Three Weeks In...

Three weeks in on our new home. We assembled the bed frame today, and we're working on locking the sun room doors to prevent heat seeping in. It was over 100 degrees today! Shane's been determined to bull through the doors. As usual, he takes offense to anything closed (especially when he's been on the other side, or can see through it).  The doors have taken some damage as a result. Our son is very insistent and persistent.

There are times I look back longingly at my old apartment. The bigger the house, the bigger the family, the exponentially larger the task moving becomes. My friend, Dan, may move in to our basement, so that may help with repair funds. You see, our house was a 'flipped' one, and we find new shortcuts on a daily basis. It's a shame the people flipping our house weren't more skilled at what they did. I was admiring how stripped some screws were on a door. It's something easy to avoid with a small amount of care. Thankfully, the housing market is still good here and the house appraised for enough more than we paid that it's still not what I consider a bad deal.

I just finished a week long academy course to kick of summer break. It felt like a great idea Monday, but I was burned out by Friday. I had an interview at a secondary school for a tech job on Thursday, too. I received an email in the morning saying "Sorry, but we'll have to pass." The school's huge, so I suspect they had an internal candidate. It was good practice for me. I'm not used to corporate style interviews by a panel and no personal interaction.

After a stressful anniversary, Carrie and I decided we needed to start watching Voyager together again. How's that for a nerdy solution to relieving stress? We finished Year Of Hell Part 1 a few minutes ago and I'm trying to quickly hash out this post so it won't be a postless day. We bought a laptop for our anniversary! So far, it's fast and it's pretty.

Sleep beckons. Saturday Shane duty awaits.

Bamboo

There was bamboo in the backyard when we bought the house. It had grown above (and through) the back porch.

We are trying to get rid of it.

It is extremely invasive. The roots have crawled under the dirt, cracking and lifting the landscape, over a five feet radius from where they were initially planted.

I bent a metal shovel. I scraped up a finger. Carrie cut her foot.

Today, I bought an ax and a mattock.

Now I know why the Chinese never conquered the world.

Shane's Temper

Everyone has a vice as they grow, and I suspect Shane's will be his temper. When he doesn't get his way, he lets you know quickly and violently.

Yes, violently.

At first, it was head banging. Now, he hits things. Whenever he gets mad and starts swinging his right arm around, I say "No hit." Shane hates hearing the word "no." Normally he swings again at something, or looks me in the eye and raises his right arm straight up like he's going to whack something. If he does, I say "time out" and drop him in the playpen in the living room and walk around the corner. Crying ensues.

Shane's a smart boy. When he looks me in the eyes and raises his arm, you can see the gears turning. I can see "Who's the boss?" flashing in his head. He then decides "I am!" and takes a swing. The cold splash of reality that puts him in the playpen upsets him and then he starts to protest to see if he'll get his way that route.

It's all part of parenting, though. This is just my quick "this is work and not all roses and sunshine" post. I love my boy, but his shit does stink. 

And so begins the battle for discipline that will last until Shane is fully independent and living on his own. I have to stay mostly positive and constructive, and he gets to test me whenever, wherever, and however he wants. It seems like the kids have a few advantages in this contest, doesn't it? I guess I worked all those to my advantage growing up, so it's only fair to be on the other side of the fence now.

Until next time!

My blogging promise

No more "I'm behind again" posts. I bet they're boring to read.

You can just assume that life is busy for better or worse if I'm not posting.

Korra Thoughts

I believe God has a sense of humor.

I feel like I see a glimpse of it whenever something incredibly ironic happens.

Carrie was working, so I had to DVR Korra. After her riding lessons, she came home to watch with me. My wife was on the edge of her seat the whole time. Then, right at the very end, the recording stopped. It took a second to register. Carrie's eyes grew wide and she yelled out a "NOOOOOO" as I started cracking up. There could only have been a few moments left, but it cut out at such a cliff hanger. Triply so, because it was about to resolve something that brought my wife to tears an episode prior.

The situation was so ironic, I couldn't stop laughing. This didn't make me popular with my wife, btw. She spent several hours trying to watch the last few seconds online and probably collected several dozen different malwares in the process (Carrie couldn't bear the thought of waiting until Nick posted the show legitimately a day or two later, ha ha).

