New washer and dryer

We have been using the same washer and dryer since we got married, nearly 13 years ago. We bought our original washer and dryer from a dent and ding place for $400.

Up until today, vice grips, screws sticking out of switches, tape and Post-It-Notes with directions have kept our washer and dryer operating. Every now and then the washer would barf soapy water all over the garage, and the dryer never turned off unless the door was open.

Oh, and the baby clothes we had to wash twice to three times to get clean.

Cindy decided that we needed a new washer and dryer, and so they came today. The only problem is this plug in the picture, won't fit in our outlet.

Hi Larry. I hope this picture gives you a good enough view of the plug to see if you have an outlet hanging around your house that will fit. Otherwise, off to Ace Hardware.

If it wasn't for Larry, nothing home improvement wise would get done around this place. There is a simple equation I live my life by:

Pat

Plus

Electricity

Equals

ZAPPPPPP!

"Daddy, you're silly."

"I hope I'm not in that picture, PATRICK!"



Oh, staying home is going to be fun.


Off to tuck people in bed.

Then Team Fortress 2 until I get tired.


See ya!

Pat

Cough, Hack, ug, choke, cough

The good news is that the kids aren't sick anymore.

This three-day weekend has been about recharging batteries -- ours -- and sleep.

In the last 24 hours I have slept probably 20. I was going to try to write two stories yesterday, but went to bed Friday night and didn't wake up Saturday until 8 p.m. I was back at sleep around 11 p.m., but was up coughing most of the night. I slept from about 4 a.m. to noon today, and plan on trying to stay awake until about 6 or so tonight so my hours don't get all messed up.

I am supposed to do a telephone interview today, and I will probably do that, and then do some writing tomorrow, so Tuesday isn't completely insane.

If this doesn't make any sense, I apologize, I have been drinking Theraflu like crazy and the NyQuil really messes with my sleep patterns. :)

Anyway, enough complaining from me. This is a photo of Lilly from May 18.

Pat

This is great...

So I have had this lingering cold for the last week. I just was powering through because I am in my last two weeks at work and don't want them thinking I am being lazy.

Anyway, Thursday night I got no sleep, up coughing all night. I made an appointment to see the doctor, and X-rays confirmed that I have a "mild" case of pneumonia. So no work for me until Tuesday. Of course this is a short week, and e-mail isn't working at work, and I had a bunch of appointments Friday.

Grrrr.

Everyone is telling me not to worry about it, but I feel bad, my last 10 days on the job and I am taking three off because of illness, during a holiday weekend. Nice.

The only thing I can do is sleep and get better, I guess.

Well, off to hit the Nyquil again.

Pat

Card reader is bent

So I can't upload any new pictures of the girls until I get to a store and get a new card reader. Of course with the holiday weekend, I am expected to do five days worth of work in four, and I have another cold.

Sorry for the lack of updates.

In a few days, I will have nothing but time to update this and show you how the girls are doing.

We will get back on track next week, or maybe this weekend.

Pat

OK I can't help myself...

OK, so I saw this online and it made me giggle.



"...let's go see the clown with an M-16 open fire on a school bus."

Kills me every time.

Really, I want to figure out how to embed video, just in case I ever figure out how to get my videos off my camera and into my computer. :)

Suddenly I feel like the old guy that can't figure out computers.

Oh well.

Pat

Saturdays are fun

We are entering festival season, where every weekend there will be a fesitval, parade, event or concert.

Last year I was a freelancer, and this year, again, I will be freelancing. Which means if the staff reporters want the weekends off, they call me. This year I am going to try to limit the ones I do... so that way I have weekend days with Cindy.

Last time I freelanced I was with the kids most of the week and then would work on the weekends, never seeing Cindy. Which sucked. But I am going to wait and see what type of freelancing work comes my way before making any decisions.

Today was the Silverton Pet Parade, and so I was out there running around in the 90-degree weather. Fun times. When I get photos up online at the SJ I will link them here, I got some pretty good ones.

Anyway, I got home and the girls were gone to Kyla's birthday party. They will be back in a couple of hours and I am enjoying the quiet, air-conditioned house for the next 90 minutes.

Ahhhhh.

I can't wait for the rain to start again,

pat

Lilly goes to work

Tuesday was the 13th right?

Yesterday I took Lilly to work with me, because things kind of exploded.

Back when I took the job at the Appeal, my boss and I came to an agreement that I could stay at home one day a week. In fact a flexible schedule is in my employment agreement. Initially that day was going to be Wednesday, but we have staff meetings then, so Timm and I opted to have me stay home Tuesday.

Most of the time by the time Tuesday rolls around, the paper is pretty much set. The editor is reading stories and the pages are getting laid out. My Monday night city council meeting is usually the only thing worked on. Being a night owl I usually write those stories after the meeting Monday night while things are fresh in my mind.

When things happen on Tuesday they have to rise to the level of re-laying out pages or scurrying around to get them in. In Stayton, that rarely happens. Silverton, however, is another story.

Yesterday we had the district attorney ruling on public records requests of a city councilor and a Mount Angel teacher arrested for sleeping with students.

