Father’s Day will be here in a few days. I got to thinking about fathers and what they represent in a family. According to the dictionary, a father is the male parent. He has many roles to fulfill: provider, protector, instructor, trainer, commander, corrector, nourisher. The list could go on and on, but you can get the general idea what their role in life should be.
I remember growing up thinking my dad could do no wrong and could basically walk on water if he wanted. When I was little I would sit on his lap and we would talk and play and I would tell him I would marry him when I grew up. I realized as I got older that that was not possible or even legal, but I also came to the conclusion I wanted to marry someone "like my father." I believe I did that. I married a wonderful man who is a super father to our four boys. He has set a good example for all of them to follow. He has not only been a good father, but a great husband, which is hopefully the model they will follow when they marry.
I was fortunate to get to be a stay-at-home mom while our kids have grown up. Hubby did not want me working and sticking our kids in daycare. Even though our youngest just graduated from high school, he does not want me to have to work outside the home. So thank goodness for the Internet and my online business! He has been an excellent provider as a husband and father. He has worked at the same job for nearly 26 years doing shift work. We added on to and remodeled our house ourselves to give each of the boys their own room to enjoy while they still lived at home. He has taught the boys a lot about construction and then encouraged them to go to the technical college where he went in order to gain more knowledge in that trade – which they have done. He is interested and involved in what the boys are doing and was a faithful supporter of them for 3 ½ years in their training to obtain their first-degree black belts in Tae Kwon Do. He has also been their Christian mentor and example since they were very little. I remember several of the boys having to write a paper for school about their hero. And guess who it was they wrote about? Their dad.
Fathers keep the family linked together and make the world go round. I feel sorry for those who have grown up without a father in the picture. Little boys need them to have a buddy or a hero to look up to. Whey they get to be teenagers, the dads have usually lost that status, but it made great memories for dad while their little boys were growing up. Little girls need their daddies in order to know what to look for in a husband years down the road. They have a way of wrapping their dad around their little fingers and before dads know it, they are telling the preacher they are giving their little girl to the man of her dreams. My husband and never had any little girls, but I know giving a daughter away at the wedding would have been really hard on him. He is not an overly emotional guy, but something like that would choke him up and cause very moist eyes.
I have two plaques hanging side by side in our bedroom. One says "A mother is a person who can take the place of all others, but whose place no one else can take." The other one says "Any man can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a daddy." Both sayings are so true. Do not forget to wish your dad a Happy Father’s Day, but most of all, tell your father (and mother) that you love them. If it was not for them you would not be here! Plus, we never know from one day to the next how long they or we will be around to tell them "I love you," and once someone is gone it is too late.
Author: Linda Dougherty
Specializes in working with people to show them how to market effectively to earn money online.
http://www.internettowealth.com/
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Construction Zone Ahead
With four little boys and all their toys, it didn’t take us long to realize that we had outgrown the house we had originally purchased shortly after we got married. The boys were doubled up in bunk beds, and there was no room under them for dust bunnies because that area was used for storage for all their "stuff." There was one closet in the whole house and it was totally full. When the boys were ages 2, 4, 6, and 8, we decided it was time to put on an addition to the house and remodel the original part of it, so we started drawing up house plans. We also knew there was no way we could afford to do what we had planned if we hired it done because of the cost of labor, so we knew it was up to us to make it happen with our own hands. We knew it would take time, as my husband had a full time job to work while doing it. We also did not want to go into debt, so to save money we advertised for used lumber. We ended up tearing down seven buildings on an old farmstead. We traveled about 34 miles round trip almost daily to accomplish the demolition project. We hauled the lumber all home and went through the grueling work of pulling nails out of the boards. Just before winter hit, we accomplished the feat of having it all sorted, stacked, and covered with tarps to protect it through the winter for the beginning of our huge project in the spring.
The hole for the basement was dug in March and then we got spring rains, which slowed down plans. Once we got momentum, we were able to get the 30’ x 40’ two-story addition up and enclosed before winter hit again. This also included getting a new roof put on the old part of the house and tying it in to the new roof over the addition. That was an experience in itself with a month’s work getting the old roof off, new rafters up, sheeting on, and shingled. Luckily, there was only one really bad rainstorm that came through in that month. My husband was in the attic area trying to hold tarps in a way to make a trough or funnel for the water to flow down to keep it out of the house during 50 mph winds. I was inside the house running around with butter dishes, cottage cheese cartons, and ice cream buckets, trying to catch any leaks that were making its way into our living quarters. What a nightmare!
