How to destroy an easy up gazebo...

Easy answer, leave it out in a thunderstorm.  I had planned on taking down our gazebo because I knew there was a batch of thunderstorms rolling through our area last night.  I started taking down the curtains after work, but then we had to go get my car from the auto shop and we decided to have a pizza at Monelli's in Byron Center.  When we got home it was time to bathe the boys and put them to bed.  By the time we were saying prayers and good night to the boys, you could see a good amount of lightning and hear the thunder rolling across the sky.  I quickly went out to finish taking down the gazebo.  I got the screws that were securing it to the deck removed and started to lower it when the storm front hit.  I held on to the frame tightly and at one point the whole thing was pulling me upward.  I tried desperately to get it to fold into itself but it would not move.  After about 30 seconds a big gust of wind blew in and the gazebo broke in half folding over the top of me.  During that  time Beth had been frantically running through the house closing windows and realized that I was out on the deck.  As I made my way out from under the tent, Beth had just closed the sliding door.  When she saw me, she opened it to let me in and I saw the whole kitchen floor covered in water.  The wind was blowing so hard we had water almost to the living room.  The news reported that there were recorded 70+ mile per hour gusts.  After seeing what it did to the gazebo, I don't doubt it for a minute.

Hello Again...

If you’ve ever tried to sell a house, you know how busy and difficult it can be just to live life each day. Over the past month, we’ve had a few showings and open houses. We’ve had one offer, counter offer and rejection. Emotions have been up and down along the way too. I haven’t slept well in a while and I wake often and can’t get back to sleep. I guess it is the stress of the situation on top of life’s other responsibilities. There is so much in limbo right now that I’ve lost track of everything, especially blogging. It has been last on my list.

So, here we are. Our house is as clean as it ever has been. We are still on the market. This week we had our first offer, which was $20K below asking price. Since I am not desperate like many other home sellers, I countered with what I believe is reasonable for our house. I don’t know if the buyer is trying to play hardball or what, but they rejected the counter offer and held with their original offer. Well, sorry Charlie, I won’t drop my pants for you. We have worked too hard to keep this house for me to throw away all that work and money just because there is a perception that the value of my house has decreased. This thinking may mean that we’ll never sell this house. That’s OK with me…

On a brighter note, the school year has started and Magnus is happily attending 2nd grade. He loves his school very much and is excited to start doing homework. (I was the same way in 2nd grade. This will all change in middle school) The fall session of karate has started too. Magnus tested for his Green Belt on Monday and passed. I love watching him kick and break boards. He is getting a lot better at sparring too. We’re 1 month and 2 days from his 8th birthday. The time is just flying…

This weekend, Beth and I are heading to the Michigan Irish Music Festival in Muskegon. We’re meeting up with some friends that we met when we attended the fest back in 2007. It is always a good time and the music is great. A night out is needed for so many reasons. I’ll be happy to spend some time with Beth away from our daily grind.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading my ramblings.

Showing and Smoke...

While on vacation last week, I received a call from my realtor that someone was interested in seeing our house. This was great news since we spent all day that Saturday cleaning and packing and cleaning just in case this happened. When we got back, we found out that the couple had been considering the communities of Byron Center and Ada / Cascade. Unfortunately, they chose Ada / Cascade. They did say that they liked our home and that the price was good. This made us happy because now we know the work has paid off and our price is in a good range for the market. Now we just continue waiting.


On the flip side, I found a house that I was interested in. It was in our school district and about 2 miles from where we now live. The lot was big at almost 1.85 acres and entirely wooded. The house was a decent size with a big deck and heated, two stall outbuilding. I had Joe schedule a showing and we visited the house on Wednesday evening. When we arrived, Joe was waiting for us in the driveway. I could tell from the look on his face that there was something wrong. We walked around the house and viewed the property and it was as I expected it to be; needed some work but nothing insurmountable. Then we opened the front door to walk in when a blast of the stale scent of cigarette smoke punched me in the face like a left hand upper cut from Mike Tyson in the early 90s. Instantly I became sad. I had such high hopes that this could be an option. I had already dreamed of playing in the woods behind the house with the boys, making bike trails and forts and camping. All those dreams now destroyed by the bad habits of the homes owners. All I could do was shake my head the rest of the time we toured the house. It was in good shape and it was decorated reasonably well. The owner had finished the basement himself. The construction was a bit shoddy and in one instance Joe grabbed onto one of the door jams and was able to wiggle it about an inch in both directions. Even with that I would have considered the home as I know those things are “fixable”. But the bowling alley stench that infiltrated our clothes, hair and nasal passages was just too much to bear.

I don’t understand how people can smoke in their home. Over time the smoke ruins everything in the house. There is no amount of money that could make me live in that house. By the time we got home, I started getting a headache from the smell. It was a horrendous experience and one I fear will not be the last on our house hunt.

