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!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
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.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Monday Sports Desk
Christopher and I are over at Chippewa waiting for Kevin to return from the x-country meet. Bus pulls up, Kevin gets off (wearing his new x-country sweatshirt and pants) and comes up, big grin on his face.
"I finished first!"
Which requires a little explanation....the meet was an invitational, so, the top 7 from each school run first, and then the others run in a completely separate race. At the last invitational, in the 'other' race, Okemos finished 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 (Kevin was 8). At today's race, two of the top 7 were missing, so, two moved up into that race (Kevin would have been next..he said "why couldn't someone else have been missing???). I'm not sure what Kevin would have chosen, being one of the top 7, or, finishing first in the other race.
"I finished first!"
Which requires a little explanation....the meet was an invitational, so, the top 7 from each school run first, and then the others run in a completely separate race. At the last invitational, in the 'other' race, Okemos finished 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 (Kevin was 8). At today's race, two of the top 7 were missing, so, two moved up into that race (Kevin would have been next..he said "why couldn't someone else have been missing???). I'm not sure what Kevin would have chosen, being one of the top 7, or, finishing first in the other race.
Multimedia
First: Here's the video (4 minutes) from Christopher's soccer game. The video crew arrived late in the first quarter, so, this is all that there is...
Second: All kinds of stuff from the races this weekend. Here's the official Hutsell video
Then, there's video from Michigan Runner TV.....lots of Matthew and Kevin further out on the course...
Here's the Michigan Runner TV video of the 5K.....nice for the view of the Capital building...you can see Kevin finish somewhere around 2:20 of the video (during the interview with the female winner)
And then there's the photos...again, the only ones of Kevin (none of Matthew) are from the photography with the image stamp....we'll be buying the print of one, maybe two of these photos...
Second: All kinds of stuff from the races this weekend. Here's the official Hutsell video
Then, there's video from Michigan Runner TV.....lots of Matthew and Kevin further out on the course...
Here's the Michigan Runner TV video of the 5K.....nice for the view of the Capital building...you can see Kevin finish somewhere around 2:20 of the video (during the interview with the female winner)
And then there's the photos...again, the only ones of Kevin (none of Matthew) are from the photography with the image stamp....we'll be buying the print of one, maybe two of these photos...
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Weekend Update
Friday: The MAC offered Parents Night Out, so, we signed up Christopher and Matthew for an evening's entertainment there and had a nice dinner (with Kevin) and a movie (without Kevin). Kevin has this annoying habit of wanting to sing at dinner (a recurring theme this weekend) and is seriously jeopardizing future 'adult' dinner outings. Suzanne and I went to "Burn Without Reading" which I think I enjoyed more than she did and which she thinks any movie that has a character that is cheating on George Clooney is more fictional than Star Trek......
Saturday: Christopher's soccer team carried a 1-0 lead into the third quarter but gave up 4 goals in the 2nd half to lose 4-1. Still figuring out what combinations of players works best...learned a few lessons, will adjust, hopefully will have better results next week. Christopher played well, and had a chance at a goal, and did himself proud be continuing to run and hustle in the 4th quarter when the rest of his teammates were giving up.
Christopher and I made it over to downtown Lansing to watch Kevin and Matthew do the Kids Mile for the Capital City River Run (CCRR) event. It's for ages 12 and under, so, Kevin was poised to do well, and finished third at 6:10. Matthew, who sprinted off at the beginning leaving Kevin in the dust, came in at 7:40, so, that's pretty awesome as well (Kevin says he caught Matthew about 1 tenth of a mile down the course.....)
Took the kids out birthday shopping for Mom after this.....very exhausting!
Sunday: Man today was busy! Got up early to take Kevin back to the CCRR for the 5k (there was also a half-marathon at the same time). Kevin finished in 22:49 (his previous best 5K was 26:32) and finished 1st in his age group (13 and under). He received a pint glass for his efforts, and has made every effort to only drink out of this glass the rest of the day.
Birthday celebrations and preparations took up the mid-morning early afternoon. Assembled the outdoor fireplace/pit that Kevin purchased for Suzanne; watched Suzanne struggle over what paint color the Kitchen/Living room should be (that's a post for another day.....), and headed over for Matthew's soccer game.
It's not often we play a team with a player at Matthew's level...today was one of those days. The other kid, Adam, was very good....was about a head taller than Matthew and definitely had better foot work than Matthew. But, he wasn't quite as aggressive as Matthew and it was interesting watching them play against each other and against the rest of the team when they weren't paired up against each other. I'd say they each scored about the same amount of goals when they were paired up against each other; Adam's footwork would help him to get by Matthew and the rest of the team, and Matthew's darting cuts would drive him past Adam and the rest of his team. But, Matthew scored about at will against the rest of Adam's team and it wasn't quite the same way when Adam was playing against our team. Part of that is that the rest of Matthew's team is pretty good, but, part of that is Matthew taking advantage of the situation and dominating the proceedings, where Adam would hang back. A very entertaning soccer game though.
Went out to dinner for the birthday; Christopher lost another(!) tooth during dinner so the tooth fairy will fly tonight (one of the activities at the MAC Friday night was buiding a box to store your teeth for the tooth fairy...didn't realize we'd be using it so soon). That's 9 teeth gone if you're keeping score at home and Christopher has about another year to go before Kevin's first tooth dropped.
Coming Attractions: Christopher Soccer Video and race highlights need to be processed. Need to spend a few paragraphs discussing Lemon Chiffon, Lauren's Lace and other shades of yellow and how they have brought kitchen remodeling to a halt. Kevin has a race Monday and his audition Thursday, so, he has to audition for us Wednesday and I'm sure that will end up on tape. And I'm taking the 2nd graders to the local creek for World Water Monitoring Day on Friday so hopefully we'll have some pictures of that.
Saturday: Christopher's soccer team carried a 1-0 lead into the third quarter but gave up 4 goals in the 2nd half to lose 4-1. Still figuring out what combinations of players works best...learned a few lessons, will adjust, hopefully will have better results next week. Christopher played well, and had a chance at a goal, and did himself proud be continuing to run and hustle in the 4th quarter when the rest of his teammates were giving up.
Christopher and I made it over to downtown Lansing to watch Kevin and Matthew do the Kids Mile for the Capital City River Run (CCRR) event. It's for ages 12 and under, so, Kevin was poised to do well, and finished third at 6:10. Matthew, who sprinted off at the beginning leaving Kevin in the dust, came in at 7:40, so, that's pretty awesome as well (Kevin says he caught Matthew about 1 tenth of a mile down the course.....)
Took the kids out birthday shopping for Mom after this.....very exhausting!
Sunday: Man today was busy! Got up early to take Kevin back to the CCRR for the 5k (there was also a half-marathon at the same time). Kevin finished in 22:49 (his previous best 5K was 26:32) and finished 1st in his age group (13 and under). He received a pint glass for his efforts, and has made every effort to only drink out of this glass the rest of the day.
Birthday celebrations and preparations took up the mid-morning early afternoon. Assembled the outdoor fireplace/pit that Kevin purchased for Suzanne; watched Suzanne struggle over what paint color the Kitchen/Living room should be (that's a post for another day.....), and headed over for Matthew's soccer game.
It's not often we play a team with a player at Matthew's level...today was one of those days. The other kid, Adam, was very good....was about a head taller than Matthew and definitely had better foot work than Matthew. But, he wasn't quite as aggressive as Matthew and it was interesting watching them play against each other and against the rest of the team when they weren't paired up against each other. I'd say they each scored about the same amount of goals when they were paired up against each other; Adam's footwork would help him to get by Matthew and the rest of the team, and Matthew's darting cuts would drive him past Adam and the rest of his team. But, Matthew scored about at will against the rest of Adam's team and it wasn't quite the same way when Adam was playing against our team. Part of that is that the rest of Matthew's team is pretty good, but, part of that is Matthew taking advantage of the situation and dominating the proceedings, where Adam would hang back. A very entertaning soccer game though.
