ouch, my knee!

i got to make a special visit to the hospital recently...  the weather was nice outside so david and i decided to get going on a project that i had been procrastinating on all summer: replace the soffits and fascia on the house.  (if you don't know what those are, don't feel bad, i didn't either!  its the stuff that covers the sides and bottom of the roof overhangs on a house.  your welcome.)  we were doing a great job, getting them up and getting the house looking pretty good.  the overhangs were really easy from the deck, it was only about 8 or so feet up, but as we got around to the sides of the house it got a bit trickier.  over on the side its more like 12-14 feet up.  well, it just so happened that as i was climbing it, the ladder decided that it was done.  it twisted and i came crashing on top of it, falling to the ground.  at first i was just a bit surprised by it, then i started to feel a strong pain in my knee.  i stayed down on the ground for a minute until the shock passed.  it started to feel a little better (well, not really, its just that the adrenaline kicked it and so i couldn't feel the pain as bad), so i got up and walked it off a little bit.  we finished the piece that we had been working on and then we packed it up for the day.  as i was bringing tools back to the garage the pain started to get worse and worse.  i asked david to take care of the rest of the equipment and i headed inside to sit down.  i put my leg up a little bit and just rested for a while.  the pain still wasn't terrible or anything, it just hurt a bit.  after sitting for about a half hour i tried to get up.  that's when the pain really hit, oh boy!  i could still put a little wait on it, but i figured i probably shouldn't...  diana kept asking me if we should go to the emergency room and i told her i didn't think it was that bad, it would be ok.  i was wrong.  after about another hour the adrenaline had finally wore off, i guess, because the pain really hit and i got dizzy, hobbled to the bathroom, and threw up!  ok, maybe its time to go to the emergency room...  we got there and i got to take a little ride in a wheel chair! wee!  we only had to wait about 20 minutes or so, they called us back, took a look at it and decided to take an x-ray of it to really figure out how bad it was.
when they got the results back they had some good news- it wasnt broken, nothing was torn or sprained, i had just strained a ligament in my knee.  i was given a brace and crutches and told to stay off it for a few weeks.  alright, that's not bad, i can handle that!  i have never had to use crutches before, so this should be pretty interesting.

saturn resurrected

now that the grand prix is down for the count, it was time to get the ol' saturn back in working order.  after it died in griffith, i took the grand prix in to the shop to get looked at and they told me that there was nothing they could do to fix it- it was beyond repair.  so, off the the scrap heap with it!  that meant that we needed to get the saturn up and running or else we were going to be stuck.  we brought it over to dexters and he took a look at it.  he spent a few days with it and figured out what the problem was, and now its running perfect!  it was only a hundred and fifty bucks to fix.  its a good thing we brought it in because the original plan was to scrap the saturn a couple months ago- now we are so glad we procrastinated!  now i'm taking this little silver guy back and forth to work, and wow what a difference it has made with gas.  the grand prix would get about 25 miles to the gallon, but this thing gets 37!  thats right- 37!  that money for the repair has already been saved in the first two weeks of driving it!  and to be honest, as nice and cushy as that grand prix was, i actually prefer this little guy!  although, i do miss the cruise control...

visiting shawn

it was time for another play date for ledger and diana!  sarah and vince invited us over to their place this time, so we headed over to michigan city for the day!
it was a little bit wet outside, so the boys didn't get to spend too much time out there, but even the mud and rain couldn't keep these two from enjoying the swings!  after vince was done grilling, we all headed back inside and enjoyed some amazing barbecued chicken and the boys played with all of shawn's toys.  we had so much fun, but had to wrap it up early so we could get home and put that little guy to bed.  he actually fell asleep on the way home- shawn tuckered him out pretty good!
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hero in a half shell

halloween is coming up soon and ledger is starting to understand what that means: that means candy and costumes!  last year he wasn't interested in it at all, so we weren't entirely sure what to expect this year.  we asked him what he would like to dress up as and he gave us all kinds of great answers, but eventually decided that he would like to be a turtle.  so, we headed to the store to see what we could find.  we found a really cute (and cheap) turtle costume for him and i had him try it on in the store.  he loved it!  so we brought it home and he got to show it off to mama and the grandparents.  his interest in it soon waned when he realized that he couldn't pull his own head into the shell like a real turtle.  oh, he was so disappointed!  if he can't do that, then whats the point of being a turtle?  you make a strong argument, son.  once he made that realization, the costume held no appeal and was tossed aside rarely to be played with again.

