Nesting????

Go Team Bartz!!!!! The baby is also wearing a respirator, don't worry!

The desire to get rid of the cream carpet in our living and dining room was overwhelming last Thursday evening. Kelly and I didn't have time to really think out what we may be living in for the next three months once we began pulling up the carpet. One might say we were blinded from the workload by the solid oak flooring we saw hiding under the layers of carpet, pad, cork, tarpaper, and endless amounts of glue. Not knowing the condition of the floors, we continued to keep our hopes high and pull, scrape, grind, and bust our butts all weekend long. Spotless oak floors were found and we couldn't be happier. I can't take much credit for scraping, but I was here sweeping and dragging cork, tar, and glue away from the work area. Because I was somewhat left out of the floor project weekend (it ended up turning into a 'dude festival'), I chose to begin my own very important task. Like it wasn't enough we currently had three other projects in progress, I decided to add another to the list and rid our kitchen of the lovely hunter green ivy wallpaper we've been living with since we moved here. I'm sure in 1982 the choice was perfect, but times have changed and hunter green and ivy are no longer 'cool'. BUT i obviously had NO idea the can of worms I was opening, even though Kel's momma had just done the same thing to her kitchen and warned me over and over again. Some call it 'stubborn', I call it learning through doing it yourself. Plus, there is really no way around removing the wallpaper if we want to get down to bare walls. Timing is the problem here. Our plan for quite some time has been to remodel our kitchen, but we've now added a few other projects on the way. Living in our bedroom is not too bad, small, but it's the only somewhat clean and cozy environment left. The goal is to have our home back by June...???!!! Is this too much to ask? My sister thought this was an over the top form of nesting, I'll go with that!

I'll leave you with the stunning photos of the new floors that Kelly has revealed through an entire day of sanding. Tomorrow he will lightly stain and poly coat them...which again I'll be out and about for the sake of the little tyke!

The project's beginning!

Old cream carpet, the carpet pad, cork underlayment, tarpaper under that followed by black glue! We were not as ambitious right away, thinking if we discovered poor flooring underneath we would keep the living room carpet and redo the dining room with some type of flooring.

Dustin was so kind to donate hands and knee time to scrape the glue off. Eventually a neighbor came over and told us about the Rip R Stripper, a powered floor stripper which Kelly is using in the photo to the right. Kelly's boss, Tony, also helped in the work while Brenda, Coco, and I hung out on our deck.

The floors after one weekend of power and hand stripping. The next step is to sand and poly. We were not sure if we'd hire a professional or if Kelly would take this on....but after the quote...we were left with little option other than to do it ourselves.

Beautiful white oak floors . . . our final destination! Thanks for everyone that helped along the way!

And for all who care to see the belly and button grow!

Helloo...Baby Blog

So anyway, baby's fine in case you were wondering. Not that everyone who checks this was wondering how we fared in the blizzard of '07, or as I like to call it: Normal, but I thought i'd put in a little ditty about our unborn child. Court is sitting at a even 24 weeks (and counting), feeling a little sick right now but baby Bartz is feisty. We sit on the couch with my hand on her belly and the little one practices their best Bruce Lee "Enter the Dragon" technique. I havn't contemplated the destiny of our child but I would be alright with a karate grand master (if that is an actual karate title I have no idea but it sounds very official....and very karate). They don't really have the history to fall into the karate profession, though I must say I did stay in my karate class long enough to break a board with my foot. I had the official outfit that I was ever so proud of with a gleaming white belt. For all of you creating this mental image I was 7, this was not a college elective or anything.

Okay, back on task. I think the babe has been usurping a bit more energy from the host than it used to. Court has been getting tired lately and the walks wear her out more than normal. I'm sure most can relate to Court insatiable walking, running, moving appetite and so this is a noticeable change. In response, I have been diligently posting up on the couch to make Court not feel bad or lazy, this is what makes us a team. We go in next Thursday for the next check-up and it seems everything is going smoothly. We are starting to discuss our "birthing environment" lately which brings up a lot more questions than I realized. There are some pretty important decisions we need to make and my roll as a wide-eyed ineffective coach (e.g. Minnesota Vikings) is going to change to one of a wide-eyed useful cheerleader. I intend to learn more so I can be an advocate in the heat of the moment for my wife and I am becoming more comfortable with notion of confronting doctors/nurses and am ready to use any or all of the afore mentioned karate techniques... if necessary, because grand masters only use force when necessary. WWCND

Parting thoughts:

Hope all is well and I heard this quote at the end of a movie I would like to share with you all to show my sentiment of recent local politics and, of course, the ongoing international stage.

"Politicians are like diapers; they should be changed frequently and for the same reason."

My Sunshine Sick Day

Ahhhhh, look at this day! Sunshine, blue sky, and snow. For all that know me, ya'll know I'm being tortured right now.
I've been so very lucky this entire fall/winter season dodging the 'illness' bullet. However, yesterday morning I awoke to a scratchy throat and a nose stuffed with boogs. Sorry for the details, but I'm sharing it because it truly caught me off gaurd. Call it karma, but the day before I was bragging to someone how my immune system was made of gold and I was above getting sick. I suppose, though, spending everyday with two little dudes in my face and one with a runny faucet for a nose, I am bound to catch something sooner or later. Today is my day to recover. Today is my 'sick day' to mend the sore throat and feel better. Although I'll admit I am itching to get outside in the beautiful sunshine Duluth is sporting today. Yesterday we had a blustery snow day and today is quite the opposite, lending this town to natural beauty full of snow and sunshine. If I had it my way I'd be cross-country skiing, but can't do that on a 'sick day', can I?

Kel and I forgot to mention Eddy's ailments this past month. Our pooch went 'under the knife' February 16th to curb her progressing left shoulder limp. The vet told us she had major inflammation in her shoulder joint which connects to her bicep muscle. Synovial tendonitis can become a debilitating disease if not cared for properly. An injection of corticosteroids provides the quickest symptomatic relief. About 50 ml- 100 ml of cortisone went directly into her shoulder joint. Most dogs who suffer from this are retrievers who chase balls, go figure. The motion of running as hard as you can and sliding to a screeching halt wears and tears on the shoulder area. Yes, this makes a lot of sense! The great news is surgery has been successful thus far. Ask Eddy and I bet you'll hear a different tune, but the time really went fast. Poor girl had to stay inside ALL day and ALL night, no exercise for a month. Mom (me) weakened this past Tuesday and walked her..a few days early..as it was about 60 degrees and sunny...AND still light outside after 6pm. So far she's had two on-leash walks and has loved it. Part of me wanted to remove the leash and just let her run, but then the month would be wasted and that would be naughty and irresponsible of me. I will say this much, a walk/run/hike without watching Eddy bound through the forest is just not the same. I've never appreciated my four-legged canine companion as much as I did on Wednesday on our walk through Chester Park. I'm so glad she's back and gonna be fine!

These photos show scenes from Blizzard 2007. Our car was almost covered from all the snow. Grand totals were around 39". The streets were all just as full of snow.