By the time I hop on the flight to Dayton Sunday night, a lot, hopefully, will be accomplished around here. At least I have that Detroit layover Sunday night to update the blog! Starting at noon tomorrow.....
1) Halloween will have come and gone. That will be an adventure in of itself, we have to go to a party before trick or treating, we have to get Kevin to viola practice, and then we have to get back here for the actual trick or treating.
2) We have to get the kitchen base cabinets locked into place for the countertop measurement on Wednesday. We (I...) have been procrastinating on this, but, it has to be done this weekend.
3) Kevin has his all-state audition Saturday at 12:20. He reports that he's 99% confident in his scales, 90% confident in his etude, and we feel pretty good about his sight reading skills, so, we'll see. The list of auditions is online, it looks like there are about 34 middle school violas trying out for what I guess will be 12 spots.
4) First indoor soccer game of the year.....we're hoping to have Kevin tape at least part of it since both the boys will be playing.
5) Matthew has flag football Sunday. Looks like the weather will cooperate!
6) I need to finish getting the stuff out of the basement and the carpet ripped out so that construction can begin down there on Wednesday.
7) and....Christopher's physical is Friday afternoon. I think the big guy is going to get a shot, and, as mentioned before, we'll real curious to see that growth chart!
Good think Penn State's on a bye and the Steelers are on Monday Night!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
"Things that make me smile for $400"
1) While there's a lot of things that Matthew does really well at flag football, the one that made me smile the most this weekend was his two plays at quarterback. He didn't just say "Set, Hike!", he barked them out loud enough that they heard him on the other field.
2) Measurement for the countertop is next Wednesday. We had figured that the 10% sale at Ikea for purchases over $2500 only applied for a single purchase, but, found out today that we can take in our receipts from the time that the sale started, and, since we are now over the $2500, can get 10% back off of them.
3) Am listening to Kevin practice the viola......I really enjoy listening to him as he goes through his various compositions. He was playing the Largo from the New World Symphony the other day...always enjoy when he plays something I know and it takes a minute for me to recognize it. All-state auditions are Saturday, we'll see how he does.
4) One of the Schoolhouse Rock kids has left the musical because he made the basketball team, this has opened up one of the soloist parts for Kevin. So, he now has a 2 line solo during the Interplanet Janet song.
2) Measurement for the countertop is next Wednesday. We had figured that the 10% sale at Ikea for purchases over $2500 only applied for a single purchase, but, found out today that we can take in our receipts from the time that the sale started, and, since we are now over the $2500, can get 10% back off of them.
3) Am listening to Kevin practice the viola......I really enjoy listening to him as he goes through his various compositions. He was playing the Largo from the New World Symphony the other day...always enjoy when he plays something I know and it takes a minute for me to recognize it. All-state auditions are Saturday, we'll see how he does.
4) One of the Schoolhouse Rock kids has left the musical because he made the basketball team, this has opened up one of the soloist parts for Kevin. So, he now has a 2 line solo during the Interplanet Janet song.
The President's Own
Matthew, Christopher, Kevin and I went to see the United States Marine Band Monday night. The Band tours the country on a regular basis, and, while tickets are free, you do have to request them in advance. We didn't do this at first, but, a very kind coworker did, and she ended up not going, so, I took the boys and went.And they were really awesome. We sat in the very back row of the balcony section (seating was general admission)....far enough away that I could see the discrepancy between the conductor's downswing and me hearing the beat that would correspond with that. But, the boys liked it and that might be the only time we ever sit there! Matthew fell asleep against me halfway through the 1st part of the program, and Christopher, and even Kevin, was getting restless as the program went on, so, we left at the intermission. But, they were really really good, and the boys liked picking out the different instruments.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Sunday Update
For sports, it's all Matthew today.
First was flag football. Matthew only rotated through as running back once...those are the first 3 plays you see. Spent some time as QB, and had some defensive highlights.
Soccer was a bust.....every week one team (of the 11) has two games back to back, this week we were playing the team that had already played a game, so, they started out tired. And they weren't very good. And our worst players weren't there. So, it was a steady diet of Matthew, Greg, and the other players, and well, we agreed to call the game at the half (and the score at that point must have been twenty-something to nothing). Oh well...hard to tell 1st graders not to score, and, the boys really did a good job of passing to score goals (which is all I can ask for), so, that's just how it is sometimes. Today's game has helped to solidify our decision to make sure Matthew plays next spring up a level
Saturday Night was pumpkin carving night. While Dad was occupied with the Nittany Lions, Mom and the boys de-gutted and carved out a few of the gourds.
First was flag football. Matthew only rotated through as running back once...those are the first 3 plays you see. Spent some time as QB, and had some defensive highlights.
Soccer was a bust.....every week one team (of the 11) has two games back to back, this week we were playing the team that had already played a game, so, they started out tired. And they weren't very good. And our worst players weren't there. So, it was a steady diet of Matthew, Greg, and the other players, and well, we agreed to call the game at the half (and the score at that point must have been twenty-something to nothing). Oh well...hard to tell 1st graders not to score, and, the boys really did a good job of passing to score goals (which is all I can ask for), so, that's just how it is sometimes. Today's game has helped to solidify our decision to make sure Matthew plays next spring up a level
Saturday Night was pumpkin carving night. While Dad was occupied with the Nittany Lions, Mom and the boys de-gutted and carved out a few of the gourds.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Saturday Update
An update in three parts:
Kitchen: A day of slow progress on the little things that need to get finished up. Picture first, description second
Had to add legs to the wall cabinets that we are using as base cabinets on the other side of the dishwasher.
