Home Alone

In about a half-an-hour my two days of "home alone" will come to an end. This summer, for the 2nd in a row, Arnie trained for a half-ironman. For you normal, non-exercise fanatics like me, a half-ironman is where you swim 1.2 miles, bike 61 and run 13.1...for Arnie that takes about 5 hours. Last year we all traveled down to August, GA in late September for his race. We made a weekend of it and got to see a new place. This year unfortunately that didn't work out. With Ben's football/Claire's cheerleading schedule it was going to make for a lot of traveling and perhaps taking two cars.

We just didn't think it was worth it, as we really only get to see him jump in the water and then for the run at the end. So Arnie headed up yesterday after Ben's hockey game in the morning and I handled the weekend.

The first thing on my to do list was to finish Ben's room. My parents were here for the past week. They flew in on Sunday the 5th to spend 5 days and celebrate Ben and Sarah's birthdays (we turned 8 and 5 this week). Of course in good Zucker fashion we had a to do list for them while they were here. As you all know, we are not very handy around the house, and for those who are fortunate enough to know my parents, you know they are. So this trip was around Ben's room.

Ben's room was actually the only bedroom that I have not painted since we moved in 7 years ago. It had an 8 year old in it before and was painted off-white and navy blue with a baseball border, so it worked. But, over time the border was peeling and it needed some attention. Ben also asked me to take his bunk beds apart. So we had a task to do. My parents started the painting during the week. My dad filled all the nail holes and so forth, sanded them and had it all ready to go. My first mistake was not buying primer, or paint and primer together. Three coats later that would have saved time and money. Never again.

My second mistake was not being really clear with my mom and paint colors for the walls. I wanted one focus wall that was orange (yes orange, but believe it or not it looks great) and the rest white. I came home on Tuesday night to two orange walls. I felt so bad, and really didn't like it so I spent until 11:30 pm painting white over the orange. By the time my parents left the room was looking good, but really needed a 3rd coat on the bottom of the walls where the navy was. So Friday night and Saturday morning I painted over the blue again to ensure it looked great. By eleven AM Saturday the painting was finally done.

We left for Ben/Claire's game around noon so I needed to take a break, I really just wanted to be done but couldn't pull it off, so off we went. When we got home around 4pm we headed right back in to begin to move furniture. You are all probably thinking how was I going to move furniture with three kids under 8 as helpers. If you have not discovered those "disc" things that help you move furniture on carpets...go buy some, they are GOD SEND. You barely have to push the furniture and it glides across the floor. We were able to move the book shelf and dresser with those.

That brought us to the bunk beds. I don't know what I was thinking but I wanted it done. So we all pushed to just get them apart...somehow we did and when they "fell" a bit down onto the other, we all escaped. OK, so not the smartest mom move ever, but we got them down. The kids helped me move them around, put the mattresses on and get all settled. So last night he slept in his room again and loves it. By today I had some stuff on the wall, curtains back up and so forth. I am waiting for Arnie to drill any holes in our new walls.

As I typed that last sentence Claire screamed "daddy is home" so my weekend home alone truly has come to an end. Let's go welcome him home.

keeping up with the photos

You have all been there, trying to keep your photos organized. It starts with the baby book and trying to capture the key moments...first smile, first steps, first tooth and then just gets worse. Today many people don't print photos at all. The create a file system online and then "storybooks" that can be played, like the kind you see at weddings. On the other side of the photo universe is scrapbooking. Not only do these moms or dads print photos, they creat theme pages around them to document in style.

I guess I am in the middle. I have used Snapfish.com since Ben was born. For me it is the "do all" photo system. First it is an extra "storage" of all my photos, should my computer hard drive crash and burn one day. Second, it is a way to easily share my photos. Yes there is facebook now, but not all "generations" and people are on Facebook. I like being able to send my photos to those that I know care. A select group of people on my address book that want to see my family grow. Third you can easily make gifts. Snapfish has saved me on Father's day and other holidays, a nice golf towel with the grandkids go a long way.

For the past few days I have uploaded all of our photos since last October, so yes almost an entire year. Arnie was great about uploading the pics to the PC, but he doesn't go the next step to snapfish. So that was my to do list. This past weekend I did a bunch and ordered them, they were delivered today (I do it in bulk thinking it is cheaper on shipping , but not sure that is the case). I sorted them by child (I order three of a pic if all three are in it, if you have a better system let me know), got their albums out and then realized "I am missing Christmas from last year."

I just didn't think I was that far behind, my mistake. I totally should have looked at the last photos in each album. So tonight I uploaded the photos I was missing. It was actually nice to look back again at Arnie and my trip to Argentina in January. We really have to do that more often. I had to go for work and we decided to go down 5 days early to see the country. With my business travel I really don't see the country. I try to limit my time away knowing Arnie is home with the kids alone. So a week in India is all work and no Taj Mahal. When Arnie was with me and I knew my kids were loving being with Grandma and Grandpa it felt okay to take a mini-vacation. Maybe next trip...

So, I am now almost caught up. The shipment should arrive in a few days and I will sort the next 280 photos (on top of the 450 I just got). We will again have fun looking through them (the kids love it) and I will finally put them away. Then in six months I will start all over again.

Again, if there is a better way please let me know.