Holy Hail, Batman!

We drove back to my parents' house this morning to pick M up from her weekend with Nana & Papa.

The overcast and windy weather forced a menu change from steaks on the grill to pizza take out.  The men and kids stayed in the kitchen while mom, my sister and I set ourselves up in the sun porch.  Then the rain showed up.  The roofing material on their sun porch magnifies the sound of the rain to a deafening din.  For some reason the rain seemed louder than usual.  This is why...

Hail!

The kids' faces were priceless when they saw the hail land in the yard.  Just as quickly as it arrived, it was gone.

We are back to a family of four.  It feels good to have balance restored in the house. 

Ahhhhhh!

With every good comes a bad, right?

Well this week is the pinnacle of the bad.  Matt has been traveling pretty much non-stop since the middle of February.  LA, NY, Düsseldorf, Minnesota, and other little places in between.  In the time that he was gone a wall was constructed and half of the floors were refinished.

As a teacher there are four days out of the year that I have to work in the evening: Fall Curriculum Night, November Parent-Teacher Conferences, March Parent-Teacher Conferences, and Spring Open House.  Since we do not live super close to our families it's best that Matt is in town on these days.  We know well in advance of these dates so no problems, in my memory, exist.

Then there's this week.  There was a possibility of a quick one day to Brooklyn, but it could also happen anytime in the next three weeks.  This week just so happens to be March Parent-Teacher Conferences and Thursday is the day when I have to work until the evening.  M has a few days off and is going to spend a few days with Nana & Papa.  That will leave G and Matt to have some male bonding time on Thursday. 

Well all of a sudden there was a potential trip back to Minnesota this week.

"No problem, you just have to be home on Thursday."

I walked in from work  on Tuesday and Matt said that a trip to Minnesota is scheduled for Thursday.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you correctly.  I think you just said you're going to Minnesota on Thursday."

I heard correct folks.

"Well, you'd better find a sitter for G since I have to work late."

Our usual swimming babysitter has class on Thursdays so she is out.  Matt called our daycare provider to see if she could keep him late.  No dice, it's St. Patrick's Day for goodness sakes.

Today Nana and Papa came over to watch M at swimming and then take her home for the few days.  As Matt and I tried to have a civil conversation about who was going to watch G while he went to Minnesota, Nana and Papa saved the day to say they'd take him home til Friday.

Nana & Papa to the rescue!

While they took her to swimming, I used the electronic babysitter (aka a movie) to pack both kids during Matt's conference call with China.

As of now both kids are with Nana & Papa, and Matt has some splainin' to do.

I think this is a Calgon moment.

Japan

I recently came across the Stats button on my Blogger dashboard.  This tells me how many visitors have been to our blog in a given day, week, or all time.  I see that over the past few weeks I've had two to three consistent visits from readers in Japan.

When I heard about the earthquake in Japan, I thought about these two to three readers.  Are they near the epicenter?  Where were they when the earthquake happened?  Are they OK?   

If you are one of my Japanese readers, please leave me a comment.  I would like to know how you've been impacted and how your city has fared from the earthquake & tsunami.

13 hours later

We have a circuit breaker.

It may not be the most glamorous way to spend your hard-earned money, but for the safety of our family it was a necessity.  The electrician, Mr. C., came back to bring our house up to this century.  Mr. C. is recommended by Mr. D. and the boys.

For those born after 1980 - This is Mr. Cunningham from Happy Days.  

The Fonz called him Mr. C.  Our Mr. C. is not nearly this old. 

Mr. C. is an interesting guy; I think he has adult ADD.  He has a lot to say and switches topics as they fly into his mind.  That being said he worked straight through all day, and into the night.

The other interesting thing is the electricity in our house.  Looking at our panel you would see at least two auxiliary boxes and other random bits of conduit.  When I came home at lunch he gave me the rundown of what he'd done so far and a few head shakes about what others had done.

