Lines Go Down

So since Dianna headed out of town I got down to some secret projects. I chose one she had mentioned and one I've wanted for a while. I tossed around another idea but figured it would be too much. It's wasn't a big one but it's intricate (and medium sized) so it's in my growing DIY folder. 

Asher, of course, was a great help.

First I moved the bed and screwed down the base.

Then: build the shelves. I don't have a table saw that works (I have one that sort-of-works and one that does-not-work) do I did everything with a piece of trim for a straight edge and a circular saw.

I have to say, it came out pretty well. It divides the room into a sleeping area and the rest. At some point we can get some chairs & a table and have a little sitting area.

It's primed now. I still have to paint the base and put the trim on. Then, load it with books. Maybe a plan - something that can hang down, you know. An ivy.

Here's the actual plan I drew up to use. I had to use google image to find graph paper (the internet, it has everything) but it's pretty solid. Each square equals two inches. Just to prove that I paid attention in shop class.

So that was the one Dianna mentioned she wanted.

The one I wanted, and have for a long time, was a new bathroom vanity. Our bathroom isn't that wide. The space between the vanity and the tub is just enough for me to wedge my ass when I give the kids a bath. Every year the Depot puts thinner vanity's on sale. So this year I finally got one.

The old vanity.

At first I thought this was some kind of construction pad that the old vanity was sitting on . . .

. . . but no, it was dust. A half inch thick dust patch.

Then I had to cut out a space in the new vanity to fit around the heater in the wall. Then I boxed in the space I cut out so the heater didn't heat up the inside of the vanity, like our old one did.

And BOOM. My ass isn't cramped when I wash my screaming kids!

I also put in new quarter turn shut off valves for the sink but that's a lot less sexy than the actual vanity.


There's a house near the kids schools that goes ALL OUT for holiday lawn ornaments. Valentines, Christmas and Halloween. Seriously a crazy amount of lawn sighs. And inflatable stuff. And hanging decorations in the trees. And just about everything else you can imagine (you can see the life size Headless Horseman horse).

We see it every season but this is the first time we stopped.

If Dianna was in this it'd basically be a family photo.

Asher had spaghetti:

Crackadoo

These are from when Dianna went to her cottage to close it up. The kids and I had three days of Dad/Kid time full of pizza and movies. Dianna had three days of driving and painting. 

Here's how Ash talked to Dianna one night.

Friday night we went to Go Go Fro Yo in town. The kids get to use the machine to fill their own cup with frozen yogurt. Or at least they think they do then dad steps in before the four pounds of cotton candy flavored yogurt they wanted hits the cup. Boom, hip check away from the machine.

It was a fund raising night for Charlie's school so the one thing you can't see in this picture is throngs of sugared up kids with sticky faces. 

I had to work on Sat so Christi took the kids for the morning. The Taste of Wallingford was in the center of town. It's a little local celebration, food tents, sit in a police car/fire truck, those random community bands that spring up just for these things, face painting and crafts. They got some fire helmets, which they broke seconds after this picture was taken.

We went back when I got home. The weather turned but we were able to get some pizza and a cupcake.

We made a pinata for our Halloween party. It was a pretty damn good black widow spider (with pipe cleaner legs). And, man, it held up to a BEATING. When the last kid got her final whack in, and knocked out the last of the candy, that thing was pulp.

Cute kid pics:

Rebate

Sometimes I come home to things like this. Kinda creepy.

Just a photo shoot set up by Charlie.

Wildlife in CT. Here's the deer that live in the woods behind our house. It's a small woods and I'm always amazed when the deer walk out of it. But we have a garden, therefore we have deer. This year Dianna and the kids planted six (6) pumpkin plants. One baby pumpkin got pulled off by Asher and two other teeny ones were there when the frost hit. Only one pumpkin grew to a real pumpkin size.

Then it got eaten by a deer. The deer was so interested in the pumpkin that she didn't care that the kids got pretty close.

I made some wild fermented Ethiopian Honey Wine. Like mead but without a bittering agent (like hops for beer). I put in raspberries to give it a kick (and use the natural yeast on the fruit). I bottled it and it's racking downstairs. I think this weekend I'll crack one open.

Durham Fair:

 Asher loved it.

This is the first year that Charlie was big enough to go on the medium-sized rides . . . . as long as someone rode with her. Was it Dianna? No, it was big ass Me. Yay. 

 Asher got an extra ride so I took Charlie to a game booth. Three darts for 5 bucks. Ouch. But, when Charlie looked at me and said, "Wait. Dad. I get to throw these darts? Myself?" Hell yeah, kid. Pop some balloons. Whip them darts!

Wearing an Asher hat to pick up Charlie.

Just cute kids.

For some reason the kids thought the brown M&M was hysterical. So we stopped and took a picture.

Asher is pretending the grocery hand scanner is a cell phone. He's calling Aunt Nana.