Rubiks Cubed

Beth got me a Rubik's Professor (5x5x5) for Christmas. I had a Rubik's Cube Icon (3x3x3) and a Rubik's Revenge (4x4x4) already. So now I have quite a cool collection.

The colors on the Rubik's Cube Icon are white, silver, light gray, gray, dark gray, and black. It's the same as a standard 3x3x3, but essentially grayscale instead of the other color palette (white, blue, red, green, yellow, and orange)

I came up with a blog post idea the other day and decided that Sunday afternoon would be a good time to get it done. However, I was asleep for most of Sunday afternoon (I could make another blog post just about that, but this is not the time) so I went for Sunday evening instead.

I am NOT interested in a speed record. As you all know, I have 2 speeds- slow and backwards. I only put the clock in the background so that you could see that it really can be done and in a reasonable amount of time. In fact, not a single photo time span was uninterrupted. Besides solving the cubes, I straightened up the den a bit, sang some songs with Seth, dressed Kaitlyn after bath time, took the pictures, participated in various conversations with Beth, and generally fulfilled my normal Daddy Duties.

I'm also not trying to brag. I just wanted to showcase one of my Christmas presents. I'd be happy to teach anyone how to solve any of them- they're really not as difficult as they look. Just ask if you're interested.

Starting with all 3 cubes thoroughly mixed:


The Rubik's Professor is now "set up", which (to me) means the remaining solution is no harder than solving a 3x3x3.


The Rubik's Revenge is now "set up" as well.


I only meant to solve the top (white, in this case) faces in this picture, but I got a little excited and just about solved all of them. Sheesh. Anyway, all but the bottom layer is solved on all of them.


And, finally, the cubes are completely solved.


And here's a shot of the other sides, just so you don't think I pulled off all of the stickers just for the picture. ;-)

A Learning Moment

I was sitting at the computer desk the other day and the kids were surrounding my chair. We were playing- making funny noises, talking, and basically enjoying our time together.

Seth put on my shoes and hat, muscled his way through the cluster of kids so that he could be right next to me, and said, "I'm being you" (meaning me). The girls thought that was pretty funny, so they started babbling to me as well. They all wanted my attention, so they were jostling each other to be the closest to my chair. Since Seth is a good head taller than the girls, he was the most successful at staying close to me. He announced again, "I want to be just like you, Daddy."

I was touched by the sentiment, but conflicted emotionally by what I saw the kids doing. They were fighting- pushing each other to compete for my attention. I understand it, but it makes me sad to see them fight.

And then it happened- just like in some dramatic novel. My thoughts were swept away and drawn to a circumstance recorded in the New Testament. I could picture the Savior talking with Peter, the chief apostle. He was trying to convey the same emotion to Peter with his plea "Feed my sheep". I could almost hear Him say it because I felt that same emotion in my heart. I love my children dearly and I want them all to be happy. But since there's only one of me, I need them to be kind to and show support for each other. They can help me keep everyone happy.

So, as gently as I could (not at all meant to be critical of his actions), I plead with my son. "Seth, if you want to be like me, you should be kind to your little sisters like I am." He looked around and realized that he had been pushing and then stepped back to let the twins get closer to me. He understood. Just like Peter did, he showed me that he loved me.

You have the RIGHT to remain silent

I would like to preface this post by making it clear that I mean no disrespect to any officers of the law. I appreciate the service of all of those that protect our liberties- whether they serve in the military, the local law enforcement, as law makers, or as interpreters of the law. Thank you all.

That said, after watching this video, I can pretty much guarantee that I will only participate in police investigations if I am compelled to do so.
http://www.bspcn.com/2008/10/27/how-to-deal-with-the-police-if-you-get-pulled-over/

Even if you are completely innocent and you are a trained professional (a lawyer, for example), you risk saying something that could implicate you. It's best just to keep quiet.

Rob's mom's hall bathroom

For Rob's mom's birthday, we painted the hall bathroom - take down the peeling off pastel (1990's) wallpaper and paint over the avocado green pattern wallpaper. (Raise you hand if you ever owned an avocado green appliance!)

