First rule of home renovations

Always, and constantly remind yourself that it will indeed be a lot better than it was at the beginning. This is for sure to be the case since I am  updating the horrible, horrible job done previously by an army of trained monkeys. Trained for what I'm not sure. Not construction. Not framing, not hvac, not window installation. Maybe nosepicking. Random hammering. There was a great quantity of nails in the subfloor, on top of a deck. That was crooked. And not level. I admit, I'm learning a great deal doing this myself. Mostly that for 60 grand I can do it myself and save a shit ton of money.

 I should pick up a guitar one of these days. Else I might forget how to play the damn thing.

If I write another post tomorrow I'll beat last years record. One. Woohoo.

The Garage.

So I finally decided to get busy in my garage and cover the floor with this fancy epoxy paint that I bought two years ago and then promptly piled in the garage with many other projects and let it gather dust. Turns out it says to use the product when the temperature is at least fifteen degrees, and at the beginning of  I could be running out of nice warm days to do this task, this year. So over the course of last week I moved everything to one side of our double garage and then swept and vacuumed and washed and rinsed and rinsed again. Then hurriedly on Saturday I rolled paint as fast as I could with three kids cheering me on. This stuff sets up fast after an hour if your not done the paint decides to be done for you. Tiffany had doubts as to whether this was a worthwhile project to do. As I think she feels about all things I want to do. She did come around after the finished floor looked just so damn good. Now the bigger side is drying after a rinse and repeat. Tomorrow is paint day for it. Since the temps are sure to drop soon. I even bought more just to make sure I could cover the whole side since it's a little larger area than the first side. Last thing I want is to run out halfway across the floor. Then after that side is finished I can concentrate on finally putting together the ugly drum smoker I'm building. Tif really rolls her eyes at that one.

Books 2012

So the first book I've read in the new year was Janet Evanovich's "Explosive Eighteen". Unsurprisingly the eighteenth novel in her Stephanie Plum series.

Way back Tiffany brought home the first book "One for the money", which coincidentally comes out in movie form this month. For some reason I imagine we'll be going to that one.

Anyway, she says "here, read this book its funny". With that kind of ringing endorsement how could I refuse. Although I do refuse many, like most of the other books she says that I should read. She's a big chick lit fan which I haven't really gotten into, yet. I did however read that one and eighteen books later and they've kind of hit the wall. No knock on Janet. The books still move along briskly and hit all the right notes at the right times, but after 18 of them I can pretty much plot out the entire book before I read it. Might be time to switch it up ever so slightly.

These books are pure fluff and are really just there to kill or fill some time. (Just over two hours from start to finish for this one. I had to ignore the dishes somehow). The series is starting to bug me because each book seems like it should really just be a chapter. The characters are the same at the end of the book as they were at the beginning. Maybe I'm just being a literary snob for expecting characters to grow and change over the course of 18 books, but hey that's just me. A definition of a literary journey in a novel, the protagonist goes through a series of events that changes their core self by the end of the story reaching profound conclusions about the world and universe and their place in it. In Stephanie Plum novels she blows up a few cars by accident and is torn between two hot men. Funny, but formulaic.
I can't wait for the next one!

Tuesday, July 21, 1998
Top Ten Greatest Books of All Time About Guys Named Steve

10."War and Peace and Steve"

9."The Seven Habits of Highly Successful Steves"

8."The Grapes of Steve"

7."The Steves of Wrath"

6."Steve Grapes Steve Wrath Steve Steve"

5."Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus, Steve is From Cleveland"

4."Where's Waldo? Is He With Steve?"

3."Time Life Mysteries of the Unknown, Volume VIII: 'Mysterious Guys Named Steve'"

2."The Joy of Sex with Steve"

1."The Bible" (King Steve Version)