The Kitchen is finished!

Thanks for waiting for updates on the kitchen, it's been a mad house here with the construction.

So here it is as it was:
Dirty tile, tiny island. It was driving us absolutely nuts.
Then, as you know, we tore it out.

Then they came and put the new stuff in and WOW. Here's another time lapse video, taking a .5 second section every minute.



The product is Corian and looks fantastic in the kitchen, pulling out the gray of the hardware and the red of the cabinets.
And the installation went so well, they went beyond my lofty expectations. He spent hours grinding and polishing, sanding and cutting to get everything to not only fit right, but to cover any blemishes from the tear out. He truly is a craftsman and it shows, the pieces fit perfectly to our unperfect kitchen.

In the end I'm bummed I can't have them back to fix anything else around the house.

So here it is now:

How to tear out a kitchen in 2:39

A special thanks to Dylan for helping to make today's installation possible. I'm still waiting for the new counters to arrive, so until they do, here's a look at yesterday's fun.



The camera took .5 seconds of video every 30 seconds.

An experiment in gaslessness

I got an add fuel warning in the prius on the way to work yesterday. It happens when there is 1 gallon remaining in the tank, which will usually get us 40-50 miles before needing a fill up.
On the way home, the only real accessible gas station was crowded and there was no way I was getting in anytime soon, so I decided to conduct an experiment.
When will I A) Run out of gas completely and B) When will the batteries give out?

So onto the freeway and away I go. Everything was just fine until the last hill before our town. On the way up the gas motor gave out, the check engine light came on and I slowed to 54 MPH. I was able to safely get over to the slow lane just before we crested the hill and came back down, so I was able to pick up speed. I got off at the first exit before noticing there is no gas station there. At the light at the bottom of the ramp I realized I could safely do 54 MPH to the next exit where I knew there was a gas station. Green light, I got back on.

As I exited at the next ramp, the battery indicator went from 3/4 charge to 1/4 charge and as I made the turn towards the Shell station I felt the electric motor not responding to my pushes on the gas.

I coasted into the parking area and awaited someone to move. Then got worried I would have to push my car into a gas station. How embarrassing in a hybrid no less. I turned the car off just as someone began to move. When I started the car, I was able to get it into drive just enough to pull me into the pumps, where I filled it up.

In total, in my 10.2 gallon tank, I did 511 miles with a car generated MPG of 44.6. Not sure which one is mis-calibrated, the gauge or the car. I guess it didn't worry about calculating mileage when the gas motor turned off.

But now I know if I run out of gas I can go 54 MPH.

Night Shots

A steady day here at Engine 26. It's a quiet little Engine Company up on a hill. I was stationed here last watch and wished I had brought my camera. When I found out I was coming back I made sure to pack the camera and was glad I did. More on the flickr slide show on the left.

Random girl stuff

A lot sitting on the camera lately, but with no real time to upload it so here goes:

He's comitting fraud, Honey

At the grocery store today I met one of the many folks on this planet that simply do not get it.
They don't understand how things work and how the universe flows gently if you let it. Like if you let the guy with one item ahead of you in the store, he gets along sooner and your time is barely affected.
If you let the person flying down the onramp take their rightful place in line, the traffic keeps moving, as opposed to him flying all the way to the front, making everyone else slow down.
Those are general examples, but back to the jerk I met today.

The girls and I went to the store and on the way out, cart full, we saw a giant black 4x4 truck parked in the handicapped spot. This was the closest picture I could find online:

The one we saw was a giant GMC and had running rails you could use to climb in with. This truck was so big even I at 6'3" would have trouble climbing in.
As we approached it, making our way to the middle of the lot, Morgan commented on how big the truck was.
"It must be hard climbing up there all handicapped," I commented to her.
"It sure is" said the man who was walking just infront of us as he turned away from his tiny wife and went to put the groceries in the backseat of the truck.
I can't pass this and not say something.
"Hang on sweetie," I tell Morgan, "we're going to help this handicapped man into his big truck."
"Can we help you?"
"I don't need help getting in my own truck." He quipped.
"I just figured since you're handicapped you must certainly need help getting in there, we're happy to help."
"My sister is handicapped." He fires back.
"Then we can help her?" I looked briefly at the wife.
"This is her truck and she's handicapped."
Riiiiiiiiight I think to myself as we turn away.
"What is that man doing Daddy?" Morgan asks setting me up like no preparation could have done. "He's committing fraud Honey, let's go home."

As he backed out and began to pull past us, he slowed down just enough to see me smiling and waving, then he literally sped away through the grocery store parking lot.

I hate those people. Somewhere there's an actually handicapped person circling looking for a spot these yahoos take up.

Morgan the 'Fiter Fighter'

I wish I had thought to get the video camera for this, but it was more fun to be a part of what was happening.

Morgan found an empty wrapping paper roll and decided it was a "slide pole" at the fire station.

She called me over and said, "Daddy, do you want to learn how to be a fiter fighter?"
"OK," I said with Kim smiling in the background.

"First you have to put on your fire fighter helmet." She went and got one of the little plastic helmets Jerry got for her birth and put it on.

She came back to where I was and asked me to hold up the cardboard roll. "Now you slide down the slide pole to the fire engines and go put out the fire."
"How do we put the fire out?" I asked her
"We use the water hose."
"Well go get one! Hurry, the fire is burning!"
She came running back over with an Eliza toy that closely resembled a nozzle and she got in front of me.
"Let's crawl down under the smoke and heat" I told her and she crawled low, nozzle out in front, helmet on and got to where Kim was and crouched back on her heels and began to 'put the fire out'.

