I do it!!!!!!!!

Claire is in her "independent" phase these days. "I do it" is her favorite phrase, whether it be fastening her seatbelt, putting the top on her cups, putting socks on. She has to do it. Unless it's doing her hair, then she runs away screaming.



When we take Zeppo for his walk, I always start her in her stroller, but many times she has to walk back. First, she'll re-fasten the seat belt even though she's not in it. Then she'll insist on pushing the stroller, even though she can only go about two feet before she runs aground. And if she hears a car, she'll sing out "Car Coming" and then abandon the stroller in the middle of the road. If I try to help, she whips out her second favorite phrase "Go Away".




And a shot of Zeppo, who is getting gigantic. I was trying to line up a shot that would give you a good view of the field we pass every day on our walk, but Zeppo's ability to sit still and pose is very limited.

A near miss

Given how much time and effort we put into our restaurant plan, it's not surprising that we continue to keep up with news and rumors surrounding the building. This week Dan heard something that makes us happy that we didn't continue our plans.

It seems that there may be an illegal/dangerous oil tank on the property. Which will be costing the college $100,000-200,000 to remove. Yikes. Can you imagine if we'd been up and running for a year and then found out about this while trying to buy the building? It certainly would have kept us from buying, and probably would have led to the restaurant having to be shut-down for clean-up. Luckily, it's not our problem.

I think this might mean that they had a buyer lined up, but then found out about the hazard while doing disclosures. They may also be doing some more renovations before trying to sell again. We'll keep an eye on it, and hope that it takes so long that we'll be able to try our concept again.

And on.

And the job search goes on. And on. And on.

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

Things you should not say at a job interview.

"I'd like a job with less stress."

God, why? Why did I say that? aaarrrgh.

In context, it makes sense. She saw all the experience I had on my resume and wanted to know why I was looking at this job, especially since she'd just told me the sadly low pay rate. She was just trying to make sure that I wouldn't take the job and then leave in a few months if something better came along. So I was trying to be reassuring that this is a job I want, and instead I said something stupid that makes me sound lazy.

I'm hoping that I recovered. I tried to make it seem that it was stressful because of the 50 hour week (which Hyatt expects of management) and horrible commute. But I should have also stressed that since my degree and experience don't match, I was only expecting semi-entry level job offers when I moved back.

I do want this job. Even though the pay was lower than what I thought was the lowest I would take, it comes with so many benefits that it will work out in the long run. Free tuition for the kids at any of the four local colleges is a pretty nice perk too. Even if they only went for a year or two before transferring, it would be so worth the low pay now.

Let me be a wage slave again, please

Are you all getting as tired of me posting about jobs as I am in looking for jobs? If so, cross your fingers for an interview that I have on Monday. Should be an interesting job, with great benefits and hopefully decent pay at one of the colleges.

However, I'm wondering about one little issue. The department posts pictures of all the employees on the website, so I was glancing through to see if I recognized anyone, and saw that one of the employees is one of our near neighbors. She's not someone I've met in person, but there's no doubt that I should recognize the name if we're introduced. And there's a chance that she would recognize me because I always walk Zeppo as far as her mailbox before turning around. I'm wondering if I should practice some complimentary phrases about her lawn in preparation for meeting her. And hope that she doesn't hold the fact that we're a bit messy against me. Maybe I should take a moment today to move the garbage can away from the street and put the hose away just in case.

P.S. I really want to complain about the heat, but I know that Joy has it much, much worse, so I won't. (but seriously, 92 degrees, in Sept, this far north, WTF??)

First Day of School!

Sniff-sniff. Boo-hoo. He's all grown-up.



Dan laughed at the parents who were taking pictures of their kids waiting for the bus, so I didn't do quite as much photojournalism of Nathan's first day as I may have wanted to. Plenty of time to correct that when I go to pick him up.

The class is only from 8:30-11:10, and a fair amount of that time will be spent having a snack. Two boys who he met last year at swim lessons will be in his class, so hopefully that will ease his shyness. Meanwhile, it's just us girls here at home.

