Tuesday, November 25, 2008

New Pictures

About half of the wedding photos are available so far. You can see them at:

http://carissawinland.zenfolio.com/p693679463


Weeeeeee!

Friday, November 14, 2008

Pictures!

Tada! I posted some pictures of our honeymoon on my Picasa site. http://picasaweb.google.com/heather.martin/Honeymoon

Monday, October 27, 2008

I'm now married!

The wedding was this Saturday. I didn't take many pictures - I was kind of busy - but there are a few on my Picasa site.
http://picasaweb.google.com/heather.martin

More will trickle in as people send them. Our photographer is in the middle of a school semester, so we won't get the official ones until the end of the year or so.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

My Bachelorette Party

















My new sister-in-law, lea.
























Me, welding in Chacos.



















Avi cutting some metal



My friend Sara threw me the coolest bachelorette party ever! As you can guess from the pictures, we learned how to weld. I'll be going back sometime soon to finish up the project I started, a large angle iron kitchen table.

Monday, October 06, 2008

My new project


Yay! I have a new project!


I'm going to take apart my 1971 Chevy step side pickup, sand everything, prime and paint it.

I have some left over Massaranduba boards from work that I'm going to finish and use as my new bed wood.

Eventually I'll reupholster the front bench seat. And give the engine a tune up....




Wednesday, September 17, 2008

My day

This morning I got to work even earlier than usual. This is looking out from the house we're building, over the lake below.
Looking through the deck railing...


This week we've been house, dog and car sitting for Luke's parents. I went to pick them up after work, and took their car out for a bath along the way. Automatic car washes are cool! I don't remember ever going through one before.








Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Luke and sketch


My last camera died, so I dug up Luke's old point and shoot. I'd like to start taking and posting more pictures, like in the old days.
This one is Luke and Sketch, reading in bed.

Friday, August 08, 2008

Taxes

Oh for fucks sake. I finally got around to calculating my hourly wage after taking out taxes. I only get to keep 67% of what I gross an hour.

I'm now even more angry than usual about not having universal health care....because if I calculate my health insurance premiums on the 10k deductible policy I'm currently carrying into my hourly wage, it's even more depressing. If I fall off a ladder, I'm screwed any way you look at it.

I'm technically self employed, at least as far as the IRS knows. I work for a company that gives us 1099's, not 1040s. Yet we're all told what time to show up, when to leave, and we're generally expected to behave as employees. Yet we have to carry our own contractor insurance, pay self employment taxes, etc.

The boss is renting a boat for 3 hours this Thursday as an employee appreciation event. There will be water skiing and beer. We were told to bring 10 bucks a person to cover said boat and beer. At the appreciation event. I feel appreciated.....

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Wedding stuff

We spent this weekend addressing and stuffing envelopes for the wedding. Luke actually got a blister from so much writing .... he has a pretty huge family! I only have 10 relatives and a mom. It'll be nice to aquire some more.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Awww jeez...






I knew it was going to happen, but I wish it would have taken longer than 2 1/2 months! I lost my engagement ring already....


I had put it down on a big boulder while I went swimming in the lake below where I work. When I went to pick up my clothes, I forgot my ring was on top of them, and the ring went flying - right into a large crevasse between the rocks. D'oh! I couldn't see it down there, nor was my arm long enough to reach it down there even if I could.


At least the ring was kind of cheap. I specifically picked out one that I wouldn't mind loosing too much, because I knew it was going to happen eventually. Maybe I should just paint one on so I never loose it....

Friday, July 11, 2008

Rowing


Yesterday I had my 2nd rowing lesson. We've been practising on the rowing machines to get our form down, and yesterday they actually let us loose on the water.

I was the zippiest one there, so they let me take an extra lap around the lake while everybody else was floundering. Two of the people got stuck in the trees on the opposite shore and had to have a kayak sent over to rescue them. One guy flipped over and bailed. I almost was run over by a quad boat, and in turn almost ran over one of the other girls in the class. Fun!

Next week we'll probably all be cleared to take the boats out on our own whenever we want. Look out, Town Lake!

I'll hopefully be getting a lot of rowing in (Sculling, really) this summer. Two of the guys from work are rowing at the same dock. I'm hoping for a little friendly competition ... go go gadget legs...!

Sunday, July 06, 2008

New Stuff



I guess I've been slacking in the blog department, yet again! Mom keeps pestering me to update, and I keep telling her nothing's new. :-)

I did get engaged a month ago. We're planning an October wedding here in Austin.

I also just joined a CSA. It's a farm 5 miles from here that's only in its 3rd year, yet has 300 members! We got our first box of produce yesterday. Lots of yummy tomatoes, eggplants, okra, squash, cucumbers, basil and onions.

My own garden isn't looking so hot. It needs lots more organic matter...I need to go out looking for horse manure. Trimming the overhanging tree out back would help a lot too.

I'm still working as a carpenter on the same house I wrote about previously. We're installing masaranduba siding, and taking forever.... the siding should be done in another 6 weeks or so. Hopefully there will be some scraps left so I can re-wood my truck bed.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Mom is in the hospital

I tried to break into mom's blog, but the password she gave me doesn't work. She's too loopy to figure out what it really is, so I'm posting the news over here on my blog instead. Hopefully all you people who read her life will wander over here and figure it out.

Mom has been admitted to the hospital in Lakeland. She's been having strokes. The doctors don't know anything other than that yet. I'll post updates if there are any. She asks that you all pray for her.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Fiesta Parade


Last night Luke and I went to San Antonio with his parents to see the Fiesta Flambeau Parade. http://www.fiesta-sa.org/
Crazy!

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Friday, April 04, 2008

My new Truck



So, I bought a truck last weekend.... It's adorable! It's a 1971 Chevy c10 stepside, with an oak strip bed and curvy wheelwells, just like I've always wanted.


It's almost entirely stock, including the original 250 inline 6 engine. Most of the parts are new/rebuilt. There are only two spots of rust I need to worry about, and the entire panel one of them is on can be replaced for $17.99.








I replaced an exhaust flange gasket the other day. It cost $2.18 and fit all Chevy/GMC models from 1937-1987.

The only thing wrong with it that I know of is the throwout bearing in the clutch. While I'm under there with the transmission and driveshaft dropped to fix it, I'll just replace the whole clutch. (It'll need it sooner rather than later). A complete clutch kit cost $155. The shop down the road had two of them in stock.


My van was a big hit with women and small children. Now that I have this truck, I'm a huge hit with the men, especially guys who are old enough to have driven a 70's era truck back in the day.

I'm going to paint and reupholster, and redo the wood in the bed. I'm hoping for enough leftover massaranduba from the jobsite to use for the bed. Nothing like Brazilian hardwood to make it look pretty. :-)

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Climbing

It's been gorgeous lately, with lots of good rock climbing opportunities! This weekend is supposed to just be totally yucky though, with highs in the 30's. What are we going to do for fun and excitement?


Saturday, February 09, 2008

I only have my closet left to do, then the floor is finished! Then it's time to paint and attach baseboards.... :-)

While taking a break from the flooring, I found an interesting blog:   http://www.foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com






Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Climbing

We went rock climbing at a local ranch this weekend, and poked around this interesting cave. 

I managed to get up a 5.10D rated climb, my hardest yet. Woo!











This picture is from our hallway. I've been busy installing bamboo flooring throughout the entire house...