Billy....do you like Gladiator Movies ???

Why is it that I am only posting stuff that happens on the weekend anymore? Could be because that's only when stuff goes on rather than the same ol same ol of go home, eat, play with kids, go to bed.
Friday night. The night of the big night time golf outing for the Kiwanis. The weather looked really good all afternoon then all of a sudden some storms popped up around 3:00pm. I kept an eye on them all afternoon and they got bigger and bigger. I was hoping that they would either blow through quickly or slip up north of us. I was already preparing myself for a soggy round. By the time I got home from work it was not looking good at all, but there was a slight window of it clearing up in time. My plan was to show up at 8:00pm and decided whether to just have something to eat or if I was going to attempt to play golf. My mom called around 5:30 and said that she wasn't even going to bother going out there, but I told her my plan. A few minutes later she called me and informed me that they were going to postpone the outing until next Friday. Probably a good idea. So I made the one phone call to Marc to let him know that it was postponed since he is the only one that was going to play with me. So now I have to get geared up for this Friday and hopefully talk a few more people into playing. Friday night I ended up mopping the furnace room up cleaning the concrete of some of the dirt and mud from the flood and the water heater replacement. All in an attempt to begin the furnace room remodel very soon.
Saturday I didn't really know what to do. Jen didn't have to work all weekend so it meant I could get some projects done around the house or we could take the boys to have some fun. I decided to try and get a few things done around the house. I pulled the Saturn out to wash and wax it, but the clouds kind of put that project on hold. While I was waiting for the clouds to make up their mind I edged the driveway and curb, then planted 3 plants that Jen had gotten from the mall, and a few other little things outside. By then the clouds cleared so I was able to wash and wax the car. Just before I finished we decided to hit church that night so we could do whatever on Sunday. After putting the kids to bed Saturday night I put in the movie "300". All I can say is that it is a very interesting movie. I can't say it was really good or really bad, just interesting. Very violent, but not really. The blood was flying everywhere, but you never saw it on the ground or on anything else. I don't know if it's just me, but knowing the the narrator of the movie was the goofy Monk from "VanHelsing" was a bit disconcerting. All I know is the the women of that time must have been REALLY COLD all of the time. Let's just say they could cut glass.
Sunday we decided to run up to the lake and go swimming. We got up there and found out that the water was real cold due to all the rain that they got up there, so we decided not to chance it. We hung out and visited, with the boys playing in the camper most of the day. We came back into town pretty early, and I was able to get the yard mowed, and the last of the gutter guards installed on the second story. Mental note to self: next time make sure I have on the tennis shoes with good tread when standing on the second story, and make sure I don't drop any more stuff off the roof. It sucks climbing down all the way to retrieve stuff.

The whirrrrring placenta

Yeah I know I am going to get yelled at for posting this, but it's just too damn funny.

Jen went to the doctor's today for a "baby" check. Jen tells me that the doctor couldn't pick up the heart beat with his stethoscope and all he could hear was the whirring (as she calls it) of the placenta. Huh? Bwaaaa haaaa haaaa. I didn't know that placenta's whirrrred. What exactly would that sound like? Would it be like a 4th of July firework, or something more like a gay guy dancing (woooooooooooo) Oh God that was funny, either that or I really need to get some sleep tonight. Of course she was talking about hearing the blood flow around the placenta.

Everything is fine, but for the second time the doctor couldn't hear the baby's heartbeat with his little stethoscope, so she had to use an ultrasound machine to pick it up. Unlike the last time, she had to wait 10 minutes for a ultrasound machine to become available which of course adds to the worry time the she has to deal with. The baby's heart rate is around 160, so a very strong heartbeat.

Doghouse... party of one.....comming.......

