Travel Pete's Journal: Basements, Kids & Mental Health

Holiday Memories

I've enjoyed 2006 more than any year in recent memory. Just infused with tons of fun, creative, enjoyable excursions mingling with the growing and absorbing nature of our two little guys.

And December really topped it off. Starting, I guess, with a nice Thanksgiving and a slow-moving decorating season, I've really had the joy of the holidays surround me. Mostly, I think, it's been having my family around so much. Can't beat it for a good time and good vibes.

Then there was the double-blizzard of 2006. Somewhat unbelievable, but it made for some fantastic outdoor adventures and even more great impression cemented in for long-term memory retrieval.

As I wrote my Dad the other day, I finally finished digging us out last night, and Max and I spent all day outside yesterday with our built-up snow ramp, riding his new snowboard. Then we went to the neighbor behind us (Mr. Extreme Sports Mr. Figgie) and Max went down his 5-foot high snowboard ramp and off a jump!

We received our special caramel treats from Gramps & Grams a while back and have been steadily working our way through them! Kathy will walk by me at night and surreptitiously hand me a caramel, she's the one who seems to crave them the most! We even hid them during our Christmas dinner with the family to make sure nobody accidentally snaked them all as in previous years :-)

The kids have been opening the windows on their little holiday advent calendars and grabbing out a bit of chocolate each morning and we're slow-cooking some bacon to take up with us to the mountains this weekend. Max also had a Lego advent calendar, 24 days of cool little lego bits to put together from an airport scene.

We're taking up to the mountains that big Christmas compendium book Gramps & Grams sent us a few years back. Jan Brett's Christmas Treasury with all of his illustrated nordic Christmas tales. Colorful, intricate, fantasy tales woven around the far North, with reindeer, cute little kids on adventures in the snow, little trolls and more. Each story told as much through the large illustrations combined on each side of the page with two smaller images that offer a side story to what's going on, which is fun to figure out. Max and I have been reading them the past few weeks, I love the illustrations, incredible!

This amazing book creates some wonderful, nostalgic Christmas-time feelings, finely matched by the glittering white Christmas weather we've had outside the home. Reading with a fire going, Christmas lights on, a light snow and reflected moonlight mist has been a timeless moment I won't soon forget.

Carpal Tunnel....

I think I'm getting Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from grabbing my ass lately.

In other news: Merry Christmas!

Ahhh! Christmas Tree Day!

Not sure we can follow up on yesterday's goodness.

Not sure we can follow up on last year's tree, or the tree before that.

So Kathy has suggested we don't go for a 14'-16' tree this year.

Bummer ;-)

We'll go out a bit later, when it gets seriously above the 6 degrees we have now.

We'll take a drive by the railroad museum to see how long the line is to go on the Santa Train and visit the big fat man in the Caboose. Short line and we'll stop.

Otherwise it's on to Native Nursery for the freshest of New Mexico pine trees.

Pick, prep on top of the wagon, get it inside, rest it, get Gramma, prep on top of the wagon, get her inside, then start adding the ornaments.

The boys are playing tag, the neighbors are getting sleds out. Gonna be another killer Norman Rockwell Day!

December 2nd!

Best thing that can be said is that it's not April 1st.

Woke up to some beautiful, soft, giant snowflakes floating down to form the lightest champagne powder blanket of the season. The last snowstorm from Wednesday morning is still around - unusual for us.

It's so John Denver's Aspenglow I want to cry. Grew up with that christmas song. Can't get it out of my head.

And I'm okay with that.

Breakfast was a beautiful blend of my favorites: slow-cooked bacon with maple syrup, roasted & pan-fried rosemary herb-toasted crunchy fingerling potatoes, cinnamon french toast and eggs over easy fried up in a touch of BAY-KON!

It's mornings like this that send me into a nostalgic tizzy (and clog the arteries).

This afternoon I was reading Max a christmas story from a cool book Grampa & Gramma sent a few years back. It's a well-illustrated set of Scandinavian winter tales by Jan Brett and is a wonderful way to get in the holiday spirit. Tradition, outdoors, snow, beauty.

I tell ya, when I used to get plastered and pass out with that Russian spy, transgender hooker and cocaine needle in my arm (or is that heroin?) back in College, I never thought things would end up like this.

I'm grateful.

It's a Very Martha Stewart December 1st!

It's December 1st.

And we all know what that means. BilFish is posting blog entries like they're worth a hundred bucks a pop!

And, of course, it's time to send out holiday cards to all our friends. Oh, sure, they've been "in the can" for a month as us movie people say. But we speak MarthaStewartese.

And that means there were two conditions before we could appropriately send out our holiday cards.

First, the Post Office must put out a non-commercial holiday greeting card stamp.

Second, it must be December 1st. Anything earlier is like wearing white after Labor Day, frankly. It. would. be. just. too. crass. I mean, Re-e-e-e-ally.

December First: Off They Go!

More to the story

I'm not completely a bad parent, though. Sure, I put "kick me" stickers on my oldest kid instead of a pat on the back, but I also do fun stuff.

Like teach him how to do magic. Both my kids, actually.

I've got remote-control key fobs which activate various christmas lights around the house. I've taken to shouting ShaZam!! and pointing at the appropriate lights to turn them on. Then a quick Abracadabra!! and they are off.

Now, anytime Max says ShaZam or Abracadabra, poof! the lights go on and off. It's been days of fun.

I even have a magic lock word which keeps the lights on (or off) so I can leave the room without Max wondering why the magic isn't working.

Liam, the 2-year-old, has taken to flinging his finger and shouting to turn the lights on and off. Very funny. And fun for them.

See? I'm not all bad. Better yet, I added more lights on a different circuit, and now we shout (I swear, I just typed "shit" instead of shout, very Freud of me), ahem, now we shout SwizzleSticks! to turn those on and VroomBa! to pop them back off.

I love the holidays. Favorite effin' time of the year!

Christmas Lights 2006

I always wait until it gets too cold to install outdoor xmas lights. This year? No schnapps & hot choco for me. It was 50 and sunny this past weekend and up went the lights.

Then the waiting began. See, I can't take pictures of the lights until I've got a good snow covering! Turns out I didn't wait long.

I present: BilFish Xmas Lights 2006: Full Frontal

A few less lights than previous years, but the soft, beautiful snowfall covers any shortcomings

The Traditional BilFish Full Frontal Family Foto

And for those of you joining me as nostalgia buffs, I added some old school lighting to the house this year

Season of Destruction

Yep, the 2-year-old Christmas Crash is here!

I have been reminded that we've got another Terrible Two-er on our hands. And Christmas is the perfect opportunity to practice the Two-er Two-step!

Step one, climb up on just about anything and pick up something fragile.

Step two, put it where it belongs. In flight.

Or perhaps it belongs on the end of a swinging arc, usually aimed at a hard surface. Or perhaps this delicate bobble deserves to be hidden for days and months at a time. We'll just have to see about that one.

Huh. Time for the annual stock-up run on SuperGlue & Tullamore Dew Irish Stress Reliever.

Letters to Santa Claus

Or, I should say, "emails" to the North Pole.

Had to write this letter last night and send it off to Santa.
===================
From: Daddy_Fisher@bilfish.com
Subject: Max not eating his dinner
Date: November 26, 2006 6:10:26 PM MST
To: santa_claus@bilfish.com
Delivered-To: santa_claus@TheNorthPole.org

Dear Santa,

Just wanted to give you an updated on how Max is doing with his eating. I know that you've been worried about how he's doing, and unfortunately, Max continues to struggle a bit with eating and doing what his parents tell him to do.

Please, despite all of this, make sure you consider giving Max a nice Christmas this year. But, I would understand if you only gave him a lump of coal, and a large turkey leg under the tree.

Thanks in advance,

Your buddy,

Bill Fisher

P.S. Max says he will start being good, please make sure to watch him carefully to see if he is good.

Top 11 BilFish Blog: #10

After the 2nd or 3rd blog entry I wrote, I quickly realized there were a million things to write about. I just didn't know which ones would win out and which ones would be the most interesting for other people to read.

I very quickly found a pattern that I would hold onto until this very day.

Photos and descriptions of the good family life in Golden would alternate with mad rants about whatever was building up in my brain and needed an outlet.

In my first month of writing, I alternated among cooking class entries, a funny nostalgia tale the Milkman and two rants which could have been written yesterday and which I still believe in firmly:

Colorado Conflict: Growth is unreasonable

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad SUV World

Top 11 BilFish Blog: #11

Since I'm out at MLS Cup '06 in Frisco (Dallas) Texas and enjoying a great weekend, I've pre-written a few entries to slop up.
================
Almost by default, and because it's too easy not to do, I present my first post. (errr, posts, that is).

The actual first post is pretty boring, as you can see here.

So I'm including the first three entries, as it happens.

My *real* first entry or two were photo blog entries. I was intrigued by the ability to easily add images and photos to the blog, and as I recall I really had NO idea what I was going to write about on a daily basis.

First real BilFish Blog Entry

Second one

I also tended towards breakfast-time entries, as that's when I'd percolated a few thoughts, or had a moment to myself, or was checking email and doing computer stuff.

This was also a time when I uploaded the entire raw image for people to link to. I've long since switched to around 450x330 size for most images and leave it at that.

Top 11 BilFish Blog Moments

Why not a Top 10? Well, in soccer there are 11 men on a side, so that's what us footy folks do for fun. Count to 11.

Feeling nostalgic, I am giving a go at sifting through some of my favorite Blog moments from the past 1000 days. That, and I'm on vacation in Dallas for MLS Cup '06 this weekend and needed something written ahead of time.

Look for these entries occasionally the next few weeks or whenever I need a quick 'n' easy blog entry.

As I've stated from time to time, writing has been a catharsis for me. More than that, it's a way to keep my hand in the game -- speaking of games, I even spent a year doing sports writing covering the Colorado Rapids. All of which simultaneously has broadened and sharpened my writing skills even as I work to keep the typing fresh and relevant.

Why? Well.... someday, I'm gonna write a book. And it better be a good book, because I'm planning on using alternative, grass-roots, guerilla marketing to sell the dang thing.

Anyway, in each of the next 11 entries in this series I'll highlight some past blog entries and write even more about them. Heh.

Big "D"

No, I'm not talking about soccer again.

This is some serious health-related news!

Yep, the well-respected Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI, publishers of Nutrition Action Newsletter) has come out with a huge report on the vary plain-jane Vitamin D.

Vitamin D?!

Yes. Apparently it's about to become the new cat's meow of the nutrition world, and quite possibly deserves to be.

The basic understanding is that when everyone lived near the equator, we got lots of sun, and made lots of Vitamin D, giving us blood levels of 170 units-per-whatever-the-hell.

Now, as we move north, and grow pale to deal with the lack of sun, we have numbers approaching 15-30 units-per-whatever-the-hell.

The known problem is rickets - bone deformities and problems often found first in children. 400units of D a day keeps the rickets at bay.

However, it turns out that to get blood levels up to a respectable 70-90 units-per-whatever-the-hell, we need something like 1000-2000units a day of supplements, milk, and our own body's production.

Which we don't get because everywhere but southern Florida and Arizona does NOT get enough sun to cause D production from September to March or so.

And BTW -- sunscreen kills Vitamin D production, so even in sunny areas we aren't getting enough D.

Run out there, get those supplements, or start slamming down more fish in your diet. Apparently it's been decently proven to be non-harmful in high doses, and definitely harmful in too low a dose!

Or face rickets, heart disease, stupidity, and a host of other things the article mentions. Okay, it doesn't mention stupidity, but it does mention muscle weakness, gum disease, diabetes, arthritis, MS, cancer in the breast, colon, pancreas and prostrate.

Sounds like good enough reason to get started.

Grumble Grumble...

Okay, I *do* care what the doctor thinks. And the pediatrician said:

Don't sweat Max's running away from soccer. Some kids get put in a group of 10 kids all kicking a ball close together and get uncomfortable. Be positive. Try a reward if he plays. Don't push it or he'll never like soccer. Heck, maybe he wants to play baseball...

Shudder! ;-)

Summer of Soccer Slowly Slipping South

If one more stinkin' individual mentions the Champions League to me, I'm gonna cry. Last night at the Rapids game, it was "CL this, CL that..." Yup. Everyone was at the bar Tuesday and Wednesday at noon to watch European Soccer SuperClubs raise money for their favorite charity: themselves.

I wasn't there. Por que you ask?

A terrible triple witching hour is upon me and my summer pasttime of watching world cup soccer, hanging out at the British Bulldog and generally cavorting about with fellow footie fans.

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday was the schedule for a while!

First, of course, the World Cup ended. I mean, who knew?

Second, and most painful, is the loss of Honey, the daycare lady 3 doors down
that took care of Liam on the important Tuesday / Thursday dates. Let me be clear in saying I'm relatively psyched up to hang out with Liam during the week. No problems there. Just wish I had a safe hangout for him during EuroSoccer matches ;-)

And finally, Saturday morning English Premiere League action was killed off when I signed up my son Maxwell for his own soccer team. Well, more practice then team, but in any case my Saturday mornings of Free Beer at the Bulldog have been seriously curtailed.

With only one home game left for the Rapids (until next April!) I'm a bit out of sorts.

So, now I cry for those lost golden days. Friends still call, and write, but it's as if I'm on the outside looking in.

So much for a planned life of moderate leisure

All Summer I was of the mindset that I had a job and career as a teacher for the next 20 years. In my mind, I was a working man!

