More SNOW

OK, we are getting more Global Warming fall out today. . . anywhere from 2"-6" today and 6"-10" by tomorrow morning. . . Glad I have tomorrow off to clean the driveway. . . .

If this keeps up it is going to be a LONG winter. . . . .

Snow

Yay, Snow. . . .

1- 2 inches today

6 inches on Friday. . .

More this weekend. . .

Global Warming my ass. . . .

thank God for snow blowers and a new driveway that should be easy to clean. . . .

Going to be a good day

Day started off with no hot water. . . Burner is down. So I hit reset and it coughs up some smoke then shuts off again. I turned it off at the breaker. Looks like it needs the service guy. . . .

Guess things can only go up from here. . . That's what I get for given a friend some grief over not having power this weekend from the ice storm I guess. . .

And I still hurt from a weekend of martial arts. . . I need to work out more. I really needed a hot shower this morning. . . .

House and Kids Update

Well, house first. . .

I have started to get the basement painted and move some shelves into the new "pool room". Once the shelves were in the models went in with only a bit of damage to a few of them that I could fix. The shelves look ugly since they are a mix match of stuff but it will due until I can build nice ones. It is nice to have my modes on display where they can be seen for a change instead of up in the loft where no one saw them. . . .

The basement needs a second coat of DryLoc but it looks good. I love and hate DryLoc. If you have never used it before then think about trying to paint with paste or plaster. This stuff is thick and a mess to roll on. Forget spraying or brushing. .. . and my arms hurt for a day or so after. . . . on the plus side it works great and does keep the water out. I hope to start moving in some tools this weekend after the second coat of paint is done. I will also be moving in the exercise stuff as the workshop will be doing double duty as Dojo too. . . .

I have to get home early tonight because my mom is doing a beer and pizza night for the guys that built her apartment. She is so psyched to be able to start moving in. We hope to have the old house on the market by the end of March. Here's hoping we can get a good price for it in this sucky market. It is in a great position since it is on an a acer and on a short dead end road with only one other house. It would be a great place if you have one or two kids and want lots of room for them. It also has an in law apartment with it. It is a nice place but with three kids it was not going to work for us, and it would have been weird doing stuff to the yard with her still living in the in law so we are going to sell it once she is moved in with us.

Now on the kid front Jack is fully mobile and starting to stand up by pulling himself up on the couch, table, or one of his sisters if they stand still long enough. And he is quite proud of this I may add. All this at only 9 mo. . . . this is not a good sign for mom and dad's long term sanity. . . His older sisters are still spoiling him rotten so he is doing OK on that front.

His sisters are doing well, Aisling has been getting on the honor roll for a few semesters straight now and Ciara is loving the Karate classes she started.

That about covers it. I am going to be busy for the foreseeable future getting the place in shape now that most of the work is done. They are still building out the front door in the original house and we still have to fix the window I broke. . . .

House Update

Things have been moving along on Nana’s place. They finished most of the inside work and we have passed the fire inspection and we only have a few things left. They are doing the final painting and clean up on the inside now. They still have one cabinet to put up that got measured wrong but after that we should be ready to go for her occupancy permit. The downstairs is about done and the basement is done. They are still working on a few things outside (in this cold). They need to add some stairs and a small deck by the sliding doors and they are coming along nicely.

It is funny how much the dirt sunk down with all the rain. They will be doing the landscaping for the septic in the spring to get that all fixed up and to bury the drain pipe from the sump pump. We get enough water out of it with all the melting and rain lately that I think we should make a pond for it to empty into. If not for Jack I might have done it. Instead we will talk with them in the spring about digging a pit and filling in some stone for it to drain into.

On the Jack front he is starting to crawl a bit. He is not having much luck with it due to the wood floors in the house. . . He can’t get the traction he would like. . . . He is also starting to climb up on people and can stand a bit on his own. I don’t know for how long cause he usually starts to bounce up and down once he is up and is quite pleased with himself over it all. He has four teeth now, front two top and bottom. He is getting big fast, almost 9 months old now.

