2009 – Page 3 – THOMnottom

Close encounter of the Facebook kind

While Facebook is typically a place to answer stupid quizzes and play time-consuming games, it turns out that it can also be a good place to reconnect with old friends. I’ve had a couple conversations with people whom I lost contact with years ago and have been happy to find out how theirs lives have progressed. Up until tonight any real life meetups have passed me by. But today circumstances lined up just right to let me catch up with an old buddy from elementary school.

Several months ago my old classmate Harry and I “friended” each other as modern social networking dictates. I was happy to see that he had made good on his early talents and is currently working as an artist. For the past year he’s been doing a project called 365 Monsters in which he draws a new, bizarre creature every day. I’ve really been enjoying it and feel a little guilty for not having shared it earlier (since there’s less than a month left). Still, peruse the archives and enjoy the twisted fun.

Last week Harry announced that he would be showing some of the original artwork (many of which are on sale at Etsy) during First Friday in Doylestown. And what do you know? My family just happened to have plans there on First Friday to see a Jim Henson exhibit. What timing!

After a fun filled day of watching Kayleigh’s head nearly explode thanks to the plethora of Elmo dolls the Bert and Ernie puppets, and my own attempt at puppetry, a whole group of us had a chance to swing by the gallery. Although I was happy to see some of the artwork up close (and determine that I must buy one or two), the real kicker for the evening was reconnecting with someone I haven’t seen in the better part of 2 decades.

So maybe Facebook can actually serve a purpose beyond Bejewelled Blitz afterall…

Waffle Day!

Kayleigh is getting smarter everyday. Not too surprisingly, she’s already figuring ways to out smart her old man. This morning after walking her to the tub so she could throw all of her toys in and then ask for them back one by one… suddenly that sounds like she’s already outsmarted me… Anyway she looks up at me and says, “Waffles.” Not sure why I ask, “Waffles?” to which she replies, “OK” and happily starts guiding me to the kitchen to make her breakfast.

Yes, it became a “Waffle Day” as Kayleigh proclaims any day that involves said dish. Honestly I’m not sure if she loves waffles that much or if it just happens to be the most fun breakfast word next to banana (depending on the number of a’s and n’s she decides to use). Although she did insist on kissing the frozen waffle, the box it came from, and a couple bananas – something never requested when a big bowl of oatmeal is served.

Someday I hope she’ll kiss me as readily as she does most inanimate objects in the house.

Well excuse me sexless man/woman

Another day, another forum post reminds me of a classic MST3K episode. Someone requested guidance now that his son was gearing up to learn an instrument. Aside from my limited experiences with the saxophone, the best I had to offer was to go straight to the source – Mr. B Natural:

Although a long sought after clip (especially in college when Internet video was not exactly as free-flowing as today) it’s not my favorite. That title belongs to the horribly dated “Are You Ready For Marriage?”:

Hopefully those 2 clips have given you a smile (along with a few guffaws) and taken you 30 minutes closer to the commute home.

Two Weeks

Do you know Grizzly Bear? If not, you should. So let’s get that part out of the way immediately. This is the incredible song “Two Weeks” – this is also the incredible FAN-MADE video for “Two Week”. Enjoy.

(thanks to Dooce for pointing this out)

I wanted to share it with The Woman this morning, so just before heading out to breakfast I fire it up. She likes it… and so does Kayleigh. My baby girl starts doing her little sway back and forth dance while watching the computer screen. Knowing full well that she gets real cranky when anyone takes her from Mama, I scoop her up in my arms and start dancing until the crying fades quickly into smiles at the birds and trees and stars that fly by. The music and the video both capture her attention.

And there’s this real connection. We’re all enjoying this song together and Kayleigh is happy and comfortable in my arms despite Mama being only a few feet away. She even starts saying “Do do do” to mimic the piano. I hugged her even more tightly and spun around the room. By the end of the song her face was beginning to burrow into my shoulder, so we fired it up again and Mama danced her off to sleep.

It’s time to create a new and improved “Daddy’s Little Girl” playlist and put “Two Weeks” at the top, because these are the moments I live for.

Your moment of (baby) zen #6

Things I learned while working on my backyard

This summer was supposed to be all about Project Reclaim The Backyard. Unfortunately the scheduling of this project conflicted with Jersey’s monsoon season (yes, I already used this joke on Twitter/Facebook). It started strongly enough, as I cut down hundreds of feet of vines in a couple weekends, but their actual disposal has dragged on for a couple months. Still, we got a patio installed so that The Woman and Kayleigh can hang out and watch me drop rocks on my foot and branches on my head for the rest of the summer/fall. It’s a family thing.

For the past week the crux of the work has been removing the remainder of the shoddy walkway that used to lead to the basement door. There is still no definite plan for replacement, but walking on dirt is a better alternative to navigating the concrete minefield that was left behind by an unnamed backhoe operator. And at the very least, I finally got to use the sledgehammer that was left behind in our basement. That’s a lot of fun – at least when the concrete is less than 2 inches thick. My next lesson will hopefully involve how to dispose of broken slabs of concrete.

After wiping out the walkway, I learned just how heavy Belgian Block is – VERY. I also learned that wheel barrows are not very good at transporting 6 or more blocks o’ Belgian at a time – especially when rolling them over the muddy holes they were dug out of. So the migration of blocks to another corner of the yard became a week long process because carrying one at a time significantly reduces the chance of breaking a foot but has the unfortunate side effect of taking way too long and tiring me out way too quickly. Maybe that stone fort I had planned is not such a good idea…

But by next spring, gosh darn it, we will have a usable backyard. Either that, or I’m going to start subletting it to a small farmer.

