the johnsons: June 2008

Since we keep having more kids our house seems to be getting smaller. We have a room in the back of the house that we have not touched since we bought this house in Nov. '02. It was once a salon so it had a sink in there at one point.
We did add some carpet so the kids could have a playroom. (But no major work in there.) This will be Amberlee's new room. We'll probably have Travis and Bridget share for a while and the baby will have his own room.
Here are the kids at work trying to take down the wall.

Here it is a little later with the sheetrock out.

Might as well do the ceiling while we're ripping out the walls. With a little tug a big chunk fell off. So it's a good thing we decided to replace that too!! And look at that... ceiling tiles under the sheetrock. Very interesting!

The latest progress would be the framing against the brick wall and the wiring is done or at least most of it. Dave has been working on it after work when he's able. And doing a great job by the way! He is taking it kinda slow since doing the whole house last time (also while I was pregnant) was really hard on him and caused his pains everywhere that he is now going to physical therapy for. That was a much bigger project.

Dave's Editorial

Prelude
     This is a story of conflict, of passion, and of revenge. Before I tell you the current tale, I must begin in the past. This story starts with a certain red honda prelude and a lawn mower. The event occured sometime in 2006. Amber had moved the lawnmower, out of her way in the garage, and put it diretly in the path of where I usually park. At the time I always backed my wonderful red car into the garage. It presented the prettiest part of the car (the front) and also allowed for a quick getaway, if the need ever arose. Well, I started backing in, and hit the lawnmower in it's unusual placement... backed right into the handle. This put two little dings on my trunk, and I freaked out... a little. Needless to say I demanded an appology from Amber, but had failed to hear her little whispered appology as she put away the lawnmower. My stupid mistake of demanding an appology cost me 30-40 min of my appologies to receive what I had thought was forgiveness... boy was I wrong.

The Setup
     In my honest effort to align our finances in their current state back in April I sold my truck and bought a $600 honda accord. There was a certain fun factor in fixing something up and making it look beautiful. I am still young, and my memory is pretty darn good. The only comment my sweetheart made to me was, "why don't you buy something a little more expensive, but reliable. But do what you want." So I bought this $600 beauty, and was loving the learning experience I gained from it. With the sale of the truck I was comfortable in purchasing the Mini-van of her dreams. Well this "sweet deal", just kept getting sweeter. I replaced/ had replaced the front springs & struts, timing belt, water pump, clutch, clutch master cylinder, clutch slave cylinder, 3 power window motors, 1 window, 1 rear view mirror, countless hours cleaning the interrior and performing other various cleaning acts, replaced various oil seals to get it to stop smoking so bad, replaced both front upper controller arms, both front bearings, front and rear sway arm bushings, passenger side strut bushings, fuel filter, spark plugs, air filter, steering wheel cover, and floor mats... $3000+ later. Blue book on this puppy, isn't even close to that... Maybe half, if it was in good shape... the exterior still looks like junk. Most folks would have given up... but not me. So, $3000 plus later I am driving it. It sadly gets 28-30 mpg, and feels like it is ready to give up the ghost half the time. I noticed small rips in the CV boots on both sides, and they are starting to leak grease. The window I replaced and had to re-glue seems as though it has sensed the condition of the car and determined it could safely lower it's operating standards... i.e. it doesn't really go up well (it takes 5 min to get it up, and it leaks, because isn't tight. The trunk leaks, and anything left back there will suffer water damage. This leads to the pleasant smell greeting its passengers everytime they open the door. So, recently I had decided that the "fun factor" had finally wore off. I was done. After consulting much with Amber, and listening to her snide remarks about how she told me to buy something nice we decided to start looking for cars.
The Car
     It was a pleasant day on Saturday the ~~6th~~ 7th (see she is still correcting me) of June. All was going well. We had decided to remodel the back bedroom for Amberlee to stay in. But we weren't going to go too fast at it. We bought the supplies and stock piled them in our garage. We were taking a break, when Amber showed me a 04 civic for sale in Provo. I thought it was decent, and called to find out we could look at it that day. We got the gang all together, and went to look at it. It was alright, but nothing that impressed me for $10,500. So we decided to go to the Honda dealership. I knew they did in house financing, so if there was something good, I could walk out with a car that day (I was silently plotting). So we show up and they start showing us brand new civics... tempting. Then they showed us this ~~georgeous~~ gorgeous (there she goes again) 06 civic with 23,000 miles on it. It was almost the same price as a new one, but it amazingly drove better and was an EX with more options. Also the certified used cars came with a longer warranty. So after long deliberation, and after finding out that her opinion was that we should get it (and I heard it some more about the $600 car). We told them yes, and then waited an eternity for all the paper work. When it was all said and done I got to get in and drive my car. She was to follow me to Blaine and Jill's to show them.

