a row. Dylan had the most fun running around trick or treating with his buddy Kate the Witch.
I have lived in a building for most of my life. The waste disposal pipes in buildings are big enough for a roll of paper towels. Last night was a reality check for me. While doing the laundry in the basement I heard a faint gurgle from the bathroom in the basement. I tried to ignore it, but since the gurgle got louder with the sudden flush of a toilet on the first floor I was forced to investigate.*The water all drained out. Kaz and Uncle John made sure the pipe was clear and the clean up began. Alexandra, Uncle John, and I all cleaned up the bathroom. Estimated time from disaster and back to bed; 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Special Thanks
Kaz for coming over after a party and educating me on what to do.
Uncle John for helping with the line, cleaning up, and the tools-- They guy demonstrates on a daily basis what a great guy he is.
Alexandra for making the effort to let me sleep, calling her father, and cleaning up.
Kelly for "discovering" the problem giving us the heads up.
There was some upside:
- next time it happens I know what to do**
- Joanne got to see the basement finally
This definitely rates as one of the "crappiest" things that come up when you own a house. Also, we are now learning how to communicate things they should not flush down the toilet without pointing the finger. As Alexandra said, "It could have been one of our kids". We certainly were not going to examine the offending "unidentifiable rag".
* I am completely lying, my wife found it as I lay asleep in the bed. Realizing the gravity of the situation I got my lazy butt out of bed.
** there better not be a next time.
Talk about you never know what you will find till you open up the walls.
The kitchen is gutted. I really did not think we were gutting it but I guess my ideas and my wife's ideas are two different ideas.
Not fun living with out a kitchen when you have 3 kids. The dust is every where even on my keyboard. But once it's done we should have a really nice kitchen. 
Although this picture does not make it abundantly clear but while stripping the wood detail in my dining room (I should say Six Pack stripped the wood) I discovered that not all of it was the original oak. Rather some Pine has snuck into the mix. Blasphemy! When we sat down for dinner last night we looked up and noticed the words "Prime All Cuts" displayed prominently on the wood. Beyond that-- can you believe what they are doing to my red walls... Uggh!
Man, oh Man! The wife and I finally made it to Ikea last week and scored some "temporary" furniture. When I first went to Ikea back in 1993 I bought a desk, entertainment center and a sofa (actually Mema bought that). The entertainment center and desk were pretty crappy. God forbid you got a little too aggressive with the allen wrench. If you did, chances are your would mess up the tender pressed wood. The messed up that desk for a number of reasons. The person who used the desk was pretty unhappy. The entertainment unit lasted an amazing five long years. The sofa was the best purchase of all and I believe is still being used by my old landlord (Tommy Marinos). Fourteen years later I have to say that the pressed wood furniture is pretty solid and they have upgraded their other offerings. Leading me to believe that this furniture could survive three boys abuse over the next 17 years. So, we bought the following:
