Hi everyone, Toni here! I thought I would take a turn at updating the blog this week since Jim is currently in the rig on his way to Las Vegas. Wow, you say, he is really eager to get an early start on the upcoming AC Delco Nationals. Well, that is true, he is excited about the upcoming race, most especially since it will mark his 400th consecutive career start in a Pontiac Pro Stock racecar! How cool is that? But truthfully, his real reason for leaving a week early is so that he can get the rig to Vegas, get it parked and then fly home to be here for the birth of Jamie and Cynthy's baby, which is due next week.

Of course, now you know what the topic of Jim's next blog will most definitely be!

Anyway, if you are a regular reader of our blogs then you may remember Jim's story a couple of weeks ago about his projects around the house. He had made the mistake of asking me if I needed help around the house when I was getting everything ready for the baby shower. I promptly gave him a list (that will teach him to ask, huh?) and he did a good job of accomplishing everything – well, with a little help from his friends. Anyway, he painted the front door, then he had to paint the front window and they looked great. The only thing was, the fresh new paint didn't match the rest of the unpainted windows, and then he noticed that the deck could use a few boards replaced and then it should really be restained. Oh boy, you can see right where this is going.

Unfortunately, Jim's "free time" usually consists of a Sunday and maybe an occasional Saturday afternoon, so I knew right away that even though he had the best of intentions, there was no way that he was ever going to get all of this done in two or thee days even with my help. Ok, Jimbo, time to rethink this plan. Well, he reluctantly agreed that maybe it was a lot for the two of us (see how I had magically appeared in his plans?!) and he really wasn't too fond of standing on a ladder three stories in the air, so he contacted the painter to come finish the outside painting project, including staining the deck. Okay, now we are getting somewhere.

But wait a minute; "why don't I just replace some of the boards on the deck and perhaps replace all the top railings before they stain the deck and then it will look like new?" he says to me. "It will only take three hours or so and I don't need any help…this will be a fun project!" Oh boy, famous last words.

So, on Saturday morning, with his lists and tape measure in hand he was about to head off to Lowes to get supplies. Hold it right there. How many boards did he need to get and how was he going to load and unload all of them by himself? Okay, maybe he could use a couple of extra hands just to help load the stuff in the truck. So, with my purse in one hand and my Mechanix Wear gloves in the other hand, out to Lowes we went.

I think I lost track of how many 16-foot and 8-foot boards we loaded, unloaded, stained, and hauled that morning. Every time I carried another board up the steps of the deck I just reminded myself that they were just like heavy awning poles and I needed a good upper body workout anyway. By the time all of that was done, his three-hour time limit was up and he hadn't even cut the first board. I looked around the deck, his saws were laying out, his square, pencils, drill and screws were all in order and then I just had to ask the question. "Do you really know what you are doing here?" This is where the line of the day came in. He looked at me, shook his head, rolled his eyes and said, "Toni, give me a break, I drive a Pro Stock car for a living; how hard can cutting and nailing some boards be?"

Okay, I get it. Racing Pro Stock and building decks, huh; the only thing that I see similar is that they both take more than three hours to complete! With that said I will summarize this little story by saying that after 18 hours of demolishing, hauling, sawing, fitting, screwing, trimming, loading, unloading and cleaning up, our deck really did look great and it was finally ready for staining. Thankfully, the painter will be back today to complete that. I think that the next time that I want to give Jim something to do in his "free time" I think I might think of things like, redecorate the family room, buy new furniture, or maybe plan a Caribbean vacation. That sounds like fun to me!

Well, I just got off of the phone with Jim. He is already in Arkansas and has calculated that he is only about 1,400 miles from Vegas. His plan is to be there by tomorrow evening and then fly home on Thursday. Oh boy, just in time for another fun filled weekend. If all goes well we will have an exciting baby update by next week so make sure you check in!