In case you don’t check out the main page of this site anyore, I have finally published the picture of completed kitchen.

There are also some Thanksgiving pictures up too.

By the time all the votes were in it was split right down the middle and the winner is……Boy. Yesterday we went for the sonogram and most importantly the baby is doing fine. They said that everything they expect to see they see, brain looks normal, they are four heart cavities, and he is growing just fine.

The sonogram technician said that he was big and they might move the due date but when she found out that Alex was 10 pounds she figured that this was just going to be another big baby. But when Jen went to see the doctor she decided to move the due date up a week because of the size so we’ll have to see once we get closer.

So all you Boy voters are winners. I was convinced that this was going to be girl. About four months ago I had this really vivid dream that we were having a baby girl which is why I was so convinced but it turns out I’m not really all that good at being a psychic.

Boy          Girl

------------------------

Pat          Derek

Wade         Jennifer

Ryan         Kelly

Amanda       Bob

Peter        Deanna

Doug         Barbara

There’s still time to get your votes in. So far it’s 6 to 5 for a girl.

Boy          Girl

------------------------

Pat          Derek

Wade         Jennifer

Ryan         Kelly

Amanda       Bob

Peter        Deanna

             Barbara

As for what Alex thinks I’m not too sure. We’ve asked him a couple of times if he would like to have a brother or a sistem ut he keeps changing his mind. The first time he said that he wanted a sister and then next time it was a brother.

In two days we are heading for the sonogram which should let us know if we are going to be having a boy or a girl.

Here are the votes so far.

Boy          Girl

------------------------

Pat          Derek

Wade         Jennifer

Ryan         Kelly

Amanda       Bob

Get your votes in before Thursday….

We are safely back from our Thanks Giving trip to New Orleans and we had a great time and the Thanks Giving meal was fantastic. Kelly and Wade drove with us so Alex had some good company in the back seat. Sounds like Wade made a good impression during the trip as when Jen was driving in the car with Alex he said

[Alex] – “We live in Plano?”

[Jen] – “Yes we do”

[Alex] – “That’s what Uncle Wade says.”

[Mom] – “Yes that’s what he says.”

[Alex] – “He’s smart.”

What a busy weekend this has been.  On Friday Alex and I spent some time raking the leaves.  Unlike all you folks to our north the leaves on our trees are just starting to fall down and they seem to do it over a one week period right around Thanks Giving.  The first year we lived in the house I waiting until all the leaves had come down before starting to collected them and what a mistake that was, it took until the following summer to finally get rid of them all.  So Friday we raked up what had fallen which amounted to about four bags, or about 120 gallons.

After we were finished with the raking Alex and I went on a true father-son bonding activity.  We bought his first hockey stick.  He was so excited.  (I was pretty excited myself.) We tried a couple of sticks before settling on one that was a good size for him and then he just had to have the orange ball to go with the new stick.  Who was I to argue, we were bonding.  When we got home from the store we played hockey in the driveway for at least an hour and half and for most of that time my head was buried in the bushes digging out the ball but we had loads of fun.

On Saturday it was back to the hospital but this time just to get the staples out.  That goodness it wasn’t as eventful as last weekend and we were in and out in a flash.  I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people say that staples are so much better then stitches but I just have to say I think they are full of BS.  When they go in that’s probably true but usually during that point your already in pain so what’s a couple of extra minutes for stitches.  It’s the coming out part that’s important, stitches don’t hurt coming out, staples hurt like a bugger.  Double whammy.

Sunday was was the busiest day of the whole weekend.  I started off by grouting the tiles on the back splash behind the stove.  I can’t believe it, besides one small section of wall that needs some paint the kitchen is done!!  I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging, ok yes I do, but I think the tiles look mighty impressive.  Don’t worry I’ll take some pictures soon and post them to the web site so you can all see the final version. 

While I has doing the tile work Jen and Alex were outside raking up more leaves.  Like I said before, they all seem to fall off in the same week.  Today we ended up taking another 7 bags full of leaves for a grand total of 11 bags, or roughly 330 gallons.  Now remember this is only the front yard, we haven’t even started in the back yard yet.

