Solid Surface Renos 2

Back of the mitre in original countertop, where raised bar (windowsill) joined up. Nicely done.

Side view of above bar.

Drain rack and nasty rubber drain board.

Nasty drain board continued. To be replaced by trenches in the countertop itself.

Original countertop over dishwasher. Plan taped to wall.

Solid Surface Renovations 1

So, following is a pictoral review of my recent re&re job. I replaced laminate covetop with solid surface for cheap (but lots of labour hours). At work we did an apartment building a few years back with solid surface, and I saved the sink cutouts. You will see how I seamed them together to make some nice tops!

Here's the solid surface kitchen table I made a few years ago with the same method. It is made of about 8 or 9 sink cutouts. It has been a great surface for eating, especially with kids--foodsafe and easy to clean. I wanted to match the rest of the kitchen, partly for future sale of our condo.

The original countertops (covered with stuff!)

The original top mount sink.

The original countertops, cleaned off.

Mitre joint in the covetop near the sink. It doesn't look too bad but has opened up a bit/swelled up as mitres near sinks tend to do over time, since water makes the particle board under the laminate swell up. I'm guessing that these are 16 years old, but they may be newer.

Compa Knee's Crowd

Well, you faithful followers may remember my frustration regarding my daughter's fears and my hope that adding company would ease the sleep situation. And, joy, my hopes have been partially realized with some help from her mother's wisdom. We moved Malachi into Kate's room a few weeks ago, and they adjusted quite quickly and it's been going okay. Things can get a little bit hairy at bedtime when one or the other is ready to sleep and one is not, and bedtime routines have gotten conglomerated or otherwise watered down, but overall it's working. Kate is even sleeping with the light off when Malachi is in his nearby crib! And we have our room to ourselves again and I don't have to tiptoe past my sleeping toddler at strange hours and hope that he doesn't wake up and see me!

On another vein my batching week went well, other than the fact that I worked every spare waking minute on my kitchen countertops and still didn't quite get the sink hooked up by the time my family returned. But the main piece is in and working and looks pretty good (if I do say so myself!). Now there remains a small piece where the phone sits, and a long bar under the windowsill, but those can be done in good time. Also there is a bit of tiling to do (to replace the backsplash). I have not done any tiling before, but I have two people who have volunteered to help me out, so that is good! In the near future I will post some pictures of the countertop in fabrication for anybody who is interested in the inner workings of the solid surface industry (trade secrets!).

Scared of a Fly

My daughter is scared of a fly. Literally. She's also scared of shadows, the dark, random noises, empty spaces, you name it. If she has company, she seems to be okay. Which is why we might have to move our son into her room at night: although they might wake each other up more at night, Kate might actually sleep better! And, our little guy would be out of our closet. :)

A project I've been working on for a long time has been to build the kids beds. Michelle and I have designed them to be bunk beds, with the top one perpendicular to the bottom one (covering the foot of the bed) and being supported by a custom set of drawers, with some stair-drawers ascending up the end. So far I've only built the bottom bed, which Kate has been using for quite some time. It's hard to make time to be away from the kids and the wife to go to the basement and work by myself; another project I want to finish is the kitchen countertops in solid surface, but that is also quite time-consuming. I'm looking forward to a break from family life when Michelle takes the kids to see Grandma and Grandpa on the farm for a week. Though I will be working lots, I'm hoping to have the energy to do the countertops start to finish. Then I can focus on the beds. In the meantime, Malachi's crib converts to a toddler bed. So all we have to do is move him. Will that fix Kate's fears? I don't know. Hope it helps!

Berry Time

For the first time this year, I noticed some blackberry bush flowers as I rode my bicycle home from work today. As I pondered the changing of the seasons and the significance they may have on my little life, my eye caught a glimpse of bright red. There were ripe berries on the bushes! But they are the thimble/salmon berry type. I like them, they are a bit seedy and not too sweet, but good...and these were at their best, even a bit juicy. Yay!

Too Many Beans

Okay, okay, I didn't eat too many beans, as the title of this post may have suggested to you. I just couldn't think of a title. And although the two Jumping Beans pictured above are quite rambunctious, there are not too many of them. Two is just right!

It's been a quiet evening in our household tonight; the kids went to bed with a fuss and a bath and a bang and then were asleep; the wife went to dance some Zumba with a friend, and I stayed home and quietly played Settlers online, then listened to some music. I am enjoying the current PRAISE contest called the Local Music Search. Anyone can submit a song (CCM) and twelve are chosen for listeners to vote for, and the winner wins a bunch of stuff including opening for Starfield at our local summer fair. So far 8 of the 12 entries have been revealed and I am not one of them (yet--keep hope alive!). But they are all great songs to listen to and good for drawing me closer to God. As for the song I submitted--well, after I heard about the contest, I wrote the lyrics, then the next day some music, then the next day recorded the tracks, and the last day, mixed and mastered it. So it was a quick process, not as polished as it could have been, but I feel good about it--that it is original and speaks about where my heart is at.

I read Job 21 today.

Job complains about how the wicked live the 'good life.' Given his present state of bitterness, he is obviously generalizing...but maybe he's on to something. The wicked live, are blessed, die. Done. Short and sweet. The righteous, on the other hand, have Troubles. Why?

I wonder if the answer has been staring me in the face for the last few years. Perhaps it's truly because "God disciplines his sons." (Proverbs 3:11-12) The righteous person has a desire to know God--to be just and compassionate, to do "right." (see Jeremiah 22:15b-16) God honours this desire and teaches this person with a measure of Discipline. It's painful at the time but worth it in the long run (Hebrews 12:11). I don't know about you, but I learn best from my mistakes and painful experiences, not from taking notes in a class. The righteous person sees the big picture: his impact on earth as well as the endless sea of eternity to come.

Job went through huge pain and somehow came through it--not blameless, but having met God. I went through a small trial of my own with my health (see my early blog posts for more). I wonder how much wisdom I have retained through my ordeal. I am glad for the experience of being broken, as much as I hated it. I trust that is a 'righteous' response.