Success!

Well...yesterday Jim got the head off and out of the truck - no small feat since we're talking about over 150 pounds of steel. I still can't belie he got it done so quickly. The weather cooperated and it was beautiful - sunny and 60 degrees! That doesn't happen often in Cleveland in early March.

Today Jim took the head into the shop for them to do a valve job and the injectors. He's making a list of all the new parts he needs while everything is out. It will be in much better shape after this!

It's out of the truck!

Meanwhile, I spent all weekend up in the attic.  It's always hard to find a good time to work for long stretches in an attic - they are either too hot or too cold.  This was the perfect weekend - it was really comfortable up there.  I went through practically every box up there, organized, labeled and set aside stuff that needs to be given back to the kids.  So I feel really good about having that done.

Perseverance...

After yesterday's disappointment with the broken injector, Jim took a deep breath and started taking apart the engine on the truck today.  Thankfully, the weather was a bit warmer which made the job a little better.  He didn't have much time to work on it today - a friend came over to get his help cutting some wood; we went to church and then out to eat with this friend and his wife in the evening.  But he still made great progress and tomorrow is another day :o)

That's one of the things I love most about Jim - his perseverance.  He may get down and dejected when something happens, but he doesn't dwell on it very long.  He doesn't question past decisions - just moves forward.  Definitely a needed trait in our new adventure!

It's coming apart!

More truck issues...

Besides the fact that one injector won't come out no matter what Jim does, check out this pic. When we got the new tires and they aligned everything, they way over-torqued the lug nuts. Jim is off the ground with all his weight and probably a 6' bar and they won't budge.

Nothing is real easy right now!

A very bad day...

This afternoon, Jim came in the house with the injector in his hand - I screamed with excitement that he finally got it out!  Until he showed me that it broke off...it was so corroded that when he was finally able to get it out, it just sheared off and the end remains in the head.

So this means that all the work he did on the truck last fall has to be redone and he has to take the whole top of the engine apart. 

It makes me sick to my stomach to think of all the time and work he has put into this only for this to happen. 

A very big setback.

Progress on some fronts...

We've been busy working towards moving...which involves all sorts of sorting and packing.  Which leads to the question...Why do we have so much STUFF?  It's quite the project to open up boxes that I'm not sure we've opened since we moved in here and then try and decide what to do with it.  Plus, it's not like we are packing from this house and will be moving into a new house where everything can be just put away.  Things are going to have to go in storage and may be there for awhile.  So we are trying to be organized - putting specific labels on boxes telling what's inside.



Boxes are starting to pile up - even in my library!

Is that Kirk I see peering out from the mountain of boxes?

Meanwhile...Jim is working so hard on finishing up a multitude of projects on this house to get it ready to be sold.  He's been making and installing tons of moldings in rooms, he painted the laundry room, the list goes on and on.  But he's making good progress and it's exciting to see rooms being totally finished.

Then there's more truck work happening.  Jim is trying to get the injectors out and have them rebuilt - a much more difficult job than it sounds.  It was going to be expensive to take the truck in and have them do the job so Jim talked to people at the shop that rebuilds them and figured he could take them out himself and save the cost of that part of it.  After talking to them and seeing how they did it, three of them came out okay.  But there's always one.  And it won't budge.  Jim has made 2 different tools, borrowed one from the shop - and still it won't budge.  So that's still a work in progress. 

I did some calling about storage units in Saratoga so I think we have a couple good leads there.  But the most exciting part is that I think we found an apartment!  Just looking online, I was getting a bit discouraged.  There's just not much available - in Saratoga, everything is very pricey.  Things that were affordable weren't close by enough - I don't want Jim to be traveling after working all day.  Then I found an ad on Craig's List that led me to a realtor in the little town nearby, probably less than 10 minutes from the lot.  It's listed as a "huge" three bedroom.  It's above a doctor & dentist office and from the pictures, it looks clean and like it would be perfect.  We would each be able to have a space to work plus we should have enough storage space to pile boxes.  Hopefully we wouldn't need as big of a storage unit that way.  Plus it has free hot water heat so that will be nice.  We've started talking with the realtor.  I'm hopeful that they will keep it for us until we can get up there probably at the end of March to look at it and then sign a lease.  And I'm really hopeful that we could maybe even start storing things there at that point but we'll see.