Without any spoilers, I wanted to post a few thoughts on Korra.

1) Loved it! I'm looking forward to season 2.

2) That said, I prefer endings where there are hints of the truth throughout. Whenever there is a twist, but there is nothing to foreshadow the twist it feels a little weak to me. I love the effect of pulling off a twist and watching people's reactions as previous information clicks in to place. "How did I not see it!?!?" To me, that's the mark of a brilliant twist.

3) My wife will forever be a fan-girl. There were tears in her eyes at the end of one episode (as I mentioned earlier). She gets so into these things that it makes it more fun for me, as well.  Excitement can be contagious.

4) They could make a great game out of this world. RPG, action, paper and pencil, computer/console...., but I bet they won't. Oh, I'm not doubting they'll make a game. I just bet it won't be a great one.

Lightning Update

I got behind on blogging again, but it's not wholly my fault! The law of irony struck again.

Thursday was my tech interview.

Monday, my work laptop died.

Tuesday, the school interviewing me requested some samples of work I've done.

No laptop = no access to the school server. Thankfully, I'm good about saving my work on the server and not on my laptop. Otherwise, I'd have been royally screwed when the hard drive blew.

Weekly Bullets:

Fraudulent Blogging?

The Norton security on this computer keeps warning me that my blog is "a known fraudulent web page."

I didn't think anyone really knew about my blog, much less it was infamous. Then I clicked around and realized all the blogspot blogs got that warning.

Go figure.

Veteran Dad Tip #1

When your child is about to puke, hug them close.

Clothes are easy. You throw them in the laundry. Carpets require you to actually clean them.

Shane had his first nibble of Chinese food tonight (No, it wasn't from me). It didn't last long, and the laundry is already loaded and washing.

Korra Reaction

It's good to have Carrie home again. We went for a long walk with the boy and marveled at the different style of houses and update decisions and found a path to a park. I really like this neighborhood.

We also watched Saturday's Korra episode. I wasn't allowed to watch it since Carrie was out of town. It was an emotional one. Without giving away any spoilers, my wife finished the episode with tears in her eyes.

I bet next week's season finale is going to rock.

Father's Day 2012

Happy Father's Day to Dad's everywhere. This is my 2nd year amongst y'all.

Shane and I have spent the weekend playing, exploring, and running errands. Whenever Shane naps, I type/paste in a blog and then start working around the house. When he's awake, we play and drive around the area looking for new places to discover and explore.

I hate all of the work that goes into moving, but I love being in a new area. Yesterday, I had a few errands to run (picking up milk, dropping off a box with UPS, etc) and after each was done, Shane and I would drive up and down the nearby roads. On the way home, I'd turn left when I should turn right, or zig whenever a zag was required. It all helps me fill out my mental map of the area and locate points of interest. I found a hole-in-the-wall bakery with $2.50 loaves, a Wu-Shu (Kung Fu) academy, and a gigantic but mostly empty office park. I didn't want to leave Shane locked in the car seat for too long, so that's all I had time for.

Just now, I managed to meet both my neighbors (or at least someone associated with each house). I met one lady the day we dropped our stuff off, but I haven't knocked on any doors since. With school closing, unpacking, and Carrie going out of town Thursday we've been busy-busy. I never summoned the necessary energy to put on a smile and strike up an awkward, just-met-but-know-nothing-about-each-other conversation. Twenty minutes later, and the ice is broken. The neighbor who shares a driveway with me was outside, so I greeted her. Then, the daughter of our other neighbor knocked to see if I minded her retrieving some tennis balls that had flown into our back yard.

Crap. Shane's stirring. That's going to put a quick end to this journal. I need to call my friend Bill now. He and his fiance, Jill, were going to go with and help watch Shane while I get fitted from my brother's wedding in August. Hopefully, they keep Shane from breaking anything exorbitantly expensive. I'm looking forward to Carrie coming home tonight!

Shane’s New Vocab

Shane returned from his vacation at Grandma’s with some new vocabulary!


Grandma brought him in and the little tyke immediately started to tear around the new house and check the baby gates’ structural integrities (they held). Next, he found some balls and started throwing them through the gate leading downstairs.

