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Our childless weekend and beyond.
Friday
It wasn't until I was about 30 minutes down the road from dropping Jonah off at my in-laws that I realized, "wait, I don't have a kid. . . huh. Now what?"
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baka_san and gondoriangirl over for pizzas on the grill (third Friday in a row that we've done this). Had a lot of fun just relaxing, chatting and drinking beers. Still felt like there was a sleeping child upstairs when we came in for the night.
Saturday
Slept in until 9:30a. Relaxed over coffee and the laptop, then Chris decided he really wanted to put in a new front door. . . like right now! So, we took off interior trim, took some measurements, watched some YouTube videos then went to Lowe's to pick out a door and hardware and the minor things we'd need to install it. To be fair, this wasn't a completely impulsive decision. We've been talking about doing it for a while. We've wanted a door with a window or glass insert that would let some light in the foyer. But, I guess, yes, the decision to do it this weekend was a bit impulsive. But hey, 30% tax credit back on the cost of the door, FTW!
Demolition was tougher than we thought. Just a note: if you plan to remove a door frame that was installed when the house was built, especially recently built homes (past 20 years or so) be prepared for a nice thick layer of industrial adhesive on the sill. Be prepared to chip away at said sill and adhesive forall eternity almost an hour. Unfortunately, during demo, we cut the wires for the security system (which wasn't hooked up or used at all anyway) and the doorbell (which is somewhat necessary). D'OH!
Once demo was done, we had issues fitting the new frame in. It was such a tight fit, we had to scrape off all the caulk off the brick outside and chip away at some of the other parts around the frame. Eventually, we got it in there and secured. About 5 hours after we started, we had a working door again. Luckily it was a nice day, so having the door open wasn't a terrible thing. Unfortunately, it created a free passageway for an exodus of houseflies from the big scary outside world to our cozy little inside one.
Chris then proceeded with putting the hardware on the door while I got cleaned up and ready to go out. We've had a Sunset Grill gift certificate from the Nashville Originals sales for about 9 months now. So, that's where we went. We had the intention to see how we felt after dinner on whether we wanted to go to The Belcourt to a movie or to the Station Inn to a bluegrass show. The food was excellent and we got butterscotch habenero bread pudding for dessert. YUM! However, after hard labor all day and generally being lame these days, we didn't feel we'd make it for a show, so we opted for a movie after a quick stop at Fido for some coffee.
We saw In the Loop. It was funny to see Lord Beckett (Pirates of the Caribbean) as a bumbling politician. Also, Anna Chlumsky (the little girl from My Girl) and Tony Soprano were in it (she played a State Dept assistant, he played a general). Overall, it was a good movie, very funny. We had the start times off so we missed the first 20 minutes or so, but what we saw was good. We're such party animals, we were home by 11:30p. But we did stay up and sit on the patio drinking beer and smoking cigars for a while.
Sunday
Slept in again, got up in time to kind of clean up the house a bit before the in-laws were to return with Jonah. Since we hadn't cleaned at all over the weekend, that mostly meant dishes and dishes, oh and dishes. They got here around 11a and we visited while waiting to hear back from my brother-in-law on if he was going to meet us for lunch some where. We wound up going to Southern Bred, one of many meat-n-threes in this town. Let me tell you, for just traditional, simple Southern cooking, it was fantastic! I had fried chicken that isn't greasy at all and so tender and juicy. It was quite awesome. And for having lived in this town for 3 years, where the meat-n-three is kind of a local trademark, this is only the second one I've been to (if you count the Loveless Cafe, which I do).
On our way home from lunch, we stopped at Lowe's to get a new doorbell and installed it after attempting to put Jonah down for a nap. So, after about an hour of having the front door open again, we had a multitude of flies in the house. Which brings us to. . .
Monday
I went totally Rambo: First Blood on them Monday, but apparently that was merely one battle and not the war. Yet another massacre yesterday and I think I've got them down to manageable numbers. Now if I could just keep Jonah from being "helpful" and leaving the door open for the dogs or cat, we'd be set.
