4 days until our daughter's dance party.

6 days until Paul leaves for Sturgis.

We have so much stuff to do!! Paul is DJing Kayley's party in our basement. And, being the perfectionist that he is, everything has to be JUST RIGHT. And he holds himself up to a ridiculously high standard, so he's running around trying to get stuff done and basically just driving me crazy.

He's making a cool illuminated sign to hang in the stairwell going down to the basement. It's basically a duplication of the sign he made for his friend's bar early this year, except instead of saying, "Bangles" it says, "Club Kayley." He even recycled the A, the L, and the E from the old sign! He's also trying to build some sort of stage, which I'm thinking...uh, overkill much? Yeah, we're doing karaoke, but it's also *in the basement*, where the ceiling is pretty low! Get those kids up on stage and they're going to be bumping their heads on the beams!

We've got all the music pretty much ready. We spent days going through our thousands of MP3s and compiling a tween-friendly playlist. Paul's got it all digitized and ready to go with his laptop DJ thing so he can mix stuff easily - this Hercules DJ thing counts the beats per minute and organizes the songs that way so it's easy to find a song to mix in that will be a good "fit."

And then of course, there's Sturgis. Paul's dad is going to be here for the party on Friday, and he's going to take Paul's suitcase with him to take in the chase vehicle so Paul doesn't have to pack so much on the bike. But that means Paul needs to get his act together and pack his stuff!

In addition to cleaning our entire house, I need to figure out some decorations for the party. I have K with me today, so we may run over to party city and take a looksee around there. Fun, fun, fun!

Labels: birthday party, sturgis

Thursday night, Paul was coming home kind of late. As he was pulling in the garage, he saw something dart across the garage floor. So, naturally, he FREAKED OUT, put the van in park in the driveway and ran to see what it was. It was a fat little salamander! So he called for me and I threw it in an ice cream bucket so the kids could check it out.

So, before I even found the lid for the bucket, Paul was hollering at me from the garage again. He found ANOTHER salamander in the garage! I was just laughing by then. Threw #2 in the bucket. I wasn't even in the house yet when Paul screamed, "Honey!! There's a frog in here, too! What the hell is going on?" He found the teeeeeniest, tiniest baby toad, and swept him into his dustpan, and I threw HIM in the bucket too.

So, the kids checked out our little herpetology collection for a few minutes, and Paul FREAKED OUT THE ENTIRE TIME. He was all, "Honey! Honey! It's going to get out! Stop! It's going to touch your finger! Honey! Get that lid on! Honey! Honey! You can't let that thing get out in here!" He was being such a GIANT PUSSY that I couldn't stop laughing. Mister "I grew up on the streets of L.A." isn't used to being around ANY creepy crawlies like that and he was acting just like a scared little girl!! TOO funny.

We let the kids look at them for a minute, and then *I* let them loose on the other side of the fence. Paul was cracking me UP - he was like, freaked out! He goes, "Why are they in my garage, honey? Why? What do they want?" "I've heard about stuff like this, crazy reactions to lightning and stuff makes animals have weird behavior!" I was like, "Yeah, it's the plague, honey! The end of the world is upon us! Hey, look out! There's Jesus behind you!" It was just, like, the funniest thing I've seen in SUCH a long time. Big tough Paul freaking OUT over a couple of salamanders and a tiny little toad, no bigger than a penny. I couldn't stop laughing at him, to the point where I was making noises to startle him as he was looking at them. It was SO FUNNY to see my big husband, who is intimidated by NO ONE, dancing around all scared of a couple of salamanders and a toad no bigger than my thumbnail!

I love it, love it, love it when Paul tells me stories about his boss, especially when he imitates his Russian accent. It just *cracks me up* every time. And, lest you think he's being a big meanie, he and his boss are super close friends, so any poking of fun isn't done behind his back, it's done right to his face. Ha! Paul's boss is from the Ukraine and has lived in the US for - oh, I'm thinking maybe a dozen years. He's taken English classes, and obviously, being a government employee, speaks English fluently - but, dude. I can barely understand him! Paul says a lot of people at work have trouble understanding him, too, and they're always turning to Paul for translation! It's a good thing his boss is so charming and funny, or people might get annoyed with it, you know?

