Power Struggles

We’ve been fighting with the power levels in our house for about two weeks now.

No wait, that makes it sound like Anny and I have fought over who gets to do what. That’s not right. (we all know that Anny has the power!)

We have been fighting with ACTUAL power…you know, electricity…. for about two weeks now.

Let’s start with fun things earlier this spring:
Our local water utility has been going around our town and replacing both the water and sewer lines in the streets. Very good thing for the long term use of the system. Very bad thing in the time it is taking them to get the work done.

They have managed to shake electrical connections loose in almost all of our circuit breakers, and apparently on the connection from the pole to our home. Last night they came out and fixed the connection at the pole. When I got home this afternoon to meet with the satellite repairman, the lights continued to flicker.

With the loss of reliable power we don’t have many of our creature comforts. The two biggest are the television and the internet. (I’ve hijacked someone else’s wireless connection to post this!)

I’m the first to admit that I “watch” too much TV. I don’t know that I really do, but it is on often enough that it seems that way. I’ll leave the TV on while I do many things. Actually, almost anything that is inside the house. You could say that I use it to tell time, or at least time elapsed. (“That project only took one episode of Trading Spaces to get through.”)

It’s really playing games with our heads because the power is neither on nor off. The power is either low, at normal, or surging the daylights our of our appliances and such. I would almost rather have the power out completely, so that I didn’t get the notion that it’s okay to work in the workshop. No, it’s really not safe to work in the light-dark-dark-light-BRIGHT-dark of our surging power.

So now I sit here waiting to yell at the power company over the phone when they return my call. I think I hear the phone ringing now……

Can't Say I was Lazy This Weekend!

Anny has a habbit of telling people that I am good at starting projects. She leaves it at that. Okay okay, I might be guilty of leaving a few projects in the air as days and weeks pass with no completion.

Several times this spring I have decided that I would start AND finish a project in the course of a weekend. The problem is that each project gets stopped because something else should be done to improve the overall use of the entire house, not just the one room/project.

We were telling the lurker-extroidinaire last night that we got a new freezer six months ago and just now is it resting where it will be for the forseeable future. Here's how it went:

Got the new freezer
Moved out the old freezer to friends house.
Tried to fit freezer into the closet where the other fit. Didn't work.
Ripped out shelving in closet to get better fit, and it was time to redo shelves anyway.
Painted said closet and realized at once "This would make a great office!"
Moved the desk to the new Office, former closet.
Put freezer into furnace room.
Discovered moldy flooring under the tiles in the furnace room. Must be dealt with.
Ripped out plywood and replaced.
Decided that furnace room would be better suited for tools rather than food!
Moved shop stuff into furnace room.
Moved freezer into newly designated storage/craft room.

That brings us to this weekend. The original freezer move was back in early March.

We heard from two doctors to plan on having a baby in the next two weeks, not four. We immediately took to writing down all of the projects that need to be finished (and some started and finished) in preparation for baby arrival. It's a long list room-by-room on post-it notes. BIG post-it notes!

One of the projects was to make the craft bench/storage for stuff shelving. I started with just lumber and two Ikea As-Is desktops. This is how it turned out:

From My Pictures (click on the photos for larger views) I am really happy with the way it turned out. I have already put the shelvable items on the shelves! It ended up only costing about $50 to do. ($28 for both of the as-is desktops!) I already had the plug strip, it was just a matter of mounting it. You can see that Anny's sowing machine is already on there, too. So THERE, Anny. I CAN do a big project in a weekend. Now I guess I should hang the door on the nursery that has been ready for three weeks......

Lost - Found?

We finally watched the Season 3 Finale of Lost last night.


Briliant!

During the last ten minutes or so my jaw was just dangling open! Lots of theories, most of which my brother and I spoke about on the phone last night! I just called and said "holy crap!"

He knew what I was talking about.

Now we wait for the DVD and all of the extra features. We'll probably make a day of it before the next season starts!

Lost Without Lost

We didn't stay up to watch. Now I feel like I can't read blogs this morning.

Yahoo News has an article. Can't read that one either.

Turn off the radio, they're talking about it too.

Damn me and my sleepy head. (Never one to damn Anny, I will say that she would not stay up either!)

Luckily I'm the only one in my office that watches, so it's like a safe environment.

6:00 can't come fast enough......

The ABC's of Me

I was tagged by OrganTrail.

