Big Ugly Truck Post #1

Yesterday the good wife let me buy a truck again. I was able to convince her that not only would it be a fun thing to work on, but that once on the street again, we can use it for hauling all kind of things including the endless list of stuff we need from Home Depot to complete our various projects.

Right now it's running rough and stalling out. We're going to be working on that.

The truck is a 1988 Ford F150. It's a long bed Super cab, which means that including the front bench seat, it can technically seat 6 and hold 8 ft long piece of wood in the back (or the drywall I need for my basement finishing). It has the famous Ford 5.0 Liter v8 engine under the hood, an engine that survived from about 1968 to 2001. below are some pictures:

Splish Splash - It's bigger then then bath

Here's some moments from James' first time in his Nana's pool this summer. The pool isn't completely filled yet, so it is just deep enough for him to splash around in. He defiantly enjoyed himself.

Book time

James also likes book time. He's usually pretty good about paying attention and is actively participating in the reading experiance. Here his is with his Grandma.

Beeg Truck!

James loves his trucks. We saw this one in a parking lot.

Some lifetime What-ifs decided in an afternoon

So as you probably already know, my wife and I are expecting our second child. It is our intention to only have two children. Yesterday we went in for the second sonogram to make sure everything is going smoothly along the development path. We also were able to determine the sex of the child.

For those waiting in anticipation....



It's a boy!


(And he wasn't shy about it either)


Anyway, this being our last one, it looks like we'll have two boys. While it is quite a relief to know and it simplifies a great many things for us, there is also a touch of sadness. As I thought about it today, this means there are some things I'll never experience as a parent.

Being a father of all boys, I'll never get to help pick out a beautiful little Christmas dress or get my daughter's hair done for her first grade picture.

Also I'll never get to walk my little girl down the aisle for her wedding or shake he nerves of some poor boy who comes to pick her up for her prom.

BUT there are some advantages

I'll never have to help shop for my child's bra

I'll never have to deal with my daughter's first bout of PMS

I'll have a couple of rough and tumble boys who will cry more over hurt knees then hurt feelings.

We had no preconceptions to our second child being a boy or a girl really and didn't really prefer one over the other. I'm quote happy that we're having a boy, but I would have been just as happy with a girl. This type of information does get you to thinking though. I guess we'll just hope to have some nieses to spoil in the future =)

TTFN!

Happy New year

I think something comes along with the New Year that also inspires planning.

Kat and I have been doing a lot of planning and thinking and working and reworking. This year we've got the baby on the way and ready or not he or she is coming sometime in June. This means deciding how we're going to work bedrooms and decorating and jobs, etc.

I'm also back in school starting the end of this month to complicate things. I've got six courses left for my Masters. After this semester, that'll make four classes, so planning when to take which classes is important.

We have also more or less decided that after I graduate, we can get a truck. Not a brand new one or anything, but something useful. I've got grand plans as to what the truck should have with it. For instance, I think a truck that is really a truck should have 4 wheel drive. Otherwise, you're a car with ground clearance and a big trunk.

Also, I'd like it to have four doors. Either the full 4 door crew cab or at least the extended cab with the two doors that open backwards. I figure it's a good idea to be able to pack a kid or two in the truck.

I also want the long bed. Although the 6 ft bed would probably do, with an 8 ft bed, I could haul plywood or drywall without having it hanging out of the bed.

We're also talking about getting a dog this year. So that includes discussion on what breed, when, how, why, who.. pretty much any question you can imagine. Mainly though, should it come before or after the baby. We dog-sat for my parents for about a week while they were away and we sorta liked having a furry one under feet. Still, we had originally planned for Christmas time later this year. Further more, not only is our fence not quite completed yet, I don't think it would hold in a dog, expecially if we pick a breed that had a good vertical leap or can dig. The fence will keep in a small human in, but don't know about a smart dog, so an invisible fence is probably in our future.

So much to think about. Have a happy new year and I hope your planning is less complicated.

SQRT(SUM(3V1L)) = M0N3Y

Money talk.

So we calculated out our budget for the coming year and are doing OK... at least we were until I thought about our retirement.

Basically, we had talked about it being a good idea to utilize the full matching contribution for retirement for work. I set that up yesterday and it was still going to be less then my salary increase for this year, but the good wife went into a downward spiral of worry.

This morning we were less then personable to each other because of it. I've got half a mind to say "screw the future" and drop the retirement back down just so the budget is easier to balance.

Ugh.