Memories & Memories

Today is April 29th. Ellie is 6 months old. You might think that this post is completely devoted to her. It's not, but maybe I'll do one later. I came downstairs this morning after my shower & manscaping & declared, "Today is the 29th. Baby Todd is 6 months old today. She's a big girl." Baby Todd agreed with a big smile & a few grunts. Jessica agreed, not with grunts but with a big, YAY baby todd. Jessica's mind then turned..."It's my mom's birthday! I forgot that today was the 29th. I have to call her today. We got into our respective cars & headed for work. When we arrived she smiled & let me know that she talked to her dad. She told him that she didn't have her mom's number & wanted to call her for her birthday. Her dad had completely forgotten. He asked that she wait a little while to give him some time to call his wife & give her a good ol' "See, I didn't forget honey."

Jessica asks, I wonder if you'll forget my birthday & Ellie will have to remind you someday. Of course, insulted by my wife's lack of faith & her failure to give the due respect to my memory, I reminded her that I am elephant man, not because of my deformities, but because of my memory. In order to display the greatness, which is my memory, I asked: Baby, what did you order on our first date (Aug 4th, 2004. Olive Garden (I could've put August 3rd so the morons from my past who wanted nothing more than to burn me at the stake could say, SEE! FORNICATORS!))? She quickly replied to show me that her memory is equally as impressive, "I had the Tour de France." When I stopped laughing, I asked if she meant the Tour of Italy. She replied, The Tour de France is the bike race, huh? My response, Yes it is. I won't forget our anniversary, your's or baby todd's birthdays. It's not in my nature.

Swing Away...

Last night was my first softball game since September or October. We used to play at Don Mello, which if you haven't heard, has been flattened to nothing more than dirt. I'd been told that at some point we were going to play at this new complex in Spanish Springs that would have really nice turf fields. Turns out they were right. I took Shirley out & to my surprise it was a massive complex. Baseball fields, football fields, soccer fields, & softball fields. It is awesome.

It was nice to see the guys again. I've played on the team for about 5 years now. Anyway. I got out on the field & it was pure wonderful. It made McNutt field seem like Governor's. I heard McNutt field now looks like Governor's, which is pretty sad. It used to be the nicest field in Nevada, high school or collegiate. It was weird though. The infield felt like a little league field in size & the outfield looked like a vast expanse. The game was fun. We lost. My arm doesn't hurt too bad this morning. That might have something to do with the fact that I have a hard time getting my arm to show up until the half way through. I need to start throwing again on a regular basis. I might help out with a high school jv team working with their pitchers. That is fun stuff. Only if I can throw live bp to the team. It's ok, I have a JV fastball...but my deuce will make you cry.

Cry it out baby

Ellie was always a pretty good sleeper. From about 6-8 weeks till about 4.5 months, she slept through the night. Greatest thing ever. Then food was introduced. That changed everything. No more sleeping through the night. There were good nights, bad nights, and really bad nights. I had always heard that your supposed to let the baby cry & they'll learn to put themselves to sleep. After 2+ months of less than good sleep we decided to do it. I wasn't looking forward to letting Ellie cry for the projected 45 minutes - 2 hours, but better now than in another month when she's even more strong willed. Jessica had read up on some "cry it out" methods & found one that she believed was the least evil. So last night we did it.

Jessica was crying. I was inappropriately laughing (not because I thought it was funny). From start to finish, Ellie lasted 16 minutes. After some relief on our part, Jessica let me know that she modified the cry it out. I didn't care. Ellie was sleeping. We'll go again tonite. It's supposed to get better/easier every time. Sorry baby todd.

Monastery

I sit in Starbucks, enjoying a venti americano & free bandwidth from Quizno's. Sorry Starbucks, no $10 for internet. I've taken some pictures of my room. It reminds me of a nicer cell in prison that they give to old harmless, well behaved inmates. My bed squeaks & is on wheels. Cement floors. I figure that is for easy clean up after the monks sneak in & perform their ritual sacrifices. I think that is happening next week though. I've had a pretty good time. I like being able to take time in the morning to wake up, read & write at my leisure with some instant folger's. Nasty.

I have goals for the next couple days. Reflection, understanding, revelation. I've been aware & became "more aware" of some major life issues I struggle with. I feel that God wants to change the way I think and ultimately the way I live. We'll see how that goes. I started a book this morning. I hope to finish it before I come home. I miss my fam but heard baby todd over the phone today. I wish I had a guitar, but they're not allowed. This leaves me to play the one in my head. It'll have to work for now.

Day 2

I got to work on the yard again yesterday. More of the same. Move dirt from one area to another. Tear down old fence. Put up new. Worked from about 10-2 & then went to Red Robin for some happiness. We also took a detour to home depot. I needed more fence boards & have needed tools to do much of the work I'm doing so Jessica found a good deal. Needless to say, I am now the proud owner of some cool tools, which means I can return the ones I've borrowed. I'm going to be working on my parents fence soon so no worries on breaking them in. Back after food & beverages about 5 & I got the itch to go back out & work more. Finished when I couldn't really see anymore, around 8 or so. I love yardwork. Almost done with this part of the project.

Shirley's new slippers

I've had Shirley for almost 2 months now. She's been begging me for a makeover. I started with her shoes. No longer will she wear 13 inch ugly clogs. Now she sports 15 inch golden slippers. She's been complaining lately that she is a little to high off the ground, so I'm gunna have to fix that for her.

The road to backyard paradise

I like working in my yard. I always have. Yes, I'm one of those guys who mows the grass once a week & waters on off days so my lawn will look good. I hated when high schoolers would run over my sprinklers, but I enjoyed fixing them so my well oiled machine (sprinkler system) would work correctly. With that being said, I miss my old backyard. Decent BBQ area. Grass. Couple trees. My dogs miss it too. They are grazers. They used to eat grass all day.

My current backyard: Decrepit deck. Broken gazebo. Dirt. Old broken patched up fence. This is my project. I had a guy look at my yard yesterday to begin the process towards backyard paradise. I began today. The fence. I am replacing one of the fences. Not too bad except for the fact that I have to dig out 6-8 inches of dirt & move it to the middle of the yard. Another problem. No wheel barrow, & the shovel I had is for digging out sprinkler heads. I forgot sunscreen for the first little while, but my trusty wife called me in & sprayed me down. I hope to finish the fence this week so I can move on to the gazebo. What a pain.