Happenings!

In the words of Oscar Martinez (of The Office fame), "Un. Bee. Leave. Uh. Bull." That's my reaction to the fact that my last update is dated in early April. For shame.

In my defense, I've been growing a lot lately and growing pains typically cause me to quiet down because, well, it takes so much time and emotional energy to write about anything and everything. That, coupled with the fact that there are some things in life I'd rather not broadcast to the blogosphere at large, result in a very quiet near two month absence.

Pause. Can we just talk about how BIG Ben is? It's official. My second-to-youngest nephew has hit the phase where I no longer look at him as a baby or toddle. He's now officially boy. It was that way with Nate and Mercy too. I see a picture of them and BAM, they've hit a new phase of life. Same with this little loveable trouble maker.

Gotta love a missionary kid playing in the mud :)

Speaking of family members, my dad sent me and my sisters an email the other day with this picture attached, which has been in the top drawer of his tool box for years and years and years

You can see me and my sisters, right in the middle by the drill bits :)

His email ended with: "You guys never seem to change just like tools I’ve had for years, some from when I was going to A&P school. Anyway, thanks for sharing the top drawer with my sockets and screwdrivers and sticking it out with me all these years. Back then I would wonder what you all would grow up to be, now I know. What a trip. Thanks for being the swell kids you are, you are a blessing to mom and I, for sure. Were you all ever that little." 

My goodness, still can't read that without getting a little teary eyed. Love my dad. To pieces.

That being said, the typical spring things have been happening around Casa de Schu lately. Our first big spring project was digging out this gravel patch that mysteriously existed in our back yard. Thankfully I have a retired father-in-law with a tractor who came to dig out the gravel and dump it into our woods...and then hauled 15 yards of dirt all over our lawn :) It doesn't sound like a lot, but 15 yards of dirt is a LOT of dirt. $270 worth of dirt, to be exact.

A whooooole lotta dirt.

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the finished product. Which is just as well, because since the grass hasn't grown yet, it's just a ginormous brown patch. Not much to see :)

Dan, as per usual, has been keeping himself busy in his shop. He's in the process of building another guitar, which is awesome. It's in the curing stage - he sprays it with Lord knows how many coats of something that requires him to wear a gas mask (?!) and then it has to cure for three weeks in a still place (i.e. our upstairs closet). Praying the fumes that require a gas mask don't penetrate our home.

There he is, my man at work

Next guitar. I kinda wish he wasn't painting it - a part of me likes it just like this :)

A project we're in mid-swing on is the downstairs desk! Our basement has a nook that's screaming (literally) for a built-in desk. So we're doing an office transfer from upstairs to the basement. The base is complete, but the top is in progress. It's going to be stained dark and have boards running the length of it. I'm thinking the white contrasting with the dark top will be, to use a decorating term, "dramatic." (Sorry, I understand the word and it's use, but it seems oh-so cliche to use it in everyday conversation.)

Bases, bases!

The bottom drawer is actually one drawer with two fronts. "It's an illusion!" (Cue The Final Countdown)

A little custom slide-out shelf for our printer/scanner situation! Sweet!

Hm? What's that you ask? How has our spring been with rainfall? A NIGHTMARE.

We had some pretty intense flooding around Grand Rapids a while ago and lucky for us, our redneck neighbors two doors down have a POND. We're thrilled with the situation.

Literally, we woke up one morning to this: It just happened, literally overnight.

Looking out our bedroom sliding door (That's right...living the high life. A sliding door that leads out to nothing. Don't be jealous.)

Looking over into the neighbors' yard. They had it much worse than us. Misery loves company :)

And just so you understand how close this was to our house...

Looking out the bedroom windows into the woods

And with that, the poor little sump pump (which we, thankfully, replaced last spring) has been pumping it's heart out. But on the plus side, hearing the water running into the hole makes it sounds like we have a cool water feature in the basement.

 Yeesh. How have I let myself get so behind...deep breath...another change of subject...

Dan got a new car! It's a super long story, that started in January, but our original car plan this year was changed, but for the better! We now both have relatively new (Dan's is brand new), reliable cars that (hopefully!) won't need to be replaced for years to come! I inherited the 2008 Chevy Impala that Dan was driving and let me tell ya, STEP. UP. from my 2005 Malibu Classic :) Dan opted for the 2013 Ford Fusion...and here she is. Nice lookin' car.

Sorry for the quality...cell phone picture in my work parking lot :)

 Two weeks ago, we were at church. That's where it all began. After church, we went to Dan's parents' house to meet them for supper. We were waiting inside, because their church is longer than ours. Dan's mom came in, horror all over her face and said, "Dan...did you see your car?" Oh. My. Heavens. I had visions of the back bumper being destroyed. We walked towards our car from the front as we left church, so we didn't notice anything on the rear end of the car.

We walked outside, and to my relief, but Dan's fury, there was a dent on the back driver side door. It was...infuriating to say the least (not as bad as a destroyed bumper, but still). It was an incredibly windy day, and there was a white SUV parked beside us at church. We're guessing a small kid in the back seat opened the SUV door, the wind caught it and it banged into our door. We didn't even notice it at church so we left. Obviously, leaving the scene, we had no way to get insurance information from the people who did it. UGH!!!

Thankfully, having full coverage on the car and this being a no-fault incident, our deductible is waived and we have to pay zero dollars to get it fixed. Thank goodness. The quote we got? Oh, you know, about $900. For this...

See that? Just in front of the handle?

Lovely paint damage

 Because the dent is so far back on the door, they don't have enough room to blend the paint enough. So they have to remove the entire side panel and re-paint it too. *Sigh* Adulthood...

So, Memorial Day! We didn't really do anything on Memorial Day...it turned out be chilly and rainy outside. Boo! Horrible start to summer! Don't panic, though. We still had pulled pork, potato salad, homemade baked beans and potato chips. All was well in our world :)

That Saturday though, as a Christmas present for Dan's dad, we went to a Tigers game. So Saturday morning we drove to Detroit, went to the 4:00 game and then stayed overnight in Wixom. We drove back Sunday and, of course, hit up the outlet mall :) I think me and Dan may head back over in September for a game. Because I mean...it's the Tigers! And why not?! Ah...we love baseball. So much.

Good 'ol Comerica Park

Me and Bip :)

See? These are the things that keep me from updating as much as I'd like. Ah, life, you dizzying, busying treasure...