Why Are These People Taking Pictures Of Our House?

This happens all the time. And I'm not even exaggerating. It happens at least twice a week. Everyone who walks by stops, looks and comments. People who drive by, slow down and look out the window, and at least twice now (including this evening) people have stopped to take pictures of it.

Tonight, the wife and I are sitting out on the back patio enjoying our fine dinner of beer(me), water(her), fried chicken and foccacio bread. After another stressful day at work, it really doesn't get any better. Suddenly the wife pops up, says "Why are those people taking a picture of my house?", and heads down the driveway to ask them. Thankfully the couple that had stopped was very nice, although a little skittish that we caught them, and explained that they are building a new house and really love the shape and colors of our house. So apparently, someone other than me likes the colors of the house, how about that?

I'm watching Last Comic Standing, and flicking back to the History Channel during commercials. Good times, right. So the 8 o'clock show was on bathroom technology, which I found oddly interesting. The 9 o'clock show was on the history of underwear. Did you know that in 2006 men's colored briefs passed white briefs in sales for the first time ever? I was not aware of this fact until now either, but I would have thought this not to be true. For some reason I think this would have happened in the 70's, things just seemed a lot more colorful then. First off all, who wears briefs anymore, and secondly who wears the colored ones? And if you do, I don't want to know. The show also stated that the average American male owns 18 pairs of underwear. Does that count the couple pairs in the back or the drawer, full of holes, barely held together that you only bust out when you're really desperate to do laundry?

For those of you who love NPH, aka Doogie, aka Barney, I highly recommend you watch this! Dr. Horrible might be my new favorite villain.

And finally... I made a horrendous error in judgement yesterday. It was really warm out, I was having another bad day at work, and really wanted a snack. Something good... something that would really hit the spot...so I went to the store in my building and got an.. eclair ice cream bar! Why is this such a bad idea you ask? Because I'm lactose intolerant, that's why! But am I smart enough to remember this? Of course not...but something truly amazing occurred, a miracle if you will. Nothing happened. No sprinting for the bathroom. No hazmat team called in to decontaminate the surrounding three blocks. Nothing. Just a couple of gurgles in my stomach and that's it. Sometime this weekend I'm going to live dangerously and try it again. Maybe I'm suddenly lactose tolerant. Maybe milk will be my friend again. One can only hope....

Is It The Weekend Yet?

• Another night, and more haying. Tonight wasn't so bad though, only like 250 bales. And these ones weren't wet so they were only like 40 pounds a pop, not too bad at all. Two more fields to go, probably another 1000 bales and we're done! It's funny though, for the first time in my life my farmers tan really is a farmers tan. I'm in a field, with a tractor.. that's farm like right?
• Bathroom is finally all done. What a good feeling. Can't wait for those of you who saw the old bathroom to come up and see the new one. What a change, and I gotta say, it makes it sooo much sweater knowing that we did everything ourselves. It may not be perfect, but it's pretty darn close.
• We are having the most beautiful weather up here lately. Warm, humid, but no rain, which is nice cuz we can spend lots of time outside, but not so nice for my lawn. It's supposed to be hot and humid up here with a chance of thunder storms this weekend. Hopefully it won't rain while I'm golfing.
• Anyone else out there see this article? What has happened to parents? When did they become so soft? I just don't get it. Kids go to camp, parents enjoy a nice quiet summer which the occasional letters, right? Apparently not anymore. Parents can't seem to not know exactly what their kids are doing every single second of the day. Not cool. These are the same parents that call to set up their 25 year old's job interviews and still pack him a bag lunch.. sad
• And in case you were wondering... yes I did send my email application to go on Wipeout. It says you have to live in CA in order to be on the show, so I'm hoping they overlook that in my case.
• Did you happen to catch this article in the Globe? Another one of these dumb people who signed up for a mortgage that they couldn't handle and are now claiming its not their fault. Wrong! Because you're dumb and can't pay your mortgage isn't the companies fault, that's a you problem. If you lose your job or something like that, sure I have sympathy for you, but if you're just plain dumb and you get a mortgage at some absurd interest rate, tough noogies to you.
• So once a year, ESPN radio does an all day telethon for the Jimmy V Cancer Fund. They've raised something like $70 million dollars over the years, and 100% of that money goes towards cancer research. I'm not able to donate much, but this year I did what I could cuz it's impossible not to. The stories you hear on the radio, the people that they have on... lets just say it got pretty dusty in my office today... If you get the chance, next year I highly recommend that you listen in.

