Month: August 2008

A few months ago I wrote about a couple we met through the craig’s list in a post. I got a call a few days ago from Mary asking us over for barbeque this weekend. Wade and I met 9 of their 10 kids, a nephew, and two other families and their children. We had a great time. The food was excellent and Wade really enjoyed the ribs. We even made some contacts for housework – one of the men flips houses and always “knows a guy” for every project. Wade even found someone on his level to play with..

I have rediscovered an old favorite. I don’t remember when in my life I enjoyed these popsicles, but I know I did. I started thinking about them on Tuesday, but have been too lazy to go to the grocery for them. Wade took me to Moe’s tonight and agreed to stop for the popsicles on the way home. The best part is they aren’t loaded with sugar (not that that would have stopped me from buying them). Now we’ll see if my current trend holds or I actually eat more than one or two.

I had an ultrasound done last week and we got the results today. Everything looks good. There don’t appear to be any of the genetic disorders that they tested for. It was very surreal having the ultrasound done. I see the baby moving and kicking, but I don’t feel anything at all. Heck, at this point I don’t look remotely pregnant – no slight bump, nothing. (I am not complaining).

I never ate at Moe’s in Atlanta, but when one opened in Anderson I fell in love. I could eat their nachos every day of the week. Then we moved to Milwaukee and I thought I said good-bye. When we were looking at houses WAY outside of Milwaukee we found a Moe’s. The only two times we ate there were when we put the two offers in on our houses (the nearest we came to WAY out there). Then I got pregnant and sick. Most things in general didn’t sound good, but Moe’s did. It was one of the first meals I kept down. We have discovered by interstate it only takes about 20 minutes to get there and have been at least a couple times in the last few weeks. I think Wade is just more willing to humor me now!

In the past three years I have bought a lot of paint. In general I like Depot’s better than Lowe’s. I can’t really tell a difference in the latex I bought from Sherwin Williams and it costs quite a bit more. However, Sherwin Williams does have some things that the others don’t – knowledgeable staff, enamel paint, etc. I also realized what a markup they have. I was buying some specialty paint and noticed they carried Zinser BIN, which I have been using on my trim. They are charging $45 a gallon. I pay $23 at Lowe’s for the exact same prepackaged gallon.

Wade and I don’t have cable, but we do get most of the basic channels that have our favorite shows. We also have TiVo so we don’t spend a lot of time just channel surfing. We’ve been shocked at how much we have enjoyed watching the Olympics. Neither one of us can remember ever watching much in the past and now we spend a good chunk of time after dinner catching up on the games. We’ve discovered all kinds of new sports and athletes to cheer for. We are so thankful for TiVo – at least we can still fast forward through commercials, long debates, and non-interesting competitions.

Wade’s latest project is the closets in the master bedroom. For an older house it was amazing to find a master bedroom with two decent sized closets. Of course, they were obviously done with the highest quality in mind – trim that doesn’t match the house, painted mint green, and bifold doors that don’t actually work.
My closet before:

We have moved out of our bedroom and into the guest room for the next couple of weeks. Wade is working hard and mumbling over and over, “I hate drywall.” We bought old solid wood doors at the salvage store in Chicago a few weeks ago and Wade is working to make our closet openings smaller to work with the doors.
My closet as it is now:

I am back to doing projects. I think the days of not feeling well have finally passed. I decided to tackle the living room windows. I have taken down the windows, stripped the varnish and paint, and sanded. I have to do the same to the window frames and then I’ll be ready to paint.

The next step will be all the windows in the sunroom so that Wade can work his magic and try to winterize the front of the house. Can you believe the leaves are just beginning to turn up here? That seems crazy early.

Wade decided for the good of us all that Ethan had to go. He could escape our backyard by jumping the fence and would consistently bark if left tied up on a stake or in his kennel. Did I also mention he tends to have little accidents when he gets excited or sees Wade? We couldn’t get him transferred until today, but he is off to live in the country with one of the state coordinators. Bye Bye Ethan.

I knew some weird stuff would happen when I was pregnant, but two things I didn’t expect: to lose my taste for any and all sweets and to develop a sense of smell. I’d heard smells can bother you and so on, but I normally don’t have a sense of smell. Imagine my surprise when suddenly I smell the trash or something in the fridge before Wade. I actually think I liked it better the other way. And losing my taste for chocolate?!? That’s just wrong.

I have to admit to being very lax when it comes to my fish. I only had one left alive after my trip to Charleston and he wasn’t looking so good. He eventually died and about that time the kitchen in general was making me sick. I didn’t touch the tank and neither did Wade. It has been on my list this week, but I haven’t quite gotten to it. (Let’s not add up how long the tank has had a dead fish.)

Tonight I was helping Wade cook dinner and saw something move in the tank. I walked over and there is a little tiny baby fish swimming around. I am very confused by this. All of the fish I had were Mollies, which give birth to live young. Either that fish has been in there the whole time and I never saw it or it appeared from the dead fish (who has now mysteriously disappeared).
Very odd. I guess I will begin to put food back in the tank.

Do not leave strange dogs alone in the house for even 20 minutes.

I wasn’t feeling well and decided on a nap. Wade was watching the dogs. I came downstairs and saw the nice mess of my living room pillow. The dogs were nowhere to be found. I was actually amused by it at this point (couldn’t do much else) and called Wade up to laugh with me. He didn’t see the situation quite like I did and asked again when Ethan will go to a new home.

Ethan went away for 36 hours to get neutered. I was much amused when he came home with a cone and instructions to wear it for 2 weeks!

Wade was outside grilling and I was in the kitchen reading the mail. Wade’s parents had sent us some kind of Hallmark card and I was trying to guess what it was for. I finally opened it and found a “Happy Anniversary” card. My immediate thought was, “Wow, They are really early.” Then I looked at today’s date and realized it was August 4th.

I ran outside and asked Wade, “Do you know when our anniversary is?” (Meaning it is in a few days.).

He responds with, “Of course. It’s August 7th.”

I pointed out that was three days away and he actually had to be convinced. At least Wade and I both forget our anniversary!

(We’ve decided to postpone celebrating till I consistently feel better.)

Wade’s latest project is the closet doors in the Master Bedroom. When we bought the house the his and her closets had lime green trim and bi-fold doors that didn’t fit. Wade has been on the hunt for some antique pocket doors for his master plan (I’ll wait till it’s finished to explain). We have been to two local salvage places, but they didn’t have what Wade wanted. He finally found a place called Jan’s Antiques in Chicago. We got there and found a warehouse full of “stuff”. Jan was super nice and very spry for a little old lady. She and Wade moved and shuffled heavy doors while I stood in the corner and kept my breakfast down. We eventually found some doors, did a little dealing, and got a free window to boot. Too bad we didn’t have a similar place when we were redoing our last house!

On the way home we stopped at Cracker Barrel. I have never been to a Cracker Barrel that wasn’t quite right. Wade’s gravy wasn’t seasoned. My ham biscuits were served as flat biscuits (not fluffy) and a side of ham. The hashbrown casserole tasted the same – thank goodness.

This is really just about one bat. Wade and I went to the fair tonight and were both pretty tired when we got home. I was sitting on the couch reading when I see something move out of the corner of my eye. I look up and realize a bat is flying around the living room. I call to Wade and he doesn’t answer. I go upstairs and he is watching something on his iPhone and laughing out loud. I keep the dogs with me and he goes to investigate. When I don’t hear from him I venture downstairs and he is sitting on the couch watching TV. He says he can’t find a bat. He eventually gets up and finally finds it in the basement. He traps it under a broom and then we transfer it to a bucket and take it outside. Now the big question is – How did it get in?