Kitchen: A day of slow progress on the little things that need to get finished up. Picture first, description second
Had to add some planks to our hardwood floor around the dishwasher area. You can see in the picture above the 'plank' that was already there...it's the one on the upper left where the dishwasher used to be; it was not full width (not 3", but 2 1/4"). We had to add a plank on each side of that one...width doesn't matter. That involved laying down some more plywood and cutting the planks to the right length. Took a while to get done, but, it's finished.
Suzanne spent a lot of time today installing the lazy susan in the one cabinet. We discovered that we want the door on the other side, so, we'll be redoing the hinges soon, and, that there's a little bit of a design flaw for the bottom section of the lazy susan...it hits the hinges as it swings around. Suzanne has read about this on the source of all knowledge, the Ikeafans website, so, we'll be trying a fix for that soon as well.
Had to add legs to the wall cabinets that we are using as base cabinets on the other side of the dishwasher.
And, had to cut off the very back ledge of the wall cabinets since we're using them as base cabinets. This ledge is a support feature for where the cabinet hangs on the wall, but, they have to come off to secure them to the other base cabinets. Could have cut it off before assembly, but, it was just pretty simple to do afterwards.
Sports: Last outdoor soccer game for Christopher. Won 1-0, again, the team had a ton of chances but didn't convert, well, only converted one of them. Christopher had two great chances and kicked it right at the goalie. Probably did his best work on defense....we dominated the team we were playing so I asked Christopher to play at midfield and just keep kicking the ball back in to the offense anytime the other team tried to clear it, and, of all the kids assigned this task, he was the most successful at it.
Viola: Kevin's preparation for his all-state audition and the solo and ensemble festival continue, but, with a new development. Turns out the orchestra teacher has suggested to Kevin that the piece he's performing for the solo festival might be too difficult for him. She asked Kevin to consider it, and, then called Kevin's private instructor to discuss it. We heard all about this after his lesson Friday.
Kevin doesn't understand why his parents are a little irked by this....if there might be a problem, we wish we were consulted...we don't think it's quite right that she went straight to Jon. The more we think about it, we're a little irked that the whole subject came up at all. She's never heard Kevin play the piece! If this whole conversation had happened after listening to Kevin for the three minutes it would have taken him to play it (he has it memorized!), that might be a different matter as well.
Kevin's doing the 2nd movement of the concerto by Telemann that he's been working on forever for the festival.
Viola: Kevin's preparation for his all-state audition and the solo and ensemble festival continue, but, with a new development. Turns out the orchestra teacher has suggested to Kevin that the piece he's performing for the solo festival might be too difficult for him. She asked Kevin to consider it, and, then called Kevin's private instructor to discuss it. We heard all about this after his lesson Friday.
Kevin doesn't understand why his parents are a little irked by this....if there might be a problem, we wish we were consulted...we don't think it's quite right that she went straight to Jon. The more we think about it, we're a little irked that the whole subject came up at all. She's never heard Kevin play the piece! If this whole conversation had happened after listening to Kevin for the three minutes it would have taken him to play it (he has it memorized!), that might be a different matter as well.
Kevin's doing the 2nd movement of the concerto by Telemann that he's been working on forever for the festival.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Sink Update and a discourse on puddle jumping
Forgot to mention that the sink arrived yesterday. It's cracked. So, Suzanne spent time on the phone with customer service, and that one is going back, and another one is on the way.
I'm sitting in Detroit Metro again this morning, after another quick jaunt to WV to see the sites. I'm becoming quite an expert on Northwest's fleet of small planes. Here's what you can expect if you're doing the Lansing to Canton/Dayton/Columbus/Charleston shuffle...on the planes that are, I believe, referred to as puddle-jumpers.
The CRJ900. For everything that is sucky about the CRJ, this model from the engineers at Bombardier is awesome. It's newer, so, it has lots of head room and seat space. Has a first class cabin (so, there's a chance I can get out of steerage). Only been on this thing once (on a DTW-LAN hop) and hope I get to see it on more of these smaller flights.
Once upon a time I looked at a flight on a DC-9 as an unavoidable alternative; now, I'm excited to be on one. Full-size jet, but it's old...the last one ever was built in 1982. Decent seat room, awesome air flow, good windows. Used to get these a lot on the Lansing-Detroit hops, now, with all the cutbacks, they've been mostly replaced by those sucky CRJ's. But, I fly one home today.
I'm sitting in Detroit Metro again this morning, after another quick jaunt to WV to see the sites. I'm becoming quite an expert on Northwest's fleet of small planes. Here's what you can expect if you're doing the Lansing to Canton/Dayton/Columbus/Charleston shuffle...on the planes that are, I believe, referred to as puddle-jumpers.
The Saab S340. A prop jet (a jet engine turns the propellers) and the smallest of the Northwest fleet. Suprisingly roomy on the inside, one seat on one side of the aisle, two on the other. Lots of head room, and the seats feel pretty large. Good windows. Like all small planes, this model suffers from a lack of sufficient airflow from the vents. Lack of air flow sucks in a stale overheated cabin, especially when the woman or man next to you has really loaded on the perfume or aftershave (like this morning, for example). I always find it pretty amusing that landing speed is the same as flying speed; there's no noticeable throttling back of the engines as we come in to land.