Also, I found outbelluthien was going to possibly be stopping in Nashville on her way through to Atlanta for Dragon*Con. Elated, I sent her my info in case she wanted to stop by and indeed she did. YAY!
Tuesday
Yesterday I wasn't thinking as I put the expandable foam insulation in the door frame and suddenly it came expanding out of the deadbolt hole. D'oh! So, that meant another 15-20 minutes with the door open waiting for it to stop expanding and cure enough so I could shut the door. Double D'oh! More flies plus a bonusbee/wasp/yellow jacket/hornet/black and yellow something or other hoverfly which kind of terrorized us for the rest of the day. In fact, I was so sure he was gone when he was silent for so long (and the sucker was loud when he was around). But, surprise! When I went to put Jonah to bed last night, there he was, hanging out in his room. Not two minutes after I turned on the halogen torchiere, it flew into the bulb, melting it's wings (or so it appeared) and quickly died. Kind of sucks. After I did some research, I found out those little buggers are great for garden pests like aphids and thrips. I didn't even get a chance to go all Rambo on him. But, I did get the chance on his distant cousins (genetically speaking) downstairs all afternoon.
So anyway, on the expanding foam, that stuff is a mess to work with! I went into it thinking it would probably be one of the easiest parts of the entire door installation and it's really proven me wrong and I still have more to do (ran out before I got the top of the door done). At least now I kind of know what to expect, so hopefully I won't make the same mistakes.
Anyway, got all that cleaned up and generally caught up on housework.Overcooked dinner, and then relaxed with beer and cigars on the patio. Just before 10p, I got a call from belluthien that she was about 5 minutes away. YAY! We sat on the patio drinking beers until about 12:30a at which point I think she felt obligated to leave, even though she was more than welcome to stay. ;) Of course at that point, I think Chris was starting to doze off sitting up in his chair and she was probably pretty worn out from a 9 hour drive if I had to guess. I was reasonably tired myself, but found it hard to unwind even after she left. So, we parted ways and she promised pictures. Last words from both of us. . . "Yes." ;)
I told her that even though I was really bummed to not be going to Dragon*Con, there's a part of me that's really relieved. Since I made the decision not to go, lots of things have really changed and it all started almost immediately after the decision was made. There were so many things I was putting off "until after Dragon*Con" and they were things that really needed to be taken care of. I guess in order to fill the void, I've been sort of working double time on some really important things. Our house hasn't been this together in a very long time and we're really chipping away at our home improvement to-do list. Chris and I are spending more quality time together. I'm doing a lot of the little things (like consignment sales, decluttering, organizing, etc.) that I have been putting off and really needing to do. It's just really worked out better I think and with everything seeming to fall into place, I feel like it was the right decision.
Now, next year, it's going to take a lot more to keep me from going and I don't even want to say or even think about what it will take because I don't want to manifest any sort of catastrophe into existence. Until then, we can work out the things that prevented the trip this year and have at least those sorts of things out of the way. I going to start saving NOW! One of those "you name it" savings accounts at Redstone might not be a bad idea for a Dragon*Con fund.
Speaking of catastrophe avoidance, I really hopecleolinda's bad luck August didn't turn into my bad luck September. I really, really hope it's over for all of us, actually. Yesterday was the Day of the Broken Blinds *cue ominous music*. Jonah was messing with the ones in the living room (which, truth be told, have been needing to be shimmed on one side since we put them in over 2 years ago) and they fell on him (he's ok, just scared him a bit). So, since I had all the tools out for the door, I went ahead and shimmed it, and tried to put it back up. But I kept splitting shims as I'd try to screw them into the wall. I eventually got it, still wound up splitting a shim when it was all said and done, but it's holding nicely even still and there's a good half an inch of extra security there.
Then, yesterday evening, I noticed the blinds right next to the back door (which we replaced about 3 years ago) were sagging on one side. On further inspection, it appears one of the strings that holds the front part of one side up has slipped out of the header. I've not messed with it so I don't know if it's something we can fix or if the blinds will need to be replaced. Here's hoping it's the former, but even if it's the latter, I guess it's not that big of a deal. After yesterday's wrestling with 70" wide blinds, I'm not exactly an eager beaver about pulling those down to inspect (even though they're only 35" wide).