“Uh oh!”

I was shocked.

Another ball was lost down the steps. “Uh oh!”

Then Shane ran into the living room and pointed up at the ceiling fan. “See!?...See!?”

My son was only out of my sight for a few nights. It’s amazing how fast things can change in that short of a time. It goes in a blink. I do think it’s good to put a kid out of their element/routine every now and then for their development, but a part of you hopes that you’ll be the driving force behind your kid’s growth.

We’re still working on Shane saying “Mama.” At this point, I think he’s trying to spite us or just can’t figure out why we’re always saying it, heh. This week, I thought some of his normal jabber sounded like “Blue” and “Green” while we were reading his truck book.

Of course, I’ll have to watch what I say around Shane. I don’t want any ‘Uh-ohs!’

The Devil on the Countertop

I love tea.

However, students constantly mistake my heavenly beverage for coffee.

I reply, “Coffee is the devil.”

When I was 18, and my sisters tried to convince me to go to a Starbucks. They swore there were dessert type drinks where you couldn’t “taste the coffee” in it. I tried one of their frappe-lappe-whatevas. The coffee flavor blasted through the sugar and I refused to have any more of it.

Fast forward over a decade.

I moved out of my house a week ago. My tea pot was packed up in a box a couple of days before. I am tea-less. You would think the caffeine withdrawal symptoms would hit me full force. Something has changed.

I drink coffee.

The devil’s beans.

As I’ve gotten older, my tastes have changed. I used to drink sodas, switched to sugar with a little tea in it through high school, and the amount of sugar in my tea has dropped steadily since. I gave up sugar all together for Lent a year ago, and the sipping unsweetened breakfast tea must have helped rewire my taste buds. Carrie sold me on Irish Coffee at the start of the school year, and I can now use our instant coffee maker in lieu of my preferred pot of tea. I drink it black. Sugared coffee is still off-limits, but I’ve experimented with milk, so even that may not be too far off in the future.

It’s a slow road to hell, isn’t it? You take one step on the path, and before you know it you’re that much further in the hole.

I still love you, tea. We need a glass tray for our microwave and to figure out where Carrie hid the sugar, so I can start brewing a pot like in the good old days. Until then, Mr. Keurig is a quick and easy substitute

....and he's getting more routine by the day.

You Know You're "Frugal" When....

You know you're cheap when you're willing to reuse a disposable diaper, because it's not "filled up" yet.

I'm not admitting to anything, but you have to wonder where I got the idea....

Life in the Box Fort

On Friday, the paperwork was signed, the keys turned over, and we moved in to our new house. Saturday, Shane returned from his trip to Grandma’s to test our child-proofing. This week, contractors and radon testers have come and gone. Thursday, our POD will hopefully be carted off this time.

It’s beginning to feel more and more like home.

It still feels a little like living in a box fort. Unfortunately, the boxes are all full of stuff, so you can’t crawl through them. Carrie’s got riding lessons and is going out of town Thursday through Sunday, so it will probably stay like that for a little while longer.

We’ll get there.

So far, I really like the new neighborhood. There’s no HOA, so there’s a bunch of different house types and customizations to look at. It’s peaceful, but not cookie cutter. It doesn’t have all the paths and playgrounds our old home was nestled in, but Shane likes cruising around all the same. Besides, there are plenty of sticks laying around for him to pick up.

So far, the main floor is 80% assembled. Baby gates are up in any areas that are not, and life goes on. The upstairs is more of a mess. Whoever is watching Shane can’t go up there to unpack and if there’s only one person home zilch gets done. Plus, we discovered a new problem with or dryer installation and can’t do any laundry yet.

New house, new challenges. That’s just the way home ownership goes. Maybe constructing a new house is different, but I doubt it. A house is work.

Thankfully, they’re also a home. I think we’ll like it here.

PS – I’m glad that the first house didn’t pan out. The location was much more convenient, but I like the setup of this house much better. For one, it has more parking space and a two-car garage. That will come in handy if one of my friends ends up renting out our basement.

