Well since my beautiful wife has told me that I am an abandoner, as in I have all but abadoned by blog I figured I would make an update.
The month of Decemeber beyond flew by and before I knew it we were up to Christmas, with its coinciding shutdown week. On the agenda: tackling our once finished basement and making it pretty again. And a supposed nooner week---put the little one in daycare and play "catchup" with the wife.
Christmas: First with my son---wonderful, enriching, and spending time with my Mom/Dad, Wife, SIL, and son left me knowing how truly blessed I am. However due to an impending blizzard also left me and my Dad doing our yearly furnace cleaning Christmas afternoon.
The Day after Christmas the blizzard hit, and it snowed for a real long fricking time. 14 inches later......
Monday morning Snow removal for no less than 6 hours, now i must say I do enjoy snow removal, I enjoy being outside, I enjoy the solitude, and snowblowing my neighbors driveway when his wife was ill warmed my heart.
Tuesday Morning we kept liam home because one of my wifes good friends was coming over to meet liam for the first time. We had a wonderful visit with her then decided to go grab some lunch, after lunch--reality, the frickin basement! Tuesday night: the Eagles lost to Minnestoa, truly awful by the way!
Now I know it is a manly thing to want to do home repairs, grunt, scratch, measure once cut twice etc.... But overall I hate it, I hate the idea of it, I hate doing it, I really hate paying for it---it just plain sucks the high one. However in hopes of perserving some of my son's future college money we decided to redo the basement on our own. I had this wonderful idea of using the fibergalss beadboad for the loaer 4 feet of destroyed panelling, and seperating the upper portion of good paneling and the beadboard with a chair rail. When we got to lowes I was vetoed, my wife didnt like the looks of the stuff, and the gentlemen at lowes wasn't in high hopes of my foresought outcome.
Our next idea was sheetrock---I hate sheetrock, its heavy, its brittle, and overall completely new to me, but it made my wife happy and I figure worse case senario I screw up a hundred bucks worth of rock.
Now the plusses of this--I got some cool new tools--skill saws, drills, coping saws, wood chisels, sheetrock saws, toys toys and more toys.
Wednesday morning the attack commenced with the prep of the walls--a skill saw set at 1/8" run around the 4 walls at 4'-1/2" left me with pieces of old paneling and a here goes nothing attitude. Oh and had some "catch up" time with the wife.
Thursday was the ok time to buy sheetrock day ---plus I got to drive the big a$$ed lowes truck! I began to hang sheetrock that afternoon, and by the next morning was in full swing--Over all it wasnt to bad, I actually found that mudding stimulated my perfectionist part of my hobby brain and I am still uber proud with my first time non cracking corners!
New Years was fun with friends unitl Liams Bedtime, and then falling asleep and waking up at 12:01--no ball drop, just a happy new year wish to my wife, and back to sleep.
Sunday was an interesting day, with an afternoon realized pregnancy scare. I know my wife would have been ok if we were having a little one, she loves being a mom, and she has a sister. I know deep in my heart a second child would have changed me not for the better. I love my son and the time I have with him. I was perfectly ok with having one, I know my fues length and stress level and he can push both by himself, I am afraid two would have had me resenting the second child. For selfish and some not so selfish reasons--I already have no time for my hobbies, I would have to give them up completely. We already have no room in our tiny house, that we can not get rid of because our demoidiot friends let everyone have houses they couldn't afford in the "bubba lewinski" administration resulting in us as responsible home buyers having a home that is worth almost a full 100k less than we payed for it; now we would absolutely have no room. I already have little quality time with my wife, now we would have none. We already have one useless vehicle, two kids really would be pushing us to look at having to buy a new car before we are ready. I already barely see my friends, they are childless, I am prettty sure two kids would have me completely written off. We have no support now with one, does anyone really want to watch a one year old and an infant? For the first time in my life I am finacially pretty sound, two kids would pretty much end that. My wife ended up having our scare come to an end in the parking lot of the pharmacy on her way to go get a test.....
The Basement continued on throughout the week getting the walls prepped for paint, and the Tuesday evening purchase of carpet and installation scheduling. My Wife took one of our friends with her to go pick out paint while I sanded down the mud to keep the dust out of my sons lungs, it was starting to look like something.
Primer was next followed by repairing the remaining paneling (total ghetto moment--i used spackle to fill in cracks on panelling that didnt need to be replaced, as to blend in with the rocked walls). And this past Friday led to painting , my wife has an eye for colors (except for our pink halway(sorry honey)) and she picked a cream upper and forest green lower--the contrast is awesome, and last night i began trimwork.
This past wednesday I was out with a sick son, after 8 hours of him screaming with nothing making him happy I had a first; I viloently punched a cuboard door and wung a formula filled dr.browns bottle across the room. The bottle broke creating a mess, my hand was brusied for 3 days. And afterwards I didnt feel better, I cried, sobbing like a little girl apologizing to God, and my son for getting to that point.
Sunday I took a scheduled break--the Eagles blew there chances at true greatness again, as a true 22 year Eagles fan, this year just felt like it, there was something special about this team--they are young and most will be back,there is always next year!
