Holiday Road

What would summer be without the a good old American Road Trip? Nothing. So with that in mind I roused the children and loaded up the family truckster.



We pointed the car due south and decided to see what we could see. We faced some challenges: we were racing the rising waters of the mighty Mississippi south and all of my references to Vacation were falling on deaf ears as my dear wife to be has never seen the movie.

Agast, at this obvious oversight and really wondering if she could ever really understand me if she had never seen the movie I planned to base our child rearing on, I began to try and find a way to ask her to screen this masterpiece prior to us tying the knot. As we passed through southern Illinois my mind was racing. We decided that, in order to avoid the rising waters of the Mississippi as we passed out of Illinois we should divert from U.S. Interstate 57 and take U.S. Interstate 24 toward Paducha, KY (You will understand the need for detail later). As previously stated, I was off in my own world and not paying too much attention to what was going on (yes, I was driving). And then as if she were meant for me, it happened. She said, Keeler the next exit is for Metropolis, IL and they have a 30 ft. statue of Superman. OMG, OMG, OMG. With the eagerness of a boy whose father just gave him a nickle to buy a coke down at the soda shop (you like the nostalgia??) I drove to the next exit and followed the signs for the giant Superman statue. The road was winding and actually much further off the exit than one would think but we made it. Typical to any good small Midwestern town, the town hall sat in the middle of a large square with all (read 4) roads arriving at the hall at one of the four corners. As you enter the square, his head can just be scene over the top of the two story town hall. As you make the first corner he casts a glorious shadow over the courtyard in the front of the building. As you make the second corner, there he is. Your welcome for the details.




Metropolis, IL promises a giant Superman statue and Metropolis, IL delivers. We took our time taking it all in, OK just me, but Kelly had fun laughing at me. We browsed the museum, took some souvenir photographs, and Gatsby tried to pee on the town's volunteer of the year award monument.

By the way, I later learned that Metropolis, IL has a newspaper, and it is none other than....

The Daily Plant. Isn't that freakin awesome, and even better the grandmother of a guy I work with used to work for the paper. No her name is not Lois.

Kelly didn't see the clinched fists, otherwise she would have looked much tougher.

I think I look pretty freakin tough.

We blew out of town and grabbed a Sonic on the way. For those readers who are not Southern, Sonic is a fast food joint but they have these drinks called Cherry lime-aids. Anyway, Southerns and those of us who associate with them, love them. The North, who knows why, does not have Sonics and thus when one is found, it is stopped at.



We continued our trip for its intended purpose of going to Corinth to plan our wedding and managed to pull that off fairly successfully. We are still short a place to actually get married but everything else is cool. The place will hopefully be one of two great little chapels in Corinth. They are currently racing to see which on will finish its construction on its sanctuary so it can host our wedding. OK, that isn't true. We are waiting, but we have some calls in and have mobilized the local women groups who meet in the sanctuary to start yelling at the church board that decided to shut the place down. Anyone who knows anything knows that angry old women can get some crap done. Especially when they are complaining to old men who are just too damn tired to listen to it.



That is my rant for the time being. Have a good one. And remember to keep fighting for "Truth, Justice and the American Way"

You can do it, Put your back in to it

Some may be wondering about the odd choice of blog titles. Fear not good friends. The poetic lyrics of Ice Cube not only make incredible booty shaking music, but they also describe Kelly and my last few weeks. We will start this journey with our trip to Destin, FL (booty shaking).

Known for its white sand beaches, clear water, and multiple Robert Trent Jones Jr. golf courses, Destin, FL aka. the Redneck Riviera, is also the sight of the annual Policy Punisher's reunion. For those of you who don't know who the Punisher's are, we will save that story for another time. Back to the matter at hand. Kelly and I, along with about 14 of our friends from Washington DC descended on Destin for the Memorial Day weekend. Fun was had by all and a huge thanks to the Goudeau's for allowing us to stay in their condos and cooking some of the best dang Gumbo and Healthy Pancakes (they are fried and they are spectacular) a person could ask for. We spent a few days on the beach, I played a couple rounds of golf (Fred Couples got a bit cocky on the GPS but we were able to over look it), Kelly shopped, and everyone enjoyed Memorial Day at crab island, punctuated by 4 fly byes by 4 F-15s in formation.





