ReuseThis!

2011-02-11T09:23:00.001-06:00

Did a video for this weeks...hurts too much to type. Enjoy!

See you next week!

Counter Offer...

2011-02-04T09:57:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I'm back at it here after missing last week. I've been a little "busy" and haven't been able to do much. After the "Ryetar" a couple weeks ago, I said I was going to concentrate on making instruments for this, but my banjo I've been trying to work on hasn't materialized in a useful way and someone tried to throw out this brand new counter top! Can you believe it?? Anywho, I had found a dresser with no drawers a few weeks prior and had been looking for something to do with it and now I had it! I would replace the ugly monstrosity I created for the bathroom during the early weeks of ReuseThis with something a little nicer and more useful. So I lugged both up the stairs from the dungeon basement and set to work. I must admit that out of all the projects I've done since I started this, this one was by far the simplest and easiest. That being said, it is still the most useful. I screwed the counter to the top of the dresser, leaving enough room on one side to hide the laundry basket so the bathroom would seem cleaner. I then cut some mdf I had found into shelves and nailed them where the drawers would have been creating some useful space to store all the crap that seems to pile up in a bathroom. It took almost no time at all...other then having to recharge my drill battery after every screw...anyone have a used one they want to give me??? Anyways, my ramblings aside, I am planning to put a curtain or something in the front so you don't see all the stuff on the shelves (that was my wife's idea). While building this I also did a little mini-reno of the bathroom to make it look half decent, but I can't put that up here as I actually bought all the material for that (I get paid back). I am sore as hell right now and have neglected my cup of coffee so I am going to go nurse that and post this for your reading pleasure. Have a great week!

Thanks for reading! See you next week!

Apologies!

2011-02-02T10:08:00.000-06:00

So, I missed last Friday. I didn't build anything. I failed. Let me defend myself at least a little as a friend and a great man passed away last week and I wasn't much in a building mood. I know, I know, excuses are not to be tolerated. To make up for it, I have already finished the project for the week, but you still have to wait until Friday to see it! I have also started giving guitar lessons meaning my spare time is being cut down substantially. I will try not to let this effect this blog as it is an important outlet for me whether someone reads it or not (thank you to those who do!). It is bitterly cold here in Winnipeg, but what is new. The problem this seems to cause is that there hasn't been much outside for me to snatch up and build with. If there is anything, the foot of snow we got last week covered it all up! Spring may bring new finds if we aren't completely under water from the snow melting mixed with the already high water levels on the Red River! Maybe I'll have to build a canoe! Anyways, thank you for your patience and I hope you will return on Friday to see my latest creation!

Thanks for reading!

Material!!

2011-01-24T10:38:00.000-06:00

Just a beginning of the week plea for material. I am now going to try to concentrate on creating musical instruments from the junk I find as my home is becoming overrun with furniture and my wife has pleaded with me to stop making big things! haha. What I am looking for from you is rawhide/old drum skins that I could use to create some instruments...mainly a banjo that I am really looking forward to playing! Any plywood (1/4" - 1/2" would be awesome), masonite and old fishing line would be helpful as well! I'm not picky either, any old furniture and stuff like that would be awesome too as I still have a sweet countertop that I need to make something with still too. I would also like to thank you all for reading this every week and giving your words of encouragement to this little hobby I have started!

Thanks again!

The Ryetar!

2011-01-20T14:44:00.000-06:00

Well...here is this weeks entry for ReuseThis! It is rather interesting, but not the greatest sounding. I will have a post on youtube at www.youtube.com/ryandueck showing what it sounds like. It all started when my uncle made a joke about me making a guitar out of junk. I laughed it off at first, but then couldn't get the idea out of my head. I knew I wouldn't be able to make a good quality or even good sounding one out of the junk I have in basement, but I managed to make something that plays and loud enough for people to hear it. I find it a little funny and am almost embarrassed of it, but it's also kinda cool too...in a nerdy sort of way. I was having a very bad day today; with lots of panic attacks and some bad depression and memory so I needed to do this to help my mind out of its slump. I was surprised that I was able to make it as quickly as I did even with two children yelling at me to be quiet...haha. Anyways, go check out that link above to see what it sounds like and I will see you next week!

