Day 16

It is Sunday night and I am writing my journal for Saturday. It was a very busy day on Saturday so I didn’t get a chance to write my daily log since I got home at 12:30 in the morning. I paused for a few seconds to turn on the ceiling fan. Nice refreshing air. Ok, so I got up early and couldn’t go back to sleep. I turned on the TV and waited around for my chiropractor appointment at 8:00. I got up about 20 minutes before the appointment and after getting ready I went down to the kitchen and prepared my IDS protein and had my IDS Mass Tab and supplement pills. I told my wife I would be back and I go into my fuel efficient Nissan Versa and drove about 4 blocks to the chiropractor’s office. You are probably thinking why I took the car when I could have just walked. I did so because the office opens at 8:00 and I didn’t know if it would be opened when I go there or if the doctor was running late so I thought ahead of time and said to myself that I at least listen to the radio and relax in the car until he showed up. It was only a few minutes into my waiting time when Dr. Martin drove up. I said my greetings and he put me through my treatments. I got into conversation and mentioned that I was building a deck and we spoke about how he built decks when he was younger. He gave me some valuable tips and I was very grateful. I will have to mention that I think Dr. Martin is a good person and I am glad he is performing my back treatments. After I was done with my treatments and the new exercise routines to strengthen my back I went home. When I entered the house Yolanda wanted to know if I wanted breakfast and I declined and said that I wanted to go to Menards Building Center and work on customizing a deck on the computer so I can get a print out of all the materials I would need and some design schematics to go over with my father. I asked her to come with me and after I was done with the design and going over it with the Menard employee the bill for all the material was going to cost me $1800. I did not freak out and knew based on the fact that my deck size would be 24x14 that this would be a reasonable price. I would have wished it was Cedar wood but that was double the money. Instead, I designed it with pressure treated wood and that after it would dry I would paint it with solid decking paint. I called my father while at the store and told him about the cost and that I was going to place the order and have it shipped by this Friday so we could start building it on Saturday. I applied for a Menards credit card and after being approved I placed the order and left the store.

On the way home I got a hungry so we randomly decided to go to a Mexican restaurant next to the IHOP on 79th and Harlem across the street from Kmart. I will have to say that if anyone ever reads this that they do not ever consider going there. The service was crappy and the food was 10 times worse. It is overpriced for the quality they offer which isn’t quality at all. When I got home I got ready to work in the yard. I figured I could at least start moving my 2x2 slabs over to the side of the house and start dropping down the slabs and build out my sidewalk from the front of the house to the backyard. This project is tough and challenging. It is not as easy as I thought it was going to be. Working with rocks and moving them around, using a level and a pry bar to lift the slabs so I can level it to its adjacent slab isn’t easy. It is heavy and tiring. The day wasn’t as nice and it was partially drizzling so that didn’t make it any fun. After a while I noticed the time was getting late and that I needed to take a shower and get ready for my father’s annual block party. We got ready and Yolanda made a Robert Redford pie desert with a broccoli salad. I took my corn hole game and we drove down to my father house. After everyone arrived we had a good time and we played softball, a little soccer and some football catching. I ate skirt steak, pork chop, rice, broccoli salad, a slice of Robert Reford pie and I had 2 Pepsi cans. I did not drink any beer even though the option was there. I pulled out my corn hole game and it was an instant hit. Everyone took turns playing the game. The night coasted along smoothly and at 12:30 I wrapped it up and said good night and went home tired. I crashed instantly.