The Bathroom before us:

guess I could have put the toilet seat down before I took that picture!

The shower tiles are still avocado green and the linoleum is still pastel, so we had to pick a paint to blend those two. (I am going to do a curtain later to finish the look, but I needed color swatches before I went to the fabric store.)

The bathroom after us:

Dave thought I was lost when I went around the house looking for pictures that might match the colors. :)  (If Rob wants to post progress pictures, he can. And Jared, I was given express permission to post on here! I'm not hijacking Rob's blog!)

Sometimes a video helps to see a room better. 

(We're not hgtv, but I think we did pretty good.) :)

The Den Du Jour

My buddy Frank was telling me the other day about a newly-learned husband skill: Compromise.
He said, "Here's how it works. I want something one way and she wants it another way. We compromise and do it her way." I believe we can all read between the lines of that one, but just to be sure I asked him, "So, when you 'compromise' you really just end up doing what she wants? You're the one that's 'compromised'?" "Exactly," agreed Frank. Good man!

This rearrangement was a compromise, but not like the one described above. The piano isn't as convenient to access as the other way, but the Reading Station survived. And since I didn't want as much focus on the TV, my comfy chair got placed completely out of its view.

The Family Room

This den arrangement is already outdated, but I have a bit of a different perspective and thought I'd lay it out for my audience.

The Reading Station
You can tell that the babies have become interested in reading, because we dedicated an entire section of the den to that very activity. Space is limited but there's always room for a good book.



The Social Club
With the couch and the comfy arm chair facing each other, and the piano to the left, Family Home Evenings were wonderful. We could all interact nicely and the piano was (for once) convenient. And one of my favorite things was that the role of the TV was minimized, downplayed even.


Unfortunately, this arrangement didn't last long. Look for another post with the latest setup soon.

Hey, Rob - I rearranged while you were at work, so you have time to fix the toilet and sink when you get home!

I think there must be some kind of group for people who constantly rearrange their houses...if there were, I'd be in it. "Rearrangers Annonymous"

We're backtracking on the toddler beds - they do great getting into them at night (not so much for naptime), but they don't understand that they do not HAVE to get up at 6 am! So, until they learn that, we'll use a crib and a playpen - we got rid of that other crib - not enough room for that much stuff!

The original with cribs:

(Toddler beds replaced the cribs, with the one by the door way perpendicular to how the crib is now.)

How I changed it to squish in a bed, a crib, a playpen, and one toddler bed (for transitioning one twin at a time)! Seth and Carolyn transitioned at this age, and were super easy! (but then again, everything for them was super easy compared to twins...)
(The playpen's only temporary and the remaining crib will be replaced by a bed later...)

On to the den next (yes, in the same day - when I'm on a roll, I can't stop!)

I told the missionaries we rearrange about every three months. (They had been here about that long, and corrected me.) "You've changed it three times since I've been here!"  So, on August 14th I took this...

Another angle....

Then on September 26th I took this: (OBVIOUSLY, you can see why this did not work out - we constantly had to move the couch so we could see the tv, then put it back...)

And this is today's arrangement (October 6th). 

Two notes:

1. I say "Today's" arrangement, b/c who knows if I'll change it tomorrow! and 

2. Did you notice that I DID change once a month, and the dates are getting closer!? 

(maybe I do need therapy...haha...actually, this is therapeutic for me! It has saved me the trouble of packing up and moving to a new house every time this house feels cramped. I just rearrange and it's like I've got a whole new living room...nice, huh?) You should try it. Actually, invite me over - Can I help?? :)

I've got a golden twinkle in my eye

Here are more things I found and find worthy of sharing.

