Mega Post

3 posts in 1! (Be sure to click a picture if you want to enlarge it and see more detail.)

Kitchen Remodel Udpates
First, here are the updated pictures from our kitchen remodel. Original pictures can be seen in the post below.

First day of remodel and the demolition went very well. The dining room wall came down, the ceiling was removed, and all the drywall was gone.

View to where the desk will go and where the slider will be replaced with a single full-view door.
Looking towards the hallway towards the garage and mud room. You can see where the peninsula used to be if you look for the missing tile.
Day 2 and all the flooring is up, including the tile and the hardwood that used to be in the dining room. Also, the far wall that was red in previous photos is now gone too.

OK, now on to our mouse story.

When we left for Memorial Day weekend, we mistakenly left our garage open. In our garage we keep a bag of sunflower seeds that we feed to our cardinals, squirrels and other wildlife that frequent our bird feeder. The bag had been ravaged after 3 days of exposure. Shortly after we arrived home, Colleen saw a mouse dart under the new kitchen cabinets we are storing in the garage. She thought it might be a rat because of the long tail, but settled on it being a mouse. So, we went to the hardware store and got two mouse traps and I set them about 4:00 p.m. Before I went to bed at 10:00, I checked the traps. Lo and behold! We had caught the thief.


Poor guy probably didn't even get a taste of the peanut butter before his head was cleaved in half. POP!
I feel just a tad guilty.

Now onto another POP, but this one is a little bit more friendly...

8 days after Liam's 5 1/2 birthday, he lost his first tooth. The Tooth Fairy wrote him a note encouraging him to brush, floss and use mouthwash, left him $5 and an Indiana Jones action figure. The next night, he said his second tooth was ready to come out. If you turn the volume up, you can probably tell it was about a day too early to pull it. Pop!

Kitchen Remodel

Our big kitchen remodel began this morning, and our contractor told me they already have all the old cabinets, counters and appliances out. I posted the cabinets/sink/garbage disposal on Craigslist for free last night around 8:30 and by 8:45, I had received 3 phone calls and no less than 25 e-mails. It was crazy. It feels good to pass on these items to someone in need. They pick them up at 7:00 tonight.

We're selling the dishwasher for $75 and the stove for $150 -- much lower than they're probably worth, but we would like to take in some money since we're paying out so much.

After the remodel is over, we'll sell the fridge and microwave, since we're using those now to keep some semblance of a kitchen in our house. We've outfitted our family room with the remnants of our kitchen. Hello paper plates & bowls, plastic utensils, and I'm sure a big restaurant bill over the next 4-6 weeks.

Here are the pictures I posted on Craigslist for the cabinets. It'll give you a good "before" look. I'll post ongoing shots.

Mother, Do You Think They'll Drop The Bomb?

My wife made a kick-ass compilation CD for her sister on Mother's Day with all songs having the mom/mama/mother theme. The song she chose to lead off the album is just outstanding. It's Roger Waters live in 2007 singing Mother, with incredible female backing vocals. It sends chills up my spine several times throughout the song. When Roger starts singing, when the diva at 2:22 starts singing "hush now baby, baby don't you cry", and at 5:00 when she sings "Mama's going to keep baby healthy and clean."

And, how GREAT does Roger sound and look?

Wheelchairs for Pets

This is a picture from a story on MSNBC about dogs and cats getting a new lease on life with the help of a company called Eddie's Wheels. It's a heartwarming story, made better by the caption to the picture above.

Monsieur Fantastico takes a breather from a rollicking soccer game on wheels. Mr. Fantastico is a 7-year-old French bulldog.

What a great name!!!!

Typing Test

I've always considered myself a decent typist after having smartly taken it back in my sophomore year in high school. If I had to guess my typing speed, I would have said about 50-60 words per minute. Well, I decided to test that assumption this morning on TypingTest.com and after typing a story for 3 minutes, it spit back my typing speed at about 20 words per minute. Ugh, I thought. But, then I spied my accuracy rate was about 14%, and knowing that was false, I discovered that my all caps key was on. So, after fixing that, I chose a different story to type for 3 minutes (so I was unfamiliar with the text), and my net speed was 75 words per minute with 95% accuracy. My gross speed was 79 words per minute before subtracting for errors.

What is your typing speed? Click on the TypingTest link above then click Start Typing Test. You need to have Java 1.1 for it to work. Select a test duration of 3 minutes, choose The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and WPM.

Can you beat me?

Doctor Champion

A couple of random thoughts...

Yesterday, I was thinking about my Godfather's maxim that he will always give the right of way to any other driver who is driving for a living. So, he gives way to trucks, taxis, and buses. I think it's a good rule to live by, even if it means it delays your trip a few seconds, or in the case of a bus, maybe even a few minutes.

I enjoy the pizza from the Viga Italian Eatery near my office, and the guy who works the counter could not be any more enjoyable. He is a late 20s/early 30s black guy who exudes happiness. Today I was on line with 1 other guy and 1 woman. In that short minute, he managed to call us Doctor, Cousin, Brother, Angel, My Lady, Killer, Partner, Champion. As in, "What'll be Doctor?" (that was directed to me, and I'm no Dr.) "Here you go cousin." "Hi Angel, what can I get ya?" etc. I once asked him what the secret to his happiness was and he told me it's lots of sleep. I asked him when he went to bed, expecting him to tell me something like 8:00. "Between 1 and 2." Then I really did understand the source of his happiness -- he was living his life his way, working at a low-stress job, not having to wake up early to bust his hump, making people smile all afternoon. I've gone there once a week for 17 months and not once has he failed to lift my spirits.

Will Turn Your Stomach

From one of my family's favorite shows: