Our life

Once upon a time, I considered myself to be a pretty decent story teller. I think the alcohol, over the years before, has changed that.

Either I was a great story teller, but the alcohol has impaired that ability.
Or
The alcohol impaired my ability to recognize that I was not, in fact, a great storyteller.

Either way, I am going to tell you a story. Its a story based on true events, still unfolding. A heroic tale of a soon to be father, loving his wife, while battling the demon known by him as “the mirror”.

The story all began in late 2005, when our hero (whom I shall take the role of, for the moment) and his wife (who we shall call C, for the story’s sake) moved into their new home. It was a magnificent home, complete with all the amenities a couple could ask for. One of these features was in the master bedroom. You see, there’s 2 closets: a his and a hers. The “his” closet frames one side of the “hallway” leading towards the master bath, as seen in the picture below:

(Here’s where I take on the hero role, for the sake of time)

Shortly before we moved into the house, I took on the task of painting the room. At the end of that hallway stood a small mirror. C loves mirrors (what gal doesn’t?). I didn’t like the framing to it, so I decided to build a new frame out of Cedar. As I sat the mirror into the cedar, it broke *snap*, and came crumbling down. Saddened by this event, I vowed to replace it one day. In the interim, we used a smallish, stand up mirror.

Then one day in 2006, I put an ad up on Craigslist, desperately seeking a new mirror with exact dimensions: 39.5 x 78. Lo and behold, the ad was answered! And for the price of FREE, so we picked up the mirror. As luck would have it, I did not have the time to install said mirror. So it sat in what is now the nursery, as a glorified headboard for visiting dignitaries, with the intentions of being installed soon.

Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months. Months passed, seasons changed, birds chirped, etc. Then, one day, while in the midst of completing everything else I had to do, I decided it was time to tackle this project.

I measured the mirror. 78 x 40. I measured the opening. 78 x 39.5. I scratched my head. How does one cut, cleanly and with limited tools, 1/2″ off of a 78″ long mirror? The answer to this riddle was found…

with a hammer and chisel…

It’s simpler to cut a channel in the drywall than it is to cut the mirror. So that’s what I did. Now you see, the mirror is 3/8″ thick; or approximately as thick as 2 chisels, laid back to back. With that thinking in mind, I knocked out about that much drywall for 79″.

Feeling triumphant, I test fit the mirror. Those that understand physics will know that, when angling something into place, you must first make room for said angle. There’s a mathematical formula for that. I don’t know it, but I figured it out after attempting to lift a 50 pound mirror into place by my fingertips. So I did some more chiseling… this time compensating for that angle needed.

Feeling proud of my handiwork, I attempted to fit again, this time with the hangers in place. Apparently, those hangers, while small, take up space too. So I once again compensated.

The last time almost did the trick. The mirror is now hung, but not cleanly. There is a point, somewhere along the channel, that is higher than the rest. As such, it is holding the mirror into place by wedging it. I supported the mirror in several places. I did this to counter the wedging, and prevent the ability for the mirror to jump from the wall and shatter in the middle of the night; sending our cat across the house, the dog barking, me into a panic, and C into labor.

As I contemplated the next logical step, I came to a realization: the drywall must go. Brilliantly simple. I had planned on still doing this job myself when The Mack just happened to come by early Tuesday morning to discuss the list of items for the guest bedroom. It was suggested that perhaps he could help with this demon mirror. After a moment of contemplation, he attacked the demon mirror, viciously removing all remnants of drywall standing in our way.

With the drywall removed, the mirror sat precisely as expected. The demon had finally been beaten.

And they lived happily ever after (I’m too tired now to come up with a better ending)

According to the little floating thingy on my iGoogle page, we are 38 weeks pregnant with 15 days left to go. 15 days! As I sit here Saturday morning, typing this up, it hits me: I have 2 more of these mornings left where I won’t have to listen for a cry. wow!

Friday was my day off. As close as we are to birth, we weren’t comfortable C driving herself up. So I drove her in. Dropped her off at the office, then went to my own office. Finished a few things up from the day before. After that was done, I started cleaning up my new office, across the hall from my old office. In 13 months, I have gone from the basement in half cubes, to a decent sized office, to a window office. Dare I saw, I’m growing up?

Saw some birds I didn’t know (which really is like all but 5 of the named birds) outside the window. Speaking of birds, that is going to take some time getting used to: Birds + Windows. You can do the math. 3 times in 10 minutes. Scared the crap out of me.

