I posted recently about finally graduating from grad school, again, and then I passed the boards. YAY! Today makes two weeks into my new job as a family nurse practitioner, and I can certainly say, that while it is challenging, and I have a LOT to learn, I kind of love it! I know, going from a job that I really never wanted to do again to one that I kind of love? Crazy. It makes me think that this whole journey may have ACTUALLY been worth it. I know I have a lot of growth ahead of me, and I have a lot to learn, but I am going to keep doing what I am doing, and try to enjoy the journey; if this beginning taste is an indicator of what is to come, I may have finally found the right career fit for me… and before I turned 40! HAHA!
Tag: hard-work
flickr, friends, happenings, shiny stuff
get yer swimmies on!
by duane • • 3 Comments
While I wasn’t able to move heaven, I definitely moved a lot of earth to make the pool possible. The “easy set” pool has to be on level ground, and if you look at the picture, you can tell that it STILL isn’t on totally level ground:
However, it is REALLY close, so I am not going to worry about it anymore (next year, James and I agreed that someone else will be coming out to level the ground before we try to install the pool ourselves). I have a very sore back, and I just hope that this damn thing was worth all of the headache, blood, sweat, and tears that went into making it a reality. I am going to focus on enjoying it, and try not to dwell on the minor leaning thing.
I got in it yesterday after it filled, to put the salt in, and it was very cool and nice, even though I didn’t actually “go for a swim”. It is only about 3 and a 1/2 feet deep, so it isn’t really enough to “swim” in, but it is surely enough for me to float in and drink a well deserved Mai Tai (which I am still trying to find my favorite recipe) or seven. I just hope that I can enjoy the fruits of all my back-breaking labor, and hopefully have a few friends over to share in the fun. Who’s in?
all about me, friends, home improvement, venting
big fucking circle of dirt
by duane • • 5 Comments
So as I previously mentioned, I got a pool. It is an Intex above-ground, “EASY set” 15′ X 42″ pool. The reason why easy is in quotations, is because while it may be easy to set up, it is only easy if you have a level yard to set it up on. Well, we don’t. So, I decided that I could level it, because I was getting the pool goddammit, and shifting some dirt around would certainly not deter me.
On Saturday, my friend John helped me empty and spread the 500lbs of sand we bought on Friday, and while that was a difficult task in and of itself, it was then that I painfully realized that this was going to be a task that would be more intense than I was expecting. We discussed getting a truckload of dirt to level the yard, but renting a tiller seemed more realistic to me, so on Sunday, that’s just what I did. James and I got home about 3:30 with the instrument of death ahem, I mean, tiller, and we took turns tilling the ground until about 8pm last night.
EVERYTHING on me has been rattled to within an inch of completely falling off of my body. I am sore in places that I didn’t know existed, and the ground STILL isn’t level. While I am beaten, bruised, and certainly exhausted, I will NOT give up. When I am soaking in my sweet ass pool later this week, I want to be able to look back and think about this very moment, because it will make it seem even more amazing than I am sure it is going to be.
I hope that the ground will remain somewhat level for next year, or I making myself a promise here and now, that I will hire someone before I step behind a tiller again! Stay tuned for more, exciting pool news (that will actually include details ABOUT THE POOL!!!)!!
all about me, home improvement
updates are interesting… aren’t they?
by duane • • 1 Comment
It seems like everything and nothing happens these days in my life. There is waking up, driving to work, work, driving home from work, watching TV/passing time until bedtime, sleep, and then repeat. However, these past few weeks, we have been dealing with the house being in total upheaval over the floors in the office being replaced, and I have nearly broken my back to get things back in order.
First was installing the hardwood floors. This is something that is, in theory, easy to do. Easy to follow instructions, and relatively inexpensive if you do it yourself ($700 for a 12×10 room). Yet, the manual labor… whoa. It is on a level of it’s own. It isn’t enough that you have to hammer and things like that, but you have to be bent over unnaturally to do so. That just KILLS a back; and given my history with major back trauma, it has done me in.
To top all of that off, we decided, “hey, now is a good time to paint the office, since nothing is in there, right?”. So we painted two walls a chocolate brown, and the two other walls a baby blue-ish color. The result is an amazing looking room, if I do say so myself. I am in love with the results, but I hated the process.
As if that wasn’t enough, I also decided that it was the perfect time to build a new bookcase/shelving unit for our electronic components and video games. That was a chore too. But, like everything else, it is finished!! I am going to try and get some pictures up in the next little while, so check flickr for those. Aren’t home projects so much fun? Yeah… when they are DONE.
home improvement
installing hardwoods in the office
by duane • • 0 Comments
Well, as I mentioned earlier, we had the floors torn out of our office, and had the joists completely rebuilt, with a new subfloor to boot. James and I talked about getting carpet in there, since we didn’t think we could afford hardwood floors; especially after the $3500 it cost to have the floors fixed. Well, after I met with the carpet installers, James felt that we could install the hardwoods ourself, and save a bundle of money. Initially, I was VERY skeptical, but after we talked about it, I agreed to give it a go.
So, earlier last week, we started installing the hardwoods in the office. We bought these really beautiful pre-finished oak hardwoods, which ran us about $700 total for all of the wood. It is a “lock and tap” system, where you lock it in place, and then use this wicked looking nailer to permanently hold the wood in place. James started out doing it by himself, but I agreed to help out yesterday.
We started about 2 o’clock, and worked right up until 9:30. We finished just in time to return that wicked nailer back to Home Depot, and by the end of the day, we were exhausted. I don’t know how people do that for a living; intensive labor doesn’t even begin to cover what we did. Today, my back is incredibly sore, as are my legs and my arms. We worked our asses off, but the end result, is a beautiful new hardwood floor in our office for a fraction of the price we would have payed someone else to do it. I am glad that it is over, but like MUCH of our other home improvement projects, I really don’t think that I would do it again. Now, I have to paint the office, and James is going to install the baseboards and quarter round, and we will have our office looking better than ever! AND, it will have a STABLE floor for once.
Seriously, though, I took some pictures of the joists that were “holding up” the floor when they pulled the subfloor off, and I cannot believe that we didn’t fall through before now. It was insane. I am so glad we did it, and I am so glad that the hard parts are over. Now, to do the little parts, clean up, and REST. I am wiped out! It is time to take off my weekend warrior hat, and get some rest; my back deserves it! I’ll get some pictures of the office once it is painted and everything truly is done… until then, the above picture gives you an idea of what we had to do!