The CRJ100 or CRJ200. 2 seats on each side of the aisle. Not a lot of head room, not a lot of air flow. Windows that are impossible to look out of while you are on the ground (unless you stoop). Sadly, I'm stuck on these a lot now, and they suck.
The CRJ900. For everything that is sucky about the CRJ, this model from the engineers at Bombardier is awesome. It's newer, so, it has lots of head room and seat space. Has a first class cabin (so, there's a chance I can get out of steerage). Only been on this thing once (on a DTW-LAN hop) and hope I get to see it on more of these smaller flights.
Once upon a time I looked at a flight on a DC-9 as an unavoidable alternative; now, I'm excited to be on one. Full-size jet, but it's old...the last one ever was built in 1982. Decent seat room, awesome air flow, good windows. Used to get these a lot on the Lansing-Detroit hops, now, with all the cutbacks, they've been mostly replaced by those sucky CRJ's. But, I fly one home today.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Kitchen Update
Wasn't going to do a kitchen update, since it's been slow, but, SOME people are addicted to kitchen updates, soooooooo...
Here's the sink we've picked out.
We're still trying to decide where to position the faucet. You can see in the one picture that they have it centered in the sink (my vote), but, Suzanne thinks it might be best centered over the drain. We'll see how it works out.
This weekend we need to get all of the cabinets in place and figure out how much filler we need before we move on to the countertop. Received a quote from the local shop....it looks like they'll be about $1000 higher than buying it from Ikea. Of course, that all depends on if we go with that countertop....last night, Suzanne asked "Are we set on the countertop?" which is code words for "I don't know if I'm set on it, will you agree with me so that we can look at other options?". But, I like it. Suzanne thinks a counter top that's either lighter or darker would 'pop' more, provide more of a contrast. I don't disagree, but, I like the color of the chocolate cognac and think that it leaves room for a backsplash that provides some 'pop'.
Here's the sink we've picked out.
We're still trying to decide where to position the faucet. You can see in the one picture that they have it centered in the sink (my vote), but, Suzanne thinks it might be best centered over the drain. We'll see how it works out.
This weekend we need to get all of the cabinets in place and figure out how much filler we need before we move on to the countertop. Received a quote from the local shop....it looks like they'll be about $1000 higher than buying it from Ikea. Of course, that all depends on if we go with that countertop....last night, Suzanne asked "Are we set on the countertop?" which is code words for "I don't know if I'm set on it, will you agree with me so that we can look at other options?". But, I like it. Suzanne thinks a counter top that's either lighter or darker would 'pop' more, provide more of a contrast. I don't disagree, but, I like the color of the chocolate cognac and think that it leaves room for a backsplash that provides some 'pop'.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Master-y
Figured I'd scan in some of Kevin's recent 'instructions' from the master-level instruction he's getting......first up are Kevin's notes from his viola lesson on Friday. Suzanne and I couldn't be happier that we were lucky (and that's what it is, luck, we just went to the local store and asked about signing Kevin up for lessons, and Jon was the guy) enough to have Jon teaching Kevin.
The next two scans are from the notes Kevin wrote down after his meeting with the cross-country master; Ashton's Dad from up the street. Ken runs all the time, we only just noticed at this year's Capital City run that he had won his age group in last year's event. As we've talked with him about Kevin's success and enjoyment of cross-country, Ken had said that if Kevin wanted to keep training through the rest of the year that he could help Kevin really improve on his times. And I said 'thanks, I'll mention it to Kevin', but, wasn't sure if Kevin would want to do that, because, at times, Kevin really doesn't want to do the extra work to make the next step in his athletic performance.
But, Kevin did, immediately after cross-country ended, ask Ken if they could sit down and talk, and then, on Thursday, spend more than an hour up the street taking notes, setting up a training plan, learning about 'core training' and 'pliametrics'. Diligently, Kevin went running yesterday, as prescribed in the plan, and will go running today, and Tuesdays, and Thursdays. All according to plan.
The next two scans are from the notes Kevin wrote down after his meeting with the cross-country master; Ashton's Dad from up the street. Ken runs all the time, we only just noticed at this year's Capital City run that he had won his age group in last year's event. As we've talked with him about Kevin's success and enjoyment of cross-country, Ken had said that if Kevin wanted to keep training through the rest of the year that he could help Kevin really improve on his times. And I said 'thanks, I'll mention it to Kevin', but, wasn't sure if Kevin would want to do that, because, at times, Kevin really doesn't want to do the extra work to make the next step in his athletic performance.
But, Kevin did, immediately after cross-country ended, ask Ken if they could sit down and talk, and then, on Thursday, spend more than an hour up the street taking notes, setting up a training plan, learning about 'core training' and 'pliametrics'. Diligently, Kevin went running yesterday, as prescribed in the plan, and will go running today, and Tuesdays, and Thursdays. All according to plan.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Mid-Saturday
I'm aking a break from tearing down the drop ceiling in the basement (remodeling continues in the basement...we're having someone come in and put in a real (wallboard) ceiling instead of the tiles we had up there and we're going to make a bedroom down there as well) and figured I'd clip out the bright spot of the soccer game today (Christopher only scores when Mom's not there!).
Beautiful day today; I think the boys and Mom are going to go to the pumpkin patch....Dad's going to be watching football!
Beautiful day today; I think the boys and Mom are going to go to the pumpkin patch....Dad's going to be watching football!