I didn't realize it, but there are firms specializing in teaching language to business professionals, and people emigrating here from other countries can take Executive English courses to help them build their language skills. I'm pretty sure that's what Paul's boss did, although perhaps it's time for a refresher course.

You know what the funniest thing about all of it is? Paul's pretty much perfected the Russian accent, but whenever he has to tell any kind of story or joke where someone has an accent, he uses the same one - whether he's supposed to be British or Mexican or whatever. Paul's friends and I CONSTANTLY tease him about his "all-purpose accent!" I wonder if there's a class HE can take, to properly imitate people in other cultures? :-)

Paul rode his bike into the yard the other night to show us his awesome stereo installation! It came out so nice. I have better pictures of all THAT, which I will upload later. For now - aren't these the cutest kids you've ever seen all stuffed onto a motorcycle? Hehe!

Someone emailed me the other day asking about the sink Paul placed in our outdoor kitchen. It's just basically a little bar sink like you can find at any Home Depot or similar store. It's the perfect size to have outside on the barbecue, and honestly, I use it more often for rinsing sand off of sippy cups and filling the kids' toy watering cans than anything else!

I was checking out the bath plumbing fixtures on ShowerBuddy.com and they have a whole page of bar sinks, much fancier than the one we bought. I really like the round ones! They have lots of other sinks and fixtures, too - I was just daydreaming about how nice one of those shower heads with the multiple heads would be! We actually have two shower heads, but honestly - our setup is kind of ghetto. One of these days, we'll have to spring for something really nice!

Remember me posting the other day about that out-of-nowhere hailstorm? I finally got outside and checked out my pots over the weekend and my beautiful geraniums are just GONE. They have NO blooms on them whatsoever. I'm so annoyed! I knew I should have tried to drag them under the porch, but I don't think I could have done so in time for it to have made much of a difference.

I'm mostly annoyed because it seems like the hail was right over our neighborhood only! Like ZIGGY or something! My parents didn't even see much rain! Such a bummer. Hopefully there's enough summer left for them to bloom out again.

Paul installed the speakers on his bike yesterday and the amp, and he came rumbling into the backyard on the bike, surprising me and the kids. It was so funny to see their faces when they saw their daddy on a motorcycle coming up the path! And it came out SO great. It looks so tight. It's like it was meant to be part of the bike. The speakers look like part of the instrument panel. He did such a nice job installing it all!

And it freakin' CRANKS, too! I was surprised how clear it sounded over the rumble of the engine. I took pictures too - a bunch - and they're still on my camera. I was going to edit the pictures and post them here last night, but we had kind of a rough night. If you read my other blog, you probably saw that our little boy had an asthma attack last night and he had to go to the hospital in an ambulance. We didn't get home until the middle of the night, and I was SO tired today! (I'm writing all of this as if it's still Monday night, when it's actually Tuesday at 1 in the morning. Why the hell am I still up??)

I know, this isn't much of an update. I'm sorry. Pictures to follow! Tomorrow! (Today?)

Labels: motorcycle accessories, motorcycles, speakers, stereo

My enginerd has a big, milestone birthday coming up in about two months, and I would LOVE to get him a new digital camera. Those of you who know him have seen him with his tiny little digi around his neck at concerts and swimsuit contests and stuff like that. He has a fairly small Minolta Dimage he wears like a necklace almost when he's out doing stuff. I know he likes it because it's small enough to sneak into places you're not supposed to have a camera. He's had it for almost 5 years now, though, and the picture quality just isn't that great anymore. He keeps saying it's just the battery, and that if he'd replace it, the pictures would look less fuzzy. I'm sure that's true, but it's only a 2 megapixel camera! It's not going to get TOO much better, y'know?