Miss Me?

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. I was down in MA for a training class. We're rolling out a new system for work, we'll see how it ends up working out though. So far I'm not all that thrilled.

Didn't really miss much though, nothing all that exciting to report on. Last night I went over to my uncles to help hay again, followed by the wife bringing by pizzas for everyone. Today, I was back over my uncle's haying yet again. Looks like there might be some more next weekend, but that should be it. I'm finding hay all over the house, in the car, everywhere. Never mind the tiny bits that have embedded themselves in my forearms.

I did watch the Karate Kid for the millionth time this morning though. Love that movie, lots of great lines, great all around 80's flick. Tonight we're going out for a friend of the family's 21st birthday. We're taking him out for a couple of drinks at the SeaDog.

So yesterday, the wife and I are eating lunch, getting ready to go out and do some more yard work when we hear a lawnmower and a chainsaw coming from next door. The elderly lady next door, her daughter and son in law came by and were doing some much needed yard work. So we went out to say hi and the guy asks us if we mind if he cuts down some of the tress/overgrowth. Of course, we say yes so now everything is gone! It makes the yard look soooo much nicer and bigger now. Now we just need to plant some bushes etc. to solidify the property line.

Really looking forward to next weekend too. Mom, Dad and my brother are coming up to visit again. Its always a good time when they're here, so this time should be no different. All you people out there that haven't come up are missing out...

Movie Review: Hancock

So after work this evening, the wife and I decided to get out of the house and relax a bit. We had a pretty busy weekend, so this was our treat, we went and saw the 5:45 showing of Hancock.

First off, the 5:45 show is apparently still considered a matinee, as it was only $11.50 for the two of us to see the movie. Just another one of the many things I love about Maine. That same movie would have cost $10 each in Boston. So anyway, the movie, good stuff. If you're looking for something fun, lots of action, lots of laughs, then I highly recommend Hancock. I read a bunch of reviews over the past couple of days, and the critics weren't all that impressed, which makes sense, because the critics never seem to like any movies. I thought that the acting was good, I'll see pretty much any movie Will Smith is in, and the special effects weren't too CGI'd, which I like. The plot wasn't as predictable as it could have been, which was nice, and of course they left it open for a sequel. Overall, I'd give it a solid three and a quarter out of four stars.

Best Weekend Ever?

We're coming to you live from the front porch of my house, two Bud Lights with lime in, where at 7:30pm it's a gorgeous 72 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Seriously, the entire weekend was just like this. Beautiful weather all around, just a fantastic weekend, lots to talk about, so go top off that cup of coffee and settle in for the next 10-15 minutes.

The weekend started off with a bang. Or maybe it was a smash, I'm not quite sure. As you'll see in the pictures below, we finally had the time to tile the walls around the bathtub. And by we, I mean my lovely wife. I got out of work Thursday around noon, and headed home to start the demo. When I took down the plastic surround that was there, there were two surprises. First off, our yellowed shower was white at one point. Gross huh. And second, mold. Not that much, but enough where we had to take down the drywall (yes, they were dumb enough to put drywall around a bathtub. they should have just sent the mold an invitation.) I've never installed drywall before (or cement board in this case), so I was learning as I was going. It wasn't all that difficult, but the cement board is sooo much heavier than drywall. In order to get it home from Lowes we had to tie it to the roof of the car.

