A Stay At Home Dad

Today the kids achieved another first.  I left a store before I was ready to because I couldn’t deal with their antics anymore.  Not exactly a first to brag about, but there it is.

I decided to stop in at a Bernie’s today to investigate new TV sets.  I went to look at the first few LCD’s, and the urchins laid down on the floor.  Minor annoyance, but manageable.  So I moved on to look at some other sets and the kids come tearing after me.  The daughter jumped in front of me and in the process almost trips a sales guy.  Little Miss Oblivious.  The salesman was good natured about it- “I’ve got big ones now but I remember…” sort of stuff.  In retrospect, it was only a matter of time from here.

The kids have one habit in particular that drives me crazy. It’s one of those kid things that I remember doing and only now can I appreciate the patience my parents must have practiced with me and my siblings. The worst part is that you are captive to them in this situation because you’re all in the car together. And they are bored.

And then the “potty” language starts.

Today was the kind of day where your sweat sweats. The kind of day where you walk around with a coat of grime and you deal with it because well- what else can you do?

Find some A/C, that’s what.  Of course, with the kids I also needed a way to keep them busy. Bored kids are a difficult beast to deal with. Leave them alone for too long and they will almost certainly get into trouble of some sort. Creativity knows no bounds. So it was off to the Children’s Museum- where there is plenty to keep them going for the afternoon. Most importantly, though, they have A/C.

We have a pellet stove to heat our basement. Of course, you need to fuel the stove with pellets. This year we purchased a couple of tons of pellets which, as of earlier today, were still sitting in our driveway. Not a good situation for the pellets, even though they are covered with a couple of layers of plastic. I know from past experience that the only way to keep the pellets dry is to keep them in something that keeps the water outside, and plastic wrap doesn’t do that.

I’m a pretty handy guy.  There isn’t too much in a house that I’m unable to fix when it breaks.  The only exception is plumbing- by which I mean copper pipes.  Faucets and toilets I can deal with.  Even things that I’ve never dealt with before I’m unafraid to tackle because I’ve done enough fixit projects and collected enough tools to feel comfortable that I’ll be able to get myself out of whatever trouble I get myself into.

Dad has a website related to EIFS inspections that the Brother has started for him.

I’m sitting here half-watching the cartoons the kids have on.  The Wife is finishing up a sweater that was initially meant for the boy but, because the pattern she followed resulted in something too small, is going to the lass instead.  She’s been very disappointed with the sweater because of the sizing issues.  My own view is the sweater is a nice looking sweater that she’s done a good job with- she can’t be held culpable for being misled on the size due to the pattern.  The lass likes it anyway, and the boy will get his own sweater after this one is finished.