Not Much Going On

There's not a whole lot we can say lately...

Since the car accident, Allie's mom has been freaking out and demanding slave labour in the form of house chores as repayment for the tediousness of searching for a new great deal. (Mike! Your Magnum isn't out of the running yet, she's just a picky buyer!) Now that all the closets, storage areas, and pantries have been fully reorganized and refreshed, Allie's starting to get a little impatient.

Brent is also impatient, but with boredom. Guitars and xboxes complete and (for the most part) sold, he has nothing to do these days but go hang out with the mechanic who is looking after Tuckkie. Brent is experiencing a bout of everything BREAKING:

First he broke the truck door handle.

Then he fixed it. 

Then it somehow broke again. 

Then he took it apart to fix it and it wouldn't go back together. 

Let the mechanic handle that one. 

The mechanic discovered that the clip on the rear brake pad is somehow broken, too, and there's a leak in the transmission hose. 

Damn observant but awesome mechanic. 

Then Brent breaks the mirror off Allie's dad's bike. 

Oops. 

Allie's bike breaks.... at least breaks more than it was broken before. 

The sole falls off Brent's right shoe.

The computer blue-screens. 

The back-up drive for the computer is a lemon and some guy ran off with the wireless receiver.

The iphone screen Brent is replacing for some kid doesn't work.

The tool he's using snaps. 

The suction cup he's using won't suck. That sucks. Or does it?

Then the LCD of the iphone breaks as he's putting it back together. 

So he takes the one from Allie's iphone so that the kid can go home happily thinking he has a new screen. 

Now Allie's iphone screen is broken. 

The water-heater in the house we're house-sitting springs a leak. Daddy to the rescue.

Luke's bike tire deflates as Brent is riding it. 

The steering knuckle in the truck is seized. 

They don't make them anymore. 

The steering rack in the truck is seized. 

That's $250 + 10 hours labour. 

Allie's running shoes bite the dust.

Her repair job is temporary, only to add lumps in the soles.

Allie's new $400 orthopedic shoes suck ass and hurt.

Brent's jeans pocket breaks and his lighters all fall out.

The second half of the movie we downloaded won't play.

It seems that since the car got smushed, karma is repaying us with a series of BAD LUCK.
Is anything going right at this moment? Not really...

On the up-side we're trying to change our luck with a new job at a resort. But where will we be? Fairmont Whistler, operating ski lifts and hot cocoa machines? The Couples' Resort in Algonquin Park cleaning heart-shaped hot tubs and serving romantic fondue for two? Or a hunting cabin in the middle of the tundra boonies slaving over peameal bacon and hashbrowns for our ravenous bush-men tennants?

Actually, there may be a great job for us at the Couples'  Resort without hot-tub cleaning involved.  He wants us there in two weeks, which leaves such few days to get the truck FINALLLLLLYYY done and go see poor papa Akins who has been waiting so patiently for Brent to get his butt in gear.

Could this be our new home for a while?

We Hit a Squirrel...?

The very last day Allie's parents were out of town, we were driving to get a price quote from Ford on a part and Allie accidentally passed the exit. Turning around and coming back seems now like the worst choice possible!

We stopped behind some cars that were waiting to turn left, and the guy behind us didn't apparently notice the delay and rammed into the column of cars at a whopping 60+ km/hour. The damage to his car? minimal. Damage to the guy in front of us and the guy in front of him? Negligible.

Our car?

Cool, eh?

Aside from some whiplash we're OK. But the car?  Write-off?

Allie's Birthday Dinner

Brent had a great challenge with meeting both halves of Allie's extended family in one day!!

Considering Allie was still deathly ill from that flu, and her mom was about to drop dead from it, the family pulled off an OK brunch and dinner.

Aunts, uncles and cousins for brunch, which was some yummy curried tuna with currants and apples mixed in, homemade muffins, mint limeade, and chocolate loaf. The muffins were... an experience for us to make. As it turns out, both Brent and Allie are used to cooking where everything can be slopped into the bowl/pot at once. Imprecise measuring and STEPS proved difficult as we botched the first batch by not reading the recipe. Lesson learned: we suck at baking.

Dinner with the grandparents was super yummy, but everyone was too full to eat by this point. Steak, crab legs, caesar salad, Allie's favourite mashed potatoes that come in a bag (would you believe it?) and her daddy's seasoned BBQ corn... MMMMMMM.....

Oma and Opa brought peach pie for dessert which was a first try for most present.

Brent learned the finer art of rubbing your finger on crystal to make it sing. He had a whole orchestra going! Video to come if possible:

And Allie wanted the share the weird pic of her deranged horse-shaped cake which she was feeling too ill to ice very artistically. It's a horse, right? Or a dog... 

Projects, projects, projects!

So we figured you all deserve an update about these random projects Brent keeps running off with and Allie stupidly keeps following... (Brent scoffs at the insult)

The Xboxes he picked up for a steal have turned out... okay... All worked at one point after much repairing, and now two have bit the dust again. Will keep trying. In the meantime, all have gorgeous new paint jobs and two now have extra cooling fans with red LED lights. Look pretty cool!

Neat, eh?

The guitars have turned out even more splendidly, but after much, much more work. We learned that the stock paint some have is so stubborn that you almost kill two sanders in the work of removing it. Now we know what paint stripper does...

And this one was a solid copper guitar that flopped (copper edges only now) that we find rather hideous but when Luke brought it to play for his guitar lesson, his super-pro teacher loved... how odd...

And this was the easy-peasy project that was worth $40 to prime.

Now these just have to sell.

Truck concept art -- Check It Out!

Getting a little behind on this, but we have nothing to do for a few minutes while waiting for pesky Luke to get off the xbox.... the only files we have to share on this computer are Allie's concept drawings of what the Truck SHOULD look like... and will... eventually.

Comments? The inside is done up, too, just couldn't get a good screenshot of it: black bed-liner interior on the floor/walls, green dash with new gauges in steel, and evennnnntualllyyyy.... reupholstered seats in light grey/white/something. Also removing the back seats and welding the rear doors shut.  Cool?