Father's Day Weekend at Lowe's

Our downstairs toilet has been malfunctioning for almost two months. From the best I could guess, there was a build-up of minerals in the fill valve in the tank. There has only been a pathetic trickle of water dribbling out of the top of the valve, barely enough to fill the tank, and thus, barely enough to flush the toilet. The only way to get the old valve to work was to turn off the water supply, wait about 30 seconds, turn the water back on, and hope that it would work. I was finally frustrated enough to do something about the problem, so after work on Friday night, I took a quick trip over to Lowe's to get some supplies. I had asked around at work and made a quick call to my Dad to find out how to fix this thing. Armed with that advice and with Libby in tow, I made my way to the plumbing department and found the new fill valve all by myself. I was too embarrassed to ask a salesman with help finding toilet "guts" since I did not know at the time that it was officially referred to as a fill valve. On Saturday morning, I installed the new valve with no problems. Nathan helped me finish up the installation after he got out of the shower. I get excited every time someone flushes the toilet now, because I know it works and I don't have to go play with the water anymore!

After one successful project under our belts for the weekend, we figured we may as well tackle another one. So followed another call to my parents for how-to advice, a little web browsing, and another trip to Lowe's. This time, all four of us went on the expedition - hunting for swing set parts. Now, Libby has been pestering for her own "park", as she calls a swing set since the early spring. And since it has been extremely hot lately, we have cut back on the eleven-block trip to the park with both kids sweating in the wagon, searing sun beating down, and Mandie tugging on the leash to chase every dog she sees along the way. We've been looking for a swing set for quite some time, but nothing worked for us in our tiny little back yard. So, we got really ambitious and decided to build one ourselves. We made up a little diagram of what we wanted, took some measurements and we were in business. We bought the swings, braces, and hardware, and came home to put the kids to bed for their naps. Then Nathan took the station wagon back to Lowe's to pick up the lumber. We decided to use a 4x6 beam and two 4x4 posts as an A frame on one end - the other end of the beam was to framed up to the garage. The 4x6 beam came in a 8 foot length, which was exactly what we wanted. We thought we'd grab a 4x4 beam in the 16 foot length and have them cut it in half for us, but it was not to be. They couldn't cut a beam that thick, so Nathan was forced to buy a hand saw and cut the beam in half himself in the parking lot so he could get the thing home in the car. After that, he made two more trips to Lowe's, one to Home Depot, and one to Burger King. After too many small setbacks to count, we finally got the swing set legs attached to the main beam by 10:15 Saturday night. Libby was outside with us playing with a flashlight in the dark. We took a few pictures throughout the process and took several of Libby standing under the tripod in the back yard in the dark.

Sunday morning dawned very warm and hazy. We plunked both kids in the tub for a bath before church. They were having a great time, so we took more pictures of them together. I also got a really cute shot of Caleb showing off the cellulite on his bowed chubby legs and bottom as he stood holding on to the side of the bath tub. I have a very similar picture of Libby at the same age, so Nathan and I joked that we should frame each one of our kid's backside photos and post them in the bathroom. After baths, we all got dressed and went to church. Nathan and I tried out a great new Sunday School class and then taught the 4 and 5 year old class during the worship service. There were 12 wild little kindergartners in the class, so we had our hands full.
When we got home, we were already tired out from the morning, but still had to finish the swing set before the rain showers predicted for the afternoon. I used my jig saw to cut out an opening in the side of the garage wall for the beam. It was a struggle at first, but after I changed the blade, it cut through like the wall and the siding so much easier. The opening was perfect! Incidentally, it was the only thing that went completely right the first time during the entire project. We cut out two squares of sod from the yard and installed concrete pavers under the legs of the swing set. Then we framed up the inside of the garage wall to secure the main beam. Or we attempted to, anyway. The 2x4's in the garage are nearly petrified with age and were almost impossible to put a screw or nail into, even after we pre-drilled a pilot hole.

Finally, after sweating in the 95+ degree heat for two days, we finished our new swing set! We learned a lot and acquired a few new tools in the process. We fought and laughed and sweated together. In the end, we are better friends and enjoyed working together to complete what was a seemingly simple, yet proved to be such a difficult project. The final count was an entire 1 lb box of galvanized screws, 4 swing hanger bolts, 8 carriage bolts, washers, and loc nuts, 2-8 foot 4x4 posts, 1-8 foot 4X6 beam, 1-8 foot 2x4, 2 swing set braces and 2 swing set brackets, 1 kid swing and 1 baby swing.

When we finished up, Libby was still taking her afternoon nap. She had fallen asleep on the floor, which we, of course, took a picture of. While we waited for her to wake up, we took Caleb out and let him have a sneak preview of the swing set. He loved it, and laughed and giggled while he was swinging. Finally, Libby woke up and we took her out to check out the surprise. She was so excited to see the swing set! She climbed in the swing and took to it right away. She's never been in a big kid swing seat before, so we weren't sure how she'd do, but she loves it! Caleb and Libby both enjoyed their time together on their new swings and neither was very happy when we made them come inside for bed. Caleb, Libby and I spent several hours outside swinging this morning before it got too hot.

Thank you Mom and Dad for all the advice on projects this weekend. The next thing on the "List of Things To Do" is to install a magnetic catch on the sliding screen door to prevent the cats from pawing open the door and escaping. . .


Click here to see all of our pictures and videos from the weekend.