Honey-Dos and Handyman

Loving thoughts from one of our loving sons . . .

"A dad has his own way of "wearing THE PANTS in the family."

(Just say no to Crack.)

So, the Monday Musing today is: Who wears the tool belt in your household? Not to be confused with "the pants" (Easy to recognize isn't it? The one who drives the car when you are out and about.)

When we were driving out of Tana's neighborhood, Hubman mentioned he had seen 4 people out mowing their lawns and all of them were women. Do you do that? Now it has been mentioned that the problem with Baldwin men is they think they can do anything. The upside? It costs less. The downside? It takes longer to get done. Here are a few Honey-dos they have tackled.

Antigone received this Jungle Jill (as Jenna calls it) from her other grandma, to be assembled before her birthday party so all the kids coming could enjoy it. She bought the gym and Devin was to pay the shipping of the 5 boxes -- $400. But wait, it gets better. The instructions say it would take 18-20 hours for two people working together. Devin put in 40 hours by himself and 10 more with his Dad.

One of the pieces was broken during shipping and the company said he could send it all back and they would send out a whole new set. What? Negative! Devin went to Home Depot and made a new piece. The company reimbursed him the shipping $. Yay! Because they are renting this home, we asked what he intends to do when it is time to move. "Just get a crane and lift it out."

By now when I mention Brian, you all know I'm talking about my one and only s.i.l. Right? The Cottrell men CAN do anything. If they don't know how, they learn how. This picture of Matthew's room, in progress, is an understatement of his craftsman skills. He made the bottom wainscoting. Such a perfectionist. I included this pic because it shows the crib bedding Kaymee made all by herself. I am so proud . . . and so relieved I didn't have to do it.

When we moved into this house almost 19 years ago, it had those southwestern pony walls. Ugh and Yuck.

"I would like a black iron railing."

"I don't know how to do that." "I know."

"How about a wooden railing."

"You don't know how to do that either." "I know."

After much debate, or usually waiting until I give in after getting tired of waiting, we make a decision. Clay made the wood stairs, too, and extended out the upstairs hallway.

"Just keep telling yourself -- I'm saving money."

Fourteen months later and it looks great, especially at Christmas time. We do our own landscaping, yard and pool care, painting, fix-its. Money well spent? Paying for recessed lighting and ceiling fans in every room . . . the pruning of our large Mondale pine trees . . . Clay's cousin -- our "bug man" . . . and of course Brian -- our tile and granite guy.