After I finished up, I went for an oil change, then to Best Buy. I knew some storms were on their way, so I wanted to see if there was anything in there I needed for a good shoot. Since the Canon S3, S5, or EOS won’t fit on my gift card, I wasted a little more time, then took off.

The US Women’s Open is in town this weekend.

I felt bad for them as the storms came through. I flew down to the ski jump, hoping to get some neat shots of the storm. But I spent too much time at Best Buy, so I missed my window. Headphones and hoodie on, I ran out in the rain to get some shots.

This was the best from that series. After this, I saw it was close to time to pick up C, so I went to her office and wandered around her building,

taking pics of the next wave of storms. I really need an S3/S5, just so I can shoot raw. The bracketing is great for interior shots, but useless for exterior. Got lost inside, taking pics of various items to attempt some more HDR processing.

Once she was done with her day, we went over to Babies’R'Us to get some stuff off of our registry. While there, C found the cutest outfit for our baby’s first pictures

but you’re going to have to wait. As we checked out, the register appeared happy with our choices

We then went over to USA Baby, a cute little shop off of 77th and Lyndale in Bloomington (East on 77th). Alot of neat little things in there.

Look at the titles of those CDs. If there was one for NIN or Poison, they would have been ours.

Went to dinner at the legendary 5-8 Club, where we treated ourselves to their famous Juicy Lucy (remember this joint mom?).

If you have never had a Juicy Lucy, drop everything and go now. They’re at the NW corner of Cedar/77 and 62. Edina I think. Coming from the south, you have to go north to the first left, then turn around. Just south of Fat Lorenzo’s.

After dinner, we swung by Target and picked up a couple more things, then headed home. On the ride home, I watched a massive storm come to life out west of us. It ended up going far south of us, but it sure was neat to see it!

It was a great day! But an even better night! I got to spend it with my favorite gal!

Thursday started out like any other typical Thursday. Up at 0400, stumble to the coffee, pour carefully over 2 sugars. Had to go out to the car for something, and noticed how fantastic the moon looked.

Noticed that I’m not nearly as good as I’d like to be at taking pics of the moon at 4 in the morning. After getting ready, I noticed the sun coming through the nursery drapes¹

After we got going, a little later than I would have liked, I noticed the empty tank on the car. Dropped C off at her mom’s, and went for gas. On the way back, I had to stop real quick

Work went well for both of us. I was busy all day. C’s headache never showed up. Picked her up for free chicken at BW3s with Oz, We64, and AvB.

BW3s, if you don’t already know, is like Hooters with more chicken than breasts. They’re a little more proud of their food than their…. decorations. 14 sauces. Ours were Teriyaki, Medium, Spicy Garlic, Asian Zing, Carribean Jerk, and Mango Habanero. Peanut likes chicken, as was apparant with his/her dancing.

During dinner, Sonja stopped by and posed with LoD (Yes, J, you shall now be called Lord of the Dance!)

We were all defeated early. Might have had something to do with all the appetizers we had.

Though, it could’ve been the chicken. Had to get a few deserts too, just in case.

To celebrate their grand opening on Saturday at 11am, they had an offer: First 100 people in the door get a full year of free wings. 1 full year! So here we are, at 8pm on Thursday, and the first 6 people show up, ready to rock n roll.

They’re nuts. Good chicken, but not good enough to camp out for 36 hours. Maybe 12 or 24….

Twas a great night. C had just a touch too much, but I think she rebounded nicely. We got home a bit late to a home full of wonderful chemical smells. The Mack did some more work in the guest bedroom for us. Apparantly, glazing brick with some sort of chemical paint has side effects of great fumes. A few windows and strategic fan placements and the smell soon left us.

Today is my off day. But I’m going to head up to work anyways. Get a couple things done in the office, move into my window office, then play some golf this afternoon with jC. Good lord. I’m either going Yuppie or Corporate. I’m not sure which is worse. I better have beer.

1. the fantastically cool drapes Oz made! [↩]

For many years, there has been a good chance that there was something that needed completion over the weekend. As we get closer to our due date, the good chance has turned more into a certainty. Over the past 2 months, I’ve even used gCal¹ from time to time to assist in my planning of the weekend.

Sunday, we did something that we haven’t done in at least two months: nothing. Not a damn thing. I woke up at 6 or 7, achieved nothing. C woke up at about 830, and helped me achieve nothing.

aS and lK awoke about 10. They got ready, grabbed a bite to eat, then headed on home. After we said our goodbyes, we continued down our path of nothingness. I whipped up an omelette for C, delivered it hot. When I returned with mine, her’s was gone. After I finished mine, I heard her utter words that I haven’t heard her utter in many many months: “I think I’m going to go lie down for a bit”.