I'd studied hard, passed their teacher tests, and was ready to accept a position through the State Alternative Licensure program (Teacher In Residence or TIR). Sounded like a shoe-in, and anecdotal evidence seemed to indicated I'd get picked up as a secondary school Science teacher any day.

I was comfortably ensconced in the notion of whiling away the days as a teacher. Median-level income job, summers off, good insurance, possible pension after 20 years. Sounded great. No worries about marketing and sales and all that junk. And I'd have a job and be bringing money in for the family instead of pumping it out!

No such luck. JeffCo Schools hired 650 people through this August. How many of those were through the TIR program?

5 friggin' positions were filled through the TIR program. "Most" of those 5 were in Spanish and disabled learning. Which is to say "not science," the category I'm set up to be in.

Crap. Back to the drawing board. I think I'll go take another look at those "images of childhood" from the previous entry to see if I can remember what those less-complicated times were like...

Napkins

"Kids, we use napkins to clean up messes. Not our toes."

And thus the morning passed.

I had 4, and then Julian popped by and dropped off Alley (who turned 5 today, Happy birthday to her). Then Julian popped back out and said he had to paint! (they're selling and getting ready for an open house tomorrow).

So. 5 kids, a pool. One adult.

Cloudy and cool? What a great day to plan to have the kids outside in the cool new inflatable pool with a slide.

Thankfully, I had no concerns about sunburn. I slathered on the sunscreen in vain hope... but nothing beats a day that won't get over 73 degrees and stays overcast.

I made 20 trips from the basement bathroom faucet with buckets of *hot* water for the pools. I shouldn't have bothered. The kids were still freezing.

So I had an idea. A bad one. Knew it at the time... Oh, well.

I should say, the biggest problem was simply that I had about 6-10 seconds each trip inside to get something, because Liam and the kids were in a pool and I didn't want to leave them.

Back to the idea. I grabbed the hose, darted inside, scraped my way through the storage room and hooked it to the hot water heater's bottom drain. Cool idea! Errr, Hot!

The hot water started flowing, but it didn't last long. Short hot water heater lesson for everyone. Cold water comes in the top, then travels down the dip tube to the bottom. This keeps cold at bottom, hot on top, so the hot goes out the *other* top pipe to the house. Warm. Yay!

But... cold water at the bottom, means, well, cool water coming out the drain. Great. Next idea... turn off the cold water refill.... oops, now I have a hot water gas burner roaring but no water refilling. That sounds dangerous.

Kids freezing, kids freezing... Kids snacking... Kids freezing, kids freezing...

Okay, fine, turn off the cold water inlet, let the tank gravity drain, and turn the burner down to "idle" so it wouldn't go on.

Perfect!... Until one of the kids started taking the hose and squirting Liam with it. Hot water... DOH!!!

Finally, there was a warm pool, happy children, and during all of this we managed to make some ice cream outside by rolling a special ice cream ball around the yard, followed by more play time. And phew....

Lunchtime! Hot dogs, chips, juice, yelling, screaming.

How am I writing this, then? Liam went down for a nap--got cranky after the (I must say) delicious homemade ice cream--and the other 4 are yelling their lungs out downstairs and pretending to eat lunch.

Oh! Hamburger's done, see all y'all later!

p.s. Wow. Pan-fried hamburger and stale bun. Really shit.

Babysittin' Part II

Forget what I said yesterday. It wasn't enough.

Today I just said heck with it and started with a double espresso and went from there.

I have the Trilogy from yesterday, plus Liam. That's 4. Then I have my nephew stopping by in the morning for a few hours before work. And when he goes I expect Alley from down the street to show up for the water party.

Did I mention the party? Yup... I bought an extra inflatable pool for the occasion, to go with the slip-n-slide and water weasel spray thingee. We'll be outside and in, wet and dry today.

Of course yesterday was 95 and killer, today is cloudy and mild.

Add cold kids to the mix. See you later!

BilFish DayCare LLC

I started the day with vigor, attitude and a smile on my face.

It was quickly apparent this would not be enough.

Max's cousins are over for a couple days as there's a break between summer school (for Max) and his cousins' Mom's work schedule. Everyone is back in school next week, but for a week Max is at home and for a couple days I've got 'em all!

I took the kids (all 3 and 4 years old) to the Nature & Science museum. Overall I give the experience a B+. Really worked out as well as could be hoped for. Given, of course, that I had bolstered my regimen with a quick shot of espresso before heading out.

I wrote a log of blog entries in my head during the 4 1/2 hours of playtime at the museum, thinking through the world of Child Wrangling in Public Places.

But one thought really strikes me: I can't figure out how people with one child expect the kid to grow up normally. Only kids we call 'em, although it seems weird to write it.

The entire trip today was an exercise in crowd control, sharing, hierarchies, splitting, who got to decide what exhibit we'd see next... essentially, constant negotiation and nitpicking amongst three kids trying to go in three directions at once, except when they had to *go*, in which case I made them all go at the same time.

Just mulling this over, but during the next 15 years, these kids will have literally thousands of hours together with their sibling, duking it out for supremacy and co-existence.

Only kids? Only time will tell how they'll do.

Warning: Strange Mojito

Had a weird one last night. I dreamt that someone called up and asked if we wanted a French teenager living with us for a few weeks this summer.

They said he'd be arriving (or, Arriveé, I suppose) in 45 minutes at the airport. It was an emergency and the people he is supposed to have stayed with backed out.

Would we take him? Sure, we already have my sis-in-law living with us, our niece on the way in mid-July, our other sister-in-law visiting in mid-July from Alaska, and two kids that will be staying the duration, but do we have room in the attic or something?

Woa! Gotta start using better rum. I thought Bacardi in a glass bottle was at least acceptable for mixed drinks, but I think it's time to upgrade.

At least the mojito tasted good! We used transplanted mint from my Dad & Peggy's garden, which in itself was a transplant. Multiple transplants are cool.

Anyway, here I am Thursday morning with a slightly buzzy head and no French kid.

So, it must have been a dream. Right?

Test of Fatherhood

From: Bill'sFriend@germany.com
Subject: Trip to Germany
Bill,
If you are still thinking of the standby flight to Germany this morning to watch the World Cup games, here are the directions to our flat in Frankfurt which you are more than welcome to stay at as long as you'd like....

"...Daddy! Time for School! Remember you are coming to my class this morning for Dads 'n' suds!"

Oops. That's what I call a dilemma. But I made the right decision by a mile. 3 1/2 hours with my son at preschool turned out to be a blast, an absolutely wonderful Father's day gift where I got to wear a tie Max made for me and play with him and his buddies all morning long.

And we got root beer floats. Germany? Not going anywhere.

Fisher Foto Shoot

Check 'em out!

The Fisher Brothers!

Kids & Dad's birthday

Spent a fabulously funny day at the end of the cul-de-sac watching the kids play together.

See a couple pix here

Here's another...

Max rounds the obstacle course. Not a bad driver, although he tends to look every-which-way but where he's going!

Made for a really great birthday treat, I must say. Even better was when all 3 kids were on the pink jeep and Max popped the clutch, flipping it over backwards and spilling them about.*

When you're 35 now, I guess others' pain just gets more humorous.

*no children were harmed during the making of this moment.

Poop

It's another "poop on your bottom" day in the Fisher household!

My Mom always used to hope we'd have Kennedy-quality discussions at the dinner table. Now, I've been reduced to this.

This? Telling max not to grind the small rocks and mud on his shoes into the laminate floor by doing the twist.

But DAAAAD. It sounds so cool!

D'OH!

Thank You Mr. Stranger!

I realize that we've been a bit slow in teaching Max about the dangers of strangers. The facts so often point to a reality of strange relatives being the real danger, of course...

So when a traditional, scary white van strolled through our cul-de-sac on a scouting mission this morning I figured I'd raise the issue.

Max, what if this stranger in the van stopped and offered you some candy?

Max: I say thank you?

DOH!~!

Rock On! Part II

I wasn't going to tell anyone. But, well.

I rock!

Ahem.

Sorry, don't mean to be quite so brash, but it's true. Sure, I don't rock as hard as the person who got 200 out of 200 on the Teacher General Science Content Knowledge Praxis test. But I got 181. Thinking positively, I'm the absolute top of the middle!

Yay me! Wait, why am I so excited about passing a test that could see me end up working?

Dunno. Oh, wait, you didn't know? Yep, I've been taking various tests to show proficiency in sciences to demonstrate my ability to serve as a secondary teacher (middle/high school) without actually, you know, becoming a teacher. Called the Teacher in Residence program, it's used when a State (Colorado if you've not been following along) is desperate for teachers.

On the job training didn't sound good, apparently.

So, now that all the good jobs are gone, they look around for suckers like me who are still interested in grabbing a job.

Why teach?

There's a fundamental reason. Thoes kidz gotz to lurn somehow! And I've always wanted to teach (professionally, as opposed to just part of my job evangelizing the Internet). I've done some college teaching because of my companies, but nothing really official.

Heh.

Nobody really wants to hear about that mushy stuff though, they want to understand, no, why teach? Seriously?

Lifestyle. As you may have noticed, Travel Pete is all about the Travel Lifestyle.

Now, some may suggest I want a job to partially avoid hearing my son say, "I'll fart on your bottom" and other great sayings. True, perhaps, but this job won't help.

No, it's something different. It keeps me away from high-pressure jobs that keep me away from my family. In a nutshell. And I get all the right holidays off. As opposed to that poor man I call Dad who's spent his entire life sewing up sickies on Christmas. Pheh.

Non-basement: Max's birthday

Don't have any pictures, but thought I'd break up the basement monotony to let everyone know that Max hit the big 48! (months, that is)

And we died at Chuck E Cheese for the evening. What fun.

The place is great for kids (and acts as a wonderful Ground Zero for germ vectors) but is just embarrassingly horrible for adults.

Okay, back to basement news!

Bad Parents. Baddd...

It turns out that being bad parents is good for something!

For example, we now know that Max is exactly 40 inches tall and 15.2 Kilograms in weight (skipping breakfast).

Why do we know this? Yup. We were bad parents.

Max's teeth had problems to the point where he needed an outpatient hospital visit where someone (a doctor of dentistry, one would hope) performed dental surgery on the brave young guy. He slept the whole time.

Out popped a tooth that had root-death and some infection. So much for that molar.

Another plus? We don't have to worry about him getting his first tooth knocked out. It's already gone...

Sure, the dentists have speculated that something to do with antibiotics caused some problems with tooth formation for Max, but I'm still pretty sure we're bad parents.

So what else is positive? Max proved once again what a trooper he is. Makes me cry.

Just looking for the silver lining, I guess.

It's like this

I already had a fight on my hands this morning, but I was prepared and in a good mood and ready to do battle.

It was the first time in a while I had Liam in a matching outfit* and I wasn't going to let his ham-fisted attempts to ruin my day with oatmeal win out.

Let me back up a second. Why was I happy enough to fight the fight?

Because Liam did a wonderful job feeding himself (and the dog) oatmeal with a spoon.

Why was I possibly happy about this? Gotta go back in time for the answer.

I awoke knowing that I have my next (2) million-dollar ideas for the day, and I am actually considering pursuing one of them.

So, why did I wake up excited about this?

Let's rewind one more time. it really goes back to last night.

At the time I didn't see it for what it was, but I was about to experience an adult moment.

I read in Parenting all the time about moms having "girlfriend" time or whatever. It's always sandwiched with some assinine comment about a crappy husband not pulling his weight, thanks so much ladies! But whatever, that's not what we're here to talk about.

I always look askance at this whole thing, because I don't have girlfriends. Kathy won't let me. And thanks to Parenting, I'm more an evil enemy then a stay-at-home mom(dad).

Fuzzy & Max took the dog for an 80-second walk around the park, while I changed one last Liam diaper and put l'il tiger through his brushing paces and off to slumber time. Then I changed into pj's and went downstairs.

Kathy comes home and mentions that Mike (our backyard neighbor) is busy trying to burn the neighborhood down, starting in his garage.

For some reason, and I didn't recognize it for what it was, I jumped up and changed back into jeans, grabbed my jacket, 2 beers, and Homer the Opener and off I leapt with a shouted "goodnight" to Max.

4 hours later I rolled in at Midnight having enjoyed some quality b.s. time with Mike & Becky.

There was an inordinate amount of swearing on my part. This happens when things get a bit stressful in the afternoons and the words can't come out. They get pent up until a later time. Sometimes the words dissipate into evil chemicals that give me gas, but last night they were allowed to come out like a long-awaited burp. So refreshing, enjoyable, and cleansing.

Anyway, talking about businesses for some reason, I mentioned my habit of going into my bosses' offices with the promise of a Million Dollar Idea every day. Usually I was able to provide decent, business-specific ideas. Not that they were ever used, but I made the effort, so there.

So Becky asked me for one of my million dollar ideas. Since it was 11.45 pm, I decided to give her a $2 Million Dollar Idea since it was almost tomorrow.

Here it is.... JUST KIDDING!!!! I'm no fool. I'm not just going to share it with you suckas.

I mean, heck, I can get 2 blog entries out of this. And I will.

*Pooh bear onesie and little pants, sooo cute! The blue matches Liam's expressive eyes. And I didn't mention this above, but it's also likely the only day where Liam will be in streetclothes (as opposed to PJ's) before noon.

Never shop when you're hungry

That's what they say, and by god it's true!

I don't have a "shop like crazy" category, so we'll file this under Lifestyle & Home which fits reasonably well.

Just like all the furniture we bought Saturday. It fits pretty damn well!

