Jim Goings

Front of the Class

This is old news, but I want to post it for posterity. Rebecca and I remodeled the great room downstairs that we were using as a classroom. We made the room completely dedicated for use as a classroom and playroom for the kids. We were very happy to paint over the urine colored walls with a nice blue color. The single light bulb ceiling fixture was replaced with a 4 tube flourescent fixture that makes the room almost glow with natural looking light. In fact, when you’re upstairs looking down at the lit room, it makes you think the door is open and the sun is shining in.

We also mustered the courage to actually put down carpeting. Since the room as a sump drain in it, I wanted to use carpeting that wouldn’t be ruined in case of a flood. It’s indoor/outdoor carpeting that is glued to the floor. There is no padding so it will be easy to vacuum up and dry out if needed.

For color theme, we made use of a lot of primary colors and painted almost everything from the TV stand to the picture frames. The end result came out great, although I don’t like the tables and chairs. As soon as something comes up on Craigs list I plan on buying some real school desks for the kids. I might even just buy new ones if I can’t find any used ones. Alternately, I would be happy with some matching tables that fit the theme of the room. The brown folding tables just don’t match. I also want plastic school type chairs.

All in all, the room is awesome and the kids love it.

Rachel emails me those stories that have life and moral lessons in them all the time. Today’s was particularly interesting and I wrote her back about how it reminded me of my High School days a bit. When she wrote me back she asked if I got her e-mail about Corry, a close friend from our school days. I hadn’t actually received it so she sent it again. Apparently, Corry wanted to contact me but was apprehensive about it.

Naturally, I contacted him and he wrote me back within an hour or so. He then said that he was indeed apprehensive and was wondering if he had done something to drive me away… strange! Corry and I used to be best buds in junior and sr high school. We were neighbors and did countless things together. We were always hanging out at each other houses, blah, blah, blah. I guess as we got older and graduated high school we grew apart… but not because we didn’t like each other. I moved, he moved, we both got married, etc. Anyhow, I actually visited his folks a few times hoping they would have updates on how he was doing. I never got his contact info and until tonight, we haven’t spoken to each other in many years (at least 7). Anyhow, I wrote him back and hopefully I will call him sometime this weekend. I am very excited to be in touch with an old true friend… one of those guys that you just know is a friend for life… even if we haven’t spoken in a while.

I hope he likes Joss Whedon… otherwise this friendship is over!