a play date for ledger and diana

diana's good friend from growing up lives about a half hour away and she has a little boy who is only a little older than ledger.  she and her husband came by a time or two over the summer and the girls would talk about trying to do that more often, so the boys can spend some time together and play.  well, we are making good on that now!  we invited sarah and little shawn over to play and they had a grand old time!  ledger always loves to have someone to play with, he got to show shawn his toys and the two of them had a blast playing with them and running around!  shawn is the perfect counterpoint to ledger: ledger is loud and talkative, where as shawn is quiet and doesn't talk that much.  we hope that the two of them will rub off on each other a little bit, ledger can learn to be a little more reserved and shawn can do a bit more chatting.  we all had a lot of fun and look forward to doing it again soon- in fact we already made plans for the next play date!
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mac and me

so... i've been commuting to work for about a year and a half now.  we've been living in south bend while i still work in highland.  this has been annoying.  these two places are 62 miles apart.  that means that every day i drive 124 miles both ways.  sounds terrible, i know.  but it hasnt really been that bad (i'm lying).  it takes about an hour and a half each way, which gives me a ton of time to listen to my podcasts!  thats the upside, the downside is that i never get to see my family.  i would leave for work around 7:00 in the morning, and get home around 7:30 at night.  if there's good traffic and good weather.  on the roughest winter days, i have actually left around 6:00 am and gotten home round 10:00 pm.  those were some rough ones...  all this is to give you some background for this story:  so i was on my way over to the rental property to show it to some perspective renters when my car broke down.  i managed to get it all the way to the duplex, but just barely.  this becomes a big problem because now i dont have any way to get home.  i had been planning on staying the night in the empty rental that night anyway, so i actually had a bunch of extra clothes, an air mattress, and a few other things i might need.  our other car hasnt been working either, so diana coming to get me was out of the question.  if someone came to get me there wouldnt be any way for me to get back to work, so i just hunkered down and planned to wait it out!  thanks to the generosity of my coworkers who where willing to pick me up and bring me back each day, i ended up stuck alone in an empty duplex for the rest of the week.  without any simple ammenities like plates or forks or hot water, it became a challenge.  fortunately i had my computer and some handy dvds of macguyver, otherwise i would have gone insane!  finally on friday diana borrowed her mom's car and came and picked me up- it was so nice to see her again, i cant even tell ya!

dine and dash

we recently got a new kitchen table.  with miranda and levi moving to their grandma's house, she had a beautiful table and chairs that she was looking to get rid of.  knowing how huge it is and how big our dinning room is, we figured that we would swoop in and take advantage of the opportunity!  so we bought it off them and moved out our old one and put in the new one- and it is gorgeous!  its a beautiful dark wood and with the leaf in it, its about 10 feet long.  when we moved it inwe were so pleased with it and admiring the table, but our boy was busy enjoying the chairs!  he decided that he needed to make an obstacle course for himself, so we lined up three of the chairs, he stood at one end, we said 'go!', and he would race through the chairs, laughing and giggling the whole way.  'phew!  i'm a fast little boy!' he exclaimed when he finished the course!  this kept him busy for at least an hour...

rental work

we have had an empty rental for a while now, and i have been busy getting it ready.  with the repainting and fixing up, it really became obvious that one of the things that was in serious need of replacing was the stove.  i've known that for a while now, but its easy to forget- you know, 'out of sight out of mind' and all that.  well, now its in sight, so its in mind!  we were trying to figure out what to do about a new stove when i was talking to levi and he was looking for a little help with moving out of their old house.  i gladly offered to help him with moving some of the bigger stuff.  after moving the fridge and a few other things, i asked him if we should unhook the stove to move it too.  he said 'actually, the new place already has one, so we aren't taking it with us'.  well, well, well...  i asked him if he wouldn't mind if i took it.  and he said that he wouldn't- it would be a waste to just leave it, so i told him i would gladly take it off his hands!  a few days later i brought it over to the rental and- voila! problem solved!  now we just need to find a renter...
(oh, by the way, i put the old stove on the curb and it was gone in about 15 minutes- a new record!)

flea pancakes

with it being the last flea market of the year, i knew i wanted to go!  usually we don't actually get anything, but i just love to wander around and look.  mom, ledger, and i were up early, so we even decided that we would head out right away and partake in the pancake breakfast they always offer!  usually we get there too late for it because we sleep at the house and then drive in saturday morning, but since we just slept at the trailer, we were able to make it in time!  diana wasn't really interested since it would just give her a really bad stomachache all day, so we let her get a little more sleep.  we told ledger that we were going to get pancakes and he was thrilled- he loves those things!  we got a couple helping of flapjacks and found a spot to sit.  he feasted on them and ended up eating almost two whole pancakes!  he didn't plan ahead very well, we forgot to bring wipes for him, so he was a bit sticky and syrupy for the rest of the flea- but to be honest, so were we...
as we wandered around the flea market for a while, mom wanting to check out all the flowers even though we were at the end of the season, and ledger wanting to check out... well, everything!  when we finally made it back to the trailer diana was up and ready so we spend the rest of the day riding golf carts and enjoying the beautiful weekend!
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the sandy memorial

