I Got Routes

Big accident this morning on 380, in both directions, grounded me on my Friday. This wouldn't do. I rerouted, only slightly on the way, much more on the way back. Took 447 returning. Passed Auntie Eileen & Susie's place. Looks like they're building something in their front yard. Like a bunker. Or a fallout shelter. Only above ground. Crazy ladies. I should call them. They wanna give us their goats. But anyway.... I got routes.



Laura finished up work today and is now officially on maternity leave. Congratulations! She had a pizza party and sat in all the furniture that is for sale. She didn't care. She had a night out with some of the girls at Applebees. Now she doesn't have to leave the house for a couple weeks. Even tho we are, tomorrow.

Real World Animation

Somebody's been busy.

A Night For Boobs

I know so much about breastfeeding now, I think I could do it! I really do. It was a sad night, because it was our last class withe Sarah Glenn (Laura's become fond of her) but she does do yoga classes that we're both thinking of taking. We'll see. I'm glad we signed up because there's tons we weren't aware of and it's quite reassuring to be so knowledgeable about it all now. Really takes the edge off. Even tho tonight was only a breastfeeding class, it was a good ending to the whole series, except when Sarah told us how lite-skinned redheads, like my wife, are more sensitive and prone to pain, Laura told the whole class that I beat her. So tonight, it's a double beating.

But at least it was something, because up to that point it was pointless for me to even get out of bed. Work was a joke. I spent the first half of the day following the rumors of Roy Oswalt going to the damn Phillies and eating a fishbowl full of chocolate covered pretzels and the second half watching the Mets day game on live pitch-by-pitch and playing with stencils. Whatever, I'm getting paid. And I got to listen to my iPod all day, so that made the day tolerable. And the Mets won! Bonus. Hopefully tomorrow I can drive somewhere, but if not, I'll make due. For now, we're both pretty beat and still have a Friday to get thru. It's her last day of work for a couple months, and some of the girls are taking her out for dinner. I will be coming home to do some work online and maybe take a nap. Got a game Saturday and yardwork Sunday. I may have a neighborhood helper. Oh and PS if she sticks to schedule, we're having a baby one month from today.

Heights Weren't In The Contract

I drove a flatbed today. Gotta strap heavy steel staircases to the back, kinda tricky stuff. Makes for rides of high anxiety. Don't wanna kill anyone ya know? Every once in a while I have to pull over on the side of the highway and tighten up the straps, to keep things from falling off. As if being on the shoulder narrowly dodging speeding cars wasn't enough, I chose a rather poor spot to do it today, on a high overpass over a junkyard. But I didn't notice til I was walking along the edge of the bed of the truck and looked over the side and didn't see the road below but gravel & grass, about 4 stories down.



Looks lime someone's made the fall before. I saw their ghost.



Short story shorter, I'm home safe and sound.

Dadblasted Galifianakis!

Stumped again! Just when I lived down the "Hey, you look like the Hangover guy? Are you the Hangover guy?" he's gotta go make another movie and of all things it's about having a baby! Get out of my life Galifianakis!


It does look good tho.

Our Adorable Lil' Nursery

We spent all weekend working so hard to set up the baby's room. It turned out really well, and while the theme we chose is not everyone's cup of tea, we love it and can't wait to bring a little bundle of joy home to her beautiful new room, designed especially for her.


First we put a fresh coat of paint on the room, only about halfway up the wall tho to keep that textured brick & aged patchy look on the ceiling that we know baby will love to gaze at every night. Before we started moving in any furniture we made sure the window bars, ceiling rings and the trap door were nice a tightly secured. Don't want baby to hurt herself.


The crib! So tough to find the perfect one. Since that's where the baby will be spending so much of her time, we want to make sure she is beyond comfy. We decided to forgo the sidebars because we think it's such overkill. We don't wanna baby the baby too much. The sooner she learns how hard the floor is, the better, hence the yellow & white checker tile we installed.