Friday, October 17, 2008
Friday Night
Tonight we were invited to spend the evening at the MSU hockey game. In the fancy luxury suite that Suzanne's employer has. Usually, the higher-ups and muckety-mucks take the box, but, today, some family friends, who also work at JNL, invited us along. And it was a really good time. All the free food you could want (pizza, some awesome wings, hot dogs, some turkey and ham wraps), desserts during the third period (dove bars, raspberry brownies, cookie-ice cream sandwiches...you name it, they offered it). And, a pretty exciting game, MSU scored two goals in the third period to win 2-1.
The tickets were cool...not just paper, they're a plastic laminate about the size of a dollar bill.
One of the best things of the night was that our neighbor (across the street) is an off-ice official at the game...so, he stopped by, and he had his all-access guest pass, and he took Matthew downstairs and showed him the locker room and some of the behind the scenes things you never get to see. Tony said if we come to more games, he'll try and get Christopher and Kevin a chance to see this stuff as well.
Of course, when you're one of the 'elite', and sit above the unwashed masses of common fans, you get special visits. You get the stat sheet after each period, you have an attendant taking care of the suite and making sure there's enough cookies and pizza, and, of course, Sparty shows up to say 'hi' as well.
Coming Attractions: Need to spend a paragraph discussing Matthew's physical, growth charts, and bent toes. Two soccer games and one flag football game this weekend as well.
The tickets were cool...not just paper, they're a plastic laminate about the size of a dollar bill.
One of the best things of the night was that our neighbor (across the street) is an off-ice official at the game...so, he stopped by, and he had his all-access guest pass, and he took Matthew downstairs and showed him the locker room and some of the behind the scenes things you never get to see. Tony said if we come to more games, he'll try and get Christopher and Kevin a chance to see this stuff as well.
Of course, when you're one of the 'elite', and sit above the unwashed masses of common fans, you get special visits. You get the stat sheet after each period, you have an attendant taking care of the suite and making sure there's enough cookies and pizza, and, of course, Sparty shows up to say 'hi' as well.
Coming Attractions: Need to spend a paragraph discussing Matthew's physical, growth charts, and bent toes. Two soccer games and one flag football game this weekend as well.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
I'd like "Things that are awesome for $200, Alex"
1) Probably wouldn't have gone to the new Bond movie in the theatre (although Kevin and I both loved Casino Royale), but, the first real trailer for the movie event of 2009 is before the Bond movie, so, we'll be there!
2) It's not looking awesome, but, it's sounding that way....spent about 15-20 minutes listening to Kevin practice for his all-state audition and his solo for the upcoming Solo and Ensemble festival....the kid's...awesome!
3) Seems that, over the last month, the more temperamental and angry Christopher has gone away, and there's this really sweet little boy left behind. There's been a handful of "wow, where did that come from moments?" recently.....he found the checkbook and left a check for Mom in her purse 'To Mom, From Chris. $100"....so that she could buy some stuff. Was listing his favorite things and decided that his favorite thing was, well, Wiley. Ahead of the Wii, ahead of everything else. It's been a pleasant change...and that's awesome!
4) Suzanne and I went out for a mid-week dinner (no boys). And that's awesome!
5) Indoor soccer plans are coming together. Most of Matthew's team is coming back, and we've made the decision to play up a year in age to get out on the bigger field. A nice benefit for us is that we can add a 2nd grader or two to that team, so, Christopher and Matthew will be on the same team this winter. And that's.....
6) The selection process for the kitchen countertop is looking up. We went to a local shop here in Lansing (after not really liking the choices at Home Depot or Lowe's, and found the color we like. But, the customer service at "The Top Shop" was lacking....salesman kept walking away to answer the phone and had one price for the quartz we were looking at, $80 a square foot. But that includes everything, he says, tear down, plumbing, a free sink. That's great, because we knew at HD or Lowe's we had to add $$$ in to the prices we were looking at for the edge treatments, etc. But, we tell him that we've done the tear down, we'll take care of the plumbing, we don't want the sink...what's the price. He says $80 as he walks away to deal with a delivery driver (and answer another call). Walk out happy with the color but unhappy with the store...figure we'll look around and find another retailer of that product. And, on the internet, there isn't one in Michigan.
Okay, I can hear you, this isn't sounding awesome. Have patience.
I'm at Ikea (again), buying the last 3 cabinets we need, and, because they screwed up the order a bit, I have to wait around, and, just happen to look over, and lo and behold, Ikea offers the brand of counter we want. At $56. And they have a 10% discount running for orders over $2,500 (we're going to need about 45 square feet). So, I might have to pay a little more to have the installer come up from near Detroit ($1.50/mile for 5o miles), but, we're going to get what we want, a lot cheaper. And that's awesome!
Suzanne was dead set that a color like "Lemon Chiffon" wouldn't be on our walls, no matter how it looked, so, thankfully, the name of this color works......"Chocolate Cognac".
2) It's not looking awesome, but, it's sounding that way....spent about 15-20 minutes listening to Kevin practice for his all-state audition and his solo for the upcoming Solo and Ensemble festival....the kid's...awesome!
3) Seems that, over the last month, the more temperamental and angry Christopher has gone away, and there's this really sweet little boy left behind. There's been a handful of "wow, where did that come from moments?" recently.....he found the checkbook and left a check for Mom in her purse 'To Mom, From Chris. $100"....so that she could buy some stuff. Was listing his favorite things and decided that his favorite thing was, well, Wiley. Ahead of the Wii, ahead of everything else. It's been a pleasant change...and that's awesome!
