Have the house to myself (well, the kids are here, but they’re in school during the day) until Friday night while my wife is in Minneapolis.
I’m thinking major beer blowout – Thursday morning 7:30 am sharp…out by 2pm.
Everyone knows those are the best drinking hours. If all goes well we can do it again on Friday.
Anyone? Anyone? Hey, where are you all going!?
Sigh.
We ended up getting 6 inches or so. Maybe 8. I haven’t been outside so I’m guessing based on my window observations. When I looked out the window I noticed that our sidewalk was cleared. It struck me as odd as I’d bet a large wager that no one else in the house would have gone out and shoveled. Then I noticed the sidewalk out along the street was cleared. Then I noticed our driveway was too. Then I noticed everybody’s was.
Turns out the guy across the street took his snowblower around and did the entuire cul-de-sac.
He needs punched in the nuts.
The snow is simply gorgeous. It was a very wet snow here and it’s sticking to everything. It’s ridiculously awesome. Like some kind of sugar-coated fairy tale land. Giggity.
Donegal Tweed = No
New Chestnut = Yes
On the wall:
Melted Butter = I Don’t Hate It
Vanilla Custard = Grew On Me
Sahara Shade = Blech!
Going to try Donegal Tweed as a replacement for Sahara Suck.
Time for a little more fatherly pride. My daughter brought an assignment home from reading class that had been graded and this was on the inside:
Turns out the teacher wants to keep it to show future classes what she expects when this specific assignment/project comes up each year. So that was pretty cool.
Even better was my daughter’s confession that she “just threw it together real quick the night before” it was due. Is it wrong that that half of the story makes me smile more than the first half?
I just want public record of the fact that today – December 2, 2009 – is the day the transition from little girl to total teenager has happened in our home.
Today in response to my making a joking comment about my daughter forgetting her band practice time sheet and signing it and handing it to her I was met with, “I know, daa-aaad!”
…and she said it in that tone of voice. (you have it in your head right now – and you’re spot on)
So I egged it on a little by questioning her lack of practice and got my first bit of real-world first-hand “teen logic” about how she needs this program for her computer that I’ve been dragging my feet on getting because she’s not sure if she’s hitting notes right and practicing wrong develops bad habits and wonk wonk wonk – essentially it was my fault she doesn’t practice enough. (not snotty about it, mind you, but definitely the twisted logic that we use with our parents at that age – and I’m sure it made perfect sense to her as she said it.)
Like I totally stepped out of body for the 45 seconds the whole conversation took and I could see the scene from above – a legit out of body experience! And I’m telling myself, “Holy shit! This is the moment. This is the first toe being dipped into the cold swimming pool. This is the beginning of the teen years coming on. At first it’s just a glimpse here and there. Then patterns develop. Then it’s more common than not. And before you know it – you have a fucking teenager.
It was truly a moment that made me both chuckle and feel a little sad at the same time.
I just want a written record of this moment. Definitely for posterity, but also so I can come back and read this a few years down the line when I can’t figure out why my kid seems to have gone totally nuts and does only things that makes me want to smack her upside the head.
I just realized that I did almost nothing for 5 straight days…other than eat Turkey in various forms.
There was some holiday shopping involved, but for the most part the 5 day holiday (Wed-Sun) was a time of doing nothing.
What a great holiday we had! Yay!
I’m sitting here bored on a Monday night. The kids are sleeping and the wife is out of town for an overnight conference. It’s business as usual after a week of vacation in November. My wife took last week off because:
1. She has vacation time to use and we have no specific plans for anything anytime soon.
2. Her hotel is getting a full blown renovation (like $2 million+) that starts at the end of the month and runs through spring, so she kind of need to be there.
So the idea was to take one of her remaining weeks before the renovation and one after in the spring. Her anniversary is in June so she gets more weeks then – and we’re using immediately using one of those to go check out the Intimidator coasters. It all worked out. We had some stuff that needed done around here and everything fell into place.
We spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday getting the leaves out of the yard. You may have seen the leaf density photo, but it does no justice to the sheer amount of leaves that our yard held. It was a solid three days of effort to clear 95% of the leaves. 95% is good enough for us, but we have a couple of hardcore neighbors still going out in the evening catching the last few leaves that trickle from trees or blow around in an effort to maintain a perfect score. I often feel like smacking them.