"Isn't there some paperwork, training and certifications we have to take, not to mention training drills?" I ask her.
"No daddy. Just slide down the slide pole and put the fires out."

That's what I thought too, kid. That's what I thought too.

How to quiet her down

We devised a way to keep Eliza from screaming for attention during dinner:




Worked for 5 minutes.

Something she can watch

Morgan needed to be distracted for a few minutes today so I threw in a secret weapon I've been saving for just such an occasion. The Electric Company.



The pace is much slower and less in your face than what she had been watching before, but I heard her say, "Daddy, look, they're reading letters!"
She's not, but hey, she's enjoying it.

In other news we decided on our countertops today and they'll be installed on the 17th. We are beyond excited to get rid of this crappy tile and grout.

Kitchen Day 2 - Final

While the girls went to a superbowl party with friends, I was able to finish up the build on the bar. Take a look...










And what better way to enjoy the build than a beer with my girls?

Kitchen Day 1 - Finish

Had to finish what I could when Kim went back to work for a few hours and my apprentices had to occupy one another.


After the brackets arrive, the bar top goes on and we await the opportunity to paint and stain everything to match.

Now it will sit until Sunday.

It has begun

Kitchen Remodel - Take 2, Day 1

When we moved into our house in July, the kitchen was in desperate need of new cabinets and counter tops. Not having the budget for both we opted to do the cabinets before we moved in and the counter tops later. That was remodel Take 1.

The time has come for Remodel Take 2.

Today's project was removing the tile counter top from the island and prepping it for the building of the bar top.


That went rather quickly and I was able to move on to modifying the base. I removed the area to the right, which is where the wine fridge will move to, and removed material to run the new support structure.

Now the structure is being fit to the cabinets, which will allow for the attaching of the bar top when the brackets arrive. For now it will wait, roughed in until Sunday, when I get back from work.
More updates then.

Morgan's new 'do

Before everyone freaks, she loves it and that is what matters.

When Eliza gets bigger and bigger

Morgan often tells us all about when Eliza gets bigger and bigger.
"Daddy, when Eliza gets bigger and bigger, she can play with Morgan toys."
"I give this to Eliza when she gets bigger and bigger."

Well, we're getting there alright.

Eliza has been in her new car seat, having outgrown the other one (22 lb maximum) and is now in a nice comfortable rear facing wonder of a seat. That means she is out of the carrier, so no more snap and go stroller, one of the 3 necessities of parenthood these days.
It also means she's sitting up in the cart or at the restaurant.
Last night we ventured out to dinner and Eliza got to sit at the table with us instead of cooped up in her carrier and she was all the flirt we knew she was. She talked, banged on the table and stared at a couple a few tables away. Eliza being as adorable as she is (non biased opinion) won them all over.
A part of me, and I'm sure Kim, saw this milestone coming, but didn't think we'd be there already. She's only 7 months old for Pete's sake.
Eliza is also on the verge of crawling, right about on schedule with her sister. We were looking at some old video of Morgan's first crawls (Gods all that hair!) and looked at Eliza and sighed.
They do grow up so fast. Granted I wish they'd skip ahead to the following directions, using the toilet alone, sleeping through the night part, but I'll take whatever I can get.

Yesterday I got a great 2 hour nap with Eliza. One of those Daddy naps where she sleeps and I just give her little kisses on her head.




A few days ago the girls helped me wash the car.I figure it will take me 16 years to get used to this thought, so let's get started on it.












Morgan is becoming quite the artist. She draws wonderful (non biased) pictures of stick figures she calls "happy faces" and LOVES to take pictures, especially of Eliza. She's not bad either. She took this picture just the other day, Kim only turned it on for her.
Eliza's bottom teeth are clearly visible from space now and she enjoys chewing everything she can find.
More updates as they happen from Carriage House.

I wish I was this clever

More on the girls tomorrow, but first, fun with Google Maps.

In case you didn't know, Google Maps has been sending cars around to collect a street view of the nation. Maybe you've seen the little VW bugs with strange triangle mounted on top, well, they're taking 360 degree pictures as they drive. the idea is that you can type in an address, get the directions and then see what it looks like from the street.

Well the folks at woot! posted a recent link to a certain street that knew when the cameras were coming.

Street with a View was a kind of art project that lines the street with different gags to catch on google street view. Now their street will forever have a marathon, marching band, mad scientist, sheet rope escape and medieval battle.

Too fun.

Next Blog Adventure!

Ever notice that button up near the top that says "next blog"? Well, it take us to a random blog on blogger.com
This morning, while waiting to buy tickets to see Wicked, I decided to take an adventure into the "Next Blog."

What I found was mostly in other languages or personal family stuff, but the rest was very interesting. And since the Blog universe keeps growing, I think I'll revisit the button on occasion and bring you the highlights.

So without further fanfare, let's start the

Next Blog Adventure!

We begin our adventure by learning everything we wanted to know about...well...what are those things? That's what I want to know and will learn from:
http://haworthia-gasteria.blogspot.com/

After getting our fill of succulents, let's cleanse the palette with something tasty from Poor Girl Eats Well Now if I spend more than $5 at the store, I'm going to feel wasteful.

I'm not entirely sure what this site is about. They're Korean and apparently REALLY want someone to high 5 them.

Stumbled onto a neat concept (I hope), a blog titled simply 365. there are only 2 entries so far so I might just wander back and see how the year progresses. Glad I didn't find it on day 364, what a lot of reading.

