It’s official so I’ve been given the green light to openly blog about our engagement.  Yep, Tracy and I are looking for a wedding locale and hoping to set a date very soon.  I wish there was one of those very cool stories to go along with our engagement, but basically I gave her a ring and asked if she would marry me, and she said yes.  I don’t suppose it should be any sort of surprise to anyone (especially to either of us) so I won’t spend a lot of time going on and on about how happy it makes me to know I’ll be spending the rest of my life with someone as wonderful as Tracy.  The boys are aware of the significance of the ring and that their Mommy and I will be getting married, we’ve assured them that they won’t notice any changes in our family.  We’ll still be in the same house and nothing will be different.  We haven’t talked about how Tracy’s last name will change or how people will likely refer to me as their “step-dad”, but we’ll get to all that in due time.  For now we’re focused on finding a nice spot and setting a date.  Thank you to everyone who has offered their congratulations.

In the past few years, I’ve started to assemble Christmas presents earlier, and have tried to take advantage of the traditional “day-after-Thanksgiving” sales.  Unfortunately I’m usually working on that day, so I rarely get anything good.  I’ve never been one to stand in a long line before dawn in anticipation of a store opening just to get the best price, but I’ve always managed to get into the store just in time to find out they sold out of whatever I’m looking for.  So this year I managed to have the day off, which meant I could plan my Black Friday sale strategy in advance and actually get out early to brave the crowds and try to get some decent things at low prices.  My list of potential targets included a list of items from Menards, Officemax, Herberger’s, K-Mart, and Target.

I woke up early and got to Menards about 30 minutes before the doors were scheduled to be opened, and was surprised to see a line of about 150 people already formed in front of the store.  I silently joined the crowd with coffee in hand and patiently waited for the doors to open.  It turned out to be a nice morning weather-wise, so I wasn’t too cold or otherwise uncomfortable.

Crowds are odd things.  The line was maybe 2 people wide and extended into the parking lot about halfway down the row, at least that’s how it started out.  As the time to open grew closer, the crowd, without any warning or communication, suddenly shortened to about half and widened out.  I suppose this was an instinctive  protection reflex due to a growing number of people shuffling around to the side of the line near the doors.  My theory is that some people began to move slightly to protect their position in line and shut out the interlopers that arrived later and were obviously edging toward the front without any regard for the proper line etiquette.  When store employees appeared at the front near the doors with about 5 minutes to go til opening time, the line suddenly and unexpectedly reformed again, and I found myself shuffling forward furiously in order to keep my place in a line that was now 20 feet wide but significantly shorter.  I remarked to the person next to me that they were “definately in my bubble” which caused some laughter.  Seriously though, at this point we were packed in so tight I could no longer bring my coffee to my lips.

When the doors did finally burst open there was yet another furious shuffle to get a cart and get out into the store.  Some people were smart enough to grab some garbage bins with rollers that were strategically placed at the front of the store.  I was not one of them.  I waited for a cart, then made my way to the first item on my list.  I had pre-shopped the store the day before so I knew exactly where to find them, but I was too late and the vaunted $8.88 boot dryers were all gone by the time I got here.  I expected this, however, and quickly mobilized my cart over to the 2nd item on my list.  I was lucky enough to get all the remaining things with no issue, then joined a large crowd of people in line to check out.  It took more time to get through the checkout than I imagined, but after another half-hour I was on my way to Officemax for a color laser printer for $99!  Of course I arrived too late (I knew they only had 6 in the store), but I had a good backup plan.  I knew that Newegg had them on sale for the same price online, and with no tax and free shipping it was actually a better deal than the in-store model.  

I moved on to the other stores and was generally able to find the bargains I hunted.  I was back home by 8:30 to tell Tracy all about my early morning adventures, which she found amusing.  After making some coffee we went out together to get some breakfast and fill out some things on her shopping list, which meant another 3 hours in Herbergers!  It was a wonderfully productive day and we managed to get almost all of our Christmas shopping done.  As I was shuffling along in that cold dark parking lot I was wondering if I’d lost my mind, but I’m sure I’ll be ready to try it again next year.

Movie Poster - Madagascar

Saturday was a big deal of sorts for our family.  It was the first trip to the movie theater for the boys, which at 4 years old is about average I think.  I know my first movie experience didn’t come until I was a bit older (I clearly remember seeing the creepy thriller ‘Willard”, so that was when I was 9 or 10), but that was without parents.  I have no way of knowing if they took me to see something earlier.  It’s entirely possible that the only reason I clearly recall the experience is due to the traumatic effect the movie must have had on my young mind.  Regardless of the effects of that particular showing, I have always held movie-going in very high regard.  The overly-buttered popcorn and overpriced pop, along with the loud volume and dark theater always made for a highly indulgent experience for me, one that I was eager to impart to Cole and Cody.

