offline for overhaul

I have taken the current galleries offline - new galleries to follow soon.

Bye dad, 'm goin' back to Texas.....

Its a sunday, Terri is off at services which leaves me home with the boys for a spell. The oldest comes out of the back bedroom with a small plastic case, its the case for a fisher price medical kit - pretend stethescope, bandage, scissors, scalpel and the like so its about the size of a lunch box, clear lid so you can see the contents. Nothing inside is from the kit, all of that is strewn about the boys bedroom, the new contents are clothes.

He sighs, looks at me and says "see ya, I'm all ready to go"

Okay, I will play along here..." Where you going little guy?"

"I'm all packed, I'm going back to Texas" he says in a little sad voice...

"What was that?" I asked, a little taken aback - first that my son was "leaving" so soon, I mean really, he's only four. Second, and perhaps more taken aback by the fact that 'Texas' of all places is where he is decided he is going 'back' too. "what did you just say?"

He looks at me wide eyes, quickly reviewing in his little head what he had said to see if it would get him in trouble - (I realize now that 'What did you just say?" is usually the prelude to little heart to hearts about how you shouldn't say bad words, even if mommy or daddy did) "ummm... I said 'Bye dad, 'm goin back to Texas' see.." thrusting his case my way " I'm all packed!" with this he shows me the contents of his 'traveling bag' (Two pairs of clean underwear, two swimsuit trunks, a small tank top, two beach print t-shirts and a pair of socks)

A little puzzled, but not wanting to get in the way of the little imagination trek that is about to start I say "Okay, have fun - don't get into trouble" and he plods off into the front room, his little kit banging back and forth between the doorframe and his little upper legs as he turns to leave..'well' I thought to myself 'at least he packed clean underwear - his mom will be proud.

I was relieved to find out a few hours later that Spongebob Squarepants' friend Sandy (the squirrel) was 'going back to Texas' on an episode that was on earlier in the week.

okay - this isn't the actual problem caused but it is a direct result of it. One thing lead to another and this is where it ended up.

delayed; now boarding at platform nine

okay, again... its been some time since the last post - I was "delayed" now, many of you are thinking that this would simply be modus operani, but the delay is the story this time, however - in order to get to the delay we have to start further back.
We got a new couch/loveseat set for our front room. Matching bone colored microfiber, they look great and the microfiber is said to wear second only to leather. The color looked great in our existing room, however - change drives the wife, she had to repaint. No big deal, the new colors looked great and it freshened the room up even more. Now, you ever heard the term "snowball effect"?
The repaint of the front room requires a repaint of the dining room - okay, one room leads to the other... I can see that. The plan for the dining room prompted a house wide "review" room to room and the bathroom needs a new paint job. Now, here - I try to draw the line, a lot more work will need to be put into the bathroom to get it up to "paintable" as water has a way of kicking a rooms ass. She agrees to hold off for a while (Small victory, doesn't last long)
So, we have already repainted the front room, the dining room is agreed apon and the bathroom is on hold. We also have our back patio in a holding pattern, the bricks were laid last fall and the pergola is set for the next project - even before the dining room.

The pergola was to be a two weekend project.
Weekend One: Poured the footings for the main supports and got the main header up then put up the bracing to allow the cement to cure correctly.

Now, as we both work full time and hours between getting home at night and bedtime are filled with the two boys - nothing happens monday - thursday other than we discuss all of our future DIY home makeover plans, cover options and work out details. some of those details involve the "on hold" bathroom. One of the details of this project that was discussed is that the ceiling currently has old eighties silver "tinfoil-esqe" wallpaper on it that has been painted over. (I know this because the water has started in on the edges of the paper exposing the seams) However, this detail is news to the wife, who doesn't believe it, and sometimes curiosity and cats don't mix. She has to see this detail for herself. (Wednesday evening) The "see for yourself" event turns into an all out strip job. Pulling the paper down from the ceiling makes the room smell like a wet old glued dog, it makes the boys gag when they walk by or go in. The next night, it isn't any better, this problem isn't going to just dissapate, obviously it can't stay this way - we have to paint the ceiling, no doubt about it, we may as well paint the rest of the room CAREFULLY. But this shouldn't be that big of a deal - rollers, paint trays and paint are collected thursday, friday she tapes the edges in prep for saturday morning. Its a small room, an hour per coat? I should still be able to fit the remainder of the pergola in.
Saturday morning, the boys are watching cartoons, I run downstairs for some last minute calculations on the girders/cross rafter design. She goes in to paint, it isn't 15 minutes when she walks in my office "honey, I think i may have just caused a big problem...."

A quick snap of a quick snip!

back for more ed hainey....

I have been feeling guilty about the amount of time (or lack thereof) I have been able to spend updating the family section of deparment9. The entire site has been neglected as of late, so much is happening that I haven't been giving it any attention. The "happening" parts are exactly what I wanted to put into this site to keep everyone up to date, and possibly a little entertained.
I didn't want this to get lost in the shuffle and forgotten.

So, enter the blog. Here you will find the little day to day things, comments, jokes and situations with the boys, the family, the house etc - a choice selection of "now" in a format that should only take minutes at a time - rather than chunks of design time.
I hope that everyone finds something they like here over the next few weeks....I plan to post at least once a week, more often as "things" happen.

Thank you all -
Department9