The 365 folks might need this blog, a happy place to think about the future, before they make plans for day 1356.

Completely useless blog of the day award to: Softwares

The Pope is always getting into trouble with that new puppy of his. Follow along with his adventures in Vatican City on the Pope's Blog

And sometimes you get Gold. Everyone remembers Grandma Taylor was a stickler for proper punctuation and grammar and constantly corrected even school teachers on their use of you're vs your. So I will now be following the Apostrophe Catastrophes.

Yeah, I'm THAT important

Some of you may remember that a few months ago I (Justin) decided to get politically active. Maybe I was caught up in the excitement that became President Obama and his call to public service, but there was an opening on the local Fire Commission as an alternate.
There was also a seat open on the Emergency Medical Care Committee. When I interviewed for the positions, I apparently came off as more as a Paramedic than a Fireman and I got the Committee job.

HERE is the link to the Commission meeting where my nomination was accepted. I'm one of maybe 30-40 people who meet every other month to talk about how emergency medical care is being delivered in the county we live in. It's not glamorous, but I have THE seat for my district where as the Fire Commission spot was as an alternate. Commissioner still sounds cooler than Committee Member, but I'll survive.

I'll keep all up to date on what happens. See you then!

Today IS better than yesterday

Notice anything different on people's faces today? They're smiling.

President Barack Husseian Obama picked up the reigns of America from the drunk driver that crashed us all into a wall.
All over the blogosphere today are comments from righties saying Obama should be given a chance and not judged until he gets results from his policies. I agree. We should do the same for George Bush. He is clearly a failure.
For anyone reading this who supported the other side, you still get to take part in rebuilding this great nation to the grandeur it was before we spied on each other, tortured our enemies and gave rich people free money.

But that's old news. For today, we simply smile, knowing things will be different now.

Eliza's sounds

I've tried a few times to get the taun taun sounds on tape, but she always seems to quiet down when the camera rolls.

Luckily there are Ubernerds out there who hand build their own taun tauns, from scratch, and use sound clips from the film to "test" it.

You only need to watch the first minute or so to get an idea of the sounds she makes. After that the video is just creepy.

Thank the Gods there were witnesses

I had planned to wander over to the Reinhold's today with some baby stuff and figured I'd have Eliza in tow. No problem there. They have little baby Chloe so the two of them can stare at each other and drool.

At the last minute as I'm climbing in the car Morgan wants to come along. Despite our best efforts she is intent on coming along "to see baby Chloe."

The drive is fine, she and I are making small talk with Eliza in her new car seat grunting like a Taun Taun.

At the Reinhold's I had to change Eliza, then give her a bottle. While I was doing that Morgan was wandering around their place, then suddenly decided she was going to wash her hands. She's good at rinsing, washing, rinsing and drying, so I decided to let her go for it.
After a minute I heard no water and the door to the bathroom was closed.
"Open the door please, Morgan."
"Morgan, open the door please, I will not ask you again."
The door creeks open and her pants are down.
"Daddy, I'm going potty all by myself." and the door closes. I look from Nikki to Dylan just to make sure they heard her say that.
I must have given Dylan a secret Dad look because he was already moving to take Eliza.
"Do you mind?" I asked, "Not at all" was his reply.
I opened the bathroom door and there is Morgan, pants down, climbing onto the toilet telling me "I want you a go daddy, I going potty." and she shooed me away. I quickly called Kim to tell her what was happening when Morgan emerges with a smile, pants back up, struggling with the button on her pants.
"Daddy!" a HUGE smile, "I went potty all by myself!"

She sure did. All the frustration and stress of the accidents and confusion and she wanders into a strange bathroom and completes one of the 3 main tasks of life.

Now its just to tying shoes and driving.

Tooth #2

Bottom middle right is through. And she'll tell anyone who will listen that it hurts.

STRESS

Notice the all-caps? I'm venting.

I've had my share of stressful situations, not just at work, but with a number of other experiences in my life.
I was stressed in school as a kid to the point of migraines. I got stressed out over balancing work and school to the detriment of both. I stressed over whether I would ever play college soccer. I stressed about quitting college. I stressed over getting back into college.

I was stressed Kim wouldn't show on our wedding day. I was stressed I would fail my Paramedic exams. I was stressed I wouldn't pass the SFFD exam, I was stressed our UHaul wouldn't make the drive from Albuquerque to San Francisco.(It didn't)

But looking back at all of that from where I am now, it seems like no big deal.

The economy doesn't stress me. Politics no longer stress me.

My daughters stress me out. Eliza has a certain scream we now attribute to her teeth ripping through her gums, that, as Dane Cook jokes "Is the sound that makes me want to punch infants." He was talking about a car alarm, I'm talking about my actual infant.
The old story says that Nature makes children cute so you don't smother them when they scream. I agree. Eliza has the most radiant smile and laughs when you smile back, but has an inconsolable scream around nap time that makes your head rattle.
Her voice shakes at the end of it and before the next she has to take 2-3 stunted breaths to get enough steam going for the next one.

*sip of wine*

When we finally realized it was her teeth actually breaking through that was causing her pain we went for the old standby teething tablets. They dissolve in the mouth, allowing for temporary relief, at least enough to forget the pain and fall asleep. But even then she can almost make the windows rattle.
Today it was a perfect storm of distractions that seem to all to commonly be in place when that sound comes along.
Morgan is trying to nap so we're keeping the house quiet, Kim and I are working on one of our word puzzles from Tanga and the scream is going full blast. I've been in a few times to check that she has her pacifier, and she does. It's amazing she can move the amount of air she does and the pacifier stays right there. Almost like those covers trumpet players use to get that cool jazzy sound, only Eliza's sounds are not groovy.

I had had enough and sprang up to my feet, marched into the dark room and punched my opposite hand. "Justin!" Kim cried as Morgan had already awakened crying and I already knew that punch in the hand and the ever so brief tingle of pain was all I needed to calm down.
"Please just sleep baby" I tell her as the screaming continues.
"We're out of teething tablets" Kim's voice from earlier today echoes in my head.
30 seconds later I had Eliza in Kim's arms and was out the door to Target to get more teething tablets.
"2 please" I tell the Pharmacist who keeps them behind the counter.
"Will there be anything else?" she asks me, I imagine to ring me up there.
"No, thank you" and I went to the isle I needed.

That's when I learned Target doesn't sell liquor.

So its a glass of wine and some quiet time, but Kim reading the paper next to me and commenting on everything she reads seems like the babbling of a brook (no offense Dear) in comparison.

This too shall pass.

/vent

A little fun

Pardon our dust

As you can see, Justin has been hardly working at making the site a little more personalized. With the success of the random quote generators I wrote, I've tried my hand at writing a rotating header image script, which seems to be working well so far. You'll also notice I added our little weme family there on the right, hovering just above the first post. Thought that might bring a smile or 2.

Until next time...

Eliza has a tooth!

As of tuesday Eliza now has a bottom front left tooth poking through her little gums. The one next to it is considering doing the same.

KS/js

Kim goes back to work

Well, work will be coming to Kim. She heard back from her employer that they want her back in any way. She has decided to start easy, one day a week, from home or after hours, when needed. They'll hopefully get her in next week to get a new laptop and start networking.

In home front news, we canceled the work order on the new kitchen. It seems that 4 years does a lot to a construction and remodel company. They have so many bad reviews and actions pending at the BBB, I'm not sure how they keep getting customers. So now we're getting quotes on all the house projects we want to do and seeing what can get done.

The garage door guys comes at 8 AM tomorrow and the new counter top guy sometime next week.

Hanging history

I'm at work a few days ago and we got a call for smoke in the area. No big deal, it is Christmas Tree burning season after all, and an elderly woman lets us through her garage into the back yard to track down the source of the smoke. On the way back out, after finding which house to go to, she tells us her father was a retired fireman from the City. "That's his helmet there."

Hanging from the large rafters of the garage are 2 perfectly preserved helmets that look like they were hung up yesterday. Both date easily from the 1930s, with the small head size, maybe a 6, tall hand made leather front and tall eagle design. That's all I'm able to note when the boss calls for me to hurry up so we can go fight the fire.

We tried to go back and knock on the door to learn more, but she was gone. I took down the address and plan to write a letter asking if I can photograph the helmets and any photos of her father and give them to the station he retired from. Then maybe get a photo of the old log book there of his name and such and give a nice pic to her.
Imagine something so amazing just hanging in a garage, I had almost walked right into it before she mentioned it. Almost 80 years of firefighting history perfectly preserved in a garage in the middle of the City. I'm not even sure the Fire Museum has such a quality piece, and they have some nice old lids.

The Simpsons couch gag

Watching the Simpsons is always fun, but I liked watching to see what Bart had to write on the blackboard and for the couch gag at the end of the opening credits.

Well now you can watch ALL of them back to back in this youtube video. Too funny. See if you can spot the live action Simpsons, lego Simpsons and the fire pole one.



HA! HA! Simpson

Raised in a strange house?

A recent post by Angela about the stresses of parenting brought to mind a number of memories from childhood.

When I talk to other folks, outside the fire service family, they are surprised to learn that I do a majority of the cooking in our house. When they ask why I simply state that I can and enjoy cooking and it helps my wife who is often busy throughout the day. Growing up it was not uncommon for Dad to cook so I simply learned that Dads cook.
We were taught, indirectly, that every member of the house chips in to keep the home running smoothly. Although I can't recall ever seeing my father hunched over a pile of laundry, I don't have that memory of my mother either. Many of the chores that kept the house going were done when we were gone at school or later, done by us.

Allowance was never an automatic thing, it was earned. Laundry folding and doing dishes was a given but extra tasks in the household, such as yardcare, was where the allowance was earned.

I recall that Angela and I would rotate dish duty on odd and even days later in school life and often fought about who had a night off recently and who's turn it really was. Vacuuming upstairs versus downstairs, dusting, cleaning toys, books, etc from around the house was all alternated. Back then I thought it was just to keep us busy, but it was teaching us to appreciate what we had and how to keep it well maintained.

When Dad would come home from work to chores unfinished he would be angry. He may had only been upset, but it always came across as angry. On days he was at work I would make excuses not to do my chores and then dread walking home from school and seeing his truck in front of the house, knowing my afternoon would include mowing the lawn and housework. From that experience I learned that procrastination may give you a day off today, but tomorrow will be bad. Spread out your duties and each task alone is simple. Although walking home to find Dad was working an overtime was like a dream come true.

I recall these events simply because being raised in a fire service family meant things ran differently than other guys' homes. I saw my dad throughout the week, during the day. He couldn't coach my soccer teams because of his schedule, but who wants their dad to be the coach anyway? Too much pressure.

When Mom started transcription, I remember she had a late shift and we would be awakened from bed and Dad would drive to pick mom up at the hospital. I hated it. I hated it a lot. But it was that sacrifice that allowed her to succeed and work from home that allowed us so much more in the years following. Without those few weeks (It may have been less or more, I was sleepy) the rest of our school days would have been filled with keys on necklaces and an empty house after school.

My parents were a confusing pair to say the least, I only ever saw them fight once and it was only a verbal altercation at that. I heard from friends that their parents fought all the time. Mine said they'd talk upstairs, later and that was that. They solved their problems in private so Angela and I didn't have to deal with it. Confusing at the time, genius now.

Without going on in greater detail, I'll sum up. Parenting is tough already, despite the challenges ahead. Keeping house is difficult as well, without the headaches family adds. Put on top of that the responsibilities of a job, business, trade and it gets ridiculous. I believe in sharing the load, everyone doing what they can, when they can to keep the home on a balance of some kind. I think it is this spirit that led me to a wife who thinks the same way. Sure she won't mow the lawn, but I won't be breast feeding. I may not always vacuum, but I will be doing the repairs around the house.

We're a strange lot, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

We bought a bar

In these hard economic times, why on earth would we buy a bar?

Well, it's an addition to our kitchen island we've always wanted, even before we had this house. As you saw in earlier posts, we've been shopping around for counter tops in the kitchen. Those who visited at Christmas saw how hard is is to keep the grout and tile clean, let alone get it clean to begin with. So in our circles we asked a local kitchen remodeling company from a home show come out to give us an estimate on counter tops. His price was comparable to Lowes and such but they are able to do construction projects as well. When we asked him how much to add onto our island and make a raised area for stools he went right to it. He even commented on my refinish job on the cabinets before he knew it was a home job.

I was so proud of myself for asking every question I could think of. He gave us a fair enough price quote and then did the usual, "If you act now you get another 10% off" deal. Kim and I asked him to wait outside and discussed what we wanted to do. We brought him back in and asked for another 10% off since I would be staining the wood to match the cabinets I stained when we moved in. He tried to get me to do my own plumbing, no. Then I added him making a custom oak cutting board to fit where ours is missing. He did a little, "Let me call and ask my boss" deal that I'm sure was him making it look like he was taking too low a price. Yeah right. I feel good about getting more for less and he still hits his profit window. win-win.

So in the next few weeks, we'll be finalizing the time frame and beginning demo on the island so they can come in and build the bar addition. From there I'll add some outlets and they'll return and install the counter tops as soon as we're ready for them.

We are sooooo excited to get this going. We chose a Corian surface with a nice double rounded edge.
Let's just hope the girls can get scholarships.

Metal Mayhem part II

Back from the doctor visit and Eliza continues to impress. She is 27 inches long and weighs in at just shy of 20 pounds. At 20 pounds you used to be able to turn kids around in the car seats, but now they have to be at least 1 year old. Apparently the car hitting you knows how old your kid is.

On the more important note Eliza was able to get her shots split in two doses, one today and the rest in a few weeks. When we asked the doctor about the aluminum she had the same info we did and said some parents do what we're doing. I guess all that extra medical school covered something else.

The thing that worries me about all this is we just plain don't know. We don't know how these preservatives will effect our children, its been such a short time they're in circulation. Granted the number of autism diagnosis has skyrocketed, but the definition of autism has been widened so far you might as well call it "Kid just seems a little different" syndrome and leave Autism for the kids who are really sick.

So Eliza received an illegal and dangerous (in any other form) amount of heavy metals in a shot today to protect her from a legitimate danger.

What's that they say about damned if you don't, maybe damned if you do, we don't know, just pay?

Our doctor did have separate doses of the vaccines but their combined aluminum content was only slightly lower if at all and the non-aluminum comes in bulk cases and expires quickly so they don't stock it.

But she is healthy and well, so I can't really complain.

Heavy Metal Mayhem

With all the concerns out there about immunizations, a "new" issue has emerged, aluminum.
Aluminum and aluminum derivatives are used to increase the effectiveness of certain immunizations. What has caught Kim's eye and she passed along to me, is the AMOUNT of aluminum used. The FDA has set the limits allowable in injections and medications at 5 micrograms per kilogram per day. In other words, Eliza at approx 6 kg, if in a life threatening emergency needed an injection that had aluminum would be limited by law to 30 micrograms per day. The FDA has set that limit based on studies that show the body is not able to process metals above that level and that brain damage can occur.

So why is it that the immunizations she is scheduled to receive today could contain over 1200 micrograms of aluminum?

The FDA does not regulate immunizations, at least not the same way they do medications. Why not? Is there some profit margin at stake? Probably not. It turns out there is a lesser of two evils decision to be made. There are immunizations that have less aluminum, but may not be as effective at immunizing our child against life threatening diseases.
Kim and I discussed it quite a bit last night and I've been up a few hours researching the facts. Problem is, there are none. No studies have been published that look at the effects of aluminum in immunizations on the tissues of the body, only on the injection site. Those studies show increases in pain at the injection site. If it hurts on the outside, chances are it is doing damage on the inside. But still, no studies are even looking at it. I think because the medical community at large could care less. They got rid of most of the mercury in immunizations since it only acted as a preservative, but only after public outcry.
So what to do?
We've decided, well Kim has, to either get the lowest aluminum content shot(possibly not covered by insurance)or spread the shots out at least over a few weeks to help her body process all the hard metals.

The more I read about this particular additive to vaccinations, the more I wonder what on earth these companies are thinking. They missed on the flu vaccine 2 years in a row and we're supposed to believe they have our health on their minds? Don't they only make money when we're sick? There's no profit in a healthy population.

