Penn State (Trip Post 2 of 2)

Last weekend I got a taste of some serious tailgating in State College, PA as Penn State played Iowa.  Thankfully Penn State won 13-3!

UT likes to tailgate but boy, Penn State takes it seriously.  It is a very organized event.  We had TONS of yummy food and the weather was beautiful.

Wisconsin (Trip Post 1 of 2)

Ryan and I went to Milwaukee over Labor Day weekend to attend a 2 day music festival called Summer Fest (I think).  We went solely because Pearl Jam was headlining both nights and this was their only US performance for the year.  We flew in on Friday and left on Monday as the concert was Saturday and Sunday nights. 

I have family in Milwaukee so on Friday night we went over to my aunt Mary Beth's house for dinner and were joined by my cousin Joel and his family (wife Brenda and kids Christopher and Eva).  Also my great aunt Mary came up from Kenosha too.  It was good to see everyone and have the kids gotten big.  Here are some pictures from Friday below:

Pinewood Derby Race

I work in the Power Asset group at Direct Energy which oversees our 3 gas fired generation plants in Texas.  We had a big meeting yesterday where the management and some of the staff from the power plants came to Houston for a big hoorah.  They came from Bastrop (outside Austin), Frontera (down in the valley in McAllen, on the Mexico border), and yes, Paris, TX.  The meetings all day were horribly boring but later that afternoon we had a pinewood derby race!  They brought in the real McCoy boy scout derby administrators with the track, computer system, etc.  It was all way more high tech than I imagined.  Plus there was an open bar where I enjoyed a cold, frosty O'douls.

I previously sat next to a guy at work that loves to widdle as a hobby (even does civil war reenactment stuff and sets up widdling stations).  I outsourced the carving of my car to him.  I thought he did a pretty good job.  I then blinged it out with rhinestones and glitter and had my dad add lead to the bottom to beef up the weight.  I was feeling pretty proud of the car.  The quality of pics on my camera phone isn't great, but here is what it looked like:

Rhinestone windows, flame on hood, and glitter smoke

Well I was feeling pretty good about my car until I saw the competition. I knew that the power plant engineers would take this very seriously, but wow, it was VERY impressive.  I guess this competition was right up their alley (think nerdy engineer with a bit or red neck) plus it doesn't hurt that 1st place won a 42" TV, 2nd place won an Ipad, and there were some gas cards and Mario Cart Wii games as prizes too.  These are most of the cars (a few were not on the table):

Well, turns out I got 4th from last place -- oh well, it was fun!

Here I am with my car:

Baby Hunter and 27 Weeks

We met our newest nephew this Sunday, Hunter Thomas Swick. He is so tiny even though he was a bigger baby (8lbs 14oz)! He is super sweet -- we didn't hear a peep the whole 5 hours we were there. Here are some pics from the weekend:



Ryan practicing holding a baby with Eddie




Ryan and Hunter




Me and Hunter -- such a cutie




Hunter gave Haley a new dollhouse -- so much fun!




27 weeks.  Where will the rest of the baby go?!?!?



Hunter Thomas Swick

Hunter Thomas Swick was born today, 6 days over his due date, at a whopping 8lbs 14oz and 21inches.  He arrived in this world at 1:20pm. Welcome!

I am so excited that my sister and sister-in-law just had baby boys.  It is great that our 3 boys are the same age (school year wise) and can grow up together! Hunter Thomas Swick, Andrew Thomas Dibble, and Baby Hummer (name is a secret but I will tell you that his name does not include Thomas)!

Hunter Thomas Swick (9/19/11)

Andrew Thomas Dibble (8/4/11)
1 month old in picture

Yay for boys!

Baby Furniture!

I found baby furniture online and went ahead and ordered it.  The space for the nursery will look really nice with a white set of furniture so that is what we got.

I had to order from 2 different sites to get all the pieces I wanted.  I got toddler rails and full twin bed rails for the future.  I also got a nightstand for the future too and will probably put in the cottage room in the meantime unless there is a good place for it in the nursery.  Now I need a nice glider/rocker.  Here is what we got:

Crib:


Changing Table:


Dresser:



Side table:


Toddler Rail:


Full size bed Rails:


Also, my bedding should be arriving today so I am excited to see it in person.

Renovation update:  The contractor is SLOW!  Making progress upstairs but master bathroom is still TBD on what will be done to make it functional again.

Work on House

I know I need to post about our trip to WI but since we are getting work done upstairs, the computer is off limits so I can't load my pictures quite yet. Here is what Rolling Stone thought of the concert:


http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/pearl-jam-reward-fans-with-epic-two-day-festival-20110906?print=true

The work is taking much longer than we expected.  He originally thought they would be done with most of it today but yesterday they uncovered some problems with our master bath that will delay everything.  We wanted to put travertine tile down -- easy enough job right?  We have also had water pressure problems with that shower -- horrible water pressure that makes showing in there tough.  


Well, they tore up the old tile and discovered a few things.  


1) The incorrect size plyboard was originally used -- should have been a thicker sheet.  
2) There was some water damage on the plyboard which means there has been a water leak.
3) Upon further investigation, they discovered a piece that connects the pipe to the shower is broken and only a very very small fraction of water was getting through.  The rest was going to the dirt under our house.  That means we have been watering the mud under our house for a few years now and it explains the low to no water pressure.  He is having two plumbers come today to give bids on repair and is also going to look for a replacement piece that broke.  


Currently there is no toilet or floor in the master bath.  You can literally see the dirt under our house.


The only positive thing is that the floor is already torn out so they shouldn't have to remove any of the wall to fix the problem.  When this is fixed, we should have great water pressure in there.  Question is how long do we have to live like this and what is it going to cost?


We feel like our house is pretty much a black hole money pit.  I guess that is what you get when you own a home built in the 1930s.  I know I want a much much newer house next.


This is all the work we originally wanted to be done:


Upstairs:

New carpet (will actually have Lowes or Home Depot install)

Baseboards

Repair cracks

Paint

Tear out built in cabinet

Install can lighting (don't think they can do this)

Build shelf in closet

Upstairs Bathroom:

New custom vanity

New travertine floor

New toilet

New toilet paper holder and hand towel holder

Paint

New lighting

Master Bathroom:

New travertine floor

Cottage room:

New custom vanity

New lighting