drywall has been added and mud applied. The next step was the texturing which you see here. There are also five new tiles on the floor to fill in where the old wall used to be. This view is from the kitchen looking into the dining room.

Wallauh!!!! The texture has been painted and the job is complete except for a second coat of red paint and replacing the baseboards. We really like the new look. There are more things in the works. Stand by for updates as they occur.

Let It Snow! Let It Snow!, Let It Snow!

Well, maybe not that much snow, but I was surprised this morning when I went to take some of our stuff out to the car and whall huh, there it was, a light dusting of snow. Where did that come from? Clytie's brother up in Colorado must have blown a little bit of the stuff down this way so they wouldn't get so much. Our poor van has been covered with snow twice since December. That shouldn't happen to one of those southern Arizona vehicles. It was 79 degrees when we left Sierra Vista on Friday. It was even in the 70s when we got to Albuquerque on Saturday. Yesterday, coming home from church it was 39 degrees and the wind was blowing. I don't know about this crazy weather! I sure hope we don't run into bad weather going home later today.

Lindsey Marie Kovacs

Here are more photos of Lindsey on her blessing day. What a fun day we have had visiting and holding Lindsey. She has gotten to be quite a talker

to her Grandmas.

The Smiling Granddaughter and Trains

Here is a pre-blessing photo of our newest granddaughter. We spent all five minutes trying to get Lindsey to smile big for Grandma. And smile big she did. We will take more of Lindsey today in her blessing dress.

Last night we set up the train track for Kaylee. Thanks Allyson for the additional engine and cars. It helped us to have five trains running at the same time. Kaylee and the Grandpas (Willis and Kovacs) and Grandmas each had a controller. With the older generation running the controllers we ended up with a few minor incidents of trains running into each other a several of the crossroads.We finally had to designate a Yard Master to give directions on when to start, stop and switch the tracks and avoid serious damage to the equipment.

More Hard Work on This Day Off, Yeah Right!

Well, I am almost finished for the day. I have been to the compost place twice. The second time was with the Palo Verde tree stump. See it is gone! And so is the fence between our house and the Jacksons! Chuck came out and asked if we were going to be moving since we were doing all of this clean up. Mom assured him that we were not. He said, "Yeh, that is what the Prince family said too. Now see where they are living. They are living in La Terraza, one of the gated communities off Cherokee going down toward the Stake Center. Well, do you want to take another look at the yard without the fence. Here it is! Kinda different huh. Yep!, I gave all the fence away to Brother Borquez. He helped me for about four hours this morning. He is without a regular job so I am trying to get some things done around the house and provide a little income for him. Oh, there is a Yucca plant at the left edge of the picture. Now you see it, now you don't!Well, I guess you still see it, but it is down for the count and as soon as I finish this post to our blog, it will be going into the trailer, waiting for the next trip to the compost pile. Then I will be spending the rest of the afternoon and evening in my comfy chair in front of the TV. Hope everybody had a good day!

Need Some Help!!!!!

Is there anyone out there that can tell me how to get my pictures to appear in different spots in my post? I have tried everything I can think of and have not been successful. Mary Anne, you were able to do it with you post about your wonderful Valentine's gift giving saga. Give your ole Dad a call and share some of your wealth of knowledge. Thanks. Love you all. Oh yeah, sorry I didn't really title my last post. It should have been "Tree Roots and Snowy Weather". What a title! Here I go again! I just thought I would throw in this picture of our New Year's Eve wild and wolly night at David and Noel's new home. It was nice to be with three of our kids and their families for a rip, roaring evening of watching TV and playing the Wii games. I think I did manage to beat Luke at bowling.