Back to the boys…

Cole and Cody have been watching “Madagascar” as one of their rest-time movies, and enjoying it very much.  They get to pick from that or “Little Bear”, “Curious George”, “Racing Stripes”, and either part one or part two of the ‘John Deere for Kids” series.  They have a rest period after the noon meal so they can unwind and be ready to stay awake and not so tired for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  The boys generally go to bed around 8 to 8:30 and it’s a long day for them if they don’t rest a little.  When “Madagascar 2″ came out, we thought it was a good opportunity to take them to the theater, and they, of course, loved the idea.

We choose to go to the Saturday afternoon matinee, which was a good choice of time (3:20PM).  I’m happy to report that not only were the boys excellently behaved and a pure joy for me and Tracy, but the movie was fun and entertaining as well.  There were many parts that we laughed out loud about, the penguins being particularly silly this time.

Of course they want to go again, but now we’ll have to wait for another family-friendly movie to be released. With the track record Hollywood has, we should be ready to get back into the theater in time for their 8th birthday!

Ticket Stub

Halloween Superheros

The Halloween theme this year was dedicated to the boys recent fascination with Superheros.  I don’t know exactly how it started, but suddenly they were all excited about Bruce Banner and the Incredible Hulk.  Then they were playing Spiderman by “web-slinging” each other, which seems just like wrestling of course.  Tracy and I love to laugh at their antics, as well as share a few stories about Spiderman and the Hulk.

Halloween is really fun for us, and we take great pleasure in getting the boys outfitted for the event.  This year we really didn’t think they’d tolerate the masks that come with the costumes, and they didn’t.  We had them try on the masks and sure enough they didn’t wanna wear them more than a few minutes.  So we took the extra step of drawing on their faces with makeup, and it made for a more enjoyable evening for them (and us, we kinda like seeing their smiles).

We started off the evening by taking them to the ECFE party at the elementary school, where they got to play some games and make some crafts.  They collected prizes for the games and made some cool little craft projects.  Then it was off to Trunk-R-Treat, which is a parking lot full of vehicles that distribute candy.  It’s held at one of the Lutheran Churches and is a great way for the kids to load up on good sugar-laced candy before we visit a few houses.  After making the rounds there, it was off to Bethany for a visit to the residents there.  The residents line up in the entry and pass out treats to all the little ghosts, goblins, and Superheros that stop by.  We made a few stops on the way home to some of Tracy’s co-workers that wanted to see the twins.

Once at home, we set about visiting all the neighborhood homes with Isaac and Tyler, their friends from 3 houses down.  The boys were very happy to get to participate with their friends and we were happy there were so many lights on in the neighborhood.  The weather was so much better than last year that the whole evening went just great and it didn’t start getting too cold until the last bit.  It definitely helped that Halloween was on a Friday this year, which means a more relaxed evening.  I’m not sure what the boys will want to be next year, but I’m already looking forward to it!

Oh good grief, has it really been 4 months since I last logged in to update my blog?  I’m not even sure it can qualify as a blog anymore…more like a randomly selected event from my recent past.  So much has happened in the past few months that I’m not even sure where to begin, but since I left off with the deck being nearly complete, I guess it’s safe to say now that it’s complete.  We finally finished all the construction, then moved on into sanding the whole thing, then applying Thompson’s Natural Cedar deck stain.  If I said we were completely thrilled with the finished product I’d be fibbing a bit, but despite the fact that it came out looking a bit “orangey”, we’re very happy with our deck.  

We attended a couple of weddings this summer, and they were both a very cool experience.  Tracy comes from this big midwestern family who all get together to celebrate the weddings of anyone related.  She has tons of cousins and extended family, so we’ll probably be attending weddings for a long time.  Having very little family of my own, I’m highly inexperienced at the whole wedding thing, but I’ve seen “Wedding Crashers” on DVD so I wasn’t totally out of sorts.  Nonetheless, they managed to confuse me, since the family has this odd tradition of auctioning off the bride’s garter.   Never saw that one on TV, so it was a bit of a surprise.  It goes like this:  Tracy’s great uncle Morris is a professional auctioneer, so he starts an auction and people keep bidding until the money is huge, like upwards of $1200.  And all the adults (especially Tracy’s dad and uncle) use someone’s 8-yr-old as a shill bidder.  Then the poor kid has to go collect his prize.  Actually it’s great fun and the winning bidder is quite a celebrity for the remainder of the event.  It certainly is a unique way to get the new couple a few extra bucks to help pay for the wedding.  I like it.

