Archive for May, 2009

Relaxing on vacation

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

Due to the Larrys’ schedules, I am using vacation days on Tuesdays to renovate the house.  The Larrys showed up at 7:30 yesterday, to begin our work on window/siding/trim replacement, and by 10:00, our house looked like it was in a war-torn country.

In our subdivision, we live on one of the two main streets that everyone uses to enter and exit.  So, when we do anything to the front of our house, such as cut a blade of grass, hang up a decoration, plant one flower, etc.,  Jenny can always expect to get a comment from other parents at the girls’ school.  Little did the community know, that yesterday, they were in for a real show.  One mother commented to our neighbor “oh my gosh, did they have a fire?!”  Jenny said at least a dozen other mothers offered to watch our kids for the day.  How righteous… as if it is no longer ok to let your kids run around barefoot in a construction zone full of rusty nails.  Seriously, don’t tell me everyone didn’t have that experience themselves as children.  How else do you get to tell your story as an adult about ‘that one time, when a rusty nail when through my foot…’   But I digress.

For your pleasure, here are the before, during, and after photos of the day.  6 windows are in and sealed (not including screens and grills). 18 or so to go.  Dupont recommends that Tyvek house wrap is covered by siding within 180 days of it going up on the house.  Phew!  That means no need to put the siding up until exactly Tuesday, November 17th.

7am

7am

10am

10am

7pm

7pm

Slumdog Millionaire

Friday, May 15th, 2009

Finally, a movie that both Jenny and I loved.  Sure, we had to go with the Oscar winner for best picture to find one, but at long last, we both left the Meyerplex enjoying the movie experience.  Really a great film.  And, we now have a renewed kinship with our sister-in-law Meridith.  She has been to India for work, and we have watched Slumdog, so now all of us have a similar level of worldly understanding!  Meridith, where to next?  Let us know so we can pick the appropriate companion film.

Next up at the Meyerplex, “The Long Green Line.”  A documentary about the cross country program at our alma mater York High School, which is the winningest high school program, in any sport, in the entire country.  Twenty-five state titles in 50 years!

Fireproof

Thursday, May 14th, 2009

Oh, my, lord!  Jenny thought this would be a good one after watching a review of it on The View, and seeing Kirk Cameron plug the movie.  She said, “it is supposed to be a good story about marriage!”

What she failed to mention, was how horrible the plot, direction, acting, and writing was.  I mean downright freakin’ horrible.  Did I mention the bad acting?  I am still dumbfounded that Kirk Cameron actually went around and promoted this.  He has to be the worst actor I have ever watched.  We are talking if Steven Segal and that William Hung from American idol ever had an offspring together, that person still would be a better actor than Kirk.

And the best part, was that I still watched the whole thing, becuase it was such a train wreck, that I couldn’t turn away.

Anyone else who knows us, and has the guts to watch this movie, will laugh their butts off thinking of us sitting through it.  That is assuming they don’t throw up on themselves first.

Little People

Thursday, May 14th, 2009

Everyone knows that the number 2 Meyer offspring is a smidget. Technically, a smidget is anyone below the 5th percentile on the height chart, and, is likely to have her height eclipsed by her younger sister before the age of 8. That is Grace. But like all Meyers, she embraces her differences with pride.

However, when it comes to going on rides at Disneyworld, being a smidget just wont do. Grace was exactly 1 inch too short for both Space Mountain, and Mt. Everest. So, doing what every responsible parent would do, and capitalizing on the opportunity to teach your child right and wrong, we stopped by the nearest food stand, grabbed a handful of napkins, and rolled them up to stick in her shoes. As she walked up to the line to get measured, her heals weren’t even in her sneakers! She loved both rides!
Smidgets 2, Disney height police 0.

Smidget lifts

Smidget lifts

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

Want a 3 hour downer to complete your general mid-week feelings of depression?  Then I highly recommend Benjamin Button for you!  We decided to try to get in a tw0-movie week with netflix, which means watching the one movie we have at time right when it arrives (Wed in this case), and mail it back the next day so hopefully another title will arrive by Saturday.

The story was good overall, and relatively entertaining, but I’m not sure I’m on board with all of the hype over this movie.  It was slow, long, and wicked depressing.  I’m glad we watched it, and I guess would recommend it to others, but be mindful of your mood before you begin this 2:45 long story.

Tuesdays with the Larrys

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

We are getting our summer schedule in order, which includes a couple camp outs, a visit from the Oregon Fronza’s, speech class, summer orchestra, and a class for Brian.
We are also expecting our order of 25 windows to show at any point this week, and have to figure out how to get windows, siding, trim, and a front door all done before winter sets in. An old friend of Jenny’s family is joining our crew. His name is Larry. Not to be confused with my father Larry, known around these parts as Slowsky. Larry the friend is able to help out on Tuesdays, and Slowsky said he could as well. So, I’m planning to use my vacation days on Tuesdays to see how much we can get done. I had a quick call with Larry the friend, and he seems to be focused on efficiency in his work, which is a far cry from Slowsky’s and my current approach: painstakingly incremental and slow steps towards always changing designs. So it sounds like he will be a much needed and welcome addition to our team!

Souped-up Jungle Gym

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

We have finally finished building a new fort/jungle gym/swingset for the kids. In typical Fronza-Meyer fashion, we couldn’t just build the kit according to the directions. We needed to customize.
We built the structure backwards, to put the swings on the opposite side (so it would fit better in our yard). But, then we added a 10′ monkey bar section, wood chips, and a border to contain it all.

playset1