After we took down the drywall.
Me trying to figure out the plumbing and how to cut the new piece to fit. You can tell I'm really thinking hard cuz the hair appears to be falling off the top of my head.
The wonderful wife tiling away. A couple of weeks ago, I went golfing and she tiled the bathroom floor. This time, I golf, she tiles the shower. World's best wife? I think soooo...

The completed shower. No grout yet, that's tomorrow's project. Nice huh! It sure makes life easier having a wife who wants to get in there and do projects. Makes my life easier at least!

Friday was the fourth, and we spent the day working on the bathroom like the industrious people we are. Ok, that's a total lie. I spent the morning on the golf course (where I played quite well) while the wife did stuff around the house. Afterwards, we headed over to my aunt's sisters house to spend the day hanging in and around the pool. (it was in the high 80's, not a cloud in the sky) While there I had the best food ever. Yeah, I said it, the best food ever. Steak tips, grilled, wrapped in bacon. Seriously... amazing. I was popping those bad larrys like candy. Sooo good.

Later that night, we met up with my uncle et. al. to go see the fire works. Pretty decent fire works display, but the highlight/lowlight of the night was the bugs. These things were crawling out of the ground around us, spreading their wings and flying into the trees (they looked like a small beetle). Upon reaching the trees, the (i'm assuming) male bugs would then mount the (i'm assuming) female bugs, sending them both crashing to the ground around us. Or if you were particularly unlucky, on you.

I took a video with my cell phone, but it doesn't want to work. Really riveting stuff. Bug porn...it's like the Discovery Channel in your own back yard..

After the fire works, the wife and I figured that since we were sitting directly across the street from the casino, why not go give it a look. It's actually really nice inside (we did both get carded on the way in though. when does that stop?), lots of slots (penny, two cent, five cent, quarter, fifty cent, dollar, two dollar, five dollar and ten dollar slots), a nice bar area, and two restaurants (one nice, one a buffet). So of course, we had to sit down and give it a go. We picked out some shinny new five cent slots (hey big spender!), put in our five dollars each and went to town. Twenty minutes later, I was done, and fifteen minutes later the wife cashed out with $110. Not a bad return on her investment huh. We each took five from that $110, and promptly lost it, but walking out with $100 after spending $20, I'll take that.

Saturday, the wife started tiling the shower, and I did some stuff around the house. Later that day I played golf again(played horribly) and the unimaginable happened. I lost my wedding ring. Yep, when I play sports, I take it off as it gives me a pretty bad blister. Bad idea. It was in my left pocket, all by itself, and somehow it fell out. I didn't notice though until we were done and packing up to head home. The ring only cost like $90, but that's not really the point. I'm a pretty sentimental guy, so it means a lot to me, plus I'm so used to wearing it that it feels really weird not to have it on. I can say with a good degree of certainty that I was more upset about it than the wife was.

That afternoon, we went to my uncles house for a cookout. My other uncle had family up so it was a pretty big group. Burgers and salmon were on the menu and let me tell you, salmon cooked on the grill, Tast-ey. The night was spent basically hanging out, playing Wii and playing with the heavy machinery currently in his yard (he's trying to remove a ginormous tree stump, so theres a grinder and a small backhoe there. gotta love Maine. you can rent absolutely anything with little or no training)

After we left my uncle's, around nine or so, guess where we went? Yep, back to the casino. This time we took in twenty bucks, ten each. After about thirty minutes, the wife was cleaned out, but I cashed out (again at the same nickel slots we won at the night before) at $50, so we came home up $30, not too shabby huh!

Today... well today was a day to remember to say the least. While I was outside working around the house, the wife tiled the entire surround around the shower, and it looks amazing. Seriously, the woman has a gift.

The completed shower. No grout yet, that's tomorrow's project. Nice huh! It sure makes life easier having a wife who wants to get in there and do projects. Makes my life easier at least!