This Thursday I get to go watch the Flyers play the Bruins with a buddy from work---I am truly excited, I havent seen them "live" in three years---god I love hockey.
Friday the carpet comes....
Basement Expedition Observations
1. This could have gone a lot worse
2. This still Sucks
3. It was kind of neat to do some of this work and work on my home, but it still sucks.
4. Utmost respect for sheetrock guys!
5. The new extruded foam trim is truly awesome stuff to work with.
6. Hehe I love my nail gun.
7. I love my wife, and love my son, three is a magic number.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Nothing half a$$ed....
When I was growing up I was like a lot of teenagers. If I could get away with mowing half the lawn, I sure would try, if by cleaning my room you mean shuffling everying to one corner and making the bed--yep that worked too. However something around the end of college clicked in and to use my dad's language I really try not do anything "half a$$ed" anymore.
This past weekend a few things I did put this thought into my head about being half a$$ed, and allowing some balance to come into play. My wife has always told me whenever I commit to something I give it my all, and its amazing how I didnt fully realize it till this weekend that although it is true, finding a new balance is a must.
As I mentioned in my first post i am into RC model planes big time. Well this past weekend my wife gave me an entire afternoon to work on one of my models to get it ready for a photoshoot with liam for our christmas card. Now before Liam I would have used all afternoon, most of the night, and the entire next day to not only get it ready--but to make sure it was perfect and ready for a flight as well. Yet this past weekend I found myself using the afternoon and a couple of hours the next morning to simply get it "Photo ready". Its amazing how much the want to see a smile on my boys face, and play with him and my wife has changed my priorities.
Sunday evening was a big evening for my favorite sports team. My Philadelphia Eagles were playign a very important road game in San Fran, backup qb, hurt o-line and the typical philly drama on national TV. However as much as I had fully planned on watching every moment of the game as I would have pre Liam, I now saw things differently. I hit the record button, and went out and started a fire in my firepit so I could sit and talk with my wife, bounce my son on my knee and become mesmerized by flame with my family. Only after the very last coal crumbled did we head in side. Now I did stay up to watch the fourth quarter, allowing my wife to go to bed, but I would not have traded watching 3 quarters of winning football for the few hours of time spent with my family, nor would I have traded it for anything.
Now I had always laughed at the term "Family Man", you always picture the father, tripping over toys and a overall dusgruntled disposition. Its funny, I have always seen myself as a family man, my family is my life, my friends who I consider family are my life, but its funny how Liam has truly turned me into a family man. Yep I trip over the toys, yep when he keeps me up all hours of the night I am disgruntled, but I'll be damned if one of his smiles doesnt just melt me and all my bad things away. Maybe thats because he, my wife, my family is my new thing to not be half a$$ed about........
This past weekend a few things I did put this thought into my head about being half a$$ed, and allowing some balance to come into play. My wife has always told me whenever I commit to something I give it my all, and its amazing how I didnt fully realize it till this weekend that although it is true, finding a new balance is a must.
As I mentioned in my first post i am into RC model planes big time. Well this past weekend my wife gave me an entire afternoon to work on one of my models to get it ready for a photoshoot with liam for our christmas card. Now before Liam I would have used all afternoon, most of the night, and the entire next day to not only get it ready--but to make sure it was perfect and ready for a flight as well. Yet this past weekend I found myself using the afternoon and a couple of hours the next morning to simply get it "Photo ready". Its amazing how much the want to see a smile on my boys face, and play with him and my wife has changed my priorities.
Sunday evening was a big evening for my favorite sports team. My Philadelphia Eagles were playign a very important road game in San Fran, backup qb, hurt o-line and the typical philly drama on national TV. However as much as I had fully planned on watching every moment of the game as I would have pre Liam, I now saw things differently. I hit the record button, and went out and started a fire in my firepit so I could sit and talk with my wife, bounce my son on my knee and become mesmerized by flame with my family. Only after the very last coal crumbled did we head in side. Now I did stay up to watch the fourth quarter, allowing my wife to go to bed, but I would not have traded watching 3 quarters of winning football for the few hours of time spent with my family, nor would I have traded it for anything.
Now I had always laughed at the term "Family Man", you always picture the father, tripping over toys and a overall dusgruntled disposition. Its funny, I have always seen myself as a family man, my family is my life, my friends who I consider family are my life, but its funny how Liam has truly turned me into a family man. Yep I trip over the toys, yep when he keeps me up all hours of the night I am disgruntled, but I'll be damned if one of his smiles doesnt just melt me and all my bad things away. Maybe thats because he, my wife, my family is my new thing to not be half a$$ed about........
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Well lets start with a little about me.
I grew up in a small town in Maine, known more for its cow population than its people population. My parents bought a 140 year old farm house, because of whatmy mom will never live down "It was full of character". Unfortunately in my Dads head character meant $$$$$, but in the long run it has made a nice home for them, and I greatly enjoyed growing up there.