Thanks for reading!

Brittanica Bookcase

2011-01-13T20:02:00.000-06:00

Me being the cheap menno I am, was looking on Kijiji for free stuff as usual and found a full set of Encyclopedia Britannica. This new acquisition brought about a new problem: where to keep them as it didn't look so good sitting underneath my computer desk in boxes. Well, the easy fix is a bookcase; an easy project as these go. Dawn has had pneumonia and has missed a few days of work and our heating bill has been gigantic so we haven't had money to pay for gas for me to go look for material and my stash is running low, especially pieces that can be used for something useful like this bookcase. So, unfortunately, I was forced to use OSB again. It is gross to work with for something like this and me not having a table saw made it that much harder. So anyway, I got started with two of 3 kids in bed and Dawn at work (I had been looking forward to this all day!). I sanded down the OSB as much as I could and cut the pieces and put the thing together in half an hour! My right hand is sore and swollen from running into the corner of a table yesterday and I can barely close it and my elbow has been bothering me a lot lately, but nothing was going to stop me from working tonight. I didn't paint it yet as I didn't have enough of a decent color to do the whole thing so it's bare at the moment. It's been a good couple days, as far as my head goes; I'm still in and out of "normalcy", but I've been a little happier this week. It could be because I now have my first guitar student starting on tuesday, which is awesome and I hope to build my clientele to help out with stuff around here money wise. So I was able to get a student and finish this project this week and have a little time to spare!

Thanks for reading!

Computer Desk

2011-01-06T10:40:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year everyone! Thank you again for reading my blog, it is greatly appreciated! This weeks project was many weeks in the planning and just needed some final pieces to be found to get it "off the ground". I hadn't made anything like this ever. The working drawers were tricky to figure out with no experience building anything like that from scratch, but once it made sense in my increasingly foggy and distracted mind, it was quite easy. Thank you to my friends Sean and Natasha for finding the desktop for this project as it really makes it look a little more classy then other things I have built. I didn't want to use any paint this time around as in my mind it is cheating a bit to do that, so this beautiful piece of wood that they found was really key in letting me do that. the legs are made from the railing from our kids' old bunk beds and the drawers I found (that would have been a little too much as I don't have the right tools to make those). I had not had much time to work, so when all three kids decided to fall asleep in the middle of the day, I set to work and had the drawers and top built in about an hour, but then my cheap drill died and I had to wait a few hours to finish it, so I brought the top up, cut the pieces for the legs and waited for the battery to charge again. Finally it charged and I had enough juice to get the legs built and two of them mounted before the battery died again; that's what happens when your drill was only $40 at Canadian Tire..(so if anyone wants to donate a better one for free, I wouldn't refuse!). Christmas had brought many bad panic attacks and high anxiety that I hadn't had time to outlet to these projects, so getting the time was amazing for my mind and I hope I was easier to live with once I had the chance to do this. My mood has been dark and I have been angry and grumpy for no reason almost constantly, so I hope that this helped out with that a bit. I had all week to work on this blog, but only got to it now as I couldn't concentrate long enough to write anything, so here it is...and even a day early!

Thanks again for reading! I hope I haven't raised the bar to high this time. See you next week!

Nothing this week...but I wrote this...

