Baby pictures - redux

Okay, here are the long-awaited baby pictures from our last ultrasound:








For those who didn't already know, she is a girl. We have a couple of names that we're looking at right now; one is the definite front-runner, and the other is a possible contender. I'll let Tracy blog that if she desires.

Home thoughts

So, over Thanksgiving, I got to demonstrate to Tracy's family just how much of a handyman I am.

• The sink in Tracy's grandmother's kitchen, and the one in the bathroom clogged Thanksgiving day. We spent Thanksgiving night working on them, and I got a hand covered in Drano. I wasn't able to fix the kitchen sink.
  
• Then, Saturday, at Tracy's parent's house, Scott and I replaced the light fixture in the living room, I replaced the one in the bedroom Tracy and I had slept in.
  
• Also Saturday, I connected their satellite decoder box to the dish that was already mounted on the house and made it work.
• Thursday, I rebuilt Tracy's grandmother's computer, reinstalling Windows on it.
  

Between all that, and some conversations with Tracy's parents, I had a few thoughts on things I want to do when I finally own a home:

• Tile Kitchen floor. I'm tired of linoleum/vinyl flooring in kitchens.
• Laminate wood flooring in the Living/Family room(s). I really like it, it cleans up well, and it's easy to install.
• Radiant heat flooring in the bathroom. I hate waking up in the morning, going into the bathroom, and stepping on cold tile. This solves that.
• Tankless water heater. Hot water was a big issue this trip. The pilot on the water heater kept going out, and it was never very hot (though that was just the thermostat) Even our hot water heater is wimpy. We can't both shower in the morning. Plus, they save between 15 and 40% on heating costs since you don't have to keep a tank warm. (And you can't blow them up like Mythbusters did to a regular water heater) They may take a while for the hot water to reach the tap, but that's the same with a regular hot water line, and if you need instant hot water, you can install a mini-heater under the sink!

Sick

I'm sick. About two weeks ago, I got a cold, right? I took a day and a half off work to fight it, and manage to get over it. Unfortunately, since then I've been coughing like crazy. Today I didn't go to work; I went to the doctor, instead. Diagnosis: bronchitis. I get antibiotics and a cough syrup and am told to take it easy for a few days. (Yes, this means I'm gonna take tomorrow off work, too, just to be safe.) I also threw up today; I assume it's from the poor sleep I've had up until today, especially driving from Houston to DFW airport Sunday morning (We arrived at 4:30), and the fact that I ate nothing until 3:00 today, then ate pretzels and Ramen.

Pictures delayed

Unfortunately, the ultrasound pictures are going to be delayed a while longer. Tracy didn't take them into work, and although they're in my Google Docs, they won't copy out correctly. Sorry.

:)

More Maps

For class, we had to draw another map; this time of four states. Unfortunately, the professor wouldn't let us draw the UT,CO,AZ,NM set. I really wanted to, but he said four boxes would be way too easy. Instead, he assigned us four options that involved a lot of convoluted borders, rivers, and and coastlines. I, of course, chose the WI,MN,IA,IL set, and here it is!




We also had to create a black and white map that shows people how to get to our house. This map emphasizes simplicity and clarity, not detail. Neither scale nor direction are accurate beyond left and right or big and small. Distance doesn't matter at all. I also removed the address, because this blog is publicly readable.

So, Joe and I definitely need to start taking more pictures. So yes, this is another pictureless post. Nothing much new is going on, just the same old, same old. We are still dog sitting our friend's dog while they are on their honeymoon, so its been a little crazy. We've had her for 2 weeks now. At least, they wear each other out more.

We find out Nov 15th what we're having, at least if the baby cooperates that is. Welp, that's about it. Maybe I'll have something better to write about next time.

Oh yeah, we did go to a "They Might be Giants" concert which was alot of fun. It was weird because I could feel the music vibrations in my belly. It was such a weird sensation. We didn't get back until 2 in the morning so we were both exhausted the next day.