I love drooling over these Nikon cameras. Our good friend and photographer Courtney uses a big, badass Nikon and the pictures she's taken of our kids with it are just amazing. Now that's about ten times more camera than Pauly needs, but maybe we could find a happy medium somewhere!

Do you have a camera you love? Give me some suggestions!

See, my crafty man can even make a clever disguise out of a Del Taco bag. Hehe! This was such a silly night. There are lots more pictures like this on Flickr; check 'em out.

Hey, did you hear about that fatal shooting at our state capitol the other day? Paul and I were just stunned to find out that a government building didn't have metal detectors or anything like that in place. Evidently, they did put in metal detectors in 2002, after 9/11 happened, but they took them out in the interest of an open door policy for the people and their government. After some nut came in with a gun the other day, though, they're changing their tune. We just saw on the news last night that they already have metal detectors in place, even though the public and tourists can still basically walk around the building unsupervised. I don't know how I feel about that, really! I LIKE going places, knowing that people are getting patted down and checked for weapons. I don't think I'd like working in a government building like that without the added security in place - I'll bet those capitol employees are feeling a little safer now.

We had a short and sweet storm last night - it only lasted about 20 minutes, but it POURED rain, lit up the sky with lightning, and dropped pea- to marble-sized hail. I haven't ventured out to see if there was any damage, but I've got my fingers crossed that it just knocked a few leaves off the trees and didn't tear up my flowers too badly.

I was outside with the kids today taking pictures of completely random stuff and I decided it would be kind of fun to do a little series here showcasing all my very favorite outdoor projects we've done here. I'm going to get right on it, as soon as I find my camera. Ack! I was just taking pictures of the kids on the sofa a little while ago, and *poof* - it's gone. But, stay tuned.

I titled this part 1, because I don't actually have PICTURES yet, and what's a story without pictures, really?

Paul is going to Sturgis in less than a month, and he's spent the past few weeks fabricating stuff for his bike. He made a little holder for his Palm/iPod where he can actually change songs while driving. He also made a really cool cup holder for his bottled water out of - get this - those ring things that you have on your garbage disposal! I cracked UP when I saw his cup holder - it says, "In Sink-Erator" on it! Ha!!

I think he just put that on there to be funny, though - I doubt if it'll be a permanent thing. And, just like all his little homemade gadgets, everything looks just like it was factory installed. He doesn't have any ghetto-looking stuff, which I think is pretty cool.

So, stay tuned for pictures of all his nifty stuff. He's installing his new bike speakers and amp tonight.

Labels: motorcycle accessories, motorcycles, sturgis

We've been spending so much time in our backyard, more so than any of the previous years we've lived here. The kids are finally at an age where they really enjoy running around in the grass and driving their little Cozy Coupes. And I'm really appreciating all the hard work Paul put into our yard. It's awesome just sitting out on the patio, under the pergola he built, listening to music on the outdoor speakers he installed, grilling chicken on our barbecue that's part of the outdoor kitchen he designed and constructed. I'm a lucky girl!

I keep thinking of new things we need to get to make it even cozier out there. Last year we got some solar powered light bowl things that hang from chains - they're so pretty! I was checking out all the funny stuff at Online Discount Mart - I really seriously think we need a Solar Garden Gnome, don't you? The site is offering a 10% discount for online shoppers through the summer, too.

Here's a quick little story that will illustrate exactly how the Enginerd and his wifey are different.

We're on the freeway; I'm singing along with that old Indigo Girls song on the radio, the one that goes, "I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains, I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains..." Okay, not the greatest song ever, but it's one of those you can't help but sing along to.

Apparently the big burly trucker in the semi next to us thought so too, because HE was singing along as well! I was like, "That is WEIRD! He's singing along to the Indigo Girls!" And Paul goes, "That IS weird - why is he listening to a local station? It's almost unheard of for a trucker to not have satellite radio!"

