Feb 05 2013

Welcome to February 2013

Tag: Family,Fun,General,Lillian,SeanAndrewPaul C. @ 12:44 pm

We had some snow this weekend and the kids got to go sledding. Lillian LOVES to throw “snowballs” at anyone around her – so watching! She won’t sneak up on you though, because she loves to yell “IIIIII got you!” before she attacks.

We went sledding in the front yard too!

And made snow angels!

(Sean made one too, but wouldn’t stand for a photo)

Smallish gallery by clicking here.

Also, Sean has shown interest in cameras lately so I’ve decided to keep a gallery of photos he is taking. Click the image below to go to the gallery.

-pc


Aug 04 2010

Project Time! (aka – how to make your wife mad)

Tag: Cars,Fun,General,PaulPaul C. @ 3:49 pm

So a few months ago (yeah..and I’m just getting around to posting this…shows how fast the project is moving), I bought a 1987 Mitsubishi Montero 2 door. For those that don’t know, is the car I had in college. It was the car I had my first stereo system in (thanks Kurt) and the car I had when I met Emily. I loved it. Took it off road, road trips, trips down south (beer run for non-Murray State folks). It started having some engine trouble and the Auffenburg Mitsubishi dealer told us the head was bad and would need to be replaced for a couple thousand bucks. My parents sold it to a friend of my sisters for $300 and he fixed with plugs and wires.

Ever since then, I’ve wanted another. I finally found one in Ohio. It was in okay shape for a 30+ year old truck and definitely fits the “project” status it has been given. It currently isn’t running though. After poking around the engine bay, it looks like the previous owner replaced all the obvious stuff – plugs, wires, rotor, cap, and even the coil and carburetor.

After buying it, I found *another* that did run, but its body and frame is in really bad shape (as in there basically isn’t a rear passenger frame rail). I got it for a steal to use as a parts truck and the guy had a barn full of of spare parts. I chucked a good portion of them though – who needs six passenger tail lights??

So anyway, that’s that. My goal this summer is to at least get it running (or at least firing!), and barring that, get any bad rust spots coated with rust kill, primer, etc. to stop it. I’m probably in over my head…but hey – we didn’t use the garage anyway, right?? Hopefully I’ll be able to find some time to work on it after baby #2 gets here in November!

Here’s a shot of the Montero sleeping and a link to the other photos:


Aug 13 2009

So what has Paul been up to?

I’ve been really busy lately with work, travel, being a dad, husband, etc and haven’t really posted anything significant in a while. So what have I been up to?
Last month, I took a long weekend trip and flew to Seattle to visit Sean and Tim and Bridgette’s family, and go to a Mighty Mighty Bosstone’s concert (YAH!). While in Seattle, Sean and I visited one of my co-workers, Debbie, at her parent’s cafe – Chelan Cafe. Its a great place with AWESOME food. On our way out to the cafe, we drove by an import dealership and saw this parked on the street:

Its a VERY rare BMW M1 and it was in awesome shape. In the sun, you could see the carbon fiber reflecting back under the pearlescent paint.
So after our brunch at Chelan Cafe, Sean and I got on the road for our drive to Portland, OR, to visit Corey, Aija, and their newborn daughter Zora. I haven’t seen Corey and Aija since Stephen’s wedding, and have never been to Portland. on the way up, we passed this weird sculpture:

Its a very pretty city. We had some good meals there (especially lunch the next day!) and hanging out with old friends made the weekend worthwhile.

While in Seattle, I got to hang out with Tim, Bridgette, Rylee and Tyler. Turns out Rylee and Brig are big fans of So You Think You Can Dance, which is my anti-masculine guilty pleasure TV Show that Emily got me addicted to. Rylee LOVES the show. She knows every name, dance style, choreographer, etc of every person on the show. The three of us watch the show while Sean and Tim played some PS3 game 🙂
I got to swim in the Snohomish (?) river. The river was VERY high and the curretn was so strong that sean and I couldn’t get more than 10 or 15 feet from the bank without getting a chance of us getting swept away. A great public park..things you just don’t see in this area. Another thing that was great? I actually got to see the sun shine in the Pac NW. The three or four times I’ve been up there, its always rained (surprise!).
So the last night there, Sean, Tim, and I went to see my all time favorite band, The Might Mighty Bosstones. They got back together and this was the main purpose of my trip – to see them again. Of all the concerts I have been to, I”ve seen them the most. I think this was my 5th or 6th time seeing them. This show did not let me down. I’ll post some video and photos (ala cell phone so not great…) at a later time.

