Saturday, May 19, 2007

Boys' Weekend - Part One

Well, it's just us boys this weekend. And we're having a blast.

Nicole took Random to Ohio this week. She had a Tastefully Simple party she was throwing in Wauseon, and I really didn't want to be on the road again. I have a million home projects to work on, and I thought I could get quite a bit done if I had a weekend to myself.

But taking both kids on the road is a bit much (even though she's riding with her dad, who's in these two weeks for training, but needed to tractor the lawn), so I agreed to keep Gamble here for a boys weekend. I figured I could still get quite a few things done and have lots of fun with him.

Before they were even gone last night, I was already working. I was putting the first coat of joint compound up in the nook in the garage that I'm going to paint. I'm planning to put a couple shelves there instead of the stuff that was there before. Gamble helped me with all sorts of things in the garage while I worked, and we saw the three of them off.

By the by, I'm using the mix-it-yourself variety, because I wanted it to dry quickly between applications. I'm notorious for messing up my coats, so I thought I'd at least shorten the overall time, if not the number of cycles.

Dinnertime came, and Gamble and I were off to the McDonald's with the playland. Nothing terribly special, but he got to play a lot. He ate his nuggets, apples, and drank his apple juice dry.

When we got back, he got in the shower, and I got started ripping out one of the two sinks in the upstairs bathroom. I put him to bed, and finished pulling out the sink parts. I discovered that I needed some parts, and I was done for the night.

This morning, I got started on drywall round two. When he came down, I was finishing up, so I told him we could go to breakfast if he got dressed. He rushed to dress himself.

We drove out to IHOP, since he asked for pancakes, and it's by Menards, where I intended to go for supplies. I've never seen the IHOP so busy! We had to leave, because there were already three cars circling to find a parking spot, and I imagined a half-hour wait.

So we went to Apple Villa. I figured breakfast would be fairly cheap, but I was so wrong. Little tip: Apple Villa charges $3-4 for a side of meat. I got sausage and bacon with my blueberry crepes. Gamble got cranberry juice. Breakfast wasn't cheap.

So we went to Menards, and after I got my supplies, we walked over to Poplar Creek Bowl. It cost $3.50 to get shoes, but Gamble bowled two games at $1 apiece. Note to everyone: it's $1 a game until Labor Day for open bowling there. I can see taking G several times a week. I didn't bowl this time, but at $1 a game, shoot... It's almost worth going and getting new balls drilled for us.

He loves bowling (this is not the first time this week he's gone. Vince took him the other evening and bowled three games with him) and on several shots today, put the ball straight down the alley without hitting the bumpers. He got a 78 and a 58. Not bad for 3.

Because we went bowling, he didn't even balk at going to another store. We went to Ikea to buy a couple Gorn shelving units. We were in and out in no time.

We got home, and I finished the first bathroom sink, replaced the kitchen faucet, removed the caulk and recaulked around the windows in Gamble's and Random's rooms. Gamble followed me throughout, getting me tools, paper towels, throwing out garbage. He was a tremendous help, and I couldn't be more grateful to have such an enthusiastic helper.

Each one of these tasks took well longer than I thought it would, and now I know why plumbers get paid so much. Have you ever been on your back with your head and the one arm that will fit in the tiny bathroom cabinet under the vanity? You can't see, and you can't get comfortable. You're lucky if you're not in constant pain while trying in vain to see the threading underneath the faucet. And so it's not as easy as it looks. That said, it's not conceptually hard at all to handle faucets and drains. I just wish I had longer arms.

But it gets better if you have someone to hand you the right wrench when you want it. Saves on the up and down. And Gamble's been the best.

We went back down to the garage, and I taped the area off in prep for painting. Gamble started getting excited, since he likes painting. I realized that I screwed up and needed to patch one more hole before we painted, so we put the shelves together.

Now, these were Ikea flat-pack specials. The bolts they used required a ratchet wrench. I taught Gamble to twist that wrench, but after putting in two of them, he kinda lost interest. I kept giving him things to throw out, but he helped by doing all sorts of things. When I needed the next shelf, he brought it over to me.

But when it came time to put on the cross pieces, he brought me the drill. I got the screw started, and then held it steady. Turns out he loves power tools as much as he loved using the axe. He screwed in all the screws for me.

So it's already been a full weekend, and I suspect we'll get more done. He's sitting watching SpongeBob while I type this. As soon as I send this out, we're off to dinner. I'm sure I'll follow up with the rest of the weekend at a later date. I sure hope Mommie and Random are having this much fun/getting this much done.

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