Set my Season Pass

The news that Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) was going to do a stint on Heroes this year was reason enough for me to rejoin Netflix so I could finally watch it. Love It! I've watched the first six episodes - don't tell me what happens next. I don't know why I didn't get into it last year, I was Tivoing it, but I think I missed the first episode and never got caught up.

Now, I'm trying to sort out the fall schedule so that I won't miss anything good again. Pushing Daisies is definately getting taped. Maybe Chuck, because I've fallen in love with repeats of Jake 2.0 and these are as close as I can get to new episodes. Plus, Adam Baldwin's in it.

Part of the problem is that I have to tape things for Dan, and I don't always have the kids in bed in time if I want to watch something different. The battle between Ugly Betty and The Office was a big problem last year.

Maybe I should just get another Tivo. Ours gets so full of kid's shows, that we sometimes miss taping things. Especially when we save half a season's worth of Lost so we can go back and search for clues.

The McFarland Gallery

Continuing with the fridge theme, this is the current artwork displayed on the new fridge.

A charming portrait of the artist and his family.



This is a jedi battle with Luke, Anakin, a couple of storm troopers and what looks like a small dog.


The artist's signature, sure to be worth a fortune someday.

Frat parties, and keggers, and loud music, OH MY

I had to deal with traffic today. And lines. There was even pounding rap music heard in my back yard today. Am I still in Potsdam?

The students are back in town, and our population is going to go from nine thousand to sixteen thousand, and even higher this weekend with the parents in town too. I suspect Dan will be working late the next few nights.

Kitchen design 101

I probably said that one of the good points of our new house was that the kitchen is large. And it is large, there's plenty of room for Dan's cookbook bookcase, Zeppo's crate, a dining table and a kid's table. It's just that the part of the kitchen that is actually, ya know, for cooking, is very small.

When the fridge door is open, you can't get to the sink. We can't get to the corner cabinet next to the fridge, it's blocked by the garbage can and recycle bin. And all the counters seem to be covered in crap.

So, I'm thinking of moving the fridge. We're going to be buying a new one this weekend, since ours started making a funny noise that seems to indicate it's out of freon. And we've noticed some problems with food not keeping well since the sound started. Ideally, we could put the fridge where the butcher block counter is, but it seems like that's violating every rule of kitchen design to move the fridge so far from the sink and stove. Putting it on the other side of the door seems like a bad idea too.

Plus, once I see the state of the floor under the current fridge, I may have no choice put to put another heavy appliance there to cover it up.

Brain Damage

Sigh.

I do this a lot. Or at least more often then I should. I buy things at the store and then leave them at the register or in the cart. I once went through a drive-thru, gave them my money, took my drink, and then drove off without the burger and fries. At least I realized my mistake pretty quickly.

Today, I made it all the way home before finding that the closet organizer I bought at Wal-Mart didn't make it into the car. And there's something called NB TOL MADDI on the receipt that I honestly don't remember buying and don't see in the bag anywhere. What the heck was it?

Worse was the day I left my wallet in the cart. We had made it most of the way home when my gas light came on. I had Nathan's wallet with me, so I borrowed 4 dollars from him to buy a gallon of gas, then had to bug Dan at work so I could get his credit card to get enough gas to go back and pick-up the wallet. Soooooo annoying. And it was pouring down buckets of rain too.

Job redux

How depressing is it that I keep seeing jobs that I applied for last year become available again? Ah well, they should have hired me to begin with.

Speaking of which, my former employer called to ask (perhaps beg) me to come back. And even though I am probably jeopardizing my whopping $100 wk in unemployment, I declined. It seems that the woman who was leaving, then wasn't leaving, decided to leave. And now I think the controller is gone too. So even though his departure would make for a friendlier work environment, it will also be a huge mess while they are understaffed. Good riddance.

Minesweeper: The Movie

Do Mac fans get Minesweeper humor?

Yummy food

My Aunt and Uncle from Maryland came to visit this weekend, which was a great excuse to get a chance to eat dinner at Dan's restaurant. I don't think I've done that once since we moved, I've had a few lunches, but not on days that Dan was cooking. We all had the special salad, which was dried cherries, pistachios and Stilton cheese over a mesclun mix. Yum. It was also perfect weather for eating out on the deck overlooking the river, so I think I showed the town in it's best light.