2011-01-01T09:00:00.000-06:00

So Christmas has come and gone and the kids loved the gifts I made them from the rescued wood, so I would consider it a success. About 1000 panic attacks and a couple clonazapam hangovers, it is finally 2011 and I am trying to be hopeful for the upcoming 12 months. I have finally set up an "office" upstairs in my house to work on this thing, instead of anywhere and everywhere. Mainly so I have an easier time concentrating on the task of writing and for my YouTube channel; making it easier to sit and write songs as well. I have been finding that the lack of organization has been causing me a little too much frustration and has been fueling my epic mood swings that have become far too common place lately. I am rambling about this because I have nothing to show you this week as far as a creation goes. I'm sure the excuse is obvious as Christmas has just come and gone and for some reason a time that should be joyful, has turned into a greed driven stress fest and full of uncomfortable and sometimes awkward family events. Anyways, I have something on the go and will hopefully have it done for next week; I am in need of a more functional desk for my "office" as I have been using my "Laundry Table" (see old posts for pictures) as my desk and it is a little too low for my needs and has no storage. I have been lucky enough to find 3 old drawers and the basic frame work for said drawers. I now need to search for some wood to finish the frame, finish the top and sides and for the legs. I may have some things that would work downstairs, but it would look a little too frankensteinish (if you could consider that word for the time being it would be great...thanks). Maybe when my wife gets home she will allow me to take the van to lurk through alleys for a bit; we will soon see. I would also like to thank all of you who take the time out of your lives to read about my creations as well as how they help me cope with my issues in my brain and life. It is a pretty cool feeling that you take your time here instead of the billions of other sites you could be at...or the other things you could be doing that don't involve the Internet. Here is hoping for a better year then the last...

Thanks, and see you next week!

The Presents.

2010-12-23T15:03:00.000-06:00

This year has been tight for money...as usual, but a lot worse then ever. Wanting the kids to have something to open on Christmas, but having no money was a very stressful predicament. I had wanted to make them something from some found wood, but it was scarce. Luckily a friend brought me over an old doll highchair they found and I was able to fix it up for Ava, but I still had the issue of Corban and Rhaya and no wood. Then, one day while walking home from Ava's school there it was, like an angel in the snow. A full sheet of 1/4" G2S plywood!!! I could hardly believe my eyes! Now to figure out what to make out of it for the other two kids.

For Corban I made a nice simple tool box and gave him a couple old tools I had sitting around. I hope he will love it. For Rhaya I made a crib for her dolls and am convinced she is going to love it. Though they are too young to realize the work put into these projects, the smiles they will give when they see them will be enough for me. Especially knowing how close we were to not having anything for them to open on Christmas.

Merry Christmas everyone! Thank you for reading and see you in a week!

Ryan

The "I need some actual storage in my bathroom" Unit.

2010-12-16T20:53:00.000-06:00

This weeks blog has been the hardest to get done. I am not really any busier then before, but I am so tired and have been depressed and having panic attacks a lot in preparation for all the "Christmas Stuff" on the horizon. I have a bunch of projects kind of on the go. I am restoring an old doll high chair that a friend found for me in their alley for my oldest daughter; I am trying to track down a jigsaw I could borrow for a couple weeks as I make a wooded airplane for my son and I am trying to figure out what to make for my youngest. I also built some pretty makeshift shelves for my closet (they won't get in here because they are a little embarassing). I found a dresser sans shelves, an old coffee table and some more random wood in the Acadamy area as I was waiting to pick my wife up from work so I am trying to plan the next move. I am also beginning to be overrun with my creations and will be trying to sell some in the future. I don't forsee any real sales so I may have some contests to give away some, or I'll just drop something off at someone's house.

All that B.S. aside, I will seemlessly move into this weeks creation: the aptly named "I need some actual storage in my bathroom" Unit. Our bathroom is rather large, but has very little storage. There was a small medicine cabinet and a tiny vanity that barely held anything. While facing this problem, some wasteful individual threw 4 full 4x8 sheets of 3/4" OSB into the dumpster beside my house. Ecstatic at my good fortune I dashed out the door without footwear and proceeded to bring them in my yard and cut them into 16" strips to be transformed into a solution to my storage problem. I glued and nailed and glued and nailed in my back yard until I had a pretty damn functional storage unit. One side being 6' high with 16" wide shelves running up with a 3' high x 3' wide side extention that could be used as a counter top as well. After many foul words and cuts from the chips in the OSB I was able to maneuver the unit upstairs and into the bathroom, where I painted it to seal the glue toxins into the wood, instead of it leaching into whatever was being stored on there. I must admit, this was the most frustrating project I had done as OSB is not a beautiful thing to work with, but once done and in use it felt pretty good to have built it and saved that much more waste from the landfill. Remember...Reusing is still better then Recycling!