We received a "you are such a special customer we sent you a cheap flyer" sale flyer in the mail from Foreign Accents on Broadway in Denver. Great place for antiques and stuff that looks antique-y. They handmake everything in India, some new, some with old doors and grates and iron from old buildings there, ship it over and mark it up like crazy.

However, with 45% off.... suddenly it was the Fisher family getting in on the steals.

All of them, apparently.

We excused our lack of control by saying that we're about to get the basement finished anyway, so we need extra furnishings. Ahhh, the things we tell ourselves to get what we want!

See Our house website here. I've updated quite a few pages in the floorplans, so have a look around.

This has links to all the floors and such, and I've included a new link for the basement. Sure, it's unfinished, but we're slowing getting pieces in place, such as the faux flagstone overlay on the concrete patio, and now the new Wine Cellar Armiore.

Wine Cellar Armoire

It's large and ornate, so fits the classic French definition, and it'll fit nicely in our wine cellar (when built) as the cornerstone of our wine storage facility. I'm hoping it'll hold around 180 bottles of wine, at a minimum it'll hold 120 with no extensive tricks to get it to fit. It also holds the key decorating component we'll try to mix 'n' match when building out the cellar.

Some of the most extensive work we've done is in the family(tv) room, yet it still looks bare and a bit odd, especially once the 11' christmas tree is taken down and the decorations put away. Leaves a 30 sq ft gap of floor in the corner which we've always struggled to finish.

Here's our current attempt

The pieces all come from, you guessed it, Foreign Accents. The incredibly heavy teak & iron screen, the small niche stand, and the two chairs. Mind you, the flowers and painting are from elsewhere, so we can feel better about that.

And the sofa table. That's an FA purchase as well.

Did I mention that I needed to go rent a big flatbed truck from home depot to carry it all? Would have been $19 for 75 minutes, but when neighbors are gracious enough to help carry it all into the house, add on another $10 for chit-chat time! Still a good deal, and I was able to bring home some 4'x8' plyboards to use in building storage units hanging from the garage ceiling.

Phew. That's all for now, I think. And I think it's enough, frankly.

Oops. Not quite done. We also picked up a pair of wonderful lamps. Two years of searching finally paid off.

See the evolution of the master bedroom here

Summer Somewhere

In college there was a program called Summer Abroad>>>

Now, I don't know what broads have to do with anything, but it gave us a great idea recently.

I call it Summer Somewhere

Actually, when I say "I" I really mean Fuzzy; it was her brainstorm and a good one it is, too.

I'll leave it up to all y'all to guess what it is, and why it may be so important to us.

:-)

Cookie Decorating! Errr....

Decorative Joys of Ginger
With Teenagers, you have to smell the enjoyment. Sure as shit you can't see it!

Decorative Joys II: "No, YOU rock"
With adults, it's easier. Apparently, we're quickly amused.

Decorative Joys III: Tequila Love
The tastiest way to manage a cookie decorating night filled with great gingerbread, surly teenagers, and messy toddlers!

The Fun Bus

Liam says: Get me off this so-called "Fun Bus!"

Child-like update

With Maxwell William Fisher, everything was "The first time we've ever seen our kid do this or that or the other..."

With Liam Robert Fisher everything is "This is the last time we'll ever see our child do this or that or the other..."

Right now? It's the last time we'll ever get to hold his hands and help him stumble walk across the carpet. Yup. Liam sort of fell into standing, if you will, when he found he needed two hands to hold something and had to stand to do it.

A friend posits that some paleo-historians believe tools came before walking, and in fact that same need to use 2 hands at once is why we became homo erectus in the first place.

Fascinating, as my wife would say.

Anyway, he started solidly standing without supports exactly a week ago and we expect he'll be walking in another week or two. And this morning I finally got a picture of him standing.

I'll bet you'd like to see it, huh?

Bad Dad, Good Dad, Bad-no-Good Dad

So if I told you I took a 2 1/2 hour lunch with my kids at a fast-food place this week would you hold it against me?

Yep, got the kids home all week. Lately, I've had a week every month with no daycare, which means it's up to me to amuse the kiddos even more than normal.

So, Wednesday was what I like to call "2.5 hour lunch day." Even worse? It was a Christian-oriented fast-food place. Chick-Fil-A.

Why 2.5 hours? Well, travel time... plus they have a play area for the kids. And weird buttons that emit animal sounds and, for one button, strange religious platitudes as the kids scramble about.

"If you have your faith, you'll never walk alone."

A little creepy-sounding in general, especially coming out of hidden speakers indoctrinating 3-year-olds who push buttons expecting animal noises.

Hmmm, now that I think about it, maybe taking the kids to McDonald's wouldn't be so bad.

To make up for it, we spent 2 1/2 hours at the Denver Museum of Science & Nature Thursday with the kids' cousins Isabelle & Dylan. That was better. More fun, more educational, more family-oriented, slightly less commercial.

THIS morning I finally broke down and thought I'd take the boys to McD's for the first time in their lives. I had Fuzzy's car today to fix a flat tire, so we had to walk around for a while as that happened. Figured McD's would be fun.

Nope. The Golden McD's doesn't have a play area. So, the kids were saved as I ate a small breakfast and we walked on to a sports park behind, as it happened, Wendy's. Specifically a rollerblade hockey cement outdoor park.

Luckily I had a couple of small bouncy balls for the kids to play with for a while.

So, McDisaster averted for now. Except for me, the McDigestion is working its magic on me. Once every 2 years is about as often as I need to clean the innards with McD's famous laxative effect.

See ya.

2nd Kid Syndrome

No, I'm not talking about the syndrome of accidentally ending up with a 2nd kid ;-)

I was thinking about all the soft, safe, expensive kids' rubber teething toys Max had to play with.

Then I was thinking about the rusty steel shoe horn Liam was chewing on the other morning...

DOH!

Runaway! Runaway!

Ahhh, the ever-so-cute runaway reaction!

Yep, Liam's developed it very quickly indeed. Thinking I was going to take something out of his hand, he started crawling away from me.

Okay, could be a false alarm.

Nopers, happened again!

Kids learn very fast that when they have something they shouldn't, they'd better run if they want to keep it.

Amazing. I still wasn't sure he was deliberately trying to hightail it out of there, but he most certainly was!

See, I have a tendency to get up fast when he spits up, mostly to contain the damage. Well, he saw me and giggled and turned around and moved away as fast as his little knees would pump him, laughing all the way...

Speaking of his little red knees, he's decided this is the weekend for standing up. He's now officially pulling himself up on things like the bottom of the stairs, the coffee table, his crib bars, really anything he can use to prop those little boo-boo legs up on!

Boo Boo? Yep, that's his nickname for now. Not specifically because of the number of injuries, just sounded right I guess. And the Irish Terror, but we're saving that for his teen years :-)

But mostly he's still crawling. Curiously, he went straight from crawling backwards (with a small humpty hump interval) to crawling correctly forward. No soldier crawl, one-arm crawl, one-leg drag or any of the other common crawling methods employed by the young.

Huh. Go Figure.

Crumb Cake Crumb

I've made an amazingly redundant observation about Blueberry Crumb Cake! (available at our local Golden Farmer's Market every Saturday morning throughout the summer and fall)

You might have thought I was going to discuss my favorite children, Max & Liam, and their progress in the physical skillz department.

For example, you perhaps felt I would have considered discussing the amazing weekend they had last week. Where Max learned in an afternoon on the plaza to ride a Razor scooter, coasting along with amazing balance. Dozens of people on the plaza sat around having a beer or just enjoying being amused by the microkid with the oversized helmet scoot around...

We had over 20 different people come up and ask how old he was, quite astounding really. And a couple who came up and said, hey, he crashed, it was bad!

Well, it wasn't that bad. Really. He shook it off, picked up his scooter, disentangled himself from the split-rail fence along the patio border, and went to ride some more.

Or maybe I should have discussed Liam's dramatic conversion from a static sitter to a mobile kid-on-the-go! He spent a week trying to figure out crawling, mostly ending up going backwards and getting himself stuck under coffee tables and beds and such. But last weekend he suddenly figured out how to switch gears from reverse and has been on the go ever since.

He's getting pretty ballsy, really, chasing basketballs, beach balls, balloons, anything fun.

This week we're putting up the gates on the stairs and preparing for more serious baby-proofing again. Thought we'd taken care of it with #1, but here we go again!

So, 10 months old and he's catching up quick for a kid who looked content to hang out and watch his brother run amok.

Oops, there goes Liam up the stairs trying to follow his brother. Yea.

But, no, that's not what I'm writing about. Instead, I wanted to note that crumb cake is, as it turns out, very crumbly.

Bizzeee Bee!

I always hate writing "Sorry, been too busy to write on my blog lately" crap, it's so cliché it's embarrasado as the Hispanics say ;-)

Anyway, I haven't been too busy, it's always more of a priorities issue. With my mother-in-law in ICU in the hospital for some time, and now in for a lengthy rehab, and taking care of kids and heading up to the mountains for relaxation and trying to get a few things done around the house, and watching a few soccer games not to mention cutting my hair to match, I just haven't had the mental energy to type even one coherent sentence.

So the Bizzee in the title doesn't refer to me, it refers to Mr. Liam Fisher who was caught (briefly) riding a tractor the other day.

Liam's also working on something I like to call, well, I like to call it the Bunny Hump. Sure, you've heard of the bunny hop, but it's the Hippity Hoppity Humpity move that is a sure sign that a young boy's thoughts have turned to... crawling.

Roll onto stomach, extend those arms, tuck up those knees, it's time to sway back and forth and get ready for crawling. a.k.a. The Bunny Hump (or the Froggy Hump depending on what stuffed animal happens to be beneath Liam at the time.

Max did exactly the same thing before he started seriously crawling, so I think that eating cheerios is either a sign or a cause of the next stage of development!

Max & Me

I'm not convinced that Maxwell is my kid.

Sure, my wife says he is, but that's the problem, right? She says that he looks like me a bit, and has the same ornery (sp?) tendencies. ;-)

Yet, still I wonder. Let me put it in animal terms for ya.

Max eats like a sparrow and shits like a cheetah.

I eat like an elephant and poop like a racehorse.

Not even in the same genus much less phyla. See what I mean?

Really makes ya ponder life.

Really quite wet

Yep, it's a Colorado Spring. Except instead of downpours followed by lots of steaming sun, it's actually been kinda crappy wet weather. Very surprising. I might have to buy a rain coat or something, I don't currently own anything waterproof except my nighttime undies.

But it did sun a bit on us this past weekend, so we got out and started some landscaping and gardening. Felt really good, I must say.

We're finally going to get our very trashy looking back fence in order by hiding it behind bushes, trees and flowers. The garden's been hoe'd a bit (tee hee) for the strawberries and tomatoes we're expecting to enjoy later this summer.

In honor of our newest family member, Liam, we planted the Bloodgood Japanese Maple on the side of our house to chop up 3 stories of blank wall and possibly cut down on the amount of sun blasting that area (in 10 years, maybe).

We picked up a few Boxwood bushes to get started in back, and generally found some nice perennials and annuals such as Obsession Red Verbena to start complementing the technicolors of our front garden and Le Patio.

Really do enjoy this gardening thing. Wish there was more time for it.

Spring Doldrums

I was dreaming that I wrote a really good blog entry. Can't quite seem to remember it. Heh.

So... Spring is here, and when I say Doldrums I don't mean that mentally or emotionally: it's pretty much a weather thing. And somehow it correlates to my reintroduction as a soccer player after 6 months of "rehabilitation" from my extreme ankle injury.

*The "quotes" are because doctors still haven't approved drinking as a way to rehabilitate a severe ankle injury.

Coming back into my own in terms of fitness reminds me of this year's Spring weather. Starts nicely, but turns ugly quickly. Last Wednesday night? Indoor soccer and insurance-busting hail. Sunday? Outdoor and 2 hours of 38F degree sleet. Last night? Rain storm followed by sleet mixed into snow.

As I said, following the pattern of my injury recovery: starts nice as I jog around a bit, but quickly turns painful and icky as I realize that my endurance is non-existent and so is my muscle-strength for supporting said ankle.

Since I'm not physically bizzy of late, you'd think I could spend time on cerebral pursuits such as writing in this blog.

Heh.

Surprisingly, life has intruded of late and things have been quite busy.

Whether it's...
...extra kiddie time because Daycare Lady went on vacation...
...or new soccer pursuits (both playing on an amateur level and watching as the MLS professional season is upon us, or my work promoting The Rocky Mountain Cup as a C10 board member)...
...or putting time in fearfully taking up snowboarding after a season off just to finish a few days for the '04-'05 season. You know, see if I still gots it (I do) and my ankle will hold up (it did)...
...or spending this week volunteering every day at Cook Street enjoying a free refresher course in Classic Techniques European menu while helping the instructor-chefs and new students make their way through the classic French and Italian cooking that is so much a part of fine, elevated foodstuffs...
...making Chubby Snowmen...
...or, frankly, spending last Saturday with my brother-in-law trying out our new
red patio furniture and new keg of Heineken on a gorgeous Spring day (before the sleet hit Sunday):

No, this isn't my brother-in-law. It's his freaky kids. I chose this picture out of the hundreds of great ones we have because it a) shows our new furniture and b) shows Liam smiling at the camera. Kathy's got a weird expression and so does the nephew (the niece is hiding her face).

But none of this is really why I stopped writing.