The ~~Grudge~~ Nudge
     Little did I know, but the clouds were settling in around me. I was blinded by the shiny blue beautiful car. They finally finished washing it and bringing it out front. I got Amberlee and Travis all buckled up. There was so much excitement in the air. The brakes were really grabby since it had just been washed. I drove the car to the exit of the parking lot, with Amber in tow. The coast was clear, but I was attempting to adjust the mirrors. I had an opening, but hesitated when I saw an approaching car. What happened next I thought only happened to poor suckers in movies. Some say they heard an evil laugh at that moment, that tires were squealing and smoke pouring out from the front tires of this vicious white mini-van. Some say that there was a bee in the van. Due to the history here, you and I know the truth to the events that ensued. To my horrific surprise a loud bump echoed through the car, and my head suddenly hit the head rest. Amberlee let out a, "what the...", I was so glad she didn't finish that. I couldn't believe it! I just got rear ended!... by... by... my wife! I hadn't even made it out of the parking lot! I got out, and the only damage was 2 little circles from her front license plate screws (which I normally boycott the front license plate because of the look/ if you don't have the front plate those radar cameras can't get you... but on the van I decided to go legal = irony).

I was surprised, but I wasn't mad at all. I looked up at her and her eyes were wide like dinner plates. Either it really was an accident, or she is a pretty darn good actress. I was defensive in that I figured she would try to blame me for it. Without a word I walked back to my newly attacked car. I thought to myself, do you think I should call a cop. I quickly chided myself for that stupid thought, then jokingly thought, maybe we should exchange insurance? I got maybe 150 feet down the road before I really started thinking about her feelings, and knew we had to pull over and I needed her to know it didn't matter. We pulled into the petsmart parking lot, and I got out and just hugged her. I let her know that it didn't matter to me, but that I thought it was kinda funny. I may have started the conversation out with a smile and a, "now you know that any cop would have cited you with the ticket right? It wasn't my fault." I'm such a moron. I instantly regreted saying it, because she obviously felt bad, and said, "I know" She explained that she thought I had already gone, and was scooting up. I was reminded of the time I rear-ended a car at a stop sign in the same manor in Dad's accord when I was 15. I was grateful that the lady was understanding and that I didn't have to tell Dad (sorry Dad). Amber cried for a little bit, I figure just to soften me up some more. In the end, I passed the test. I bought a pretty car, and kept perspective on the things that really mattered. I consider it a love tap from my hunnie. I love her very much, and have to add that I may have dramatized things a bit for the sake of the story.

I didn't quite know how to respond to Amberlee's question of: "why did mommy hit us?"Top that!
Amber's Editorial

OK so in reference to the Prelude and lawnmower incident I did feel bad and said I was sorry for leaving it there. But seriously, who backs in every time!? (He's learned his lesson, he no longer does this. haha) Again, I'm sorry hunny for not putting it away like I should have.

Now about the $600 car- yes, "I told you so".... I suggested a litle more expensive, reliable but as Dave said, he wanted a fixer upper. I'm not sure how many times I suggested the other option he just wasn't listening. I think he used to remember his days when he was single and it was a fun hobby for him. I think he's finally realized that since the kids are still small and with his new job he just doesn't have time for things like that anymore. Finally I said it's your car, you have to drive it, get it if you want. So he was excited and bought it. Finally after all his fixing of literally everything, he says (about a week ago) that something else was breaking. I go back to the classifieds to look for another car to replace "black "beauty" I like to call her. We go out looking for fun (I thought) and headed over to the dealership where we ended up hanging out for 3 hours since we found "the one". The kids got their fill of popcorn and soda while we were waiting.

As for the accident in the Honda dealership parking lot. I have nothing more to say about it. It was my fault and again very sorry for the dings on the new car. Very happy with Dave and how well he handled it though! (He has deep feelings for his cars.)

So Dave was pretty accurate in most of the story so I didn't have to correct too much. Just thought I'd add my two cents where I thought he was maybe a little off.