Thanks for reading this week and see you in 7 days! Comment, follow, buy some of my stuff!

FOR SALE!!!

2010-12-12T13:41:00.000-06:00

Pallet Coffee Table
Price: $50
All Reused material, so no 8 year old kid made this!!
email me at ReuseThis@shaw.ca

The Laundry Table.

2010-12-10T07:18:00.000-06:00

When I suffered my breakdown and was unable to return to work; I now was in charge of the day to day operations of the household, including laundry. I know this is everyone's favorite chore and I am no exception....uh, really? Some history to the laundry in our household; I have always been the one who did it, even when I was working, so this was nothing new to me except now I would have the time to do it and to organize a better, less wasteful way of doing it. Within a couple weeks I had been able to cut the amount of loads down to 6 per week (for 5 people that's not too bad), but still was fighting for places to put the dry laundry while I moved the wet stuff into the dryer and started a new load in the washer. I needed something that could hold the pile while I did this, or even somewhere I could fold the laundry right from the dryer and a table was the simple answer. The not so simple part being that I didn't have a table and our basement is damp and dark and has very low ceilings, making it difficult to stay down there long enough to plan something like this. So I kept fighting with the space and trying not to drop the clean clothes on the cold concrete floors full of cracks and depending on the amount of rain, water as well. One day while playing with the kids in the back yard I spotted something leaning on the dumpster. It couldn't be true! It was an old cuttingboard style table top! There was a small corner cut out, but being that it would turn out to be a folding table it didn't matter to me. I went to take a closer look and it was in very good condition and after a good cleaning looked pretty good. I then set out to find legs for it but could find none. What I did find was a couple long 1x4 pieces of what I think is spruce so I made a rectangular frame on the bottom of the table and used two lengths of 1x4 joined at a 90 degree angle as legs on the four corners. Once it was all fastened and the glue had dried it was sturdier then my kitchen table! I'm pretty sure I was the only one excited about it, but I think it turned out pretty well and now I have some useful counter space in the basement! Not something I would put out for display unless I put a little more work into it, but still very functional.

This was one of the more complicated of my early creations and to me signified that I had taken a big step forward in my ability to plan ahead and to stick to a plan without getting distracted and forgetting what I was doing. It's just a simple table, but to me is a milestone in my recovery and my road to becoming me again...

Thanks again for reading! Please subscribe and tell all of your friends to do the same!

Ryan

The Shed of Doors...

2010-12-03T07:26:00.000-06:00

Welcome back! Happy and flattered that you are back and reading this blog! This weeks project was actually one of the first ones I made and probably the worst looking, but useful and pretty cool I think...if I could paint it that is...

When we moved into our duplex in Wolsely I had some (a lot) of cleaning to do, both inside and out. First up was the back yard (which was mud and a bunch of old bricks and branches piled in a corner). After digging a hole and making a fire pit with the old bricks which were piled in the back corner against the fence and burning the branches that were on top, I found a small concrete pad underneath all the junk. I dug beside to see the size and if I could take it up, but after digging down almost 3 feet, I realized that this would not be accomplished and didn't really think much more of it. When I finally got to the basement I found a few old doors that were sitting downstairs collecting dust and I couldn't get myself to throw them out. That's when I remembered the pad in the back. I took the doors and assembled them into a shed type building (that looks more like an old outhouse). I had a couple issues though; no front door and how to assemble a roof. The problem sat with me for a few minutes until I took to the alleyway that has given me so much good stuff. First I found an old door with a nice window in it that I hoped would be the right size. It was close, so after a quick cut off at the bottom of the door it was ready to go. I still had the issue of the roof. While I thought about it, I took apart the "deck" someone had decided to build with 4x4 posts as joists and 1x4s as decking (needless to say it wasn't very structurally strong). I then realized I could use the 1x4s on the roof...it wouldn't be water tight, but once I could find some shingles in a dumpster, it would be fine (I am still looking for some if you have any). So I set to work and put up the roof and trimmed it with my circular saw and I had myself a little storage shed for a grand total of $0 and saved some space in the local landfill!

