Springin

Spring's coming early to the desert. Nothing like a nice windy February day for massacring rose bushes and listening to Turnpike Troubadours.

Happy Pre-Xmans Eve!

Happy Pre-Xmans Eve!

Two dads

A wild Sage LaTorra makes a rare southern NM appearance!

Silhouettes

last night i woke up and the soft light of the wifi router was casting a shadow by the fireplace that looked like two people standing there staring at me so i stayed awake for a couple hours for no reason whatsoever

Soothing

Gaming was cancelled. So I'm sitting on the roof in the cool fall weather, having a beer and reading Barrowmaze.

Dad Solo*

Carrie went out of town for a work conference over the weekend. It was just me and the kids all weekend...and mom, who stayed over both nights. Mom went with us to a dance recital, to the mall, and cleaned the house while I took the twins out for frozen yogurt (and a beer for me!) She also hosted the kids at her house Sunday while I went to Walmart. Oh, and Saturday night Tracy brought Conner over Saturday night and cooked enchiladas for us. I had a lot of help and am grateful for it. Carrie thinks I had it too easy.

Jesse picked up and delivered a dog run for us over the weekend as well. It's going to serve as the fencing for the chicken coop. Now I just need to get chicken wire and try to predator-proof the thing as best I can. The chickens are getting big and are starting to investigate what's outside of the Rubbermaid tub we've kept them in up till now.

Last night, after Carrie got back, we cooked Sunday dinner. This makes 3 weeks in a row, I think? Maybe a solid month of having folks over on the weekend for at least one meal, whether Saturday or Sunday (or both.) Feels good to be entertaining. And since we don't really live in a close-knit neighborhood I like he feeling of providing the kids some minor sense of community. Anyway, Alex and mom were over for fajitas and we ate out on the patio. We'll probably be doing a lot more of that in the near future.

Abby woke up around 3am last night. She has been consistently sleeping through the night for a while now, so that was a little bit of a surprise. What wasn't surprising was that after that I couldn't get back to sleep. I tossed and turned a bunch and ended up reading comics (Saga, fantastic book) for hours. Never did get back to sleep. I hope it's not a the start of a trend, either for Abby or me.

Creeping Along At High Speed

The twins are 5 and 1/2 years old! How'd that happen all the sudden.

For lack of anything else to write about, let's take a look at our current family schedule. Exciting, I know.

Get up around 6-6:30, get ready some while the kids are still snoozing. Even Abby, for the most part, is sleeping through the night. For now...) Fix breakfast for the kids (almost always Eggo waffles, mostly blueberry), get them dressed, then around 7:30 Carrie takes Abigail to daycare down at St. Paul's and I shuttle Owen and Paige to the Lighthouse Academy on University (Lately we've stopped listening to Kids Place Live on XM and I just play something off the phone for them. For the past week or more it's been Splash Woman by MegaRan and Not the Future by Bad Lip Reading every time.) Then it's a 30 minute commute for me. I work for 8 hours from when I get in and then head home. By that time Carrie has generally picked up all the kids and is home. Get home, get dinner cooked, and eat around the table like a proper damn family (...now if only we could get Abby to sit still and eat...) After that it's baths for the kids every other day and a little tv before getting them ready for bed. Abby's bed time has been slipping of late. For a long time it was 6:30 sharp. But since the latest time change it's seemed to spring forward an hour too. Most nights I read to Owen and Paige in their room before lights out. Current read: Winnie the Pooh. After the kids are in bed Carrie and I watch some tv, she goes to bed, I watch some more tv, then I go to bed.

Deviations: Owen and Paige have started Tae Kwan Do lessons on Mondays. I generally get home before them and try to have dinner on the table by the time they get home. Last night I did that AND got on the treadmill for the first time in months. Wednesday I have Larry and Tiff over for D&D. This generally means Carrie runs solo on putting everyone to bed. Thursday is dance class for Owen and Paige, which means Fast Food Night. And I game over at Ben's (or our house if Ben and Amy are busy) about every other Saturday.

We've got chickens! Or maybe I should say, Carrie and the kids have chickens. I've been mostly hands off with them so far. They are currently stinking up the garage under a heat lamp while they feather. We should have the coop all set up (hopefully) by next week.

The back-back yard is finally getting some work done to it. We had water run around and a hose bib and watering system installed on that side of the house. Now we need to extend water lines across the yard, have a large (25' x 45') sand-box-play-area installed, build three (4' x 12') above-ground planters, and we will have put a small dent in the to-do list for back there. Item still on it include planting trees, landscaping, and installing an open patio-firepit.

Housedate

We got solar panels installed last week. They're not quite up and running yet (installation of new electric meters by El Paso Electric still needs to be done) but they should put a heavy dent into the electric bill for the new house. That has proven, what with summer and all, to be expensive.