I had Maple Brined Seared Atlantic Salmon with a Warm Bacon Vinaigrette, Rosti Potatoes (a crunchy hash) and Malone Salad(cuke and fennel). Aunt Erin had Grilled Mahi Mahi with a Relish of Green Beans, Fennel, Tomatoes, Olives and County Meadows Feta. Uncle Richard had a San Francisco Style Cioppino which was Shrimp, Scallops, Salmon, Mahi Mahi & Crab stewed in a Vodka-Tomato Broth with Roasted Pepper Croustades.

Given these culinary gems, I'm not at all surprised or disappointed that Dan turned down a job offer this week. The local organic grocery approached him because they'll be expanding their prepared food section and wanted to see if he was interested. The pay wouldn't have been too different, and there were actual benefits provided, as well as an almost 9-5 schedule. But Dan loves restaurant work, and didn't want to deal with making pounds of granola each day. I'm sure it's for the best.

Shooting stars

I can see a lot of stars at night, it's so beautiful. I take Zeppo out on a walk before bed, and once our house disappears behind the trees the road is pitch black on a moonless night. There are about two patches of urban glow, a large one from nearby Potsdam, and then Massena in the distance. But to the East and North it is perfectly black. The milky way stretches above my head, and the stars are everywhere.

Before going out last night, I spent about an hour looking at star charts to work out where the Pleides meteor shower was going to be. It turns out that I can't make heads or tails of the charts. I did find a neat program called My Stars from a website called Learn what's up. You put in your location and the date/time and it fills in a star field. But even though it names the constellations, it doesn't draw the pictures, which is something I need to learn from. And it wasn't printable. But I'll keep at it, I'd love to be able to know all the constellations and major stars so that I can teach the kids.

In the end, I didn't need to know my east from west or my Ursa Major from Minor, because I caught sight of two shooting stars by chance, right across the Big Dipper. I can't wait to see how many more there are tonight as the meteor shower hits it's peak.

Family and Fun

Another busy, busy weekend.

We started with Nathan's last swimming class on Thursday, which was a scavenger hunt followed by toys and candy. To get the clues for the hunt, they needed to do things like get their faces wet or blow bubbles in the water. We stayed for another two hours in an attempt to beat the heat, and Nathan finally started going under water. Something he did last year but hasn't wanted to do at all this summer.





On Friday, the kids and I headed to Vermont for leg one of the journey to a family picnic in Wallingford. I roped Dad into doing all the highway driving, yay! Saturday was another 4 hours in the car, but then we had a good time at the picnic. The kids played soccer, had a water balloon fight, learned to fence and generally ran free for five hours. I didn't know where they were half the time, but various aunts and cousins helped keep an eye on them. It was great to see everyone again.





The trip took a turn for the worse at about 9:00 pm on Saturday when Claire vomited in the car. Yuck. Glad I just bought rubber floor mats before the trip. The vomiting continued until about 1:00 am, relasped a bit in the morning, and then came back at full force in the Saranac Lake McDonalds while surrounded by Rugby players. She was fine yesterday, but sick again this morning. It's so hard to balance the need to keep her fed and hydrated when she's refusing everything and vomiting up what she does get. Went to the Doc's this morning to make sure it wasn't anything worse than a simple virus aggravated by 16 hours in the car. So far, dinner has stayed put, keep your fingers crossed.

Toss 'em

Even if you don't have kids, you probably heard about the massive Thomas the Train Engine recall a few weeks ago. Luckily, Nathan's interest in trains was short-lived and we didn't have any affected items.

But today, Fisher-Price announced a million item recall of toys that had a high lead content. We have two items that were on the list, but they're claiming that the danger is only for items purchased in the last few months. Why in the world would I take the chance that ours our safe? Damaged items got past their last round, how do I know this one is really safe?

And dammit, it's Fisher-Price, I should be able to trust them. I'd expect this from the junk we get at the dollar store, but not from the figurines that were on Nathan's 3rd Birthday Cake!!!!!!!!!