= 1 =
"By the end of today, what would you wish to happen?" Don't wait to get things done, start on them now and then keep at them- little by little.
http://geekswithblogs.net/dlussier/archive/2008/09/18/125280.aspx

= 2 =
The title "How to be outstanding" is a little misleading. It doesn't instruct, it reveals.
http://www.bspcn.com/2008/09/18/how-to-be-outstanding/

= 3 =
Astounding optical illusions
http://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2008/09/10/11-colorful-optical-illusions/

= 4 =
I love the rain.
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/09/07/35-brilliant-examples-of-rain-photography/

= 5 =
Protesters complain too much
http://xkcd.com/470/

I've got a Golden Ticket

I read various blogs on a daily basis and I occasionally come across something that changes me, or at least means something to me. So I'm going to attempt to post (occasionally) a Best Of- list of things I find during my wanderings.

= 1 =
Here's a really long post about what Michael Lopp calls a "Trickle List". If you don't want to take the time to read it, I'll condense it for you.
Don't worry about creating To Do lists- they just make you feel guilty when you don't do something on the list. Instead, make a list of things you feel you should do- alot. The Trickle List is more like a recurring, daily task list. I've been thinking about doing something like this recently because I just need a small, daily reminder for some things.

= 2 =
I don't mean to rock anyone's world here, but I'm not exactly a sports fan. I don't DO outside- it would ruin my pasty complexion. But I can recognize an amazing baseball moment when I see one. A ball girl makes a truly amazing catch and then just tosses the ball to the nearest "real" team member. Heroes are not always the ones in the limelight.

= 3 =
Let's get organized!
Jott - Capture thoughts, create tasks and set reminders with a simple phone call. Basically, you call a number and then you dictate a message and it gets turned into an e-mail, a reminder, an appointment, a list, a blog post, whatever you set it up to be. And it's (mostly) free.
Remember the Milk - A great way to manage your tasks. It can talk to Google Calendar, e-mail, IM, Twitter, and lots of other inputs. Free, free, free.
Now Do This - Bar none, the simplest To Do list on the web. Again, free of charge.

= 4 =
Tomorrow (September 19) is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Honestly, I think this one's a complete, utter, asinine, bona fide waste of time but it sure is getting popular.

Best comment award

Jared (my brother-in-law) leaves the most interesting, insightful, enjoyable, witty, and frequent comments.

Thanks, bro! You win a prize. A prize that um, hasn't yet... been... determined. Ahah! I just thought of something.

You may choose from the following:
1) A personalized masterpiece, made from any of the wood I have in my garage
2) Spanish or Computer (html, for example) lessons
3) A bottle of carrot juice (or your latest fad drink) delivered to your doorstep
4) Sunday dinner at your house (we cook), plus an afternoon with the Bailey zoo

Congratulations. And if you act now, you will receive (absolutely free) as much publicity as I can muster- a link.
Here's Jared's blog: http://lefthandedblues.blogspot.com/

Cheesy Tag

Beth tagged me a while ago and I am finally getting around to it, so here goes:

3 Joys:

1. Family- gatherings, babies, kids, wife, time, fun, food, all of it
   
2. The way I feel after serving someone or after a hard day's work
   
3. "A nice MLT, a mutton, lettuce and tomato sandwich, where the mutton is nice and lean and the tomato is ripe. They're so perky, I love that." In other words, movies.
   

3 Fears:

1. Unnatural death (burning, drowning, buried alive, that kind of MESSED UP STUFF)
   
2. Not being able to provide for my family
   
3. Rejection
   

3 Goals:

1. Pay as much tithing as possible (Neil Crews gave me that one)
   
2. Make something with my hands that I am proud of
   
3. Gather as many family members in the temple as possible
   

3 Obsessions/Collections:

1. Collections: Stamps (haven't look at them in years), Readers Digest Condensed Books
2. Languages. I would love to learn a dozen languages.
   
3. Hearing peoples' stories. Everyone has something to say- I like listening and learning.

3 Random Surprising Facts about Me:

1. I was an International Studies major before I switched to Computer Science and I went to Furman University on a music scholarship before that.
   
2. My first car was a BMW 320i. It was an import, so everything on the dash was in German.
   
3. I was in Boys Scouts for about 3 months, but I never even made it to Tenderfoot. I wish I had finished.
   

5 People that are Tagged:
It took forever for someone to tag me, so I tag anyone that WANTS to be tagged but never has been. Go for it!

