Blue Eyes

Tom might have mentioned we are color challenged. However I had an "ah-ha" moment this afternoon. Tom was laying down sideways and had Teagan propped up against his legs. It was then that I noticed our baby girl's eyes. They have always been a beautiful shade of blue, but now they have a name- denim blue. Her eyes were the exact shade of his shorts.

Kitchen Remodel, Part 2

As previously noted, we've decided to remodel the kitchen, at least in part, this summer. This past week, we had our cabinets refaced, and the counter tops and sink replaced, by Home Depot Home Services. The worker (it only took one) came out Tuesday and Wednesday and did the work, up to, but not including making the sink work again. Apparently, since he was a carpenter and not a plumber, he's not allowed to hook up the sink per some sort of rule, law or ordinance. No matter. Last night, Amy's parents came down, and my father-in-law walked me through installing the sink, from installing the faucet, to caulking and clipping the sink, to attaching the garbage disposal and drain. And guess what? It all works, and doesn't leak! Woo-hoo! So, we're two-thirds the way through this summer's phase of our kitchen remodel. All we have left for this summer is paint, which is still a problem because, as previously noted, we're not terribly gifted in color selection. I'll post before and after pictures once the painting is complete and this phase is done. Stay tuned...

Thanks again, Ed, for helping me get the sink installed and working!

My Current Diversion

Don't click this link if you have something important to be doing. Don't say I didn't warn you...

Boy O Boy

I would like to present the first picture of our son!


We went for our "you are over 35 and your daughter has a birth defect" level two ultrasound yesterday. The very first picture confirmed a boy very decisively. We are very excited and happy to report we have a healthy baby boy.

The Problem

Ignore the fact that my lovely daughter is crying. Seriously, just ignore it. What I'd like to call your attention to is all the way at the back of her mouth. Rather, what's not there. Now, find a child, spouse or friend, have them open their mouth, and compare. You'll notice that Bambina is missing a section of her soft palate and her entire uvula, compared with your reference. That's what is going to be repaired, very soon in fact. The surgery is scheduled for Wednesday, August 6.

Finally Got Around to It

Finally got around to posting more pictures in Bambina's gallery. Head on over and check them out. If you need the link and/or password, drop me a note at my usual email address.

The Weekend In Review

Whew! What a weekend! First, a quick summary:

1. 7/3 after 5P: Drive to Conneaut Lake, PA
2. 7/4 all day: Picnic with F's, H's and G's
3. 7/5: Drive to Shalersville, spend the day with H's and G's
4. 7/6 AM: Church and baptism of Bambina
5. 7/6 PM: Lunch at Spaghetti Warehouse, drive home, grocery shopping

Now for the details:

The drive up was fairly uneventful. It rained a lot, but it wasn't nasty at all. Bambina played happily by herself most of the way. It wasn't until we got to Conneaut Lake at a little past 9PM that we hit a snag. My family has had a cottage at Conneaut Lake for as long as I can remember. It's rented out to other folks for most of the summer, but our family always has it the week of the fourth of July and gathers during that time. My mom's step mother also has a trailer on the other side of the lake which she uses herself, and often lets the rest of the family borrow when things get crowded at the cottage. The H's and G's were to be staying at the trailer rather than the cottage this summer, so we headed there. The first problem was that I was given the wrong key. Evidently, the locks had been changed, and there was a mix-up in the distribution of the new keys. I called my mom, who had given me the keys to the trailer, told her of the problem, and headed over to the cottage, where my uncle was staying. He had the correct key for the trailer, and I was hoping to borrow it. Problem two came as I got close to the street the cottage is on. Road closed. Large construction equipment across the road, beyond that, the pavement was completely gone. Crap. OK, it's a lake, we turned around and went the other way around the lake. Only to find that the road was again missing before the turn into the cottage. Called mom again to find out how the %#^& to get to the cottage, find out that with the closing of Conneaut Lake Park, a gate which had previously kept visitors from mingling with residents had been opened, and that was the temporary access to the cottage. Somewhere in there, Bambina woke up, hungry and in an unfamiliar place, so we had a wailing child for the last 45 minutes. Oh, and by time we got to the trailer, frustrated and amped up, the only place nearby that sold beer was already closed. Bummer....

But with all the chaos of Thursday night, the next few days were great. We had a great time with the F's, H's and G's on Friday, and a kind of relaxing day on Saturday with the H's and G's (which included a trip to the A&W stand for rootbeer floats and footlongs, mmmmmm). Sunday service was great, too. I was honored to be asked by the band to sing with them for a song I wrote a few years ago. It brought back a lot of great memories, and the band really made my poor attempt at music sound awesome. The baptism service itself was beautiful (so that our Catholic friends don't feel snubbed, many, if not most, protestant denominations don't have any notion of God-parents). The funniest part of the weekend, at least for me, was picking up the cake that Amy ordered for our lunch. She ordered it by phone from a grocery store in the vicinity, and we stopped on the way to Spaghetti Warehouse to get it. I went to the bakery to get it, gave the baker my name and she handed me the cake. I looked at it through the plastic cover and said, "Ummmm.... there's a problem with this cake." She looked at me quizzically, so I continued, "This isn't my daughter's name." She grabbed the order slip and blanched, then looked at what was written on the cake and blanched again. "Ummmm... what is your daughter's name, sir?" I told her Bambina's name, she looked at the slip and the cake again, and asked, "Was this phoned in?" "Yeah," I replied. "You know what this word means, right?" Blanched again. "Yeah" "So you know how funny this would be in any other circumstance, right?" "Yeah, here, lemme fix this for you..." So she took the cake and made the necessary repairs, knocked a few bucks off my bill and sent me away with the cake.

So, you're wondering what was originally on the cake? Probably the most ironic thing I could think of:

God
Bless
Pagan

Back to the Chair

Faithful readers of this blog will remember last year when I took issue with a poor experience with the American Red Cross, vowed to not donate blood again, and then got a follow up letter and phone call from a representative of the ARC. I actually made it to March before I gave blood again, but that was on a walk-up basis, and I would have turned around if there had been anyone else at the blood drive. However, a few weeks ago, I got a call from the ARC asking me to give blood and schedule an appointment. I expressed my reservations about delays when I had a scheduled appointment, but the rep assured me that the ARC had made some changes, and now it is policy to try to get to those with appointments within 15 minutes of their scheduled time, so I agreed, and signed up for this morning. Not only was I seen promptly (OK, I had the very first appointment of the morning), but the whole experience only lasted 30 minutes from the start of my appointment and, as a bonus, I happened to go on a day that Kroger was sponsoring a "Pint for a Pint" day at the blood drive and got a pint of ice cream! W00t! Ice cream aside, I was happy with my experience this morning, and will go again. The true test will be to see how well it works when I have an afternoon appointment.