Thanks for reading and see you next week!!

The Angry Drive Cabinet

2010-11-26T07:48:00.000-06:00

The Angry Drive Cabinet

Have you had one of those days where the anger has built up in your brain to a point where you just need to get the hell out of “there”? I’m sure you can relate; everyone has been there. This project started this same way. Today’s ReuseThis is going to be a true story of anger, stress and relief (a little). So go pop your popcorn, grab a box of Kleenex and snuggle up to your loved one as you are thrown into the whirlwind of The Angry Drive Cabinet.

So, let’s start with the back story to how I started building stuff from dumpster building material. We had recently moved back to Winnipeg and I was working a high stress building material sales job as I could no longer work as a roofer with an arm that doesn’t work right. To get this job, I had come out without my family a month or more before and worked my ass off to find something that paid enough. Finally I found something, but the stresses of the last year (and not dealing with a lot of stuff from my past) came to a peak one morning at work. I began having all the symptoms of a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. They couldn’t find anything and after a couple weeks (that I don’t remember anything from) they figured it was all stress related and I was diagnosed with 4 different mood disorders; General Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social phobia Disorder and Depression. Needless to say I couldn’t work any longer and my Wife began working fulltime, but for less money. Bills piled up and so did stress and the realization that Bankruptcy would be the only solution to our problems. To deal with my brain and my overwhelming anxiety and depression I began going through dumpsters and making things we needed at home and couldn’t afford. I found it to be very therapeutic and began to make it a regular thing to do. My older brother then came up with the idea of blogging about it as he thought some people may find it interesting. So ReuseThis was started. One frustrating day is where my anger finally got to me and I had to go for a drive. I jumped in my car and began driving aimlessly down alleys and back roads mulling life over in my head and feeling sorry for myself. Then I drove by an amazing site. Something that I had been hoping for as peoples need to throw wood away seemed to be at a low point. It was a pile of old end tables, shelves and an old window! I immediately felt a sense of purpose again and the ideas came flooding in. I took a couple end tables to use as is (cleaned up obviously) at home so they won’t make it on here, but the shelving and old window had a special purpose. I needed to build something nicer then I had and also something that would be useful in our house. After a few days of planning I had the idea of a cabinet with the window acting as the door. This project had more thought involved then any other and I believe that the finished product shows that. It has been a reminder to me of my abilities and creativity and most of all, it has reminded me that I am useful and that even things that seem to be garbage or broken on the outside can be turned into something beautiful and useful. To many, it’s just some cabinet, but to me it’s so much more. Please enjoy these pictures as much as I do and as my family and I move on into another trial, remember the hope it gives to me…

Thank you.

ReuseThis.

The Legend

2010-11-19T07:37:00.003-06:00

Legend of the LP-Box.

There was a time when my records had no safe haven and my player had no home. The player would wander from place to place playing some LPs for my listening pleasure, only to be called on down the road to a different area of the house as the floor was no safe place for a record player in a house of this magnitude. So it went for a long while until I heard the voice telling me, “if you build it, they will be safe.”

I really wasn’t sure what it meant. And I disregarded it as some sort of imagination “fart” of sorts and went on with the travelling record player. I put it out of my mind and went on with my life as usual.

I heard it again, “take heed of the legend of the LP-Box! Build it and they will be safe!”. What the Hell? I couldn’t figure it out and was convinced that I was going crazy. I decided to go have a nap to sleep the “crazies” away. As I lay on my pillow I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. The dreamless state did not last that long and I slowly found myself in a land of great swirling colors and flying unicorns singing Beatles songs. Just then I heard the blare of a great Sitar. I turned and the giant lion said to me, “build it and they will be safe!” It made sense now! The legend was true! I could hardly believe what I had just experienced and raced down to the basement and began my project out of scrap plywood I had found tucked away behind the gigantic furnace in my basement. After a few minutes I had created a home for my wonderful vinyl! Oh happy day! Please enjoy this entry and join me next week for a brand new instalment on a project I just finished yesterday! See you next Friday!