There should be no profit in health care.

Now we only hope our doctor has access to the vaccinations that are best for our family.

$10,000 says you can't do 30 in a row

I was directed to this new site Future Game today and find myself going back over and over. It's easy. Where will the price index be in the next 30 seconds? Higher or lower? That's it. You pick which one and see what happens. You can earn cash the more correct choices in a row, 10 cents for 10 in a row, but if you make 30, you get $10,000.

The highest ranked each day wins an iPod and the highest ranked each month wins a laptop.
It's free and oddly addictive the same way midway games are, but it's free! How cool would the midway be if it were free?

My personal best is 5. Comment here with your login name so I can track how far behind me you are!

Midget 2 hits 6

6 months. 6 friggin' months old. Eliza will be accepted to college soon I think based on how fast she is growing. She is a chunk. A chunk and a half almost. She is in 9 month clothing, has been for a few weeks now, and much of it is getting tight. She smiles and grins all the time and is working on rolling over. As you saw in the photo earlier, she's in the walker each day and learning she can push herself around a little bit, more on accident than purposeful.

We're discussing what to do with the annual tax refund, provided we don't get an IOU from the state.
We're considering a new garage door, new countertops or a tankless water heater. It was a tossup earlier in the day, but after seeing hte solid surface options out there I think a decision has been made to go for new countertops.
We'll keep you all up to speed on the decision and bring you live team coverage as it happens!

Hehe.

Morgan has 2 settings

I think I've mentioned this to a few folks, but Morgan has 2 settings.

6 months old
and
16 years old

There is no in between. Sure parents can be preferential and notice 'genius' when junior doesn't trip and fall all the time, but some of the observations, comments and instructions Morgan gives lead me to believe she is indeed smarter than the average almost 3 year old.
Then there is the other side of the coin, the 6 month old side, that cries, collapses, covers her eyes when she does something wrong and refuses to calm down sometimes.

On another note, we're all recovering from the Christmas day bug that rolled into town with Angela. She had the sniffles and a cough when she arrived and it stayed long after they left. No blame here, had she had that stomach bug she would still be welcome, but our symptoms are now clearing. Well, mine are, Kim is in the other room with a dry cough. The girls have had runny noses most of their lives, but no cough as of yet.

I'm glad Morgan is too young to be asking about the invasion of Gaza by Israel. Its on the news and pictures are in the paper, she sees but doesn't comprehend their meaning. I'm not sure how to teach my children about war, let alone the ridiculousness of religious war. Let's hope Israel agrees to a cease fire soon.

CSS opacity vs z-axis

Hey visitors.
I've been working on changing things on Carriage House Blog, new year and all, and am having a technical issue. Like with most of my technical issues, I'm not sure there is a solution. Here's my problem:
I have a div element I want to float between 2 layers of existing div elements. It is position:absolute and the surrounding elements are relative, but I can't get the 3 layers to separate in order to insert the fourth. Should I take the easy way out and alter the opacity of the element or is there a way to crack the CSS z-axis settings to set them to 1,2,4 and my new one at 3?
I've assigned every division its own z-axis setting and no dice.


Well?

New Year Resolutions

It's that time of year to look at resolutions. Not sure why really, but it seems like everyone else is doing it so let's give it a shot.

I resolve to:

• Watch less TV and play more with the girls.
• Give Kim more time away from the house or in the house alone.
• Finally get moved into the garage
• Get serious about my projects or move on
• Prepare for the Paramedic Captain's exam
• Write more in the Girl's books

Kim resolves to:

• Cook more
• Take more walks
• Continue to kick ass
• Minimize psychological damage to the children

Back to the grind

Back to work I go, after the chaos at the house, here I am at my quiet house. As you saw in the last post Eliza is in her walker with nice results. My only fear is that Morgan will figure out she can push her sister around in it. And I can guarantee Eliza will smile and laugh when she does.
In other Eliza news, she is on to solid foods! We've been doing bananas and rice cereal, but yesterday she got a whole can of peas and loved every bite. Now near dinner time she screams and cries until we put her in her high chair...and even then!


Morgan's early success at potty training has regressed since we changed products. The cotton training pants just led to too many accidents that required my haz-mat training to deal with. With a return to a paper product, Morgan finds it easier to just play and worry about the potty later. But then we go out somewhere and all of the sudden she remembers how to use the toilet.


I expected to work new year's eve, but it looks like I may not have to after all.
For now I'm just catching my breath at work.

Random Christmas Pics

Here are a few more pics of the girls









And look what Eliza can do now:

The human side

Proposition 8 has been a touchy subject recently. Supporters of the bill seek to redefine Marriage as between only a man and a woman, legally overturning previously legal unions.

It passed by a slim majority and is slated to become state law in California, the first ever alteration of the State Constitution to deny a right.

These are families being ripped apart. Watch this slideshow and realize that if Prop 8 becomes law, everyone of these couples, plus countless others will be forcibly divorced against their will.

"Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD." - Leviticus 19:18

A hap hap happy christmas

Later on Christmas day Morgan was overheard saying her favorite gift was "My kitchen!"
Ken and Linda got Morgan a big play kitchen complete with dishes and play food and she just loves it. It seemed like a good place at the time, but against the wall in the family room may have been wrong, it shares a wall with our bedroom and is quite noisy first thing in the morning.