While she was doing that, I went over to my uncle's house to help hay. What's haying you ask? It's basically going through all the local fields that they pay the owners to hay, and picking up all the bales and tossing them onto a truck towing a trailer. It consisted of a driver, someone on the trailer stacking the hay, and 1-2 guys on each side of the trailer throwing the hay onto the back. After 550 bails, I have very little feeling in my body right now. (after collecting, we then drive back to my aunt's barn and have to restack all the hay) The lifting/throwing isn't the worst part though, its the scratches. It's hot out, so we're all sweating like a mothertrucker, and hay and grass and dirt and bugs are just all over the place, including you.

This is what one of the fields looked like prior to starting. The truck just drives down between the rows and we throw it up on the trailer. (all photos courtesy Breezy International LLC aka, my cousin)
Each bale probably weighs 50 or so pounds, so it's not too too bad. But when you're short like me, throwing it up 10 plus feet isn't the easiest thing in the world.
Here, you can see about how high the trailer gets stacked. Five rows high, at maybe two and a half feet high each, with the trailer three feet off the ground. I'm old, I'm out of shape and I sit behind a desk all day, but I have to say, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. We'll be back out there later this week to finish the job. There's probably another 1500-2000 more bales to go.
See the smile, that's cuz we're on our way back after the last trip.

Great weekend overall, great weather, lots got down, some down time... perfect. I heard it rained some in Boston.. suckers :)

I Fell In Love A Little More Today

Why you ask? Well, the wife has golf clubs now, and she used them for the first time. After work, we headed over to the driving range to give them a whirl. Now, the wife has never been golfing before, hasn't swung a club since high school gym class (apparently that's what taught at her hoity toity school. we got floor hockey), but she did really well. I only gave her minimal instructions, and she seems to have caught on pretty quickly. So we'll see where she takes it from here...

I just have to throw this link in. The subject matter if funny enough as it is, but the local yokels are priceless...

We've been playing a lot of Super Nintendo again. It's really not as easy as I remember it being, does this mean I'm getting old? Or that I'm so used to playing more complicated games that I can't play the simple ones anymore?

One Year Later..

So can you believe it? We've been living in the great state of Maine for a solid year now. Boy, that sure went by fast huh. So far so good too. Let's see, so far we've redone the front of the house, the back of the house, one bathroom, two bedrooms (with a third half done), the dining room and the office. We've also bought a new car, I got a new job, and met new friends. But the best part is that we've really gotten to know our family up here so much better. I have two cousins I hardly knew before moving, who are now two of my closest friends.

Overall, I'd say it was the perfect decision for us. And looking forward to the next year, we have a million and one things going on there too. Finish more work on the outside of the house, redo the kitchen and other bathroom, finish the 3rd bedroom, redo the 4th bedroom into a nursey and the most important thing, adopt a new baby. Wow... talk about some heavy changes in two years time.

In other news...

• The new casino opened up today here in the city. I'd say it's the biggest thing ever to happen up here. All the news stations are there, the radio stations are all broadcasting from the site, it's amazing. The funniest thing I've heard so far? A woman on the radio talking about how amazing the crosswalk was! Yeah, it counted down for you so you know how much time is left before it turns!!! Wow.. .technology, ain't it amazing..
• This would be the coolest summer job...
• And I think I need this...
• July fourth this weekend. The wife and I don't have any plans, so if anyone is looking for something to do, please, c'mon up! We always love the visitors. And seriously people, it's been a year(yes, 52 weekends), your excuses for not visiting are crap. Stop being so lazy and come see the fabulous Morrisseys!
• Application for adoption is hitting the mail this week. Next we need to go to the local police department to get finger printed and all that for the background check. Hopefully that won't take too long (not the actual ink and finger part, but the FBI part). Once the application is in and complete, we then have to take a parenting/adoption class. Apparently its only one day, so it shouldn't be so bad.