One Bathroom Down...Two to Go!

Well, this is what I've been up to. I would have never believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes, but the boys' bathroom was falling apart from too much steam. They think they're creating a sauna in there everytime they shower. They literally have rusted their chrome light fixture, rusted the ceiling vent, and developed some spots of mold growing above the shower. So much moisture had creeped into the window sill paint that it had lifted and was peeling, revealing the metal below. Yuck! Too bad I didn't think of taking a "before" shot sooner. After using bleach to remove the mold and chiseling away at the chiping paint, I sanded and caulked every nook and cranny as well as around all the faucets and other places. Then it looked like this after I applied the tape to prepare for painting: Much better window sill now! After painting, wallpapering... (without the flash)

Then up went the new light fixture...

Sort of a girl/boy surfer theme.

That's a fish chime hanging from the ceiling.

What DIDN'T we do this weekend?

Last Friday I made a list of all the things I'd need to do in order to have the house ready for a realtor walk-thru. It was long, but I divided it out by what I could reasonably do in a day, along with the normal demands. If everything went according to plan, we'd be ready June 15th. Well, of course things never go precisely as intended, for me anyway, since day two was messed up by an unexpected peeling paint problem in the boys' bathroom. That required some web surfing, followed by a trip to Home Depot and will need some extra prep work tomorrow. I bought paint and all the stuff needed along with it to redo the boys' bathroom....new shower curtain and all. (Love those fabric shower curtains...the only way to go!) We'll either end up with a house ready to sell or a much nicer house to live in.

Once everybody got home Friday, Joey chauffered us to Mary's house in La Crescenta. We went out to a Thai restaurant in Montrose called Zen with Steve, Edme and Mary which was very good. Then we spent the night there and got up early Saturday morning to go see Pirates of the Carribean 3. Ressa and Melody stayed home with Mary and went on a mile walk with her and the pomeranian, Toby. Steve's realtor who sold his home for him rents out the theater every year for a Saturday 8:30am showing of the latest & greatest movie out. It's free for all the former customers and four guests. They give out complimentary Krispy Kreme donuts. This is the 2nd year he has invited us. Good movie, but extremely violent. Remember to stay through all the credits because the clues to the next episode are in a scene shown at the very end after the 7 minutes of credits.

I spent Saturday hanging out at the house with Mary and Melody, while Mark took Ressa and the boys over to the local golf course to chip away at some buckets of balls. Sounded like fun, but they all (except Mark) returned frustrated and annoyed by their lack of prowess. Mark did pretty well, I heard.

We returned home Saturday and spent the evening with Ashley and Mackenzie, since they were "kicked out" due to Jim's invitation to his buddies to come join him for a guy's night out watching some fight at his place. Ashley didn't want anything to do with it. Ended up most of the invitees stood him up or shunned him now that he's slowly but surely, becoming more of the family man type. That's a good sign, I said to Ashley. So she went back home earlier than planned. Mackenzie is such a cutie. She's just leaning forward kissin' everybody all the time. She walks, likes to throw balls and keys and tries to start up a "I-drop-it-you-pick-it-up" game with anybody. She has four teeth on top and two teeth on bottom. She's 13 months old and such a sweetie.

Today we went to church and heard some good messages. I made beef stroganoff for the family with 1 lb. extra lean hamburger, 1 whole onion grated, 8 extra large mushrooms cut up, along with the egg noodles and we had a bowl left over.

Before leaving church, I was faced with a dilemma as Austin was standing in the parking lot with two buddies of his both begging him to spend the night at their houses tonight. The parents were standing nearby with everyone waiting for my response....very uncomfortable. I knew one of the boys was going places with his family tomorrow, so I suggested Austin stay the night at HIS house, but could spend time with the other boy tomorrow during the day. Yay, everybody was settled with that compromise. Then we found out the mother was sick at the house he was going to stay over at, so that put everything into a turmoil all over again.

Mark settled the whole thing by suggesting that Austin invite BOTH boys to come stay over at our house tonight. So they did and one boy brought his big brother along, who is Joey's friend to stay all night as well. So we have 3 boys over tonight. So far, so good. The one boy has a reputation for consuming all the Ovaltine we have in the house, whether the cannister started out full or empty. But I knew that going in. Hahaha! I just finished encouraging all to get to sleep. I cleaned and swept the kitchen and figured the hum of the dishwasher would help them fall asleep better.