4) Suzanne and I went out for a mid-week dinner (no boys). And that's awesome!
5) Indoor soccer plans are coming together. Most of Matthew's team is coming back, and we've made the decision to play up a year in age to get out on the bigger field. A nice benefit for us is that we can add a 2nd grader or two to that team, so, Christopher and Matthew will be on the same team this winter. And that's.....
6) The selection process for the kitchen countertop is looking up. We went to a local shop here in Lansing (after not really liking the choices at Home Depot or Lowe's, and found the color we like. But, the customer service at "The Top Shop" was lacking....salesman kept walking away to answer the phone and had one price for the quartz we were looking at, $80 a square foot. But that includes everything, he says, tear down, plumbing, a free sink. That's great, because we knew at HD or Lowe's we had to add $$$ in to the prices we were looking at for the edge treatments, etc. But, we tell him that we've done the tear down, we'll take care of the plumbing, we don't want the sink...what's the price. He says $80 as he walks away to deal with a delivery driver (and answer another call). Walk out happy with the color but unhappy with the store...figure we'll look around and find another retailer of that product. And, on the internet, there isn't one in Michigan.
Okay, I can hear you, this isn't sounding awesome. Have patience.
I'm at Ikea (again), buying the last 3 cabinets we need, and, because they screwed up the order a bit, I have to wait around, and, just happen to look over, and lo and behold, Ikea offers the brand of counter we want. At $56. And they have a 10% discount running for orders over $2,500 (we're going to need about 45 square feet). So, I might have to pay a little more to have the installer come up from near Detroit ($1.50/mile for 5o miles), but, we're going to get what we want, a lot cheaper. And that's awesome!
Suzanne was dead set that a color like "Lemon Chiffon" wouldn't be on our walls, no matter how it looked, so, thankfully, the name of this color works......"Chocolate Cognac".
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Greater LSG Invitational
The last cross-country meet of the season was today....Kevin finished with "the worst cramps I've ever had"....we're going to have to look into why he's getting them (not hydrating enough before the race? I don't know..). He finished 7th overall in the open race in 13:14...the top 40 in the Top 7 race get medals, and the Top 10 in the open race get medals, so, Kevin was pretty happy with that (his time wouldn't have been good enough for a Top 40 spot in the 1st race....he would have been about 65th overall).
The race course was, surprisingly, very open and had some high spots that allowed you to see out over the course. So, there's way more footage here than we usually get at cross-country meets.
The race course was, surprisingly, very open and had some high spots that allowed you to see out over the course. So, there's way more footage here than we usually get at cross-country meets.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
The end of the road
It's hard for me to really believe, but, we can see the end of the kitchen remodeling....this weekend went better than I could have hoped.
1) first item that gave us some angst beforehand was our plans to move the dishwasher about 2 feet to the left (as you are looking at it). We know, because we could hear it, that there's a pipe running from the dishwasher to the sink, and, we were really hoping that there would be a lot of pipe, or, enough of it accessible, to patch in an extension. Same deal with the electrical line.
Turns out we were completely wrong on both counts. The water, the drain, and the electric all come up through the floor, and conveniently, come up from the floor on the left edge of the dishwasher. There's plenty of slack, so, moving the dishwasher to where we want it to be was just a simple matter of sliding it over into place.
2) the second angst-y part was the hardwood floors.....would we have to cut away part of them to fit the cabinets in there? Turns out we did have to cut away about 1/2" in one place to get the legs for one cabinet to sit on the subfloor, but, again, that worked out much better than I could have hoped.
3) The sink, and the water connections, were the third big concern. Could we get the sink off easily? Could we deal with the connections, or, were we going to need to call reinforcements (the plumber)?
Turned off the shutoff valve for the cold water...ended up busting off the shutoff valve for the hot water while trying to shut that off, so, turned that off at the source. Disconnecting the sink from the piping was very easy. Had to go to the store to buy a new shutoff valve, but, finally got that installed.
4) The next key step was seeing if we could get the new sink cabinet in place....this involved drilling holes in the bottom of the cabinet and the back of the cabinet for the pipes to stick through. Don't ask me why, but, this has always been a task I've been horrible at, always, without fail, I never get the things to match up, and, today was no exception and I had to go back and make the holes bigger. Had to cut the two water pipes (hot and cold) and the reconnect them with a connection valve to do this.....this was mostly successful (I still need to tighten the valves a little more) and has led Suzanne to realize that the big stop sign that's hindered bathroom remodeling plans (dealing with the supply pipes) is now gone.
Weekend Sports:
Christopher Soccer: Another frustrating loss....totally dominated the second half and only had one goal to score for it (the ball never came past the midfield line) and gave up three or four easy goals in the first half. Christopher had a goal disallowed in what I'm sure will be the first of many similar type events. Christopher is running down the field heading towards the goal, there's a defensive guy on him, a ref behind them watching (very close), and a ref on the other side of the field watching as well. The defensive guy falls down, and the ref on the other side of the field blows the play dead, and the ref behind Christopher and the defender clearly doesn't agree with it (Christopher, a second before the whistle blew, had kicked the ball and it went in). Goal disallowed, play moves on. I ask at the end of the quarter what happened, and it goes something like this
Ref one (who was behind them): Well, the defender was pushing up against your guy as they went down the field...almost the whole way....