The new house is still coming together. Carrie and I have been trying to knock out several things every weekend, but the list of things to do (of varying immediacy) grows every week. The next big thing is getting the support posts on the back patio replaced. We knew this was going to have to happen when we moved in, but there has been some troubling compression of a decorative wall above the south corner post. We've got a quote though and should hopefully have it taken care of soon-ish.

Having an above-ground pool has proven to be less vexing than I thought it would be. Part of that was coming to the understanding that chemical balance on it is a broad, moving target and as long as we get somewhere in there the pool will mostly be fine.

Of Tooth and Flame

Abigail cut her first tooth. Also, she's five months old. Crazy. Could be that teething is why she's been waking up about every hour or so through the night. But that tooth is out, and from what I remember once it breaks through the discomfort is over. Sleep issues continue. Speaking of, sitting up with Abby late on Saturday night, I decided to put on the second of the new Hobbit movie. I figured some hobbit and wizards and swords and orcs would be nice. About 15 minutes in I turned it off and bought a digital copy of the Rankin/Bass animated Hobbit. I love it. And it's less than 90 minutes long.

Last Thursday Alex, Ben, and Tony came over for Fire Night, the annual burning of the xmas tree. I had put it off since early in the month and I'm glad we finally got around to it. Was a lovely relaxing evening spent having beers and bourbon and bullshitting on the patio.

The weekend was primarily composed of cleaning out the garage, which seems to be a semi-annual event. We cleared out boxes of stuff to the storage unit, Goodwill, and the dump. Just in time to start up Wednesday garage gaming again!

Last night I made chicken bacon fried rice. It was amazing and delicious, both for dinner and lunch today. Full marks to Carrie for having the idea in the first place.

Home/Life

I looked back at old LiveJournal entries yesterday, expecting to be mostly embarrassed at whatever it was I was talking about 10 years ago. Or at least bored. I wasn't expecting to be kicked in the gut by nostalgia. I had thought that all the minutiae would engender more boredom upon rereading but I think it frames all the other crap I was talking about and gives it context. Man, I had a lot of time on my hands back then.

So, what's home life like now...

Abigail May. She was born on September 22nd. Four months old now and I'm finding that equating this new baby to whatever we went through with the twins doesn't track. Carrie's mentioned more than once, since she was born, that we deserve medals for dealing with twin infants. I don't disagree. It's easier, for sure, but this time around Carrie and I have vastly different obligations. Since she's breastfeeding there's only so much I can contribute. But I'm doing what I can.

My day-to-day for the past four months has looked something like this:
Get up in the morning, feed Piper, shower, then we get Owen and Paige dressed and fed while they watch a little tv before daycare. One of us takes the twins to daycare and I'm off to work, generally getting in between 8 and 8:30. Work 8 hours then home where Carrie's picked up the kids. She's a lot better than I am about keeping the tv off till I get home most days. Then fix dinner, feed piper, and get the kids baths and into pjs. Let them watch a little tv before brushing their teeth, reading books, then into bed for them and Abigail. After the kids are down Carrie and I watch some tv then she goes to sleep and I stay up a while watching tv or reading (books or comics or internet). Sleep.

That's pretty accurate I think. It doesn't account for Monday being swim lessons for the kids, which means Wendy's (usually) for dinner. Or for when the kids were in soccer this past fall. Or when I get home and there's still some light out so we actually get outside for a little while.

Abigail starts daycare on Monday. Constant flux, this parenting thing.

Find It

Carrie lost her phone this weekend. Probably left it at Pic Quik. We’re pretty sure someone walked off with it. Once she figured it was missing I popped open the Find iPhone app on my phone and took a look. It dropped a pin somewhere out Del Rey. Definitely not our house. My first thought is maybe the gps is just way off, so I hit the Play Sound button on the Find app. No noise nearby, but the app reports that her phone’s gps just shut off. I hit the next button in the list, Lost Mode, which locks the phone down so it can only be used to call whatever number you give it. Shortly after that her phone turned off. I ended up taking a drive out to where the pin dropped, but couldn’t really remember much beyond which corner it was, so I knocked on some doors and got about what I expected, nothing. Next I called Verizon and they blacklisted the phone’s serial number. Lastly, I hit the last option on the Find app, which is Erase Data. If the phone connects to a network again it’ll get a signal to erase all data on the phone. It’s doubtful that whoever has it could get anything from it since nothing aside from Facebook and Blogger has a stored password and neither of those appears to have been messed with. This could have been a much bigger pain in the ass, but we’ve got insurance and should have her phone replaced today or tomorrow. She uses it for work a lot, but mine just sits in a locker all day, I just forwarded her number to mine and let her have for the past few days. Anyway, location app, get one for your phone, or turn it on. Well worth it.

