Dog House Project

Hayduke has a pretty good life.  That little stray puppy huddled in the tree roots, hungry and scared, has made a fine life for himself in the house across the street.  He gets good dog food and an endless supply of toys and treats and belly scratches and long hikes in the woods.  It’s his first winter here, and even though he sleeps inside at night, he needs a doghouse for the cold mornings and evenings he stays outside during the winter, or during the rainy parts of the year.
But will any old doghouse do?  No, it will not.  No doghouses we can buy locally are insulated.  No doghouses we can order online review well.  Most dogs in Arkansas do just fine with a non-insulated doghouse.  Most dogs don’t read online reviews.

We’re BUILDING a doghouse.  We ordered plans online from doghouseplans.com and gathered ideas from reviewing hundreds of doghouse photos.  We’ve gone to Home Depot a half dozen times.  We’ve spent good money and large parts of four days building this doghouse.

Continue reading “Dog House Project”

Festivus

This year we added an official Festivus celebration to our holiday calendar. (Wikipedia has a well-written and comprehensive article about Festivus, and you should read it if you’re unfamiliar with this winter holiday.)  Bryan made a Festivus pole for the house (under $10 DIY or you can buy one here –Bryan), and our friends Kathy and Jarion went with us to a movie (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol; worth the IMAX surcharge –Bryan).  After the movie, we ate supper at our house and participated in an extended Airing of Grievances session (she’s holding a Grievance form against his chest, above.)  We went to their house for carrot cake for dessert, and the dogs took care of the Feats of Strength portion of the customary Festivus celebration.

Guest Bathroom

When we bought our house, we knew that our second bathroom was sort of terrible.  The fixtures were nice, but the room was painted bright yellow with a sort of multi-layer brown/gold spongy finish.  I suppose the previous owners had thought that the effect would be rich and elegant.  I thought that the effect led one to believe that a large mammal had been smeared in its own poop and then had seizures in the room, blotting the excrement all over the walls.

A second problem involved the sink.  It was a nice Kohler pedestal, but its lack of a cabinet meant that there was no storage at all in the small bathroom.  This was a problem for our teenager – even a low-maintenance girl like Mandy needs a place to store a few bathroom things.  Since the room doubles as a guest bathroom, there was no way for her to store her own lotions and potions that still allowed the room to be presentable for guests.  It was getting more and more frustrating for all of us.

So this year, one of her holiday gifts will be a remodeled bathroom.
Bathroom-Before&After

On the Saturday Mandy left for her annual winter trip to Tulsa, Bryan and I shopped for and bought a new vanity, counter, and sink for the bathroom.  Sunday was spent removing the fixtures, repainting the room, reinstalling the toilet and adding the new vanity.

Bathroom-Composite

We all wanted a brighter orange wall color, but it would have clashed with the granite countertop.  It’s actually turned out rather more classy and grown-up than we’d intended, but it’s very pretty and I suppose we’ll manage.

Holiday Decorating 2011


When we pulled up in front of Bradbury’s Christmas Tree Farm, a boy in a red ball cap met us at the truck with a smile and a saw.   Bryan and Mandy choose our tree based on height, color and even-ness; I have veto power because I’m the one who notices when a tree’s trunk is so crooked it won’t fit well in the tree base.



Then it was home to put up the tree.  This year we recorded another time-lapse video (that’s it up top) of decorating the house.  And now we’re ready for the holiday season, full of music and food and naps and presents and friends

Mandy’s 14th Birthday

Mandy’s fourteenth birthday’s come and gone.  For breakfast, she got homemade waffles with strawberry syrup and whipped cream.  Her presents were practical this year – some clothes and shoes and a new bag for school.

Fourteen years into this, I have to say she’s a good kid for the most part – a little disorganized, a little lazy, a little thoughtless.  But when we think about the other teenagers I see, with their skin-tight shirts and their sneery attitudes and their noses in their text-phones, we’re glad we have her. She’s smart and funny and wise and cheerful.

Happy birthday, Mandy.  Let’s make this next year a good one, too.

NOLA Pukefest

We always look forward to our visit with New Orleans family at Thanksgiving time, and we always enjoy our time there.  Almost always.  Maybe not so much this time.  But we’ll get to that.

We arrived in Metairie at our usual 2am on Thanksgiving morning, after the long after-work drive from central Arkansas.  Hayduke and I got up early on Thursday for beignets and a trip to the dog park while Bryan and Mandy slept in, and then Hayduke went down the street to stay at Kevin’s house while the family enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner.  It’s such a treat to spend the day with family. Continue reading “NOLA Pukefest”

ASMSA Open House

by Guest Blogger Mandy

Most people, by the eighth grade, have thought of the daunting prospect of what to do with their edjumacation, and, hello, I’m there. And as higher academics goes, while kids often day dream about college, I’ve been thinking about high school and I have discovered something, too. Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts (ASMSA), to me, seems a little shinier than Benton High School. Continue reading “ASMSA Open House”

Chem2 is HISTORY

It’s been a difficult school year for me. I’ve only done seven hours for each semester, because Chemistry at UALR is very, very hard, apparently in order to discourage potential medical students. My advisor told me twice that most geology students take their chem classes at a nearby community college.

After the final, I went to Debbie Thompson’s house. We sat on her deck and watched the sun set and drank beer and burned all my chemistry notes.

I’m done. I ended up with high Cs in both chem 1 and chem 2. A year ago I’d never have believed I’d feel proud and relieved to see Cs on my transcript – I’m an A student! – but the fact is that these chemistry courses have bludgeoned my ego pretty thoroughly. Or maybe they’ve just taught me humility. I’m not good at everything. I’m learning to accept that.

I can go on to my other science courses now. I’ll never have to take another chemistry class again. This summer I’m taking an oceanography course, and next fall I’ll be doing physics and geology.

Nose bleed

For some reason, Mandy gets nosebleeds occasionally.  They’re usually not a big deal, with the exception of the one major self-inflicted crash into the red pickup in the McDonald’s parking lot.  But it seems that when she gets one, she gets several of them in a few days’ time. It doesn’t seem to bother her much – they’re messy, but usually easy to control and not much more than a yucky inconvenience.

More Snow for Central Arkansas

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There’s been a lot of snow this winter.  We’ve had four or five snow days.  We could have braved the bad roads – they really do get awful here, with the lack of equipment and people to clear snow and ice – but why bother?  Mandy’s school was closed, and since Bryan and I both work for the state, we had days off work too.  We planned ahead, bought groceries and cozy socks, and just stayed home.

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