While they ate, talked, and ate, played video games, and ate some more, Mark and I watched a couple movies I recorded, "A Time to Kill" and "Pandemic." The girls just love staying a little bit back from the action, but still close enough to all the boys to barely be "in on it." They gave us 101 excuses before finally accepting that they had to come up to bed and leave the action-packed environment created by boys aged 17, 16, 2-13 yr. olds, and a 12 yr. old.

Time to call it a day. Hope everybody's Sunday went well too.

Melody's Artwork

Here's a cute drawing Melody did of herself and her favorite vegetables. I was happy to see this since I was not aware that she HAD a favorite vegetable : D

See My Dream House...CLICK HERE!

Then click "view pictures" and then "slideshow" to see what you get for $394,000 in Utah.

PS. Don't tell anybody! Hahaha :D

Looking Back on Mother's Day...

It started off with Barbie cooking up a storm for us---chicken salad on croissants, homemade pie, etc. We ate at a park near her house in Seal Beach.

April (me) and Grammy (our family matriarch.)

Barbie and Jim (or was that Sean Connery :D)

We have Barbie, Dad, Austin (in the distance) and Mike all digging in to the feast.

Last, but not least, Sal and Grammy. This boyfriend-girlfriend pair are about 96 and 86. It always makes me laugh to think about how he initially lied about his age to her. Instead of saying 94, he said 88, or something to that effect.

Mark and the Girls

Mark and the girls had a good time visiting his daughter recently. She was staying down at Disneyland with her mom, so Mark went there to visit her.

They all seemed to have a great time. He's been going out to see her every month and they spend a day together. Now I hear she wants to come spend three weeks with us after school gets out in June.

I know how the good Lord works and maybe I'm just getting sarcastic in my old age but it brings the words to mind...."I can see where this is going." You take the possibility of a move to Utah, combined with much bigger house, with good environment to raise kids in and.... Well, like I said, "I can see where this is going." To have strength and energy equal to the demands of the day is all I ask for.

Update on Utah---

I found some really pretty pictures of Bountiful, Utah at different times of the year. We're just waiting at this point until the job opening is posted June 1st, and then the interview should follow shortly thereafter. I talked with a friend today that I've known for a few years who lived in our ward for some time while her husband went to law school. After he graduated, they went back to Utah where he found work and they bought a 3400 s.f. house in Sandy for around $350k! She was naming off about five different families that used to be in our ward who now live in Salt Lake. She loves the basement shelving areas that you find in every home to store all the food storage items. I could get used to that. I read that living in snow, people have to run their heater all season long to keep their pipes from freezing/bursting. I asked my friend about this and she said neither the heat or electricity have been over $80. Instead, it was the utilities at the apartment in our town that were running her over $200 and breaking her bank!

If we go, we agree we like Bountiful the best. My bishop and his wife are in their early 60s and lived their all their lives except for the last 20 years down here. She told me the city snow plows go up and down all neighborhood and major streets in the city continuously between 2am and 6am every day that there is snow falling. She said you just have to have your "snow tires" put on your cars when the snow starts falling. "Between the plows and the snow tires you can do it."

I'll have to admit when I saw Bountiful city website and that it features a "pioneer of the month".... this is my kind of town! Hahaha! It has it's own little downtown similar to how Orange did. No telling how this will go, but like I said, we'll know more after the initial interview. Something has to give before Joey graduates. I've been praying for something to change so we won't be impoverished. We'll lose about $1200/mo June next year because the survivors benefits will stop coming in. By moving to Utah we could cut our mortgage by 500 or 600/month and at the same time, gain twice the land and twice the square footage as well!!! THAT is very tempting!

GET A LOAD OF THIS! When it says "Davis, UT" that means Davis County School District which includes Bountiful. (Taken from the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research report of 2006):

• Among the nation's 100 largest public school districts (by total enrollment size), the highest graduation rate was in Davis, Utah (89 percent), followed by the Ysleta Independent School District in Texas (84 percent).
• Among the 100 largest districts, the lowest graduation rate was in San Bernardino City Unified district (42 percent), followed by Detroit (42 percent) and New York City (43 percent).

That does it! We're oughta here! Hahaha!

LDS Prom - For the 16-18 Crowd

Joey and friends had a great time at this last month at the prom. Here are some pictures taken and posted at www.photobucket.com.

