if your scared say your scared

when i was a young chap, one day when i was off on an adventure(being Babysat). the babysitters i do not recall their names but they were building a house on their property and were staying in a smaller house on the same land until done. well when the noontime meal had arrived they made me sandwich of which i had never had before. i remember being surprised that it was so good. not ever having this sandwich again it has occasional crossed my mind. so one day while fixing Malia lunch i decided ,what the heck do it, don't be scared. having all the key ingredients on hand i round them together and made this sandwich of past memories. below is a self explanatory pic of this sandwich.

well i must say the sandwich was edible but nothing to write home about ,maybe just a quick blog. below is a little video clip of Malia playing with some pumpkin guts.

beware its a scary pumpkin...might wet your pants

here is a pic of Malia posing posing the Mr. poops (aka Barkley) the night of the great pumpkin carve.

here is my lovely wife cleaning

here i am cutting

and here is the finished product. watch out little children, this pumpkin might take your candy!!!!

malia our little snicker head....

here is just a quick pic of me helping develope Malia's motor skills, what a good sport.(no actual snicker bars were harmed during this short clip)

knights of the square table

and sew i introduce to you the knights of the square table. these knights travel from all corners of the state and the counties within, bringing with them their weapon of total cloth destruction. there mission? to turn unused, colorful cloth, with artistic prints, into desirable articles of clothing, and use full attire. here is a rare photo of the skillful knights busy at work.

the weapon of choice you may ask? no not a Battle axe nor the long blade or the cross bow but yet a weapon of equal and possibly greater destruction, the sewing machine. here seen in yet another rare pic the weapons sit in between battles resting their powerful motor's and sharping the shinny needles which Peirce the heart of the cloth. the evil eyes of one great machine glows, eagerly eyeing up its next victim.

the names of these fearless crusaders remain anonymous as not to jeopardise their quest for total cloth domination. through the chaos filled room a small knight in training crawls her way through the thread strewn floor toward some know leaders of this shall we say of this secret society. some may call these individuals realist, needle pushers, artist with thread, but to us their just know as people with a passion for something they love. one stitch at a time, one more yard of cloth forever changed.

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installation of the itchsulation.....

as the weather turns colder so the time arrives to install the insulation. the cooler air will allow the installation process not to be a sticky situation(sweaty). and so the process begins, with the help of uncle Nate's assistance. this is a pic of all the insulation sorted out into different thicknesses, length, etc.

this is a pic of the insulation installed. this process was not as simple as you would think. all the insulation had to be drug under the house, threw the air vent, a piece at a time. then put into place and then held with wire hangers. this process was a very itchy process, while hanging the insulation ,fiberglass would fall in your face, eyes, basically all over your body and loge in your skin. with Little more than 2feet of space, darkness, spiders, crickets, dust, fiber glass, foggy safety glasses, cramping muscles, hunger pains, and of course being on the look out for that ninja mouse(more on that later) the process was a piece of cake.

still some insulation left and a couple of rooms left 2 do but all the key rooms(living, dinning, hallway,and baby's room) have been hung. as the night wore on, tiredness set in and the smell of deliciousness wafting through the air(barbecue in the crock pot), we decided to call it a night. with a shower,delicious dinner and a couple of nice cold ones waiting for us, i would say a job well done.

malia's got her hands full

here's just a quick clip of Malia getting into Barkley's food. at first Barkley was eating and Malia crawled right up and started putting her hands all in his food, this however didn't bother him and he kept right on enjoying his lunch. eventually Malia took over his bowl and he couldn't get his head in, so he just backed off and let her do her thing. ignore the narrator i think he was kind of in baby talk land(weirdo) at least she hasn't got the water bowl yet. lately Malia has been chasing Barkley around, but she's still a Little slow so he has no problem getting away. enjoy

mark get set .....go

here is a quick video of Malia starting to get around, I'm sure she'll only get faster.

the last supper.......or is it

when the cats away the mice will play. OK Malia is not a cat but she does have on a cute cat outfit. shes more of a Barkley hair magnet then a mouse hunter. so now here is our latest adventure, i think that a far distance cousin of the mouse captured in kinda fuzzy's blog(fri,oct,1,2010) has arrived at our place. we have started to notice some mice droppings(gross) in the base cabinets in the kitchen. this not being very sanitary we have opted to eliminate this threat. please take note that this series of events has taken place over the last several weeks. Mr. buns has elected to help model the next series of devises.