memorial day is always a little bittersweet.  its a wonderful time, and its always great to have a nice long weekend, but it also means that summer is over and its time to say goodbye to another year at sandy pines!  well, we headed up to the ol' pines for out last visit of the year.  we decided to stay there the whole weekend this time, i dont think we even stopped back at mom and papa's house at all!  we spent both nights on an air mattress in the screened in porch- which actually worked great.  it was a great visit, we got to see the kids, the family, all the sandy pines friends, and we got to close out the summer with a bang!
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gatecon- day 2

and so we headed into an unprecedented second day of stargate love!  the convention itself has always been an all-weekend event, but we've never felt compelled to throw in our lot for more than one day until this year.  it was long heralded as the last year they would have the convention, but over the weekend it was announced by the promoters that, due to the overwhelming response from fans, they would actually have one more.  i have mixed feelings about this announcement.  on one hand, i'm glad that i can look forward to going again next year, but on the other hand, jon and i both felt a little bit cheated by their claims that this was going to be the last year...  oh well, we figured we would just kick back and enjoy ourselves and worry about next year when it happens.
again there were some great guests who came to share and talk about all their stargate memories and what they are up to now.  we stopped by the merch tables one last time.  i had a little bit of money left, so i fixed that problem immediately!  we headed out right away at the end of the day so we could hit the road- we both had to work the next day and our homes were a time zone away!
i have a feeling that if they want to keep having conventions, jon and i will keep showing up...
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a knight to remember

with the con over for the day and nothing else to do, jon and i decided to head over to schaumburg for the evening and see what was shakin.  one of the attractions around there is medieval times.  I had never been there before but jon had and was totally up for going again.  he even offered to spring for my ticket as a belated birthday gift.  well, ok, twist my arm!
i kind of knew what i was in for, but the reality of it is so much cooler than i expected.  about the only experience i've ever had with it is what they featured in that jim carrey movie 'cable guy'.  they mocked it pretty mercilessly, so i didn't really take it very seriously.  we got in there and wandered around in the lobby for a while, it was pretty cool, the whole place was decorated like a castle and you could go look at the horses or wander through the 'dungeon' and see different torture devices from the era.  as the showtime got closer, the king and princess came out, heralded by the trumpets, and proceeded to announce different birthday parties- even knighting the birthday boys and girls!  finally, they called in the different groups for their seating areas, and the magic began.  like i said, i knew it would be kind of neat to see the horses and their riders, and i knew it would be kind of fun to see the whole presentation play out, but i was surprised at just how awesome it was!  at the beginning we were instructed to clap for the knight from our seating area, so i did, politely.  but by the time the jousting and hand to hand combat was underway i was swept up in it and cheering and screaming for our guy!  it really draws you in!  the food was good and we had so much fun watching and cheering along to the two hour show!  i am definitely going to have to come back with ledger and diana sometime soon!
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gatecon krispie

on our way to the hotel we stopped at a convenience store to get a few treats for the night.  jon, who always has a flair for the extreme, decided he would get the biggest treat there ever was: a huge rice krispies treat!  he was so thrilled about his find that it became the source of hilarity through out the rest of our weekend.  as you can see by the picture, he was very proud to be the new owner of the most ridiculously large rice krispies treat ever...  sure, i like them just as much as the next guy, but come on- that thing is absurd!  i told him he had to eat the whole thing and he claimed that wouldn't be a problem.  yeah, we'll see...
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gatecon- day 1

we got an early start on the day so we could arrive at the convention before the first scheduled event.  we knew we couldn't check into our hotel room, so we just went straight to the venue and wandered around the merch room for a while.  as the first guest was getting on stage we found our seats, eager for the days' festivities to commence.  there were a bunch of fun actors from the different shows who had come to share some great stories and answer fans' questions.
one of the things that always surprises me about these conventions is the people who attend them.  now, i would assume that i know the type of people who would go to a stargate convention; initially i would picture a 35 year old fat white guys who still live with their parents (...oh wait, this is hitting a little too close to home), but the reality is that its filled with many different kinds of people!  the majority of the people attending are actually women, couples, and kids too!
jon and i attended a few of the speakers, walked over to macs for lunch, then got to hear a few more sessions.  eventually though, we were both too excited about the hotel that we ditched the last one and headed out to check in for the night.  the closest place we could find available and cheap was about 4 miles away, so we headed out and started planning out our night.
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last gate con

 i look forward to it all year and its finally here: gatecon!  i've been obsessed with the show 'stargate' for many years now and five years ago my obsession took its ultimate form- by attending a convention dedicated to stargate!  (yes, they actually exist...) and i happen to live close enough to one of the only ones in the world, chicago.  since the last stargate related tv show has been off the air for over three years now, the guys that put the convention on had declared that this year would be the last one.  after this, no more conventions.  well, when i heard that i knew i needed to make sure this one went out with a bang!  jon has gone with me to the con for the past couple years, so i asked him if he wanted to make a whole weekend out of it and go for two days instead of just the usual one day.  his response?  of course!  so we made our plans and booked a hotel room so we could stay the night.  then we patiently waited... finally the big event arrived and we were thrilled!  jon came down to pick me up and we were on our way!