Went out to dinner for the birthday; Christopher lost another(!) tooth during dinner so the tooth fairy will fly tonight (one of the activities at the MAC Friday night was buiding a box to store your teeth for the tooth fairy...didn't realize we'd be using it so soon). That's 9 teeth gone if you're keeping score at home and Christopher has about another year to go before Kevin's first tooth dropped.
Coming Attractions: Christopher Soccer Video and race highlights need to be processed. Need to spend a few paragraphs discussing Lemon Chiffon, Lauren's Lace and other shades of yellow and how they have brought kitchen remodeling to a halt. Kevin has a race Monday and his audition Thursday, so, he has to audition for us Wednesday and I'm sure that will end up on tape. And I'm taking the 2nd graders to the local creek for World Water Monitoring Day on Friday so hopefully we'll have some pictures of that.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Bus Follies
The bus stop that we've been taking the boys to (over near the apartments) was eliminated this summer, along with a few others throughout the district...the district has been losing funds due to declining enrollments for years and these cuts have been showing up over time, one school closed, we lost the alternative calendar, the bus stop at the corner was eliminated, etc.
While, in some sense, the loss of the bus stop has made it easier for Suzanne in me in terms of drop off and pick up (we don't trust Heckyl and Jeckyl to walk home on their own, so, we drive them down and pick them up from the school), it's made a bad situation worse at the school in terms of traffic, etc. The last school board meeting had some of the other parents who have lost their bus service (the limit was extended from 1 mile to 1.25 miles) be very vocal in their complaints, and the Board and Administration seemed to indicate that they would accept proposals that were 'revenue-neutral' blah blah etc. etc. I had already emailed the board saying that the elimination of the bus stop had made the traffic worse, etc.
So, here's what I emailed the Board today.
The way it is now:
My proposal:
While, in some sense, the loss of the bus stop has made it easier for Suzanne in me in terms of drop off and pick up (we don't trust Heckyl and Jeckyl to walk home on their own, so, we drive them down and pick them up from the school), it's made a bad situation worse at the school in terms of traffic, etc. The last school board meeting had some of the other parents who have lost their bus service (the limit was extended from 1 mile to 1.25 miles) be very vocal in their complaints, and the Board and Administration seemed to indicate that they would accept proposals that were 'revenue-neutral' blah blah etc. etc. I had already emailed the board saying that the elimination of the bus stop had made the traffic worse, etc.
So, here's what I emailed the Board today.
b) lets Bus 27 avoid the Bennett Woods roundabout as the children are walking to school
c) reestablishes the Okemos Station bus stop, reducing the traffic load at Bennett Woods. As I’ve submitted for your consideration before, the traffic lanes at Bennett Woods were not designed for the traffic loads currently occurring at the school (indeed, in the nineties, when the school was built, most students walked or were bussed, and very little drop off traffic was anticipated). Redistricting and the reduction in bus service have created a very dangerous situation at the school.
The way it is now:
My proposal:
Kevin Cross-Country Again
The cross-country meets keep coming, fast and furious. This time it's the rescheduled home meet (washed out due to a weekend of rain). Kevin ran this course before the meets started and came in at 14:36...today, he finished in 13:23.
Matthew had his first flag football practice.....on the way home he told me that he forgot, on his first run of the year, his spin moves and his stiff arms. He didn't forget on his second run....I had to smile when he was finished, and was walking back to his teammates after his touchdown, one of the other kids came up and said "How did you do that!?!".....
Matthew had his first flag football practice.....on the way home he told me that he forgot, on his first run of the year, his spin moves and his stiff arms. He didn't forget on his second run....I had to smile when he was finished, and was walking back to his teammates after his touchdown, one of the other kids came up and said "How did you do that!?!".....
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