One of the things big in Maine is everyone has a hobby, you need to, where the closest mall is an hour away and a "local" restaurarant is 15 min away having a hobby, or many is a large part of Maine life. Neddless to say I have many hobbies, I hunt, I fish, I am into sports, and anything that flys is a passion of mine. I fly R/C Aiplanes, it is my big passion and something I have been doing for close to 6 years now.
I went to school at Maine Maritime Academy. Maine Maritime is primarily a school to teach young men and women to be merchant sailors, whether that be running the deck, or running the engine room. Myself I chose the engine room side of it, and graduated with a BS in Marine Engineering Operations. Now Maine Maritime certainly wasn't the "funnest" of college experiences, but overall I enjoyed myself there. I was able to see a larger portion of the world while doing so visiting Spain, France, Italy, Gibralter, Sardinia, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Nova Scotia, and various US ports. Being able to say I have seen the leaning tower of Pisa, The 300 year old cathedrals of france, the beaches of spain and brazil, and whales breeching in the bay of fundy is something I hold dear to my heart.
Upon Graduating i took my first job with the American Bureau of Shipping. ABS, is a classification society of ships and I was a surveyor. Basically an inspector for a set of rules---much like your car has to get inspected--so dont ships. ABS took me to Philadelphia, which seemed all to fitting as I am a Die Hard Eagles and Flyers fan. (Explanation saved for another entry) ABS philly taught me so much, my first day on the job I got to look at a ship with a 12 foot hole in her side. The only trouble with ABS philly was it was 9 hours from my family, my Boss recognized this and when the opportunity for a transfer to Rhode Island came up---he put me in for it.
Memorial Day 2004 I headed for what I thought was going to be another temporary 2-3 year assignment. I was sent up to oversee a small Barge Construction Yard named Senesco Marine. The company immediately impressed me with their strive for quailty and overall positive attitude, which is why now I work for them!
In 2005 I met the love of my life at my best friends 4th of July BBQ. She was everything I was looking for in a woman, gorgeous, smart, funny, well spoken, self sufficient, and a Sam Adams drinker. Although I did not get her number that night, the unfortunate passing of a friends grandmother brought us together one more time, this time I got her number. We went on our first date a few days later (late night pancakes at Dennys, she paid)--and we havent been apart ever since. We were married in 2008 and I love her more everyday.
In 2009 we decided to expand our family, and in May after 3 months of trying my beautiful wife gave me the best news any man wants to hear "I'm preganant", Shortly thereafter we found out we were going to have a baby boy, and on February 2nd after 18hrs of labor Michael William or "Liam" joined our world and family. Since then he has become our lives and world, and each day is a new adventure!
One of the things big in Maine is everyone has a hobby, you need to, where the closest mall is an hour away and a "local" restaurarant is 15 min away having a hobby, or many is a large part of Maine life. Neddless to say I have many hobbies, I hunt, I fish, I am into sports, and anything that flys is a passion of mine. I fly R/C Aiplanes, it is my big passion and something I have been doing for close to 6 years now.
I went to school at Maine Maritime Academy. Maine Maritime is primarily a school to teach young men and women to be merchant sailors, whether that be running the deck, or running the engine room. Myself I chose the engine room side of it, and graduated with a BS in Marine Engineering Operations. Now Maine Maritime certainly wasn't the "funnest" of college experiences, but overall I enjoyed myself there. I was able to see a larger portion of the world while doing so visiting Spain, France, Italy, Gibralter, Sardinia, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Nova Scotia, and various US ports. Being able to say I have seen the leaning tower of Pisa, The 300 year old cathedrals of france, the beaches of spain and brazil, and whales breeching in the bay of fundy is something I hold dear to my heart.
Upon Graduating i took my first job with the American Bureau of Shipping. ABS, is a classification society of ships and I was a surveyor. Basically an inspector for a set of rules---much like your car has to get inspected--so dont ships. ABS took me to Philadelphia, which seemed all to fitting as I am a Die Hard Eagles and Flyers fan. (Explanation saved for another entry) ABS philly taught me so much, my first day on the job I got to look at a ship with a 12 foot hole in her side. The only trouble with ABS philly was it was 9 hours from my family, my Boss recognized this and when the opportunity for a transfer to Rhode Island came up---he put me in for it.
Memorial Day 2004 I headed for what I thought was going to be another temporary 2-3 year assignment. I was sent up to oversee a small Barge Construction Yard named Senesco Marine. The company immediately impressed me with their strive for quailty and overall positive attitude, which is why now I work for them!
In 2005 I met the love of my life at my best friends 4th of July BBQ. She was everything I was looking for in a woman, gorgeous, smart, funny, well spoken, self sufficient, and a Sam Adams drinker. Although I did not get her number that night, the unfortunate passing of a friends grandmother brought us together one more time, this time I got her number. We went on our first date a few days later (late night pancakes at Dennys, she paid)--and we havent been apart ever since. We were married in 2008 and I love her more everyday.
In 2009 we decided to expand our family, and in May after 3 months of trying my beautiful wife gave me the best news any man wants to hear "I'm preganant", Shortly thereafter we found out we were going to have a baby boy, and on February 2nd after 18hrs of labor Michael William or "Liam" joined our world and family. Since then he has become our lives and world, and each day is a new adventure!
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