Mostly, it's the number of secrets I'm carrying around of late. Nothing serious or particularly interesting. Just more like "Don't tell Bobby that Jimmy said that Katrina likes Tommy!" kind of stuff.

I have trouble keeping everything straight. What am I supposed to tell (or not tell) whom? Or who?

Sheesh....

Nespresso News

More Nespresso News:
Nespresso Tips 2006!
Nespresso Price Hike 2005
More Tips 'n' Maintenance
Tips 'n' Maintenance
Nespresso Lifestyle & How to Order

News from the Coffee Front: First, there's a new special coffee out for the season.

I'll let you know if it's any good. I've really enjoyed the most recent one (blue capsules, can't spell the IxHuatl name or whatever it's called). The current Limited Edition 2005 is in a pink/mauve capsule and is from Colombia. It's color is yellow, so I'm a bit iffy about that ;-)

Now on to the bad news...

Nespresso is raising prices. In fact, they did so over the weekend, without telling anyone. Gee, thanks for the warning. Normal capsules went from us $.45 to $.49 and the Lungo range went from $.49 to $.55 per capsule.

Bummer!

I have heard that green coffee prices have tripled or more recently, and all the big boys have recently had huge price spikes in normal coffee, so I guess it was not unexpected.

Either way, still quite reasonable for the afficianado who expects nothing but the best at home.

More Nespresso News:
More Nespresso News:
Nespresso Tips 2006!
Nespresso Price Hike 2005
More Tips 'n' Maintenance
Tips 'n' Maintenance
Nespresso Lifestyle & How to Order

Kids' entries

Sometimes I go through a childish phase with my blog, and don't have a lot of entries.

This is one of those phases :-)

Swine Fipping & Poltergeists

Swine Fipping is my new term for the opposite -but equal- of Swiss Timing. Very timely, but in a negative way.

Usually, Liam can be happily asleep, but the first time I think, "Man, I need to take a crap" BOOM! He's instantly awake.

Or, during the night, he likes to feed at 11pm and 3:30am. But last night he ate dinner late so he at at 1am and 5:30am, exactly 2 hours different. Sheesh, it's "timely" like Swiss Timing, but Swine Fipping has none of the positive energy associated with it.

As for Poltergeists around the house? Well, they are active suddenly, and two things are happening.

In fact, as I'm writing this, one of the little buggers must be upstairs. Suddenly, I'm hearing the toilet flush and Kathy's out running errands.

This poltergeist suddenly started working his magic on his own this week. Kathy reported him this morning as she made coffee. The upstairs toilet flushed and she ran up to find out that Max had woken up, waddled into the bathroom, hopped up onto the seat, and pooped. He was in the middle of trying to get his underwear back on when she got there!

Yesterday another, more mischievous and expensive poltergeist pulled one of the bar stools over to the keg fridge and poured a 1/2 liter stein of beer. Really quite a good job, if I do say so. Max was again found at the scene of the crime. Even better, the little poltergeist had pushed the tap back so 10 gallons of beer didn't spill into the game room.

Small blessings indeed!

That, and time for a keg fridge lock.

More Nespresso Tips 'n' Maintenance!

More Nespresso News:
Nespresso Tips 2006!
Nespresso Price Hike 2005
More Tips 'n' Maintenance
Tips 'n' Maintenance
Nespresso Lifestyle & How to Order
----------------

More Nespresso Tips!

I usually suggest frothing first, because it allows the foam to "set" and become thick and wonderful. But, if you have a problem with grounds shooting out of the capsule and sort of getting all over, or it seems the coffee is spraying out too hard then read on...

Using the frother first, and then making espresso, causes the D150--and all the machines but Nespresso's very latest and most expensive model--to overheat in the sense that it can't make espresso correctly and the pressure is too high. If you do choose to froth first, try running some water through on the "cup" setting to cool the machine down after frothing. You'll see a lot of steam for 3-5 seconds which is the overheated water coming through and cooling off.

This tip came courtesy of the Nespresso 800 number hotline.

Bad Milk?
Don't froth/heat the milk past the point where it burns your hand if you put your finger on the bottom of the frothing jug. You'll simply start burning the milk and the flavor starts rapidly changing profiles from sweet and wonderful to sort of burnt and rancid and bitter.

Speaking of milk... it's the combination of fat and protein that creates the foam, so 1% is a good compromise for people looking to cut down on fat. Whole milk, of course, works fine, but can realllllly start adding the calories to what started as a zero calorie coffee.

More on Cleaning
I ran into a problem where coffee was starting to spray out instead of coming out in a nice, foamy stream. Turns out I hadn't "descaled" the machine recently enough. So, about every 6-9 months, descale your machine with the little packets from Nespresso, and this instantly fixes the problem! I assume vinegar would also work, but the packets are cheap so I use them.

Lungo coffee capsules
It isn't obvious from Nespresso, but the Lungo coffee capsules are the same physical dimensions as the regular capsules. They are simply designed to pour a bit faster as they have a different grind, and they have 20% more coffee in the capsule, which results in the ability to pour a 4-5 oz "Americain" coffee instead of the normal 1.5 oz espresso shot.

The Lungo blends are a great way to keep from having to make two shots for a big coffee to go in the morning.

Shipping: shipping costs have increased to $5.95/order as of January 1st, 2005.
Add this to the price of your order to determine cost-per-capsule, but if you assume about $.50 per cup of espresso/cappuccino, that's about right.

From Cable to DirecTV to Cable...

This has always been an economics vs. features thang. Well, that and the ol' "Down with the Man" thang, but that's gone now. They're all the Man.

2 1/2 years ago I switched to DirecTV satellite service from cable. It was a features no-brainer. All digital vs. all analog, lower cost, cool Digital Video Recorder recording two channels at once... which remains the #1 feature of television for me and my family.

But today? It's changing. DirecTV just said they're raising my rates again. Comcast cable keeps me informed me with monthly junk mailers on just how much they have improved their feature set.

And then this week they offered me a dual-tuner HD DVR. With HBO. For $39.99/month.

Woa... now we're talking. So, I'm going for it. Technically, I went for it and the cable guy came out Saturday afternoon (he was even early). Never thought I'd hear those words: "early" and cable guy at our house.

Sure, he took my old DVR, but I'll survive. And, since I already have cable modem, I save an extra $10/month.

10 bucks a month you say? So what you say? Well, until I get a job or my investment adviser starts learning how to make some money for us, that's a consideration for me. Overall I expect to save around $350 a year. And that ain't chump change!

Of course, I'll miss one little button. The 30-second fast-forward skip button. No more. I'll have to suffer through fast-forwarding at 15x speed or something. Suck. Why wouldn't they add the skip-commercial button? Motorola sucks. Way to go you freakin' crap engineers. I used to have respect for you all. No more.

Anyway, back to the fun. Now I get 60 hours of recordings (instead of 30 with my old DVR), which is great since Max is expanding the number of kids shows he might ask to watch. Plus, with HBO and some on-demand stuff available, it's nice to have a bigger library to choose from.

The price is right, the features are great, the interface is, frankly, better than Tivo (whose interface I've always felt uncomfortable with) and so what if it is the cable company? DirecTV isn't the small guy any more.

BTW - I called DirecTV a couple months ago "thinking of switching" and they said, "Whatever." I called Saturday night and cancelled. They said, "Oh, Mr. Fisher, how about if we give you a cheaper DVR and knock $18/month off your bill for 6 months?"

Heh... So if you don't like your rates, just call to actually cancel. That'll get their attention. To little too late for me.

New Carpet

This falls under the heading: Stuff I couldn't imagine caring about 10 years ago

Anyway, it turns out, to my great surprise, that there is actually a new carpet smell! I figured it was just the strange cologne carpet salesmen wear...

And now that new carpet smell is in our house. We redid the family room with newer, darker, cushier carpeting, called currant pureé. Yup. It's like chocolate brown, but with a subconscious hint of reddish-ness-stuff. Like a Currant! Kathy says it's like mink, but I don't see a lot of minks to compare to.

Basically, we're spending a lot redecorating, but it's always in $1000 increments, so it doesn't hurt as much.

Death by 1000 cuts, as it were.

As you can see from our updated family room page, my bro-in-law Mike helped me depopulate and strip and clean the room before the carpeting guys arrived so I could fix a few squeaks in the floorboards.

Good project, and despite seeming amazingly dark, not so dark once it's in, very pleased so far (24 hours, no stains. Whoopee!)

Busy week

It was going to be a busy week no matter how we planned it...

I spent a beautiful Colorado day indoors yesterday, but with the windows open, painting the laundry room.

Max helped.

Then he went outside to enjoy the sunny, 65F degree day. The painting is prep work for additional shelving in the laundry/mud room, which will happen on Tuesday.

Today my relatives come over, but the joke's on them... My keg ran dry a week or so ago and I haven't had a chance to refill.

Why are they coming by? Carpeting. The carpet boyz come tomorrow (be home between 8 and 5, gee thanks so much) so we've got to clear the Family room, pull up the carpet in there, and fix a few creaks and groans in the floor I've been meaning to get to.

Thursday night is a charity Casino Night downtown for Kathy and I, and... hey, don't get ahead of ourselves.

Apparently, after enjoying dinner and playing hard all day, Max got run over by a virus! In the space of an hour when I was on the phone last night, Max suddenly got a raging fever.

So, liquids, liquids, up a lot of the night, the usual routine.

And this morning?

Well, it's interesting. I've heard people say it's hard to take care of a sick child. Actually, that's the easy bit. Max is on his best behavior, and just sort of lies on the couch.

Having responsibility for a sick child? Damn... that's brutal every time it happens. Worse for my wife, she's at work and can't be here to help comfort the kiddo. But, he'll pull through. Of course, we'll labor over decisions of when and how much medicine to give him to reduce fever, when the fever is high enough to call the doctor for an emergency visit, and so on.

Oh what fun,
it is to be,
A parent and not a nun!

Anyway, 102.5.... yup, medicine time!
========================
UPDATE: 3 minutes pass (I'm not kidding)
=========================
Fate is a son of a bitch... with an ironic sense of humor.

No sooner had I hit the save button on this blog entry when I went to give Max his Tylenol... the medicine he loves.

He don't none love it no more! He spit it up, along with a 1/2 gallon of apple juice and water, all over himself, me, the couch, some pillows, and the carpet.

Fine, I admit it. Caring for a kid is somewhat challenging after all.

Geeez... didn't have to get that crazy, but still.

The ironic sense of humor? We're replacing the carpet tomorrow :-)

Brew Session 05 - Part II

I can finally see with both eyes. I mean, I knew stereo was cool, but I didn't realize how bad monovision could be.

Anyway, back in form, I'm back in Colorado from Brew Session '05 in Connecticut, where the weather never fails to reach 32 degrees below freezing!

For those of you who can't wait, here are all the pictures available at Shutterfly.

It was a wonderful event, a great time, several days of feeling my outdoorsy oats and enjoying frigid temperatures and warm friendships. Thanks to everyone for hosting me, and the Brewmasters Pete & John for their excellent preparation and facilities management, keen eye for detail, and wonderful execution in the creation of the world's finest homebrew.

Manhattan skyline and the Sun's setting greet me and John Jaser upon my arrival in NYC and drive up to Connecticut

The Brewmasters "on location" in the House of Brews, January 2005, discussing important brew-related matters, of course

BilFish enjoying the sights, smells and tastes of another breathtaking brew session

All good things must come to an end. Manhattan waves goodbye as we head to LaGuardia

Birds are singing

Chirp Chirp!

Flowers are blooming!

Actually, looking out the window it's shockingly foggy for Colorado, the temperature started the day at 10 below freezing and now it's just getting colder and colder as the morning continues.

The sleet and freezing rain are starting to hit, the snow is on its way, and the high by this afternoon should be 20 below freezing.

So why, when yesterday I seemed almost depressed, am I experiencing such joy?

Dunno. Heck, I might just go out and roll around in the newfallen snow!

By the way, in unrelated news, Max was joined by brother Liam who went for his first daycare experience at the neighbors, so I'm alone at home today.

Surprises!

I really enjoy surprises.

That's why I'm not sure why I bother to give Kathy a gift list for me for Christmas. I don't really want that stuff. I mean, if I knew I wanted it, why don't I just buy it? I'm an adult ya know.

I love the stuff that I don't know what it is. Much more fun. Even better when someone's a great predictor of what I'll love.

And Fuzzy's an amazing gift-giver. She combs through our conversations and knows what stuff I am sort of subconsciously dreaming about, and somehow delivers surprising gifts that are just what I want. She should turn pro.

This year was no exception, of course.

So, while I didn't get the 42-bottle wine fridge I asked for (seriously, how would she carry it?) I did get Riedel "stemware". In this case their new stemless stemware, the O series merlot tumblers, fantastico!

I also get a perfectly-timed electronic thermometer grill fork which came in handy for our Christmas dinner of bacon-wrapped filet mignon!

Well, I did get some stuff, come to think of it. I got the amazing Apple Airport Express. I finally have control of my stereo again, playing my entire library from my computer and streaming it straight to the main stereo system and speakers. CD player? Gone. It's a little like the freedom I felt when I got Tivo for the TV.

What else? Star Wars DVD set. Yummy. Red vines. Delicious. Peppermint malted milk balls. Mmmm...

Oh, and a Fitness Together private physical training session to get that stuff back off :-)

White Christmas?

The ultimate fantasy for any American: A white christmas ... with $1000s of presents under the tree. As a Coloradoan, I'll just take the white Christmas. We never get one, it's always balmy for some reason.