Dinner on Sunday night was spent at AJ's. It took a bit of time to get seated so we enjoyed some cocktails on the upstairs deck. After suffering through one of the worst winters I have ever seen, it was great to sit outdoors and enjoy some drinks.
















On Memorial Day the crew rented a few pontoon boats and despite our best efforts managed to find our way to the infamous crab island for a day of fun and sun. Our fearless leader decided it would be nice to take a trip around the bay before settling into our spots at crab island. Our pontoon took on a good bit of water but Captain Connors piloted us to safety. It would not be long after 1 pm when the good times began to roll.


First a bit about crab island. It is a rather large area in the bay that ranges from 3-6 ft deep. Basically, everyone anchors their boat, breaks out the beer, footballs, grills, etc and parties like its 1999. Those of you who know me, know I can't party like its 1999 anymore but I supported the efforts very well. Above was one of my greater contributions to the weekend. The floating beer bucket, seen here being enjoyed by Mr. Page. And again, below by Mr. Karr. In this picture we have tied the bucket to Mr. Karr because the group was going on a walk around crab island.

A good time was had by all. We dominated the whitest boat contest. The one guy who actually looks a little tan lives in Milwaukee, what the crap is that. Fellas, we really need to get out of the offices a bit more.

So that was Memorial Day weekend, we followed that up with a weekend of backbreaking work in the front yard (see above Ice Cube reference, get it, I thought so I just wanted to make sure). As the previous post showed, we decided evergreen bushes weren't our thing a long time ago and decided to make some changes. Well, we finally figured out how we wanted to get started. Here I am putting my back in to it.

So on Saturday morning, very early since our dogs have decided it is not really necessary to sleep past 6 am on the weekends. As I write this, I am listening to both of them snore. Jerks. But it did get us to Home Depot before most people had even had their morning coffee. Kelly picked out all the plants and they look great. I provided the back for digging. In economics I believe they call that comparative advantage. Not great for me, but hey we all do what we can. We worked most of Saturday and some of Sunday to get it mostly done. We have yet to put the edging in but we are having fun doing it. Just having the sun on our face and seeing how well the house is coming together provides us both with a great sense of fulfillment.

After getting the plants in the ground we added the weed protector and then the mulch. The grass is also coming along very nicely.

And as we wrap up for the night because I am really freakin tired a full frontal shot of the house. For the nonobservant ones, the awning that was over our bedroom window is now gone. It takes about 20 years of the house and it wasn't even that hard to get down. I am just thankful we have a superb scrapping crew here in Chicago/Oak Park. You put some metal out by your trash and someone will come haul it away.

Trip to Wrigley

Big Z vs. Junior
Ok, so Griffrey is a bit past his prime. It was still fun to see him play and in this case bat against the Cub's Carlos Zambrano.

Hey, it has only been a week so there isn't a whole lot to report on. The past week the city of broad shoulders has basked in the warmth of the sun's rays. The mercury edged up past the 70 mark 3 times this week if you count today. It is a much welcome and in many ways needed development. So with the weather being so nice we found some outdoor activities to fill the week. Actually, mid-week we got incredibly fortunate and received an invitation to the Cubs game from Brian and Erica. It was Kelly's first trip to Wrigley and Brian and the Cubs didn't disappoint. The seats, Brian got them, were six rows behind home plate and the Cubs won by almost 10 runs. I ate a big bag of peanuts which added to how impressed she was with the whole experience. A big thank you to Brian and Erica.

When Saturday rolled around we decided it would be a good idea to take out the bushes the previous owners allowed to take over the front yard. It all started well with the branches and what not coming down very easily. Even the first of the three stumps came out fairly quickly. It is when we hit the second and largest stump that we began to question our ability to accurately estimate the amount of work these house projects take. It took just about everything both of us had to get that thing out. The hatchet got lots of work as did the branch trimers. Who knew these bushes had such huge root systems. Either way, we would not be denied and the bushes are gone. I have provided some before and after pictures for your enjoyment. We got about a 6x12 area now to play with. Some will go grass, the rest planted with plants yet to be determined.

Correction!!

