Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we had a pie theme. Everything was a pie. The turkey, potatos, creamed onions and so on. It wasn't that great. Some things should not be in pie form, but I'm glad we tried it.

For more exciting news. We just booked our trip to Disney World. We haven't told the kids yet so hush. We will be going at the end of January. After running what felt like hundreds of simulations we found January to be the cheapest time to go. Not only are the hotels cheaper but we got the free dining plan. We plan to drive down in the wally wagon as it will save hundreds. I can't imagine Gwen getting grumpy at all! NOT. The plan is to drive down and stay in a cheap hotel just outside Disney for one night then go to Disney the next day fully refreshed.

Summer 2011

Yes, its time for a random picture slide show!


This summer we went camping for a few days in the White Mountains. While we were there we went to Story Land and then on a nature hike to some falls. I enjoyed the nature hike up until Gwen stepped in dog poop again. I think she looks for it.

We had some tickets for the zoo. The stone park zoo to be exact. It is very small and the kids were disappointed at the selection of animals.

We have a tradition where you can choose whatever you want for your birthday dinner. Gwen asked for "Hardware Store Pizza" That would be C&S next to the hardware store. So we had her birthday right there. We brought a cake and opened presents.

Morgan on the other hand had a sleep over with a boat load of girls meant not much sleeping took place. They danced the night away to Michael Jackson. I allowed Morgan to blast over the house speaker system and I set up a strob light.

King Richard's Faire

King Richard's Faire is done up like a medival fair, so there are people in ye olde timey clothes, there are period activities and entertainment. By no means are they aiming for accuracy, but rather how to make money...I mean making sure everyone has a good time. They encourage people to come in period clothing which I thought would be cool but I was out voted. I enjoyed myself but I did have two compliants.

One: The ye olde latrin was a little too authentic I thought (smell wise). They were bathrooms in trailers.

Two: The food tickets. You have to buy food tickets. Each ticket is 50 cents which you must buy in 5 dollar increments and then you redeem these tickets for food. No refunds on un-used tickets and that is what annoyed me as it was darn near impossible to work it out so you used all of them.

Once we did finally get our food it was awesome. I had a turkey leg, honey meed, hard cider and yard of ale. Strangly the yard of ale came in a container that was less then a yard tall. Perhaps yard sticks were shorter back then.

I highly recommend it.

Master Bedroom Remodel

This summer's major project was to remodel the master bedroom. When I say master bedroom I mean the room I sleep in. It's not big nor has a bathroom attached. It does have a small walk-in closet so I guess that's something. I never understood the need to have a master bath - just another toilet to clean up and the kids still manage to find you when you're in there.

I took a week off from work and in that week I demo'd the room, insulated, re-wired, hung drywall and got most of the mudding done. So you'd think we moved back into the room the week after then right? Not so much. It's amazing how the last hurtle is always the hardest. It took several weekends more to finish up the trim, and paint. We still did not install the carpet. I'm not doing that. I've installed carpet only once - it was hell. The plan is to change out all the doors covered in lead paint on the second floor then replace the carpet in the hallway, stairs and bedroom.

Spreadsheet test

Arrg a Pirates Cube For Me!

My co-worker went on vacation and asked me to take care of her insanely large palm tree in her cube. I decided it needed pirate decorations to spruce up the decore

Katie received a bonus for being rep of the quarter and with that bonus we bought new couches. It was time - the old ones were just falling apart. I think the new couches make the room finally look finished which it is not but close enough.

A while back we went to Higgins Armoury in "beautiful" Worcester. For us it was tad disappointing as we've been to the Tower of London and its a little hard to follow in those foot steps. However, if you've never been to the Tower then Higgins would be pretty good. Its the largest collection of armour in North America which is really not saying much.

100th post

Yes, this is my 100th post to this blog. Insane - I know, but no time for fan fair I'm busy watching the Family Guy - Return of the Jedi special. I let Morgan play with the camera and she did not disappoint.

2011 VW Jetta Sportwagen

We bought Katie a new car and a couple days after picking up the car my problems started. As I was arriving home I felt a small drop in power and response from the engine. It was small and that feel normally means it had leaked or burned enough oil to be low. I checked it and sure enough so I put in a quart and really thought nothing of it. I left the next morning and the car felt right again. When I was nearly at work I felt the drop in power again so I got off the highway and stopped at the nearest gas station.

As I pulled in the check engine light just came on. I checked the oil again and again it was a quart low. I was alarmed but I figured I'd put another quart in, make it to work, and then decide what to do next. I left the gas station, the check engine light was out, and it felt fine again. A mere mile or so down the road I heard a load bang and then a loud grinding and clacking noise. Oil went everywhere the dashboard lit up like a xmas tree. I was in a construction zone at that point. A snow bank on one side and a concrete barrier on the other. There was nowhere to ditch the car and it died in the road. I pushed it to the next driveway which was for an office. There I got it into a parking spot.

I knew that engine was done, and there is no point in replacing an engine for a 12 year old car. I took the plates off, grabbed my stuff and told the charity I donated it to where to pick it up.

I then went online and asked for quotes on various different cars and started my research again. Now I must say getting quotes online is the way to go. You are in control and you should be - its your money. You sit in the comfort of your own home and you pit dealer against dealer which increases your chances of getting a better deal and we did. When I actually stepped foot in the dealership I already had an agreed upon price so there was no fuss.

Xmas 10

January has been a tough month. We've had several feet of snow. Every week we've had a big storm. I had to get up on the roof and shovel it off to make sure we didn't get an ice damn or overload the roof.

We are planning on replacing the Oldsmobile this spring when the snow melts, but another breakline burst. I was able to fix it myself for 12 bulks by splicing in a new line but Katie is ready to retire it sooner then later now. We are looking at several vehicles. The Honda Fit, and Ford Focus are the top contenders right now. Katie wants something small but big enough that two adults fit in the back plus a weeks worth of groceries.

Now for something not snow related. I found a UK food wholesaler in Westford with a nice online store. What makes these guys different from where we have gone in the past is they sell Walkers "crisps" potato chips. They are made by the same company that makes Lays. The difference being the UK version has odd flavors like turkey and stuffing, prawns, beef something, and roasted chicken. The roasted chicken is our favorite.

For Katie's birthday we went to a British pub in the middle of nowhere in New Hampshire. The food was just so so but the deserts were awesome. Bannaoffe I think it was called. Bananas and toffee were the main components and it was good.