I’ve had the opportunity to work from home a lot lately. And Natasha likes to sit in my lap when she gets up from her nap. She doesn’t like to talk… no not at all. Just sit. And watch. And possibly scowl.

And then there’s schoolwork for big boys.

I try to take a long walk everyday to get some exercise (trying to overcome the effects of my mostly sedentary lifestyle). A couple days ago it was such a great day I couldn’t help but whip out my trusty pocket camera… er… iPhone, and snap a few shots.

Earlier today, I took 30 minutes to go to the park with my family.

When did this happen???

They didn’t quite make it home yesterday evening. Too much playing I guess.

Due to our recent quest to find more space in our 900 square foot house, we have been working on ways to make more efficient use of space. One such way presented itself in the form of bookshelves that had been in my in-law’s basement. Rachel wanted to get rid of our space hogging Entertainment center and replace it with the slimmer and more space efficient shelves. Many shelves were unfinished however, and Rachel was intent upon having a corner shelf. She promptly volunteered me for the wood working. I went to Lowes and bought some supplies for the supplementing corner shelf, and set to work cutting, sanding and staining

(Rachel didn’t get many pictures of this process, and I was, well, working…)

Sanding:

Staining:

After doing some initial work outside, we had to move the staining process to the kitchen because it kept raining little bits at a time. It was kind of a mess for a while.

Then we had to set it all up.

And the final product…

Titus is enjoying the new bookshelves.

And he’s having a blast with Uncle Paul’s trains and tracks!

Yesterday, my dad and brother helped me get my driveway back in working order. Looks much better now:

We are very grateful to the Lord that we have not suffered near the damage or loss that so many around us have with all the flooding.

With that said, there is work to be done. Our driveway is currently unusable. Most of the top layer has washed into our front yard and there are big gullies washed in it of axel breaking proportions!

So lacking the necessary tools to effect the move of the gravel back into the driveway, I went to the store and got this to move the gravel back where it belongs:

My primary area of concern is right here:

It might be hard to get the scope of that from the pictures but believe me, If I were to try to drive over that, I believe serious damage to my car would ensue!

And one final picture for good measure.

Allen and I built a new clothesline today.