Did I mention I don't like to paint?

One of my tasks for this weekend was to paint the windows downstairs in the front and the front door . I'm smart enough to know that I don't want to do the whole house in one weekend, so I started in the front.

Did I mention I don't like to paint? Of course I picked the warmed/sunniest weekend we've had all spring. Friday night I washed down everything then Saturday primered the really bad spots. I was going to paint that afternoon, but it was way too hot.

Sunday morning Meghan helped me tape off everything that wasn't already taped due to the primer, then we started painting. She helped with the windows around the front door then decided she'd had enough. I guess watching DIY and TLC is one thing, doing it is another ;-)

It took me almost 3 hours to paint everything, then another hour to cleanup this evening after it cooled down a little bit.

So if you're a redneck if only your neck/shoulders are sunburned. What if only your back half is red? The sun was behind me the whole day so I have an interesting tan now!

Coke Classic Tournament May 8 and 9

Courtney's softball team was undefeated in regular play at their park so they won a trip to the Coke Classic softball tournament at Lost Mountain.

Their first game was earlier in the week, but I was at my company's User Conference so I couldn't attend. They won that one but it was a close game.

Friday night's game shaped up to be a big game because the team we were playing was also undefeated in their own park. Well, our girls stepped up and our defense shut them down.

Saturday was a long day. One of the longest in a couple of years. We arrived at the field at 9 am and didn't leave until 3:45. The girls played two great games, getting better and better with each inning. We 'won' the winners bracket so on Thursday we meet the winner of the 'losers' bracket for the championship!

Our regular pitcher and I have a bit of a game/contest going. If she doesn't walk the first batter she faces, I get her some chocolate. She's a Reese's peanut butter cup girl but won't turn away from regular chocolate. So the second half of the season if she didn't walk, I'd have chocolate waiting at the end of the inning. Friday, I went and got a bag of Hershey's miniatures so any girl that did well got one.

Of course, on Saturday I needed to do the same thing, so I got a bigger bag. Needless to say, with 10 and 11 year old girls that went over well.

For Friday's game the coaches told the girls they could 'paint' the hair of the coaches if we won. While I'm technically not a coach, apparently more than one girl wanted me to have pink hair. Thus the picture:



On Saturday we gave the girls two incentives: win the first and paint Coach Ray's fingernails hot pink. Win the second and they could throw whipped cream pies at the coaches. Well, we won both. First picture is Ray's pink nails.



However, you know the expression 'old age and trickery will overcome youth and exuberance'? Well, we got the girls back. We had them line up and 'take a picture'. But the coaches were behind the girls and on '3' shoved the plates into THEIR faces. Lots of fun!

Turn your back on a 3 year old for 1 minute

I guess I need to get something else for breakfast.



He took the plastic bag with the muffins that Meghan made and very quietly opened it and took a bite out of almost all of them.



It took a few minutes to clean up him and the floor.

New (?) Car, new Blog

I just created a new blog to document the rebuilding of a rare, 1984 Mercury Capri RS Turbo I just bought. See it here.

Now Courtney has a blog!

She bugged me all day yesterday and when I got home for dinner. So, introducing: Courtney's Blog!

I guess he didn't want me to clean up

After I cleaned up the many messes that Christopher makes in the family room each hour, he decided that he really wanted to play with all the trains.

After:


More pictures in the flickr site.

Courtney Got a Homerun Yeah! Courtney Got a Homerun Yeah!

Today was the first game of the season and Courtney got off to a good start. First a bat she smashed a hit over the right-center fielder's head for a two run home run. She also started running like the lunatic she used to be. She was running so fast she caught up with the girl who was on first as they were rounding third!

(The title is the chant that the girls do when someone gets a hit.)

Second at bat she walked, but third at bat got another good, solid hit.

Her team won 21-3. It wasn't as much of a blow out as that sounds. The other team gave up 3 home runs to the same girl, but they were hitting as well. Our defense held them though.

We also went to touch-a-truck in Kennesaw. I'll post up pictures tomorrow.

Yes I as Dugout Dude again. I still have a voice though.

I remember now why I don't have ATVs

I am my boss' lake house for a product brainstorming meeting and he has a couple of motorcycles and ATVs. I've been riding a 4 wheeler all day (yes we did some work!).

This evening after dinner I took a 4 wheeler into the woods, but missed the turn to get back on the road. So I went off the side of the woods, over a 2+ foot rut and dumped the ATV. I didn't go over the handlebars at least. No major damage to the ATV or me, but I remember now why I don't have toys like this.

Psst, want a bowl your kid can't dump out?

This is from One Step Ahead, which makes pretty good stuff for the little ones.



Looks like it has a gyroscope in it to keep them from tipping it over.



Very good marketing team behind this ad. The kid is in the car, probably with a ton of Cheerio's and Goldfish. If he was Christoper they'd be all over the place by now.

We have that car seat too. If you do and you haven't had to take the cover off yet, be glad. I had to READ THE DIRECTIONS to get the cover off. Seriously, it is a car seat, I shouldn't need directions to take it apart!

More reasons not to leave your computer or phone logged in and unattended

If you've been around Facebook or Twitter for even a little amount of time you've seen people with very strange status updates. Some silly, some really off color. Ever wondered what happened? More likely than not, the owner of that account left their cell phone or computer logged into those applications and not secured.

So some wise-ass friend decided to point this out by updating their status. Sometimes they are funny, but I don't know about you, but I think every one has that one friend who takes it too far. So, it isn't surprising to see that a meme is quickly building around this, call the Pants Status Meme.

The general idea is when you find an open account, don't be a jerk, but do try to be funny and preface it with 'pants meme' so people know it wasn't the owner posting. Some ideas:

Pants Status: <>
- plaid
- wrinkled
- on the floor
- not wearing any
- gone clamming (for those who don't know this one, think highwaters ;-)

To see what others are doing see this.

Also, remember if it happens to you just go to your profile or home page and delete the offending statements. Don't try to apologize.