But not this year! It's been blowing cold from Canada. Heck, from the North Pole I think.

This morning I briefly went outside. It's my Thursday morning ritual to collect the milk bottles from the cooler (today acting as a warmer) and bring it inside.

The thermometer read something like -5 F degrees. Suddenly I thought, "Hey, I'm becoming a true Colorado native. The 10 seconds outside weren't that cold."

Then I went out for the rest of the bottles. As the cooler top closed, I heard an extra click. Huh, what was that? I turned around to see Max peeking through the window at me. He couldn't see through the door because it was closed.

jiggle, jiggle.

Locked. Locked? Locked.

Dang. KATHYYYYYYY!!!!

She's in the bathroom, can't hear me. Getting cold.

The kind of cold where your sneeze freezes before it hits the ground. The kind of cold that makes your testicles close up shop and go hang out in your armpits.

Dang. Max, open the door please. "No, Daddy, there's snow on the rug, wet, wet."

Max, open the door. Now. Puhhleeeeze? Remember how good Daddy's been to you this morning!

(I have been good to him this morning, right?)

Oh boy.

Slippers, -5 F, thin flannel PJs, three inches of new snow swirling around my sock-less ankles.

Huh. Shaved head not seeming like such a hot fashion idea now. Thoughts slowing according to the principles of Physics. No energy, no motion...

MAX!!!!! Come back here. (Where'd he go? Oh, good, he's looking out the window and waving. How cute).

Bailey Doggy! Go get Mommy! No, don't wag, go, Go, GOOO! Dang it. No treats for you!

The kind of cold that makes you think, just for a second, that maybe you'd forego a white Christmas for a while. Hey? Is that Bing Crosby I hear?

Max, come to the door... that's it, good... Now, remember how I told you never to open this door when it's locked? (Oh gawd, why did I ever say that?)

It's snowing again. How ironic. Alanis? Hello? Alanis?

The kind of cold that makes your wireless Internet connection go as slow as a teenager waking up on Saturday morning, as slow as the IRS refunding money, as slow as...

Hey! Look. A thank you note from the Milkman. Maybe I can burn it for warmth...

Maxwell William Fisher. Pretty please? Open the, yessss, turn the handle, good, I know it's hard, go ahead, turnnnnn, a little more... Yea!

:-)

Merry Christmas everyone!

Ratz! Foiled again!

I was going to put this under cooking, but...

*anyway*

There's a mouse in our basement, at least occasionally as Bailey Doggy's ineffectual barking and chasing can attest to.

The little guy was, I thought, in mortal danger of the traps I had set out for him, baited lovingly with peanut butter.

It turns out he's mostly in danger of getting heart disease and high cholesterol from, well, all the peanut oils going to his ticker!

Dang beastie can clean 3 traps in a night without setting one off, much less getting his cute little head caught.

Most recently, the mouse has decided to add insult to injury!

Clearly throwing down the gauntlet, the mouse has challenged me to a duel to the death. Two days ago I added toothpicks into the holes in the trap bait area, hoping he'd trip them and WHAM!

No such luck. In fact, apparently the damn mouse has decided to use the toothpicks to clean his teeth with after picking the traps clean!

Cocky little bastard.

Well, the gloves are off, my furry little foe. The gloves are off. No more "Mr. Clean & Quick Death." It's going to go very harsh on this pesky little pest.

Mark my words. I will dance on the mouse's grave by December 24th. Maybe the 31st, but definitely no later than the first week of January.

By the way, Happy Winter Friggin' Solstice. It happened at 5:42am MST and our whole family was up to see it. Congratulations, Winter, you managed to annoy me from minute #1.

Fluid Filled Family Fun

A parent's day is often, it can be said, filled with the fluids of life. Coming from holes we're not even sure are supposed to exude such things.

Babies are like that. For a dry, relatively clean single person this can be difficult to understand.

This weekend, however, things went beyond the pail. I finished this morning with a final flush of triumphant goodbyes to a food-poisoning experience I shan't soon forget.

And this morning, as these things are wont to do, Liam showed a little extra vibrancy in his enunciations as well.

As is also usual, I carry Max in from the car around 11:30am and he's tired so I convince him to take a nap (we'll see if it works). No sooner do I then go down and get Liam out of the car and take his bib off (2 hours after last eating) when he decides to expectorate a bunch of smelly spitup.

Oh what fun,
It is to be,
a parent of two tots!

I don't need to go into diapers and blowouts and other events from this morning, at least not for fellow parents. For you single ones out there, and teens thinking of having sex without protection, keep reading.

Naww, just kidding. It's the holidays, I don't want to ruin anyone's lunch! Merry Christmas everyone!

Mo illness

As I think I discussed last week, Max was sick with his first ear infection and whatnot stemming from a protracted cold/virus that wouldn't go away.

Then, Monday and Tuesday he had another bad rash. And when his last rash turned out to be life-threatening, well you can imagine we enjoy taking this seriously.

So, stress through the roof, unhappy little tiger, lots of issues, see the doctor? being among them...

Luckily, it cleared up last evening and was fine this morning and Max was in a much better mood this morning.

Phew, another parenting disaster averted. Maybe I'll even be able to get something done today

December brings the cold winds

As in getting colds and such.

Took Max to the doctor, who said he was on the verge of "walking pneuomonia" and wrote him a prescription stat! She didn't even sound (too) sarcastic when she said, "Uhh, yeah, this is definitely the right time to bring your son in to see us..."

This week it's my turn with similar symptoms, ear ache, very red-scratchy-sore throat. To nip this in the bud I went straight to the doc for an antibiotic to head it off and I'm doin' drugs even as I type!

Yesterday was my first day alone with Liam (Max is in daycare). So, yes, got up feeling poorly, but I'm more worried about being a sick caregiver to an infant than anything else. Normally I'd see where this illness went, but I didn't want to wait so made an appt.

Got in, got drugs, got out... and thought I had time for a Costco trip. However, it turns out that not having two conveniently-hanging female breasts along with me meant that I had to abandon my shopping cart and run home to get Liam fed as he was purely fed up with the whole long shopping adventure and not going to take it one more minute!

Ahhh, well. I recall from my time with Max the same thing: poor timing leads to repercussions. I felt I had enough time but really cut it too close for (Liam's) comfort.

Ahhh, well. :-)

Anyway, as of this morning I'm already feeling better (ear ache gone, throat able to swallow again) so clearly the antibiotic was the right choice and it's a first for me, going to the doctor early in an illness. Might try it again sometime!

Of course, it could simply be that Max let us sleep in until 5:50am this morning!!! What a {expletive deleted} treat!

1st day alone with da Fisher Boyz

It's not over, but I'm getting the entry started a bit early anyways.

Kathy went back to work ;-(

But enough about her...

I'm now officially home alone with the Fisher Brothers.

:-) :-(

It's a great time to be a parent, so I'm enjoying being home and doing that. And, at the same time, of course I miss a bit of freedom.

Today's Freedom Moment (tm) came from 1pm to 1:42pm or something like that, when both kids were asleep.

Yup, I'd be saying things like: tired, can't make it, cranky, sleepy, getting a bit mean... and that's just me.

As it is, we all napped (my first nap in quite a while) and we ALL appear much happier for it. Especially after Max and I enjoyed a post-nap sweet muffin and viewing of Thomas and the Magic Railroad (uhh, it's a kiddie flick, not a drug movie).

Anyway, Max is watching Thomas, I'm finishing this blog entry, so clearly another 10 minutes of free time for the BilFish!

Wheee... I'm giddy, you'd think I'd been drinking or something. Liam's snuffling a bit but still sleeping mostly peacefully in his swing.

Anyway, small notes from the home front, tomorrow's (err, today) is a different day as Max is in daycare and it's just me and Liam against the Shopping World!

2004 Fisher Family Christmas Tree Search Weekend

This weekend showed the positive side of everything family. At least, having your in-laws move out to Colorado... :-)

We did the deep fry session Friday night and a bunch of folks came by for the greasy festivities (see my blog from a couple days ago...)

Saturday was all about the train museum, for which my niece and nephew spent the afternoon and overnight with us, finishing with some nice holiday rice crispie treat making. In this case, green food coloring and crushed peppermint candies would go hand-in-glove with creating krispie treat shapes such as wreaths, trees, candy canes, and the "Rockefeller Plaza Tree" that my nephew Smoman produced and the running reindeer hand-crafted by my niece Tizzy Yo.

Finally came Sunday, where mom-in-law and more relatives joined in for a pound of bacon (grease) and homemade Super Waffles. This kicked off our yearly (well, 1st Annual) gather a tree festival.

Mean Jean took care of baby Liam (who ate and napped the whole time, as babies are wont to do) and the rest of us trooped off to the mountains for some healthy tree thinning and Christmas Tree gathering.

BilFish and MaxFish --in Kid Karrier(tm)-- search curiously, almost whimsically through the snowy forest for our 2004 Christmas Tree Candidate

Lovely Kathy demonstrates the nature of a biggggg tree! Without lights, it's more of a forest than a Christmas Tree at this point

Indoor pine forests bring out the mountain trolls...
Another view of "the tree" which is right at about 14'+ including tip. Our ceiling is 18'. It's a bit top heavy (well, the base is very narrow) so we had to quickly secure it to the wall with some picture frame wire.

The Fabulous Talking Fishers!

9 weeks old and Liam is already starting to talk up a storm!

Actually, this past 9 (and a half) weeks has gone by with amazing speed, compared to how fast I remember the time with Maxwell rolling along.

Suddenly we're only a few short weeks away from Kathy's return to work, and Liam has gone from 6lbs 13oz to 12 pounds! Sheesh, that kid's growing and apparently wants to catch up to his brother at a svelt 32 pounds or so.

Of course, Max is 3 feet tall...

Anyway, at 9 weeks Liam can already play the stick-yer-tongue-out game with Daddy, and can "goo" and "gaa" back to me like we're having a conversation.

BRILLIANT!

I love this stuff, it's great. He's become amazingly interactive, really follows us with his eyes and now his head. He talks to me and I think we're really getting some good conversation time in.

He also listens. What a smart kiddie! ;-)))

And don't get me started on how often people tell us our 2 1/2 year old Max is well ahead of the curve on conversation. Which is a problem, because sometimes we forget he's not a 4-year-old. He can talk to them, but mentally he's just our little 2year and 9month baby-kins...

Check here for more on what the Fisher Brothers are up to...

The Boppy Returns

Not much to be done about it >>>

We tried to keep Liam from the boppy (pacifier), mostly because we didn't envy ourselves spending 2 years trying to remember to bring it everywhere.

That, and we wanted to be able to tell the difference between Max and Liam as small babies, and we figured Liam would be the kid sans boppy.

8 weeks later, the boppy it is, the boppy is in.

Ahhh, well. What can ya do? :-)

By the way, there's a few new pictures of the Fisher Brothers without boppies (at least for now).

Mom's ill

So I'm going to Phoenix. Might be gone for a few.

Cheers,

BilFish

Announcing FisherBrothers.info

The world's newest website for the Fisher Kids has arrived!

I'm sure this is probably two weeks premature (much like Liam arrived 2 weeks early), but, well...

Announcing the arrival of the newest website for the Fisher Brothers!

Yeppers. It's true. The kids got their feet inked and printed, got birth certificates, got social security cards.

Q: What else do they need?
A: A website.

Exactamundo!

So check 'em out on the web at Fisherbrothers.info

You can also email them... just type in their first name @ fisherbrothers . info and there you go!

(I didn't actually link their email addresses to reduce spam, so you'll have to figure it out. It's a puzzle, remove the spaces, add the right name.... Whee!)

30 Million Diapers a Day?

You can always tell the families with new children at home. No, not the minivans parked in the driveway (because 3 other cars are already parked in the garage). See, some of us use wagons to trick the eye or SUVs because both women and men like big trucks to scare everyone with.

No, new families are in the homes with shiny new American-sized garbage cans out front.

Green ones, 55 gallon, powered with steering wheels and a cup holder.

Like ours. Woulda bought two if the car wasn't too small.

It's interesting to think that in the U.S.A., about 4 million kids are born each year. Add to this the detail that we've been changing 10-12 diapers a day in the early goings here.

You're talking up to 30 million diapers a day in landfills! Ouch.

That's why we need everyone to start recycling newspaper, plastic, glass and aluminum, to help keep our landfills clear for all the diapers!

And don't get me started, what with living in the drought-conditioned West, regarding the water waste and chemical baths used to clean the cloth diapers.

Drapes are not blinds

Drapes are not blinds. Nor are they curtains or shutters.

Drapes. Are. Drapes.

Yup. I learn something new each day.

Yesterday I returned to Pottery Barn (where we got the drape rods). I said, "I don't get it. If you have the drape rods hooked to the wall with posts, how do you slide the drapes past these posts to close the drapes completely?"

The guy said, "So, you close your drapes often?" I mean, brutal. Ouch.

Really. I've never felt more inadequate and illprepared in front of a gay man in my life.

So, drapes are decorative. Got it.

Shutters are shady. Curtains close completely, and Blinds do what they say.

There ya go.

These are drapes. New drapes, as it happens.

See more drapes and our (nearly) completed Parisian Library here.

Oh, and it turns out that drapes do actually have one thing in common with blinds, curtains and shutters. They are all hideously expensive.

Cappuccino & Children

Ahhh!

My first good cappuccino in a few days (since Saturday) was enjoyed this morning.

Yup.

Oh, by the way, we just had our second kid!!!!!

Woohoo!!!!

