Spring It On You Like This

First things first, the big news is that we’re expecting our second child to arrive on September 17th! We’re both very excited and Cal is anxious to have a new baby brother or sister to welcome into the family. We’ve decided to keep the gender a surprise this time, in case you’re wondering. In the meantime, Cal is moving up to the next room at daycare very soon. He’s vocabulary seems to grow by the day and he’s really enjoying being outside more in the warm spring weather.

Now that spring is sprung, we are making final preparations for the new garage construction. Don is coming over this afternoon to disconnect the power running to old garage and move a couple sprinklers backward. I’ve moved most of our things to the basement, save for the lawnmower etc. I’m going to take a few photos tonight to serve as the “before” memories in the album. Except for a few mice, I don’t think anyone is going to miss the old garage.

Wild playoff hockey starts this Thursday at 8:30pm. I have high hopes for us this year, but win or lose, at least we get to watch playoff hockey. A few months ago it looked like this season was in the tank. It’s going to be interesting to see how home ice affects the series, considering this year the Wild have played remarkably better on the road. Goaltending wins playoff games, and in that respect I like our chances. Anyway, regardless of Thursday’s outcome, I’m going to be dragging a bit come Friday morning.

Work has been going well, albeit a bit slow at this time of year. I’ve spent most of my time in Applescript, writing various programs to automate the production process in Adobe InDesign. After many books, hours and testing I’m very happy with my progress. Our busy season should be much smoother and faster, which hopefully means less overtime.

After a 2 year hiatus, I picked up gaming again via a New Nintendo 3DS XL. It’s a fantastic, portable system that works well with my limited free time and provides a huge collection of affordable games to play. Not to mention, it’s an easy way for us to watch Netflix anywhere, without needing to plug the laptop into the TV etc. I’m currently playing Fire Emblem Awakening and Final Fantasy Theater Rhythm.

I’m really looking forward to getting out for the first fishing trip and disc golf game this year. I’m also hoping Cal will enjoy riding in the bike trailer more now that he’s a bit older. It would be fun to take him for rides up to the Wabun picnic area etc. and use the pool. He’s seems to only handle the stroller in small doses these days, as he would much rather run around and explore.

My Christmas Favorites

Sometimes, you can't come up with five favorite things, so four will have to do. So without delay, here are my top four favorite Christmas foods, cookies, songs and movies:

Food

1. Lefse
2. Egg Nog (actually, Soy Nog)
3. Pickled Herring
4. Swedish Meatballs

Cookies

1. Rosettes
2. Almond Spritz
3. Russian Tea Cakes
4. Frosted Sugar Cookies

Songs

1. Holly Jolly Christmas - Burl Ives
2. Silver Bells - Stevie Wonder
3. Your A Mean One, Mr. Grinch - Grinch Soundtrack
4. Step Into Christmas - Elton John

Movies

1. How The Grinch Stole Christmas
2. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
3. Catch Me If You Can
4. Die Hard

Snovember

We had everything set to go for the first snowfall of the year today, so it wasn't too much of a hassle. I left for work 10 minutes early, and arrived 10 minutes early, so I guess that worked out pretty well. Cal is outside this morning as we speak trying to figure out what all the wet, white, fluffily stuff is. Angie is off work today and tomorrow, so I lucked out by not having to pick him up from daycare until the snow is done falling on Wednesday. 

Had a pretty decent weekend considering I had to work 4 hours of OT on Saturday morning. I made a trip to Home Depot yesterday and traded in our old Xmas lights for new LED ones. They give you a coupon for each old string you trade-in, pretty cool, actually. With all this snow on the ground I feel like I should be listening to Xmas music already, even though I just took the Halloween decorations down yesterday.

We discovered a plumbing leak under my bathroom sink, and it appears to be behind the wall. Normally this wouldn't be too hard to get to, but my Dad put a nice finishing board under the sink which will have to be destroyed in order to gain access to the leak. So I guess I learned my lesson, practical trumps pretty when it comes to plumbing.

Only 12 more working weekdays until Thanksgiving, I'm really looking forward to having a day off and getting together with family. Yes, I do have work the next day but what can you do. It's the same story again in December, since I have Xmas Eve and Xmas Day off but have to work that Friday. Yet again for the New Year's Day scenario, Ah! By that time, work will have completely slowed down and I probably won't care too much.