Off the Shelves

So I finally decided to get up off my ass and actually prepare to put in the bookshelves in. It occurred to me the other day while watching our frogs that I've gotten rather good at simple woodcrafting (emphasis on simple). Which brought me to mind the shelves that I've, well, shelved for so long. I think part of me putting them off for so long was simply a lack of confidence when it comes to taking on such a big project. So I brainstormed a little more, went over my old notes and measurements, and decided I needed to go to Lowe's for a few things.
I do some of my best thinking just roaming the isles of Lowe's. It's a creative process really, where I just stroll and plan in my head, baking up random ideas from the equipment and hardware right off the shelves. Sort of like the opening scene to the Ray Bradbury Theater but rather than a great story afterwards you get some crazy ass project cooked up in my head.
Once I got home I did the next big thing that helps me think; I cleaned and organized. I reorganized the two piles of books and compressed them into one large mountain in the dining room. It took most of the evening but the "reading room" is now clear with the exception to the fish tank and Helen's toy chest. I love digging through books. I do have the habit of getting distracted but that's the fun part. By the end of it all I had a nice little stack of books that I wanted to make sure stayed close to the top so I could easily find them again. Marcel helped with some of it and he grabbed a few himself including a publisher's copy of The Golden Compass. One of the great things about working at a bookstore was you got some good stuff like this before it hit the shelves. I remember tearing through the story pretty fast and waiting for the next book. I eventually forgot about the story, waiting for part two to come out. Now I get to read it again but this time with my son. I even found the old bookmark still in the book that I stuffed in the middle of the book when I finished it. It was a jack of spades from one of my deck of cards laying around my dad's house. It's kinda weird to think that the last time I touched that card I was nineteen years old.
Lana's now thirty one weeks along. It feels like "any day now" but I know she still has some time to go. Olivia is kicking all the time now. I can feel her kicking my back at night when we're in bed when Lana has her belly against me. Sometimes she kicks so hard I can't imagine it not hurting like that. Lana tells me she likes to head butt her cervix and punch vital organs. She particularly likes ice cream.
We were watching The Watcher in the Woods with Marcel a few nights back when Lana tells me Olivia likes ice cream after she took a bite of mine. I eyeball her suspiciously and give her another bite of my ice cream. She tells me again how much Olivia really likes the ice cream. I again give her another bite of my dwindling bowl of ice cream but then I see Lana's belly move. When I say move I mean like Alien style belly roll. It was really neat/weird. I guess the shock was on my face cause Lana turned to me and said, "I told you she liked ice cream."
Well, I'm about to hit the road and go visit my dad. I'll leave ya with a few photos from the past. I've been scanning pictures again and found these in the picture box.

Marcel's first experience of snow was at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He had fallen face down in the snow. It was Lana's idea to take the pictures. Marcel has since then forgiven her for not helping him up right away since he doesn't remember it anyway. ;)

Mothing to Blog about

I'm always amazed at the interesting hobbies folks pursue for pleasure. I finally finished my vivarium but now it's become apparent to me that I need a reliable way to feed my three green tree frogs that won't have me going to Petsmart every few days for crickets. Breeding crickets is just too much of a pain. I know because I tried it. Marcel and I have been catching flies and moths outside by the porch lights at night but unfortunately we have over a dozen leopard geckos that hunt by our bulbs so the pickings are usually pretty slim. So I decided to look into fly traps and moth traps. I originally thought about breeding flies but decided that was too much work too. But if I had a way to set traps and just check them now and then...
Turns out there are some folks who enjoy moths, or Mothing as they call it. There's a whole mess of folks out there who catch, study, photograph and release moths (as well as flies) in their area. They have forums where they post their catches, tips on caring for them and whole threads on trapping. Like I said, I'm always amazed at the vast array of hobbies out there that people devote their time to. I'm sure there are those out there that say that about me and my hobbies. Anyway, that's really all I had to say... :)

Fun with Silicone!