well the first trap i tried has been successful one time before. it caught the great grandfather of the mouseaters family tree. so i knew it was tried and true. so i baited (peanut butter), and waited. with no luck after several days, i checked and the bait was gone. that Little sneaky mouse (a Nijia mouse i might call it), had eaten all the bait. so i reset it and again it evidently went in and came out with a full stomach.

so seeing no good results from the first trap, on to the next trap. i went out and picked up a new trap called a stickey trap, i baited it (Peanut butter), and waited. after several days of no luck and bait being gone i rebaited it one more time, the next morning the trap was no where to be found. after i crawled in the cabinet and opened a trap door that exposes under the cabinets. lo and behold, there was the trap.........but no mouse. it had gotten stuck pulled the trap down the hole and made its way to some rubble and pulled its self free(damn nijia), so on to the next trap.

figuring that maybe the first trap was not sensitive enough, i went out and picked up a new trap. this trap did not allow the bait to be eaten and was also pressure sensitive. needless to say after a week of trying and no results, there was still obvious signs the mouse was around(damn nijia).

so i figured, some times an oldie is a Goldie, i i went and picked up an old fashioned mouse trap or the finger breaker i like to call it. figuring the mouse had had its fill of peanut butter i went with the standard tried and true cheese. i set two traps and checked them in the morning. that damn #$@*&% nijia mouse took the cheese off and ate half of it(well truth be it was processed cheese, maybe not to his liking). so i set it again this time with real cheese and made shure it was not coming off the trap, when i awoke in the morning i could see chew marks all over the cheese mother%$#@*, what a quick, sneaky, sly, nijia mouse.

well not being successful at many different attempts i decided to bring out the big guns. not the preferred method(usually unpleasantly smelly) but a last resort -poison. after a while of the poison being placed i noticed the the nijia mouse was still eating his fill. after a week or so and no smell or mouse, i checked the poison supply, it was still being consumed? now with no recent signs of Mr. mouse i still don't know the fate of the nijia mouse. he may have packed up and moved away(next door), he may have had his fill and retired, or he may still be lurking in the shadows having the last laugh.

snug as a bug in a shirt?

here we are me and baby girl just hanging out side fetching with Mr. poops. Barkley is off fetching and were waiting his return. and of course momma is the picture taker or is she?

here is my wifey's new closet all neat and tidy with her fall and winter clothes tucked away. still some left over room on the top maybe well get some baskets after all.

and don't forget her shoes all in there own Little spaces(bunk beds), sleeping soundly waiting for their sole(get it sole ha ha) purpose in life to be worn.

gimme a needle im gonna pop that

how would one get such a juicy blister in just a hours time, you may ask. well it just so happened that on the way home from visiting that hard working mother, me and Malia stopped by one of dads favorite places, habitat of course to mill around and see if there was any thing we had to have. (a wise man once told me- there was a difference between -had to have, and have to have, so when making decisions ask yourself do you have to have it, had- being more of a i want and have- being more of necessity. when caught up in the moment ask your self do i have to have this, most of the time you don't) anyway back to the story.

while in this glorious store of used home goods at great prices(varying on the store) i remembered that i still had two unscreened windows, and with such nice cool weather one tends to open the windows. so i pick up two used screens around the same size, and some caulk for trim to finish off the closet. of course the screens had to but cut to size. well the juice pocket arrived while putting the screen back together, good times. some one get me a straw its gonna be a juicy one.

and here is a pic of the two newly screened windows

what its like to watch paint dry

the closet is still under way, but a new pic would not be of much interest since I'm just painting and watching it dry. tomorrow a Little caulking a Little more paint more dry time and then jump for joy, and another step towards being done. so here is a pic of that daughter of ours. she has gotten pretty good at sitting up and she even does a Little military crawl now(must have got that from her aunt maria). tomorrow were up and off to my favorite place habitat, to pick up a few things and take baby girl too see her mother in action at work.

problems you dont foresee

and so the closet adventure continues. so after a bit of pre priming the shelf and dresser i brought them into the house and assembled them. all looked to be as good a a bowl of gravy but not so fast.... why you say well take a close look at the first pic, now take a closer look, closer, do you see the unforeseen problem. being the absent minded man that i am my beautiful wife pointed out that there was not enough room to hang her shirts.o-%@#&**. the opening for baskets

was too tall for the clothing. o well but this was something that needed to be addressed.

