Another House Project = Father/Son Bonding

I'm weird. I get really excited about the "tiniest" house project and want to take pictures and document everything! So I'll apologize right now because this posting is only about my new kitchen faucet....not the least bit interesting to most readers, I know.

Recently, I noticed that our kitchen faucet was leaking pretty bad. Clint took it apart and discovered that the washer around the pullout hose was worn down and needed to be replaced. So he went to the hardware store and paid .84 for a washer. But alas! This dollar project turned out to be much more expensive! It turns out that the washer he bought wasn't the right size. And by the time we discovered this little (but important) detail, the faucet wasn't just leaking; it was completely non-functional! It gets worse: the hardware store didn't even carry the size we needed.

So what did we do? We decided we might as well replace the kitchen faucet all together. After all, it was looking pretty dingy and outdated. And since Clint had never replaced a kitchen faucet, he slyly recruited my dad to come over and assist. A project that would've taken Clint and I three hours...possibly more...turned into an easy 45 minute task with the help of my dad.

Here are some pictures of their "manly" bonding time under the kitchen sink!




And of course...the end result!

Final Weigh in and Celebration!

Well September 1st seemed like a long ways away when we started this bet on April 1st. (See posting "Egg on My Face on 3/20/08.") But Labor Day has now come and gone. In June Clint decided to help speed up the weight loss process by beginning the "South Beach" diet. For those of you who don't know, South Beach is pretty strict...especially the first two weeks. You can't have any bread, fruits, and only certain types of vegetables. I refused to participate in such a torturous act and after two days of just cooking the meals for Clint, I wanted him to give up. It was miserable watching him eat a piece of ham rolled in a lettuce leaf as a snack. But Clint kept going strong...and it paid off. Occasionally we would stop by my parent's house to weigh ourselves to see our progress. When Clint lost more than 10 lbs after just a week and half on the diet, my dad started to worry. From that point on, my dad stopped eating desserts and started biking quite a bit.

So Labor Day finally came! We drove to my parent's house for the "official weigh in" and were pleased to see that Clint had gone from weighing 210.2 on April 1st to 180.0 in five months. David weighed 184.6 at the beginning of the bet and by September 1st he weighed 160.8. Both lost more than their expected goal. I was so proud of them both! Here are some pictures and some videos of the weigh in!



Clint and David looking fabulously thinner!



Emily having a coke for the first time since April 1st.







We were all so proud of our accomplishments that we decided to go to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate. As you will see from our meals and desserts, we probably put the pounds (that we'd worked so hard to take off in five months) back on in about 30 minutes.



Waiting for our booth...



Mom ordered the "Grande Burrito" and then complained that it was too big. Mom, what did you expect? They call it "grande" for a reason!







Kaylyn really pretended not to know us the entire time.



Dessert. Dang good!