Meltdown

On the way home from church on Sunday, Jen said that she had to stop at the store to buy a few things for a "carry-in" at work that night. I decided to stop at the Kroger store on the way home since it is right on the way home. I should have known better since the last time we stopped at Kroger on the way home from church I ended up taking off the side view mirror of the car next to me and costing me a couple hundred bucks, but hey, I thought that was a fluke. There was two options, One stay in the car with the kids and let Jen run in and get her stuff or Two take the whole crew in. Since I was thinking about grabbing something for lunch we decided to take the whole crew in, that and the boys can get real cranky just sitting in the car. We head into the store and immediately William sees one of the race car shopping carts. Whoever came up with that idea I hope they burn in hell, or at least live an eternity of kids screaming at them because they want to ride in them. We decided to just grab a little tote since we were only getting a few things. William was a little disappointed, but seemed happy enough carrying the tote around. Andrew was in rare form and started to run all over the place, so I picked him up to wrangle him. A little while later the meltdown started..... William didn't want to carry the tote anymore, then he wanted me to carry him too. I tried to explain to him that we were almost done, but that wasn't good enough. So the crying begins. And then the always famous kid "flop" in the middle of the isle. Already having a short fuse since William woke us up at 5:00am I decided to take him out of the store. Yeah I will admit I was a bit furious at him, and of course embarrassed that my little "angle" would do this in a store. Already crying and trying to wriggle out of my arms we pass the race car cart and the meltdown turns into Chernobyl. The way he is screaming I would not have been surprised if someone thought I was beating the kid or abducting him against his will. I get him to the car and into his seat and the meltdown continues. He gets out of the seat and tries to get out of the truck. I start the threat of taking things away if he doesn't behave which is the latest tool of the arsenal, even to the point of no movies for the day (the big gun). Finally though the tears he tells me he has to pee. Crap. So I have to take him back into the store and to the bathroom, through the gauntlet of racecar carts and people staring, but luckily he has calmed down a little. So back in to go to the bathroom and back out to the car just as Jen is leaving too. We get home and I Think Jen is genuinely concerned that I might beat the boy since I am fuming. But after some time, and a nap for all of us, I felt a little better.

New Rule: No shopping at Kroger after church anymore.

Cookie Review

I decided to try Carrie's mom's world famous chocolate chip recipe out for a spin. We had a bag of chips in the pantry that we haven't dug into yet. We usually end up breaking into them and snacking on handful. I of course put a small bowl in the freezer for a little while. I love frozen chocolate. Anyway I am glad I didn't break into the chips early since I didn't realize that it took the entire bag of chocolate chips in the recipe. Overall I will have to say they are very tasty cookies. I had a opps moment and accidentally put in a tablespoon instead of a teaspoon of vanilla, but I don't think that effected the taste that much. I made the cookies with regular crisco, but if I had to do it over again (and I think I will) I will use the butter flavored crisco next time. There is just the slightest hint of an aftertaste of something after eating them, but that could be the vanilla opps coming into play. My cook time for the cookies was more like 16-18 minutes rather than 10-12 for golden brown cookies. Carrie's assembly instructions were a little vague so I was kinda guessing at some stuff, but I think I might grab the phone when she is talking to Jen to clarify some of the assembly.

In case you want to take them for a spin: http://caquincy.blogspot.com/2007/07/moms-chocolate-chip-cookies-short.html

Old cell phones never die... they just become playthings

I recharged my old cellphone the other day to get the phone numbers out of the phonebook since the sim card wouldn't transfer (even though they are both samsung phones). My plan for the old cell phone, along with a couple other ones, was to donated them to charity. They are mostly used at women's shelters since the 911 feature still works even on inactive cellphones. But due to my children's fascination with phones and electronics it has now become another toy. The one feature that they constantly want me to do is set the ring tone on the phone to a cat meowing. This is hilarious. The weird part is occasionally they change the ring tone and hit the old ring that I had for two years. Whenever I hear the old ring, my ear perk up and I think that I actually have a call. It's weird how a cell phone ring can provoke a response even though it's not my official ring tone anymore. The battery is now dead again, and now the decision on to recharge the battery to let them play with it or do the more noble thing and donate it to someone who might actually need it for an emergency. I think it will disappear tonight and into the bag of other cell phones to go to charity.