I was informed by my brother that it is in fact not he who keeps up the blog but instead Brooke. I was wondering why the writing was so good, just kidding Tim. A big thanks to Brooke from us as we love seeing pictures of the little one. All of a sudden I feel much better about myself and my lack of posting. Hey, look at that. Two posts in a week. I guess I will see you all in June.

Workie, Workie, Busy Bee (I lie)

Life has just been hectic lately. I had to get a haircut and go to the dentist, all last week. As a result I have been unable to keep up the frantic pace of updating this blog once a month. Its tough to imagine that my brother is able to handle a new born, running his own business, is a volunteer firefighter, and he still updates his blog more than me. I guess the busy excuse kind of falls apart. Well, I am just lazy. Not that any of you were buying that I was too busy excuse. Anyway, Kelly has been busy traveling for work so I guess that is my excuse.

But enough of my rambling. Let's move on to what has happend to the little American Four Square at 330 N. Humphrey Ave. We have taken the past month or so to do some decorating. Which means a lot of walking around stores looking for stuff. Stuff that doesn't do anything, it just looks nice. So it does do something, it makes the house feel like a home.

The picture below shows the newly painted door that leads to the half bath. For fun, scroll back a few blogs and see how far everything has come. The bathroom is where we found the refridgerator when we moved into the house. We really like this color, it is the same we have used upstairs. The beautiful shade to the left was made for us by Kelly's mom. It brings a ton of colors and a touch of elegance to the office.

As the door swings open, over the light switch of course because we forgot about the whole turning the lights on part when we put the switch in, you will find our beautiful half bath. It has a basket for magazines and everything. What a great room.

This is the bathroom window. We kept the old ice door. We think it looks wonderful.

Returning back to the room the bath is off of, our up and coming home office. The federal government is kind enough to allow us to work from home on occation so we thought it would be nice to have a comfortable place to do this. The shade on the top of this window is again made by Kelly's mom and really goes on top of the other window. But we have it here for now. We love waving to Nolan (our neighboors 6 year old) while he is eating and all but occationally we want some privacy. The room has a lot of junk still piled in it from this weekends work but if I had to move all of that before I took pictures for the blog it would not have been updated for another month. The room has our desk, computer and a small chair for reading or sitting. We have recently learned that we have a bird's nest in the old stove's exhaust vent. It is a bit odd but we will wait until this fall before we fill it up. I am fairly mean, but not that bad.

This is the opposite wall in the office. We hung three pictures here, each of which is special. One is of the cherry blossoms along the tidal basin in Washington, DC. that I took the spring before we moved. One is of the steeple of the Old North Church in Boston that I took during our trip to visit friends, and the last is a picture Kelly took of tulips she had outside of our first apartment together. Cheesy, maybe but Kelly will punch you in the throat if you make fun.

We also painted the small room between the living room and the office. The door to the basement is in this room. We went with Mississippi State Maroon to remind us that not all places have such awful winters as Chicago does. A little bit more trim work and this area will be done. And yes those are baby gates. But fear not, they are to keep Gatsby in the office during the day.

So after a long day of painting and week in New Orleans Kelly relaxed with the dogs. They love their mom.

Inch by inch

Keeping up our blistering once a month blog update, we need to start with the most impressive news. On January 4, Tim and Brooke welcomed Teagan Alise Keeler into the world. She weighed an impressive 7 lbs 13 oz and was 20 inches long. By the time her uncle got around to posting her birth on the blog, he is told she is adding weight at an impressive pace and has quite the set of lungs. In the picture shown she is about a month old. Isn't she gorgeous? Congrats to Tim and Brooke, we are so happy for you both and are excited to have Teagan as our niece.








Now on to 330 N. Humphrey and the all the trials and tribulations it has brought. We are getting closer to the end. There is still a good amount of painting to do and a small amount of plumbing but for the most part the house functions and we don't have to spend every waking moment working on the place. Below are some pics of the progress.



A working crapper. I can't tell you how nice it is to have the half bath up and running. Well...for the most part. The sink is yet to be plumbed so that doesn't work, but the toilet does and we all know that is most important. No more running upstairs every time one has to use the bathroom. That and two toilets are always better than one.



Below is a picture of one of the windows in the old kitchen. We had a few problems with the painters tape. Mainly it kept taking the paint off. But we were able to overcome those challenges and with a few extra coats got the room painted. I also discovered that painting a ceiling results in plenty of paint speckles on one's glasses.