Even Katie was there with a boy she invited to go to it:

5% Muscle & 95% Willpower....got the furniture moved!

Last Sunday morning as I was in my room getting ready to go, I heard all kinds of commotion, laughing, orders being given, from the next room. Ressa and Melody were in there behind a closed door, intently working on a "surprise" they claimed was for me. I had no idea and wanted to peek in, but since there were no tears or crying going on.....well, naturally you leave well enough alone.

Next thing I know, they have moved the frame, boxsprings and matteress from being perpendicular to the other twin to being parallel, right up against the other bed as if to form a king-sized bed. I was shocked and amazed that they could do it. It's hard for me to moved that all around, let alone six and seven year olds.

They just love it that way, and the funny thing is that they've stopped coming into my bed around 5am as they always have. Though I've often fussed about it because they're growing up and the bed is more and more crowded....I'm actually sort of missing it. Here's a picture I took of them this morning before they woke up.

Father & Sons...GONE WILD!

Since the "Spudzooka" had technical difficulties at the last minute, it did not make an appearance at the campout. Instead, Mark bought several water balloon "launchers" for an older vs. younger boys water balloon fight. Here are some scenes from the battlefront featuring Joey, Randy and Helaman:

Perhaps some were putting a little more into it than others... (see injured leg)

Now Austin, in the red, and others may have thought they were safe, being that far away, but unfortunately it was not the case.

As you can guess, any time you combine boys, extreme fun, and some muscle....somebody ALWAYS gets hurt. Joey fired off a water balloon and it hit Austin right in the leg above the knee. Even though Austin looked so far away, I couldn't believe how hard it hit him!

And naturally, THAT MEANT WAR!!! These guys needed some help, so one of the dads/Young Men leader (on left) came over and started giving these kids some coaching.

You couldn't ask for a better set of leadership for the young men at church. The guy in black is the president and lives just around the block from us. He's a swimming pool salesman, drives a Harley, has a few kids and takes the 16/17 year old boys out on his sailboat on occasion. The only requirement...they have to bring a date. Lots of fun! The men on either side are his counselors and the boys all love these guys.

Here's Austin with Randy playing with the younger set. Austin will often ask me if he can go somewhere or do something with boys younger than him and always add, "Mom, do you realize how much these guys need me to be a role model for them?" His enthusiasm and continual joking around attracts so many kids to him. I'm glad he feels the responsibility to be a good example, at the same time.

Some Facts About the Beehive State

I did a little reading and found out a few interesting tidbits:

• Utah's state sales tax is 4.75%
• Bountiful, UT property tax rates are 1.1571% on 55% of your home's fair market value.
• The good news is: we would end up paying almost exactly the same amount for property tax as we do right now.
• Groceries are taxed at 2.75%

Another side note:

• Ressa and Austin would fit right in and not stand out like "whitey tidies" (as Austin puts it.)

Head-Turning Quotes!

• Mom to Austin after driving for 10 minutes: "Hey Austin, do you have your seat belt on?"
• Austin: "No."
• Mom: "Well, then hurry up and get it on!"
• Austin: "Mom, I don't need a seat belt because YOU KNOW, I am manly enough to take a crash."

Our Day in Court

Monday, my 17 yr. old had to testify in court against two 16 yr. old boys who robbed him of his ipod and wallet, while walking home from school in February. He did a great job. The defense tried to trip him up a lot by adding, "Right?" to the end of every question they asked. Under direct questioning, he said they "shoved" him away, but then corrected and said, "actually it was really more like a nudge." When Dad heard about this, he started joking that that's the Grandma coming out in him. Dad suggested that Mom could spend 30 minutes just describing the "nudge." Hahaha!

That day we spent hours there being called in, then out and over again. Being a juvenile court proceeding, you can only be in there to say your peace, then you have to exit as to not hear anything else. I had been told back in March that I would be asked to give a "Victim Impact Statement." On Monday, they said it was optional before sentencing, but I told her I had a statement I wanted to give. "Well ok then," she said. When it came my time I went in and both families of the boys were all there dressed up nice, brothers and sisters included. The mothers faces were stained with tears as they continued sobbing off and on.

My statement went something like this:

I have had a lot of time to think about you boys since this happened in February. I want you to know we're Christian people. We believe in forgiveness and second chances. I appreciate that you did not hurt my son that day. I don't wish anything bad or terrible on you and I intend to try not to think about this anymore and just let it go.

