- Timmy is doing very well in his swimming class. Cyndie reports that he is much more comfortable in the water now and is willing to "swim" (with the help of a floatation device) by himself ... something that he would not have dreamed of previously.
- Emma's bed is "complete" ... meaning that the structure is finished. Cyndie and I patched all the screw holes, etc. last night meaning that the next (very messy) task is to sand the whole thing down so that we can paint it. The plastic curtain goes up today (to contain the dust) and hopefully we'll have the sanding complete by the end of the day. Emma can't wait to sleep in her new bed!
- Cyndie's scavenging has been productive. Yesterday (while Mom and Dad watched the kids) we visited two people that had free stuff to use for the tree fort. We got a free 10 foot slide (probably would have cost $150 new) and a free free-standing play structure with a 6 foot slide, a 5x5 foot platform, a little rock climbing wall, etc. Because of all the free stuff we've gotten, we decided to expand the "tree fort" from a simple tree fort into more of a playground-y setup. We even came up with a name ... the Dragon's Lair! Actually, Cyndie and I we going to call it the Dragon's Nest, but when we suggested that to Emma and Timmy, they suggested Dragon's Lair (I'm not exactly sure where they got that!). Anyway, it will be fun to build!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Oh, there are other things besides the Royals
So there are a few other things happening around here. Actually, there are probably three events of general interest from yesterday ...
Royals Update
I'm sure you are all on the edge of your seats wondering what the Royals did last night ... well, let me tell you.
The Royals took game 2 of the three game set from the Yankees with a 4 - 0 score. Righty Zack Greinke pitched eight shutout innings to drop his ERA to 0.60. The victory moved to Royals to 6 - 2 and into sole possession of first place in the American League Central Division. The Royals look to complete the three game sweep of the evil empire tonight at 7:10.
The Royals took game 2 of the three game set from the Yankees with a 4 - 0 score. Righty Zack Greinke pitched eight shutout innings to drop his ERA to 0.60. The victory moved to Royals to 6 - 2 and into sole possession of first place in the American League Central Division. The Royals look to complete the three game sweep of the evil empire tonight at 7:10.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Midweek is here.
Well, there isn't a whole lot to report today, but I know my loyal readers (or is it reader?) expect to see* something.
*I'm not sure if that link to some Shutterfly pictures that Cyndie recently posted will work or not, but here's to trying!
Yesterday, Emma's class went up to Milwaukee to see Seussical!, a Dr. Suess based musical. Cyndie went with as a chaperone. It sounded like it was fun, but a little long. Grandpa D came over to play with Timmy while they were gone.
On the "Emma's room" front, as I sit here, the bed structure is 90% done, and should be completed either over lunch or this evening. After that, it will be a lot of painting to get it completed.
*I'm not sure if that link to some Shutterfly pictures that Cyndie recently posted will work or not, but here's to trying!
Yesterday, Emma's class went up to Milwaukee to see Seussical!, a Dr. Suess based musical. Cyndie went with as a chaperone. It sounded like it was fun, but a little long. Grandpa D came over to play with Timmy while they were gone.
On the "Emma's room" front, as I sit here, the bed structure is 90% done, and should be completed either over lunch or this evening. After that, it will be a lot of painting to get it completed.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Some success
So we've gotten a request for some pictures of Emma's room in progress. I'll have to see if I can get some up here. It's more difficult now that my computer doesn't have the SD card slot which makes it easier to download pictures off the camera!
Now onto the title of this post. Cyndie, after a marathon shopping trip Monday night at Wal-mart for material for Emma's curtains, took a trip to Shopko to return some bar stools we'd purchased*. Anyway, thrifty her, she found some table clothes that are perfect that she got for a total of $8. This as opposed to the two different options she'd found at Wal-mart for $100 each! It turns out that the table clothes were supposed to be $12 each, but someone had mis-marked them. Nevertheless, we got the $2 price!!
*That's a whole different story! The stools were a good deal and matched our existing bar stools, so we thought we'd get two for when guests are over (to go in at the kitchen table). Well Cyndie got them home, and assembled one, and then discovered that the leather on the seat was sun bleached ... meaning there was a weird light spot on the top. The other stool was warped. It was very strange. Fortunately (other than the unneeded work of assembling a bad stool), it was fairly easy to return them and get some that were in good condition.
Now I'm sitting here working and there's a nice rain falling outside. I have the window open even though it's a bit cool outside because the sound of the rain is so nice!