On top of that, on Monday I had a dentist appointment and for some reason she (my dentist) loaded me up with an obscene amount of novacaine – like to the point that I was so numb on the side of my face that I was slurring like a drunk. To make it even better she really crammed that needle deep into the gums at the back of my mouth. I was still a little sore the next day.
On Tuesday we went out and did a little shopping. In the evening we turned in my son’s football equipment.
Wednesday, we finally got to considering the basement on a serious level after the great flood of 2009. The flood sucked, don’t get me wrong, but the truth is, we wanted to eventually redo the basement anyway. This just forced our hand a little.
There’s a bunch of things we want to change down there, but the main thing was the bar and stuff that took up entirely too much space, was ugly and made no sense for a family who doesn’t throw swank drinking soirees in their basement. Well, ripping that shit out was WAY easier than I had anticipated and by Wednesday evening the bar, built-ins and back wall were reduced to a pile of rubble that was now sitting in the garage. I only broke two hammers in the process. Never bother with the cheap wooden-handled kind – I’ve had a couple for years and years now. After this past Wednesday, I don’t. It feels very manly to break a hammer. (insert stupid Tim Allen grunting here)
So yeah, a big chunk of the basement work we want to do is taken care of. We have some ideas and a “What the hell, why not?” attitude going forward and we’d like to do what we can by spring and then get carpet laid again. Basically the 80% of the total work that accounts for 30% of the total costs. That’s make it ‘ours’ and much more functional and liveable. We do the big expensive ‘vanity’ stuff (like complete and rearrange the half bath down there – down the road when we have more liquidity in our cashflow.
It was a good start that was easier than expected and has us excited about the possibilities down there.
On Thursday we finally got a guy out here to fix our garage door. The torsoin spring snapped about a month or so back and we’ve been unable to open the big door since then. It was an easy (and relatively cheap) fix and we felt kind of stupid for not pursuing it sooner. That evening we all decided to go see A Christmas Carol. I hadn’t seen a movie at the theater in 3D since I was a kid and wanted to check it out, plus the movie looked kinda cool – even if just for the rendering – and in typical “my wife is a CVB member, pillar of the hospitality community and general area service industry insider” we can do movies for free most of the time. This was one of those times. (seems like a sweet perk, but we’re really not movies-at-the-theater people – a couple a year at most)
Now people complain about amusement park prices on the various forums and I think it’s crazy. Shit costs money, simple as that. Apparently these people don’t see many movies because had we paid for tickets for the 7pm showing in 3D the total would have been $50 for two adults and two children. On top of that 4 drinks and a bucket of popcorn clocks in at right around $30. (I wanna say it was $32, but if I try to remember the prices and do the math I get $27 and change – so it’s somewhere in that range)
$80 to see a 90 minute movie with basic refreshments. That’s almost a dollar a minute for a family of four…and people are ponying that up. The amusement park price whiners need to shut the fuck up. Amusement parks are a great value.
So yeah, the movie was the 1000th rehash of the same old story. It was cute. I like that the 3D these days (and I’m assuming it’s tru e based on the previews we saw in 3D for several other movies) isn’t the gimmicky “coming at you” stuff that I always thought 3D was. This 3D went the other way and added depth to the scenes. Rather than the background at the screen with everything jutting out from there, it seemed like the foreground was at the screen and everything went back from there. Rather than being visually assaulted by the images, I found myself wanting to reach into the scene deeper to see even more. It’s come a long way and we all agreed that it really worked well and added to the movie. If this is 3D in the 21st century, I’m all for it.
On Friday the kids had off and my daughter was sitting on a buttload of birthday money so she and my wife hit the Greene in the morning and then swung by for me and my son and we did the mall and some other stores in the afternoon.
On Saturday, my son had a birthday party to go to, so we dropped him off there and did some stuff around the house including cleaning out the garage a little since the door was functioning again. Once we get the bar remnants out of there, we can start pulling in for the winter. We haven’t really used the garage as a place for the cars yet because last winter we had just moved it and it was all full of crap. Over the summer we filled it with tools and bricks and dirt and junk from all the outside work we were doing and then as fall approached the door broke. We’re finally almost ready to use the garage as a garage. How sick is that?