Then, this morning, I thought something was seriously wrong when I went to open the dishwasher and pull out the top rack and suddenly the seal around it came along for the ride. As it turns out, a pair of tongs had just caught it and I was able to push it back into place. But this minor air of broken is starting to scare me. Bigger breakages, DO NOT WANT! Better start burning sage now. Where's that massive quartz crystal? Get that thing charging!
It wasn't until I was about 30 minutes down the road from dropping Jonah off at my in-laws that I realized, "wait, I don't have a kid. . . huh. Now what?"
We had
baka_san and gondoriangirl over for pizzas on the grill (third Friday in a row that we've done this). Had a lot of fun just relaxing, chatting and drinking beers. Still felt like there was a sleeping child upstairs when we came in for the night.Saturday
Slept in until 9:30a. Relaxed over coffee and the laptop, then Chris decided he really wanted to put in a new front door. . . like right now! So, we took off interior trim, took some measurements, watched some YouTube videos then went to Lowe's to pick out a door and hardware and the minor things we'd need to install it. To be fair, this wasn't a completely impulsive decision. We've been talking about doing it for a while. We've wanted a door with a window or glass insert that would let some light in the foyer. But, I guess, yes, the decision to do it this weekend was a bit impulsive. But hey, 30% tax credit back on the cost of the door, FTW!
Demolition was tougher than we thought. Just a note: if you plan to remove a door frame that was installed when the house was built, especially recently built homes (past 20 years or so) be prepared for a nice thick layer of industrial adhesive on the sill. Be prepared to chip away at said sill and adhesive for
Once demo was done, we had issues fitting the new frame in. It was such a tight fit, we had to scrape off all the caulk off the brick outside and chip away at some of the other parts around the frame. Eventually, we got it in there and secured. About 5 hours after we started, we had a working door again. Luckily it was a nice day, so having the door open wasn't a terrible thing. Unfortunately, it created a free passageway for an exodus of houseflies from the big scary outside world to our cozy little inside one.
Chris then proceeded with putting the hardware on the door while I got cleaned up and ready to go out. We've had a Sunset Grill gift certificate from the Nashville Originals sales for about 9 months now. So, that's where we went. We had the intention to see how we felt after dinner on whether we wanted to go to The Belcourt to a movie or to the Station Inn to a bluegrass show. The food was excellent and we got butterscotch habenero bread pudding for dessert. YUM! However, after hard labor all day and generally being lame these days, we didn't feel we'd make it for a show, so we opted for a movie after a quick stop at Fido for some coffee.
We saw In the Loop. It was funny to see Lord Beckett (Pirates of the Caribbean) as a bumbling politician. Also, Anna Chlumsky (the little girl from My Girl) and Tony Soprano were in it (she played a State Dept assistant, he played a general). Overall, it was a good movie, very funny. We had the start times off so we missed the first 20 minutes or so, but what we saw was good. We're such party animals, we were home by 11:30p. But we did stay up and sit on the patio drinking beer and smoking cigars for a while.
Sunday
Slept in again, got up in time to kind of clean up the house a bit before the in-laws were to return with Jonah. Since we hadn't cleaned at all over the weekend, that mostly meant dishes and dishes, oh and dishes. They got here around 11a and we visited while waiting to hear back from my brother-in-law on if he was going to meet us for lunch some where. We wound up going to Southern Bred, one of many meat-n-threes in this town. Let me tell you, for just traditional, simple Southern cooking, it was fantastic! I had fried chicken that isn't greasy at all and so tender and juicy. It was quite awesome. And for having lived in this town for 3 years, where the meat-n-three is kind of a local trademark, this is only the second one I've been to (if you count the Loveless Cafe, which I do).
On our way home from lunch, we stopped at Lowe's to get a new doorbell and installed it after attempting to put Jonah down for a nap. So, after about an hour of having the front door open again, we had a multitude of flies in the house. Which brings us to. . .