With that being said, I think there are some things you should understand about just how many people were affected by this crime. Every school-aged child in our city received a letter home in their backpack with the details of this event. We thought we lived in a safe city, but we don't feel that way anymore. I could rattle off the names of ten families who kids used to walk, but they have now changed their schedules all around after what you did to my son.

When you did this, I know you were just thinking about yourselves, you could not have known that when you picked my son, you were choosing somebody who's had to overcome his dad's suicide, his mother having cancer. I've tried so hard to help make his life good, to try and make-up for all the bad things. I've tried so hard to keep him safe. To think his life could have ended that day was so, so horrible. We're no strangers to tragedy, but he didn't need this! I was crying for days, my mother, my grandmother were so upset, aunts, uncles, all the family ....nobody could understand...why would anybody want to hurt HIM? He doesn't have any enemies. He's always been a friend to everybody.

I actually think you guys are pretty smart. To come up with a scheme such as this one and try to pull it off....well, if you can do that, then I'd say you're smart enough to do some homework.....or smart enough to figure out how to study for a test and get a good grade on it. Yeah, that's what you should be worried about. That's where it's at.

I hear you both have nice families. Do things that make your families proud. Bring some honor to your family's name. There's no honor in this. This is no way to live. You don't want to be remembered for the people you bullied and terrorized! You want to be known for the good you do for others.

Maybe you both need to spend more time with your fathers, doing things that boys your age do with their dads. I don't know what you're lacking or if you're missing something inside, but maybe you should do some Community Service. It would do you good to go down and sit with some kids in the cancer ward of a children's hospital. Those kids have NO second chance. They KNOW they will die. But you, even as you sit here today, you have SOMETHING you could offer them. You could conjure up some funny story from your childhood and cheer them up or brighten their day. Or you could read a book to them. The feeling you get from doing something like that for someone less fortunate than yourself is what's going to bring you happiness in life. I promise you that the feeling you get from doing something like THAT, FAR EXCEEDS whatever exhiliration you could possibly feel knowing you made off with somebody's property and scared them to death! Make your families proud.

I wish you the very best and hope that today you will decide you never again want to associate yourself with this sort of behavior or let any thought of harming someone ever find a place in your heart again. And if I ever hear of your name again, I hope it's because you've turned your life around, are married with some kids, and maybe your kids are going to the same elementary school as my sons kids....AND THEY'RE ALL FRIENDS! And this thing can be buried in the past, just a small puzzle piece in the lives of you young men, never to have to be mentioned again.

Earlier during my son's testimony one boy appeared drained and beaten emotionally. The other boy appeared a little mad and resentful at getting caught. By the time I finished, both boys were crying and wiping tears away quickly. The defense attorneys came out and shook hands with me down the hall. Both mothers ran over and apologized and we hugged. One mother through her crying, begged us both to "please don't hate black people over this. Please don't be prejudice the rest of your life because of this. I even work for the courts and it's so embarrassing to me." We assured her we wouldn't judge people because of their actions. (It sort of gives the 2nd Article of Faith a deeper meaning....We believe that men will be punished for their own sins and not for Adam's trangressions. This makes me see how we too should not "punish" (pre-judge) an entire race for the actions of some.....interesting).

Overall, I felt very good for having been there and especially the way it ended. We were all so loving toward one another afterward (prosecutor, defense, victims family, perpetrator's family). It was a great experience, like something you would ONLY see on The Andy Griffith Show :D

Dad + Kids + Potato Gun = SPUDZOOKA!

Boys will be boys! Now you tell me, who's the biggest kid on OUR block?

Here's Mark with his homemade "SPUDZOOKA!"

Austin & Joey talked Mark into actually putting together the "Potato Gun" he has always told them about. He has some tall tales (undoubtedly true) about some of his older boy cousins down in the South using these to fire off a potato some 500 ft. into the air! Well, it's the annual Father & Sons Campout for the men and boys at church this weekend. They're going somewhere in the San Gabriel Mountains, but Mark is planning to inaugurate this contraption at said campout Friday night! He built it from scratch with black ABS pipe, a hand-held BBQ ignitor, horrible-smelling pipe glue, hair spray for fuel, and a potato for ammo. It looks and smells dangerous as heck, but he assures me it isn't....I'm not so sure....