Fast forward to dinner time tonight.  I've picked up the kids and we're home for dinner, but there is still no power in the house.  The kids are cranky and G is hanging from the refrigerator handle demanding "Milk!"  The best I could do was open the door super fast and hope that breakfast's sippy cup is on the top shelf.  Then what do we hear......

The whir of the fridge! We have dinner!

As we continued with our evening, Mr. C. continued his day in the basement.  When the clock ticked past 8pm he lumbered upstairs with all of his tools.  Done.  I knew that he had not eaten since breakfast so I made him a pb & j sack lunch for the road.  Yeah, I'm a food pusher.

Dinner for 1+

Dinner is a little sketchy at our house lately.  With Matt's ever-changing work schedule I am often cooking dinner for just the kids and me.  I can only handle drive-thru dinner so many times in a week.  I have not quite embraced this new dinner situation as I thought I would.

My waistline is not taking kindly to this lifestyle change.  Now that I think about it, my whole body is not taking this well either.  I am exhausted by the time the kids go to bed and have no ambition to do anything physical.  Things have to change.  Just because Matt is not home does not mean that I should subject the family to a less than wholesome meal.  Here in lies the dilemma, by the time I get home with the kids we are all starving and not in the mood to wait for Chef Mom to put dinner on the table.  If I do make dinner at home I do not present the kids with the recommended amount of vegetables.  I need to get back into the meal planning gig, fast.

Today I am in the middle of planning a set of meals to get us through the week, and maybe some leftovers for my lunch.

Here's the plan for the week
Sunday - Spaghetti & Meatballs
Monday - Baked Potatoes with bacon, broccoli, cheese, etc
Tuesday - Pancakes (and maybe some eggs)
Wednesday - Shrimp & Tortellini (My kids LOVE this!  Popcorn shrimp and refrigerator tortellini - I put mine with romaine lettuce and Kraft Toasted Sesame dressing) 
Thursday - Chicken Quesedillas (Already in the freezer from my favorite meal prep business in town)
Friday - Chicken Pot Pie (This is already in the freezer - I just have to remember to take it out on Thursday to thaw.  This is my first time making the Pioneer Woman's Pot Pie recipe.  I hope it's good!)

We are also on the way to Trader Joe's so maybe we'll find more inspiration there.

New closets!

Matt has been working a lot!  He spent a mid-week through last weekend in Düsseldorf, Germany for a trade show, home for 18 hours, then on to LA for a day, and end the week in NYC.  Whew!

This was the first weekend he was home were we could do some more work in the house.  Our closets were on the top of the list today.  Since we have down sized our room so much, we wanted to make the best of the closet space.  We made the trek to The Container Store, with the kids.  We knew it was a challenge to our sanity to take G since the stroller is not his favorite spot these days.  We basically tag-teamed the closet planning process.  I told the lady what I wanted and passed it off to Matt once she started talking measurements.  Thankfully there were many, many things to keep G busy.  I don't think The Container Store meant for the props to be played with, but it bought us at least an extra 20 minutes in the store.   

He only knocked one stack of buckets all over the floor.  Not too bad!

Did you know The Container Store has a teacher discount?  It's 15% and it's awesome when you are buying a closet.  Teacher friends, sign up!

We hit G's shopping time limit and decided it was in no one's best interest for us to wait for them to cut our shelves.  We zipped home for lunch, put G down for a nap, and I painted our closet.  Matt went to gather our closet purchase.

Once we got all the pieces home it was time for Matt to get to work.

Before - check out that paint job

During

After! Shelves from floor to ceiling

After! Long & short hanging

A short time later - voila!

Did You Hear It?

You had to listen carefully, but when I turned off the shower this morning I heard it.  I heard the birds singing outside the window!  Spring is on its way!

Good Morning Sunshine!

I don't think I posted a photo of Zak Brown's pacthwork of the pocket door space.

He put some kind of wood glue/spackle over the new planks to fill in the seams.  He will sand that off in a few weeks.  We are trying like heck to not trip over the loose edge of carpet.  Surprisingly G has no interest in the very tempting flap of carpet.  At least the tack strip is removed so no Tetanus is coming our way.  Once he sands the kitchen and living room, it will look like it was always there.  