Wal-Mart if Coming

According to our local news, they broke ground just outside town today. The project has been mired in lawsuits and town squabbling since 2004, I'd started to think they'd given up after they postponed the groundbreaking earlier this spring. No such luck.

It's hypocritical of me to not want them here, since I make regular trips to a nearby town that does have a Wal-Mart. But that's a larger city with an industrial base, not a quaint little village with a walkable downtown and locally owned stores. And I still don't see how we could possible have the population to sustain a Supercenter, especially with two other Wal-Mart's within a 40 minute drive.

Although last I heard the company and the town government were still haggling over sewer and water access, so it may not be a done deal yet.

A clean, green house

We switched our dish detergent today and it's almost enough to make doing the dishes enjoyable. It's Mrs. Myers Lemon Verbana dish detergent. A really lovely scent that lingers all day, plus it's all natural.

I've also switched to some phosphate free laundry detergent and changed to an organic toilet bowl cleaner. As we run out of other cleaners, I'll switch those too.

The next step to a better home is setting up a compost heap. I had one growing up, but I think it was mostly just garden waste, not household waste. And I'm also looking into a small doggie poop septic system for the yard. It won't work in the winter though, so I'm not sure it's a good idea for this area.

This won't help much if I keep buying pre-packaged, prepared food all the time, with all the waste that goes with it. I've just completely forgotten how to cook in all the years that I had dinner by myself while Dan was working. But I was good today. Stopped off at the nearby organic farm for some tomatoes, cukes and corn. Now that the summer crops are coming in, I'll try to make that a semi-weekly trip and get some fresh veggies on the table a few times a day. I could probably eat corn on the cob every day of the summer without getting tired of it.

Pictures, pictures, pictures

My blog has been very dull lately with no pictures. So I'll go all out tonight with some photos.

First, there was a town festival two weeks ago when my Dad came to visit. Nathan spent some time in the bounce castles, then we listened to music, looked at the craft fair, and checked out some antique cars. Gorgeous day, with lots of people out having fun. I missed the big event, but Dad, Nathan and Kyle went to it. The fire department's three trucks go down to the river to see which engine co. can get their hoses set up and firing first. It then degenerates into a big water fight between the firefighters, with the crowd caught in the crossfire.



Second, now that we're all unpacked, I thought I'd show off our living room.

And this is what the living room looks like when I turn my back on Claire for two minutes.


Are we rednecks yet? Took delivery on this today, but it still took Dan an hour to mow. And that's not even including a patch of land that we're trying to reclaim from the cattails and burdock.


And finally, another puzzle on our property. I originally thought this area was a garden, because it was weedy rather than grassy. But my shovel clanged when I tried to dig there, so I amended my thoughts to it being a concrete slab from a barn. Turns out I was wrong again, it was a massive stone. I haven't even finished uncovering it yet, and it's at least 15 sq feet already. Once we get the deck done, this will be a secondary patio. Dan also wants to put a hammock here because it's shady. But we're going to have to figure out how to work around/with this stone first.

Bad Poetry

Gotta post something, so I'll post this

Famous Poems Rewritten as Limericks


Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening

There once was a horse-riding chap
Who took a trip in a cold snap
He stopped in the snow
But he soon had to go:
He was miles away from a nap.


The Raven

There once was a girl named Lenore
And a bird and a bust and a door
And a guy with depression
And a whole lot of questions
And the bird always says "Nevermore."


Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

There was an old father of Dylan
Who was seriously, mortally illin'
"I want," Dylan said
"You to bitch till you're dead.
"I'll be cheesed if you kick it while chillin'."

Done

Yay!

Return to sender, address unknown

It's a good thing I ordered a second copy, because the first order is being sent to my old address by mistake. I'm wondering what will happen if I try to liberate it from UPS today. I imagine they've already been told not to release the book no matter how much people beg. But maybe I can at least convince them to send it to my new house instead. They're not open for pick-up on Saturday, so it will be in limbo until Monday if I can't work this out.

