The Weblog Of Melissa Manske

Thursday 08-21-08

• Body Pump at the YMCA — 60 minutes

I started and finished painting the front of the garage today. Maybe we’ll get the sides and back of the house and garage done before the weather turns cold, but if not we’ll do it next year.

On a more fun note, Owen started learning to ride his bike today. We rode it up and down the block until he got shaky from trying so hard. We’re going to do it every day he’s here, a little bit at a time, ’til he gets it down.

The trees in front really need trimming, so we went out and bought a pole cutter/pruner today. I cut down a ton of branches with some help from Owen, we packed them up in the minivan (it was completely full), and took them to the brush/recycling center. Now you can actually see the house from the road!

When Michael got home we went to several stores returning all the things he’s never used but has accumulated in the garage. One thing about hardware and automotive stores, they sure take things back for a long time — he got over $150 for the things he returned. He put the refund right back into the stores, but it was for things we need right now (namely a couple of sawhorses and a ball joint and rotors for the van), so that was really good.

Owen’s home, so it’s going to be trickier getting home projects done. He’s helpfully told me he’d be happy to play a game his dad loaned him, Star Wars: Empire At War, while I paint. I told him I’d prefer he was reading, but he rolled his eyes at me. The game involves a lot of strategy (and some reading) so I’m going to pretend it’s not too bad that he’s playing a video game a good part of the afternoon.

The present my mom dropped off for him was a really neat pack of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. One of the cards was the right leg of some monster. Owen was so excited about it. Apparently if you have the head, right and left leg and right and left arm of this guy (no word on his torso), you automatically win a battle you’re in. He’s not exactly battling with his cards and I think the group of cards might be ‘banned’ from normal play, but he didn’t care at all. A right leg! Imagine!

It was hot hot hot today, but I painted and worked on the deck anyway. Now the front is done, and the back patio is clean and the spaces between the bricks are filled with sand. I finished the painting just as Michael was pulling in from work. Seeing the state I was in (paint everywhere) he grilled out and made dinner for all of us, which was awesome.

We all took Layne for a walk (scooter for Owen) after dinner, as the weather is perfect. As Owen went to bed Michael went back out to the garage to work some more, and I’m planning on doing my best to pass out here any minute.

I needed to do a a little more prep work — I trimmed a lot off the barberry bushes in front so I could safely paint behind them. I spent a few hours painting afterward.

We had to stop our projects to take a bunch of branches and a pile of stuff Michael pulled from the garage to the dump. Then we visited his family, then we picked up Owen. My mom stopped by and dropped off some things for the party, and a special gift for Owen that he’s going to go crazy over (I’m going to show him in the morning).

Hopefully I’ll get more done on the house tomorrow.

A lot of the work we’ve been doing inside and out this summer is because of a big party we’re having here Labor Day weekend. We’ve been going back and forth deciding whether we should paint the house and garage before the party. Today we decided we’re going to do it, but maybe just the fronts, which are cedar, versus the rest of the house and garage which have regular siding. We’ll do the rest in September, or possibly next year.

So today we shopped for and bought paint, and did a ton of prep work. I scrubbed down the cedar, then Michael went over the whole house with the power sprayer. We also worked on/completed a bunch of other outdoor projects we want to get done before the party.

Work work work with a nice dinner out afterwards.

Thursday 08-14-08

• Body Pump at the YMCA — 60 minutes

Owen and I went to Space Chimps–the Kid’s Rule movie at the Menomonee Falls Marcus Cinema. When we got there (early) both screens of it were sold out for their ten o’clock showing. They decided to do another two showings of it at Noon, so we got tickets for it then. One of the vendors remarked to me they sold over 1,000 seats just to that movie that morning. Crazy!

It wasn’t the best movie, but I’ve seen a lot worse. Like Doogal. And The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3D, two movies that make Owen laugh with delight just to hear me talk about them. Ugh. I don’t know what he likes more, the movies or the fact that watching them makes me writhe in pain.

Anyway, Space Chimps has an occasional one-liner adults will find funny, and as a whole the movie is tolerable. The theater we saw it in was sold out and there was a lot of laughing going on during the movie, so that’s always a good sign. Kids definitely like it, parents won’t keel over and die from viewing it once.

Space Chimps (2008)

While waiting for our movie to start and afterwards, we got most of Owen’s school supply shopping done. He’s apparently decided his theme this is black-and-white camouflage and things related to guitars and/or people rocking out.

Owen sleeping in
Poisonwood Bible

Eggs and sausage
Kong with sausage and eggs

Floors and fridge washed
Ball with Layne fetched

Blue Dragon
Snuggles and kisses

Cafe Fair espresso beans
Summons at the door: not for us, but not fun nonetheless

Blue Dragon again
More snuggles more kisses

Sleep