Can't get enough!

I LOVE being itchy- especially when it's somewhere I can't reach. It reminds me of what life's all about!
My doctor is so concerned for my well-being that when I showed up for a physical and told him I loved having an itch I can't scratch, he hooked me up! He's the man.

So here's how it goes (guys only):

1. Take off your shirt (feel alive)
   
2. Reach for the nearest "dry razor"
3. Cut a nice, wide path right through that luxurious chest hair of yours
4. Attach leads to your chest (medical tape works as well)
   

That's it- you'll be scratching for days- maybe even weeks!

Explanation: I went for a physical and the doctor prescribed a Holter monitor for 24 hours to check my heart. Everything's normal, it's just part of his routine.



Yeah!

The REAL providers of our liberty

I meant to post this yesterday, but I didn't get around to it.

Thank you, veterans and active soldiers, for your service. I cannot express fully even the profoundness of the gratitude I feel for your sacrifice and the sacrifice of those who are no longer among us.

"It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves under the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag."

-- Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, USMC

Again- thank you.

Tree 2.0

I hold several titles- a few of them with a moderate amount of success, but Arborist is not one of those. I believe I killed the little tree I planted in our front yard a couple of months ago when I transplanted it.

So I made another trip to our friendly neighborhood forest "store" and picked another. This time, planting it was a family effort. My friend Frank even helped- well, "supervised"!


And here it is several hours after planting. I'm fairly hopeful about this one- I did a much better job preserving and transporting more of its root structure.


We relocated the "dead" one from the front yard to the back yard, where it can take its time to recover. I hope I didn't really kill it. We'll see what happens in the spring. I'll post pictures then if it recovers.
Seth is showing off his extreme helpfulness- carrying 3 trowels and the "dead" tree to the back yard.


All I carried was a shovel and two buckets and Supervisor Frank lugged a shovel. Once he got in the back yard, he found a strategic overlooking position (one of the lawn chairs) near the work site and watched the fun. That man is on a fast track to Middle Management!

It's more than just vocabulary

We finally got a gym membership. I was most interested because the local YMCA has a pool and I'd like for the kids to learn to swim, but after we got the membership I thought I should probably use it more than just every once in a while to swim as a family. So, I've been learning more about exercise and fitness.
As friends and family tell me more about "working out," I've learned that there is a vocabulary for the whole thing. Things like "reps" and "sets" for weight lifting, "calories" and "lipoproteins" for health, and more brand names for fitness machines than I care to count.
But it's more than just vocabulary- did you know that there are (according to some) 5 principles of fitness (beware the pop-ups)? When's the last time you looked at the food pyramid? Anyone here know how many leafy, green veggies you're supposed to have in a week? And how about figuring out the difference between a restaurant serving and a "recommended serving"? It's enough to make your head spin.
Here's the point: Some of you, as you're reading this, are thinking in your heads "It's not that complicated, you just make sure you eat... and do... and take..." Maybe it's simple for you, but think for a minute about what it took to learn all you know about it- you've been learning as you go.

The programming world has a huge vocabulary. If anyone in my family (or ward family) interested in learning to program in C#, please let me know. I'd be happy to share. Here's one of my favorite Help Desk acronyms: PEBKAC (pronounced PEB-kack) - Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair

In our church, we have vocabulary and we have a lifestyle. When people visit us for the first time, they probably feel like I do about fitness- happy and amazed, but also a little overwhelmed and worn out. I've been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (I almost wrote "I've been LDS for..." sheesh, I'm slow sometimes) for more than 20 years now, so our vocabulary and lifestyle are a natural part of me and require no thought. But I'm going to work harder to help others as much as I can in the transition.

Those are just three examples of the concept I'm trying to share. And speaking of sharing, I issue a formal invitation to all to help others learn vocabularies and practices- don't leave them in the dark just for the sake of being an exclusive "insider."

The Den

Sure enough, there was indeed a "before".