So it's been a very busy weekend yet again. We did our usual Friday night poker game. I hadn't been playing online much lately. I think it has mostly to do with the fact that if I'm online lately it's reading and staring at vivarium tutorials.
We did a lot of running around on Saturday. Marcel and me went to Johnathan's birthday party where we visited a bit with my dad and I got to drool over Johnathan's Xbox 360. I've never been one for video games longer than a week or two at most (WoW was a binge addiction that has ran it's coarse) but I can't help but go "oooooooohhhh..." with Marcel watching the demo run at Gamestop. So we grabbed him a game and I resisted the four hundred (FOUR HUNDRED! impulse buy that would have gotten my ass whooooped at at home if and when I decided to go home with it. Like the kindda ass whooopin' you got when you were twelve after you said 'Yes Mommy Dearest' to yo momma. Sorry, that was just me but you get the point. It is a very nice system and I'm really considering one after seeing some of the games they got out for it.
After the birthday party we hauled ass back to the house where Lana was getting ready to go pimp some adult toys with Kelly. While the girls did that, Micah and me took the Marcel and Becca to the carnival and rodeo. Marcel and I watched the rodeo but, before too long, got bored. We hit the rides until I almost puked. We got on this spinning thing so much that by the fifth ride I wasn't sure I could handle a sixth ride. Somehow I managed another when Marcel wanted one more ride before we hit the road. I almost puked when he mentioned working up an appetite. I've never been one to have a weak stomach so I'll just chalk it up to a lack of sleep.
The past few days have gone by pretty fast. It's already Wednesday. The good news is I've made lots of headway with the tank. The glass is glued and water tested, the false bottom complete and glued down, the hood almost done and the lights wired for action. Only thing really left to do is wait for glue to dry, stain, and decorate the interior. May not seem like a lot but I'm growing impatient. I hate having to wait. I think I should take Marcel out to the park and look for some more bog wood and rocks. By the time we get back the glue should be dry enough for me to finish the hood plus it'll keep me from fucking with it before it's dry. I'm feeling a little restless today unless it wasn't obvious. Well, off to tromp through the park with Marcel...

One Frog, Two Frog, Three...

It's been a pretty relaxing past few weeks really other than the stress of refinancing the house. I say that with sarcasm in case you missed that. All joking aside it really has been pretty relaxed. The appraiser came out, walked inside and outside our home and then left to tell us how much our home is worth. Seems so weird when I get to thinking of it like that but there it is. A few days before Lana and me went on a hurricane of cleaning. All the kiddo fingerprints on the walls by the stairs, the spaghetti that somehow managed to splash up on the kitchen ceiling, all the stuffed animals up on the fridge Sally had chewed up as a puppy, Lana pruned down Marcel's artwork from this school year down to two, and I actually cleaned up all the feathers still floating around our bedroom from Lana's pillow. There's a lot of value in our home that the appraiser just couldn't see and I can't explain so it feels a little invasive to have someone tell me how much my home is worth. The birthdays we've celebrated with friends, the games we've played gathered around the living room, the early morning roleplaying sessions in the dining room, the crowded kitchen debates over chips and dip, and the quiet evenings with Lana and Marcel dozing off watching movies or eating a snack at three in the morning. I don't think the appraiser was looking for that sort of thing when she came in for her assessment of our home but it became real apparent to me just how much my home means to me in more than one way.
The past week or two we've been mesmerized by a little tree frog Lana found in the garage one night. I managed to catch it and put it in Marcel's little terrarium he got from his Uncle for his birthday. Marcel and I spend our days and evenings ever on the scout for moths, flies, and unfortunate bugs to feed to it. It's really cool watching and I can't help but want to feed it constantly. So the other day Micah and Kelly come by and Becca's carrying a jar with another tree frog. Apparently Becca's hair looked like a nice place to nest in and it fell in her hair. So we put it in the little tank too. You can probably tell where this is leading up to so I'll spare you the suspense and just say that I'm now working on a frog tank in the garage. It's a must at this point since we now got a third tree frog from our trip to the pond out by the river. We went there looking for bog wood and rocks for a tank. We walked around the pond, spotted a hare, a large snake, lots of turtles, spiders, and a few frogs and even another tree frog. So I managed to sneak up on him and put took it home to join the other two. Turns out its a guy tree frog. We're hoping when the tank is complete with proper planning and a spray bottle we'll have tadpoles soon. :)

Marcel: "Why's the little frog hugging the big tree frog like that?"

Lana took this great picture of the pond while me and Marcel were beating around the bushes looking for frogs and and bugs. It was a really hot day and I'd really love to go out there sometime a little earlier in the day or in the evening when all the frogs start to come out. I love being outside on days like this.

We've been playing a cards with Micah and Kelly a lot the past week and Marcel decided to jump in the other night when I was tearin up some Seven's. Marcel came in and whooped us in a game just before we called it a night.