The electrical change over from fuse box to circuit breaker is going to happen.  It has weighed on our minds quite a bit since I saw the sad state of the wires in our house.  From what we have been told a switch to a circuit breaker and replacing the current cloth-covered wire to up to code wire would take one day for the circuit breaker and one day to pull and replace wire.  We need to have a sit down with whichever electrician we choose to teach us a bit about our pending purchase.  We seem to be on the cusp of high season for construction so we're going to make a decision in the next few days to hopefully capitalize on the slow season.

I'm Crushing On....

I am taking a break from the incessant dusting and cleaning to share some of my latest crushes.

Well I have two non-stop crushes

After these cuties...

On the Web
Skype is probably the best invention for our family right now.  Matt's job keeps him away long hours, so it's nice to talk to daddy during breakfast.  The best is that he can call my cell from his laptop for mere pennies.

Mornin' Daddy!

E-mealz has been a lifesaver for our family.  For a reasonable subscription fee I can download weekly menus and shopping lists.  The meals suggested require few ingredients and not a ton of time.  While I don't usually follow the whole week's plan, it helps with the weekly question, "What should we have for dinner this week?"

Television
One Born Every Minute on Lifetime - This show is not as hokey as anything TLC puts together.  The show has its share of sad moments, but it definitely makes me want to snuggle a little baby.  Notice I did not say I wanted a baby, I just want to snuggle a baby.

The Amazing Race - We have learned so much about the world from this show.  It has played a big hand in our lengthy To Visit list.

Done x 1 1/2

The bedrooms are complete, but the pocket door project is not quite finished.  Zak Brown was back this morning to patch the floor.

The hole from the wall was temporarily filled with a piece of 2x4 (random thought - is it still a 2x4 if it has been cut shorter?) and covered with a tarp.  Shockingly G has not bothered to lift it up once.

Zak Brown thought it would be best to fill the spot properly so when he returns to stain and urethane the floor he can get started right away.  Here are some before and afters of the pocket door project.....

I think that's a nice difference, don't you?  Just a few more weeks and the construction dust will be adios for good.

We had a pretty full agenda for today.  The list was mostly created so we'd be out of Zak Brown's way, but the list lasted well into dinner time and Zak Brown was done!

1. Drop M at Spanish class and go to butcher shop
2. Zip back at home to let Zak Brown in and do a few dishes
3. Pick up M and get emissions test done on car
4. Go to the mall for new shoes for the kids, Matt's birthday present, and some make-up
5. Grab lunch on the way home
6. Put G down for a nap and work on report cards
7. Go to Home Depot for primer & stain (Talk to Matt on Skype while he's in Germany in the parking lot)
8. Go to grocery store at the height of the dinner hour with a boy who really, really didn't want to sit in a cart
9. Make dinner for the kids while preparing for dinner with my parents tomorrow afternoon.
10. Prime the pocket door opening so we don't get plaster dust on us every time we rub past it.

We didn't have the chance to get to Staples today, but there's always tomorrow.

Done!

One week and one day later, the room is complete!  There are a few things that we have to complete, but that will happen in due time.  We need to paint our room and G's room and stain all the new doors.  Everyone is sleeping in their own room.  Amen.

Pretend there is paint on the wall

Pretend the doors are stained

Pretend there is a rug and some decor on the wall

Let's hope it stays this clean :)

House Renovation, Day 8

Today is Presidents' Day and we do not have school, but that does not mean that we get to rest. 

Mr. D. had to put another coat on the former pocket door wall and finish up a short punch list of things.  Zak Brown has to sand, stain, and top coat our bedroom.  We are all packed up to go back to the hotel for one more night.  Then....