I'll also drop a note off at the old house asking them to call me if it gets delivered there, although I think the UPS guy saw enough packages from me, that he knows I don't live there anymore.

la la la I can't hear you

I think I may have to shut down my computer for a few days. I'm a Harry Potter fan, have been since picking up Prisoner of Azkaban for a plane ride eight years ago. And I really don't want to be spoiled on the ending of this book. But unfortunately, I love reading news accounts about the hype and the fact that spoilers are out there already. However, it means that I'm skating close to the edge of seeing things I don't want to see. Even websites that I wouldn't suspect would care, are making references to the pages that made it online. Must tread carefully.

After arguing over who would get the book first, I ended up ordering a second copy from Amazon so Dan and I could each read it. The last two times I didn't order a copy, and then decided that I couldn't wait. I ended up buying a Costco membership four years ago because they were the only local place that had copies available. And two years ago, I decided on the spur of the moment to go to the Borders at Midnight to get a copy. I think I was the 300th person in line. I then read for several hours, even knowing that I had to get up with one-month old Claire for regular feedings. This year, I'll leave it to Fed-ex.

Your cheating heart

The most amusing thing I've seen in awhile.

I pulled into McDonald's tonight, and parked next to a car that looked like it belonged to my friend's husband. My vegetarian, organic loving, reduce-reuse-recycle friend. She knows he likes the occasional burger, but I now suspect that she wouldn't want to know that he gets his fix at Micky D's too. How else to explain the fact that as we were going in the front door, he slipped out the other side, walked around the back of the restaurant through the drive-thru lane, and drove off. Heh.

I was all set to tease him about being there, but I guess I'll keep my mouth shut in the name of wedded bliss.

God, I hate phone trees

Applying for unemployment is a thoroughly unpleasant experience, I don't recommend it. My first claim was denied because I'd only worked one quarter of the past five quarters, so I didn't qualify. I had to re-apply when July 1st rolled around to prove I'd now worked in two quarters. Then I spent a good 45 minutes, spread over four days trying to call to "get credit for my 'waiting week'", only to discover I'd been calling a week too soon.

Tomorrow I fax some paperwork to verify that I did work 2 quarters after all, then I guess I have to fight my way through the phone tree again next week. Which puts me a month behind when I should have been collecting benefits. And in the end, I'll be surprised if I get more than $2000 when all is said and done. Better than nothing I suppose.

And although I'm not in the least bit interested in going back to work when the sun is shining and the beach is calling, I did send out a resume to a job tonight. I remember how all the job postings seemed to dry up last fall when I decided to start looking, I don't want to make the same mistake.

Not quite done unpacking yet

I thought I was going to unpack the last box tonight, one labeled pictures that had been sitting in the living room for the last month. Our wedding photo, the kids naked baby pics, and some decorative objects. But it turns out it was a box of older decor items that we never unpacked from the last 2 moves, only about half of which I wanted to hang. Although I was very pleased to find this piece that my Mom had made, as well as a colorful hook plaque that we can hang Zeppo's leash and treat bag from.

Now I have to lug the real last box back down from our storage area so I can get those photos out and put them on the mantel before Dad's visit tomorrow. I'm also reorganizing the artwork. Dan's plan was just to hang stuff where there were already nails, and it's led to a very unbalanced look to things. When that's done, we'll be ready for our House Beautiful photo spread.

Fetch

I finally, finally, finally made a purchase on Etsy. I found this site months ago, and just love everything on it. But it's unfortunately a case where there are so many beautiful things that I always have trouble narrowing it down to the one thing I want most. But this was a no-brainer for Zeppo.



Stay tuned for pictures of Dan tossing balls for Zeppo to catch with his high school stick. Oh yes, we're going to be a lacrosse family. If you had any doubt, here is a pic of Nathan being indoctrinated at six months.

Lie to your Children

Big mommy mistake yesterday. We were at the beach in the afternoon and it looked like a thunderstorm was coming. I decided to give Nathan fair warning that the lifeguard would probably make us get out of the water, because I didn't want him getting upset and blame me for having to leave. We were going a few rounds in the "Why?"
"Because a,b,c"
"Why?"
"Because x,y,z"

When we go to "Why can't we be in the water when it's lightening out?" And I responded with "Because you can get electrocuted and die." Ooops.