Ref two (who blew the whistle): And finally, your guy pushed back a little, trying to get him off of him
Ref one: and because your guy is so big, the pushing of the defender didn't really bother him enough to call the foul, and I wasn't going to call the little push back because the defender had been pushing up against him the whole time
Ref two: But all I saw was the big kid push and the little kid go down....and I blew the whistle...
Matthew Flag Football: A banner day for the big guy; 2 touchdowns and an interception (on change of possessions, you can't advance, so, when you see the film, that's why they are blowing the play dead). Matthew's the yellow team this week.
Matthew Soccer: Showed up in time for the fourth quarter (today was the last flag football conflict) and Matthew did what Matthew does....
1) first item that gave us some angst beforehand was our plans to move the dishwasher about 2 feet to the left (as you are looking at it). We know, because we could hear it, that there's a pipe running from the dishwasher to the sink, and, we were really hoping that there would be a lot of pipe, or, enough of it accessible, to patch in an extension. Same deal with the electrical line.
Turns out we were completely wrong on both counts. The water, the drain, and the electric all come up through the floor, and conveniently, come up from the floor on the left edge of the dishwasher. There's plenty of slack, so, moving the dishwasher to where we want it to be was just a simple matter of sliding it over into place.
2) the second angst-y part was the hardwood floors.....would we have to cut away part of them to fit the cabinets in there? Turns out we did have to cut away about 1/2" in one place to get the legs for one cabinet to sit on the subfloor, but, again, that worked out much better than I could have hoped.
3) The sink, and the water connections, were the third big concern. Could we get the sink off easily? Could we deal with the connections, or, were we going to need to call reinforcements (the plumber)?
Turned off the shutoff valve for the cold water...ended up busting off the shutoff valve for the hot water while trying to shut that off, so, turned that off at the source. Disconnecting the sink from the piping was very easy. Had to go to the store to buy a new shutoff valve, but, finally got that installed.
4) The next key step was seeing if we could get the new sink cabinet in place....this involved drilling holes in the bottom of the cabinet and the back of the cabinet for the pipes to stick through. Don't ask me why, but, this has always been a task I've been horrible at, always, without fail, I never get the things to match up, and, today was no exception and I had to go back and make the holes bigger. Had to cut the two water pipes (hot and cold) and the reconnect them with a connection valve to do this.....this was mostly successful (I still need to tighten the valves a little more) and has led Suzanne to realize that the big stop sign that's hindered bathroom remodeling plans (dealing with the supply pipes) is now gone.
Weekend Sports:
Christopher Soccer: Another frustrating loss....totally dominated the second half and only had one goal to score for it (the ball never came past the midfield line) and gave up three or four easy goals in the first half. Christopher had a goal disallowed in what I'm sure will be the first of many similar type events. Christopher is running down the field heading towards the goal, there's a defensive guy on him, a ref behind them watching (very close), and a ref on the other side of the field watching as well. The defensive guy falls down, and the ref on the other side of the field blows the play dead, and the ref behind Christopher and the defender clearly doesn't agree with it (Christopher, a second before the whistle blew, had kicked the ball and it went in). Goal disallowed, play moves on. I ask at the end of the quarter what happened, and it goes something like this
Ref one (who was behind them): Well, the defender was pushing up against your guy as they went down the field...almost the whole way....
Ref two (who blew the whistle): And finally, your guy pushed back a little, trying to get him off of him
Ref one: and because your guy is so big, the pushing of the defender didn't really bother him enough to call the foul, and I wasn't going to call the little push back because the defender had been pushing up against him the whole time
Ref two: But all I saw was the big kid push and the little kid go down....and I blew the whistle...
Matthew Flag Football: A banner day for the big guy; 2 touchdowns and an interception (on change of possessions, you can't advance, so, when you see the film, that's why they are blowing the play dead). Matthew's the yellow team this week.
Matthew Soccer: Showed up in time for the fourth quarter (today was the last flag football conflict) and Matthew did what Matthew does....
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Stuff and Kitchen doings
First the stuff...in no particular order
Here's a picture of the boys finishing the kids mile at the Dino Dash
Kevin had the next-to-last cross country meet yesterday; finished 24th overall (all the kids ran at once, no top 7 here)....looking forward to the last meet on Monday, Kevin's hoping to finish in the Top 10 in the Open Race (it's the Greater Lansing Middle School Championship....think he has a good shot at it).
And then there's the kitchen
Still need to finish hanging the cabinet on the far side of the window....there's been a lot of rework there...first I didn't get the rail close enough to the window, so, had to rehang that...and then was stupid and put the hinges on the wrong side, and I still have to go back and redo that, and then we have to take the big cabinet down on this side of the window and install the mod (you can see the extra piece that fits over the soffit on the other cabinet) so that we have 39" doors all the way around it looks right.
Tomorrow the big dumpster arrives in our driveway, so, kitchen demolition will be in full swing this weekend as we wipe out the counter and the base cabinets and see just what we're dealing with in replacing the base cabinets. We want to move the dishwasher further away from the sink, so, I'm hoping there's enough pipe (or, enough pipe to tie into to extend the line) to do that, and then there's replacing the sink, and how that works with our hardwood floors, and, well, it's going to be an interesting weekend.
