Look out! He's loose!

Moved to a new blog

2008-07-09T19:40:00.000-05:00

Since the arrival of my daughter I've decided to move to a new blog; and this one I actually update almost daily.

Find me here at my new blog: One SAHD Dude

News

2008-03-09T16:25:00.002-05:00

It's a girl! Oh wait, you didn't want to know? Too late! Only 13 weeks to ! I like to think of it as over three months so it doesn't seem as scary. We took a short tour of Babies R Us last week; a bit overwhelming, but that's why we did the short tour first. Buying a huge new LCD TV afterwards made it all better.

To celebrate my first week back on the dayshift I did almost nothing all weekend and I feel great! Last week we had already commenced the rearranging of rooms and general cleaning, so i didn't feel too guilty about being lazy. I did manage to clean some dishes and do laundry, so it wasn't too bad; some things just have to get done!

My new Roomba vacuum arrived Friday! So far I have only charged it up and did a spot test to make sure it works. The cats didn't seem to mind it at all, and followed it al lthe way around the room and to its docking station. With all of the rooms is disarray, there wasn't a good place to set it up for a full run. My plan is to use it for extra cleaning duty when I'm taking care of the baby. I can drop it off in a room while I'm changing diapers all day; or something to that effect.

Winter Blahs and the Coming Sunshine

2008-02-17T10:23:00.003-05:00

Man, this winter is nasty! I haven't seen so much snow in years. I don't mind the snow so much as the cold. It has been extra cold, with little one day warm-ups to get you outside only for it to drop off again. Right now there's a foot of snow on the ground, but it's been raining all morning. So much for my grocery shopping outing!

On a better note: I only have two more weeks of working midnights! At first I was sad thinking about rejoining the hectic pace of the daytime workplace with two hundred other people. But what really made me happy was spending some time with my wife this weekend and knowing I'll be able to do a lot more of that soon. I really miss having a full weekend. We also have a lot of things to do around the house to get ready for the baby in June, so being back on a nromal schedule will help.

Another thing to boost my spirits is I get to visit my parents in Charleston in April. I wish my wife could go with me, but she won't be in a state for traveling by then.

Week 20: Getting There Slowly

2008-01-24T06:28:00.000-05:00

Week twenty and the baby is doing jsut fine. Of course, it was stubborn at the ultrasound the other week and we don't know if it's a boy or girl, but we weren't going to tell you all anyhow :-)

I'm still stuck on midnights at work and that has been adding to my usual winter blahs. It seems that all i do is work or sleep now. It's hard to wake up at 10PM on your day off and want to even think about getting out of bed. This combination of midnight living and bitterly cold weather has also stifled some projects I need to accomplish before th ebaby comes in June; chifly painting a few rooms and having the carpets steam cleaned. Without being able to open the windows, or have enough natural light for painting, I'll just have to put these projects off until at least April.

On the other hand, I am starting to think about furniture for the baby's room and may attempt to build a bookcase or something to go in there. I've been wanting to get into woodworking for some time, being an avid watcher of Yankee Workshop, but have not had the time, money, or courage to set out on that path. This may finally be my excuse to go out and buy a few more tools and do something creative. Speaking of creative....

We bought our first sewing machine last weekend! So far I have figured out how to run the thread through and stitched a couple pieces of scrap material together. My lofty goal is to get into quilting while the main reason for buying the machine is to make baby clothes and new curtains. Curtains alone will cover the cost of the machine!

The other looming project on my horizon is to get my blogs up to speed and maybe even add a new blog or two if time permits. I've always dabbled with my Good Eats blog, but my Disney blog has been dormant since last Spring and this blog has also suffered neglect. With the prospect of being a stay at home dad coming quickly I need to figure out a way to channel all my pent up social energy and this may help, as it did when I was out of work last year.

Week 16

2007-12-24T08:30:00.000-05:00

Well, here we are at Christmas already! Friday was the four month mark and everything is going well so far. The next big ultrasound comes in a little over a week and then we'll know the gender and, hopefully, that we have a healthy baby. Neighter of us care if we have a boy or girl, but it amazes me how everybody has their mind made up whether it's a boy or girl. I should set up a betting pool and make some baby-money off of this trend!

Only five more months to go before fatherhood! It's exciting and scary all at once. Being that I'm going into this without a clue; I should really start to read up on things more. I am an only child, my cousins are all much younger than me, and I hardly know anybody that has young children; so really I haven't had much exposure to babies. Of course, this may be beneficial in that I'm not going to be adhering to every old wives tale or be stuck in one mindset. I can take a fresh approach and, despite being scared to death of screwing up, I'm sure I'll make it through OK. Wish me luck!

Have a Merry Christmas!

Week Eleven

2007-11-17T14:10:00.000-05:00

It seems odd to number one's days in terms of weeks, but that is the way of the future parent. It's week eleven now and next on the list is week twelve's ultrasound. The week twelve doctor's visit is supposed to be the defining hurdle of when you know your baby is most likely healthy and nothing major is going wrong. We look forward to a sigh of relief afterwards. This whole baby business is scary when you are over thirty. If you believe all the statistics for every imaginable disease, defect, and deformity quoted you are bound to be freaked out! I was thinking about it the other day and estimated that pretty much every baby born to somebody over thirty would have two missing or deformed limbs, half a brain, and two heads. You wonder why expectant moms are so quesy all the time in the first trimester!

