I should probably go to bed now, and I will in a moment, but I just wanted to say that Ty Pennington has nothing on me.

I just finished scraping the paint off all the molding in the living room. I have been working at it since Sunday and today I started at 5:45 and just finished at 11. Scraping paint isn’t glamorous, but it is a necessary evil of redoing our house. Even while I am here scraping paint, D (and Albert) is also scraping paint from the molding that we took off the walls and they took to the lake.

The process involves a heat gun (think hair dryer and flame thrower in one) and a metal scraper. The heat produced from the gun melts the paint (and what ever is underneath) and then I just scrape it off. Seems pretty easy, but when you add where the paint is (near the floor, above my head, in corners, around curved structures) it can get pretty tricky.

And it can get very hot. Sometimes the paint will flick toward me and land on exposed skin causing small burns. I actually have a blister the size of a tic tac on my left arm from falling paint. I burned my right index finger today and had to stop for about 20 minutes to get it to cool down. (That actually worked out for me because I got two phone calls during that time.)

There is still more dirty work to do (sanding) before I can start with the fun stuff (priming and painting) but the hardest part, getting rid of the 6 plus layers of paint is finally over.

All Ty Pennington does is yell into a bull horn and tear stuff down.

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When I was single, he always came to court
He used to bring me flowers and he always was a sport
Now I am married and well, what do you think
He bought me an apron and he showed me to the sink?

Oh Lord, I wish I was a single girl again
Lord, I wish I was a single girl again
[da guys] Lord, we wish she was a single girl again
[da guys] Lord, we wish she was a single girl again

When I was single, I was jealous as a shrew
Of women and their babies, ’cause I wished I had one too
Now I have a baby. She’s as sweet as any rose
But aint it aggrivatin’ when you have to wipe her nose

Oh Lord, I wish I was a single girl again
Lord, I wish I was a single girl again
[da guys] Lord, we wish she was a single girl again
[da guys] Lord, we wish she was a single girl again

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Fuller and I are spending the week at Lake Martin, Al. We arrived last night (Saturday) and stayed up rather late as Fuller surveyed his new and interesting surroundings.

Eager to continue exploring my parents’ cabin, Fuller awoke at about 5:30 AM and insisted on being let out of his crib so he can get back to some serious playing.

In preparation for our visit, my parents tried to Fuller-proof the cabin, but I think they weren’t counting on how much he’s advanced since the last time they saw him (Christmas).

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This morning D & I were getting the house ready for Albert (D’s dad) to arrive and help with the final three windows in the never ending project of window restoration. (Really, it is a huge pain in the butt. But overall, totally worth it.)

As I was cleaning the dining room and D was gathering the materials and tools, D discovered a serious situation. We were three weights short.

Our windows are double hung and require 8 pound weights to help them go up and down and stay in their various positions- opened or closed. Each window requires four weights, and since we were three weights short that meant one window may not get restored yesterday.

I started calling various salvage & surplus stores, lumber yards, and even the Habitat for Humanity store. No one had the needed 8 pound cylinders. It was still early and the one salvage store that we figured we could count on was not answering its phone yet- Apex Surplus & Salvage on Dodds Ave. That store has everything and we decided to take a chance and just go over there.

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Last Friday Fuller must have found our secret lab of mind altering potions because ever since he woke up with that fever he has not stopped whining since. Well, at least not when I am at home.

Yesterday, I came home from work, walked in the back door and there was Fuller, standing by the gate to the kitchen, eating nilla wafers. I stopped, said, “Hi Fuller!” and he looked up, smiled and then in 1.3 seconds his smile disappeared and he started to “UNNNHHHNNNN” and contorted his body into tantrum mode (complete with full body fling to the floor). His actions made it seem like I had just denied him something he really, really, really wanted when in fact I had just walked in the back door.

He acts like he is hungry by going to his chair and trying to get in it. We put him in the chair, bestow him with gifts of food and drink, and he immediately wants to get out or not eat anything put in front of him.

It’s maddening really.

And these are just instances where the word “No” wasn’t even uttered.

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Yesterday the inevitable happened.

Yesterday TPTB at work blocked my access to this very site.

I knew this day would come, but I was still really, really sad when I got the “BLOCKED!” message instead of the fresh blue and green page you are currently reading.

I understand the reasoning behind the blocking of various web sites and frankly, I was kind of surprised that it took this long for it to get branded with the category “Messages and Clubs,” but it just drove home something that has been bothering me ever since I started back at the office full time.

When I scan my badge and walk through the sliding doors I get electronically cut off from my little world, and this really bothers me. I don’t get to follow the updates of my online friends and by the time I get home in the evening, the last thing I want to do is power up the laptop so that I can have quality browsing time with you. I wish I could log on to NPR.org and listen along with their programming but that pesky “Blocked” message comes up when I want to listen. I would prefer to spend my lunch break catching up with terrablogs and the latest happenings with my blogger friends, but alas I may just have to leave my cubicle at lunch and take a walk.

And someday, I will delete my bookmark from my work computer so that I quit going to a dead page. Just… not today.

Friday and Saturday Fuller suffered from high temps that just turned him into a cranky fuss-budget and life stopped to become focused on all things Fuller. Tylenol helped.

Sunday we stayed home in hopes that he wouldn’t infect other children and that other children wouldn’t infect him. However, today I decided with my all-knowing Mother’s Wisdom that the ailment was just that of the second molars causing irritation. Of course this was the ailment that D suggested on Saturday morning and I said, “No, he has all the teeth he is going to get right now.”

The evidence that I was wrong was when Fuller started trying to eat his own hand this morning for breakfast. The alligator tears streaming down his cheeks indicated that wasn’t helping.

I just hope he appreciates those molars the first time we give him peanut brittle (in a few years).

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So, like a good American, I’m watching the tournament Sunday afternoon (otherwise, the terrorist win), when Alli comes in and says, “Hey, Brad Pitt’s at the NCAA Tournament.”

“Huh?”, I ask.

Then she points it out, and I can’t believe I didn’t see it before:

So, who else noticed?

What’s really weird is that this was the next game:

So, three months after my scooter hit-and-run accident, my assailant’s first court date was this past Thursday. Lots of folks have asked about how things are going, so here’s the rather drawn-out latest chapter of the story:

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Jiggler2

Originally uploaded by sillyred.

Fuller’s second nap of the day allowed me to stretch my culinary skillz.

Yup, I conquered the jiggler. I don’t know why it didn’t work for me in the past, but these babies jiggle and wiggle and I can’t wait for Fuller to wake up so he can enjoy one.


(Click the Jiggler to get to the flickr photostream and see more jello and green rice krispie goodness.)