He seemed to brush off what I said at first, until the lifeguard blew the whistle and he started to FREAK OUT. When Claire went down to the water to wash her hands he went into complete panic mode that she was going to die. Argh. It took a good half hour to calm him down, and I purposefully went for a drive away from the weather to make sure he was calm before we had to face any thunder or rain.

The last two days have been full of constant fear about thunder and lightening, and fear that the power will go out again. He didn't freak out as much this afternoon when a storm came through, but only because I completely coddled and soothed him through it.

In many ways it's a repeat of the great poisonous mushroom scare of 2006. In the original Babar story, the king of the elephants eats a poisoned mushroom and dies. Nathan got really worked up about that one day, and the next time we went hiking he was terrified that Claire was going to die because she was walking towards some mushrooms. The sentiment is sweet, but in practice, it's headache inducing.

Notes from New England

I'm finding it hard to get used to the idea that when people start oohing and aaahing around me, it's because of the dog and not the kids. With a face like this, who can blame them.


His training is going pretty well. Too much poop in the kitchen, but we're working on it. Come, Sit and Down are working very well though.

I don't have much to write about. I'm busy, but at the same time, I don't know where each day goes. So just to say Hi, I'll give you some interesting links.

This is an interesting article on the cult of Dunkin Donuts. Insightful Commentary here.

The Red Sox have now been in first place for almost the entire season. The Yankees continue to bomb.

My local Paper. Reading Sound off is always good for a laugh.

Some history and photos of my new town.

Oh, and this was the view out my window as I was writing this post.

Iron Man

Swimming lessons started again this week. Crazy Crazy. Nathan's are at 10:00 near our old house, Claire's are at 3:30, closer to here. Although Nathan seems to be off to a slow start with his class, so I may bump him back to the pre-swimmers class with Claire. He hasn't wanted to go underwater yet, and is a bit shy with the large morning classes. There are 128 kids signed up for classes, divided into a dozen classes in two time periods.

Claire is only half interested in her class. I was pleasantly surprised that she was willing to swim out with the teacher a few times, but then she gets distracted and goes off to play with sand toys. Today, the lifeguard wanted them to be monsters. Since Claire and I were playing "mud monster" yesterday, she ran up into the sand to get dirty instead of following the rest of the kids in the water. I should have gotten some pictures of that. My camera is supposed to be sand and water resistant, but the same can't be said for my phone. It's gotten scratched up from the sand in my purse, and the slider wasn't opening well because it has sand inside. Ooops.

I've already got hideous sunburn. I've had this skin for 36 years, you'd think I'd know better than to go out without sunblock, especially since the medication I take makes me more sensitive. At least my face is okay, since I always wear lotion with SPF in it. Poor Nathan got burned too, although it will hopefully fade by tomorrow. I went out last night and stocked up on some spray on lotion and some Aloe, and I'm going to make him wear a shirt some of the time.

Some Assembly Required

Don't have kids. It's a big mistake. Because if you have kids, you'll want them to have the best of everything, including a big, backyard playground. And instead of taking a day off with your husband to go to the movies, lounge around in bed, or eat a great meal, you'll spend the ENTIRE DAY putting together things like this. Well, except for the time spent running to the hardware store because your drill isn't working so you have to rent one, and one of the nuts went missing so you have to buy one.

We also had a couple of false starts from using the wrong piece in the wrong place. Given that there were 123 parts and 543 bits of hardware, it's not surprising that a few got mixed up. Wait a second. 123 + 543 = 666. It's evil. Evil I tells ya!

I suppose this is the moment when I say it's all worth it for the smiling faces on our children. Bah Humbug. I'm sore, I'm tired, I'm suburned, and I don't get to play on the swing because I'm too fat! Bah!