And we just got back from the hospital yesterday afternoon so I could stop pretending to enjoy hospital coffee.

Liam Robert Fisher was born Sunday morning, September 12 at 9:37am. He was about 19.5" long and 6lb 13oz big.

He was also two weeks early, the little rascal!

As the email I sent out Sunday afternoon said, a real early bird surprise. Kathy's water broke Saturday night around 11:30pm and things went quickly from there.

Mom and baby are doing very well, and Max and Daddy are also doing just peachy. Max spent a couple of evenings with Grandma O'Neill while the adventure took place.

Here are the first few pictures of Liam's grand adventure in life!

Stay tuned for more...

Wish upon a star

Ever read about a guy's life or job or whatever and get this feeling, "Yeah, I could live out my days doing that and die happy?"

I did recently. An old SKIING magazine issue profiled this 34 year old guy (Obviously, I'm much younger at 33, 32 at the time it was published) who started Mad Mountain Tavern in 1992 at Mad River Glen ski area. When not pouring aprés ski drinks and jäger blasters, he's out photographing weddings, mountains and snow.

Mmmm....

Anyway, it's got me thinking again. What else could I do that would force me to get up each morning and do what I love every day?

It's what I call the "A-ha" feeling. One of my favorite bands, the Norwegian Supergroup always transports me to a better place. Norway, mostly.

I have some ideas, I'll be working through possibilities in coming entries.

Toulouse Lautrec Guest Room getting some use

It's one of those things... Build it and they will come.

Dan, MIL, Friend-who-only-calls-when-he-wants something...

Bizzeee, I say!

What? Oh, it's our guest room. Add a couple of nice prints, a decent bed, a yellow chair... voilá! You have instant guests.

In 2004 alone we've had guests using the room on 6 occasions for a total of 33 nights of use. I'm probably low-balling it a bit, but the brain ain't working before the coffee kicks in.

Our buddy Dan stopped by for a weekend, the Mom-in-Law has been over a couple times for late-night babysitting, an East Coast friend who only calls when he needs something and still owes me a few hundred bucks stopped by on a cross-country drive with his cousin. You get the idea...

Like I said, build it, put a picture online, and they will arrive. I'm thinking of building a hotel reservation system for the room.

Just thought it was interesting to look back and determine whether it was a good idea to spend time painting and adding lights and generally fixing up a guest room for people, or if we should have turned it into an office or something.

Huh. Who knew?

Here's a picture of the Toulouse Lautrec Guest Room.

Nespresso. Meet Natuzzi. Natuzzi. Nespresso.

More Nespresso News:
Nespresso Tips 2006!
Nespresso Price Hike 2005
More Tips 'n' Maintenance
Tips 'n' Maintenance
Nespresso Lifestyle & How to Order

I really am living the Nespresso Lifestyle!

We got our first issue of Nespresso Magazine for discerning folks like me. Inside was a full-page ad for a company I'd previously been unaware of.

Natuzzi.

They are a leather furniture maker based in Italy. And, as it happens, the supplier of our recently purchased new chairs in the Parisian Library we are putting together.

Here's an entry I did a while back on our new chairs.

Truly, I am "The Nespresso Lifestyle." And I Like it!

Thomas Jefferson's Monticello

Turns out me and Tommy boy Jefferson have a lot in common. We're both smart, good looking, and have the same ideas in home architecture. The similarities stop when you realize that Jeffie's dead and I'm as alive as tomorrow's tax bill. Errr...

Jefferson spent some 55 years developing his home at Monticello, constantly overseeing the tearing down and building up of the entire estate, from the floors to the overall architectural flare to the vegetation lining the property.

I have taken 55 days thinking about my projects for the house, and we are also taking our time in implementing redecorating changes around Chéz Fisher. See? Similarities all around.

Further, Jefferson had an efficiency and laziness idea I have duplicated (the idea, not actually having finished my project).

At Monticello, Jefferson built his wine cellar directly below the dining room, and installed a dumbwaiter betwixt the two. This allowed him to easily pull up superior wine choices without the customary "walking" and also ensured the bottles weren't jostled too much.

I, too, am contemplating a wine cellar. A 1000 bottle wine cellar.

I, too, am contemplating a location directly below our Library / ex-dining room.

I, too, have contemplated a dumbwaiter. Trust me, that's not hard at the restaurants we patronage. Previously, when I mentioned such a labor-saving device, I was greeted with scoffs and derision (mostly from my lovely wife).

BUT NO MORE!!! Now, I can say one of the Founding Fathers of our country had the very self same idea.

So Phttthh to everyone.

Ultrasonics

We had our final (I think) ultrasound for baby-to-boy, errr, be.

Looks like everything is on schedule, except his size and weight! To quote the ultrasoundologist, "Uhhh, do you have your due date right?"

Turns out L'il Liam is around 3lb 6oz right now, best guess, which is about a pound and two weeks ahead of schedule!

Kathy's doing well despite the added pressure of a big baby and, oh, what's that? You're curious about the name?

Well, let me tell ya!

Yesterday we confirmed that it is, indeed, going to be a baby boy. At an earlier ultrasound he wasn't cooperating and we were told "don't cut off the tags" on any clothes we bought.

Not even born, the kids already causing us grief. Sheesh!

So...the confirmed name is Liam Robert Fisher.

Liam is Irish, as in Redheaded O'Neill clan Kathy Fisher Irish...see my blog on her attempt to get dual Irish citizenship.

Liam means 'Great Defender' or 'Unwavering Protector' (which is an auspicious Soccer sign) and is, as you may have guessed, the Irish version of William!

We had considered William Robert Fisher until it was made clear to us that this would translate on the playground to "Billy Bob."

Unacceptable! Tragic!

And, to be honest, we've really taken a shine to Liam Robert, we think the names flow really well.

Robert is, of course, in honor of my Dad and Liam's grandfather, Robert Michael Fisher, one of the really good guys.

Anyway, Liam appears to be in excellent health, and Kathy is as well. If you don't count the acrobatic Karate chops Liam's delivering to her abdomen lately, quite the l'il power kicker she says.

With a September 25th due date, we've been put on the "every two weeks" schedule at the doctor's, so it's definitely seeming more real!

Finding good contractors

I never really thought about the network of goods and services that I utilized in Phoenix.

Mostly, I suspect, because it was my Dad or Mom out there hiring workmen, getting air conditioners fixed, cars fixed, plumbing fixed, house cleaning fixed, errr...

But there was a definite ability to get ahold of service providers, whether they be local accountants, attorneys, bail bondsmen, Internet providers :-), whathaveyou.

My Dad's computer on the fritz? No problem, I've got geeky compatriots across the Greater Phoenix Metroplex.

See? All this stuff, instantly available.

And then I go and move to Colorado in late Summer 1997 and here I almost seven years later and I'm JUST beginning to build this network. Hell, my accountant is still in Phoenix!

Ahem. And now, a little cartoon for y'all that inspired this train of thought...

Which was also inspired by recently having painters here for a week and a half, and having an electrician come this morning to add outlets and stuff all day, and from playing tag on the phone with two concrete and cement guys to repair some concrete as preparation for laying decorative cement, and by having hired a plumber to plumb a utility sink in the laundry room that had been sitting empty for a couple years and, and, and...

Strange Brew by John Deering

I will add one short comment that I NEVER (anymore) call companies out of the phone book where I don't get to speak to the owner. Mostly, I use referrals from neighbors. Whenever I've used a company where a salesman comes out and isn't the guy/owner doing the work, well, fuggedaboutit.

I have used Service Magic to find contractors for esoteric stuff like window-tinting my low-rider house, and that's worked out pretty good with vendors following up and getting me 3 bids and the whole bit.

In-Law update

Clearly, it's always of interest when much of your wife's family chooses to homestead out West.

Brother-in-law, Sister-in-law, niece, nephew, Mother-in-law and a couple of dogs (they sold the horses).

Two homes, lots of people, certainly you never know what's going to result from all this.

I'm here to report: Steady as she sails. So far, so good.

Yep, I've been enjoying having everyone around. From just driving over to hang out with the Fam, to planning soccer games and enjoying dinners together it's been a gas so far.

I've always enjoyed just hanging out and b.s.ing with my friends and family, and this goes a long way towards that. They are all great folks, really nice and hard working and just plain ol' friendly.

So, there ya go. Maybe family's a good thing after all!

Baby Talk

Max was a bit tired this morning, and whining a bit, truth be told. He wanted Momma to go downstairs with him, wanted Momma to get him chocolate milk, wanted Momma to put on Baby TV, wanted Momma... etc...

Momma, of course, needed to get ready for workie work. Still, she's very adroit and accommodated most of his requests. Finally, close to 7am, she really needed to get ready and Max really needed to watch more Baby on TV (Baby Einstein videos).

Daddy rolled out of bed and was trying to figure out what Max wanted.

"gowannaasdfoostairsandtvandawefebabyshow." Max had his boppy in his mouth, and was mumbling up a storm.

So, I took the pacifier out and asked him to say it again.

"wannagoownsaldtairasandseebabysdadfd."

Ahhh! It wasn't the boppy at all! Maxwell was just mumbling up a storm.

Sometimes, a boppy is just a boppy.

Inside Painting

It turns out there's an even easier way to paint a room. Hire somebody and have them do it for you!

We're glad we finally did for the living and family rooms and main entryway. It took professionals about 2.5 days to finish, probably 5 workdays total, with some biggggg ladders (we've got 20 foot ceilings).

Here's the result in the family room. We're going to totally redecorate the living room and will show you when we're done.

We repainted in a soft, sandy sort of color called French Sonnet. Really nice, warm stuff, but not slap-you-in-the-face like some of our other rooms.

We also reunited some of the furniture Stroh built for me, so now the entertainment center, the coffee table and the side table are together again, and we brought in two lamps to warm things up. Success!

Max helps to show off the warmer color better in this picture, as well as the extra polish to the room that the side table and lamp add. Not to mention a place to hold my drink. We also moved a large framed photograph of Vaduz Castle (found this online, diff. angle than my picture in the room) in Liechtenstein, transferred from the staircase wall to the family room. The composition of this picture is great, it's one of my faves!

We used a second color to accent the insets in the tall fireplace wall, the color was called, uhhh, West Warwick. It's kind of a soft caramel peach, a bit like a brown version of a candy Circus Peanut, and similar but less orange than our kitchen, so there's nice continuity when looking from the kitchen to the family room.

Baby Makes Pee!

Yerp...

Big Maxwell did his first pee-pee on the potty!

He was pretty excited this morning, so the first few tinkles were on the floor. The second few tinkles were on mom's shirt.

He finally settled down enough to sit on his little Royal Throne and hang out long enough for the pee-pee to come.

Then it was all we could do to get him to stop! He would go a little bit, then I swear he was cutting it off so he could run around and do a victory lap, big hugs for everyone! By which time he was good for another go 'round and back to the potty he trundled.

Now we need to be more serious about the difference between pee pee and penis... touch one, don't touch the other!

Very exciting day for us. The older kids at day care are learning, and I wonder if that's having an undue influence. I hope so!

No, Daddy, Go Make Coffee!

Max took the banana I gave him this morning and ran into the family room. I was making a cappuccino, and wandered into the room to see what he was up to.

I couldn't find him.

"Unnnghh."

Then, from behind the couch, around the corner and hidden, came: "No, Daddy, go make coffee! Daddy, nooooo. Make coffee!" He could hear me walking over and wanted none of that!

Yep, Max is 2yrs and 3mos and starting to hide behind things when he poops...

"Unnnnghhh."

Well, it's nice to know he can walk and chew gum at the same time. Or, in this case, poop and peel a banana.

Neighbor's Highway

There's a story of two good neighbors. They each had a kid (yeah!) but they had a fence between them (boo!).

The modern world, dogs in the yard, and a short guy had conspired to keep neighbors apart.

In this age of increasing separation, two neighbors (the good ones) decided to take a stand.

I, and my good neighbor Mr. Kirby, have chosen to build a backyard gate between our yards — a Little Ones Lane, if you will.

Without even having the first one built, other neighbors are already interested. It turns out there are a lot of people with kids, a lot of yards with cool toys (but no pools), and no safe and easy way for kids to get to it all!

Community Court now under construction.

An absolute crime, we thought. Happiness Highway here we come.

Oh, sure, there are details to be worked out, and posts to be buried down in, but we're finally on our way! One Home Depot trip later we've got the parts and the motivation.

Our Kiddie Cul-de-sac is on the way!

I'll check back in a while with how our experiment turns out... With dogs in every yard, it could be an adventure! Maxwell's Motorway is running through the yard. Parker's Pass will be completed soon. Doggie's Drive almost ready!

UPDATE
10:52am Weather turning dark and unruly, 50F degrees. Fence panel removed. Post hole dug, post planted with cement. Hopefully it doesn't rain (much). Dogs doing well together. Kirby sees his Newfoundland as the Elder Stateswoman of the yard. Bailey just sniffs. Lots of good discussion on how to do least amount of work.

UPDATE
3:10pm After a break for lunch and real work type stuff, we were back at it. Having split the fence panel in two (we put a new post in the middle as the panel was about 6 feet wide, and we only want a 3.5' gate) we sized and re-installed the first half so now we just have a shorter bit of fence missing.

We've got everything ready to go, the first gate hinge installed, and now it's about 45F degrees and raining hard. We stopped when my hands stopped being able to hold objects safely (like power saws) and hung out under the porch for a minute to reflect on a job almost, well, done.