In the afternoon we went and bought a new ceiling fan for the baby room.  We had moved the fan that was in the office into Alex’s room during the summer, in fact I think Doug helped me move it when they were here.  The problem was that the fan didn’t have a light now that it’s completely pitch black around 6:00 o’clock we really need to have a light in the room.  I installed the fan when we got home but this is the cool thing, I got a remote control for it.  The room wasn’t wired for both a light and a ceiling fan so it’s either all on or all off.  If you want light but not fan then you have to dink with those silly chains hanging down the fan.  The problem is that you never know which chain is for the light and which one is for the fan and typically in the middle of the night when you want more fan you end up blasting the lights and burning your corneas.  Enter the remote control, problem solved.  This thing can set three different fan speeds and has full dimmer control over the lights.  Let me hear you all Ooooo……  In fact it’s so cool I installed one on the light/fan in Alex’s new room too.

Ever now and then this joke comes across my email and ever single time I burst out laughing.

“Recently I was honored to be selected as an Outstanding
Famous Celebrity in Texas, to be a judge at a chili
cook-off because no one else wanted to do it. Also the
original person called in sick at the last moment and I
happened to be standing there at the judge’s table asking
directions to the beer wagon when the call came. I was
assured by the other two judges that the chili wouldn’t be
all that spicy, and besides they told me I could have free
beer during the tasting, so I accepted this as being one
of those burdens you endure when you’re an internet writer
and therefore know and adored by all.”

Here are the scorecards from the event:

Chili # 1: Mike’s Maniac Mobster Monster Chili

JUDGE ONE:
A little too heavy on tomato. Amusing kick.

JUDGE TWO:
Nice, smooth tomato flavor. Very mild.

CAMERON:
Holy smokes, what is this stuff? You could remove dried
paint from your driveway with it. Took me two beers to
put the flames out. Hope that’s the worst one. These
people are crazy.

Chili # 2: Arthur’s Afterburner Chili

JUDGE ONE:
Smoky (barbecue?) with a hint of pork. Slight Jalapeno tang.

JUDGE TWO:
Exciting BBQ flavor, needs more peppers to be taken seriously.

CAMERON
Keep this out of reach of children! I’m not sure what I am
supposed to taste besides pain. I had to wave off two people
who wanted to give me the Heimlich maneuver. Shoved my way
to the front of the beer line. The barmaid looks like a
professional wrestler after a bad night. She was so irritated
over my gagging sounds that the snake tattoo under her eye
started to twitch. She has arms like Popeye and a face like
Winston Churchill. I will NOT pick a fight with her.

Chili # 3: Fred’s Famous Burn Down the Barn Chili

JUDGE ONE:
Excellent firehouse chili! Great kick. Needs more beans.

JUDGE TWO:
A beanless chili, a bit salty, good use of red peppers.

CAMERON:
This has got to be a joke. Call the EPA, I’ve located a
uranium spill. My nose feels like I have been sneezing
Drano. Everyone knows the routine by now and got out of my
way so I could make it to the beer wagon. Barmaid pounded
me on the back; now my backbone is in the front part of my
chest. She said her friends call her “Sally.” Probably
behind her back they call her “Forklift.”

Chili # 4: Bubba’s Black Magic

JUDGE ONE:
Black bean chili with almost no spice. Disappointing.

JUDGE TWO:
Hint of lime in the black beans Good side dish for fish or
other mild foods, not much of a chili.

CAMERON:
I felt something scraping across my tongue but was unable to
taste it. Sally was standing behind me with fresh refills so
I wouldn’t have to dash over to see her. When she winked at
me her snake sort of coiled and uncoiled… it’s kinda cute.

Chili # 5: Linda’s Legal Lip Remover

JUDGE ONE:
Meaty, strong chili. Cayenne peppers freshly ground adding
considerable kick. Very impressive.

JUDGE TWO:
Chili using shredded beef; could use more tomato. Must admit
the cayenne peppers make a strong statement.

CAMERON:
My ears are ringing and I can no longer focus my eyes. I
belched and four people in front of me needed paramedics.
The contestant seemed hurt when I told her that her chili
had given me brain damage. Sally saved my tongue by pouring
beer directly on it from a pitcher. Sort of irritates me
that one of the other judges asked me to stop screaming.

Chili # 6: Vera’s Very Vegetarian Variety

JUDGE ONE:
Thin yet bold vegetarian variety chili. Good balance of spice
and peppers.

JUDGE TWO:
The best yet. Aggressive use of peppers, onions, and garlic.
Superb.

CAMERON:
My intestines are now a straight pipe filled with gaseous
flames. No one seems inclined to stand behind me except
Sally. I asked if she wants to go dancing later.

