A day on the couch

Monday started out as a normal day, except that Mark told me at the last minute that he was staying home to finish some work uninterrupted. So right away I’m rushing to get the kids and me out the door more or less on time.
Nick’s drop-off was first. We went to the school where the Lights-Camera-Action summer camp is held and, since there was just one adult for this trip, everybody got out to drop Nick off (even though it’s just in front of the door and takes only 2 minutes, I never leave Katie alone in the car. So, off we went inside. So far so good; I bend down to sign him in, I get up, turn to Nick to say good-bye and --whammo-- MY BACK IS OUT OF WHACK. No warning, no pop, no nothing.
So, I slink back into the car with Katie and manage to drop her off at Daycare. At least she’s getting old enough to unbuckle herself and climb out of the car without my having to lift her. I spent the rest of the day at work sitting in my chair without moving too much. Boy, was I glad when it was time to go home. I retired to the couch and stuck one of those heat-pillows on my lower back.
The next morning I woke up and did a fish-flop maneuver to try to get out of bed, which I managed to do, but the way I was slinking around, there was no way I would make it to work. So it was back to the couch with the laptop and everything else within reach and off to work (virtually speaking).
Man, it sure sucks getting old--one false move and you’re out of commission for a couple of days.

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To Blogo or not to Blogo

I was trying to find an offline blog editor so I can create blogs while we commute to work and not connected to the internet. Mark found a product called ecto which looks like a nice basic editor, but had a few quirks which had to be configured. I did a google search for blog editor mac and found one called Blogo. So far, I like what I see. I downloaded a 21 day trial and set it up to work with my blogspot account, which it imported without problems. I can also add my twitter account. I'll try that next to see how good it works. I want to post this blog as my first test.

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How to make a Sandbox in a day (and a half)

With the weather as great as it was for the 4th of July holiday, we wanted to spend some time outside this year. That and trying to get the kids away from the computers, DSs, Vtechs, Leapsters, etc. So, of course, there had to be something to do outside, or we’d never hear the end of “I’m sooooo bored, what can we do,” etc. etc.

We figured we could whip up a sandbox in a day--how hard can it be? Actually, not very, it turns out. Better yet, when we added on to the house a few years back, I elected to dismantle the old deck (instead of letting the contractor demolish it). All that wood was just in a pile next to the toolshed. So in the spirit of “we better use it or throw it out”, which we adopted this year, we went through it all and found enough material to build the box--all that was left to buy was the boards for the seat and the sand of course.

With a general idea--and I mean general, as in “let’s make it about 5x7 feet, it’s just a box after all”, we measured (twice of course) and cut and deck-screwed (I had left-overs) the box together in just about a day. We dug down a bit to even the ground and put down some landscape-fabric to keep the weeds out, and put the box in place. Then we added the sand. We had to get bags--all the other places that had sand on bulk were closed for the holiday--the nerve of these people :)

When I say ‘we added the sand’ it sounds pretty easy, right? Well, it is, except for the schlepping 40 bags of 50 lbs sand from the truck to the sandbox! Good exercise though.

So we finished about a half hour before it got dark and the kids got to play in it for a bit before we covered it up with a tarp. We’ll have to build a cover next, ‘cause we don’t plan to provide a nice kitty-outhouse for the neighborhood.

Even though the kids went to bed around 10 that night, they were still up early the next morning to get back in the box. It only took us about an hour or so to add the seat. I’ll still have to do some sanding around the edges, but it’s pretty much done and looks mahhvellous, if I do say so myself.

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