A mobile to hang above baby's crib is also important. It's got to be a vision of peace and serenity, allowing the baby to be lulled off to sleep just by watching it dangle there in its iron & chain majesty. The dusty cobwebs were my personal touch, I thought the room could really use some more grey & filth.


A changing table is an obvious must for any baby's room and we went with this simple fourlegged workbench (changing a diaper is work) mainly because the store had a special sale, as it came with a free chain to hold the baby down while you work and a hammer to get at those really nasty turds. We hung the safety Tyvek suits we'll need to wear while changing diapers conveniently on the wall next to the table. And those shackles back there? Don't worry. They're not for the baby, per se.


No nursery is complete without a rocking chair for mom & dad. This little number just screams out "Sit on me and sing your baby a lullaby!", doesn't it? Yes those spikes look more than cozy but the real clincher was how it came with the safety lap plank and wrist restraints. We haven't figured out the ankle bars yet, but maybe once baby comes it'll all be made clear.

So.... Baby's room is done, and we are as ready as anyone could be. We're still looking for some sort of toy chest so let us know if you see anything that'd fit in our adorable lil' nursery.

Blood, Sweat & Sweat

Blood because I chopped at my ring toe (no I do not wear a ring on my toe, but how do you specify the toe next to the pinky?) with the trundle frame and sweat because there is probably pints of my actual sweat mixed into the paint I just applied to the baby's room. It went well. My dad cut wainscoating all day (crazy a-frame walls) and I painted myself into a blur. That wainscoating is tough. Laura's on her way home now to see it for the first time. Tomorrow I am sleeping in! and then building baby furniture. Good day but I am really frigin tired. And sore. And tired. And I just cooked my parents a DiGiorno without taking the cardboard off. Again. And tired.

Jezabel Sauce

1 container (0.8 oz size) dry mustard
5 ounces jar horseradish
18 ounces apple jelly
18 ounces pineapple topping or preserves
black pepper

Mix the mustard and horseradish in a bowl. Add the jelly, and topping. Add black pepper with your own discretion. Mix thoroughly. Pour over a block of cream cheese and serve with crackers or be less fancy and top a burger.

Donut Date, Depot & Daybed

We may have added dresser to that headline too, but we didn't find one we liked. Oh well. That's too many D-words anyhow. But we did meet for donuts. And lattes. How fancy! The receipt even said fancy on it. It's becoming a tradition. We'll see how long it'll last.

Then we headed to the Home Depot to pick up some paint and wainscoating for baby's room. Last minute impulse kinda thing, with the wall enhancement. Let's wait til it's done tomorrow to see whether or not we can call it an enhancement or not. Thank goodness my parents are coming up tomorrow to help. By this time tomorrow, we could have a nursery. Could.


After a long hunt we finally lucked out with a daybed. Finally our company will have an official place to hang their head while they stay with us. And we got dressers and all kinds room decor to go with it. Great deal for two brand new mattresses and a pretty nice bed frame. Most of these trundles are hideous. We got a steal. Now we just need a door.

Tomorrow's a big day. We got our paint. We got our mouldings. The whole left side of the house is getting a transformation. Two rooms that used to exist to collect junk are being given purpose. They're up to it.

Rejuvenating Innocence

Color Inspiration

I'm trying to get motivated for this weekend...


...and I only have one room.

Tired Angles Make New Shapes

Treats by Sleigh Bells
The Way Out by The Books
Good As Gold by Petter & The Pix
Until The Light Of Morning by Essie Jain



Destroyer Of The Void by Blitzen Trapper
Libraries by The Love Language
One Happy Island
Twin Hand Movement by Lower Dens



The Long Shadow Of The Paper Tiger by Mahjongg
Walls
Magic Bullets
In Search Of The Miraculous by John Zorn



White Magic by CEO
The Boxer by Kele
Schemes by Sea Exchange
Splash by Jeremy Jay



Funeral by Arcade Fire
Animalore by Via Audio
Forgiveness Rock Record by Broken Social Scene
Innerspeaker by Tame Impala

