La Habra Demo

Caitlin and Josh are blessed to have this nice 2 bedroom Condo tucked away in La Habra, CA near their College, BIOLA. Its a great place, it just needs a little updating here and there. Cait and Josh felt the living room was feeling a bit cramped due to these built-ins. Now built-ins are nice, but they can collect stuff, sometimes too much (especially books for these two students) and they just don't work for Josh and Cait's TV and  the overall layout. So I gave them a visit and we decided to rip them out!!! 

Books books and more books filled up the futon!

Now the ripping, propping, holding, and sawing!!

Whoopsies! Saw dust took over the couch!

And its all out of the house! Look at all that open space! We found old carpet, wires coming out of the wall, and a few holes. Josh called an electrician and he came and fixed the wire problem in two hours. 

And now here it is all cleaned up after!

Josh and Cait made this sofa table with drawers from some of the salvaged wood. Cool! 

 They found these bookcases on Craigslist to make room for all their books. 

A little blurry but much more space.

Picky Porsche 993

Make: Porsche

Model: 993 C4

Year: 1996

This car was different in that Eric took commission in selling this vehicle for someone that didn't want to take the time showing it and keeping it squeaky clean. When we finally kissed this hot-rod goodbye I was soo thankful I would never have to wax it again. You heard me right, Eric had me wax this car more than a few times. 

Specialty cars are a tough sale, the buyers are very, very, picky and for good reason I guess. 

For example, Eric had a potential buyer send out a guy to run paint tests in our garage on this car to make sure it was the same original paint. His test concluded that a few pieces of this car had different types of paint on it so after a good 2 hours he left completely uninterested and our Saturday had been spent washing, vacuuming, waxing, and waiting for nothing except finding out more about this car... that it was gonna be an even harder sale than we imagined!

It was a cool experience to spend time with this car and it sure was fun to zip around in, but were more than happy to find it a new home!

Eventually, after a few Ebay attempts, this Porsche sold to a younger guy in New York City who wanted a flashy car to fit right in with his new job promotion. Who ever you are Mr. N.Y. we love you!

Nashville Neimuth Christmas 2011 (part 2)

Our 2011 Christmas was soo action packed I really don't know if there will ever be another like it! I just posted the Cuckoo Christmas Miracle which is totally legendary material, but people there is MORE!

It was a snowless Nashville night before Christmas in the Niemuth house. Not a creature was stirring not even a ---- WAIT A MINUTE!! WHO IS THIS?!?

Mr. S. C.

Sharing the same initials as Santa Claus, Dad takes the initiative to "test" Santa's cookies and milk.

Stephanie had her table so nicely decorated for a festive Christmas meal. 

I made my cranberry sauce and couldn't wait to eat those olives!

We headed downtown Nashville one night for a dixie dinner and line dance at the Wild Horse Saloon.

Another really cool place we visited, was the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. It is the largest indoor garden on US territory and they decorate it with over 2 million lights for the Holiday Season! Really it was a spectacular sight that just kept fueling our Christmas Spirits!

Now another Christmas miracle occurred... I had begged and sang songs, and reminded, and begged Eric that since I was in 5th grade and went on my first Kayaking adventure in the Pacific Ocean that it was one of my dreams to own a Kayak. Since we lived in San Diego only 1 mile from the Pacific Ocean, I put a kayak at the top of my Christmas list!! I also shared my desire for a kayak at my work, and everyone was rooting for me. They said they all wished their wives wanted a Kayak for Christmas - so they thought Eric better deliver my wish! (Yes I did share this with Eric, haha)  If you can imagine, Christmas Eve I could barely sleep because 1) I was so excited to reveal the Cuckoo Clock and 2) I wanted a kayak and nothing else! Well that morning, Eric handed me a little present at the end of gift giving as well, and I opened this:

Immediately I asked him if this was my "kayak" or if it represented my real kayak? He said a real one. Then I asked him about two more times just to be sure - and then I was so excited and happy I cried as you can see below. Seriously, it makes my top 10 happiest moments of my life list. 

I splurged a little and got Eric this flashy pair of Oakley glasses he begged me for all summer - he really liked them but unfortunately lost them in less than a month. Bummer. 

There were smiles all around!

Mark really wanted and X-box Kinect to play active video games - and people believe me when I say active!! We all danced till we dropped, played soccer, competed in a decathlon, boxed our arm sockets off, and chopped enough fruit to feed the ninja nation! Most of us suffered the next day from D.O.M.S. and personally I thought I might need to go to the hospital. 

The day after Christmas we also visited took a mini-road trip across TN to the Jack Daniels Distillery for an educational tour. And stopped by the school my Grandma Naomi went to in Talahoma. 

 

We also took a quick family field trip into the nearby town of Franklin to tour and explore the Carter House a historical civil war landmark. To be honest, the stories of the battle held on this farm almost led me to much  'hippie talk'. Seriously, the slaughter that went on for hours here made a serious impression on me. 

And after the history lesson, we ate at Puckets Grocery just down the road. 

The singer asked the crowd what was the  best thing they got for Christmas - I yelled out I GOT A KAYAK!!!! 

We had a little birthday dinner here for me and then I opened a few Birthday gifts (like this green velvet scarf). 

Like I said, Cuckoo Christmas Miracle was legendary but I couldn't leave out all these other good times had at the Niemuths!!

The Protest

I couldn't simply let the Glorious G500 quietly disappear from my life. It was too great of a thing to shrug my shoulders at and just move on. You have to stand up for the things you love right?  And this G500 couldn't speak for itself, but since I drove it all summer we had a bond, and I knew what it wanted. It wanted to stay in our family. 

So what did I do? I made some signs and decided to protest.

 Then I got in the car and locked the doors- it was what I think protest people call a "sit in".

 And the protest began...the signs were from the G500's heart.

  I've never been part of a protest before, so I wasn't quite sure how these things work. Pretty sure there can be chanting so I just chanted: Wasn't I enough? Wasn't I enough?

 

I started to feel desperate, realizing my voice was going unheard. So I took it up a notch, literally.

I thought of all the happiness this car brought to those inside and out. I knew there wasn't another car in America as amazing as this, and I knew i'd never own a car as sweet as this the rest of my life.
And so I got serious. 

 I resorted to one of my 'please don't make me faces' but it wasn't convincing enough. 

 At the end of the night, exhausted from my efforts, I walked away from this protest peacefully.
I came to grips with the fact that I had already kept the Glorious G500 as long as I could. The best remedy to my loss? I told myself  I'll be able to drive it again in Heaven and/or on the New Earth (it really was that good so I know i'll see it again). 

I handed the keys over respectfully, realizing I was able to say goodbye to the G500 and say hello to some dollar bills.

 A memory involving me and some money popped into my head... 

That night, I slept with a smile on my face.