Ok, I have been a bit delinquint in ordering the stove hood so that is why there is a blank spot above the backsplash. The backsplash almost caused Kelly and I to split (not really) but we cut some things off it and gerryrigged some wires and everything turned out ok. The light even works which I truly thought out of reach for quite a while. The new stove is pretty sweet, very much enjoying the convection. The first weekend it was in we made the biscuits we bought back in August before we realized that the old oven didn't work. There has never been a better tasting biscuit. I lie David, your's are better but these had sentimental value. You were there when we bought those biscuits and couldn't make them. It was pretty upsetting.









So here is the sink area all finished. The trim is painted, the lights are up, the hotwater dispenser is in, but still no dishwasher. That is a story for another day but to make a long story short, the new one is damaged beyond repair and we are saving for a replacement. The damage happened during delivery. Who would have thought you should turn your new dishwasher upside down to inspect it before signing for it? Live and learn, I suppose.






Here is a picture from the living room looking toward the back. It turned out pretty darn close to what we wanted.


























So with much of the work completed we have begun filling the house with the things that make a house a home. These shelves are in the kitchen, on the south wall toward the back. This kind of stuff really helped warm up the house and as much as I dislike putting shelves up, I am enjoying watching it all come together. Of course, now we have to buy all this "stuff."


Finally, the paint is creeping its way upstairs. The same color that is in the living room goes up the staircase and is the color of the upstairs landing area and hallway. We need a second coat upstairs but we are getting close.

Holy Crap, we are almost done

Christmas in Mississippi

Back by popular demand, the 330 N. Humphrey rehab project blog makes a comeback. I know we have been away for a long time but we comeback with a huge amount of progress. Since our last update we have finished putting drywall up, mudding and taping that drywall, trimming out the windows, and have almost finished painting. We decided we needed to speed things up so we hired a contractor and his crew to help us out. While we were in Missississippi for Christmas they drywalled the mudroom and half bath and did the trim work. Although it took longer than expected they did good work and we were able to start the final phases when they left.

The Mud Room

We are still not sure what this room holds for us. We decided to put some wainscoting up around the bottom half of the walls so we could use the room more for the dogs. Right now the idea is home office with some space for the dogs. We think the wainscoting will help us keep the room clean. Here is a picture of Kelly scraping off some of the old paint on the window trim so we can start painting them. As you can see at this point the the room has been primed.

The mud room looking back at what will soon be the new half bath.

Here is the same window but with our paint on it. The ceiling and crown molding has not been painted yet but we are getting there.

Here is a picture of the wainscoting. The chair rail is not painted yet. It will be the same color as the wainscoting below it.

The Kitchen:

We are so excited about this room because it is the largest of the project rooms and without it we have eaten more spaghettios than any adult should be subject to eating. Below is a picture of the new window that is over the sink. The trim isn't painted yet but the rest is. The lights in the soffit make the top look lighter than under the cabinets but it is the same color.

One side of the kitchen. We are ordering the hood for over the range.

The other side of the kitchen.

Sweetness, we have running water in the kitchen, what a concept. In case you don't have it, I recommend it. We had it through the refrigerator a while ago but that still left us without a sink. Over the weekend we had that hooked up and now we can do dishes and everything. It is pretty cool. Kelly did a great job on the whole thing. She designed it all, picked out all the colors and materials, and did a heck of a lot of physical work on the project. And yes those are dirty dishes in the sink. I never thought I would be so proud of having dishes in the sink.

Here is the new window in the back. We put the table under it and were able to eat at it for the first time tonight. Sconces will fill the holes to on each side. It is fun to watch the dogs play through this window.

The countertops.

The living room

This room creates problems because it does not have insulation in its walls, it faces west, and it is where our thermostat resides. In trying to better regulate the heat in the house we got a programmable thermostat. It is doing better but that room is still much cooler than the rest of the house so occasionally the upstairs will be a tropical upper 70s while that room is in the low or mid 60s.

We also painted this room but still have to finish the trim in here as well. The shades are also new. They aren't Kelly's long term preference for the room but we needed something for privacy and to help insulate the old windows. Well, I will try to keep up as we finish up. Hopefully the pictures help.