Check out my YouTube channel “Song-a-Week” at http://www.youtube.com/ryandueck for a new song every Saturday!

The Stongarm

2010-11-12T07:39:00.004-06:00

The Strongarm

Material: MDF

Found: Discarded boxes of dumbbells. The MDF was used to support the weight in the boxes. Found in Calgary.

The Strongest Endtable known to Man: One of the Greatest Stories Ever Told.

The water vapour was freezing in midair as the cold still air stole the warmth from Strongarm’s seemingly lifeless parts. Sitting on top of the crunchy, icy snow, Strongarm began to contemplate the dismal future he seemed to have before him. Trapped inside the boxes, unable to escape, he began to reminisce about his younger years living high up in the sportswear condos, overlooking the picturesque treadmills, and beautiful weight benches. Oh how wonderful it was, everyday waking up to the soothing music and the bustle of people rushing by to buy the happiness they thought they could have. He had heard rumours of the future of his race (known as “exercise equipment”); bought by humans and brought to their giant “houses” for a blissful life of lounging in closets and under beds, and in basements for the rest of their relaxing lives. Strongarm could only assume that the whole package was to have this life of luxury; the excitement filled his body from the outer skin of his box to his purple insides.

Finally the day came. Perfectly placed on the shelf he was chosen quickly and taken to what he thought would be his relaxing retirement. He was in for quite the disappointing surprise…

…That’s when I found him forlorn and disheartened sitting at the street, waiting to be taken to the landfill. I bundled him up and took him home where I was determined to make him useful again. At this point I had no cutting tools to do any cutting, but did have a compressor and some old used house paint I found in my parents’ basement. So the compressor was turned on, the brad nailer oiled and attached to the hose, and the glue ready to go. I took the 4 pieces of equal size and attached them to one of the bigger pieces and added the second large piece to back for support. I had measured out a DVD sized spacing on either side of the middle piece to get as much usefulness from the weight packaging turned endtable. Finally I filled any gaps and cracks with some filler and painted it with the paint I had found giving me my wonderful Strongarm End Table that I enjoy today.

Feel free to comment (both good and constructive)..

Thanks,

ReuseThis!

The Pallet Coffee Table.

2010-11-05T15:23:00.000-05:00

I have decided yet again to try my hand at blogging, but this time trying a running theme to make it a little easier. Since I have become a stay-at-home dad I have start making things out of discarded lumber and such that I find in the back allies and dumpsters of my neighbourhood. I have made dvd stands, end tables, shelving unit, and a (rather ugly) work bench; with plans to make a bed frame for my bed soon.

The Pallet Coffee Table.

Someone piled 6 high quality pallets beside my dumpster behind my house, you know the kind that you usually get 50 bucks for returning after you are done. I took them to my back yard and disassembled them into useable pieces, using the left overs for firewood so nothing would go into a dumpster anywhere. I then cut out a piece of OSB (found in the same spot a couple days before) to the size I wanted the table to be. I fired up my compressor and got out my wood glue and proceeded to glue and nailed down randomly cut peices of the pallet on top for an old hardwood floor type look for the top. Following that I glued and nailed peices on the side to finish the edges a little nicer. Once the legs were on and braced, I used the paint left over from when I ripped up the carpet and painted our stairs in the house. In the end I had created a functional and rugged looking coffee table that has stood up to 3 kids and 2 cats climbing on it. In the end it is a useful piece of furnature instead of in a landfill somewhere....

...

2010-03-21T23:19:00.000-05:00

I thought I had something to say...but I guess I didn't.

Maybe that's just it...I don't have anything to say.

So...sew...so?

