Oh, daddy.

Once again I managed to avoid doing much work on the house this weekend, opting instead to waste time by (a) washing the cars, (b) mowing grass, and (c) shopping for baby furniture. Yes, in 16 or so weeks we'll be welcoming a new addition to the family, and that new addition needs somewhere to sleep. We have the room picked out, but right now that room is functioning as our closet. My other closet is the chair that sits in the corner of our room – the one buried under an ever-expanding pile of clothes. Oh, and there is that makeshift closet that the previous owner built from plywood in the front of the hallway. It's very pretty.

Anyway, the kid. This weekend we looked at baby furniture and realized that even mid-priced stuff costs about as much as a full-sized bedroom. Scary. Not remortgage-the-house scary, but scary enough that I wished I were a proficient woodworker with a lot of time on my hands. Before we furnish the room, though, I need to do some painting and electrical work. Three of the upstairs rooms still have cheap old wall sconces as their sole lighting source, and the kid's room will definitely need a new light. I plan to tap into the line, install a switch, and then continue the line up to a new ceiling light. I don't think it will be a big deal since I have access to the attic and can run the line from there. So that's the plan over the next three months or so. I look forward to the day that I can have the wee one mow the lawn.

In the short-term, though, I need to try and finish up some painting outside. We're having a Labor Day picnic and before we get visitors -- many of whom haven't yet seen the place -- I'd like to spruce up at least a few of the outbuildings. Yesterday evening (Monday) I began the process of scraping the garage doors: three massive wood panel doors that slide along metal tracks. I intended to paint a bit last evening, but a forecast of showers made me think twice. I'm glad because we had some heavy rains last evening -- something we desperately need. It's really dried out over the past few weeks.

Oh, and by the way -- No word from Alton Brown yet on my proposal. Maybe he'll surprise me by dropping by for the Labor Day party.