Here is the before:


And here's the after:

Slacker Dad things to do

I have noticed in the past few weeks that some of my parenting practices are... unorthodox? Sure, that works.

Example:
The babies splash in the tub. They also lack comprehension of the English language. So when I say "Stop splashing," or "No splashing. Not nice", all they seem to hear is "...splash..." and just end up splashing harder.
My solution:
I splash back. That's right- I take a cup of water and I dump it over their heads. Or I reach my hand down into the water and splash a nice handful on them. It gets their attention, doesn't hurt them, and usually gets them to stop (but not all the time). I'm trying to think of a new scheme- something that will work every time. Any ideas? ;-)

Another:
When Seth was younger he liked to sit in my lap while I was trying to do things that required me to get up and down repeatedly, like building a computer. Obviously, it was difficult to get up and down with him on my lap.
My solution:
I gave him some specialized computer socket wrenches and gave him an old shell of a computer to work on while I worked on mine. He still has those wrenches and he goes and gets them sometimes when I need to work on some project that requires tools. Tools as toys? Sure, it's a little edgy, but it works.

I'll post more if more occur to me.

I'm 'bout dead - part 1

Why am I nearing my demise, you ask? I didn't say that- what I said was "I'm 'bout dead." Around here that means I'm worn out, exhausted, dragging myself around, and usually pretty stinky to boot.

Last weekend I built a set of shelves (and a prototype), learned how to use a new tool (hence the prototype), backed up the computer (files and pictures), installed kitchen cabinet locks and generally worked on my honey-do list.
During the week we painted the shelves, rearranged our bedroom, and had various church meetings to occupy our time.
This weekend we built and painted another set of shelves, I cut the grass and weeded, we rearranged the kids' rooms, and I helped with other general yard work and honey-do list activities.

After all that mess, I'm ready to get back to work and sit on my butt for a few hours. Ha ha ha!

Another thing that amazes me is that no matter how hard I work on that blasted honey-do list, it just gets longer. If new tools help me to finish project more efficiently, Beth must have some new pen technology or something because she stays ahead of me with that list. Guys out there, does it ever end? Will I ever get ahead and be able to sit and watch a little Kung Fu or Star Wars on a Saturday afternoon? I doubt it.

I'm 'bout dead - part 2

First, let's rewind.
A while ago Beth came up with a simple design for some shelves- 4' wide by 4' tall and 16" deep with 3 shelves- about as vanilla as shelves can get. If you want a copy of the plans, just ask- prices are listed below.
Plywood is about $35 for a 1/2" thick 4'x8' sheet and we needed one sheet per set of shelves, so that's $70. 1/2" molding costs about $4 per 8' strip and we needed 48' for a total of $24. After tax, each set of shelves cost about $60. A little steep, but think about what you can get for $60 at your local *mart. It'll be made of fiberboard and laminate, or it'll be made of real wood but be tiny- either way, it'll have cheap hardware. Click here, here, and here for examples.

Armed with my nail gun, I made a mock-up of the shelves in about 3 minutes. I love air tools!


The first set took me about 6 hours- 3 to build, 3 to finish (sand, putty, paint, etc). The second set took about 4 hours.


And here they are- finished.
Seth's:


The girls':

I'm 'bout dead - part 3

Yellow room activity wall, before and after:


Yellow room bed corner, before and after:


Green room activity space, before and after


Green room bed space, before and after:

Seeing it coming a mile away

I was working on a blog post (soon to come) when I got up from the computer and came back. This is what I saw:



Now, in case you didn't notice, I'm a big guy. When I sit in that chair, the back of it just about reaches the arm of the couch.
So I stood there looking at it and then my eyes wandered to the rest of the room and I started thinking about how I could position the couch to avoid the situation pictured above.
Beth looked at me and saw the gears grinding and said "Rob, you'd better go get the camera and take a picture, because I'm sensing a 'before'." Ha!
True to the name of the blog, we have rearranged just about the entire house. Check for more posts soon. If we move the couch, you'll know it.

Update: I fixed Beth's quote. Thanks for letting me know, darling. I tend to make stuff up!