My mini-vacation

I decided to take a mini-vacation. Jen and I couldn't put the time or money together for a real vacation so I figured a 4 day weekend would be as close as I was going to get for a while. I was pretty beat too. I had been out on the floor for the past two weeks (including a Saturday) so I was pretty worn out. It was a pretty good break since the 4 days seemed like a week. So let's get started:

Wednesday night: met the in laws at Red Lobster for dinner to celebrate the numerous birthdays and anniversaries in the past month or two. The boys did very well at dinner and almost made it to the end before fussing. Andrew was fascinated by the many fish statues surrounding him and had to point and say "FISH!!!!!" at every one of them until food finally arrived. EVERYONE in Red Lobster knew where the fish statues were sitting around our table since Andrew pointed them all out numerous times. Williams fascination was with the lobster tank by the front door. He said he had to go to the bathroom, but it was a ruse to go see the lobsters. Good food once again.

Thursday: We get the crew up and going and head out the door to go visit Monkeyjack and family at his in-laws lake cottage for the day. We had a real good time swimming and taking a ride around the lake in the pontoon. I even got William to kinda jump off the dock to me in the water which is a huge step. Andrew (fearless) had fun in his inflatable ring and I think would have jumped off the dock too. Man I miss our lake cottage, but I don't envy the work and money that has to go into it year round for a few weeks of enjoyment. There was quite a house full of people and kids for the day including some teenage girls that Andrew hit on the entire time (he is such a charmer). Hamburgers and hotdogs for lunch and beef bbq for dinner supplied by Scott and the girlfriend du jour (kidding Scott). When the 3 teenage boys showed up at the cottage with one wearing a white wig and bandanna and the other "smoking" a fake cigarette I figured that was a good time to get out of there. Actually we were already heading out the door, but that was just funny to see. We stopped at Tom's doughnuts and bought enough doughnuts to last us the entire weekend.

Friday: My cousin Marc invited me to play 18 holes at riverbend as part of a coupon that he got in a fundraiser. Originally I was just planning on taking half a day to play golf, but figured that since I took Thursday off it would be silly to go to work for half a day Friday. I haven't played Riverbend in years, but the last thing I remember is that I lost ALOT of balls and that it was a crappy course and got bit up by mosquitoes, so I came fully prepared. The last time I played last month I totally stunk up the course so I was preparing myself for a long day. Surprisingly I hit the ball pretty well and the condition of the course was fantastic. It was 10 times better than the last course I played (gray goose in decatur). The fairways were like carpet, the greens were well maintained and there wasn't alot of spotty grass in the area. The cost even without a coupon is very reasonable and you can play in your tank top if you want so the course is pretty laid back. After all was said I finished with a score JUST under the century mark. It didn't feel like I played that bad, but it took awhile for my putter to get with the program. Overall I had alot of fun and enjoyed the day. I only lost 3 balls which must be a record. After that I went shopping and bought a new cell phone and then we headed over to grandmas for sloppy joes to welcome her home from Florida.

Saturday: Jen had to work so I decided to take the boys to the Muddy River Run car show at the fairgrounds. The boys love cars so I figured that they might enjoy some street rods and stuff. We took grandma with us too since Aunt Suzie was going to be there with one of her cars. One of the things that I feared was that the cars would be too loud for William to handle and wouldn't you know it just as we walk into the fairgrounds, two huge drag racers drive by rumbling with open exhaust pipes. Of course compounding the problem is that they have music blaring throughout the fairgrounds, so William spent most of the day with his hands over his ears. Andrew just rode in the stroller and seemed to enjoy it. We walked thought the fairgrounds and looked at all the cars. We got back to the tent where Aunt Suzie was, and the boys looked like they were getting a little sun so I decided to use some sunscreen on them. Wouldn't you know it, I got a little in Andrew's eye and it started to burn. And of course he uses his arm to wipe his eyes that is full of sunscreen too. So he starts to scream and cry and I try everything I can to flush his eyes, but to no avail. So we head home after only an hour and a half. I gave him a quick bath and some motrin and that seemed to help. The rest of the day watching the DVD du jour "lilo and stitch". A few more pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveandjj_ii

