The Johnson Blog

This weekend was spent painting the bedroom and bathroom to get ready for some furniture we bought that I believe is still on a boat crossing the ocean with Columbus.  BUT in the chance that they find an engine somewhere out there and it arrives sooner than expected, we went ahead and did the painting this weekend while we had 4 days to do it and recover.  In addition to painting, Eric also installed 2 new sink faucets and a new lighted exhaust fan.  While the new faucets went in with only one run to the store to get a crescent wrench and some goo that really wasn’t required, the exhaust fan was a whole nother story.  We actually had all the pieces for that one (except for the light bulb which was harvested from my bedside lamp), but this required that Eric venture into the attic that contains drifts of blown in insulation.   He waited until evening to begin in hopes that it would cool down slightly, but it didn’t.  After probably an hour of working up there he came down entirely soaked through.  He looked as if he had been tarred and feathered with all the insulation sticking to is clothes and skin.  The only bright side to this episode was that the fan and light worked on first try and nothing was left in the attic that required him to go back in to retrieve it.  There was also going to be some additional electrical work to rewire some lights that were wired in such a way that really makes no sense, but that will wait for cooler temperatures.  After describing this whole scenario to my mother, and describing Eric as a painter, electrician and now plumber, she simply replied, no he’s a home owner. 

I’ve you’ve never been to a Coldstone Creamery, like Ana and I before tonight, and there’s one near you – get there.  We were really impressed with how good the ice cream was, and it’s pretty fun watching them make your dessert.

I have no idea when they came to Springfield, it couldn’t have been very long ago though. They have a great location, right downtown across the street from the old capital building and a block from the new Presidential Library.  On a cool evening like tonight it was very pleasant sitting outside eating the ice cream in view of the well lit capital.

Saw this today at Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Last night Ana and I traded in our bikes (yes, bought last year) for a pair of new and larger ones. When we bought them last year we didn’t realize what size we really needed and were riding ones that we are way too tall for. The bikes will arrive on Tuesday so we should be able to ride them that evening, provided the weather is nice.

We purchased them from WheelFast in Chatham which came highly recommended.  If you’re in the area and looking for a bike or bike accessories, you should check them out.

My dad has started an eBay related business, and I’ve been working on the website for him. It’s not nearly as complete as I want it to be yet, but it will gain more features over time.

For the curious (and those too lazy to click the link), he’s offering a service where you can have stuff sold on eBay, but you don’t have to do anything.  He comes to your house to take the pictures, handling packing and shipping, etc..  Basically you just decide you want to sell something and either call or send him an email.  Pretty cool, and he’s had several customers already.

Last weekend was the end of a string of very busy weekends.   In the past month+ we’ve had: a trip to St. Louis (science center, galleria, etc.), memorial day picnic in Troy, 2 high school graduations, a birthday, and a wedding.  We’re hoping to stay around town this weekend, we’ll see how it goes.