White Lightning Axiom: Redux

A lot of nothing got done this weekend. While the Mrs and Horde was out in the Family Tank, I took some time to finish up that wood work in the upper hallway. It was about time too. I had a few surprises in store for me, of course. The longest piece of molding that needed to be put up was about one inch too short. There was no way in hell that I was going to stop work for this. I would have to buy a new, longer piece of wood, spend the week finishing it and then put it in place. No friggen way. In stead, I got one of the keys that I had prepared for the Master Suite and put it at the end of the length, thus buying me 3 inches. I'm a friggen genius. With that finished, I could go outside and ... well, chop wood. I'm always taking about this wood chopping that I'm doing, and it happens enough that Alexis is starting to say "Where'd Daddy? Chopping wood!". I only end up going out for an hour or two, but that is enough time to get me tired and sweaty, even in this weather. I am making a modicum of progress though. I manage to break down enough wood to fill a wheel-barrow or two every time I go out. I fully expect to get the rest of the wood chopped and stacked before Alexis and Jacob go off to college. Today, I did not quit because I had exhausted my energy level, I quit because the last swing snapped the head of the maul off inside of a particularly difficult chunk of wood. Well, doesn't that just but the breaks on the task at hand? I guess I'll need another new handle.

After my adventures in lumber-jackery (is that a word?), I cleaned up and got ready to go out. The Mrs had some coupons for 5$ and 25$ off that expired today. This time, the coupons were for Sears Hardware. Now there is a shopping trip that I can not turn down! We packed up the Family Tank and headed on down the road for a quick family outing. The plaza that the store is in is probably no more than 2 or 3 miles away. A fairly short trip where most of the time it takes to get there is spent idling at various traffic lights and stop signs. We quickly find a parking spot that is close to the entrance and head on in. The Mrs puts Jacob in a cart and I let Alexis walk into the store while holding my hand. She likes the feeling of independence. She also likes picking up rubbish off the floor and handing it to me. Gotta have a clean shopping environment, don't you know. I head to the back of the store where I remember the maul handles were stocked, but notice quickly that they had re-arranged the store since the last time I was there. They have appliances now. Weird, they must be trying to compete better with Lowes and Home Depot now. I find that they moved the handles about 5 meters up the aisle from where they were. As we passed the Christmas cruft, Alexis points out each mechanized automaton and correctly names it. "Tree!, Horsey!, Puppy! Snowman!" Where did she learn what a snowman was? Hmm, someone is teaching my little girl things that I did not know of. Disconcerting. She helps me pick up rubbish off the floor and from among the axes and mauls and sledges. Then she picks out 2 new handles for me ... and a splitting wedge that must weigh more than her. Friggen muscle girl. We also go pick up some water filters ... she thinks we need at least 6 ... I talk her down to 4 and we call it a Mid-NorthEast Compact. Then she pulls an Arafat on me and goes back for more. Nope, cant allow that, lets go look at the checkout counter, ok? We stroll down the aisles to the checkout, but she senses the deception and starts to dart about. I'm holding some rather encumbering goods so all I can do is hold on to her hand and give the cashier a well practiced pleading look. She seems unimpressed but rings me through along with the 5$ coupon quickly. I scooped Alexis up and had the jaded cashier load me up with my goodies. We went out to the Tank and got strapped in. The Mrs was right behind me and we had a discussion about eating out tonight. Why not, the kids may or may not eat, but we could always supplement their diet when we got back to the Manor.

We had initially intended on going to this little chain restaurant called Bartucci's. It is the same place where I proposed to the future Mrs MDMHVONPA so many years ago. They make a pasta and chicken with white sauce that she enjoys so much. We had initially planned on having the wedding rehearsal dinner there, but Friday night was not available for that. It is a very popular place and this night was not an exception. There would be a 45 minute wait and that would be about 40 minutes too long for the kids. Instead, we went to a Chinese/Japanese restaurant in the same plaza called Oriental Perl. We have eaten at this place several times, at least 3 times with the kids. Jacob enjoys the fried noodles and Alexis will pretty much eat everything else. I ordered some sushi and confirmed my suspicion that they should have stayed out of the raw-fish sector. The seaweed was nearly indestructible and the roll contents were dried out. The rice was improperly seasoned and ... well, it was just plain 'ick'. I didn't eat half of it. The shrimp dish was pretty good though. I think it was called 'Two Moons Over Gracious Mountain' or some nonsense like that. It was two kinds of shrimp (butterfly deep fried and stir-fried) with various veggies. Jacob tried some of the shrimp, but found it too chewy and returned to his fried noodles. Little bugger will only eat fried foods, that will have to change.

The grand finale of the day was bath time. Jacob once again did his potty trick, but only had a little bit left over. He knows exactly what to do and seems so thrilled that he managed to put water in the potty. So much so that he really want to play with it. SIGH We will have to try to dissuade that behavior as quickly as possible. Playing in the potty is a big no-no. Ignore the dogs, they don't know any better.

# posted by mdmhvonpa @ 12:21 PM