We hope to finish tomorrow... Time for some hot chocolate. And to think, it was sunny and 85F yesterday!

3:30pm The Snow starts... It's mid-May people!!! T'ain't right, just ain't right.

Ice Cream, I want some Ice Cream

Okay, this Ice Cream Truck guy is starting to scare me.

I went to pick Max up from daycare down the street, and just as I was opening the door to step outside with him, along came those eerie siren song sounds of the big white truck.

This guy always seems to have a bead on when I'll be outside with Max. Eerie. Clearly, a professional of his craft, I've had to build the Ice Cream Truck into my monthly budgets for summer...

Upon hearing the ding-a-ling song, Max immediately went nuts and insisted we chase the guy down - is there a safety issue here? Feels dangerous, small kids chasing trucks down streets, isn't there a horror movie about this or is it just my nightmares?

Of course, I had no money, just having walked down a few houses to get him, so now I'm amazingly indebted to the Ice Cream Man, who gave Max a free swirly popsicle thingee.

Damn, I hate it when people are nice like that. Good business, bahhhh.

Awesome Affligem

The category for this entry is Lifestyle & Home. It could as easily have been the title.

On this cold and blustery Thursday, I fondly look back to last Sunny Saturday.

I spent Saturday afternoon hanging out with My Man Maxwell, playing a little b-ball, watching a little Wiggles, kicking around Mr. Beach Ball, flagging down the wondrous Ice Cream Truck, watching the neighbors get ready to do some active thing or other (this is Colorado after all) and, well....

And enjoying sitting in the sun on the patio, watching the snow melt and drinking the "Burgundy of Belgium."

Affligem, a fantastic Belgian brew from a monastary that's been going since 1074.

That's Ten Seventy Four. These guys are serious about beer. World wars? No problem. The Huns? Fuggedaboudit. Nuclear war -- whateva'.

And tonight? Looking forward to getting to write about the Colorado Rapids professional soccer team.

Impressive stuff.

It's a Kid! Part II

I looked around for an old Blog entry regarding our surprise of a lifetime, finding out that we'd have a boy - I had been certain it would be a girl, had a better name picked out and everything.

As I've only started writing this journal a few months ago, I didn't find one from that September or October 2001 ultrasound day... :-)

Just to keep you in suspense a few moments longer, let me proceed by saying we just found out this week that baby #2 is no longer an 'it' or "little alien" as I liked to call it after viewing the ultrasound pix.

Yep. Just found out that it is now, well, of course it's going to be a little baby, but we wanted to find whether she would wear pink or he would wear blue. And we did find out.

Oh? The details... well, let me paraphrase my wife: Bill, you really are a cheap bastard. Something like that.

Anyway, two tries, two boys in blue, yes it's true!

Yee-haw! It's a boy! I remarked to Kathy that within about 12 hours of finding out we would have a 2nd boy, I was pretty well mentally set and adjusted to the idea. We both thought it would be great to have either a boy or girl, but now I'm convinced two boys will be great!

So, congrats to Kathy, who is having a great pregnancy and doing well as a mom-again-to-be. Congrats to Dad for ensuring we'd be able to re-use clothes and toys (my experiments to re-use diapers notwithstanding).

Ultrasounds and blood tests and more ultrasounds et al. are showing things looking good, and on track for a September 25th delivery. I'm guessing 7pm.

I know, you're worried that I'll miss the Colorado Rapids Major League Soccer game that night. No problem, it's an away game and I've already set Tivo to record!

:-))

Changing Your Life

Changing your life takes effort.

It's a real progression. A process. A slow, meandering retraining of the mind that takes time, effort, concentration, consistency. And there's no cheating or substitutions, please.

Phew! No wonder it's so hard to do. I think watching Jared lose 230lbs on the Subway diet makes life-changing events seem easy, but certainly there's more to it than that.

It's an education, it's countering years of ingrained habit, it's trying to understand WHY you want to change in the first place!

This was/is truly an evolution for us.

Mmmm. Cooking. Food, and all that goes with it. Fresher foods, home grown veggies, organic farmers' markets and sustainable farming, butchers, fish mongers, homemade food normally bought at a store (vinaigrettes, peanut sauces, breads, pasta sauces, etc.), cooking tips and techniques, and cooking tools (knives and pans and specialty items).

Yowza! That takes time to learn, assimilate and understand. Good food all the time takes effort, and it takes a while to understand why it's all important to health, lifestyle and taste.

It's like a favorite recipe. The first few times, you were all over that cook book. Now? You're an old pro and may glance at the ingredients list just to make sure you don't forget something because now you're talking with friends, having a glass of wine and adding a dessert to go with it.

It becomes ingrained in the brain as you become more comfortable serving up fantastic food.

From cooking, there's getting your residence in order...

But that's for another time. Ciao! And remember, it's your life, so maybe it's worth taking the time to get it right.

Lowrider House Window Tinting Complete

Follow-up from yesterday's post regarding the addition of window tinting.

10.53am, next morning...errr, this morning...

Looking great! There's still a filmy look due to the soap/water combination used to clean the windows and activate the film adhesive. I just noticed that my house, which is usually glaringly bright at this time of morning due to East-facing windows and the low sun, is pleasantly soft in color and not harsh on the eyes -- exactly what I was hoping for.

For some reason, I want to describe the environment as being in a caramel-colored dream.

Good stuff, I highly recommend it. The final tests will be whether the water all evaporates as expected (takes up to 30 days) and whether the house doesn't heat up as much in direct sunlight -- probably to be tested today. So far so good this morning, though. Of course, I'm also hoping the film won't bubble or other nastiness such as causing the window glass to break if it overheats (which can happen, apparently).

Last night I got my first nighttime glimpse, and Kathy got her first glimpse period of the new windows. She thinks it actually clarifies viewing outside at night. Definitely, when you turn a light on, the reflectivity of the room is higher, but I realized not much higher as a window without tinting was also heavily reflecting the indoors.

BTW -- Heath said they will ONLY use Bounty paper towels, as they are the most lint-free of the bunch. Good little window-washing tip for ya.

Ciao for now!

Lowrider House - window tinting for the home

We've finally decided to do it. Sick of having neighbors and gangbangers looking in the windows at our shit, we're getting deep, dark window tinting. You know, the illegally dark kind.

Okay, not strictly true, but a better story nonetheless. Kind of like saying you got a favorite scar after doing battle with a lion on the Serengeti plains. But different.

In this case, the real story is that we bought an oversized stuffed chair (like a very short couch) in December 2002. Then we bought the matching couch in September 2003 after a bout of drinking and shopping online.

We were shocked to find that they'd changed the color or something... Then we looked under the cushion of the older chair. The sun, through our 20 south-facing windows, had blasted the color off the chair.

Oops. So, combined with how hot the house gets because of the sun coming in (and we like to keep the blinds open to look upon the views) we decided it was time for window tinting to get rid of the blasting, searing heat and sun rays killing our furniture and A/C bills.

Of course, we were desperate NOT to have that dark-tinted look our cars have...

The tinting is going on this morning, so I'll update this post later in the day!

8:00am Good sign, Heath, like the candy bar, just showed up on time from Window Genie to do the job. Should take 4 hours, maybe 5. See you in a bit!

We got 2 quotes. The first was with Hüber Optik ceramic film, very expensive, something like $2500. The Window Genie quote was more like $1100 (about $4.75/sqft I think).

...time passes...
09:58am
Okay, we've got 5 window down, 20 to go...

So far so good! It already looks warmer in here (we're using a warmer color tone to the tinting, sort of caramel-colored, vs the normal blue tint). At the same time, my concerns about the low-rider are already fading. In fact, I think it's likely nobody will notice we even had the work done.

1.57pm...
17 panes down, 8 to go.
The entire living room and kitchen are complete. Looking great! Much better now that all the windows are done, my eyes don't cross trying to compare one window being finished and the other incomplete.

It'll take about 30 days to completely dry the film, but it's already looking good. There was one bubble streak so far, but he took care of it no problems.

It's taking a lot longer than expected, and now Kent, the owner of this franchise, is here to help knock the upstairs bedroom out. I guess the wood window frames are causing some slowdown.

3.47pm Owner Kent came by to help finish up, and Heath told me that our wood-frame windows were the most challenging he's ever done, and he says he's done about 10,000 window panes...

BUT, we're done! Yahoo!

KuRRRRRRR-RACK!

Ouch!

At my soccer game last Sunday, I was fortunate enough to have the unique experience of an opposing player attempting to shove my own elbow through my ribcage to my spine. It didn't make it, but ya gotta give the guy an "A" for effort.

Now, this isn't why I haven't been writing lately, but it would certainly serve as a good excuse. I spent about 10 minutes attempting to breathe as people helpfully asked, "Are you alright? You don't look good."

Stupidly, with family in town, I decided to finish the game and got back out there, at which time I was slide tackled and sandwiched a few times. Yowza!

Now it's a week later and I'm still trying to determine if my ribs were fractured or if the meat was simply stripped off the bone. The doctor says not to bother coming in, unless I feel like paying for and subjecting myself to X-rays just to get confirmation of whether the ribs are cracked or not.

My Dad (an ER doc) tells me there's nothing to be done for a rib, and if it hurts at the same intensity level for 3 weeks, then starts to get better, I'll know it was cracked.

That's helpful.

I sneezed this morning. Hmmm. I won't be doing that again soon. It felt as though my right rib, 3rd from the bottom, wanted to fly across the room and I bit my tongue trying to hold it in. Yup. Won't do that again.

So. Ouch. What an annoying injury. You really can't do much with cracked ribs, it hurts like the dickens with just about any physical exertion. It hurts even worse when not exerting myself, like when I'm sleeping. That's the worst, definitely, trying to roll out of bed as I hear my ribs creaking through my pain-drained-brain.

Anyway, I've missed one soccer game so far, but I'm still hopeful that I'll be able to play in 6 days. Until then, it's Advil time!

Wendy's Frosty

Good for what ails ya...

Max has been sick with a high fever the past couple days. He's just coming out of it and getting interested in eating again.

We decided to take it easy, and as I was driving around I remember something that always seemed to go down well...

The Wendy's Frosty (with "nutrition" data).

mmmm.... Not that I don't enjoy the Arby's jamocha shake from my 15-year-old working the drivethu days.

But the Frosty's a classic, once-a-year splurge. This year, it was Max's turn to enjoy. He did!

Admittedly, it's all tainted by my growing disdain for the quality of product coming out of fast food these days, but I still managed to enjoy a few bites myself as Max wolfed the sugary Frosty down with amazing speed.

I won't go around saying it was a "treat" because it's hard to see fast food as a treat. It was, at the very least, an excusable lapse from good nutrition in favor of getting a few calories and some liquid into Maxwell's dehydrated body after a bout of 103.5F fever.

Mmmmm.... getting better never tasted so good!

The Wiggles

The true Australian Super-group! Men without hats? NO, it's the Wiggles brightly colored children's show.

And they're coming to your town.

And you WILL bring your children to the show.

And you WILL pay much dollars for the opportunity.

The Wiggles have been around since 1991, but became famous in the US when they were picked up by Disney Channel in 1999. They've been making millions entertaining kids ever since.

The basic format: 4 guys in colored shirts (always the same color) and a cast of funny characters including Wags the dog, Henry the Octopus, Jacque the Shark, Dorothy the Dinosaur, Captain Feathersword and more.

They do very short skits combined with a lot of songs where they dance.

See them at The Wiggles Official Website

Kids love it. Max liked them when he was an infant, then lost interest for 6 months or so, and now that's he's 2 and can dance and follow along and sing, he's all over watching them again.

So, like I said, we got tickets to the show, along with 4 other children on our neighborhood block alone.

Max sort of enjoyed the show. With 4000 kids there, it was a bit intimidating and interesting and so he watched the other kids a lot. Turns out he loves Wags the Dog (who knew?).

It also turns out he was coming down with an illness...

Yup, we did the Tylenol trick to get him through the show and he perked up halfway through, but as of last night he had a 103.5F temperature, poor little guy. So, quite the trooper at the show, when we got home, he just wanted to lay in Mama's lap and that was that.

So, a long night, a little vomit, some worried parents, and one sick little guy sort of wondering what hit him.

This morning he's still not great, but Tylenol and a full dose of chocolate milk seem to be having him bouncing back up, even with the fever.

Such is the life of a parent. Surprisingly, not too bad :-)

Soccer & Whiplash

Ouchie, as I say to my son. "Daddy got a big ouchie playing soccer yesterday, that's why he's taking two medicine pills this morning..."

"Yeah, Daddy looks baddd this morning."

Okay, Max didn't really say that, but his serious expression as he attempted to understand my ouchie was touching, sincere... and a bit humorous.

I laughed. OUCH!

Turns out I got whiplash going up for a header and getting generally knocked around at last Sunday's outdoor soccer game. I felt fine Sunday afternoon, but Monday morning I couldn't move my neck! It was embarrassingly painful, especially when I tried to laugh. I had to lift my head off the pillow with my hands just to get to the Ibuprofen...

But, well, it's Saturday, so time to do some stretching and get ready for another whiplashin' tomorrow for my soccer game.

Yep, turns out that for Soccer, I'll go to (relatively) great lengths to ensure I'm fit enough to at least play. Generally, I'll be in pain, but once warming up the muscles I'm okay to play for 90 minutes, then it's back to icing down and popping pills.

Hmmm, maybe I really AM into this soccer thing. They should put together, like, a professional league or something... :-)

Major League Soccer. Who knew?