All mixed up

I'm looking at the Humane Society documents that say we have a Rotty/Lab mix, but pretty much everyone else says he's a German Shepard. The vet, the trainer we hired, random people at the park, our neighbor. One of his parents was a Shepard mix, so we'll see how things turn out. Here, take a vote

The Amazing Zeppo

Rottweiler Puppy

German Shepard Puppy


Every single picture of Rotty's I've seen have the brown eyebrows and brown markings on their chest and legs. But Zeppo has white legs and a white chest. And he certainly didn't get that from a Black Lab.

We had fun with the trainer this morning. She was here for an hour working on our command and reward system. We've got homework for the next week, crate training and working on Sit and Leave-it commands. And lucky me, I'll have lots of free time to train him.

Que sera sera

Monday morning, I found out that the receptionist/HR coordinator was leaving.
Monday evening, I was offered her full-time job.
Monday night, I crunched the numbers and decided I'd probably lose money if I took it.
Tuesday morning, I declined the job.
Wednesday, they gave the girl leaving the hard sell to get her to stay.
Friday, she accepted, with the caveat that the give her more help.
Monday morning, the woman I replaced was back training with Dawn.
Monday evening, I was fired.

Claire's Birthday present

We finally got the lawn mowed with the help of three people with lawn tractors, weed wackers and a wagon. Today, the swingset for the kids arrives. We'll see if Dan is up for a Father's day spent with tools in his hands.



I've also discovered the one advantage to my job, they're going to take down our damaged maple and trim our other trees for about half the going rate. I'd like to take the woodchips from that job and spread them under the playset. For that we need a wheelbarrow, and I've been spending the day getting one of those put together.

Not much else happening today. Nathan has been throwing up all morning, and it's been hard keeping Claire settled down so he could rest. He fell asleep watching "Attack of the Clones", but now he's awake and Claire isn't, so I should use this precious time to clean up the kitchen. Two weeks, and we still have tons of boxes everywhere.

The amazing jumping Zeppo

I starting a post about how completely exhausted I get from the between 6:00 and 8:00 on days the kids are at daycare. Which is now compounded by the needs of a puppy?


But instead I'll take a lighter path. Instead, I want to know why dogs never, ever, ever play with the toys that are purchased for them. We got Zeppo a rubbery Kong to put treats in, a stuffed fox, a stick-shaped tennis ball thing, a ropey/chewy thing, and a fabric toy. And what has he played with tonight? A plastic hanger, Nathan's sock, Claire's shoe, and a broom. He also likes to chew on the wood pile on the front porch.

I'm currently on poop watch. He prefers the kitchen to outside, but I'm keeping an eye on him now. Oh, and did I mention that it just took him one day to realize that he could jump the baby gate out of the kitchen if he got a running start.

The Zeppo

We didn't get Olive, instead we got Zeppo.

He's about 10 weeks old, and a Labrador/Rottweiler mix. I like the description of the Rottweiler that calls them stoic, because that seems like a great match for Dan. We just have to be very consistent with training and make sure we don't encourage his aggressive tendencies.

Claire isn't sure how she feels about this yet. We think her main reaction today was jealousy, because she was excited to see the dog until she realized how much time we were spending with him. Nathan is fine, although he jumps around a bit too much and gets overexcited. And the jury's still out on Sprite's reaction.

Stone Mason needed, apply here

This is the back deck. I suspect that it was originally an add-on to the house used for storage and may actually never have been a traditional deck.

Dad was here the weekend, and helped Dan tear up the old rotted wood that was poking up. So now we're left with this, and I'm not sure what to do next. If we scrape away the dirt and weeds, there is a concrete slab. But we're not sure how big it is and how badly cracked.

Rather than put a wood deck in, I'd like to investigate something with stone or concrete pavers. I really want to find a way to incorporate the stone work that is already there.

For instance, this gigantic stone that served as a step for whatever was here before.


And the edging/foundation that is made of local sandstone.



But I also have to worry about this bizarre exposed area under our kitchen. It's kind of looking like when they extended the kitchen by a few feet, they just laid the addition on 2x4's. So I want to make sure that whatever we lay down will also protect this area, and cover up the gross plywood.

Seeing the positive in a power outage

I wish I'd been able to take a picture of this, because words just aren't going to do it justice.

