Getting Further Away!

Well, my last blog was discussing the fact that the Lyric's birth was getting closer and closer, but now I must announce that it is getting further away. You may be asking yourself how could this be possible, but I doubt it. I'm sure that you've figured out that the reason it's getting further away is because HE WAS BORN! YAY!He was born at 2:10 Saturday afternoon. He weighed in at 6 lbs. 13 oz. and was 20" long. There were some complications with the birth, though. Jodi fully intended on having him completely natural without any medication. Everything was progressing well, too. She toughed it out for hours and she made it all the way to being...

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Getting Closer!

Jodi started having contractions last night. She's been having Braxton Hicks contractions for some time which according to Wikipedia they may start as early as 6 weeks, but they are generally so light that the mother-to-be doesn't even notice them. It also mentioned how they have since found out that Braxton Hicks are much less noticible during exercise. That explains why when I just got off the phone with Jodi she said they weren't as bad now. No, she's not exercising. She's working! She cuts hair for a living and does a great job even when 9 months pregnant! So, I could go on and on about how awesome of a lady she is, but then I'd start...

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Useless Information (part three)

A rat can last longer without water than a camel.Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks or it will digest itself.A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the botoom of the glass to the top.A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate. If pretty much every mammal goes into "heat", do people?Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying. Chewing gum while getting broken up with by your boyfriend/girlfriend, however won't really help.During the chariot scene in Ben Hur a small red car can be seen in the distance which is only half as funny...

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Power is back!

After I got home from work yesterday I fired up the generator just long enough to have my neighbor come out and tell me that City Utilities had restored the power and that it should be back on. So, I quickly de-hardwired the generator, put my electric meter back on, and flipped the main breaker to find out that indeed the power was back on. Yay!So, with power again, I played for several hours on the internet toying with different things including the links list on the side of my blog. I personalized all my boring links with a cool graphic button. It took a while, but I think it was well worth it. I've got to keep things interesting around...

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Kryptonice

Every superhero has a weakness. Superman has his kryptonite. Batman has his unprofessionally explored lingering emotional trauma from losing his parents to a young Joker. Rogue has her teenage hormone-driven need for a boyfriend that won't die from her twisted Midas touch. And Jodi and I have our ice.Ice has left us powerless now for a week as of tonight. The good news is that ice also has a weakness. Our solar system's yellow sun. Which, ironically, is the source of Superman's super powers. See how everything comes full circle? Like rock, paper, scissors!Anyway, the power is still not on, but we do have a generator which is better that...

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Ice Storm Slideshows

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Ice Attack!

"Ice Attack!" was the huge, bold headline on the front of the News-Leader yesterday. Attack is right, too. It's crazy. Our street looks like a warzone. Anyway, I'll have pictures and more details later. We've had no power for the thrid day now, so I haven't been able to do anything online. When the power comes back on I'll tell the whole story. Lat...

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Passed Inspection

Yesterday held a few surprises during the inspection of the house. First, we got in the house and found out that the water was not turned on despite the fact that all the utilities were to be turned on during the inspection period. So, I call our realtor, who calls the seller's agent, who calls the seller, who tells the seller's agent that they are turned on, but that we have to turn them on at the meters. The message gets back to us and we proceed to turn the water on at the underground meter by the street. I go inside to check for leaks and I could hear water which is always a bad sign. I run upstairs to find the leak in the bathroom....

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House Update!

Last week we made an offer on the house that we wanted. The counter-offer came back yesterday morning and we signed our approval of it last night which makes this deal officially under contract! We are now in the process of buying the house as opposed to just making offers and such. So, now comes the work. We have three days to get the appraisal scheduled (which our banker should be doing for us today) and ten days to get the appraisal and inspections done. We've been blessed with great family members, though. My step-dad volunteered to perform the inspections at no cost whatsoever! He's going to meet us tommorrow after I get off work...

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Emasculating Party

I've learned something new here recently. Apparently, society (and by "society" I mean a bunch of women) has invented another new custom. As I'm told, it is widely understood that many men are to have a "Diaper/Wipes party" while their spouses are at a baby shower. The father-to-be throws this party and the invites bring a package of diapers and-or wipes.To the guys reading this, let me ask you a question. Does a Diaper/Wipes party sound like one of those parties that you look forward to or one of those parties that you are regrettably unable to attend because you have to do a lot of work around the house that day? I completely understand...

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Try, try again.

Well, here we are again. In the middle of last month we put in an offer on a house that we decided we liked a whole lot. We really wanted this house and we felt that it was everything that we were looking for and definitely a keeper. The owner took his time mulling it over and finally decided to counter-offer with a not-so-unreasonable offer, but had put a time frame on the counter-offer that was definitely unreasonable. He only gave us 14 days to close. When you subtracted out the two weekends and the Christmas holiday, that only left us with about 8 working days to get the house appraised, inspected, and closed. In all likelihood, our...

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Coffee Beaners

Some time ago, a co-worker told me how he bought a coffee bean roasting company down in Ozark. Being a coffee drinker, I was immediately intrigued. When I expressed my interest in possibly becoming a customer he said that he would bring me some samples. He did more than that, though. He let me borrow a fancy electric coffee bean grinder and he gave me an array of samples including Columbian Supremo, Mexican, Guatemalan, French Roast, Espresso, and Sumatra. They were all great. We were hooked. We made him our dealer and business has been booming. We went right out and bought a fancy grinder for ourselves. Jodi, then bought me an awesome...

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