Now Look at the Mess I've Gotten Myself Into!

Now I've gone and done it!

I've been fighting it for a long time, but I finally caved and joined the facebook community. No longer am I one of the few and proud who rebelled against the system... now I'm back to being a follower.

The irony is that this past semester in my English class I wrote an essay about the dangers of Online Social Networks. At the end of the semester, when the teacher asked the class what they thought of the idea of using facebook in the course, I was one of the few who maintained that it should not be a requirement because some people, like myself, would never want to join the OSN. Less than a month later here I am.

I truth, I don't object to online gathering places, I really just didn't want another excuse to waste my time on the computer. Mrs. Nutz has been a facebook user for a while now, and I have been debating back and forth for a while about whether or not it would be worth investing the time. What ultimately won me over was that friendships could be renewed and maintained without the limitation of distance, and some friendships could also turn into a great potential business network. The positives outweighed the negatives, and I finally decided it would be better to join. No sooner did I cave, then my buddy and his wife joined the fun. He apparently fought the battle as long as I did, and came to a similar conclusion.

Those who know me and Mrs. Nutz by our non-squirrel monikers should have minimal trouble finding us on facebook, but for the sake of anonymity I still prefer to maintain an internet ID on this blog. If anyone chooses to follow me from my facebook page, and you decided to leave a comment, please respect that anonymity. I really don't want to edit or delete posts from commentators, as I firmly believe in the freedom of speech.

Moving on...

I can't believe how long it has been since I last updated this blog. I was doing really well and getting posts up for the holidays, then three passed me by like a fat kid chasing an ice cream truck. First there was Cinco de Mayo, which I admit is not necessarily a real holiday for someone in my position. I am neither Latino, nor do I consume alcoholic beverages. Being a bonafide and sober Gringo means that the holiday holds no significant meaning to me; and yet I have a sense of admiration for the day that makes me want to honor it in some fashion. How does one who's heritage is NOT tied to the holiday celebrate it when alcohol is not involved? Simple, I eat Mexican food (or the fast-food equivalent) while watching The Three Amigos! Mrs. Nutz is not as fond of Mexican food as me, so this year we had our Cinco de Mayo meal at Chili's, and sadly I have yet to actually watch the movie this year, but I will be a temporary bachelor this weekend, so I may succeed at finishing off my festivities.

The second holiday was Mother's Day. Obviously this is the day devoted to honoring the women who brought us into this world, and things were no different around the Nutz household. We had a very pleasant day visiting both my Mother-in-Law, and my own Mother Nutz.

Most recently, we just celebrated Memorial Day. To most people I speak to, it seems that Memorial Day is the first chance to go camping; however my family is very big on using that day to gather together and honor those who had passed away in the family. My grandfathers were all WWII vets, and very proud of it. Mother Nutz's father, who fought in the war, passed away 2 years before I was born, and my Grandma remarried to my current Grandpa, who was a friend of the family. He was a career military man, and is one of the people who shaped my sense of patriotism. My Dad's father, Grandpa Nutz, was another great man who passed away just before Christmas in 1999. I could fill pages with my memories of him, and he will also be sorely missed. This past weekend my Dad, Brother, and I were in Grandpa Nutz's office, which is filled with his military medals, antiques, and memories.

Memorial Day weekend was also a good excuse to spend a day renovating. Mrs Nutz and I have slowly been painting the house since we moved in a year and a half ago. Our most recent project was the downstairs hallway and upstairs bathroom. We invited our friends (whom were previously mentioned as recent joiners of facebook) to come and help, mostly because my buddy is a 6' 3" artist who isn't afraid of heights. I could place him on the tall ladder where he could reach the tallest part of the ceiling and I could keep my acrophobic feet planted on more solid ground.

Our hallway is now painted the same color as chocolate milk, and the difference is dramatic, especially at night. The hallway always needed a light installed before, but now I would venture to claim that it is the darkest area of the house at night.

The bathroom... well that's a different story. We have opted to make it a Mickey Mouse themed bathroom, and we bought the Disney paint color "Main Street Light" to paint the walls. We also decided to paint the ceiling the same color yellow, and now the room is BRIGHT! The plus side is that we don't have to turn on lights in the daytime; the downside, when you turn on the lights at night as you walk into it (from the recently darkened hallway nonetheless) you gently sear your corneas before you remember to let your eyes adjust to the brightness.

It will look really great when we get the red trim, black tile, black shower curtain, and other accessories installed, and all joking aside it really turned out nice.

The big one will be this Saturday, as we will be laying cement in the backyard. Not only will we finally get the patio that we want (complete with place for a fire pit and fountain) but we won't have a dirt patch/garden of weeds leading to the grass. The patch had become so overgrown with weeds that we haven't been able to keep on top of it. Up until now Mrs. Nutz solution was simply to tackle it with a lawnmower, but that only cuts down the weeds. Last night though, I had the pleasure of taking a tiller to the ground, so that I could loosen up the dirt for us to get it ready to level out and pour cement.

Tilling the ground brought back an amusing joke I was told by a member of the congregation when I was serving a mission for my church in Oregon. This older brother was a cantankerous old farmer (which is pretty awesome when you understand that he had no legs.) He used to love to tell the groaner joke "How do you make Holy Water? You get a pot of water and boil the hell out of it."

Why did the tiller make me remember this joke? Let's just say that last night I turned that weed patch into holy ground!