big jet!

as i was doing a little organizing in the garage i came across a box of some of my toys when i was little.  there was a bag of old transformers toys, so i ruffled through them a bit and found a jet that i knew ledger would love.  ledger found another jet transformer a while ago at mema's house and really loved it- every time we went up to visit he would always want to play with his 'big jet!'  he and that toy were inseparable!  now, finding another one for him at our house, i showed it to him and he was thrilled!  this one is a bit sturdier, so he isnt constantly asking us to 'fix' it because he accidentally pulled on part of it causing it to begin transforming into the robot form.  its such a simple little toy, but it fascinates him to no end.  i kind of see myself in the way he can just completely lose himself in his own little world and play so intently!  i used to do that all the time, loosing an entire afternoon to a handful of micro machine cars!  (alright, if im being honest, i still do...)

monkeying around

after we hit up the museum, we headed over to one of the main streets in south bend where they have a few things for the boys to enjoy.  down the way was the south bend chocolate company, a cool little cafe that also has an ice cream shop and a play area for kids!  right outside the cafe is this funny gorilla, which the boys loved!  inside the ran straight toward the play area, but were quite easily coerced into joining us at the table by the ice cream we offered them.  after the ice cream was gone, though, they wanted to head right back to the play area!  tavish was all about the tall equipment, quickly racing around the structure and down the slide, but ledger was a little more hesitant and a little scared by it...  eventually the two of them wore themselves out, so we headed back to the cars and made our way home- exhausted by a fun day!

a day at the museum

one of the days that alanna and tavish were here, the whole family headed out to the health works children's museum in south bend.  ledger had never been there before, so he was thrilled when we got there- the place looked like so much fun!  toys everywhere!  one of the exhibits they had was a food market.  the kids could play with all the different types of food that they had; everything from fruit and veggies to bread and cheese!  with so many options, of course our boy latched on to the grossest and ugliest choice there was: a dumb little fish.  he then proceeded to carry that fish through out the rest of the place, showing it all the different attractions and activities the place had to offer!  by the time we had seen everything and were ready to head out, he was still chatting it up with his little fishy friend...  it took some real work, and lots of distractions, to finally convince him to set down the fish so we could leave.  for the rest of the day he whined about missing his fishy, and then proceeded to talk about him for the rest of the week!  i'm starting to think our boy has a one track mind...
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tavish back in town

as summer begins to wind down, alanna and tavish stopped by for a visit!  it was really nice to see the two of them, and ledger was absolutely pumped to get to spend a few days with his best buddy!  it only took them about 2 minutes before they were back to their old tricks- running around, tavish being chased by ledger who just wanted nothing more than to copy everything tavish did!  the two of them played nonstop- ledger showing off his new toys and tavish showing off the new things he had learned since last we had seen him.  the two of them were inseparable- whether tavish wanted it or not...  for diana and i it was really great to see alanna again!  she has been doing much better, finding some great work thats kept her excited and busy, reconnecting with her old friends, and making some fantastic progress with tavish.
at night, after the boys were put to bed (or watching a movie with their grandma), we got the chance to use the firepit we had put in earlier in the summer.  one night barbara and james were able to join us, another night miranda and levi stopped by for a fire.  since alanna and tavish were only in town for a few days, they made sure to pack them full of fun stuff to do- at one point alanna and the boys met up with one of her friends and their kids and went to a fun waterpark and all the kids got to play in the splash pad!  its always so fun to see our boy playing with other kids and having so much fun!
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fernwood fun

diana has always told me about the fernwood botanical garden and how she and her family would go there from time to time when she was growing up. she has always said that she would like to go there again.  it took far too long, but we finally got the chance to go there for an afternoon!  we gathered up all the troops- diana, ledger, mom, barbara, and james, and we made our way to fernwood.  it was a pretty neat place, there was a visitor center, and then you walk out onto a beautiful trail and field.  as we wandered down the path we came across a fun sculpture garden and cool outdoor train set that ledger loved!  as we got further in to the gardens we got to check out the bird sanctuary and the narrow path through the forest.  we came across an old fashioned water wheel and ledger even spotted a bunch of fish and frogs in the pond!  every stop along the path ledger wanted to show us everything he saw- he totally loved it!
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