Once the addition was on, we were able to work inside from then on out. We worked on the upper story first to complete it. That was followed by the lower story. Our boys now had their own bedrooms and closets for all their "stuff." We even had one room designated as a playroom where they could drag out their toys to play with and not have them strung throughout the house. Next on the list was remodeling the original structure of the house, which was close to 100 years old. We had to hang tarps or blankets for dust and dirt control at the openings into the addition. Taking down the old lath and plaster from the walls and ceilings was such a disgusting job. There was dirt that had remained from the "Dirty Thirty’s" dust storms in Kansas. We put drywall back up and painted as we worked our way through the house. The kitchen was the last room to be done, as it required the most work with installing new cabinets and countertops. Last on the list was putting down all the flooring in the house. We had not done any of that yet so we didn’t have any of that dirt tracked across it. Then at 3 ½ years from the time the hole was dug for the basement, to the final stroke of the varnish brush on some trim around the doors and the baseboard, we could officially say, "It’s DONE - all 3,760 square feet of it!!!!! We have a new house!"
What an experience it was to help build and remodel our home. Believe it or not, I actually learned to swing a pretty mean hammer with the rest of the crew – which was basically my husband and my father. I even finished shingling three roof slopes out of four by myself while my husband was at work. I did not want to have a "chase the rain" game again. Once of that was enough! I often compare that whole construction experience with that of my online business. Both require planning, setting a goal, lots of work, and continual maintenance. Just as a house will not build itself or be free of the need for personal attention, neither will an online business. It also takes team work in both cases to make it happen, and that is something my business offers with a great mentoring team to help people succeed.
Author: Linda Dougherty
Specializes in working with people to show them how to market effectively to ean money online.
http://www.internettowealth.com/
The hole for the basement was dug in March and then we got spring rains, which slowed down plans. Once we got momentum, we were able to get the 30’ x 40’ two-story addition up and enclosed before winter hit again. This also included getting a new roof put on the old part of the house and tying it in to the new roof over the addition. That was an experience in itself with a month’s work getting the old roof off, new rafters up, sheeting on, and shingled. Luckily, there was only one really bad rainstorm that came through in that month. My husband was in the attic area trying to hold tarps in a way to make a trough or funnel for the water to flow down to keep it out of the house during 50 mph winds. I was inside the house running around with butter dishes, cottage cheese cartons, and ice cream buckets, trying to catch any leaks that were making its way into our living quarters. What a nightmare!
Once the addition was on, we were able to work inside from then on out. We worked on the upper story first to complete it. That was followed by the lower story. Our boys now had their own bedrooms and closets for all their "stuff." We even had one room designated as a playroom where they could drag out their toys to play with and not have them strung throughout the house. Next on the list was remodeling the original structure of the house, which was close to 100 years old. We had to hang tarps or blankets for dust and dirt control at the openings into the addition. Taking down the old lath and plaster from the walls and ceilings was such a disgusting job. There was dirt that had remained from the "Dirty Thirty’s" dust storms in Kansas. We put drywall back up and painted as we worked our way through the house. The kitchen was the last room to be done, as it required the most work with installing new cabinets and countertops. Last on the list was putting down all the flooring in the house. We had not done any of that yet so we didn’t have any of that dirt tracked across it. Then at 3 ½ years from the time the hole was dug for the basement, to the final stroke of the varnish brush on some trim around the doors and the baseboard, we could officially say, "It’s DONE - all 3,760 square feet of it!!!!! We have a new house!"
What an experience it was to help build and remodel our home. Believe it or not, I actually learned to swing a pretty mean hammer with the rest of the crew – which was basically my husband and my father. I even finished shingling three roof slopes out of four by myself while my husband was at work. I did not want to have a "chase the rain" game again. Once of that was enough! I often compare that whole construction experience with that of my online business. Both require planning, setting a goal, lots of work, and continual maintenance. Just as a house will not build itself or be free of the need for personal attention, neither will an online business. It also takes team work in both cases to make it happen, and that is something my business offers with a great mentoring team to help people succeed.
Author: Linda Dougherty
Specializes in working with people to show them how to market effectively to ean money online.
http://www.internettowealth.com/
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