Long overdue update

Wow. It's been over a month. OK, I agree that's unacceptable. Actually, a lot has been going on (more the reason for frequent posts) but both Erin and I keep passing the buck to post something. "You, no you, no it's your turn." (Actually, Erin is WAY behind on posting, so really...)

Baby update: Somewhere around 36 weeks. All is well. Approximately 6 pounds in utero with long legs (doctor's words). Don't know where those came from. Maybe the dog? Another ultrasound next week so hopefully Erin can put up another pic. She must now push the coffee table away from her when getting up from the couch. Quite humorous. I'm thinking of installing a hoist.
Room(s) update: Well, there was a problem with the flooring. We had the old carpet and vinyl garbage ripped up in hopes that the underlying pine could be salvaged. Turns out that more than half of it was damaged beyond repair. So, new plywood was laid and horizontal carbonized bamboo was installed. It looks fantastic, but cost more than we planned (isn't that always the case?).

The parasite's room is DONE. Well, mostly. After the floors were finished I painted the baseboards, finalized some touch up painting, re-installed the closet doors and replaced door hardware. I previously replaced the ceiling fan and light fixture. After much nagging, I finally allowed Erin to start cluttering up the room with parasite paraphernalia. It looked so nice all empty and airy... Now the only things left to install are a closet organizer system (maybe next week.) and window blinds. Oh, and a parasite to take it all for granted.


The front soon-to-be-office room is also coming along, albeit at a slower pace than the parasite's room. I laid the track for the multipass doors, so that it is flush with the new flooring. Looks great! The baseboards are in but I haven't yet painted them. I just got some track lighting and will try to install it this weekend. I replaced all the receptacles and switches with decora versions and stainless steel switch plates. I never realized how cool the stainless looks. Such a great accent. I'm going to use them for future projects. Still have a lot left to do in there but it's mostly the boring aesthetic stuff like painting, blinds, etc. Not difficult but time consuming.

One sort of drawback... now that the flooring has gone in, it looks like it's time to fix up the adjacent dining room. SIGH. One room leads to another. So that project will be tackled sooner than planned. Which will in turn lead to the kitchen...

That's all for now. I'm going to nag Erin to post soon, since she's much further behind than I am. And since most of you care more about her and the parasite than my adventures. She's got a good story to tell about her baby shower and other misadventures.

Toodles.

Trip to Jersey means driving in Jersey

I know, when most people think of exotic locales for quick weekend getaways, the first place on their minds is New Jersey. Or as I like to call it, New York's Overflow Parking Lot. Actually, Erin's folks live in south Jersey, so the natives we encountered had a more distinctive Philly mid-Atlantic accent. Either way, the bird-flipping to car honking ratio is about the same.

Our premise for the trip was the crab feast held by Erin's surrogate uncle, Bill in the Philly suburbs near Villanova. Every year family and friends don mallets, crackers, bibs, eye goggles and other assorted crab paraphernalia for mirth, merriment and beer sodden good times in Bill's backyard. I must say, this year's feast was as fun as the ones I've been to in the past. The sun was shining, a slight breeze was blowing and juice from a couple hundred Maryland blues was flying everywhere. I think Erin even had some in her hair. Ahhh, good times.


Despite the enjoyment of the feast, the trip started off on a bad foot. Our flight to philly was (once again) canceled on Friday night. (That's two out of the last two trips, USAirways!!! You'll be getting a strongly worded e-mail from me. So take that!) After leaving work a bit early and boarding the dogs and taking care of other pre-trip preparations, we arrived at the airport the usual hour or so before the flight. Passed through security, etc. Only to be notified at the last minute that the flight was canceled and no others were leaving that night. So we were put up in the airport hotel (not 20 minutes from our own house) where we waited like stir-crazy rats until we were woken at 4:00am by an automated phone call that informed us our 6:10am flight was delayed an hour and a half. Needless to say, we didn't arrive in Philly until around 11:00am. The crab feast was at 3:00 so from the minute we touched down, the whirlwind began.

After the crab feast, we briefly visited with a couple friends who have a 10 month old boy and a new (old) house. They live so close to Bill that visiting them was a no-brainer. And a welcome break from the chaotic-ness of the earlier parts of the day. We finally drove back to south Jersey with Erin's folks later in the evening. Such a beautiful night that we decided to take the scenic route through Philly. Down W River Dr, past Boathouse Row, behind the museum, on Ben Franklin Pkwy and through China town to the Ben Franklin bridge (being the day after opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, Chinatown was SLAMMING). Going over the bridge to Philly, we were entertained by an impressive fireworks display put on by the minor league Camden RiverSharks at their new waterfront stadium. All in all, definitely one of those nights that makes me miss Philly. Until I remember that with Philly and Jersey come what can be affectionately termed "The Worst Drivers Anywhere."

Our whirlwind 36 hour Jersey adventure continued Sunday morning as we drove Erin and her mother to a baby shower in Red Bank (made famous by the movie Clerks), a shore town not too far from Staten Island. Basically, we had to traverse most of the State of New Jersey's exceptional highway system to get there. Surprisingly, traffic was fairly light and obedient and we only had to survive about 6 near death experiences. In Red Bank I made a wrong turn or two and learned that the New Jersey road engineers have poor understanding of the term "U-Turn." Apparently, you CANNOT turn left from a two lane road in New Jersey. At all. You have to go right to the "U-Turn" lane, from where you actually make a big right-hand cloverleaf turn. So, after a few miles of befuddlement I completed what should more appropriately be called a P-turn. Why label it with big "U-Turn" signs?

