Entertainment Center Information

Carol asked for information on the Entertainment Center piece that we are trying to get rid of now that we have replaced it. It is in the 'Before and After' post with the small TV in it, and here empty in our garage:

He made tambour doors just for fun (think rolling desk top, but two and sideways), which close and hide the TV (I hadn't shown this feature) and the side drawer holds VCR tapes, but I am sure DVD's can fit also. There are also two small drawers inside the glass cupboard - one is partially open in the photo above.

The measurements: entire piece: width=56",height=52",depth=22 3/4"
Interior for TV: width=31", height=24"

The After After After

I thought that it would be days before I posted my entire set of Before and After photos, but Gary got to watching TV and was all twitchy and breaking out in hives that there was a mess in the same room and himself, so he said to get a photo of the 'Before' and we would quickly reproduce it. It was good I had a photo since I could not imagine how we fit all my toy crap in the shelves.

He is now up there surrounded by Lego finishing the Lego building Santa brought us last year for Christmas. The cool part about this is when he decides to go to bed and he is not done (and he won't be) he can walk away from it and it won't be in our living room or our bedroom! I won't bore you with the before photos, but by the time we (ok,he) finishes this years building, we will have a lovely Lego block to put somewhere.

After After

Well, the "After After After" post will be when all that crap on the couch there is back on the shelves. But having put in the TV and having fingers that could have been damaged due to the snug fit - I realized Gary wasn't kidding when he said that the TV would 'just fit'. He said he measured it four times to see if it really would. That is pretty good planning to build something 20 odd years ago and have today's TV be the exact width of your shelves you built (give maybe an inch).

Before and After

Gary completed his wood project. It was basically modernizing an old entertainment center. It is a six piece unit, with all the 'guts' (TV, VCR, etc) being held in the unit he re-made. The old one held a regular TV, had a glass door to the side, set of doors underneath, and weighed about 180 pounds. Forgot the last part until we went to move it from upstairs to the garage. After Ryan and Gary moved it Ryan asked us how we had managed to move it before now. Our answer was that movers had moved it every time except right when Gary built it and then my dad helped him move it upstairs (I don't know if Ryan had even been born).

The after section takes all the width and fits our high definition TV exactly, with drawers and shelves below it. Makes the middle shelf unit stick up one foot - I like the new, staggered effect.

Virtual Garage sale: if anyone would like the old (heavy) section of entertainment center - makes a great stand alone unit, the TV or any of our old VCR tapes (we have a bunch of Living Scriptures, Disney, etc) let me know - everythings free to a good home. We are going to pack it all up and donate it in a couple of days.

Spooning

It is nice that they both stay on their side of the bed.

So Worth It

Had to set my alarm clock for 7:00am for the cleaning lady. Last night it really did not seem like a very good plan, but now? I have all the Christmas detrius thrown away, Christmas loot put away and she is currently cleaning up all the leaves that fell off the trees when Gary shook the crap out of them and I was too lazy to do anything other than shovel them all in between the pots. See that's the neat thing about Alma - she moves all those pots and sweeps! What a concept!

I really love the smell of Lysol in my house. It invigorates me and makes me feel as if I have done something noble. Apparently my brain has not disconnected the scent from 'scrubbing down the bathrooms' to 'writing out a check' ... but it's working for me, so why ruin it?

From Scratch

Fourteen hours (ok, some breaks): finding graphics I like, learning Photoshop layers, uploading to Photobucket and changing the template html of 'Lori's Blog' and I have made a design / background for my Blog. OK, it looks like crap, and it doesn't do that scrolly thing (blog scrolls, but the rest stays still) .... addendum: fixed it .... but I did it from the ground up and I have wanted to figure it out. You can tell I am not a 'scrapbooker' since I have no eye for design, but I wanted to know how all those web sites that let you put cute backgrounds on your blog did it. Whew! I will keep working on it - maybe then when you bring up my blog you won't automatically say 'Ewww'.

Conflicted

Jessie is on her way back to Richmond State School even as I type. For all my worries, she was an angel. It was interesting to watch her internal struggle with the problem: "Mom, I don't want to go back." -vs- "Mom, I want to see my friends." She left excited, so "I want to see my friends." won out (I think by a very slim margin though).

I, on the other hand am still conflicted. It was hard to let her go back. Dressed in clothes I don't recognize, taking items I hope won't be missplaced, and wearing the shoes they always have on her (or she always picks): a pair of slip on's that don't really stay on instead of her sensible tennis shoes. I guess it was too easy for just a few days, and tucking her into bed at night my heart hurt - I am not sure why - maybe knowing that she doesn't get moms love at RSS, just care and companionship. Is it enough? Am I doing the right thing? Am I a horrible mother?

Sigh ... I know it is the right thing - it is just hard. She is learning. I could not find her pajamas that Santa had brought her while I was packing for her to go back. Jessie said she knew where they were and I heard her go into her bedroom, open a drawer and get them. She put them away! She NEVER used to put anything away. Even the princess pillows my mom gave her were sitting neatly beside her bed. A good skill for where she lives - items probably won't get lost so much if she can put things where they belong.

