Virginia Grover Carlston - "Grandma V.G."

My sweet grandmother passed away this month having reached the ripe old age of 95 and 1/2 years old. Having been the caretaker of her residence (fix-its, lawn mowing, raking leaves, picking fruit, setting up quilting frames, fixing vacuums, and occasionally chauffering her to the doctor) for the duration of my high school and college years, there will be a notable presence missing from Herbert Avenue. Armed with our faith, it wasn't a sad affair- more like a time to ruminate on how one good person can humbly bring about great things. Amber and I would be remiss without noting the passing of this incredible person in our lives.

Some months ago I asked her what the greatest advice she could give me for life. Without hesitation she quipped "Don't take offense!" There wasn't much more to it, and we moved on talking of other things, but it has stuck with me. There is great stores of wisdom in close to one hundred years of life on this earth, but that truly is a gem to focus on. Simple and profound.

So, take some time with your Grandparents. Set aside a regular weekly task that weaves you into their lives. You'll hear the same stories over and over, but if you start really listening you'll hear different nuances that you can learn from.

I hope I can keep life simple and good enough to have a long full life like her! We love you V.G.!

Nice Bath!

I haven't been able to escape to the bath tub for a long time and maybe that's why I have been admiring another gift I received for Christmas. Right now it is sitting on our bookshelf just waiting to be used in my new bath tub! Foaming Bath Milk by Fresh Body Market (the site isn't as cool as the packaging) When I opened the gift I was more excited about the packaging, than what was actually in it. It's a mini milk gallon jug probably about 7 inches high... I just wanted to carry it around with me because it's so cute. I can't say anything about the actual product at this point, but I love the way that it is presented, seems more environmentally friendly than a fancy little glass number.

Ikea Kitchen Adventure

On New Year's Eve we took the trek down to Ikea to pick up our kitchen! Chris had spent hours and hours on the kitchen-making-program (It is just what you can do at Ikea except at your own computer... however for you older Mac users, you need Windows, sorry! [CHC uses Parallels to run Windoze on the newer Macs when it is his only option]) and was just putting on the finishing touches the night before we went down. You save your new kitchen on an online database so you can access it when you get to Ikea. Even though you are 100% prepared the process still takes a few hours. The kitchen department needs to put in by hand each of the items (no copy and pasting - it took awhile.) Then the order is placed and must be pulled, that takes about another hour... Once you have items at the pick-up, you check each individual package number to make sure it's all there, and when you have a few hundred items to account for it takes some time! THEN you can leave with your kitchen.

In the first picture you can see the spread of all the cardboard and my fantastic sisters helping put everything together. We had a lot of fun. In the second pic all of the boxes are assembled (no cabinet fronts yet.) Oh, I must note that my librarian sis-in-law promptly organized the boxes in numerical order so we could find them more easily. In the 3rd you can see in the upper right corner the two cabinets that Chris installed and our new microwave. Horaaay for home improvements!

Handyman First, Digirati Second

Amber expressed some discontent with my lack of blog posting. I have to admit it has been weak-sauce, yet I have an important point to make about bare necessities and the techno life- digital pictures, a refined playlist, HD video, and small gadgets are all fluff until you are comfortably warm, can walk in bare feet without fear, use a bathroom when you want to (full facilities), and prepare a meal.

We've been going like gangbusters on the house for quite some time now. Besides some obligatory holiday family time and some great formal excuses to get out (thanks Brubakers!) we've been putting in long hours. Last week we didn't get home before 1AM for four nights! We'll both leave the house on average around 8:30 and work straight through the daylight into the night. Amber has been balancing her job as well and heroically comes straight to the house afterward with a change of clothes. I consider my office space to be Home Depot, IKEA, or some random specialty shop (a third of all this job is just running around getting the right stuff!), so if you don't see people there it doesn't mean things aren't poppin'!

We've been blessed by friends and family lending help when and where they can. I have found that the help often feels inspired as it usually impels us through mental blocks or fear of being overwhelmed by the vastness of the project we have undertaken. You know who you are... Thanks!

With the new year now upon us and the final stages of our house coming together, expect to see more of me in my usual digital realm- geekin' it up online... knowing that I have learned a great deal about the value of the real, physical world and its relation to the electronic world. I have been changed by this experience and I am proud to say that I will always be a handyman at the core, and a geek closely after.