Sunday: Jen had to work again. So after church in the morning the boys and I just hung out around the house. Jen and I did head out to the movie after she got home. Mom brought over her new puppy for the boys to play with while Jen and I snuck out, grabbed dinner at Culvers and saw the new Harry Potter movie. Pretty good movie, but for the love of God never go with someone who just read the books since she compares the two (kidding dear and I know you're the same Carrie). We got home around 10:00pm and William was still up after giving grandma a hard time going to bed. Andrew goes to bed very easy but William doesn't make it easy, and especially for grandma. I blame myself for not giving grandma the proper "to bed" instructions to try and help the process.

And that's it. 4 days that seemed like at week.

I think my work has fleas

Sorry I haven't been posting lately, but we have had a few huge jobs come in that I have been helping on out on the floor. A 33,000 piece phone book with a 12,000 real estate book thrown in the middle. So yeah I have been busy. But as I was helping out on the floor, it felt like I got bit by something. Then an hour later I felt it again. I was commenting to a co-worker about this and he said that he was being bit as well. Another comment to another co-worker later in the day confirmed that she was bitten numerous times on her legs. So, my work has fleas. (or some form of small biting animal). I guess I will have to grab some of Cinder's collars to put around my legs

Dumbass

Ok am I alone in this?

One of the most hashed over trivia questions in the world is "what was the first video shown on MTV" and of course the answer is "Video killed the radio star" by the BUGGLES. The DJ on the radio just said it was "Video killed the radio star" by the BUGLES (like the cornchip)

I didn't even know they sang...... dumbass

three checks and two half checks

Another project weekend around the homestead. Saturday my father in law came over and we installed a light below the stairs so we could see better back in the corner and also to give us more light in working on the water heater. I didn't realize that the light was something that he was planning on since he first saw our house and has had the material for it for a couple of years now. (check). He left to go to a lake party. I crawled up on the roof of the second story to finish my gutter guard project. I knew I was going to be a few pieces short but wasn't really sure how many (half check). Again the ladder wouldn't reach from the back deck either so up on the roof hanging over the edge. While installing the guards I got into an argument with a wasp, and what do you know, the wasp won. Little bastard bit me on the finger. Nothing like warding off a wasp attack on a roof two stories up. But hey I did get a chance to clean the skylight for our bathroom while I was up there. (kinda check). A little later my brother in law came over and we finally got the cabinets installed in the laundry room (huge check). They actually look pretty good. Now its up to Jen to fill them with crap. After finishing the cabinets, we attempted to cut down the stump in the front yard. I decided there was no way of pulling it out like originally planning and now I am thinking stump cutter. Unfortunately about halfway through the stump we found out that we had dulled the blade on the chainsaw and the other two in the case were dull too. So we only got half way done (half check).
Sunday was water heater day. Jen packed the kids up and headed for grandma and grandpas to spend the day while we worked on the water heater. My father in law had changed his mind a couple of times on how he wanted to replace the water heater, but finally decided to use flex hoses and compression fitting (in case you were wondering). Of course that means taking back a bag and a half of other stuff we bought working on plan "a". I had to make one more trip to Menards to get a small part that was missing on one of the valves. When I got to Menards there was a huge line and I found out that their computers were down. Crap. I was close to leaving and driving to the Menards on the other side of town when I decided to cut to the front of the line and ask real quick if I could do an exchange for the exact same valve. The girl behind the counter told me a could if it was exactly the same thing. SCORE!! I felt kinda bad leaving the store passing all the other people still waiting in line, and I almost said something to them, but I didn't want to be a jerk. By the time I got back Tom had almost finished the majority of the install. I had to make numerous trips upstairs to relieve the pressure on the system and then back up to bleed the air out of the system. We had a problem of water leaking from the connections so more trips up and down the stairs, over and over and over. I must have went up and down at least 20 times. But finally finished and so far no leaks and the water is real hot (CHECK!!!!!!!!!). After we finished we headed back to the in laws for dinner. I think I am done with some of the bigger projects around the house. I think it's time to enjoy the summer before it's gone.