A - Attached or Single? Married.
B - Best Friend: My lovely wife, followed closely by a gaggle of great people.
C - Cake or Pie: CAKE! Always cake.
D - Drink of Choice: Water. Lots and lots of water.
E - Essential Item: iPod. I'm hooked.
F - Favorite Color: Orange, for now. It was always green before that.
G - Gummi Bears or Worms? Not a huge Gummi fan, but it's fun to bite a bears head off.
H - Hometown: College Park, baby!
I - Indulgence: Video Games
J - January or February: January. More work-holidays.
K - Kids: one, in less than a month!
L - Life is incomplete without: Love.
M - Marriage Date: 03/30/2002. A double palendrome, I've been told.
N - Number of Siblings: 2. one of each.
O - Oranges or Apples? Apples. Oranges have potassium.
P - Phobias/Fears: Failing my wife once the baby is here.
Q - Favorite Quote: Might as well be "Early to bed, early to Rise" Skip the rest of the quote, I just fit into the first part!
R - Reasons to smile: There are so many every day. Waking up each day, I guess.
S - Season: Spring, I think.
T- Tag Three: NeurosesGalore, SarahKM, Sarahlynn
U - Unknown Fact About Me: I have a list of things I want to do before I die. I am afraid to publish it because we don't talk about death in my house, so there's no reason for such a list.
V - Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals? definately a meat eater.
W - Worst Habit: not finishing projects around the house.
X - X-rays or Ultrasounds? REALLY bad experience with an ultrasound, so X-ray.
Y - Your Favorite Foods: Yes!
Z- Zodiac: sagittarius

A New Standard Question in the Line

I think that there is a new Standard Question that I am just now getting to in life.

You know the Standard Questions:

Youngster - What do you want to be when you grow up?
Teenager - How soon do until you get to drive?
Older Teen - Where are you going to college?
Young Adult - What is your major? (sometimes followed up by: Really?)
College Grad - When are you going to get married?
Married - When are you going to have kids?
Expecting a Child - Are you nervous??

Am I nervous? YES!!
Am I nervous? NO!!
Be specific!

What I am nervous about, as it relates to the next six months of my life, is mostly short term. I am a little nervous....
...that I going to pass out during the delivery.
...that I will let Anny down if I pass out during delivery.
...being sure that I am appropriate with how we spend time with people once Abby's here.

I am NOT nervous about the things that some people mean to imply. I am not nervous about...
...Abby taking all of Anny's attention from me.
...changing diapers. Yes, they're gross, but I've been there and done that.
...most things!

I think that mostly people are trying to spark conversation, but that can be quite a loaded question!

Friends, ask your questions, but sometimes it is good to be specific. If you're not specific, you could get an answer that's much more than you bargained for.....

Try This!!

You'll have to touch the screen in this video, so sit closely. I promise you that this is not one of those screamy pictures, but a very cool video from a Brittish psychology buff. Their website is www.quirkology.com.

Did you end up on the right square? I sure did! (Comment below to let me know which way yours went, please.)

They have another interesting video HERE. Enjoy it, after you let me know if the embeded one worked!

(re) LEARN TO DRIVE!

Okay, it seems that a lot of people have forgotten things from driving classes when they were younger, so I would like to take a minute to remind you of a few things.

1. When it rains, turn on your headlights. It may be a sprinkle now, but you will not think about it in the deluge.
   
2. When you change lanes, use your turn signal. You paid for it when you bought your car, might as well use it.
   
3. Don't cross a solid line on the road. White, yellow, purple! It does not matter. When the line is solid, it means you are not supposed to change lanes there. Keep on driving. In another ten feet the line will break and that's where it is safe to change lanes.

I have been assured that these problems are not exclusive to the DC Metro area, but I seem to end up dealing with these idiots all the time.

What are other driver-caused hazards that need to be preached? Please share.

Learned 'em Up Good

Yesterday we had the service of Confirmation for the nine youth that I've been working with this spring. It was a really great service and all were properly presented to the congregation. I'm truly blessed to have had the chance to learn from them, and I hope that they learned from me too.

I was highly impressed and elated by our seminary intern throughout this process. She did not arrive until February when we were already three or four classes into teaching, and was not involved in any of the planning. She hung out for two classes, and then jumped right in and taught/led as much as I did. Great to work with her!

I continue to be happy with our pastor and all that she does. She and I planned out all of the Sunday's of teaching, though she had to shift out of her leadership role toward the end. She included something special from each Statement of Faith that the confirmation class had written! It was moving to see each of the youth as they were referred to specifically in a sermon to the whole church. Her sermon is not yet on the web, so I cannot link to it, but it was really great, trust me!

I am excited to have this group of youth joining our church and am looking forward to seeing what direction they lead us to in the near and not-so-near future.

The End of an Era

Today is the day.

After a year in our family, Maggie, our 14 month old beagle/foxhound mix has found a new home. When we agreed to take her, we did not know that we would be having a baby this summer. Now that we are getting closer to that date, we have realized that Maggie is just not a right fit for our household, long term.

Thankfully we have friends that live in the outskirts of Northern VA that happened to be thinking about getting a dog, just like ours. Right needs at the right time for us.

Maggie will be missed, but we are all apreciative of the way that the situation is turning out.

(Now is when I could play for you a montage with some cheesy 80's song with some pictures, but I don't know how to add music, and I've already posted all of the good Maggie pictures that we've taken on here before!)