2010-01-24T19:58:00.000-06:00

It's been a long couple months. Problems with my arm and dealing with being home for this long period of time. I guess there is a reason for this, but haven't quite figured that out yet; then again maybe it's meaningless. Everything seems to be confusing, but if that's something new then I must be an idiot. We'll see where it goes from here. I'm not sure where I am going with this again, but again, I lack dicipline and therefore am trying to change that by forcing myself to type words as they enter my mind. Sometimes these just end up being random sentences about marshmallows, cameros, clouds and walls falling, and other times it is just plain frustrating like it is right now. I used to spend hours doing this. I had ideas, I had vision, I had creativity; the key word being had. Would you say it's just lack of practice, or has my mind just gotten lazy from not doing it in so long and watching too much tv. I would go with the latter. I don't know. Maybe I will get back to watching the AFC final...why? Because I can.

I think I'm back...

2010-01-22T18:01:00.001-06:00

I need dicipline. I love to write and try to be creative, but have found that my laziness has stopped any of that lately. Actually for a long time. I don't think anyone will actually read or care about anything I write, but I need to have somewhere to write and get some more practice. I'm told that the best way to start is to write about how I can't write. Well here it goes...or it has already been going for a few sentences already. The trees are beautiful outside; coated in frost and standing peacefully sleeping. I couldn't imagine life without little things like that to remind me of how little I mean in the whole scheme of things...not in a bad way, but in a calming way. The world isn't going to end if I screw up. The earth will keep spinning if I do something idiotic...(unless I somehow destroy the earth in my stupidity...but I don't have access to anything like that at the moment...but I digress...). Watching my green anoles explore their tiny world that I have created for them, I realize just how resilient Creation really is...

yerbe

2007-06-26T12:28:00.000-05:00

It's lunch, I just jogged and am drinkin' some yerbe. That's right. My knee is a little sore today, but that's ok. This internet is a little slow too. It's funny to finish typing and then watch the letters come up. ha.

Counting the days until calgary and seeing my dad. Sometimes I find myself getting depressed over the whole thing; wondering why my dad has to go through this as he is such a great man, if anyone in this family should have had this happen it should have been me. God has a plan. Look at the miracle. I don't do so well with stress.

I'm very tired.

It's hot like borcht

2007-06-24T21:41:00.000-05:00

Went swimming today. It was fun. Ava didn't want to get out. I can't wait to see my dad in July. Almost time.

ugh.

when the mountains are stacked higher; in geometric shapes...

2007-06-18T22:13:00.000-05:00

Quick update. My dad is home on weekends now. I talk to him quite a bit when he is home. He sounds really good and knows what's going on most of the time. I can't wait to see him in July! It will be great. We are looking at an apartment in Niverville tomorrow that is much bigger then the one we have and is a really good deal; so we are praying that it would be evident as to what we are to do. It is my parents' 30th anniversary today! WOW! 30 years. A few weeks ago we didn't know if they would be able to celebrate this one. I talked to him today and he was very glad that he was able to get out for it. He asked for more pictures, so we took some and sent them to his email so he can check it tomorrow and see. I still break down once in a while because I wish this never happened; but the miracle is so amazing that I tend to come back around pretty quickly. My eye is twitching.

Well...I guess that's it for now as my writing seems to get worse.

I am in love with the Winnipeg Skatepark at the forks...

a phone call...

2007-06-04T21:11:00.001-05:00

So the phone rings...it's my parent's number. Dawn and I think something bad must have happened as it was only 5:30pm.

IT WAS MY DAD!

He is allowed to go home sometimes during the day now and he wanted to call and tell us about it. It was great. May and now June have become a couple unforgettable months. Keep praying for my dad that the healing will continue!

A little (un)easy.

2007-06-03T21:04:00.000-05:00

Need to quit being so selfish. I have been so caught up in my stuff that I have lost sight of everything else. So much needs prayer; I am not saying my dad doesn't and I am not going to stop, but I also need to pray for others who need strength and maybe everything that has happened will be an inspiration to people around me who need strength. God is working in my Dad, not just for me, but for him and thousands of other people who need to hear the Good News.