Now onto the title of this post. Cyndie, after a marathon shopping trip Monday night at Wal-mart for material for Emma's curtains, took a trip to Shopko to return some bar stools we'd purchased*. Anyway, thrifty her, she found some table clothes that are perfect that she got for a total of $8. This as opposed to the two different options she'd found at Wal-mart for $100 each! It turns out that the table clothes were supposed to be $12 each, but someone had mis-marked them. Nevertheless, we got the $2 price!!
*That's a whole different story! The stools were a good deal and matched our existing bar stools, so we thought we'd get two for when guests are over (to go in at the kitchen table). Well Cyndie got them home, and assembled one, and then discovered that the leather on the seat was sun bleached ... meaning there was a weird light spot on the top. The other stool was warped. It was very strange. Fortunately (other than the unneeded work of assembling a bad stool), it was fairly easy to return them and get some that were in good condition.
Now I'm sitting here working and there's a nice rain falling outside. I have the window open even though it's a bit cool outside because the sound of the rain is so nice!
The Decline
So Jane declined my offer of a Twins/Royals season record wager. I can live with that. But that just means that the Royals bandwagon is open to Jane since she won't have as much of a rooting interest in the Twins!
In the mean time Liverpool FC is locked in an epic showdown with Arsenal for a semi-final slot in the Champions league. At halftime, the two teams have played to a 1 - 1 tie. It should make for an exciting second half!
In the mean time Liverpool FC is locked in an epic showdown with Arsenal for a semi-final slot in the Champions league. At halftime, the two teams have played to a 1 - 1 tie. It should make for an exciting second half!
Monday, April 7, 2008
Oh yeah ...
I guess I shouldn't leave out that the Royals finished out their season opening road trip with a 4 - 2 record. Not bad for a team that many predict will dwell in the cellar of the American League Central all season. Given Jane's trash talking of late, perhaps this is the time to make a friendly intra-family wager on the final results of the baseball season. I'd be willing to bet that the Royal's will finish with a better record than the Twins this season. Care to wager Jane? And how can we make it interesting? Humm .... how about the loser buys the winner a t-shirt of their team? Stay tuned, we'll have to see where this goes!
The weekend is gone ...
Good morning all (almost afternoon actually). I hope all your weekends were outstanding. We had both a productive, and relaxing weekend! We did a little around the house and yard*, relaxed some ... all in all, pretty much an All-American weekend.
*I'm not sure how we managed to do it, but we have three projects running concurrently right now. We have Emma moved into the guest room and are currently constructing phase 1 (of 3) in her room ... her bed. I think we're about 60% done there. Hopefully we'll wrap that up by the end of next weekend. Project #2 is cleaning out a bunch of underbrush from part of our forest so that the forest is a bit more usable. Dad and I did a bunch of that on Saturday ... to the detriment of Dad's knee and my back! But we gained about 500 square feet of more usable yard in the process. The result is that we've decided to move where we're going to put in the tree fort as it will be more accessible. Which leads us to the final project. Cyndie has read a "How to build a tree fort" book and one of the big points was that you can build one for significantly less by using used or discarded building materials. So she's been on the lookout! She recently found a contractor taking out a deck and now we have a lot of wood in our driveway!
After the long day Saturday, we decided we were very ready for a real Sabbath on Sunday. So we mostly relaxed. The day culminated in leftover sourdoughs with Grandma and Grandpa and dessert at Culvers, which the kids love!
The hard work going on in Emma's room was well worth it when this morning Emma came running down to the basement where I was working out and jumped on me and gave me a big hug because she was so excited about the progress in her room!
*I'm not sure how we managed to do it, but we have three projects running concurrently right now. We have Emma moved into the guest room and are currently constructing phase 1 (of 3) in her room ... her bed. I think we're about 60% done there. Hopefully we'll wrap that up by the end of next weekend. Project #2 is cleaning out a bunch of underbrush from part of our forest so that the forest is a bit more usable. Dad and I did a bunch of that on Saturday ... to the detriment of Dad's knee and my back! But we gained about 500 square feet of more usable yard in the process. The result is that we've decided to move where we're going to put in the tree fort as it will be more accessible. Which leads us to the final project. Cyndie has read a "How to build a tree fort" book and one of the big points was that you can build one for significantly less by using used or discarded building materials. So she's been on the lookout! She recently found a contractor taking out a deck and now we have a lot of wood in our driveway!
After the long day Saturday, we decided we were very ready for a real Sabbath on Sunday. So we mostly relaxed. The day culminated in leftover sourdoughs with Grandma and Grandpa and dessert at Culvers, which the kids love!
The hard work going on in Emma's room was well worth it when this morning Emma came running down to the basement where I was working out and jumped on me and gave me a big hug because she was so excited about the progress in her room!
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