Anyway, after dropping off the girls, Erin's father and I explored half a block of Red Bank until we found the nearest bar, where we sat watching Chinese women's beach volleyball until the call came to pick up the ladies. And thus our trip to Red Bank was over. But the commute back home had only just begun. After one more minor wrong turn (I was now a pro with the accursed "P-Turn"), we found ourselves on the Garden State Parkway to points south and west. From the Parkway, we caught I-195 to connect to the NJ Turnpike. At the junction, traffic was really bad. Let's call it CONGESTED even. To my bewilderment, there was a sign posted on the 195 off-ramp that said (and I shit you not): "CARS ONLY; During congestion, driving on the shoulder is permitted." I actually had to do a triple-take (seriously, there were three signs that made this declaration) before believing the legality of this absurdity. Now to me, the shoulder, aka the breakdown lane, of an off-ramp during peak travel times is not necessarily the best place for angry Jersey drivers to be jockeying for position. But, being neither angry nor from Jersey, I didn't see a problem. Until the passenger door of some large SUV nearly kissed my driver's side mirror. And another SUV nearly ran me off the shoulder into the ditch (thus the reason for a buffer lane). And the highway planners, while allowing drivers to cruise the shoulder at highway speeds, failed to make allowances for actually merging onto the upcoming highway at the end of the ramp. Thus, our 3rd near death experience in less than 0.5 miles. Seriously, driving in Jersey makes me long for Florida drivers, where all we have to deal with are the blind elderly.

In pregnancy related news, Erin's belly is becoming quite prominent. This was the first time her folks have seen her since her girth has increased. To make for better pictures, she wore a lovely belly-enhancing dress.

Brian sanding, Erin napping

Well, the drywall work is FINALLY done. It's as good as it's going to get with 80 year old crooked and uneven walls. Or, at least as good as an easily bored amateur is going to get it. On Sunday I rented a power wall sander with built-in vacuum. AWESOME! Makes quick work of the final prep phase, prior to texturing the walls.

Meanwhile, in the soon-to-be-office, my mother cleaned up the molding that had gotten beat up a bit in earlier weeks.

What was Erin doing this whole time, you ask? When she wasn't painting her toes or primping her hair, she was doing what she does best.

In pregnancy related news, apparently for the past few weeks, the little parasite has been kicking and flipping around and doing whatever it is that parasite larvae do before they're hatched. Every time I've tried to feel it, it stops, as if playing hide and seek. ("Shh, don't move, he'll find us.") This past week Erin had me feel her belly during its most active time. Holy crap! I thought it was going to jump out and try to eat me. Remember the chestburster scene from Alien? Yeah, this one will give me nightmares, too.

Rare footage of Erin WORKING

Let me start with a gratuitous shot of a confused pooch (Mason, aka "the Bottomless Goat"). Every blog's got one for the "aaawwww" factor.

Now, let's get this post started. The pics here are a bit out of order, since the work shown was done about 3 weeks before my last post. But I just now got around to sorting through the photos, so deal with it, OK?

I know in an earlier post I eluded to the fact that Erin sits around like a bloated whale, eating ice cream and other pregnancy foods while I'm left to pick up the slack. Well, I've got some previously unreleased footage of her actually working! Here she is, peeling wallpaper in the living room/ soon-to-be-multifunctional-office/ guestroom. Not seen, she also stripped the walls in the soon-to-be parasite room. I know, I know what you're all thinking, "Wow Brian, you look really tired supervising the wallpaper removal." Well, please don't worry about me. Not too long after, Erin was kind enough to fetch me a beer and wipe the sweat off my brow. She's a keeper!

Inflated like a balloon (and other pics)

Last night I took a picture of Erin in the tightest shirt she owns. 3 minutes later, she farted and deflated to a more normal size.

In other news, I've made a lot of progress on our living room conversion project. The long header spans the length of 3 standard size interior doors, which will slide one behind the other on tracks in the header and the floor. When closed, they will all tuck nicely behind the partition wall at the left side of the opening. Imagine, if you can amidst all the trash and chaos, the room will become a nice office during normal times, with an open airy feeling. When guests stay over the doors will slide shut. A murphy bed will eventually be installed for added functionality. Note the section of underlying flooring that is exposed in the last photo. The previous owners covered beautiful oak with a thin veneer of plywood topped with lovely early '80s puke green carpet. And yes, to the left is Pergo, installed over plywood over beautiful oak (the oak extends throughout the house...an unexpected surprise).

As usual, Brian does all the work while Erin relaxes and eats bon-bons

OK, shhh, just between us, Erin doesn't need to know the title of this post. It's best for all involved if she just stays out of it. She's sleeping right now, so let's not wake her, heh?

That's the story of my life...she sleeps or watches TV or otherwise just chills and does nothing while I take on the burden of preparing for the arrival of the parasite. Sheesh, just like her. I mean seriously, does she know how difficult this pregnancy has been for me? The bloating, weight gain, gas, etc. It's hard drinking for three! You'd think she'd be a little more considerate and pull her own weight around here.

But no, I'm left doing it all, as usual. So in preparation for the li'l parasites arrival, I've been busting my hump building a new bedroom/office. (I call it "parasite" because it's bleeding my wallet dry. I should just sign my paychecks over to Home Depot.) See, our new house is only two bedrooms and I was informed that with the arrival of children come unexpected house guests. Grandparents, uncles, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. No one told me it was a package deal. Apparently all these people want a place to stay. I suggested a sheet of plywood on top of cinder blocks, but NOOOO. They need a mattress. And a room. With doors. What is this, the Ritz?? So, slowly but surely I've been converting our otherwise useless front living room into an office/bedroom. The most challenging part of which has been framing for what are called "multipass doors." So now all these ungrateful guests will have not one, but three doors through which they can tote their overstuffed suitcases full of kiddie presents.

I guess Erin deserves a little credit for peeling the yards upon yards of hideous 1980s wallpaper, but let's face it, this post is about me. She needs no more of your pity.