Obviously, we're just on completely different wavelengths!

Paul and I moved around all the stuff up in our finished attic over the weekend, trying to create some extra play space for the kids. We completely rearranged and the kids have a HUGE area in the center of the room where they can push their little shopping carts and drive their little cars. I had to help Paul move our big sectional sofa back about six feet and holy HELL, that thing is a beast! I was just thinking about all of this when I saw these Forearm Forklifts - check out that picture!! Two chicks just effortlessly lifting A SOFA in the air. I cracked up when I saw it! Is that for real? If it is, I think I need a set of those. And I'll also take one of those Driveway Alarms, thank you!

I can't stop looking at that site - I'm so addicted to weird little gadgets! I used to LOVE getting those funky catalogs in the mail full of stuff your grandma would buy, y'know, like those elastic things that hold your sheets on and the robot arm for getting cans of soup off the high shelves and the beer hats and all that stuff. This site is almost the equivalent of that catalog!

I hate our ice maker. It just can't keep up with our massive demand for ice. Actually, we hardly use any ice at all, but it's always empty. I used to blame my crazy mother-in-law, because when she lived with us, she sat around eating ice by the glassful all day long. She's been gone for months now, though, and we still have no ice. Maybe the ice maker suffered permanent damage from overuse all those months she lived here, though!

I've been seriously bitching about it for weeks now, and I think it's starting to get to Paul. He actually looked up some stuff about it today, and fiddled with some of the settings to see if it would change anything. It SEEMS like maybe it made a LITTLE more ice today. It's still pitifully slow at making ice, though. And he was saying you're somehow supposed to calibrate the freezer with a glass of oil, leaving it in there for 5 hours and checking the temp with a thermometer, then making adjustments, then watching the oil for another 5 hours...who has time for all that nonsense?? Have you EVER done anything like that when you bought a new fridge? I'm guessing not. I'm guessing, like the rest of the population, you plugged the mofo in and waited a few hours and then enjoyed a glass of ice water.

I'm so sick of buying bags of ice! I hope Paul can fix this thing and make it work right. If he doesn't, you can expect to read the most scathing blog entry in history, condemning Amana and all their products!

Labels: amana lame icemaker

I was supposed to meet up with a girlfriend and her little one at the mall the other day and she didn't show up - I was worried about her, because it's not at all like her to flake out on me, and when she didn't answer her cell, I was REALLY worried that she'd been in an accident or something. Well, she wasn't, but she was pretty rattled when I finally did talk to her: she had locked her keys in her car - with the baby inside! Thank GOD the engine was running, so the AC was on, but still - she was freaking out! She said she called 911 and the fire department was there in moments, and popped her door right open.

While she was telling me her story, I was almost getting goosebumps! That is one of my biggest fears as a mom. Every day, when I stop to get the mail, I roll down my driver's side window as I'm getting out, just in case some weird electrical thing happens and the doors lock spontaneously while I'm at the mailbox, and the kids are all sitting inside the van.

I've been hearing about this happening a lot lately, for some reason. Paul was laughing, telling me about three separate occasions at his work within the span of about two weeks where people locked their keys in their cars. He's led a...let's just say interesting life and has a colorful past, so he is actually *really* good at getting into locked cars. I think after the third time he got someone's door open, though, people were starting to question where he acquired his lock picking expertise!

I haven't had to ever call a locksmith, but I can appreciate how scary it is to be locked out. The kids locked me out in the backyard one day, but I just ripped the screen and got back in. I wouldn't HESITATE to call up a locksmith, though, if I couldn't get in safely on my own or if my kids were in danger or something. I was just checking out Miami Locksmith and was really impressed with the services they offer. They are available 24/7, and they guarantee a 15 minute response time. They can get you back into your car, home, or business in a matter of minutes. In addition to locksmith services, they also install and maintain security systems. I wonder if they have an affiliate company in Denver?