Wednesday, July 07, 2010

MORE


Amazon Prime puked toys into my backyard and all Olivia has to say about it is MORE MORE! When I knew I was having a baby there were a few things I could not wait to purchase. The first was a play kitchen and somewhere on the list was a parachute. The kids are not quite old enough to get the parachute game, but they totally love 'kid popcorn' and the magic carpet ride. The adults are getting the work out with these games!


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Moooooovies


Movie night is back! And this year we've set up dual amplifiers in the TV room - I mean MEDIA room. One controls the inside the other controls the BOSE and rock speakers outside. We've also discovered what 'monitor out' means and have a 75ft cord running from inside out through the sinus cavity direct to the projector. Its awesome. Jon still has to "get in the hole" to get it routed properly - for now its running through the window - but I don't care - I'm watching movies! We debuted the new system with an on demand showing of Greenberg. The movie was pretty bad and we're not sold that component video is high enough quality. I cannot even believe I can tell a difference, but after watching on HDMI you actually can. Ridiculous.

Summer finally has arrived in Seattle. Sweet! Only 3 more weeks 'till Fall.
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Monday, July 05, 2010

crown


I've always known things just look better wearing a crown. I don't leave home without mine. We finally got the crown installed in the kitchen and wow does it make a statement. The cove lighting and under cabinet lighting don't hurt either. We have rope lighting LEDs in the cove and xenon spot lights under the cabinet. We also have digital dimming switches that have two switches in one gang plate. These were extra special not carried at either Lowe's or the Dep...but they were PRIME from the Zon. There is still some trim and putty work, but set one is complete.
We've learned alot in this project so far and the second set of cabinets is currently under construction. Some of the lessons learned:
1. Shoot straight for crown on cabinets (angle on ceiling)
2. Don't cut an electrical box out with a saber saw (you get to re-wire the entire circuit as a bonus project)
3. Light bulbs can give off a different color (change the bulb not the fixture...)
4. Fish tape is your friend

BBQ Weather


Good thing it wasn't BBQ weather this July 4th cause the new grill was delivered with two forklift holes in the box. Sucks. The grill head survived the trip but the cart wasn't so lucky. We perched the grill on a folding table until we get the cart. I thought I found such a great deal and even skipped the eBay mark-up buying off the grid. I'm convinced this eBay authorized seller is pimping rejects of some sort. I can't figure how he's got this gig working from HI shipping from CA....hmmm but I want to join him! The grill worked remarkably well on the folding table. Now its time to experiment with the smoker box, flavor bars and rotisserie. Our last grill was converted from propane to natural gas. The conversion didn't go as planned so we drilled the holes a little bigger...that was a big mistake. The orifice allowed so much fuel through we melted two of the three burner knobs and flames would shoot out the sides. Only the center burner was NSF approved for cooking. It was Fred Flintstone style grilling at our house. Finally we are approved for general audiences once again.
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Sunday, July 04, 2010

Date


The word date hasn't been in my vocabulary for a long time - a very long time... We've entered a new 'date-ing' arena, the "PLAY Date". And you may as well do it up right we had toys, wine, coffee, cookies, a princess (big sister joined us), gossip, dancing and a couple of biters! It seems Olivia and her friend CAS are among the strong personalities in the classroom. Its been reported it is necessary to keep these little love-birds separated.
We decided maybe a little one-on-one time might help tame the teeth. So we made a 'date' to get the families together at 10AM on a Sunday. This is certainly the earliest start time of a date I've ever had, I think a few ended at this time, but never started.
The future class clown and most likely to succeed will hopefully be friends for a long long time (despite the scars!).


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