Chili’s and the Cradle

29 May 2010

I saw my Dad and Stepmom today. They’re here in Minnesota for a week, and though they plan to spend the majority of their time up north at my stepsister’s home, they made time to see me, Jennifer, Owen, my sister and her husband at Chili’s restaurant this evening.

Until I saw him today, this was actually the longest time I’d ever gone without seeing my Dad. The last time we were together was at his in-laws house some 22 months ago. In fact, though he and I have lived in separate states for nearly a decade now, 2009 was the first time an entire year went by without us seeing each other.

In keeping with Owen’s policy of rampant materialism, my Dad and Stepmom showed up with two gifts for him, which kept him very occupied throughout our time at the restaurant, especially the part where he launched his toy car across the table to his Uncle Mike, who then sent it zooming back.

Here are part of the instructions that came with that car:

Let me draw your attention first to the “hint” under step two. Notice it says that shaking the car more than 8 times will not increase its travel distance. But now look under step 3: “The more you shake your vehicle, the longer it goes!” So, you know, it all depends on whether you wish to follow step 2 or 3, I guess. I think the best bet is to just do what Owen discovered without reading any directions: just start shaking the thing until you hear the motor begin, then set it down and let it do its thing.

Next, here’s the tag that was attached to the other gift he received today:

Ha ha! Who thought this was the best possible wording that could be placed on this toy? I don’t think I have anything to add to this. It just struck me as funny.

30 May 2010

If you’ve been reading what Jennifer and I post on our website long enough, then you already know that I made a cradle for Owen before he was born. If you didn’t know that, you can read about it here, in what is perhaps the best-named post EVER.

Anyway, today, I padded the wagon with a blanket, gently set the cradle on the wagon, and pulled it down the hall, into the elevator, down to the first level, and across the parking lot to our garage. The cradle is in great shape, but I thought it could be fixed up a little.

First, one of the roof panels had several nicks in it. I’m not sure how these occurred, nor why they are all concentrated on one panel, but I tried sanding them out. Some of them are deeper than I’d thought, and so I couldn’t smooth them all out. But it does look better. Next, there was some paint on one side. Judging from the color, it somehow splashed on there when Jennifer was painting Owen’s bedroom. Thankfully, it was all superficial, and I was able to sand it all off. Then there were some dark smudges on the tops of the “legs” (or whatever you call the rocker-part of the cradle); probably the result of using dark, old sandpaper on them last time. A few minutes’ sanding go them off. Finally, shortly after Owen was born, Jennifer etched his name into the bottom of the cradle with a burner, but before doing that she had written his name on there in pencil, and we’d never been able to get the pencil marks off. So, today, I sanded those markings off, too.

After wiping the sanded portions off with a tack cloth, I rubbed them with linseed oil and left it to dry in the garage. It takes several weeks for the oil’s fumes to fully dissipate, so it’s good I did this so far in advance of the baby’s birth. Now there’s still the question of what name to etch on the bottom next to Owen’s name…

31 May 2010

The weather was pretty much perfect today. Coupled with the fact that it’s Memorial Day, I knew this would make for a crowded park where ever we went. Still, it was too nice to not do anything outside, so we made our way to Crosby Lake Regional Park. We walked down to the Mississippi River and, sure enough, it was busy. There was never less than five boats in our field of vision, and people were all over, up and down the shore. That’s really not my style. I much preferred last year, in early September, when the three of us went to Fort Snelling one Friday, and there were only four other people there the entire time. For much of the day, we were the only people there. That was great. Today was too busy.

Later, we walked to Mickey’s Restaurant for dinner. It’s a fun, inexpensive place to go, so if anyone ever wants to join us, just say so. Owen insists we sit at the bar so we can watch our food being made. I think that’s a pretty good policy, really.

Also today – this is 26 years old:

I know, it’s kind of weird. Is that shoe stepping on that snake, or is it merely in front of the snake? Why is the sole of the right shoe ‘broken’ into pieces? Why do the legs stop, abruptly, right at the top of the socks? I don’t know.

My grandmother stitched this for me back in 1984, and, according to the inscription on the back, she must’ve either finished it or presented it to me on this day 26 years ago. For a time, it hung in my room. But when I was 14 years old, I moved to a new home, and I felt a little too ‘grown up’ for such a childish bit of embroidery. So I packed it away. It moved with me from place to place and, two years ago, when I suddenly had my own bathroom, I decided to decorate it my way. I have a Paul Simon concert poster hanging up, a movie poster for U2:3D, a photo montage of the solar system’s gas giants, and this “Jimmy’s Room” sign from my grandmother. Happy Anniversary to it.