On Sunday we vegged and watched the Steelers fucking lose. We kind of kept it lazy and watched football and the stupid shit that’s on TV on the weekends and finished our vacation with the latest episode of Californication that night.
That was the past week+ in a nutshell. I’m sure I forgot something, but I wanted to dump this onto the blog before it got too far removed and I didn’t feel like it. I have photos of much of what we did, but don’t feel like getting them on here right now.
Not too often I sit back and smile and just think I had a good day. That’s not to say things suck, but as I get older the little victories mean less and it takes more to light up that inner smile. Also, it seems like everytime in my life when I sat back and thought, “You know, things are good.” it was immediately followed by my world crumbling around me. So much so that I’ve become a little superstitious about actually acknowledging it. So let me just add the disclaimer that I’d like the external forces that control the universe (particularly my corner of it) to know that I’m not gloating as much as simply relaying the events of my day. (awkward smile)
Today I was reminded how much my kids kick ass. Like serious ass. Like your kid sucks compared to my kid sort of stuff.
Today was parent/teacher conferences and report cards.
My son generally does well with the exception of reading – where he’s not failing or behind, but he has to work to keep it up. But every year without doubt we’re told how he is an example of what a student should be – hard working, willing to help, polite, well manner and behaved – just a pleasure to be around. Last month was his third consectuive year for receiving the ‘citizenship award’ that the school gives. He’s only been in school three years – do the math. How can that not make you smile? Add to that the fact that he’s a hardcore middle linebacker that will rip your fucking head off and you can’t lose. We always joke that he’s like my wife and he is – in almost every way. Just read the adjectives I used to describe him and you have my wife…except I’m not sure she ever played middle linebacker, but she will rip your fucking head off.
The other half of the joke is that my daughter is just like me – and it’s true. A lovingly cynical, over-talented cutie with a scathing sense of humor that is both quick witted and silly at once.
My daughter excels without having to put forth much effort. She’s ridiculously bright and has been a straight A student for as long as I can remember. She always test at advanced levels and finally with this meeting there was recommendation of moving towards getting her in the honors program now that she’s in middle school. Plus, she’s the one who always got into the extracurricular stuff ranging from student council to land lab to origami to band to whatever else she’s done. To make matters even worse, she’s popular. Walk down the hall with her in a mostly empty school and you’ll still hear a dozen hellos from students and teachers alike before you get where you’re going – and tonight was no exception. The theme of our meetings about her have gone from “great student, a pleasure to have in class” to “we have to make sure we find ways to keep this girl challenged” – I don’t claim to know how much of things is nature vs nurture, but again, I can’t help but smile.
Just the kind of day that makes you sit back with a kind of bewildered smile and think, “Damn, we’re doing something right.”
Plus, I went for a haircut this afternoon and got one of the girls I like with no wait on a walk-in. That was pretty sweet too.
Lots of wind here today to go with the 70+ degree temps. That means leaves are dropping like crazy. The leaf density in our yard is sick:
And yes, that’s a top-down look at a portion of the wall.
Taken this afternoon out back on the deck:
Knowing permanent cold is just around the corner, I took the last two days to finally finish the brick wall I started back in June. It didn’t take more than a few hours on Wednesday to finish planting the base row(s) and stack the rest. For the record my estimates were about as close as someone with no wall building experience could get – we did indeed end with a wall 8 bricks high (as predicited way back in June) and I ended short just 15 bricks. Pretty good for trying to estimate and count in my head.
Then on Thursday we paid a shitload of money for a shitload of quality topsoil. We needed dirt to fill in our newly leveled landscaping and, in addition to running of out other places around the yard to pilfer it from, wanted to get some decent dirt for planting next spring. So we get some dirt brought in. Two problems:
1. They couldn’t dump it inside the area that I needed it, so I spent today shoveling a pile of dirt from the yard to the landscape area
2. One shitload of dirt isn’t even close to what we need. My guess it three shitloads to fill the area – and paying three shitloads is not something I want to do right now.