In other news, the families are now scattered back to where they came from. Angela Mike and Meadow left yesterday and Jerry and Jeana left this morning. Ken and Linda are the only stragglers, but they leave today for a few days in Napa to "relax." I told them taking the girls for a few days would be a nice way to relax and Linda laughed.

Eliza slept in on Christmas morning and smiled and played all morning. Morgan and Meadow took turns begging for their fathers to open certain packages, such as a baby you can take a bath with and a toy shopping cart.

It was chaotic at times, but we had a blast hosting Christmas. We hope everyone who visited had a nice time. We've been updating the slideshow up there in the right hand corner and will continue to do so as we sort through the pile of photos taken.

Hope all is well,
Carriage House

The Eve

The Eve started early for Angela as Meadow awoke around 2:15 proclaiming, "Play Morgan."
Last night, with the family all together, the girls were adorable. Running around in matching pajamas and playing together made everyone smile.
This morning started with Morgan and I starting the coffee and bringing in the paper while Arnold ran out to use the yard. Angela and Meadow were next to wander out and the two girls were so excited, they woke Eliza. Kim made it out just before Jeana and Jerry arrived with Coffee in hand and activities to distract the girls from the exhausted parents. Mike was last to surface, but after the long drive yesterday with a 2 year old I'm surprised he's conscious.


Right now I'm huddled in the front room chair you saw in our card photo, the one near the tree, while Linda and Jeana (Grand and Mina) are helping the girls build a gingerbread house. On occasion someone will wander in with Eliza in hand or Arnold will sniff around for dropped food.
Johnny Lang's Merry Christmas Baby is on the radio and all is well.

I need more coffee. More pictures soon.

One last quiet night

We've got the girls to bed and are sitting near the fire catching up on TV and the interwebs before the chaos that is the Schorr family christmas begins. We have the moose shaped glasses for nog, got a black dickie and white sweater for Mike and cleared out a space for the RV. The keg is here, the dartboard will be going up in the morning and the tree is being held up by a number of gifts. Can't wait for everyone to arrive.

In other news, congratulations are in order for the newest local member of our extended 'family,' Chloe Reinhold. Chloe was born December 21st at 7:19 AM weighing in at 6 lbs 11oz. We have word that mom Nikki is doing well and Dylan is wandering aimlessly (New dad syndrome).

I don't want to go back to bed

moRemember when I said it was neat that Eliza and Morgan can keep each other entertained for 20 minute stretches? Yeah, I should have said what time of the day that was a good thing.
Whenever I don't work I try to wake up before Morgan to keep her from waking Kim so she can get at least a little more sleep. Sometimes she does the same for me. Usually Morgan wakes up, wanders into the family room and asks for cereal and Caillou. After getting no sleep the night before at work, I chose to hit the snooze button this morning instead of just dragging myself out of bed at first alarm...like I did all the night before.
This morning was not a new experience, just always a great way to wake up. I awoke to the sound of Eliza talking her grunting language (which actually sounds like a tawn-tawn from Empire Strikes Back) and Morgan talking back. Morgan woke early, saw no one in the family room and decided to wake Eliza. Lovely. I walked in and shout whispered "What are you doing in here!"
"I don't want to go back to bed!"
Smile* grunt*
Now the feeding and nap schedule is toast and we have a lot to get done today.

Welcome All!

Welcome all you newcomers to Word from Carriage House.

Our Christmas card has arrived here, which means you all should be receiving it and heading this way out of curiosity. We've been at this since soon after Eliza was born in July and try to keep it updated as best we can.
How about a tour?
At the top right of the page is a slideshow of recent pictures. Just click on the image to start it and the little arrows in the lower right corner make it full screen.
To the left is the archive, which will let you pick and choose which events to catch up on. Below that are fun links to other blogs, websites etc that we enjoy and want to pass along.
So take a look around, click on an ad (Help the girls get to college) and while you're here, press control-D to bookmark us and make coming back easier.

We're getting ready to host Christmas this year, the whole clan is coming up to visit. Ken, Linda, Jeana, Jerry, Mike Ang and Meadow, Jennifer and likely the dogs will make for one busy house so we'll be posting photos and news as it happens.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and have a Blessed Solstice on Dec 21st!
The Schorrs

Christmas Towne 2008

Sequoia Hose Company #1 and Carriage Hose Company #5 race to a fire at the Candy Shoppe.

Carriage Hose Company #5, the first horse team in the County















The Firemen racing















Sequoia Hose #1 pulling out of the Firehouse behind the horses














Great Great Grandfather Schorr, ahead of the Company team

Eliza has a boyfriend

Now that I have your attention...Eliza has been kissing the fellow in the photo below. If I find this guy, he's toast.







In other Carriage House news, the tree has been up for a while and I'm getting requests for a tree picture. I tell these people, it looks a lot like a douglas fir with a bunch of lights on it, but they keep calling. So let me post this photo to end all the calls...LINDA!

And that takes care of that.
Morgan has been at it again...that is acting like she's 2 1/2 going on 14. She has informed us of everything she is going to teach Eliza when Eliza gets "bigger and bigger" (arms rising higher and higher). Tonight it was teaching Eliza to swim. Morgan also turned to me at the dinner table and said, WITHOUT COACHING, "When I get bigger and bigger daddy, I'm going to go work with you. Is that OK?" I nearly cried. You see Morgan is slated to be a 3rd generation firefighter and eventually Chief of the San Francisco Fire Department. I looked at her and said, "I would like that very much." She turned back to her dinner and said, "OK."
Then she spat out, "When I get bigger and bigger I be a Doctor" so we laughed and then the gold began to flow..."When I a doctor you and mommy come live with me." I immediately turned to her and extended my hand. "Deal?" I asked, hand extended to shake, "Deal" she shook. We're SO totally taking her up on that on account of her being the first Doctor Chief of the SFFD.