Here's a picture of the boys finishing the kids mile at the Dino Dash
Kevin had the next-to-last cross country meet yesterday; finished 24th overall (all the kids ran at once, no top 7 here)....looking forward to the last meet on Monday, Kevin's hoping to finish in the Top 10 in the Open Race (it's the Greater Lansing Middle School Championship....think he has a good shot at it).
And then there's the kitchen
Still need to finish hanging the cabinet on the far side of the window....there's been a lot of rework there...first I didn't get the rail close enough to the window, so, had to rehang that...and then was stupid and put the hinges on the wrong side, and I still have to go back and redo that, and then we have to take the big cabinet down on this side of the window and install the mod (you can see the extra piece that fits over the soffit on the other cabinet) so that we have 39" doors all the way around it looks right.
Tomorrow the big dumpster arrives in our driveway, so, kitchen demolition will be in full swing this weekend as we wipe out the counter and the base cabinets and see just what we're dealing with in replacing the base cabinets. We want to move the dishwasher further away from the sink, so, I'm hoping there's enough pipe (or, enough pipe to tie into to extend the line) to do that, and then there's replacing the sink, and how that works with our hardwood floors, and, well, it's going to be an interesting weekend.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Weekend Update
We need the weekdays to come to give us a break from our weekends!
Schoolhouse Rock: Kevin was extremely disappointed to find out that he did not get a lead role, or supporting role, in this year's musical. Some of the boys that Kevin tried out with did get parts, and Kevin was absolutely convinced that he performed better than them, so, not sure what to tell him. I guess one difference could be that all of the other boys take choir as an elective, and Kevin does not, and the choir teacher is the musical guy. We've suggested that Kevin needs to follow-up and ask "What do I have to do better next year to get the results I would like?"...we'll see if that happens.
Parents Night Out: Mom and Dad went down to Detroit's Fox Theater to see Robin Williams Friday Night. Finding a boy-sitter turned out to be a disaster, so, Friday was the first chance for Kevin to watch the boys for longer than 60-90 minutes. And it went really well; the house is still in one piece, no tattling the next morning that Kevin was mean or the boys were out of control, and, well, maybe Suzanne and I will get out more in the future!
Robin Williams was great.....really glad we spent the money to go and see him.
Christopher: Another very frustrating 3-0 loss in soccer, whereupon the boys in the first quarter decided to forget everything taught to them in practice that week and give up 3 quick goals (Christopher, I've learned, is not a good goalie, and again, gave up these three goals.....will have to work hard to keep him out of goal the rest of the year). The rest of the game was pretty even and the boys started to remember, and put into practice, the positioning concepts I've been teaching them. Suzanne remarked after the game that she thought we should nickname Christopher "Bulldozer"......many of the kids try and go up the outside of the soccer field and beat kids with their speed and cut in near the goal...Christopher prefers the straight at you approach, and it works pretty well. But he's like, well, a bulldozer when he gets going.....
Maybe some video of the soccer game later this week.
Christopher II: He's the only boy that noticed the ads on the billboards, and, arguably, the boy who likes the songs (especially Mamma Mia and Money Money Money) the best, so, Christopher and Mom went to the Wharton Center to watch the Saturday matinee performance of the ABBA classic. Mom and son had a good time, although Christopher was very shy about singing and spent a fair bit of time 'sssssh'-ing Mom, even though there was nobody sitting within 2 or 3 rows of the two of them.
Kitchen: Now that evocative sunlight shines through the nooks and crannies of the kitchen walls, hanging of the wall cabinets has commenced. Hung up the two cabinets on the 'stove' side and started to hang up the two on the 'window' side. Had to adjust the two on the window side a bit due to poor craftsmanship from the not-so-handy craftsman...oh well.
Dino Dash: Probably the last 5k of the year (looks that way at this point), the Dino Dash is run at Michigan State and benefits the museum on campus. Wasn't the most successful of runs for Kevin.....23 minutes comes up on the clock, no Kevin. He finished about 40 seconds later.....cramped up, had a loose shoe, just not a good outing (2 kids from his x-country team that haven't finished ahead of him in a month finished in front of him). Oh well......
Matthew and Christopher did the Kids Mile. Lots of protesting from Christopher about doing the race...this may be the end of the road for signing him up for these, really don't need to force him to do them, even though he does pretty well at them. Matthew, in a very kind move, slowed down and ran with his brother for most of the mile.
Matthew: First Flag Football game of the year. I didn't get to see much of it, since, I was coaching Matthew's soccer team which played at the same time, but, the rotation of players didn't go quite right, and Matthew only had the ball in his hands once.
But, that's all it takes sometimes. At least it made the video editing easy!
Matthew II: Flag Football ends, Matthew trades jerseys and comes over to play the rest of the soccer game. Comes in the middle of the third quarter and we're playing a team coached by one of the parents from indoor soccer; he was pleasantly surprised to learn that Matthew was missing most of the game today and was good-naturedly disappointed to see him run up.
Kitchen II: Spent more time fixing one of the cabinets on the 'window' side....took the other cabinet down from the 'window' side and spent a lot of time installing the modification to try and make the 30" cabinet look like a 39" cabinet from the front. Still have a little work to do on this score, and hope to accomplish that tomorrow and maybe get some pictures of that online this week. We're going to shut off the power and water next weekend and rip out the base cabinets and see just how difficult relocating the electrical and plumbing will be to accommodate our plans.