Chili # 7: Susan’s Screaming Sensation Chili

JUDGE ONE;
A mediocre chili with too much reliance on canned peppers.

JUDGE TWO:
Ho Hum, tastes as if the chef threw in canned peppers at the
last moment. I should note that I am worried about Judge
number 3, he appears to be in a bit of distress.

CAMERON:
You could put a hand grenade in my mouth and pull the pin
and I wouldn’t feel it. I’ve lost the sight in one eye and
the world sounds like it is made of rushing water. My
clothes are covered with chili which slid unnoticed out of
my mouth at some point. Good! At autopsy they’ll know what
killed me.

Chili # 8: Helen’s Mount Saint Chili

JUDGE ONE:
This final entry is a good, balanced chili, neither mild nor
hot. Sorry to see that most of it was lost when Judge Number
3 fell and pulled the chili pot on top of himself.

JUDGE TWO:
A perfect ending, this is a nice blend chili, safe for all,
not too bold but spicy enough to declare its existence.

CAMERON:
Momma…

We took an unplanned trip to the hospital last night. It started off when we were all upstairs in the train room and Alex and I were playing horse. I was down on all fours and he was sitting on my back when he decided to let go and that’s when he lost his balance and slid off. He landed on his bum but his head came down pretty hard and hit the edge of the his Thomas the Tank Engine Fire House. There was some crying and when I checked out his head I saw a little blood and after managing to get his hair out of the way I saw that he had a little gash.

So we packed up the car and off to the hospital to have it checked out. To our surprise it really wasn’t crowded. I was expecting to have to sit and wait for a couple of hours before we could get in but when we got there we were the next people in line.

First the nurse at the triage station had to look at his head, then when we got back to the emergency room the nurse there had to look at it and let me tell you, Alex wanted absolutely nothing to do with any of that. He fought anyone who even remotely came close to looking at his head and there was nothing we could do to convince him that it was all going to be alright. Then the doctor had to come in and take a look too. We had to hold him down pretty tight for her to get close enough to get a look at it. It didn’t look too bad but she said it was going to need 2 staples to close it up.

Alex wouldn’t even sit still for them long enough to get a look at it and we were thinking, how are they going to keep him still enough to put in staples? Turns out they have their ways. They wrapped him up tight in a sheet with his arms at his sides so the only thing showing was his head. They called it “burrito style.” Then Jen sat at his head and I held his body down while they did the work. Once wrapped up I thought he did a really good job sitting still because he could have still put up a big fuss if he wanted to. It took them about five minutes to clean the cut out and give him the two staples and then we were on our way.

Since the cut is right at the back of his head it’s right where his head would sit on the pillow so we have been trying to teach him how to sleep on his side. So far we’ve had limited success but he really is in good spirits today and the first thing he did when he got up this morning was come and wake me up and tell me it was “Time to Play!”

Ug. It’s been a while since I managed to get to an update. A week in fact, holy cow.

Anyway Alex hasn’t been feeling that good this week. He’s got a runny nose and has been stuffed for for a couple of days which in turn has made the nights rather long. He sleeps for a bit and then he’s awake looking for Milk or Juice or just plain upset. The last two nights he has slept in our room just because it has been easier to manage. I’m pretty sure what started all this was his flu shot since the same thing happened last year.

I made another push on the kitchen last weekend and put up all the tile behind the stove for the backsplash. This weekend I’ll finish out the grouting and then that should just about wrap up the kitchen work. Once the grouting is done I’ll post the finished pictures to the web site so look for those in the next couple of weeks.

We had corn on the cob last night with dinner and up until then I thought that there was really only two ways to ways to eat it.

The first method involves eating the coring around the cob. You start at either the right or left end, eat one complete circle around the cob, then move right or left to start the next circle. This is the round the cob method.

Second, and this is the method I favor, I call the typewriter method. You start at one end and then eat clear across the cob until you get to the other side. Rotate the cob and repeat.

Alex introduced me to the third method last night. Complete and utter randomness is the only way to describe his method. A bite from the middle, then rotate slightly and take a bit from the left. Turn it the other direction, find a suitable patch of corn, take another bite. This method seemed to work well for a while but then he ended only having a patches of corn left that he had trouble getting to. His ingenious solution to this problem, get another cob of corn and let Mom finish the half eaten one.