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Hot Weekend (door) Stripping Action

[acidfree:342]
I have a lot of respect for people who restore furniture and woodwork. What they do is hard labor (even with chemicals), the chemicals are noxious and come with warnings about cancer in lab rats, the sanders leave your hands numb, and the sheer effort involved leaves your muscles sore… But I digress…
Our front door used to be an unsightly yellow. When the house was yellow, it was fine. When the house went gray (much like some of my hair) the yellow became, well… ugly.
So I bought some toxic chemicals and I sprayed them on the door and waited.

Hot cable-pulling action

This morning, Kirstin and I decided that, while the porch in in a half-finished state, we should get the various types of data connections set up while it’s easy to do.

I called our porch contractor and asked him of he’d mind cutting an extra hole in the drywall tomorrow if I could have the wires all pulled this evening.

Later this morning, I sent an email to Luke. Luke lives across the street. Luke has power tools and experience at putting holes in walls, both of which I lack.

This afternoon, I received a response from Luke that he’d help.

House PR0N

In a late-night moment of weakness a few weeks ago when I was trolling This Old House’s website I subscribed to their magazine.
My first issue was waiting for me in our mailbox, accompanied by a Bed Bath and Beyond flier to educate me on their latest consumer offerings. Why does the universe hate me?

Looking at TOH’s magazine is, I suspect, a little like surfing actual P R0 N (see how I don’t want to get spammed there?). Some things I read are very tittleating (oooh…. bamboo kitchen countertops…), out of budget (solar hot water heaters), or just plain odd (mortaring rock veneer to your house!)

It’s an addiction, I know. I’m sure there’s even a support group somewhere for wannabe house renovation addicts can get together and help each other work through their affliction.

The Wrong Side of the Bed

Costello Music asin: B000MXPE74

We seem to be waking up on the wrong side of the bed.
One day Adam was cranky, the next Mike, and now me.
I felt cranky when I went to bed and the same when I woke up. Come to think of it, I felt vaguely cranky this weekend, too. It’s all very weird since I was totally psyched all weekend about the porch and I had a great time at the park enjoying the sun and company and watching boys being boys (both kids and grownup boys).

This morning I wished that we were still demolishing the porch so that I could ask to take the sledge hammer and hit the walls a couple times. I felt like naked agression might just take the edge off my crankiness.

Porch Progress - day one

This morning at 7am our contractors showed up for what we assumed was a half days work of demolition. They started about 7:15 and by time I walked out the door at 8:30 the porch was completely gone except for the bits that were supposed to stay (the roof and the 2 supporting posts.)
By noon hour they were framing and when I arrived at 5:45, the porch was framed in with all but one window and 1 screen door fixed.
Very cool.
Of course, as they say, the devil is in the details. Drywall, electrical, lights, and trim are still left to do by the contractors.
We’ll have to figure out what we want for flooring AND paint it ourselves.

Money Well Spent

Last fall (when I was unemployed) we got a note from Kindercare attempting to guilt us into enrolling Adam in a Phonics/Learn to Read program.
I ignored it at that point, but around February we checked into it again and enrolled Adam in the 3 day a week lessons. The results have been amazing!
The past few nights I’ve opened up Word, hit Caps Lock, set the font to Arial 48 pt font and let Adam go nuts typing. He asks to play the “Letters Game on the White Screen” everytime my computer is open.

Anyhoo, Friday night he was sitting on the floor typing away when we looked down and noticed he had deliberately typed ADA and was staring at the keyboard intently. I mentioned the M key was just above the big spacebar key on the bottom. He pushed it immediately!

Coming Soon... Our New Backyard!

When we bought the house we were excited to have a screened-in porch in the backyard. After we moved in we started to notice how much work the back porch actually needed.
Real windows, better walls, new carpet, doors that aren’t falling apart, a paint job…
We had a guy come by and give us what seemed like a very reasonable estimate to fix up the porch and put in a patio in the back yard. We agreed to the price and signed all the paperwork. Our guy said it would be 3-4 weeks before they could start. YAY! We’d have a new porch by Memorial Day! Verrrry exciting.
Friday we had a message from him letting us know that he had a break in his schedule and could start Monday if that was cool was us…
…
Hell yeah!

Beauty Out of Context?

2 Sundays ago the Washington Post magazine ran a piece that made me want to cry. I can’t even decide what makes my eyes well up when I read the story or what’s so damn depressing about it, but it does. Here is the premise: Joshua Bell (apparently a world-famous virtuoso violinist)sets up as a busker in L’Enfant Plaza Metro station in DC. He plays for over an hour some of the most beautiful and technically difficult solo violin pieces — on a cold, January morning during the height of rush-hour (7:51am).
What they wanted to know:
Would anyone stop because they recognized the sheer beauty of his playing?
Would he make any money?
Would he be recognized?

Driving Driving Driving

In the 1990s I drove. A lot.
I went through a lot of cars. A ’79 Pinto, ’84 Accord, ’84 Tercel, and a ’92 Civic. I got 2 speeding tickets, lightly crashed one car (RIP Accord), took out an entire family of raccoons feasting on midnight road-kill, and logged thousands of miles from western Wyoming to Washington DC. I once drove 22 hours straight, stopping about every 5 hours for gas, the bathroom, and to stretch my legs for 5 minutes.
I loved to drive. I made mix-tapes and (later) mix CDs to keep me awake and alert for hours.
I’d fill up with gas, buy a few diet Cokes, some car snacks, line up my mix tapes and hit the road.