Schoolhouse Rock: Kevin was extremely disappointed to find out that he did not get a lead role, or supporting role, in this year's musical. Some of the boys that Kevin tried out with did get parts, and Kevin was absolutely convinced that he performed better than them, so, not sure what to tell him. I guess one difference could be that all of the other boys take choir as an elective, and Kevin does not, and the choir teacher is the musical guy. We've suggested that Kevin needs to follow-up and ask "What do I have to do better next year to get the results I would like?"...we'll see if that happens.
Parents Night Out: Mom and Dad went down to Detroit's Fox Theater to see Robin Williams Friday Night. Finding a boy-sitter turned out to be a disaster, so, Friday was the first chance for Kevin to watch the boys for longer than 60-90 minutes. And it went really well; the house is still in one piece, no tattling the next morning that Kevin was mean or the boys were out of control, and, well, maybe Suzanne and I will get out more in the future!
Robin Williams was great.....really glad we spent the money to go and see him.
Christopher: Another very frustrating 3-0 loss in soccer, whereupon the boys in the first quarter decided to forget everything taught to them in practice that week and give up 3 quick goals (Christopher, I've learned, is not a good goalie, and again, gave up these three goals.....will have to work hard to keep him out of goal the rest of the year). The rest of the game was pretty even and the boys started to remember, and put into practice, the positioning concepts I've been teaching them. Suzanne remarked after the game that she thought we should nickname Christopher "Bulldozer"......many of the kids try and go up the outside of the soccer field and beat kids with their speed and cut in near the goal...Christopher prefers the straight at you approach, and it works pretty well. But he's like, well, a bulldozer when he gets going.....
Maybe some video of the soccer game later this week.
Christopher II: He's the only boy that noticed the ads on the billboards, and, arguably, the boy who likes the songs (especially Mamma Mia and Money Money Money) the best, so, Christopher and Mom went to the Wharton Center to watch the Saturday matinee performance of the ABBA classic. Mom and son had a good time, although Christopher was very shy about singing and spent a fair bit of time 'sssssh'-ing Mom, even though there was nobody sitting within 2 or 3 rows of the two of them.
Kitchen: Now that evocative sunlight shines through the nooks and crannies of the kitchen walls, hanging of the wall cabinets has commenced. Hung up the two cabinets on the 'stove' side and started to hang up the two on the 'window' side. Had to adjust the two on the window side a bit due to poor craftsmanship from the not-so-handy craftsman...oh well.
Dino Dash: Probably the last 5k of the year (looks that way at this point), the Dino Dash is run at Michigan State and benefits the museum on campus. Wasn't the most successful of runs for Kevin.....23 minutes comes up on the clock, no Kevin. He finished about 40 seconds later.....cramped up, had a loose shoe, just not a good outing (2 kids from his x-country team that haven't finished ahead of him in a month finished in front of him). Oh well......
Matthew and Christopher did the Kids Mile. Lots of protesting from Christopher about doing the race...this may be the end of the road for signing him up for these, really don't need to force him to do them, even though he does pretty well at them. Matthew, in a very kind move, slowed down and ran with his brother for most of the mile.
Matthew: First Flag Football game of the year. I didn't get to see much of it, since, I was coaching Matthew's soccer team which played at the same time, but, the rotation of players didn't go quite right, and Matthew only had the ball in his hands once.
But, that's all it takes sometimes. At least it made the video editing easy!
Matthew II: Flag Football ends, Matthew trades jerseys and comes over to play the rest of the soccer game. Comes in the middle of the third quarter and we're playing a team coached by one of the parents from indoor soccer; he was pleasantly surprised to learn that Matthew was missing most of the game today and was good-naturedly disappointed to see him run up.
Kitchen II: Spent more time fixing one of the cabinets on the 'window' side....took the other cabinet down from the 'window' side and spent a lot of time installing the modification to try and make the 30" cabinet look like a 39" cabinet from the front. Still have a little work to do on this score, and hope to accomplish that tomorrow and maybe get some pictures of that online this week. We're going to shut off the power and water next weekend and rip out the base cabinets and see just how difficult relocating the electrical and plumbing will be to accommodate our plans.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
A Lighter Shade of Pale
Lemon Chiffon
Lauren's Lace
Banana Cream
Pismo Dunes
Lily
Lantern Light
Cottage Cream
All considered and summarily rejected. It's a long journey 'skipping the light fandango' through the various shades of light yellow. Too light, too orange, too yellow, not yellow enough, can't willing paint a wall a color with the word 'lemon' in it....you name it, we've debated it and rejected colors left and right. Want a sample of a light yellow paint? Suzanne and I have a few that we could sell you.
But, after rejecting 7 (Seven! Un-freakin'-believable) worthy and unworthy candidates, a decision has been made.
Evocative Sunlight.
Kitchen wall cabinets go up this weekend. Base cabinets and counter get removed during the week and next weekend.
Lauren's Lace
Banana Cream
Pismo Dunes
Lily
Lantern Light
Cottage Cream
All considered and summarily rejected. It's a long journey 'skipping the light fandango' through the various shades of light yellow. Too light, too orange, too yellow, not yellow enough, can't willing paint a wall a color with the word 'lemon' in it....you name it, we've debated it and rejected colors left and right. Want a sample of a light yellow paint? Suzanne and I have a few that we could sell you.
But, after rejecting 7 (Seven! Un-freakin'-believable) worthy and unworthy candidates, a decision has been made.
Evocative Sunlight.
Kitchen wall cabinets go up this weekend. Base cabinets and counter get removed during the week and next weekend.
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