Still working midnights. I can't decide if I like it or not. The actual being at work and not having to deal with traffic is wonderful; plus I can wear dirty jeans and a sweatshirt instead of a pressed shirt and tie. My freetime, however, sucks. I sleep too much and my weekends are all screwed up. I feel like I get one extremely busy day off per week. I tried to keep to my schedule last night (Friday night). I got up and took a shower to kick off my normal midnight-shift-style day, wandered around the house for a few hours looking out into the dark, cold night, then went back to bed. So, I am left with another busy Saturday for my weekend. I did get a lot done this morning though.

7:00 AM: Clean out the garage; well at least most of it. I still need to take a bunch of summer items downstairs so they don't freeze. 8:00 AM: I pull up in the grocery store packing lot just as the doors open. I still ended up waiting in line for 15 minutes at the deli counter since the two old ladies in front of me bought enough lunch meat and cheese for a large gatehring. The rest of the trip went smoothly and I was out home before 9:00! I also managed to stop by the Saturn dealer this morning.

Do I buy a new car? Do I keep the one I have? Do I buy a used car? As much as i love cars I hate making this decision. Last time I spent more than I planned on a car that I only kinda, sorta like. Back in the summer I was looking at the new Auras and used Volvo XC70s. I decided it would be cheaper to just stick with my VUE for now and wait, even though I have a lot of miles. Then my Saturn dealer calls me this week and tells me I can get 0% financing. Well, a new Aura would cost the same as my old, out of warranty, and needing an $800 set of tires VUE. It's very tempting indeed! We'll see what happens. What I really want in the Volvo, but that would cost more and I don't need any extra expenses when we will be going down to one income in July.

What have I been up to lately? Lots!

2007-11-10T16:33:00.000-05:00

Well, to kick off the busy months ahead let me announce that my wife and I are expecting our first child in June! D-Day to be exact. After over a year of trying without result, we were getting worried that something was not working with somebody's plumbing and were ready to start scheduling doctor visit. But then we figured out what sent us home from out vacation to Vermont and Salem a couple days early: the first bout of morning sickness! Is this a sign of an impatient child already?!

So, what else has been going on? For starters, trying to get everything in gear in regards to our home. I have about seven months left to finish a myriad of projects that I have been 'thinking about doing' for a while now. Today I spent several hours cleaning out the garage and planning some new storage shelves and piling up things to move downstairs for the winter. I also have a good deal of cleaning, rearranging, and painting on my list of projects. Looks like I'll be hanging out with my buddies at the Home Depot soon.

What else have I been up to? Well, I've been working the midnight shift lately to cover while they get some new people trained. Apparently Japan hasn't shifted to Eastern Standard Time yet. Second shift has its rewards and weaknesses. I really like not having to deal with rush hour; especially since I drive 45 miles each way. I figure I save at least an hour per day in driving time. I also like that I only work with one other person and he's on the same level as me, so bascially I don't have anybody bothering me and I can get a lot of work done at my own pace. On the other hand, I have found that weekends do not work well. I have not yet had a weekend where i stay on my 'normal' sleep cycle and it always feel like onyl having one day off. My wife works midnights every other week, so naturally I thought I would see more of her. Sadly, this has not been the case. I have not adjusted to a set sleep schedule and sometimes I end up sleeping fromt he time I get home until I have to get ready for work! This shouldn't last too long, but I wouldn't mind holding out through the winter to keep clear of traffic!

Vermont Country Roads

2007-10-29T16:18:00.000-05:00

This classic shot was taken whilst driving through Vermont a few weeks ago on a road trip. I would say driving through the Green Mountains has been one of my favorite treks so far. Sadly, we got sick and had to turn back early. I beliee the state of New Hampshire was out to get us for not staying and tried to posion us :-)

Year of the Blog

2007-10-27T11:09:00.000-05:00

After just over a year of blogging it's time to reflect on what I've started and where to go from here.
Firstly, this blog has been pretty lame. I decided to start blogging for two reasons. First, I was out of a job and bored with being home by myself all the time. I saw it as a possible outlet but never fully utilized the resource. Secondly, I was out of a job and was looking for ways to make some money while I looked for a job. I was a bit more successful in this regard than the first and made some extra cash during the long winter of unemployment.

Where to go from here?
For starters, my Good Eats blog has become more popular than I had ever imagined. Anywhere from 25 to 100 surfers visit every day now. I think it's time I put in some more effort and be more consistent with my updates now that I seem to have a following.

Secondly, I think revamping and reviving some of my other blogs might be a good idea with the cold Northern winter approaching. This blog may still yet become an outlet for sharing my days and the coming changes of my immediate future. I'm expecting a lot of change in 2008 and having my own chronicle might be nice for reflection. I also have a rather large stockpile of pictures fromt eh past year or so that would make reviving my photography blog worth the effort.

So, we'll see where this project goes this year. I'm starting by updating my Good Eats blog today and creating a fresh slate for this one. Wish me luck!