On another note, I bought two of these storage closets so we could clean out our winter clothes from our closets and make them look bigger. They are working out fantastically.

3... 2... 1... JUMP!!!!

So here I sit, drinking rum and coke and listening to the Cubs beat up on the Astros. It's 5 to 2 in the top of the ninth. I have a feeling that the Cubs will pull this one off. It's been a rough season, but I feel good about it. Good things are going to happen to this ball club.

It's been a whirlwind couple of days. Beth and I have been busting our butts cleaning and organizing our house. Tonight we met with a good friend and realtor, Joe Siereveld. I've known Joe since we moved to Byron Center in 2004. He was building a house two doors down from ours and doing it fast. He and his wife Kerry had one child at the time and so did we. Joe is a home builder and specializes in high end homes. I'm amazed at what he can build and wish I had that ability. He is also a realtor and I trust him with my most expensive purchase. Joe has agreed to list our home and help us move forward with our plan. Walking through the house with Joe while he was taking pictures, I kept thinking about our next step and how exciting it will be. We are downsizing! We will live a smaller life, but it will be an exponentially better and happier existence. I can't wait to eliminate the worry of our big mortgage and focus more on my family.

Random comment: The Cubs just won! Final score: Cubs 5, Astros 2.

I am hopeful that this process is quick. From what Joe told me, the market is good now and being in the Byron Center school district is a big plus going into the school year. I hope he is right. I would love to have the house sold and be in buying mode in a few weeks. Keep your fingers crossed. I'll post a link to our listing when it is available.

So here I sit. On the cusp of a great adventure in simpleness. Back to the basics. Minimize everything. Enjoy life. Am I excited? Heck yeah I'm excited! The best is coming and I'm jumping on the train.

Random quote: "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose, Nothin', don't mean nothin', hon' if it ain't free."

Freedom. No more weight to bear. No more worries. No more wondering if we're spending enough time with our boys. No more missing out on those moments when they say the funny thing or do something silly. No more sadness of dropping off the boys at day care. (Note: We love our day care. The staff there is fantastic and we appreciate all the love and care they have given to our boys. Nothing could replace that, except for us being home for our boys.)

So, as for tomorrow, 3... 2... 1... JUMP!!!!

One Red Arm

So you may be wondering what this One Red Arm thing is all about. Back in 1997 I was a senior at Central Michigan University. I was in my last year and was living in the Alpha Kappa Psi Fraternity house. Knowing that this would be my last year in college, it only seemed right to go on Spring Break and enjoy my last hurrah. The Van Van was in running order and three other fraternity brothers were willing to take the trip with me to Key West, FL. After classes on a Thursday we left Mt. Pleasant bound for Key West. We drove through the night in hopes that we would get to warmer weather by morning. It was incredibly cold that first night. The mountains of West Virginia are just high enough to get below freezing in the Spring. With Frozen hands attached to the steering wheel, we forged on and made it to North Carolina by mid-day. We spent the night at Eric Kalamaras’ parents’ home before continuing on to Florida.

We pulled another all nighter and made it to Miami the next day where we stopped in the Everglades for an air boat ride. I was also making a point to try to find and talk to some Cubans that had made it to FL by boat. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any. Anyway, we headed south from Miami and entered Highway 1, the Overseas Highway that takes you through the keys and ends in Key West. We got about half way there and I noticed that my “lap” area was getting very hot. After a few moments I realized that the sun was shining directly on my “lap” area and I was wearing black shorts! Wow was it hot. I covered my lap with my hat and that seemed to resolve the issue for the time being.

Anyone who drives a VW bus knows that the most comfortable place to rest your left arm is on the door with the window rolled down. Unfortunately, I wasn’t wearing any sunscreen on our trip and my arm became very sunburned.

The next day, I looked in the mirror and was astonished at how unbalanced I looked with my One Red Arm. I kept sunscreen on my left arm all week but the rest of my body just couldn’t get tan / burnt enough to match the color of my left arm. I was known for the rest of the week as One Red Arm. I was also known as bald fat guy too but that story isn’t as interesting as this one. J

Here I am...

This is my first blog entry. I've wanted to do this for a while so, here she goes. I am 37 years old, married and have three children (all boys). We live in a nice house, my wife and I have good jobs and we can't find enough time to spend with our boys. I think this is probably typical of dual income families living in the Midwest. I would say that we are very middle class. Although sometimes we walk the line of being rednecks. Case in point; we spent the day two Saturdays ago in the kiddy pool in the driveway. Not sure what the neighbors thought about that...

Anyway, we have the same struggles as anyone else and I intend to use this forum to share my life as a married, middle class Father of three bright young boys. More about my history in later posts. If you decide to follow my blog, you won't be disappointed. There is always something odd going on... Slainte!