Open for Business

Nyquil dreams last night: I threw someone out of our office at work for calling a coworker an asshole. Then another guy came in and tried to start a fight with me so I put him in an arm lock until security came to collect him.

When the kids became mobile we installed a fence of sorts in front of he couch table that serves as our entertainment center.  Last year the addition of a few sections made it so the Christmas tree was blocked off as well.  This year when we put the tree up, the whole affair looked a bit sad, fanced off like that.  So we I took the whole fence down the other night.  So far so good.  The only real worry about the whole thing, beyond having to pick up any dvds or video games that get scattered across the floor, is that behind the entertainment center are the only accessible electrical outlets that actually have things plugged into them.  We're watching you, Owen and Paige.

Should Do This More Often

Since last time:

I hiked the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim. Given a general lack of training on my part it went pretty well. If anything it mostly affected my recovery time. The scenery was, of course, amazing.

Owen and Paige turned 2. Had a great party with lots of friends and family.

I turned 38!

Gaming ground to a standstill with various travel and whatnots. Played in a session of Apocalypse World this past Saturday, was good. Was good...

Decided to put the renovation project on hold, for the patio. We're in saving mode, trying to build the money to get the job done, rather than depleting savings to do it.

The tree is pretty sweet. It finally dropped its leaves, and the yard is, for the first time, littered with leaves. Hopefully it established well enough to make it though the winter. Should be fine given how large a tree we bought.

Had a low key Thanksgiving with Mom and Nette. Made way more food than needed, as is the wont of that holiday.

Finished the firs of the Long Price Quartet and started the second, Betrayal in Winter. Good series, but I think I may pause after this one and read Ghost Brigades.

Burrito Quest is on track for a possible successful trek. It would be our first since BQ1 if it happens.

Various Whatsits

Since last:

• Ran in a 5k with Carrie, taking turns pushing the twins in the stroller. Did a lot better than I figured I would.
• Went to Miami and Key West for work. Miami was ok, Key West a lot cooler. Wish it had been three days there, and one in Miami instead of the other way around. Ate some good Cuban food though and plenty of seafood.
• Mom came back from her trip to Mississippi with Aunt Nette in tow.  Kind of crazy since it was last minute, but it's cool she's finally come out for a visit. It's meant a lot more trips to mom's house. Which is good since we need to get the kids over there more often anyway.
• Took the kids to the State Fair (Southern NM that is). Their highlight would likely be the funnel cake, but walking them around through the show animals was pretty sweet. Never did find the petting zoo, which was disappointing.
• Allergies have been hammering me since I got back from Miami. Every day all day, and most days I wake up around 4am and have to take medicine.
• Annual switch from light to darker beers is right on schedule. Seems to happen every year right around now, independent of what the weather is actually doing.
• We bought a tree yesterday; a 15-20 foot Modesto Ash, for the back yard. Should get it in the ground Wednesday.
• We're slowly working with a contractor on getting the small side patio turned into a room. Got a bid we like, just need to get some final details nailed down.
• Friday game is a D&D4e game where we're leveling every week, planning on heading from 1-30.
• Next weekend I head out to hike the Grand Canyon with Jon. Kind of a birthday present for his 40th last year. Somewhat nervous given my general lack of exercise of late.
• Went out with Alex, Tony, and Alicia for an early birthday dinner for Carrie. Good company and conversation.
• And in three weeks Owen and Paige will turn two. Crazy.

A/C Nostalgia

Summer time in Mississippi can be miserable. As a kids, spending summers there visiting family, I tended not to notice it as much. One vivid memory from those days is running in from playing out in the sweltering heat and thrusting my face right up to the A/C vent. Whether kneeling in front of Mo Waldon's window unit, or laying down on the floor of Mo Raybelle's trailer, cool washes of conditioned air across my face always take me back to those days. The A/C we had installed this winter has kicked in in a big way of late. Those memories have been ever present of late.

Plummet

You know when you think about doing a thing, knowing that it could result in unwanted circumstances, and then you do it anyway?  Like, say, you perch your kids on the kitchen counter while you're fixing their lunch...  So, yeah, Paige fell off.  She was happily kicking her legs when I turned away for a second, and dropping to the tile floor when I turned back.  Luckily she fell straight down on her butt.  I quickly scooped her up to check for damage.  She cried for a minute or so, but was overall unscathed.  Owen, who I pulled off the counter as I was consoling Paige, cried longer at having to suddely be confined to ground level.  All in all, probably my worst dad moment.  Hearing other parents share similar, and sometimes worse, stories makes me feel a bit better about it, but still full of fail.