Yelling Wednesday

Wednesday. Starts on a Tuesday. Ends on a Thursday. Lots of yelling on a Wednesday. First Laura yelling about her phone updates. This sort of thing should not be attempted at high speeds. Then yelling at work. Not at me, just around me. But I find it amusing. Big business, well oiled machine, still operates like a schoolyard playground. Good thing I get to hop in the truck and leave. Had a loaner while the real deal was being serviced. The hood on it (the loaner) was broke so it kept popping up. Made for an interesting ride. Wasn't sad to let it go. Reilly broke the backgate too. Crazy lifter. GT was quicker than ever. I had hopes to clock out on time. The last 2 miles of 380 would make sure that wouldn't happen. The kind of traffic where people get out of their cars and walk around. I saw a woman taking her blood pressure while she was driving. That's either careless driving or extremely careful driving. Now I'm yelling at the phone. I'll sleep on it.

Glad She Went The Glazed Stick

Odd day. Oddly pleasant. I ate a crazy juicy pear. It was like biting a water balloon, filled with pear juice. I bid on the season 3 Weeds DVD from a toilet in a steel factory and won it on a sidewalk in front of a hair salon. $6.20. Bent a sign. Went out to Perth Amboy. Galvanizer. They got their act together. Made time for coffee & a donut with the little woman. She ain't so little anymore, but not for long. We lost the daybed in Bridgewater, but found another one just as good and half the price around the corner of the Blue Mountains. Friday folks. Pending inspection. I don't care for days where she closes. I find it pointless to make any kind of supper. Tonight was a blueberry yogurt and a flavor stick. Purple. We gotta eat them sometime. Wasn't so bad.

Kielbasa Baby

I passed thru Wyoming the other day. There's a Wyoming in Pennsylvania. I know it doesn't seem big enough, right? I assure you, it is. But more to the point, in Wyoming they have the Plymouth Alive Kielbasa Fest every summer, and this year it falls on August 27th & 28th. It's a two day affair. The only reason I mention this is that it's the weekend before our little girls due date. People are already hanging banners. It must be close. If we're lucky, we'll have a kielbasa baby.

A Guitar, Kittens & Korma At Least

Today we filled the storage space. There's very little room left in there, but there's much more room upstairs and in the shed so... win/win. We also went on a hunt for a daybed for the continuing transformation of the laundry room into guest bedroom. So far we have curtains. We hit up a few places, trying not to pay full price of course and struck out, but at the third yardsale I picked myself up a little consolation prize...



And for only $9! The youngest daughter was manning the shop at the time and since she seemed to have no idea and blurted out the first number that came to mind I said "Deal!" before she could reneg. But we did pick up the pace down the driveway when we heard the Dad come out and say "You sold the guitar for $9?!". Oh well.

I sweat about twelve gallons of fierce strawberry gatorade today, between all the loading and unloading and reshaping of rooms. The back room is now the baby's room and the office is now the front room. These names have meaning. And we moved Gabuk up to the front room, along with her 5 kittens, and she seems more than content. Much nicer accommodations than the old doghouse outside. And Fawsja's are roaming the house nowadays, entering that sickeningly cute phase of hopping about and chasing feet. Couple more weeks for them.



Add to that, I went to a record store today and for the first time made money. I met a west coast man there, made a few suggestions, and felt good about helping him in his aimless search. Poor guy. I should've given him my number. He's gonna need help again. And then Laura made chicken korma and we watched The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassusm which was... interesting. The Mets are down by 6, two innings away from being swept. Good way to start off the second half. I think it's time for bed....

Oh, Ike Davis just hit a two run homerun. It's something.

New Developments

Found a new app on the fancy phone. This one I actually use. And love. Four camera settings. One better than the last. I haven't stopped snapping. Or shuttering. Check it...


The Bärbl




Little Oяaиge Boж




Xolaroid 2000




pinhOle Camera