I'm 'bout dead - part 4

Rearranging and reorganizing is contagious for us around here. If one room is affected, it'll probably spread through most of the house before it's run its course. About the only room that doesn't get hit much is the kitchen- and that's only because there's not too much we can change about that room.

So when we began rearranging the kids' rooms, it wasn't too surprising that our room got hit as well. In fact, its infection only lasted a matter of hours. Beth and I made a few general plans before she went grocery shopping on Thursday night and by the time she got home I had finished. So here's the classic "before" shot (I know, it's way out of date- we didn't even have the bed frame then, but it'll have to do):


And here's the after shot:


Beth was pretty happy because I was able to vacuum every square foot of our room. I just had to do it in 2'x5' strips.

In case you're curious, here's how it went.
I pulled the dresser from the wall by the door over to the wall by the bathroom and set up the TV table in its place. I stood my exercise bike on end and leaned it against the dresser. Then I removed the mattress from the bed and leaned it against the dresser as well. Next I pulled the bed boxes out from under the bed and stacked them in the doorway. I scooted the bed forward until it was right up against the TV (by the door), leaving nearly the entire back wall empty. I vacuumed the back wall and transferred Beth's sewing table to it. That cleared up the right-hand wall by the window. I vacuumed that wall and then maneuvered the bed into place on it, which required some pretty impressive use of physics to get the mattress to balance vertically on one corner without tipping. Then I put the mattress back in the bed and vacuumed under where it had been. I replaced the bed boxes (under the bed, of course) and vacuumed where they had been. I shifted the dresser so it was flat against the back wall next to the sewing table and vacuumed where it had been. I put the exercise bike beside the dresser along the wall near the bathroom and vacuumed all remaining open floorspace. I then rewired (corded) the electronics on the TV stand so that everything was organized neatly. As Kaitlyn would say: Tada!

Getting a head start on Arbor Day

Much like the one on the top of my head, we have a growing bald spot in our front yard. So instead of doing a whole bunch of work, we have been wanting to make use of what is essentially a landscaping toupee. We want to plant a tree right in that nasty bald spot. Not that it would FIX the bald spot, but grass doesn't grow under trees- so we would go from being lazy and cheap to being justified and chic within hours.
Well, I've got plenty of work in me but (as I mentioned before) I'm cheap and trees are expensive. Seriously, go to Lowe's or Home Depot. Trees are like $40 just for some little sapling that you have to nurture carefully and hope it doesn't keel over and die on you right away. Let's examine this phenomenon for a minute (this'll sound a bit like Bill Cosby here): Trees grow NATURALLY all over the world- with literally no help from human beings. But we brilliant, capitalistic, keeping-up-with-the-Joneses suburbanites go and BUY them from stores and then study books and web sites to learn how to care for something that would normally care for itself quite nicely.
No way- not this family. We are not about to spend money on something that grows in abundance within 1/4 mile of my house. In fact, there used to be a nice one growing in my neighbor's yard and now it's growing nicely in mine. Just kidding- I didn't swipe any trees from my neighbors. I bundled up the twins and Seth and we snagged one from a nearby forest. OK, so I didn't really "bundle" them up, since it was every bit of 187 degrees outside today- I put summer hats and loose shoes on them, stuck them in the wagon, and pulled that sucker about a mile total through some off-road sweetness.
Seth was so helpful- first he pointed out a lovely weed. When I told him that wasn't even a tree, he began to get the picture. He next pointed out the most gnarled, stunted little thing on the side of the trail- it would have made Charlie Brown proud. I told him we wanted a tree that would look nice in front of our house. So, he pointed out (I know, you see it coming a mile away) a massive hulk of a tree that might have made a Southern lumberjack cry. I told him I would have a little trouble carrying it, but he assured me I could do it. I can't tell you how flattered I was that he really thought I could just haul off some 2-ton mass of scrub pine. I therefore cleverly hid my ineptitude by telling him that I COULD do it, but he'd have to pull the wagon with the babies all the way back to the house so that I could get the tree. He decided we should press on and find something smaller.
And find something smaller we did. It was on the edge of the trail, which will make Grammy happy because I didn't "abandon [her] babies" while I chopped down the cherry tree. It had a couple of large roots which were a little tricky, but all in all the thing came along without too much of a fight.
We brought the thing back home in a bucket, but we had to wait for the babies to go down for their nap before we could dig the hole for it. And when Seth and I went to dig the hole, we discovered that the combination of "sandhills" soil conditions, coupled with the recent drought had conspired against us to create a close approximation to concrete in our front yard. I poured water on it and that loosened things up enough to dig down with a shovel and spade. We excavated, measured, excavated, and measured again until we had a perfect hole for our asymmetrically-rooted friend. Because it took so long to haul back and to dig a hole, the poor thing is looking a little parched at the moment. I fear we'll lose those nice leaves but we're hoping for a new set of buds in a while.
And here it is in our front yard:

If this works, we are SO going tree hunting again. Our yard will go from patchy to hair-plug heaven! But don't worry- I never will! I'm retired from hair.

P.S. Getting a HEAD start on Arbor Day... Get it? HEAD?! Ha! ;-)

Rob's dream car

This is actually Beth posting for Rob...if we're not rearranging the room, we're changing something else. After 6 years of the Dodge Neon (with the last year and a half having major problems) we finally bought another vehicle...my only regret is having spent $800 of our tax return this year trying to get the major problem fixed with no success!
This is a Scion XB 2005. Rob loves this car and it is perfect for tall people. He has plenty of clearance above his head, and room for his knees, and can even sit in the backseat with room for his knees (with the front seat pushed back all the way)! And we got it within our budget (Rob did a good job planning that and car shopping.)
Seth thinks the "x" on the side (see paint details) is cool!

The Den

This is one of the longest-lasting arrangements of our den. It's ironic that I started this blog- intended to highlight our rearrangement exploits soon after we chose this one. Anyway, we liked how open the room felt. Sure, having the TV in front of the window was a little weird, but all in all it matched our room well.
So the problem we needed to solve by changing things around is that Kaitlyn and Natalie have become more mobile recently by learning to walk. Kaitlyn is quite accident-prone in this adventure- she bumped her head on the cedar chest quite hard the other night.


I came home from work the next afternoon to find the room arranged like this (the chest is against the wall to the left of the couch):

Sweet dreams for sure!

First a funny story, and then the point of the post.

A few days before we were married, Beth moved into what would become our apartment. We bought a set of Queen-sized mattresses, which came with a free frame, and set them up in the bedroom with the beautiful quilt my grandmother made for our wedding. Beth's roommate Beth Shurtleff (Novak at the time) was still staying in the apartment until the wedding on Saturday. She was so excited about the new bed that she ran across the room, vaulted into the air, and soared squealing with joy onto our bed. That little stunt was accompanied by the sound of wood cracking. That's right- before Beth and I were ever able to share that bed, Beth S. broke the framing of the foundation (box spring, but without springs). We replaced that a few years later- around the time we moved into this house.

Now the point of the post: After 6 years and 2 months of sleeping on mattresses supported by a free metal frame (we did have a headboard for a while but that's another funny story in itself), we finally bought a bed. Here's a "before" picture:

And here's an "after" picture:

Room for living

Here's the latest arrangement of our living room. We must like it, because we haven't changed it in weeks.

Things to note:

• Blanket Chest we got from an antique place across town


• Wireless network - the modem is on top of the piano but the computer is back-to-back with the kitchen

Bathroom Painting

In our constant effort to improve the house, we decided to paint the bathrooms. Thankfully, all I really had to do was show up and paint. Beth chose the colors, researched paint prices, and basically arranged everything (as usual- I've been worthless around the house lately). The shade of yellow she picked matches both the rubber ducky curtain and the curtain in our bathroom. A big round of applause to Beth!

Here's the "before" for the front bathroom (also a lovely picture of Carolyn):

Here's the "after":

Here's the "before" for the master bathroom:

Here's the "after":