In other, more prosaic, home news we worked on lanscaping this weekend.  Pulled a bunch of river rock up to remove sediment from drainage along the side of the house, then put the rock back in place.  Also spread out some gravel and made the whole thing look very nice and tidy.  Of course, this is about the one part of our yard that we don't traverse much and really can't ever see.  But at least we know it looking good.  Plus it was sort of practice for doing about five times as much of the same to front yard.

Stay on Target

Current home/life schedule goes something like this:

• Wake up and try to get out of the house between 6:30 and 7:30; dirty diapers and/or breakfast making falling mostly to Carrie.
• 20 minute drive, then work for 9 hours from the time I get there.
• Home between 4:30 and 5:30, play with the kids a little before we eat dinner.
• I clean up from dinner while Carrie bathes the kids.
• More play-time, generally coupled with Sesame Street on the tv till 7:30 or 8.
• Read to the kids then put them to bed.
• Watch tv/read/internet till 10:00 or 11:00, then lights out.
• (Every other Friday off)

The minutiae, I know.  But when Owen and Paige were born we quickly found out how necessary it was to have a schedule.  So much so that sometimes we forget that it's ok to break it.  Looking back on those early days, that bygone era of 16 months ago, it's hard to remember sometimes what that schedule looked like.  So this serves as a reminder as well.  Keeping to it can be a pain occasionally but given stories I hear from parents of single kids, when a schedule is needed less, makes me glad for it overall.  It'll change soon enough, anyway.  Currently Carrie and I both are trying to re-incorporate time for exercise.  She's joining a city soccer league, and I'm trying to get the dog and myself back out into the desert more.  As the time changes I think we're both looking forward to more daylight, so things like after-dinner walks with the kids become more feasible.

Coolio

Put a deposit on refrigerated air install for next weekend. This summer we'll be coolerating in style.

Dad got in last night. Staying the weekend and doing a 5k with Carrie. And now we have and extra registration since Julie can't make it, so I might get enlisted to push the stroller.

Tonight, we Flament!

Flament!

We got the house refinanced on Friday.  The new lower rate is going to result in enough of a monthly difference to almost pay half of a car payment.

Speaking of cars, I sold the red truck.  Got less than I had settled on originally, but I call it a win since when the guy came to pick it up he had some trouble starting it and still drove off with it.

Julie and the kids came into town this weekend for the balloon rally.  The rally was ok, but mostly made everyone just want to go up to Albuquerque for the big one.

And I ran the first session of Lamentations of the Flame Princess.  I'll assume there was much and more lamenting going on by Ben and Amy, likely directed at wondering why they had agreed to play this lousy system.  There were little to no flames or princesses.  The characters had been dispatched to a crummy swamp town to bring back or find out what had happened to a merchant who had been dispatched there.  I tried to work in random tables a bunch and it seemed to work ok.  I did have some confusing moments trying to deal with a system that is not directly designed (and only kind of modded) for the type of play encouraged.  There were some generally unexpected and cool moments (both the characters getting mind whammied and almost murdered by a wacky cultist, Ben almost killing one of their friends/henchmen while trying to save the guy) though, and I'm planning on at least six sessions.  Need to do a recap write-up, to allay some of the inevitable, "what happened last time?"

Housings

Heard back from the bank about refinancing our house.  The deal's good to go, but the appraisal seems to have come in fairly low, which is not super happy news.  That means after being in the house for over 6 years we have very little equity, and not near enough to finally get out from under PMI.  The refinance should still reduce our mortgage payment in the short term, which was our goal in the first place, but the whole process has shed light on just how much the housing dump has hit us.  Again, we're not getting hit hard, but mostly because we're not planning on moving any time soon.
In other house news, we had some rain the other night and some dripped down the exhaust and shorted out the flame sensor on the furnace.  This meant we spent the night without heat.  We put a small electric heater in the kids room and bundled up.  I tried the furnace again in the morning just before I was going to call in for a repair and it had dried out and is working fine.  Need to get some folks out to give us some estimates on converting the place to refrigerated air, which would likely involve a furnace replacement as well.

Restarted Burrito Quest last Friday.  We're doing a vegetarian trek, what with Ben's dietary mores.  In the process of processing the recording I discovered that I had never posted the 12th episode from BQ3.  So, two recordings need to go up and I'm already almost a week behind.  More of the same.

Gaming last Friday was mostly us sitting around wondering what to game.  I offered to run something and Ben seemed intrigued by the opportunity to play again.  Going to run some Lamentations of the Flame Princess starting (maybe) on Friday.  Should be interesting as it's a old school D&D revision that really doesn't provide much in the way of specific and/or useful bits for how to run it.  I haven't run something that was strictly sandbox in, well, maybe never.  It'll be interesting to see how it goes.