Introductions (and the Swing Set)

Carbondale, Illinois

Sam is cruising. . . sort of. He has every intention of doing it, but tends to fall before he gets to his destination. But he did "walk" the distance from the left side of the recliner to the right side of the recliner. We had to lower his crib mattress because he's standing up in bed! He's only 6 months old! Erin didn't crawl until she was 9 months. Talk about two completely opposite children.
Anyway, the plan last week was to start putting together the swing set. But a slight snag occurred. It was one of those things that start, and then spiral crazily until you aren't really sure how the hell it happened.
I started getting things together to start on the swing set as I said. The box said "Pre-Cut Lumber: No Sawing Required!" It sounds very happy. It doesn't mention that there is no drilling required, which as it turns out the first two steps require approximately 180 holes to be drilled. No exaggeration.
Hence, the decision to buy a drill press. Brilliant idea. I did it, and brought it home. Set it on my work bench. Now understand, my work bench had it's previous life being an un-sturdy shelf. The other half of my work bench held the totes for our recycling. It would not hold the drill press. A) not wide enough, and B) would fall down in a couple of hours. So, the decision was made to purchase a work bench.
Now, we have some extra money from the accident fund. That's after we paid off my Toyota this month. (Oh, what a feeling!) So we decided the best thing to do is to get rid of all the shelves in the garage (except the recycling shelves) and put up cabinets instead.
Granted. Up until this point I have solidly been off every other week since I started this 7-on-7-off thing back in May. Except this week. So between working Thursday and Friday (a nice, cool $1000 of overtime) I put together shelves and swept up dead bugs and threw things away that had no business not being thrown away.
I did this all evening Thursday, all evening Friday, all day Saturday, and darn near all day Sunday. I didn't mow the lawn or weed the flower beds, and with all the crap sitting in the driveway from having been deemed trash, our house looks, well. . . like trash. If the rain subsides, I'll mow it this afternoon before coming back to work, but if not, we'll just have to see.
My question is this. If I pray that it will rain, on a day with rain forecast, and it does, is that really an answer to prayer? I'm inclined to think yes, since for the past two months rain has frequently been forecast with no results. It's just a question I have to ask. But I'm inclined to think the answer is yes.
Today I stood in line for tickets. That was an entirely new experience for me. Again a new question a prayer comes up. Just before I got my tickets, I prayed that I would get into row B. Second row. There were about fifty people ahead of me in line (though some were together). I decided I shouldn't ask for the tickets such as I did, because it was selfish; that is, it wouldn't do anything to glorify God. Only for myself. I apologized for this. I got up to the window, and said I needed two tickets. The woman held up two tickets and said, "I've got two for the front row." How did that happen? (That's rhetorical).
So within about a two week span, I'll be seeing B.B. King (Row E) and Alison Krauss (Row B). Oddly enough two of my favorite musicians. (Odd because the two genres are somewhat dissimilar).
As for the bible study, I'm two weeks into it, and thus far, things have progressed well, though the turnout last week was not that great. But the three of us that were there had some very meaningful conversation, and we all got something out of it, so it certainly wasn't a loss (except perhaps for those who couldn't make it).
I'm sure I have more to discuss, but I can't think of what it may be at the moment, so for now, I must bid you adieu.