just a cute baby pic... work it ......work it

so after much deliberation a few sighs, groans and a calming lunch, back outside the draws went. since the set up was built in sections i was able just to remove the dresser section(sweet). with some adjusting and cutting at the chop shop, wala the new and improved mega closet storage system (not sold in stores) was done and ready to be reinstalled. here is a pic of the re cut dresser back in place. now all left to do is a few last coats of paint and then look out Mandy, go crazy and let the organisation begin.

keep on keeping on

of course still working on that closet project, boy where dose all your free time go when ya have a kid. its no longer free time its now Malia time, but wouldn't change it for anything. in fact she helps me out. in the bottom pic you can see Malia just standing around giving me that much needed second opinion. in the top pick you can see the dresser and the new opening made for some baskets.

here all three pieces are done just roughing them up and getting ready for a first coat before i take them into the house. i don't think i have enough shoe cubbys for all of Mandy's shoes but she has a home for at least 12 of her favorite pairs.

easy as pie

o yes a delish homemade pumpkin pie, crust and filling,and of course its already been cut into and enjoyed.

and also a update pic on the closet progress. i now have both side cabinets matching and the dresser and draws are now also cut to size. removed two of the top drawers and made an opening for some baskets and replaced the bottom trim. next to build some shoe cubbys on the right side and some cut some adjustable shelf's for both sides.

happy wife soup-add love, baby, and a new closet o and pepper

here is my wife's closet, and so the Reno begins.

of course you may see a empty closet, but i see a closet full of potential

here is the plan- while out gathering insulation (as mentioned in a past post) i also lucked upon 2 cabinet like towers. both were different sizes and depths but made from the same material and will work none the less.(free 99). the plan cut the two towers too match, cut existing dresser and drawers down about 3inches in depth, put back together with a little glue and nails. take out two of the existing draws and convert into a opening (for baskets).than make some shoe rack cubbys, attach them all together, hang a hanger rack, drill some holes 4 some adjustable shelf's, add some trim, white paint and wala. sounds like a recipe for a happy wife

here is the dresser, its now been cut. now i got to make it look like it never was.

put back together, now i have to take apart those draws cut them down and it will be as good as new. but i have to wait for the glue too dry cause ill need those clamps for the draws. stay tuned

im coming out, i want the world 2 know, la la la

here is a pic of baby girls closet before a recently done project. while out one evening for a run i ran across someone throwing out an old dresser (and some other items not of importance as of now). knowing i was going to build a closet system for baby girls closet i knew i could use this dresser.




the closet emptied out



this is the old dresser after i cut 5inches off the back and all the drawers
so that it would not stick out to far



i then built too separate side boxes and drilled holes for adjustable shelf's and installed a hanger pole, screwed them all together and walla!



then added a Little trim, a couple coats of white paint and some Handy dandy pink knobs all left to do was neatly arrange Malia's belongings.

and walla here's the finished project.

(Mandy liked and her closet is next on the list)

santa beware this aint your mommas chimney

this year we decided to drop a stove pipe down the chimney so as to make it a little more user friendly. cleaning the old chimney was not a very efficient, it took many passes with the brush and you could not see the results. being the paranoid person i am i feared that the creosote would be building up in places the brush wasn't getting(i was right).

when i pulled out the fireplace insert there was an inch or two of build up not very safe. so after a good cleaning and a not so nice dusting of the black sot all over the place(should have cut off the fans):( Malia later was hanging out in her walker and her white started to wear off her feet.

i then went out the the handy dandy home improvement store and picked up some supplies. when we got home me and Malia put together the exhaust pipes with ring clamps(bad idea, wasn't thinking) i then got on the roof and slid them down the chimney. they got stuck so as i tried too pull them out you guessed it they came undone mother #@*&^&%. i was able to get 2 sections out but the third was a lost cause but it came out with a Little persuasion. the pic shows the completed section and the bent up piece.

me and Malia then went back to the man cave and screwed them together using sheet metal screws(thumbs up). good thing i had picked up a extra section, back to the roof and down the chimney they went this time with out a hitch. next problem is the exhaust doesn't lineup with the port on the stove and only a 3inch gap too work with. but being the engineer that i am back to the store we went and picked up 2 air duct pieces and with a bit of trimming and some screws, hooked them together.

then i attached to the already in place exhaust pipes(as in pic) then slid up into place. now just to push the insert back in place align and hook up. here's a couple of pics of the pipes coming out of the old chimney, and a Little smoke to test her out. then trim her down and put the cap back on

done diddly done.