We've been back for a year

A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 2) author: George R.R. Martin asin: 0553579908

Last night, Kirstin and I had dinner at Tutto Pasta, dessert at the new gellato place on State, and wandered down to sit on the nearly-empty Union Terrace for a while.

Today, I rode my bike to Library Mall, picked up the next Song of Ice and Fire book from the book store, and rode to the Union. I’m typing this from the Rathskeller in the Memorial Union.

I liked this kind of thing before I left Madison, and the proliferation of wireless since I left means that I can actually get something done (or just goof off in new ways) at the same time.

More fun with Histamines

So the bad thing about UTIs is that you have to remember to drink a lot. Something I often forget to do on a daily basis.
Wednesday morning was one of those where I mixed dehydration with caffeine.
I reached into my bag for that lovely drug called Phenazopyridine, the aforementioned bladder analgesic.
30 minutes later…. hmm.. what is that? Is that my throat tightening up again?
My mouth, tongue, cheeks, and neck all feel weird.
I remember I’m supposed to be taking prednisone, so I take that. The reaction slows, but doesn’t stop.
It’s snowing, wet and cold and therefore I’m too damned lazy to walk up to Walgreens and buy some claritin and pepcid, or maybe good old-fashioned Benadryl.

As if My Day Couldn't Get Any Worse....

My iPod is dead(ish).
I haven’t been able to hook it up and run any software updates, but the harddrive is making this noise:
tick-Whir x 10
Then the Folder Icon
Then the the Sad iPod icon telling me to check their support website.

I wonder if I could put it in the freezer for a bit and see if I could retrieve the handful of songs that exist only on the iPod?

I checked the cost and having my iPod serviced would cost just as much as a new 30GB video iPod.
Just in time for an early birthday present?
hmm?

Ana-FUN-laxis

Note: Some of this post may fall into the category of TMI.
Yesterday was a bad day.
I woke up. I went to the bathroom like everyone does everyday.
Except it hurt. A lot. Not good. I hope it’s some weird random side effect from mega doses of Amoxicillin.
I stopped at Walgreens and bought lots of cranberry juice and water.
I call the doctor, they’re pretty sure it’s what I hope it isn’t.
Around 2:30 it became unbearable when it turned pink. I grabbed the first bus at 3:30 out to West Towne Urgent Care.
Since I’ve had both gallstones and un-epiduraled childbirth I think I have perspective on pain.
That’s got to be 3rd on the list of OhMyGodPleaseMakeItStop pain. Every single one of my 6 trips to the bathroom (at urgent care) ended with me seeing stars and whimpering.

Paint Ball Bunnies

Friday morning Adam and I wasted 10 minutes staring out the back door watching a cute widdle gray bunny (CWGB) nibbling on our grass.
Since Friday, CWGB, has appeared every morning and continues to nibble on the grass.
I have no problems with this. I like Nature™.

This morning, CWGB was back, and he brought at least 4 friends with him, including Collosso-Bunny(CB) which appeared to be about 30lbs. I sincerely hope CB is male, otherwise SHE will be dropping about 20 baby bunnies in my back yard very soon.

The presence of 4+ hungry, agile, urban rabbits presents me with a new set of problems.

And a side of Streptococci for everyone...

The other day Adam had a little pimply thingy below his nose.
Foolishly, we poked at it.
The next morning I woke up with strep throat.
Today Mike picked him up from daycare to find that the pimple had gotten uglier, and had multiplied on his face, a nice complement to the rash on his face.
I Googled the symptoms while Mike took him to the doctor. The best suggestion I had was Impetigo.
Impetigo can be caused by Strep bacteria. Coming into direct contact with someone’s impetigo can cause… you guessed it… strep throat!
So when I got a call from Mike relaying the news of Impetigo I was completely not surprised.

I’m back to work tomorrow, Adam is home for a fun-filled day with Daddy and we all hope that Mike doesn’t get sick too.
It can’t be summer soon enough.

Upper Respiratory Trifecta

I woke up at 4am, my throat on fire. Swallowing and breathing were painful.
I forced down a couple tylenol and went downstairs to try sleep upright.
I opted to skip work and try to regain some of the sleep I missed between 4am and 6am and woke up around 8:30 feeling horrible still.
I watched some TiVO hoping that I’d start to feel better. Instead, I started to feel cold and realized that I was running a fever. Yay! A FEVER!
A relatively short to trip the urgent care on the West side of Madison confirmed 3 things:
I have Strep throat
I have an ear infection in my left ear (something I had suspected since it was a bit tender and hurt everytime there was a pressure change.)
I have a sinus infection!

My Old House

Recently I told the TiVo that I wanted home and garden shows.
It delivered… and then some.
I got sucked into 4 parts of a DC row-house restoration on This Old House.
Absolutely gorgeous! Stunning! Inspiring!

I have a love/hate relationship with TOH. The houses they film are breathtakingly goregous, the renovations superb… On gigantic historic gorgeous houses, owned by people with seemingly endless pocketbooks. who consult people who specialize in historic renovations.