So fast forward to a week or so ago. For Father’s day, Emily got me a gift cert for Boi na Braza (sp?), a Brazillian steakhouse in Cincinnati. For those not familiar, these places charge a flat rate and you get a pretty decent salad bar. Also, they have waiters walking around with 15 different cuts of meat – sirloin, lamb chops, chicken breasts, filet mignon, and plenty of others. It was amazing. While NOT cheap, one of the things Emily and I enjoyed the most was the personal time. The wait staff doesn’t bother you. Because you let them know when you want more food, they basically stay away from your table unless you need a refill on your beverage. We had a great time talking all night without some person interrupting us to see if we wanted to buy something else. And MANY thanks to Aunt SheShe for watching Sean so we could have some time out. Oh..and the deserts are freaking great too! I love a perfectly cooked flan. Their wine list is pretty decent also. We had a nice pinot grigio.

Coming soon – my twin brother Sean is flying in from Seattle for a visit over Labor Day weekend. When he is here, my mom, Megan, and Megan’s boyfriend Matt, plan on coming down and we are hoping to see Stephen and Amy as well. (Little) Sean is going to have a BLAST!

Tonight, I gave Sean one of my die-cast cars. Its a Porsche that I got when I was in the 8th or 9th grade as a Christmas present from (I think) my grandmother’s brother, my Uncle Jack McNaughton (the Scottish side!). Sean LOVED it. Its bright orange. When Emily picked him up to take him to bed he cried. He wanted his car! So she gave it to him and carried him upstairs. Up in his room, she tried to get him to put it down on his dresser so they could get ready for bed. He wanted nothing to do with that. He was hugging and snuggling her…while hugging and snuggling his new car!! I knew I loved this kid for a reason!!

Can’t wait to see what happens when he finds out I have 20 or 30 diecast cars in storage 😉 He likes that orange Porsche 959 so much he may go into overdrive if sees the others! 🙂

Last night Uncle Phillip and Gramma got back from their trip to the Cabin and NYC and Phillip brought Sean back a present! Sean is now the proud owner of some Air Jordans!

He thought they were so cool. He is wearing them to “school” today. Phillip has a matching pair so we’ll have to get a photo of them wearing them together. He is in size sixes now, and when he gets to size sevens he gets to wear his Chucks that Megan and Matt got him 🙂

Links for the various galleries related to the posts above:


Seattle Trip:

Sean’s new car:


Jul 14 2009

I’m Back!

Tag: Emily,Family,Fun,General,SeanAndrewPaul C. @ 8:56 am

Back from my quick trip to Seattle. Crammed a whole lot of stuff into the 4 days I was there. Will post more details and some photos tonight.
Emily and Sean get back from New York tonight. Can’t wait to see them! Its been a long time since I have been away from Emily this long and I’ve never been away from Sean this long! Hope he remembers me!


Jul 07 2009

Adirondack Boy

Tag: Emily,Family,Fun,SeanAndrew,VacationEmily @ 7:00 pm

Sean and I have been in New York visiting my family since Thursday. We are having a really good time, despite the rainy weather that never seems to take a break. Colleen and Cate picked us up at the airport on Thursday and we headed out to Great Sacandaga Lake, where we have a camp. We spent Thurs – Monday there, hanging out, boating, fishing, making smores, hanging out with neighbors and family. Sean, who hates to walk in the grass, and heaven forbid, touch it with his hands, was running around in the woods barefoot by Monday. He loves pine needles, pine cones, little sticks and all the trees! He got to swim in the lake and throw rocks, and take lots of long walks up and down the camp road. We headed back home on Monday, getting ice cream on the way.

Dad, Colleen and Cate spent a lot of time redoing the playhouse that Dad built for Brian and me when we were younger. They put nice walls on the inside (it was always just 2x4s and plywood) and fixed it up so cute with a table and chair set, and Cate’s old Little Tykes kitchen set. Sean has a blast playing in there, cooking us meals and microwaving the fake food in the little microwave.

We are planning on heading back to the camp for this weekend, and then Sean and I return home to KY on Tuesday. It’s been a lot of fun so far and we have some great pictures! Click on the picture below to see.

Also, Sean sat in the little chair outside of the playhouse, where he sat when he came last fall. Look how much he’s grown up!


May 27 2009

Ever had a bad family photo?