You can see by their faces that these kids are all a little skeptical, except the tallest one, of course. KABOOM! He tested it out with an apple and it shot across the yard fast and furious with a loud noise I heard from inside the house.

The Breeze of Change is Blowing Again...

It's interesting how things have been going for us lately. This deal with the corvette came out of nowhere, and has a pretty good chance of turning a profit for us, if we go that route. Even more importantly though, it has brought about more opportunities in the past two weeks for me to talk and laugh with my brother Danny than we've had in the past five years. (Mostly due to a 14 year age difference and lack of common interests.) If there were no other benefit from the purchase than to have that common bond, it's been worth it!

A couple years ago we attended the Ball family reunion up in Salt Lake City, UT and spent several days up there. By the end, the boys were begging Mark to move. Joey loved all the classy girls up there; and going into restaurants at night where every bar was empty! Austin pointed out how fun it was to be somewhere in public and with all the Church members around us who share our faith, we'd hear people talking about Scouts, ward parties, primary, etc. Even some Monday night "Family Home Evening" ideas were tossed out over the loud speaker in the mall. It was fun.

When we returned, Mark went to a man 3-rungs up the ladder of bosses and asked about any job opportunities out of the bank up in Salt Lake. This particular man is over all the Risk Management credit offices in San Leandro, Boise, Salt Lake, Tempe, Seattle, and Diamond Bar. He said he's make a mental note of it. Well, it seems he has not forgotten and has molded the hierarchy here in Diamond Bar around that request of Mark's. The boss position immediately over Mark came open a month ago and most people thought Mark was the obvious choice....but it was not to be. They brought back a former manager who had moved to Minneso1ta, hated it, and wanted to come back. He will start next week. When Mark was told the news that he didn't have the Diamond Bar position, he was told that there would be management opportunities opening up out-of-state that would be perfectly suited to him.

Today, a manager out of Las Vegas who oversees the Salt Lake office called Mark to tell him a position there is available. It opens up June 1st and they want Mark to interview for it. It would be a lateral move straight across the board to the same thing he does now, but the difference is that we could have a lot more home and property for the same mortgage we pay now, or have a home similiar to what we have now with more cash flow freed up. We've always said it would be advantageous to live near BYU for our kids to go there. The thought of getting to finish up my bachelor's degree at BYU....just 20 years late...would be exciting. And to teach there someday, even better! I'm just rambling. Of course, I'd miss all the family, but as long as we're all logged in to our blogs, it feels like we're close. Time will tell....

There Was No Need to Fear...

It takes me exactly 15 minutes to drive over to the college, park, and walk to my class. Today I had to run by the bookstore first and buy a particular scantron form for the final. I only allowed myself an extra 15 minutes because the bookstore is never crowded. Oops! There were about thirty people in line ahead of me. Thank goodness everyone was buying the same thing and the cash register was ringing up $0.43 over and over and over. Took 10 minutes to get through the store with form in hand. One thing I've tried to do it make double-triple sure that I never miss a homework assignment or that I never turn in anything late that's assigned as we go through the semester. The advantage to this is that when I went up to the teacher to ask my grade, she said if I got 50% (an F) on the final exam I'd get an A for the class. The final exam was 100 questions and counted for 100 points. I needed 50 points to get an A. That was good news because it wasn't too hard.

That's a real important (but sometimes difficult) thing to get across to the junior-high-aged child. They struggle to understand the law of averages and may let a homework assignment go here or there and wind up with 0% on them. The problem comes when they don't realize that they need about nine 100% papers to make up for those two missed ones, to bring the grade average to an A or 90%. It's so much easier just to tackle it on a daily basis and be relieved at the end.... Just some more interesting facts to know and forget....

Wish Me Luck!

Gotta run! Today's my last day of the "Science of Nutrition" class. Our final exam is this morning from 10:45 - 1:15. There are 100 questions, but it never takes as long as they give you. Besides, there's nothing better than a teacher who lets you fill out both sides of a cheat sheet and bring it with you. Hardly a real test, I'd say. Have a good day everybody! Summer school doesn't start until 6/18 and I got into two completely online classes. I can do it all from home, which will require good time management and discipline to keep up with everything without ever walking into a class. Those classes will be Sociology and World History 1500 to present. The latter one is the one I had to drop this semester when Ressa was sick so long. See ya later...

Happy Birthday Stephanie (on the 14th!)...