Walkies

We’ve delayed it as long as possible, but sooner or later Kayleigh was bound to develop an interest in moving on her own. Crawling has not been a big concern, and even now she only does a 3-legged butt-shuffle when the mood strikes. Instead it is the full-on 2-legged mode of transport that has tickled her fancy.

This has been going on for less than a week, but her progress is disconcerting for us and our lack of baby-proofing. She still lacks complete confidence in her wobbly balance, which means much of the day is spent partially hunched over providing two fingers to grip tightly for support. As much as this prospect terrifies me, Kayleigh can be even more adorable than usual when she excitedly stamps her feet in circles around the house. And it sure does make her smile.

Now an outdoor component has been added, which means shoes have become a necessity – which also lets her flaunt some of her new vocabulary. There’s some video of all of this that needs to be uploaded, in the meantime I came across this ad for It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia which rather accurately depicts her first steps with footwear.

Alright, not exactly accurate as we got rid of the coffee table, but you get the idea.

Curly locks! Curly locks!

Talking to a friend on the phone the other day I was reminded just how few photos have been posted here lately. He commented about seeing a picture of Kayleigh with curls starting to show. Starting to show? What the… It’s a full blown invasion!

Curly locks like golden honey — I just love those curly locks

Granted, those have some serious help from the humidity these days, but sometimes it’s hard to imagine that she’s the same baby as the one with such short and flat hair in all of the pictures around me.

Hair is now officially long enough for barrettes

Two days ago Kayleigh turned 13 months. I can’t believe how much she’s grown in that time. Of course I also can’t believe how much I’ve grown in that time. Since the initial year that I gave myself to adjust before really getting back into my hobbies is over (that’s my excuse for inconsistent posting, by the way), it’s time to start playing around with the tools at hand to get words and photos out there. This is my first attempt at using WordPress’s built-in photo tools – figured that was a good enough reason to post these.

I fought the wall and the wall won

That title could have gone either wall or lawn. Not only does the “pun effect” work both ways, but they both have an ounce of truth to them. But in this case, while the lawn was mildly tiring and involved a mowing, watering, trimming, shoveling, raking, and some shrubbery, the wall involved… well… a wall. Technically it was 2 walls, but neither was that big.

Yes, this is the story of a man, a hammer, a crowbar, several 2x4s, sheet rock, flying nails, falling tiles, and an almost complete lack of protective gear. It is a tale that invokes the age-old saying, “Give me a Wonder Bar and a place to stand and I’ll rip apart the world.” There was blood, sweat, tears and cursing at the former homeowner. But in the end, despite only wearing just a t-shirt, shorts and sandals, nothing of any real interest occurred. It was the perfect storm for AFV or ER material, yet no skin was punctured or gashed, bones broken, or heads jostled by falling debris. A rather sad day in the Slattery household when the removal of a closet results in nothing but 2 halves of a piece of sheet rock covered in tile being carried down to the basement.

At least I continue to have my suspicions confirmed that, however little I know about construction, the people who worked on this house knew less. Why would anyone possibly put a closet in the middle of a bathroom that does nothing but make the toilet a claustrophobic nightmare? Was it simply to cover that ghastly 4″ vent pipe that should have been 3″ and in the wall? How does someone manage to install 2x4s in the wrong direction? Who bought 7 inch nails to attach the molding but felt dry wall screws were enough to hold the wood together? Did anyone really think shims were a suitable structural support?

These are the questions that keep me up at night… a lot less than they used to. Perhaps in the near future we’ll even get to turn the toilet to face the right direction! For now I’ll just enjoy our less coffin-like restroom experience. The rest of this bathroom renovation should only take about 2 years…

Last night I had the strangest dream

The Woman and I threw a party. But all of the guests seemed to be random selections from Facebook. I mean, they were all friends, but I only recall one couple that we see regularly. Otherwise it was old high school and college friends of mine whom I haven’t had much contact with lately. Not that strange, except I was stuck running all around taking care of things because The Woman had left.

That’s right, she left. Can you believe it? In the middle of our party she insisted on going to the hospital. Something about having to give birth. This is probably the point at which the dream starts getting weird.

For some reason we not only planned this rather random party at the end of her pregnancy, but I had to leave her in the middle of labor to go home and take care of the guests. And so she handled giving birth to Miguel all on her own. Yes, his name was Miguel. That might seem strange, but if you saw him you would say that Miguel was the perfect name for him. After all he was a 20 pound Hispanic boy.

So perhaps there was some indication of infidelity that would explain my lack of interest in the birth of my son? Nothing that I can recall – perhaps random ethnicity had become the norm…

Anyway I ditch The Woman at the hospital to find most of the guests having left except for 1 friend whom I try to convince to stay – because I’d feel really guilty about leaving my wife and newborn at the hospital for a party that had already ended… At this point things become hazy so it is possible that the party did continue. For sure both mother and son made it home safely that night at which point I spent the rest of the night trying to locate Miguel after misplacing him last repeatedly, thus cementing my “Father of the Year” award.

This was either a message that I’m not ready for a second child or that I need to go to bed earlier…