Monday
I went totally Rambo: First Blood on them Monday, but apparently that was merely one battle and not the war. Yet another massacre yesterday and I think I've got them down to manageable numbers. Now if I could just keep Jonah from being "helpful" and leaving the door open for the dogs or cat, we'd be set.
Also, I found out
belluthien was going to possibly be stopping in Nashville on her way through to Atlanta for Dragon*Con. Elated, I sent her my info in case she wanted to stop by and indeed she did. YAY!Tuesday
Yesterday I wasn't thinking as I put the expandable foam insulation in the door frame and suddenly it came expanding out of the deadbolt hole. D'oh! So, that meant another 15-20 minutes with the door open waiting for it to stop expanding and cure enough so I could shut the door. Double D'oh! More flies plus a bonus
So anyway, on the expanding foam, that stuff is a mess to work with! I went into it thinking it would probably be one of the easiest parts of the entire door installation and it's really proven me wrong and I still have more to do (ran out before I got the top of the door done). At least now I kind of know what to expect, so hopefully I won't make the same mistakes.
Anyway, got all that cleaned up and generally caught up on housework.
belluthien that she was about 5 minutes away. YAY! We sat on the patio drinking beers until about 12:30a at which point I think she felt obligated to leave, even though she was more than welcome to stay. ;) Of course at that point, I think Chris was starting to doze off sitting up in his chair and she was probably pretty worn out from a 9 hour drive if I had to guess. I was reasonably tired myself, but found it hard to unwind even after she left. So, we parted ways and she promised pictures. Last words from both of us. . . "Yes." ;)I told her that even though I was really bummed to not be going to Dragon*Con, there's a part of me that's really relieved. Since I made the decision not to go, lots of things have really changed and it all started almost immediately after the decision was made. There were so many things I was putting off "until after Dragon*Con" and they were things that really needed to be taken care of. I guess in order to fill the void, I've been sort of working double time on some really important things. Our house hasn't been this together in a very long time and we're really chipping away at our home improvement to-do list. Chris and I are spending more quality time together. I'm doing a lot of the little things (like consignment sales, decluttering, organizing, etc.) that I have been putting off and really needing to do. It's just really worked out better I think and with everything seeming to fall into place, I feel like it was the right decision.
Now, next year, it's going to take a lot more to keep me from going and I don't even want to say or even think about what it will take because I don't want to manifest any sort of catastrophe into existence. Until then, we can work out the things that prevented the trip this year and have at least those sorts of things out of the way. I going to start saving NOW! One of those "you name it" savings accounts at Redstone might not be a bad idea for a Dragon*Con fund.
Speaking of catastrophe avoidance, I really hope
cleolinda's bad luck August didn't turn into my bad luck September. I really, really hope it's over for all of us, actually. Yesterday was the Day of the Broken Blinds *cue ominous music*. Jonah was messing with the ones in the living room (which, truth be told, have been needing to be shimmed on one side since we put them in over 2 years ago) and they fell on him (he's ok, just scared him a bit). So, since I had all the tools out for the door, I went ahead and shimmed it, and tried to put it back up. But I kept splitting shims as I'd try to screw them into the wall. I eventually got it, still wound up splitting a shim when it was all said and done, but it's holding nicely even still and there's a good half an inch of extra security there.Then, yesterday evening, I noticed the blinds right next to the back door (which we replaced about 3 years ago) were sagging on one side. On further inspection, it appears one of the strings that holds the front part of one side up has slipped out of the header. I've not messed with it so I don't know if it's something we can fix or if the blinds will need to be replaced. Here's hoping it's the former, but even if it's the latter, I guess it's not that big of a deal. After yesterday's wrestling with 70" wide blinds, I'm not exactly an eager beaver about pulling those down to inspect (even though they're only 35" wide).
Then, this morning, I thought something was seriously wrong when I went to open the dishwasher and pull out the top rack and suddenly the seal around it came along for the ride. As it turns out, a pair of tongs had just caught it and I was able to push it back into place. But this minor air of broken is starting to scare me. Bigger breakages, DO NOT WANT! Better start burning sage now. Where's that massive quartz crystal? Get that thing charging!