At Davis and Teresa’s wedding, Cole, Cody, Atlie, and Etta had a very important role.  They were given the task of making sure that everyone in attendance received a neat little bottle of bubbles for blowing as the new couple left the church.  They took great pride in making sure that nobody escaped their attention, and that everyone got at least one tiny bottle.

Etta, Cole, Cody, and Atlie

Of course there was a nice meal and dance in each case, which turned out to be hugely entertaining.

Contrary to popular rumor, nobody was groped during the bunny hop dance, but I have it on good authority that someone was nearly strangled with his own tie!  Did I mention that they serve alcohol at these events?

First Day of Pre-School

 The boys have entered pre-school now, and they have been very excited to attend.  The schedule worked our perfect for us to both drop them off before rushing off to work.  I’m so happy that Tracy switched jobs and now works for the county Social Services, which is is right down the street from Bethany.  It’s awesome that we get to ride to work together and have lunches together too.  

Cole and Cody are in class from 8-11 on Tue and Thur, which seems to be the perfect amount for them right now.  They’re always excited to go, but don’t pine for it on the days that they don’t go.  We’re really happy with the curriculum of the program and they seem to be learning a lot of new things.  Of course some of that comes from having switched day care in the later summer, and she really works with them on learning new things.  We’ve been hugely impressed by how happy the boys are at their new day care.  The only drawback is that she is our neighbor (4 house down) and Tracy and Corinne really get along well, which means that sometimes it takes a long, long, long time to finish the pick up (they gab at each other).  Oh well, it’s a small price to pay for such an excellent environment for the boys.

Tracy and I put in a full weekend of work on the deck project and I’m happy to report that we’re just about finished with it!  We have a couple sections of spindles to attach and one section of handrail, but otherwise it’s really looking like a deck now.  The weekend started off slow due to a shortage of lumber.  As Tracy suspected from a previous experience, our supplier shorted us on the materials so we had to pick up some additional cedar 2×4’s to make the toe-rail sections.  And to add insult to injury, they gave us a short 10′ board amongst the lumber we picked up Saturday, so we weren’t even able to complete it with the extra run we made.  I’ll have to pick up a replacement board so we can get the last section of rail complete tonight.

We made a jig to assemble the spindle sections in the garage, with Tracy handling all the cutting of the spindles on her Dad’s saw.  It really makes a difference to have the right tools, and that saw has saved us a ton of time.  By measuring the stairway angle at 36 degrees, we were able to just set that angle on the saw and cut all the spindles to length and they blended perfectly into the top rail.  I’ll post some pictures later today showing the progress we’ve made and some of the construction details.

Of course this only finishes off the major construction.  We still have to sand the whole thing (including all those friggin spindles!), then seal it.  We’ll be using Thompson’s® WaterSeal® Advanced Tinted Wood Protector, in natural Cedar color to finish the deck once we get a good stretch of dry weather and have a chance to get it all sanded.  Hopefully it won’t be too long, because we’re reluctant to use the deck for anything other than standing until we get it sealed.  Coffee, wine, and corn-on-the-cob are just a few of the things that are off-limits until we get the sealer applied.  Well, to be fair, those are just the things we’ve talked about….pretty sure we won’t be doing any cooking, drinking, or eating on the deck until we can relax about spills.

And speaking of cooking….one of the reasons we built the deck in the first place was to have a spot for the grill that is closer to the kitchen, but now that we’ve put all this work into it, we’ve decided to keep the grill on the concrete patio below and just use the deck stairs to run back and forth.  It was just too unsettling to think about grease from the grill ruining the wood.  Now that I think about it, it’s starting to sound like we’ve built a nice piece of wood sculpture attached to the back of our house! 

It’s not that bad….we can still drink water!

Check out these detail photos of the underside showing the Deckmaster attachment system, and also the incredibly even and proportional gaps that Tracy laid out.  I shook my head many times while I waited for her to finish fretting over moving a board a millimeter one way of the other until the gaps lined up perfectly, but I have to admit that it was worth the effort.