Well, I did, of course... BilFish's Rapids' photos webpage. I'd link you to the Colorado Rapids website, but it's not up. Almost as embarrassing as the whiplash.

The Nespresso Lifestyle

More Nespresso News:
Nespresso Tips 2006!
Nespresso Price Hike 2005
More Tips 'n' Maintenance
Tips 'n' Maintenance
Nespresso Lifestyle & How to Order
----------------

Fitting that this entry be put in the "Lifestyle & Home" category, methinks.

So why do I bring up coffee on this fine Monday morning? Obvious -- My next order of coffee capsules arrives via the magic UPS bus this afternoon.

Mmmm... Let's talk about the Nespresso Lifestyle...

MY STORY
Last summer we spent time in the South of France for the wedding of some good friends of ours.

During our stay in Le Pal--the bride's family farm & resort they operate for about 4 months each year--I would drive down to the main farmhouse kitchen every morning from our apartment to get the baguettes and pain au chocolat for the day. They don't eat day-old bread in France. Week old? Fuhgeddaboutit. I'd also loiter around for a bit and have an espresso served up by my main man Flor (the bride's father and all-around great guy).

It was a wonderful experience to have enjoyable, consistent espresso from this strange little machine he used.

It was called Nespresso, and I quickly associated the wonderful capsules and flavors that eminated from it with my enjoyable, peaceful, culinarily salivating stay in France.

Then I was sad, for I was going home to the U.S., and they weren't letting me take the little machine with me.

But, wait, there's a light at the end of this tunnel! A couple years ago, the Nespresso Club moved into the US market after exclusively serving Europe for some time.

I was in luck! I quickly went through the math and decided that I could have Nespresso every day for the same price as one Starbucks moment a week. I even like it better, get to make it at home while my son eats breakfast, and have never looked back. In fact, my Dad & Peggy recently joined the Nespresso Lifestyle and they, too, love their life! (since then I've added more family and friends to the lifestyle)

When you get the Nespresso machine, you then have to use Nespresso's capsules. So, you really are buying into the Nespresso Lifestyle. But that's okay, I really like the lifestyle!

Nespresso has 9 flavors, 7 plus 2 decaf (2005 update: and now 3 Lungo large cup varieties as well as 2 "special" edition varieties a year) and it's wonderful to have them all on tap, from the super-light and enjoyable Volluto to the dark and robust Ristretto. Every flavor is great, Decaffeinato Intenso is wonderful, and my favorite is the purple capsule, Arpeggio. The machine is, well, machine-like in its consistency, which is something I always strove for with my $50 espresso maker, but never, ever achieved.

Also, with 19 bars of pressure, the Nespresso system produces the magic "coffee créma" which is frothy coffee, not cream, and is the secret behind great European coffees. It also has a nozzle for on-demand milk froth and steamed milk. Enjoyable, fantastic. Easy clean-up, no muss, no fuss, good stuff.

ORDERING THE NESPRESSO EXPERIENCE ™
Are you enjoying your first Nespresso Experience (tm) Yet?

I just got "The Moments of Nespresso" in the mail, a bunch of recipe cards for more great drinks... :-)

Check out the Nespresso Lifestyle when you get time. Sign up for an account, order yer nespresso D150 (or one of the funky, expensive models) and off ya go!

It takes 2 days to deliver (if you order online early enough in the day).

I'd suggest getting:
1. D150 Nespresso maker: approx. $199
* includes 1 sleeve (10 capsules) of Cosi and 1 sleeve of Decaffeinato
* includes 2 espresso (small) cups & saucers
* includes the sampler box with 2 capsules of each kind (18 capsules total)
* my Dad purchased the cappuccino cups, they are very good ones, wide mouth, just the right size.

My favorite machine version is the D150. I like the manual lever and look. You might like the more expensive "electronic" version or their funky, ultra-mod looking ones.

2. Cappuccino milk kit with the aluminum jug and chocolate sprinkler: $26.95
Cheaper to buy the aluminum jug at a place like Bed, Bath & Beyond, but this IS the Lifestyle, so go ahead and buy here if you want.

3. Capsule holder tray that goes under the D150: $13.95
* This is a must. Makes the machine look cooler, and is the best and cheapest way to store capsules. Ignore the very expensive alternatives for this, they take up more counter space you can't afford to lose!

4. Order some coffee!!! Each sleeve of 10 capsules (equals 10 cups of espresso or cappuccino) is $4.50. Shipping is $4.95 per order. So, ordering 100 capsules is $45.00 + $4.95. Ordering 200 capsules is $90 + $4.95. (Update 2005: coffee now $4.90 per sleeve and $5.95 s/h per order)

THE COMPETITION
So, yes, we've joined the Nespresso Lifestyle. Now corporate Global is joining in on the fun, too. Well, Nespresso is Nestlé, so I should say other corporate Global is joining in.

If you think Nespresso is a bit indulgent ($180 for the machine and $.49 each drink capsule), then you'll appreciate that more options and some competition are entering the fray for your coffee-luvin', sumptuous lifestyle of morning and evening drinks.

There's the Germanic-sounding Keurig system which my next-door neighbor has. But, it's a coffee maker, not an espresso/cappuccino system. Also, I think the word "keurig" is Dutch for excellence, and the company is American. It's good coffee, I've tried it, and they also can get Celestial Seasonings™ green teas.

Then there's the Senseo home coffee system by Sara Lee, recently introduced and only available for pre-sale on Amazon.com. Capsules are about $.25 each. Again, it looks like they only make coffee, not quite the Euro-experience. (Update 2005: now on sale everywhere... Having used one, I am very unimpressed. Shoddy design, poor coffee)

Finally, Proctor & Gamble has come out with a clone of the Senseo system (or vice versa, not sure who was first) called Home Café.

Whatever you choose, choose to enjoy life!

More Nespresso News:
Nespresso Tips 2006!
Nespresso Price Hike 2005
More Tips 'n' Maintenance
Tips 'n' Maintenance
Nespresso Lifestyle & How to Order

Summer Projects: New Pantry

It's time to start a new series on home improvement, seeing as how my list for 2004 has grown considerably. From painting and redecorating rooms (we recently tackled the master bedroom) to putting up replacement blinds, from painting the fence and house to nourishing our budding landscaping, from a new 1000 bottle wine cellar to remodeling the basement patio, from, well, you get the idea, it'll be a busy year!

My first project after we reorganized the master bedroom was a quick weekend deal.

Basically, we stored coats, hats and winter junk in this double sliding-door closet. It's not very deep (22"), but it's wide, and just off the kitchen.

When I was out of town, my wife Kathy cleared the closet and redistributed what turns out to have been just a lot of crap to other parts of the house. Much of it apparently made it to the Goodwill and Garage Sale piles as I haven't seen some of it since.

After a lot of internal debate about how complicated to get, I finally decided to slap on a coat of paint (color: Cornerstone, kind of a sublime wheat color), build 3 extra shelves across the entire space to complement the existing one, and call it a day.

A few days later, and a couple of holes through walls to allow the FoodSaver (see my earlier post on the FoodSaver, yummm!) to have power, and it was finished.

I used fiberboard with a laminate faux-wood surface to ease even that bit of possible polyurethaning. The toughest part was simply dealing with non-straight walls, but caulk took care of that.

Here's the order of construction:

Buy:
$22: Paint, 1 gallon, Behr Satin finish, Cornerstone
$30: 3 laminate-covered fiberboards (cut: 2 59"x16", 1 59"x12")
$5: MDF 1"x3" board, about 22 feet for this project
$4: Screws, #8 x 2" and #6 (thinner) x 1.5"
$4: Colored Caulk (I used a tan caulk that looks really nice and blends in great with the wood-laminate look and the wheat-colored paint.
----------
Total Cost: $65 plus labor and tools I already had.

Tools used:
a. Handheld cordless circular saw for final cuts (and safety goggles)
b. handheld cordless 18v drill
c. level
d. pencil
e. painting supplies
f. small workbench for holding wood as I cut
g. studfinder (buy a good one. I didn't, and when I got a good one as a gift, I suddenly appreciated it)

How-to: (At least, how I DID!)
1. Remove closet contents, remove garment hanging pole and doors.

2. Find studs for sturdy screw placement, measure how many shelves (I went for 4) and where they would be spaced (I wanted one at waist-height as a work surface for vacuum-sealing foods). Check for studs first. As I discovered, some of the side MDF boards were too short to reach a stud, so I had to re-cut more that were a bit longer than the shelf to reach the security of the stud.

3. Cut MDF board, which will act as the platform rail (back and sides) the shelves will sit on. So, for each 16" shelf, it was 2 14.5" side sections (which I cut a triangle off the front edges to make it look slightly sleeker) and a 59" section.

4. Place MDF evenly, use a level and pencil to get this one realllly right. Mark spots for where screws should go into studs. Screw it in with the #8 x 2" screws.

5. Paint everything.

6. Measure and final-cut your shelves, then pre-drill small holes in each shelf where screws will go through the shelves and into the MDF to hold the shelves down tightly to the MDF rail.

7. Add boards, screw down to MDF.

8. Caulk all around the top edge for a nice, seemless surface, using caulk to also cover where shelf and wall don't quite meet perfectly.

Smile, you're done.

9. Crap, no you aren't. Drill 1" hole through side wall to feed FoodSaver plug through to power outlet just the other side of the wall.

10. Reattach one sliding door.

Now smile, you're really... wait... yes, you're done!

A few pictures on the transformation are here.

Painting Indoors: Why bother? and Tips for enjoying it

Repainting your rooms in warm, bold colors.

Now you see it on all the home shows such as the BBC's Changing Rooms.

Kathy and I have found that there are a few tips that will make it, if not fully enjoyable, then quicker to do and something you'll find immensely worthwhile as a wonderful, inexpensive way to redecorate your house.

I would go so far as to say that for us, it's been the defining difference in truly enjoying the time we spend at home in our rooms.

Check out our Redecorated Rooms to see what we've done recently.

Presenting:
THE FISHER'S INDOOR PAINTING KWIK 'N' EASY TIPS

1 Taping...
a. Tape everything, and use the expensive blue painter's tape. It lifts up more easily and tears away less of the paint.
b. Paint as soon after taping as possible, and remove the tape right after painting the final coat to reduce ripped paint. Most tapes are rated for 2-3 days, but I've found anything longer than a day causes undue sticking.
c. Pull the tape away at right-angles to the wall (i.e. pull it towards you, not straight up if you are pulling up tape on the baseboard). This reduces the likelihood of pulling up long tracts of paint on the wall.
d. Tape is for baseboards, cabinets, and door trim. Don't bother to tape the ceiling, you won't need to (read the next tip).

2. Edging
Use an edger. It's a 3x5inch rectangular painting tool, about $3.50 at stores. It has two wheels on one side to keep that edge of the brush from touching, so it runs along ceilings, baseboards and wall edges. A fantastic way to do ceilings with really clean, straight edges.

I suggest using the edging tool first, and then using rollers and brushes to cover up as close as possible to the edge.

Home Depot sells the Shur-Line Paint Edging Kit for $3.89 and refills are $2.87 for 2 pads.

3. Throw away equipment
There are times to recycle and clean. Painting isn't one of them. The trade-off is that you trash a few extra items, but you don't run paint down the drain and into the municipal water system.

This is the #1 tip for enjoying the painting process. I've estimated that this can add approximately $10 per painting experience. It's generally worth it.

What disposable items should you buy?
Edging pads
Rollers
Plastic paint trays (fit inside the metal paint tray for stability)
Small brushes for touch-up
Thin plastic drop cloths (can use 2-3 times, then throw away because the paint it's picked up can start to peel off and fall on the floor)

4. More tips:
a. Don't do multiple colors on walls if you can help it, especially if you have raised surface spackled/textured walls
b. Bold colors - you've seen it on the shows, it's true. We've gone with generally compatible warm colors, see our pages for new/old pix
c. Get into the project. Think of the room as a theme, then go with it. Find a piece you like (art, pottery, bedspread, whatever) and plan colors around it. We used the blue from a Toulouse-Lautrec piece for our TL guest room, then framed a few TL postcards and added a primary yellow painted chair a lá Van Gogh to the room for fun.
d. Try to paint in one day, or in the evening and finishing the next morning.
e. Wait at least a few hours between coats or else you're just re-wetting the first coat and not adding a full layer on top of it.
f. Buy more paint than you think you'll need. It's good to have leftovers for touch-ups and an extra coat if you need it. Going to the store again is a pain.
g. Since you are disposing of a lot of stuff, buy the cheapies for most things (like rollers and brushes), there's no need to go expensive as they don't have to hold up very long.

The Milkman

More popularly known as the man the stay-at-home wife is tupping, the milkman has become nearly a myth, a historical nod to kinder, gentler days.

Turns out the Milkman isn't extinct, just an endangered species.

For the past years and more we've been getting dedicated weekly service, as the Milkman arrives on Thursday mornings about 3:30am (or so my dog's barking would indicate).

It's a fantastic, wonderful way to get extremely fresh milk, less than 24 hours from cows' teats to my treats.

And it's great because it's a bit of nostalgia rolled together with fresh products and it turns out to be cheaper than buying organic milk at the store! Yep, not only is it delivered fresh and cold, it's delivered cheaper than going to the store and picking through the shelves of milk looking for something not expired.

I've certainly been less than pleased by the efforts of grocers such as Safeway to keep their supplies turning over in a timely fashion. Now I don't care.

It's just too bad they don't deliver yoghurt and diet pepsi. Now that would be something.