Wow, my youngest sister turned 32. Or was that 23? I forget and it's hard to tell, anyway.... I guess we're all moving on that same path onward and upward. If I had one minute (unfortatunately, this is about all I have : ( to describe Stephanie I would have to say it this way:

• Chic
• Stylish & fashionable
• Organized
• Thoughtful
• Kind
• Caring
• Active
• "With it!"
• "On the go!"
• Sensible
• Spiritual
• Never a slacker
• Busy bee
• Time management expert
• Neat & Tidy
• Big heart!

Now if only the first letter on each lined spelled S-T-E-P-H-A-N-I-E, this would really be cool....oh well, I tried, but it was not to be. Haha! Hope you had a great birthday Steph! Sorry I'm a day late, but yesterday was spent either sitting in a courtroom or worrying about the fact I was GOING TO BE sitting in a courtroom. Oops!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, MOM!

Loved being around Mom today. I'm so proud of her. I'm catching up to her in age, it seems like. She is only eighteen years my senior, but when I think back to when we were 12 and 30 and how it seems now at ages 41 and 59, I'm afraid I'm closing in on her fast. Practically anytime and anywhere, if you really need her she can be with you in an hour. And she'll really do it! I am thankful for her always having a listening ear, and never cutting me short when I really, really needed to talk. She's a good woman full of character, integrity, and a moral backbone. I'm so glad that she's my mom. Hope your day was a good one, Mom!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!....As written by an honest 13 year-old boy.

My son doesn't know I put his card on here, but it was just so heart-felt and sincere, I had to share. Mothers just want to be wanted, needed, and appreciated. The cards today made all the sacrifices and gray hairs worth it.

(I LOVE the "PS. don't start crying : ) part at the bottom!!)

I sure love my children. They are the little lights that brighten up my world on a daily basis--keep my laughing, and keep me young (at heart, anyway). I'm sure I'll have to put all four of their cards up here by tomorrow.

And as I've always said to my friends, it's the father's responsibility to lead the way and teach the children what to do to make Mother's Day special for mom....(breakfast in bed, etc.) Likewise, it's the mother's responsibility to lead the way and teach the children what to do, say, and buy to make Father's Day special for the dads out there. I so appreciate my husband and the extra time he took in making my favorite breakfast food (even though it's not his favorite) and getting me something special, printing up homemade Mother's Day cards--one for each child to sign and give me personally. He's a great leader and knows just what makes the day special for me. He's one great guy and I'm very lucky to have him!

Then the day was crowned with a terrific picnic in Seal Beach near Barbie. We had chicken salad croissants, chips, drinks, and pies including a homemade banana-cream by Barbie. There was mom, dad, Grammy, Sal, Mike, Danny, Barbie, Jim, and all of my family. We were greatly entertained by the constant, informal "emcee job" provided by Mike and Danny as they pitched baseballs to Joey and Austin, threw frisbees to Joey, Austin, Mark, Mom, and Barbie. It was classic Stoddart entertainment, unrehearsed and performed by Mike and Danny with all the precision of a comedy duo. Can't wait to do it again! Hope all you ladies out there had a wonderful day!

Meet My Classic '69 Vette ..."Velvet"

Prior to our purchase today, the owner told me through her tears that she named it "Velvet" the past 14 years. I felt kind of bad going through with it. She was pretty emotional about it. Thanks to my brother Danny (seen in the next photo getting in the driver's door) for getting the car trailer this morning and hooking it all up. Danny was so excited, he quickly volunteered to be the one sitting inside to steer the car (not the lightest choice, hahaha) while three other guys pushed it up onto the ramp.

Amazingly enough the car has 15,176 original miles on the engine...all original parts including the rims, glass, front/rear bumpers, numbers matching engine, transmission, etc. etc! You gotta love that shine!! I can't even imagine how pretty it's going to be when he gets through with it.

Now this fellow in the next photo is our man, Karl who will do all the restoration work on the paint, and detail the engine for me. Several have told me what beautiful work he does and just how meticulous he is about the quality of his work. There's a section of paint missing there on the hood where a wingnut hit the hood and raised a small section of fiberglass slightly, when the motor mount came loose while a teenager had taken it out for a drive.

Right around the gas tank cover you can see a glimpse of the original "brick red" paint color. That's what we're going after. Karl, seen below left promises it will look like it rolled right off the showroom floor when he gets done with it.