We are making great progress with the deck, despite the setbacks from intermittent thunderstorms and being at least a day over schedule on the framing work.  Our contractor for the framing work says he may have underestimated “a bit”.  No matter, the framing looks great and everything is very level and square.  Hard to accomplish at 10′ off the ground, but even the stairs came out very nice.  Tracy and I were looking at the wet wood yesterday (thunderstorm activity, of course) and admiring our choice of the western red cedar.  It’s a good choice and very beautiful wood.  Jerry and Bonnie came out for lunch and stayed all afternoon to help with the decking.  They were great!  We got so much accomplished in that time that the stairway treads are all completed and the decking is cut and mostly gapped and attached.  We have a few boards yet to attach after setting the gaps, but it’s good to get it looking like a deck and able to stand on.  It’ll make the rest of the work go so much easier now that we can get up and down the stairs and have a platform to stand on.

Jerry let us borry his cut-off saw, which made the sizing of the deck boards much easier.  It’s a big difference when you’re using the right tools for the job.  We didn’t expect so much help, but it was sure appreciated.  We have to work on getting the deck rails built after squaring all the board gaps and securing them.  We’re using this “Deckmaster” system to attach the deck boards to the framing, mainly because it attaches from beneath and leaves no holes or screw heads in the wood.  It makes for a very clean look but it much harder to accomomplish as all the screws must be driven from beneath the deck while the gaps are set from above.  It’s tedious work that will add many hours to the project length.  Hope we’ll look back on it as time well-spent.

Tracy and I have been planning a deck for the backside of the house almost since we bought the place over a year ago.  We’ve gone through a number of different options for style and materials but finally arrived at a 16′ x 12′ deck with single continuous stairway, mounted 10′ above the concrete patio and attached to the existing 16′ ledger board.  We chose AC2 treated lumber for the framing, with the exception of 6″x6″ cedar posts and cedar skirting for the outside (visible) edges.  The stairs have 3 stringers, each 16′ in length overall and made of cedar on the outside stringers and a single AC2 treated stringer down the center.  The railings are all cedar, as well as the 5/4″ x 6″ decking.  We chose the Deckmaster method of attaching the decking to the joints to avoid having to punch screws through the Western Red Cedar we chose for the deck boards.  It should be a very attractive deck once we get it all sanded and sealed.  I think we’ve decided to go with Thompsons WaterSeal and leave it natural with no colored stain applied.  We got a chance to see our wood wet and it looks pretty nice so we’re hoping that look translates well (for when it’s all finished and sealed).

Here is a picture of the current progess of our deck:

Seems like forever since I’ve taken the time to update my blog.  It’s been a busy few months, but really it hasn’t been busy enough for that to be the reason for the lack of writing.  I think I just got behind a week or so and then had trouble deciding which of life’s events to use as a catalyst for restarting the blog process.  And the longer it went, the more choices I had.  I mean no matter what topic I chose (several important birthdays have passed, we got a new Cub Cadet lawn tractor, the boys and I visited a John Deere open house, we planted a tree for Tracy for Mother’s Day/Birthday, winter finally ended, we’re in the midst of building a deck, etc), it just seemed like I was gonna sit back and say “THAT’S the thing that drove me to finally update my blog?”.

So now I’ll reveal the earth-shattering news that has gotten me back to the keyboard…we have a traveling sprinkler, and it looks like a little tractor.  I know this is hardly big news for anyone outside of our household, but we do not thrive on big drama here.

I got it for Father’s Day, and of course you can see from the date that Father’s Day is still more than a week away.  That’s because Tracy got it on some fantastic sale about a month ago, and has sworn the boys to secrecy in order to make it to June 15th.  Well they were both doing great and hadn’t even so much as mentioned it even though I was well into my watering system, hauling hoses and sprinklers all over the yard in an attempt to get the lawn  in decent shape (and by that I mean watering and fertilizing the grass obsessively so that I’ll be able to mow it more often with the Cub Cadet).  But Cole finally cracked the other night while sitting at the dinner table.  He blabbed something to Tracy to the effect of “did you wrap it yet?” and although I can’t recall the exact discussion that led to that moment, it was obvious what they were giving me for Father’s Day.  It was a very funny moment and we immediately all laughed (especially Cole, who thought it was very amusing that he had “spilled the beans”).

So now I have a wonderful little sprinkler that can follow a pattern of hose laid out in the lawn and even shuts itself off after depositing a metered amount of water in a circular pattern.  I love it, and I love my family for giving it to me.