Who are you, and what have you done with my wife? I made sure she was feeling okay, and she was. Just tired. So I tucked her in, then continued down the path towards nothing. Now there was a time when that was my life, sorta. I would achieve nothing, and was quite good at it. But it was normally done with a hangover, a pack of Camel Wide Lights, and a stranger or two left over from the night before. In that state, nothing is easy to achieve. Turn on TV, periodically empty ashtray and bladder, remember to eat.

But when sober and feeling fine, its harder to do. I walked around and took some pics outside, tried my hand again at HDR

Watched TV. Boredom showed up pretty quickly. Didn’t feel right doing nothing. So I went out and at least changed the motion light. C woke up about 330p when I told her I was heading up to Oz’s so Angel could cut my hair. She came with. After the haircut, we had dinner with G&G, and just hung out and shot the breeze. Took G&G home, watched Eastenders up at Oz’s (well, C and Oz did. I passed out in a hurry). Got home, went to bed. It was so weird. Felt like a Seinfeld episode.

Monday, started out slow. Seemed doing nothing actually hurt me. I woke up dead tired, and weak. I got over it. Went to work as usual. Picked C up about 530ish, and she got a headache as soon as she made it outside. This became a problem. The headache lasted the whole ride home, then into the night. It came and went, in waves. 37 weeks, and she’s never taken even as much as a tylenol. At this point, she did.

Headache continued Tuesday morning. Another tylenol. It became semi-manageable (as in a series of “I’ll be fine” responses). She said it calmed down about 10 or 11. But it started back up when I picked her up (no, there’s no correlation!). It came and went, until it finally came over her about 8pm or so and really put her down. At 9, I called the doc. She suggested Tylenol and a watchful eye.

Still there Wednesday morning, but mildly. Took something to be safe (and at the behest of Oz). Seemed to be touch and go, but mostly kept under control. Had our doc appointment that afternoon. Doc said she’s fine. Wasn’t overly concerned. He said to take 400MG of Ibuprofen, as needed, per the label. If its still around Friday morning, then we need to come see him But he’d be surprised if it lasted that long. So Ibuprofen has been force fed. So far, it seems to have squashed the headache.

Outside of that, doc said that things are progressing nicely. We’re still on track for middle July. Baby has turned, and settled into place. Heartbeat is still strong. I think he/she’s ready.

Somehow, we made it to Cold Stone Creamery. Must’ve been some unseen force that guided us there. She had Banana Ice Cream with Vanilla Wafers in a waffle bowl. I had Chocolate Ice Cream with Strawberries and Bananas. Sitting outside eating ice cream with my lovely wife was a fantastic way to spend a hot Wednesday afternoon.

We got home, picked up Ms. B. from puppy day care (Oz’s for the next few weeks), reported on the day while getting the reports of her day, and then went home and made dinner

Home-made Mac and Cheese (Oz’s recipe). After dinner, we went through the gifts from the shower. Oh so many useful and fun things! They’re now in place.

I still can’t believe it. We will be parents, technically, in 2.5 weeks. 2.5 weeks! That’s one paycheck away. In reality, it will probably be about 3.5 or 4 weeks. But still. Wow! It has been one heck of a ride so far, and I know we’re just on the climb up the hill of the roller coaster of child rearing. It’s going to be bumpy sometimes, scary other times, Even downright exhausting. I know it won’t be easy. I know there will be times that the both of us will wonder “was this what we wanted?”. It’s part of life. But I also know that all the pain, anger, sadness, frustration, etc… it will all be erased with a single smile from our baby, or a little “coo”.

We’re in our 30’s, newly married, still trying to figure life out. She’s scared, as most new mothers are. I don’t know if I’m an exception to the rule or not, but I don’t have an ounce of fear in me right now. I have complete faith in our parenting abilities.

You can tell a person who is insecure of their looks, that the look great, until you’re blue in the face. But they won’t believe you unless they believe in it themselves. “You’re just being nice”. “You have to say that”. I have heard so many times, from so many different people, that we will be great parents. I can honestly say “you’re right”. Not being cocky or unappreciative. I thank you all for reminding us that we will be great parents, and we love hearing it. I just completely agree with you. I think all of your faith in us has made that a fact, instead of just words.

1. if you don’t use it, I do strongly recommend trying it out. Fantastic calendar system [↩]