He asked "What would you like for your birthday?" She replied, "A front door."

Two years until we got carpeting (which is fantastic! my feet have never been so happy!)-which is fine because the dogs and I can handle sub-floor. However, the neighbors may start complaining if we don't get a front door soon. Not saying it doesn't look good-it just doesn't look good. So, I told Mark that I wanted a front door for my birthday and he was like-no problem, i'll get right on it-and he did! He went and bought the doors-or at least the door slabs (Stankeys don't believe in retail, we customize everything). Door included will be from scratch. I was excitedly telling a work colleague that I was getting a front door for my birthday when it hit me-I did not preface that the door needed to work! Ugh! When will I learn! So last night we're getting ready for bed and Mark says, so I'm pretty sure I can get the door done-I just don't know if the hardware will be in it? What? How does it hang? open? lock? So currently, I have 2 door slabs leaning agains the back of my fireplace. Mark is studying for his LEED exam and I am now off to continue reading Atlas Shrugged-half way through! We'll see if I finish the book before or after the door is installed and working-1200 page book. He's got some time.

She said "I'd like to try a garden this summer." He said, "I'll build you a box!"

The first weekend in May we went up north for the weekend. Had a great weekend with the cousins and wives-Krista, Sara and I got to talking about gardening. I thought that I'd like to try out my green thumb-see if I have one actually. So on the way home I asked Mark what he thought? I was just thinking about tilling up part of the side yard (small) and seeing what happens. Mark said, "I'll build you a garden box." Me thinking it would be 4 boards-4 nails (maybe 8) said "Great! " Thinking this won't take too long...We got home around 5 on Sunday night and I easily had a garden box. All I needed to do was get some dirt! Oh, no - the box wasn't even close to being completed. Over the next three weekends we trimmed the box, puddied the nail holes, sanded, primed and painted the box. Then it was time for the welder! Out of spare steel we had lying around Mark built a cage for our garden box to keep out all the little and big critter's we have around here. Finally, the garden box was complete-I planted the garden on Memorial Day-Tomatoes, Pepper's, Lettuce, Snap Peas, Cucumbers, Green Beans, Herbs and a Jalepeno Pepper plant. Mark's comment, "This was a lot bigger project than what I had anticipated-you better really like to garden." My thought, "If I wasn't meant to garden before-I better be now!"