We had a thunderstorm on Friday night, and the power went out again. As I was sitting in the dark, talking to Dan before bedtime, I glanced out the window and saw a beautiful sight. The hayfield across the way was filled with hundreds of fireflies. It was like looking at a starry sky of twinkling lights. So pretty and unexpected. And something that may have been there night after night without me noticing because I had the lights on.

Ruff Ruff

What makes me think that I can go to the Humane Society and just browse? Certainly not when there is a new batch of about 10 five-month old labs waiting to come home. I stopped by with the kids on Saturday and decided this was a great chance to get the type of dog we want. Dan went back on Monday and reserved one for us. After she gets spayed this week, she'll be able to come home with us next week. The picture above is not necessarily Olive, which is the name we've settled on after going through a stunning run of bad name ideas. (Tootsie, Shadow, Bear) The trainer said that she's her favorite of the bunch, and should be gentle with the kids. We just have to agree to give her a safe crate to retreat to inside, and keep her on leash outside until she's at least a year

This means more trips to the hardware store to buy supplies, including a nylon crate, dishes, leash and toys. Claire is going to have to be taught that this fox is not hers.

Maybe I should try a bribe this time

These people are hiring again. I'm just not sure how to write a cover letter for a job that I've already been rejected for once.

I'm excited to do laundry. What has happened to me?

Here are the pictures to go with yesterday's post.

This is the door that got turned inside out and upside down by the wind. I haven't the faintest idea what's holding it up now. Rust?


Here's one of the ancient maple trees I was raving about a few weeks ago.

And a little girl to put it in perspective. Plus, you can see what happens to a lawn at an unoccupied house in the spring.


Here's the happier stuff. The new Kohler shower head that was absolutely heavenly this morning.




And just call me Ms. Fix it.

I added a length of PVC to the outflow pipe so the washing machine drain water wouldn't wash back into the washer. Then I went to three hardware stores to get a cap so the hose from the washer wouldn't fall out. I've been to five hardware stores in the last two days. That's got to be a record. Now that the kids are asleep, I need to go outside and pull the dryer vent the rest of the way through and put a venting plate over it. Then we can finally do laundry. Oh happy day!

Three steps forward, two steps back

I should have pictures to go with this post, but I don't know where the camera is and I don't have the phone connection figured out yet.

We've got all our crap in Potsdam now. A large portion of it is still in boxes, although we think that the majority of unpacked stuff is now books and seasonal stuff. Except the kitchen, which has been a pain to sort out. Until we get the washing machine and dryer hooked up, we can't put some shelves in the laundry area for cleaning supplies and miscellaneous kitchen stuff.

We dropped $200 at Home Depot today. Part of that went to a fancy new shower head that we hope feels as good as it looks. I think Dan will shower tonight for the fun of it. I also got PVC pipe to fix the washer connection so we can do laundry tomorrow. And Dan got a pruning saw to take care of some dead branches on our lilac tree. We also put some House Numbers up on the porch, and added our name to the mailbox. That's fun.

Now, for the setbacks. We had a violent storm tear up the street yesterday. The kids and I came home to find a big chunk of Maple tree lying next to the house and on top of what I thought was the power line. It wasn't until 4 hours later when the power came back that I found it was the cable line instead. And somehow, the wind blew open one of the garage doors, which we already knew was broken. It is now upside-down and backwards. We're kind of afraid to touch it for fear it will crash down onto us. And it's neighboring door has been half off it's rail since the day we moved in. Needless to say, all the boxes we'd thrown in the garage got soaking wet. So, we'll be moving garage doors up to the top of the contractor list, ahead of a deck and roof. I had also left the house without closing the side door, and the new storm door there was put on badly and doesn't close well. So I came home to find it blown open and the entire foyer wet from floor to ceiling. Yikes. Plus, the storm is in even worse shape now because the rod got slightly bent from being tossed open by the wind.

Alright, I have to test the washing machine now and make sure the drain pipe doesn't overflow. Then, more unpacking as I keep a spare eye on the Sox/Yankees game.