So my back is sore, but a I have a sweet retaining wall finished along the from of the house with the section nearest the front door left opened-ended so that it can either function as it stands or be continued along the sidewalk and around the front of the house if we decide to go all over-the-top ambitious in the spring.
So without further ado, the wall that still needs 15 bricks and two shitloads of dirt.
A blog history of the wall project:
I still have a shitload of stuff that I wanted to do that I haven’t yet. Things around the house, that is. Amazing how a little procrastination (lazy is fun) mixed with a little bit of busy-ness (practices, appointments, life, etc), mixed with the occasional smack of dumb luck (did I mention the garage door opener was the latest house casualty?) and the overall additional costs of owning a house all lead to things not getting done. Summer is over and I’m sitting here thinking I HAVE to do some of this shit before the end of the month.
1. Finish the landscaping wall
2. Clean the gutters and get the stupid gutter covers off
3. Pull the ivy that’s overtaking the area between the house and shed
4. Oraganize the garage so the cars can get pulled in this winter
5. Put all the outside stuff in the shed for the winter
6. Get the fucking garage door fixed (new to the list as of this week)
Then it’s back to inside stuff over the winter. More painting, finally getting the basement back together after the great flood of 2009, furniture to fill the rooms so it looks like someone actually lives here.
…
Stuff is hard…and stuff.
The gas company is doing some work around the neighborhood this week. Today our gas is turned off and it’s currently a crisp 64 degrees inside.
On the plus side, I get to light pilots later when they turn the gas back on.
The people that live to the left side of us (stage left – well, kinda perpendicular, really, because of how the houses sit on the end of the cul-de-sac) are an old couple that have lived here since our little group of houses were built. They’re the last original owners here. They’re also the ones we like the least – for no reason other than you can tell they expect us to be all neighborly and invite them to dinner and always stop to talk and crap like that. Very old school. We always suspected it and then one day the old woman stopped by and talked to my wife and pretty much confirmed those expectations in the course of conversation. Of course, they get nothing more than a quick wave if we happen to leave while they’re out or vice versa.
So anyway, today I leave to pick up my son from school and the entire circle of the cul-de-sac is line with cars. The old people’s driveway is also filled to the hilt with cars. No biggie except that I did notice that one was parked directly in front of our mailbox. Again, no biggie, but I was curious as to what would happen if the maillady came (in her little mail van) and had to deliver our mail before they left.
Well, when I went out to get the mail a few minutes ago, I found out:
That was stuck to my pile of mail. It’s a sticky like a post-it. Just rip one off and stick it where necessary.
I can tell you where I’d like to stick it.
In fact, I think I will take it over and stick it on (in?) the old people’s mailbox. Which is on our property anyway, but that’s a whole different story.
Consider it a pet peeve, but nothing bugs me more than taking the shit for something that I didn’t do – even something as silly as a reminder from the USPS when some other fuckwad blocks my mailbox with their car because their blotchy, vein-covered, octogenarian legs won’t carry them the extra 7 feet it’s gonna take to pull past my mailbox. Suck a cock, grandma!
There. I’m done. I feel better.
I’m still sticking the post-it in their mailbox though.
It’s happening in my front yard as I type this.
(edited to add the following)
Actually, I just looked out the window again and it’s gone. Crap! I missed him (her?) fly away with the squirrel…
I finally got some time to get back out front and work on the summer-long retaining wall landscaping project of 2009. (yes, that’s the official title)
I got the 6th row on, but now I’m out of dirt. Up to this point I’ve been using extra dirt from around the garage where we ripped out all of the old plants and stuff to fill this area (you know actually modifying the contour of the land – real landscaping), but now I’m out of free dirt. I actually have to pay to get someone to bring me dirt. Life is stupid like that. At any rate here’s where it stands until I buy dirt:
No, not the people who bought the house diagonal from us. This one:
I’ve spotted her a couple of different days now. What mkes it kind of funny is that she goes from the wooded area behind our house to the wooded area behind the houses on the other side and they’re diagonal from each other so she walks up the sidewalk all nonchalantly like no one will notice. All that’s missing is the inconspicuous whistling.
