Friday Update

Baby Update:
The march toward parenthood is going great. Shannon is doing awesome as her stomach and the baby get bigger each day. We're preparing the nursery habitation by selecting furniture and evaluating paint colors (low odor paint, of course). We are stockpiling a small, but growing, pile of cute baby boy clothes.

Finally, months of reading the book "Baby Bargains" is starting to pay dividends. I am well-versed in the relative merits of various bouncers, baby wipe warmers, and crib designs. Such is life!

Home Improvement
The floundering closet project of 2008 finally made progress. The objective was simple: replace a single row of shelf / hanging rod with a double row in our master closet to double the usable space.

Cost overruns and construction delays plagued the project from the beginning. Demolition posed some challenges as some overzealous past person used 2,590 nails and 2 gallons of paint to secure the previous closet to the wall. I was able to put a big hurt on the structure and down it came.

The construction phase started badly because of an attempt to use ClosetMaid wire shelving. This seemed to be the best choice at the time, but poor instructions and worse product design led to the removal of the nearly completed shelving apparatus. I lost several hours of drilling and cursing, but Lowes accepted our return.

At this point, we went back to drawing board. The new design would use wood brackets nailed into the walls to support the shelf and clothes rod. A chill went down my spine when I realized I would finally have to step up and use my compressor and nail gun for the first time.

I just knew I would make some critical mistake at some point, and be shredded by an exploding air compressor tank or possibly lobotomize myself with a framing nail to the cerebellum. I did incorrectly load a nail which caused a scary misfire, but with my trusty friend Google (search: HOW DO I SET UP A STUPID @#$@ COMPRESSOR THAT HAS INADEQUATE INSTRUCTIONS?) I finished the project. From now on, I shall nail gun with reckless abandon. Crown molding and fence repairs, Ahoy!

Baby Season
We're headed to Waco Saturday to celebrate Clay and Sarah's upcoming baby boy. This is apparently NOT A BABY SHOWER ,so we are not supposed to eat candy bars out of diapers or screech "Oh How Preeeeeecious!" I'm really looking forward to the visit and some great times.

Corgidor Update:
Thank you, Carter, for sending along this picture of our beloved Corgidor, Bella. In this picture she is panting from the exertion of harassing people at the pool.