He does get around a bit now though, and the best way to get his attention is to stack up a few blocks. He can’t stand seeing them stacked up and will crawl/slide over and knock them down as soon as he sees them. It is rather funny and he enjoys it. I think he may have a future in demolition . . . who knows, probably pays better than engineering anyway – he could have his own company. . .

A lighter note

On a lighter note I have some new pictures of Jack in the snow (I love snow. . . NOT) and of Nana's apartment that I will be posting on the web page in the next few days. Stay tuned.

Photos

New photos on the web page for Christmas and the house

House Update

Looks like the burner is installed and they are doing the oil tank today. . . we should have heat in the new addition by the end of the week. All the heating coils are run on the floor and we even have some lights working in the place

The only down side so far is we went to have FIOS installed and I didn’t have them run a new underground conduit with all the other stuff they did. . . . My Bad. . . . Any way they re-booked the install and Verizon will do the underground stuff for free!! YAY. Now if we could just get FIOS TV in this town I could dump Comcast and their overpriced service.

I will have to get a few new pics to post on the web site for the construction. The place is really shaping up with the trim being done and all. We got the floors left to do along with the cabinets and tile in the bathrooms but things are really shaping up quick.

Kid's and House

OK, Time for a Jack and House Update:

Jack – he is doing great and has to be the happiest baby I have seen. He is not crawling yet but he is thinking about it. . . When we put him in his exersaucer he bounces like no tomorrow. He is going to have strong legs if he keeps this up. He is still good at throwing a cute on short notice and loves to get the attention of pretty girls, and all those little old men and women in the stores when he goes shopping with mom. His big sisters love him to death and he can’t get enough of everyone in the family including Nana and Grandma and Papa. I will have to get some new pics posted on the web site we just got some new family pics at Sears last week. I will see if I can get them posted this weekend.

As for the house – things are moving forward. We had them put in the underground power and phone and such this week. The walls have been primed and the water is connected. They are working on putting in the heat now and we should be getting the burner and such next week. Nana has even got the new tile picked out for her apartment. We even have a digger outside and they are starting on the new septic system. I need to post some more pics on this too. . .

In other news Ciara has started Karate at my new school. She is going to the kids class that my teacher does on Mondays and is loving it! She got a Gi (uniform) last week and was so proud of it I can’t even begin to describe it. She is waiting for the addition to get done so she has someplace to practice her karate too. . . T and I are excited about it too as she is so quiet and shy I know this will help her learn to speak up in class.

More Later

Time Flies

Wow, didn't realize how long it has been since I updated things. . . Been a bit busy. . .

Jack is almost three months old now! he is getting big. He is sleeping all night now, almost 9PM to 7AM most days. And there was much rejoicing!! = )

I have got to get more pictures put up so you can see the changes. He is also getting to the point he reacts more to people. And boy is he a charmer with that smile he has. . . . although he keeps looking at me like he knows something I don't and won't let me in on the joke. . . . oh well. I will just chalk it up to he has an old soul and let it go at that. . .

The house is moving forward again after a few days delays. they have most of the cement blocks up on the first floor and they have just about finished the roofing work. As you would expect Nana is very happy with the progress. She usually is in her best moods when she can see progress on the house. I hope she will be able to move in mid fall. She brought a few of her friends by the other day to show off the progress = ) With a bit of luck we will be able to have the after Christening gathering at the finished house. . . .

The funniest part of things this week has been the brick layers have a puppy that comes with them. The puppy and Dixie are getting along great except that our Dixie is tiring out the poor thing! T tells me the puppy has to take a few naps during the day . . . Dixie loves having a friend around to play with. Now I just have to keep T and the kids from deciding we need a permanent friend for Dixie. . . . one dog is enough in the house. . .