The way too inside joke

I thought you all knew this, but the comments prove otherwise. As Morgan has grown, and since she was Eliza's size, I have played silly games. One of those games was singing a certain song to the tune of Gumby. Instead of the part, "Who started out as a little green clump of clay...GUMBY!" I changed the words to "Who's your favorite Secretary of State...COLIN POWELL" With the arm raised up where the "..." is.

Geez people, that was easy to get wasn't it?

Oh Tannenbaum... Oh Tannenbaum...

The tree is up and looking good. It was such a painless experience this year. we bought the tree from a local school doing a fund raiser. Pick your type, height and pay them. A few weeks later, we get the tree. We wandered into the school building and there were 4 of our kind waiting. I asked the guys to help me stand one up (they were only that morning unwound and cut down only 2 days earlier) and it was perfect.
So it spent the night in the garage, drinking an entire tree stand of water in less than 12 hours and this morning was moved into the front room. Morgan's job was to hold the front door slightly open and when she saw me coming with the tree, open the door. This was to minimize the 48 degree weather from coming in while I carried the tree part way around the house. This thing weighs an easy 60 pounds and as we all know isn't easy to get a grip on. It was right near the door I can hear morgan's voice from deep in the house "Mommy the tree is here, the tree is here!" Thanks kid.


In other news it seems you don't realize what you leave in the car until it gets ransacked. My shaver is missing as well. I save time in the mornings and used to shave while driving. Oh well, that's the second one I've misplaced.


In adorable news, Morgan and Eliza are now able to keep each other entertained for 20 minutes at a stretch. At the end of one of their "playdates" I heard a familiar cadence in the things she was saying. Kind of like when you hear a pop song in musak in an elevator and can't quite place it right away. It was Morgan lifting Eliza's arm that finally made what she was saying, and their playing so funny.
It's like that quote we have says, "The most haunting thing in motherhood is hearing your own words come out of your daughter's mouth."
What Morgan was saying to Eliza was this (just sound it out) - "Oos favit serary ate? Orin (pull Eliza's arm up)Owl!

It clicked and Kim and I lost it. Morgan was trying to teach her sister what I spent so long trying to get her to do, often to her complete refusal. My work here is done.

They took what?

As a belated welcome to the neighborhood gift, it looks like someone found the Prius unlocked in the driveway and decided to give it a try. Justin came back from work around 930 this morning and we went to get the tree, more on that later. After an afternoon of putting up christmas lights, Justin decided to run out to the car and grab a little something he had bought just a few days ago. He opened the door and the satellite radio dock was on the floor, the saddle compartment open, as well as the glovebox and he couldn't find the item he was looking for. There in the backseat was his computer bag, badge and uniform cap. Then he noticed the DC splitter for the satellite radio was missing and sure enough so was the item he was looking for. The Prius had been ransacked.

BY IDIOTS!

Here is where I go from feeling sorry about losing $10 worth of stuff and kicking myself in the head for neglecting to lock the doors and wanting to kick the little punks in the head. Not because of what they took, but because of WHAT THEY DID NOT TAKE.
OK, pop quiz:

You're in someone else's car and have the option of stealing the following, which do you take?
A. $5 cigarette lighter adapter
B. $5 Wooden bird house, unfinished
C. Dry cleaned pants, in plastic
D. Laptop Computer
E. Garage door opener
F. D and E
G. A, B & C

Correct answer: G
You guessed it, they took my work pants. Wool fireman pants, a wooden bird house and a cigarette lighter adapter. I fear for the future of America if our best and brightest choose someone else's dry cleaning over a computer. Idiots.

Ah....an overtime

Many consider working work, but my work is my time off. Justin here by the way. I'm stuck working an overtime near the beach, watching the Arsenal game getting ready for volleyball. My co-workers consider it losing a day off, but I realize that it's actually an additional day off. I'm not having to carry Eliza around while Morgan cries or awake in the middle of he night to feed the baby. I wake in the night for other reasons, but that's another story.

Our Christmas tree arrives on Saturday and it seems as though Christmas is not sneaking up this year, but breaking through the wall Cool Aid style, "Oh YEAH!" We bought a tree from a charity a few weeks back. We pay them then, and a tree is cut down on Thursday in Oregon and brought to the local fairgrounds on Saturday for pick-up. We've already specified the type and size, so hopefully if I can get there early enough we can get the best one. It needs to look good since it's going in the front window this year.

Morgan now has an advent calendar, actually 2 of them. Linda got her one while I was at the store buying a nice wood one she refers to as "My tree with doors." She loves opening all the doors, then closing them and trying to keep her opening just one at a time is a chore, but I've been here 2 days so Kim knows more about that.

On another note: My 1976 Ladder Truck is still for sale. If you all are going to get it here before the heart of winter you need to move fast.
Arsenal 2-Chelsea 1 8 min remaining.

Winding down

The last of "My visitors," as Morgan called them have gone and the house is almost quieting down. It was a busy week and a lot of fun to have family around for awhile. It was also nice to be able to host family in the new house, without making people stand around in a number of different rooms.
We got some great pictures, now up in the slide show and some fun video of Eliza laughing.
So back to the grind I guess and getting ready to host Christmastime here in a few short weeks.