Truck Work

There have been quite a few developments in getting the truck really road-worthy.  First, we got 4 new back tires for it as well as got the front ones balanced and it aligned.  The front tires were already relatively new when we bought it.  Then after we got it back, we took it to the Isuzu shop for them to just go over it.  They called and the first thing they told Jim was that the mechanics were really impressed with all the work he had done on it.  That made Jim happy!  Plus they really didn't find anything wrong with it except for the fuel injectors that Jim already knew he wanted to replace.  But it's apparently one of those jobs that has the potential to turn into more of an issue because they can break when you are trying to get them out.  However, they quoted Jim over $1000 for the job.  Since Jim never pays anyone to work on the vehicles, that was a bit much to swallow.  He told them that he needed the weekend to think about it.  When he got home, he called the place that got him the turbo and they can do it for about half the price.  They probably can't do it til after next week but that's fine.  So this morning we set out early before the snow was supposed to come to go pick it up from the dealer and bring it home.  But it had gotten so cold that the accelerator line had frozen.  He got it working and we set off for home.  We were almost home when I noticed the truck started smoking and then the smoke turned really black.  I got up next to him and told him so he pulled over.  He knew the line was driving again but he was going to limp it home.  Thankfully he got it working okay in the parking lot and we got it home.  Whew!

New Year Update!

Well...it's 2013...going to be an exciting year of many changes for us! 

A little catch up is in order first...

The Christmas season is always such a busy time. But this year it was a little more mellow than some.  The Christmas cards actually went out earlier than normal, the tree went up early, the house was decorated and we didn't have too many presents to buy so we avoided all the craziness of the stores for the most part.  It started snowing a few days before Christmas and got cold, so we had a fire cranking in the stove and it really felt like Christmas. 




Christmas Tree 2012

Jim and I spent Christmas Eve with the May family and then went to Midnight Mass (well, 10:00 pm).  The next morning we just spent quietly at home which was nice.  Later in the afternoon, we went to an old section of west Akron that has all these beautiful homes just to get some ideas.  It was quiet out and we just walked around some of these neighborhoods - very cool.

However, all that beautiful Christmas snow caused some travel issues.  Kyle & Julia went to Chicago to spend Christmas with her family and had planned to take the MegaBus to Cleveland on the 26th.  But a huge blizzard was predicted for that day - they were calling for up to 20" with crazy winds.  We were worried about them traveling and weren't even sure how well we would be able to travel up to Cleveland to pick them up.  Lots of texts back and forth with Kyle and they finally decided to postpone their trip one day.  MegaBus ended up canceling their route so it all worked out.  So they didn't get in til about 4:00 on the 27th. 

It was so nice having them home even for a few short days.  Actually, Jim and Kyle worked in the pole barn pulling things down from the attic and sorting them.  Even ended up packing some boxes in the box truck ready for the first trip to NY! 

We also went to Hartville Hardware on Friday...they built a new, huge store that actually has two houses inside it!  Julia and I had fun roaming through them and "picking" out things we liked while the boys looked at power tools.  So many decisions are in our future that it becomes overwhelming!  But one step at a time!



Kyle & Julia ended up renting a car and taking all their presents home that way - they left on Sunday morning.  Thankfully, they got back to NYC with no problems.

New Year's Eve we toasted to all our upcoming adventures - hoping for good health and good luck in carrying out our dreams!

We went to see my mom on New Year's Day - it was nice to spend a little time with her.  She's amazing and we love spending time with her.  That was my biggest hurdle about moving out of state - being so far away from her.  But Jim and I both said that we will just make it a priority to come and see her as often as we can - and hopefully get her to come and spend some time up there!

Meanwhile, Jim keeps plugging away on all the things that have to be done around here.  Lots has been happening...still working on the truck.  We took it for its first on the road trip since we brought it home from Kentucky!  We took it up to Sheetz and got it filled up with diesel fuel.  It really ran great.  The next step on it is to get some new tires and then Jim wants to take it to Isuzu for a check up.

He's also been doing lots of work in the house too.  The molding factory is back in operation!  So far, he's done the molding in the half bath and the laundry room as well as put the back shelf in the laundry room.  He also replaced a couple sides on two drawers in the kitchen (the first ones he made) that he didn't like and didn't match the others.  He put the center drawer in my desk too.  Everything looks really good and each one gets crossed off the "to do" list.

Unfortunately, I took a tumble down our gorgeous wooden steps on Sunday afternoon.  I had been working on typing and was still in my jammies and slipper socks.  Thankfully, I was near the bottom but I came down hard on my side, arm and then hit my head.  Instantly I couldn't breathe.  Poor Jim came running up the basement stairs - must have sounded like a herd of elephants falling!  He helped get me calmed down and to the couch.  But we ended up going to the emergency room where they did xrays and said I broke a rib.  Thankfully, it didn't do any other internal damage.  But it's amazing how much it hurts!  I'm getting better each day.  I took this week off work - we were scheduled to be off Friday and Monday so taking 4 days off actually lets me stay home about a week and a half.

Stay tuned for more updates!  And this year I vow to take more pictures as we go along!