I’ve taken the week off from work (my first week off that didn’t involve a surgery since 2001).

I’ve collected a bit of vacation time (230 hours to be exact) and have more coming. Where I work, any vacation time over 240 hours at the end of the year is lost… gone… done. So, it seemed like the thing to do.

I’m spending my time painting the house. It’s needed it for a few years now, but with my back being what it is, I was lucky just to make it out of bed each day. Standing on a ladder wasn’t on my list of things to do.

We’ve set up a “scaffold” on the back of the house. It’s not really a scaffold, but rather, a set of giant friggin’ shelves from a warehouse (the kind you stack pallets on). It’s scary as hell, but actually very stable (and a lot bigger than a normal scaffold). It’s also heavy beyond belief and takes about an hour to tear down and put back together.

As it’s currently 92 degrees (33.3 Celsius) and climbing… I’m done for the moment. We’re going to take the afternoon off and take our youngest to a movie.

And speaking of my youngest…. he turned 13 on Sunday. We had a little party for him and a nice dinner (grilled steaks). He made quite the haul and everyone had a good time.

I also got to see my friend, Mike, who moved away a number of hears ago. 🙂

I’ll take some pics of the house and the scaffold (aka: Death Ride 2005) and post them later.