PPS - There was a lot of work done today. Screws tightened on leaking sinks and toilets, IKEA set up a bookshelf and couch, and Grandma swept up broken glass from when the new garage door was installed and they broke a window. Carrie left at 8 AM this morning to teach two riding lessons, and then came home to shower and then drive out to Claytor Lake State Park. I rushed home after work to relieve Grandma of Shane duty, and now I'm about to work on grades I should have done at school. Shane? He's napping. It's great timing for me. Post a quick blog post, and then VPN in to my gradebook. If I get enough done now I may set up the Super Nintendo after Shane goes to bed. Awwww, yeah.

Blog Dumping 101

Work has slowed down to the point where I can take my lunch off! Whoo! I've started writing a couple of blogs in between bites of my hot pocket. I'll upload them one a day over the next couple of days to pretend I update regularly.

I guess this is what blogging pros refer to as "queueing up." Then again, maybe they don't. I wouldn't know and I'm not about to check.

Grandma brought the cats back today. Carrie has scheduled deliveries, contractors, and radon testers tomorrow. It's going to be a busy day at home if not at work! Summer is almost here and it'll be nice to get all of this stuff done with. Then, a new set of challenges will arise (like the ants in the kitchen!). That's just the way home ownership goes.

Also, I've figured out life is about two kinds of work: work I want to do at a given moment, and work I don't want to do at a given moment. Even leveling up on a video game is a form of work. The trick is to look at the result of a job and convince myself it's something I want. It doesn't always work, but it does often enough that I wrote it down.

Bed time. Lunch posts will be going up starting tomorrow.

Home Again

We're here.

There's still 2,000 and 1 things to be done, but our whole family is home at last. Grandma drove Shane up to visit and he brought a few new words with him ("Uh Oh!").

I'd write more, but I'm about to go clean up and unpack again. Carrie and I took a short break to watch Korra, and after she went to bed I went on a quick drive around the neighborhood to see where all the noise was coming from. Apparently, the local high school is in a state tournament and the sound carries really far. It's not so much that I'm bothered by it, as I'm really looking to figure out the lay of the land. Every area has its own idiosynchracies and figuring them out is half the fun (or challenge if it's a not so pleasant surprise).

I really like the feel of this house. Who knows? Maybe we won't move in 5 years and this could be our final destination. For now, I just need to unpack enough that I feel like I'm living in a house and not a box fort. (Not that box forts aren't cool, but there's too much stuff in my boxes to crawl through.)

The Places In Between

Carrie and I are homeless for the next couple of nights. The house sold, the new owners love it, and Carrie just fell asleep watching Major League.

I'm also identity-less. My driver's license expired on my birthday, and when I went to get it renewed, they said my birth certificate wasn't original. The certificate has spent the last 30 years shoved into a drawer full of documents, so it's a little worn. Did they even worry about copies of documents when I was born? They said I could use an expired passport instead, but all of our stuff is jammed into boxes and stored.

If I were to want a beer, I would need to ask Carrie very nicely to buy it. The whole situation annoys me greatly. We ordered a new certificate to be shipped and I'll start dredging through boxes when we move into the new house. There's not much else I can do in the meantime.

Moving 2

Carrie, Shane and I are officially moved out. It feels surreal, but my lower back tells me it DID happen.

Today was the hardest working "day off" I have ever had.

I think it will be worth it. After closing at 10am tomorrow, my family will be homeless until we close on Friday.

Weird.

Shane and the cats are with Grandma and Grandpa. Carrie and I are at a hotel.

Here's looking forward to Friday!

Moving!

So I haven't posted in a while. You know, it's been blah blah blah, busy blah-blah-blah-USAA-almost-cost-us-our-house-blah-blah, Shane (or Carrie) got hurt, etc, etc.

Plus, typing on an iPad still sucks.

Tomorrow is moving day. Shane is going to visit Carrie's folks for several days while we do work up here. I used a sick day because there's still a lot to do. I need to go to the DMV and renew my license on top of all the moving stuff.

In general, moving is half heaven and half hell. Packing sucks. Especially all the small bits. Unpacking is a fresh start. Everyone needs those from time to time. Even if you don't want to give up the known, you have to venture out sometimes to grow.

My prayer is that wherever my family is going, it's where God is leading.