I will see her Sunday, but right now that seems like a long time from now. I want to make sure that the staff take care of her ... treat her as a V.I.P. - because she is. Is it going to be this hard every time she comes to stay? Probably, I just need to know that it will happen and be prepared for it.

Being prepared for it means that I will know that I will have all these feelings ... too bad it doesn't mean taking them away. Being numb sound real good about right now.

And here I thought that I was on Santa's "Naughty" list ....

My new, photo editing friendly laptop.

Who delegated me "present wrapper"?

I haven't wrapped a single one ...

Are you sure?

Hmmmmm. I answered honestly!

Your Christmas is Most Like: Miracle on 34th Street

Sweet and caring, Christmas is about helping for you. While Santa may not exist, you try to share his spirit.

What Movie Is Your Christmas Most Like?

You Can Say "Merry Christmas" in 14 Languages

You can say "Merry Christmas" in: English Spanish Japanese French Arabic German Italian Swedish Greek Gaelic Hawaiian Dutch Korean Esperanto

How Many Languages Can You Say "Merry Christmas" In?

Meet: Bob

His pedigreed name is "Sir Blue Bobble Birdie Bob", but I just call him Bob.

Yep, that's all he does. He makes me enormously happy!

(Sorry, the camera was close to a speaker and I can't figure out how to control the volume, or edit a film clip for that matter ... I will work on it)

Since EVERYBODY's doing it ... hubby tag:

I have resisted for as long as I could (see question #12 for the reason):

1. He's sitting in front of the TV. What's on the screen?
Split between Discovery Channel (I might stay in the room) or the Western Channel (I flee them minute I hear the twang).

2. You are out to eat. What dressing does he get on his salad.
Balsamic vinegar and oil (not ALL boys eat Ranch)

3. What's one food he doesn't like?
He goes with Sam on this (but probably way more passionately hates them) Casserole's (all casserole's, any combination of food baked in a glass square container is out! This is why I do not cook in our house ...)

4) You go to a bar. What does he drink first?
Man, I wouldn't even know what his alcoholic beverage of choice would be - I will ask him today while we are out to lunch...

5) Where did he go to High School?
Logan High School, Logan, Utah

6) If he were to collect anything, what would it be?
220 volt professional woodworking shop equipment and all of their adjoining accoutrement's (he is well on his way to having everything ever made ... and then a few extras just in case)

7) What shoe size does he wear?
Size 12

8) What is his favorite type of sandwich?
Bacon, lettuce and tomato - when the tomatoes are fresh from the garden (other wise a club sandwich will do)

9) What would he eat every day if he could?
Bananas - and he does.

10) What would he never wear?
A thong speedo - just the first thing I thought of ...

11) What is his favorite sports team?
He does not follow sports (this and his ability to build all our furniture make him my kind of guy)

12) What is something you do that he wishes you didn't do so much?
HANDS DOWN: Write about him on my blog!

13) How many states has he lived in?
Four: Utah, California, Texas and the state of 'Sheer Joy' - when he is out in his shop building furniture...

14) What is his heritage?
English and Swedish

15) You bake him a cake for his birthday. What kind of cake would it be?
It wouldn't matter, if I actually cooked and he did not have to bake his own cake, he would keel over dead - thus why he is still alive today.

16) Did he play sports in High School?
Yes - Regional Champion in swimming.
Addendum: Gary reminded me that he also ran track and 'practiced' football (16 years old, 5'10" and 110lbs - he rethought the football thing --- got his height on his mission). I had forgotten.

17) What could he spend hours doing?
If you have not figured that out by now ... y'all have not been paying attention. And over at our house we call it "snorting sawdust"

There ... I feel better.

I think you had to be there ...

Red Birdie is very happy to bobble while I am driving the car (decided to take a photo while parked, though - since y'all can't see him move anyway).

While Blue Birdie gets flicked in the noggin every time my code crashes ... so happily bobbling ALL the time!

Thanks, Laura - you made my day!

(The "there" was the white elephant party last Friday where I was coveting the Oldroyd's bobble-egg santa)

Still Wasting Time ...

and avoiding Christmas...

Fall is in the Air ...

Inside my house. Here's the thing about having live trees in your home - they are very confused beasties. Apparently they just got the message that fall was in the air (I thought that maybe all that dark time would have given them a clue ...) and decided to turn their leaves a ghastly shade of 'I'm gonna die any minute now" yellow and drop from the trees. I noticed yesterday that maybe I was not keeping up on my 'raking' duties, but Gary decided to shake each of them senseless this morning:

Sigh, I guess I will go get the rake...

Seriously, This is ADDICTING!

I'm off the phone and still can't stop! (I have to do the laundry and I am stalling) Don't start! It will get you too!

Snowflake Fun

Read Laura's blog on her snowflake while waiting for technical support for my web site and decided to give it a try. Made my snowflake and I am still on hold! Thanks for helping me pass the time Laura!

The link to make your own: makeasnowflake