Mr. D. gave me a panic when he said Zak Brown’s van would not start for him this morning and he might come tomorrow instead.  He was hoping to hear from Zak Brown shortly as to the status of his ride.  I graciously held my tongue and waited for the call.  If he can’t come today, then the whole week is off to an interesting start.   I did offer to pick him up, but he lives almost 40 minutes away.  That would not be cool for the kids.  Thankfully the stars are aligned and his van started!  The late start had a potential to push the job into tomorrow and another day at the hotel.  I think he realized the hullabaloo involved in moving two kids out for just one night, and agreed to push through and get it all done today!

We had to make ourselves scarce around 11:00.  That worked perfectly as that was just enough time for lunch then back to the hotel for naptime.  When we checked in the fire alarm was sounding quite obnoxiously loud.  The desk clerk said this was the annual test and check of the fire alarm.  This meant the alarm company and a hotel employee had to physically enter every room in the hotel to make sure the alarm sounded.  That put a potential damper on the nap, but again the stars aligned for us and it stopped just as she handed us our key.  The nap has been saved!

After G woke up, it was time to head over to the park district for his weekly tot music class.  I will say it's not my favorite but he gets to play with tambourines, bells, maracas, etc., and occasionally smack another kid.  What more could you ask for?  When we were there two weeks ago the teacher said that was the last week of class and there would be a one week break between sessions.  That worked perfectly since G would be with Grandma & Grandpa last Monday.  I had M with since she did not have school today.

As it has become habit G loves to push the button for the elevator to get down to music class.  The funny thing is that he calls it a "butt."  He calls it a "butt" really loud whenever he sees them.  Slightly embarrassing, but good thing he is cute.  As I went to open the door to the classroom I noticed that the lights were off and all the fun toys were missing as well.  Now, I immediately figured I had made a mistake.  The finer details in life sometimes pass me by.  Did the teacher say this week would be the break?  Did the class move to another room?  I traipsed the kids back to the car to double check the email on my phone.  I did not want to look like a moron to the desk clerk if I was off a week.

No, my email said 2/21 was the start date.  So I called the desk clerk from the parking lot to see if I was an anonymous moron.  She concurred that the class started today and was confused that no one was there.  I asked her to look up if the class had been canceled.  She asked me, "is your son G?"  I was impressed with her telepathy skills.  She said, "yeah, you were the only ones signed up for that class so it was canceled."  Thanks for that email, park district.  I suppose the stars were not aligned for us on this one.  You can't win them all. 

Now that we were all dressed with no where to go, we went for dinner instead.  On our way I had to stop home to see how Zak Brown was doing.  His van was gone so I kept the kids in the car (I cracked the window for some ventilation!) and zipped inside for a minute.  Our floors look awesome.  While I could have gotten used to the zebra stripes in our bedroom, I think a cohesive color fits much better.    

Furniture goes back in on Wednesday, and we’ll dusting for the next few weeks.  Zak Brown will return to our house in a few weeks to take care of the hallway, kitchen, and living room.

Anyone want to buy an entertainment center?  We are selling ours because it won’t match the new floor finish, and it’s just a bit big for our postage-stamp sized house.  The finish is cherry and it's made by Pennsylvania House.  The shelves are adjustable and there is a hole made by the manufacturer to route electronics cords from the shelves to the TV area.  It's heavy and quite a lovely piece of furniture.  Send me a message if you are!

Yeah, I know the TV is a bit small

Day 7

Now that G is back in town we have to have a place for him to sleep.  The goal for the day was to get the kids’ beds set up so they can start getting back to normal.  Matt and I, however, will still be schlepping it in the basement on the aerobed (aka pumper bed as coined by M) and couch.

These are gorgeous!  The daylight makes them sparkle.

Zak Brown said that we can’t slide furniture on the floor, even if it’s on felt sliders.  The finish coat will still scratch.  We slid M’s dresser down the hallway on the yet to be finished hall floor and then carried it into place in her room. 

G was the most excited to be home.  When we showed him his room, he kept yelling "Room! Room!" and opening & slamming his new door.  Goodness I hope the novelty of that wears off soon!  

Welcome home!

 We are all so happy to be home!  For now....