Tag: Fun,Fun Links and Stuff,General,really..?!Paul C. @ 9:48 am

Family portraits rarely turn out perfect, and if they don’t – and you have them online somewhere – the may end up here:
http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com
There are some REALLY bad ones on here. Some are just kind of bad, but you know these guys regret this photo today:


May 06 2009

Make some awesome food at home

Tag: food,Fun,PaulPaul C. @ 10:26 pm

I’m a big fan of Asian food – I love sticky white rice. Emily bought me a rice cooker a few years ago as a present. We used it often, but got tired of the recipes we used that it kind of fell by the way side.
Emily and I were at one of our local grocery stores and came across a powder mix for General Tso’s chicken. It was produced by a subsidary company of Williams Foods, called Sunbird. We tried it and loved it. After that we tried the Honey Sesame Chicken and Mongolian Beef packets.
Basically, these packets are the spices and flavoring – you still add soy sauce, beef/chicken, veggies (GASP – yes paul adds veggies like green onions, spinach, and been sprouts!), rice and any other favorites you like in your Asian cuisine.
They are an inexpensive way to make your dinner night interesting – its a great home cooked meal but tastes just like (or better!) something you could get from your favorite Chinese restaurant.
For any of the single guys out there, these could give you the edge for an “exotic” dinner prepared at home!


Apr 05 2009

Busy Weekend

Tag: Emily,Fun,General,Paul,The HousePaul C. @ 7:45 pm

Emily and I decided to not let this be a typical lazy weekend. The weather was great – nice and cool with the sun shining. With all the wind storms over the last few months we had a yard scattered with broken branches – some so large, they even looked like little trees! Then we trimmed a ton of dead branches from the trees. I made a pile in the driveway about 7 feet tall and 5 feet wide. Going to take a while to get that scrapped and into trash cans.
Emily cleaned out the gardens – weeds, dried leaves, dead plants, and straightened up the boarder rocks. She filled two trash cans with crud. While she did that I gave the yard its first mow and spread some leftover mulch in our side garden. Mowing this yard is not a quick task. Very thankful for the in-laws riding mower. If I had to push mow this yard, I’d probably invest in a whole lot of ivy!
This morning I got out and put down some Scott’s weed and feed fertilizer. With all the work the previous owners put into the house, I don’t think they did much with the grass. I’ve never seen so many dandelions and “bad” grass. Probably going to take a couple feedings to take them all out.
Emily and I also started on our first project for the backyard. With the advice from my mom, we decided to start on a small project fist to get us motivated. The back yard needs TONS of work, but we picked a small 10×10 area just behind the house next to our stairs that come into the yard. It was a bit of an eye sore because the previous owners dogs used it as a sleeping area and it has a large cement slab that covers an old cistern. We are building a retaining wall there with 8 inch lodestone blocks and will fill that area with Irish Moss. Behind that, we plan to maybe put in some hostas, and a vine to grow on the trellis covering the stairs. We may also do another trellis against the wall for the vine.
So we laid down part of that this evening – at least the test run. Then we will need to back fill.
Glad we got that done this weekend as the weather is now predicting snow and rain Monday and Tuesday and low 40s-50s with rain the rest of the week.
That will sure make going to Florida Thurs – Sunday more worthwhile 🙂


Mar 03 2009

Birthday Photos Online!

Tag: Emily,Family,Friends,Fun,Paul,SeanAndrewPaul C. @ 11:59 pm

While i did not let Emily edit them yet, i knew people were waiting for them. Emily has a couple of videos to edit and upload as well. Click the pic below to go to the 13 Month gallery with the pics!


Mar 02 2009

Slumdog Millionaire – great movie, sad real life

Tag: Emily,Fun,Fun Links and Stuff,GeneralPaul C. @ 1:39 pm

Over the weekend, my mom volunteered to watch Sean so Emily and I could go out to the movies – we haven’t done that since New Years. We tried to go all out and site in the fancy-pants seating at the new theatre in Florence, KY but it was sold out. We opted for Slumdog Millionaire. I heard it was a good movie, but didn’t know what to expect. Both Emily and I really enjoyed the movie. I’ll probably rent it when it comes out on video and watch it again.
According to Wikipedia, the movie cost around $15 million to produce. As of yesterday, it grossed $189 million worldwide. Thats great news right? It is until I found out today that the kids from the movie – after having a huge Oscar premiere and trip to Disneyland – are now back in the slums from which they were discovered.
The youngest boy who played Salim has taken ill and was was caught on film being beaten by his father. Rubiana who played the young Latika is still starry eyed in the slums – still wearing the light blue dress she wore to the Oscars.
The article says the kids were paid, but it is in a trust fund that they can’t touch until they are 18. I’m guessing they probably weren’t compensated as a child actor from the west.
I hope, with the ~$174million the production has grossed, they will make something right about this.


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