Lilly did great and was quiet and fun, but I have to say that trying to write a story in the newsroom, while keeping an eye on an infant, is very, very distracting. Yesterday sealed the deal for me, as far as staying home. I love chasing a story on deadline -- it's what I missed when I freelanced -- but that was just a notch above crazy.

I ran out of milk for Lilly, so I was booking on my stories so I could get home and feed her. The diaper bag didn't have a burp towel and she had a blowout that needed addressing. But she didn't really whine or cry at all at the office.

But it did feel weird walking into my bosses office and talking about work, while Lilly was drooling on my shoulder.

Exciting day, and it was fun having her with me, but I just don't think the Silverton position is kid-friendly. Duh.

Urgent cares, hospitals and crying, OH MY!

Happy Mother's Day!

You know that cold that has been going around?

Lilly got the bonus package.

She was not doing well, crying non-stop and generally making us go crazy.

So Cindy took her to urgent care while I was at the Silverton Hospital Fun Run Saturday.

I came home, saw the van wasn't in the driveway and went over to urgent care. The doctor was worried about her breathing, since she had lung issues when she was born, and sent us up to Legacy Emmanuel in Portland (over by the Rose Garden Arena).

After the waiting room and everything the doctor told us Lilly has pink eye, bronchitis and an ear infection. They sent us home with a little respirator pump thing to give her medicine, eye drops and, of course, antibiotics.

No sleep for us for the next few days, sigh.

Dinner at home with the family

Here we have Violet at around 5 or 6 months old and Lilly today at around 4 months old. Some folks think they look the same... I personally think they look different. Violet looks like Tupac for one, and Lilly has a longer face. Yes, it's sick I am comparing them already, so I will stop now. :)

Tonight I came home and had dinner with the girls. I had a night thing I could have gone to, but with all the festivals this weekend we won't have room for the story, so I get the night off. Saturday will be a different story.

My brother is trying to talk me into getting a Wii, and while they are around $200 I don't think Cindy is going to go for it. Maybe I will bust out the Wii-fit argument (an exercise game).

So contact Cindy and tell her that she should buy her husband a Wii for Mother's Day -- since I am going to be a stay-at-home-Mo---dad.

Anyway, I gotta run, Cindy wants to know who Melissa is.

Pat

A good week, getting better

Say hello to Nomad, Violet's class dog. Nomad goes home with the kids and they write about his (I think it's a he... I didn't check) adventures in a book. You have to write what Violet says about Nomad's adventures.

When she first brought Nomad home, I immediately thought of the Star Trek (old school) episode "The Changeling" (Episode 37, Season 2) where a probe called NOMAD thinks Kirk is its creator.

Of course the thing takes over the Enterprise and Kirk "reasons" with the probe getting it stuck in a logic loop and winning the day (and I am sure kissing some alien hottie along the way).

When I informed Cindy of this fact, she said, "This is Violet's story not yours! You don't EVEN put that in there."

And here we are back at the blog, and her words ring true here as well. This has turned into a blog about the family, so it would be appropriately named. :)

Tonight Lilly went swimming for the first time, I was trapped at work racing a TV crew to a story and didn't get to go. I am hoping to get pictures on Thursday, barring any night meetings, so they should be up later this week. Oh, and there won't be pictures of Cindy in a bathing suit or I really will be a dead man.

One last piece of Pat news...

I found out this week I won a Society of Professional Journalist's award for The Stayton Mail. I don't know what category, and there is an awards banquet May 31 -- two days before my last day at the office.

"Revenge is a dish best served cold... it's very cold... IN SPACCCCCEEEEEE!" -- Khan to Kirk in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

I couldn't resist... :)

Off to bed...

Pat

Wow, two days in a row!

The reason the blog has been updated more and more is that Lilly is helping me out. :)

Sunday and we are doing laundry, chores, and I have three stories to write that I don't want to. I didn't put hours down for Sunday on my timecard, but if I don't do them I will have five to do Monday and that's too many -- especially if something happens today or tomorrow that's newsworthy.

Anyway, we are all feeling a bit better, and it's a great day outside, too bad we are stuck inside doing dishes, laundry and other meaningless chores.

I think a walk might be in order this evening...

Well, I should at least pretend to write a couple of stories.

Pat

SHHHHH, don't tell Cindy!

Hi, it's Saturday and Cindy, Violet and myself are all sick. Not horribly sick like earlier this week, but definitely under the weather.

Violet is nasally, Cindy is coughing and I am flat tired and stuffy. Lilly seems to be OK and weathering this illness thing well.

Some milestones this week: Lilly rolled over from her back to her stomach, then complained because she couldn't go back.
Violet has been running around actually counting things. Before she would count up to 20, but now she is counting specific items correctly. She did that a little before, but she is putting them together and it's fun to see.

Lilly continues to try to eat solid food, at least once a day or so. I am calling her "Bumblebee" because she is always trying to buzz around.

Anyway, tomorrow is supposed to be a nice day, so I am hoping to get well so I can mow the lawn again and do some limited stuff outside.

Oh, and I want to see Iron Man, but I don't think it's in the cards this weekend.

If Cindy sees the picture above, this could be my last post -- as I will be dead. :)

OK, off to check on Bumblebee.

Pat