Just for Fun

Since our last blog, approximately 5 weeks ago, we have undertaken a few new projects around the house and one fairly large life project. Now I must confess, we really didn't do a lot of the work involved with the house projects, aside from writing checks, but that was mostly because the life project is somewhat of a large undertaking. You see, we got MARRIED last weekend. Yes, the fearless undertakers of the projects listed on this blog are now a legitimate, legally recognized couple. With all the tax disadvantages that come with it. Before the women readers get too excited and start scanning for pictures let me say there are none on this blog. We don't have any yet and no one who took any has sent us any, hint hint. I will regale you with the tale of that weekend when I have pictures to assist in my story telling. Until then, call Kelly I am sure she would be happy to tell you all about it.

So that let's us know what you have been up to for one weekend you say, what the heck have you been doing that hasn't allowed you to keep the blog up to date. Well, we had a new deck built, refinished the floors on the first floor and had new windows put in the front room. So take that. The deck was yet another Oak Park beat down handed to the residents of 330 N. Humphrey. Apparently the good civil servants at the Village pick a few neighborhoods to walk around in each year to look for potential "violations" of the building code. For example, one of these fine individuals may walk down the side of your house and pear into the back yard, might even open up your fence and go in the back yard, and see that your deck has some peeling paint. Well, peeling paint is a violation and must be corrected. In this case you may get a letter telling you to correct the violation within 30 days. Invasive some might say, but those of us who live in the Village just smile and are happy to see our tax dollars at work. I mean, who wants salt on the roads this winter when you can pay to have people walk your neighborhood to tell you what is wrong with your house.


You may have sensed the sarcasm in the last paragraph. I hope so because I was laying it on pretty thick. You also may have guessed that the above example was taken from my life. You would also be correct. But only if you had been to the famed 330 N. Humphrey would you know that scrapping the peeling paint off of the old deck to paint over it would actually cause the railing to fall off. Although I am suspicious about it just "falling" off, you see Kelly was also the one working on scrapping the paint when the railing just "fell " off (see above post). Anyway, instead of trying to salvage the rotting piece of crap of a deck we had we hired a crew to rip it down and build us a new one.

After a solid 2 week battle royal with the Village about the permit, nothing is easy in this town, they had us a new beautiful deck built in 3 days. Sorry, I will put finished pictures up in the next posting. It was just in time to because our little Daisy girl was beginning to worry us. We weren't sure what was wrong until the new deck was ready for use. Only then did we realize that she had been acting the way she was because she didn't have a deck to sit on. At some points we actually thought we were going to have to take her to the vet she was acting so different. Little thing just wanted a deck to sit on, and no "thing" wasn't my first choice of words, but this is a family blog so we keep it G rated.

The deck was complete about 2 weeks before the wedding so we had a little time to enjoy it. That and enough time to decide we should probably have the floors refinished and replace the front windows while we were in Corinth for the wedding. Yeah, were really bright aren't we. Sometimes I wonder, what is smarter, me or the kitchen table. Anyway, we also hired this out so our physical effort wasn't all that great. We did have to move all of our furniture into the basement or second floor the two days before we left for the wedding. Just a nice way to relax before the big day. However, the results are completely worth it. Check out the pics.








Ok, this is getting long and the Cubs are now down 7 to 2 in Game 1 of the NLDS so my patience is pretty much gone. As a result, this blog posting is pretty much done. As stated, we got married this past weekend. Sept. 27, 2008. I would appreciate any efforts any readers would make to remind me as this date approaches in the coming years. We don't have pictures but I promise to write more about it later. But basically, Kelly made me the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.


The church where we got married.


Judy and David's (Kelly's mother and boyfriend) house in Corinth.

Our babies hanging out on the front porch.

So we wanted a new toilet

And we got a new bathroom, well kind of. Now looking at the picture above, many of you may be saying, why do you want a new bathroom, the one you have is gorgeous. Well, the pink toilet cover and towel were just starting to make me feel a bit feminine. That and the bar of Zest was out so we figured why not. Ok, those came down a long time ago but this picture provides a nice contrast to what you will see below. A couple of weeks ago we decided that our upstairs toilet's inability to flush consistently was no longer acceptable. I mean, the American way says that each successive generation will have a higher standard of living that the one before it and my parents are old, but they had toilets that flushed. That and can you imagine the day it decides to not flush and we have a guest over, that is just embarrassing. So, despite its admirable efforts a few weekends ago while we had some family in town, the old toilet got the hook.

And now the fun begins. As those of you who regularly, well at least as often as I update this, read the 330 N. Humphrey improvement blog know this grand house was built in the early 1920s and has had only 3 owners (including us). The previous owners held on to this beaut for 56 years and as far as I can tell last did some updating of the place about 55 years ago. I digress. So as we ripped off the old toilet, you can see from the nasty picture it didn't come off easily, we brought some of the 2 layers of linoleum flooring with it. Well that gave Kelly all the excuse she needed to rip up the rest of the flooring. So as we are about to finish up she looks at me and says, "if we are going to rip up the floor we have to get it all and that means taking out the vanity to get what is under it." Now at the time, this seemed like a logical step to me. Hindsight being 20/20, this was quite possibly the worst idea we have had yet. Because, wait for it.....

As we had all but the back of the vanity removed from the bathroom, the drain pipe fell from the wall. It didn't get yanked or unscrewed, it FELL out. In fact I wasn't even in the room and Kelly was cleaning part of the floor. Knowing I would be o so happy about this, Kelly almost didn't let me back in the bathroom. Putting my best forensic scientist skills forward I concluded that the only thing that had been holding it on was the nasty build up in the pipes. I took pictures but for the children, have decided against posting them. Instead, I offer you a picture of the tile we found made up our floor.

O' Happy Day, this now meant we needed a plumber to fix this and he, I would include an "or she" here but I know the plumber who came over and he was a he, would need the wall down to get to the pipe he would need to in order to fix this. At this point, anyone working for or who has relatives working for the Village of Oak Park must stop reading. If you choose to continue you are agreeing not to turn us in for unpermited work. Well, there is nothing Kelly and I have more experience at than pulling down plaster walls. So we took the walls down, well mostly we were lucky enough to be able to stop about half way up due to an unexpected piece of wood allowing for a nice clean break in the plaster. Ok, not clean but close enough. If you don't remember what bare walls look like please refer to earlier postings of this blog, may I suggest the October 5 and 14 postings. They offer a wide variety of images and show the excellent 1924 vintage 2x4 studs that also made up the bathroom walls.

We put up some drywall and to avoid the dust that typically accompanies this put wainscoting over it. Now, this did get rid of the dust problem but it also provided its own set of issues. Like trying to cut the holes for the pipes and electrical boxes without proper tools. Like a saw. But hey we have a combine 30 plus years of schooling between us, so after much deliberation, few four letter words and more than a few Keeler snit fits, we were able to figure it out.

Unwilling to endure any more of my spazz/fits of rage, Kelly laid the law down and insisted we actually buy some of the tools necessary for the job. She says necessary, I say an affront to my manhood. Well most of my manhood was already down the hole in the floor in Kelly's eyes so I agreed to the purchases. Funny, but after we bought a mitre saw and brad nailer the project moved remarkably fast. Now all we have left is some caulking and painting and we will be all set. Have a look at where we are right now.

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.