Pruning, pruning, and more pruning.......

I went through the vineyard today and did a ton of pruning of all the vines. Too many leaves and vines surrounding the grapes are a bad thing, so we have to take out a lot of the extra foliage that isn't producing any grapes. The good thing was that the weather cooperated. 85 degrees and sunny isn't bad at all. I never have minded the heat too much as long as I'm busy doing something.

Beauty (Papa's horse) has been playing games with one of the workers who fills her water. She's been knocking over the water tank so he has to come into the pen and put it back up. I think he's going to bolt the tank to the wall to try to stop her. I'm thinking the Clydesdale may win.

Very perceptive.........

The other day, we we're packing up the family to head out to dinner. Mrs. Lime took Kali 3.4 and put her in the car. I came out a minute later with Giselle 0.6. As I was approaching the car, I realized that I was carrying Giselle and didn't have her car seat. I said 'whoops' and Mrs. Lime chuckled at me. When I went back in the house, Without anything being said by Mrs. Lime, Kali turned to Mrs. Lime and said, "Daddy forgot Giselle's car seat".

She's getting a bit TOO smart for her age.

Short on time and pounds.........

I'm getting the 'short timer' comments around work pretty often now. I'm being sent off to the non-IT world. I'll soon be managing a three year old and a six month old. Now THAT'S a challenge.

I've also been working on getting into better shape. I'm not sure it's even a diet. I've just cut my fat intake, eat mostly chicken and turkey, and exercise on the elliptical for 15 minutes a day. Really not a huge sacrifice, but it's paying big dividends. I'm down 17 lbs. in 3 1/2 weeks and only about 8 lbs. from a good weight for me. Not bad at all. I'll be doing more manual labor over the next couple of months, which should help build more muscle and lose a bit more weight.

Ma'am, your headlights are on......

You know, there are some days when you really want to tell that 75 year old woman in your office, "Did you know that 30 year old shirt that you are wearing clearly allows people to see your bra?"

I restrained myself from saying it, but it was difficult. Good thing I'm on my best behavior today.

It's not that difficult to follow the rules.......

At my current workplace, they have a pretty simple dress code. You can wear jeans and a button-up shirt if you're a guy. You can wear just about anything except halter tops and flip-flops if you're a lady.

So what do several of the ladies do? They wear flip-flops and halter tops. As a result, management is going to crack down and issue a much tougher dress code. It would have never changed had everyone stayed within the rules. Now, it's going to be dress code armaggedeon and the same people breaking the rules are now going to complain about the new rules. Mindless, I tell you.

Well that went surprisingly well......

My regional manager just contacted me and said that if things don't work out for me in my future job that I'd be welcomed back to work in the company. Always good to have options and avoid burning bridges.

So I just turned in my resignation.....

My manager is about to receive a pretty big shock. I just sent him my letter of resignation. He's already saddled with resource shortages and me leaving is only going to make it worse. Thankfully, I've helped him out quite a bit, so he won't have any ill will towards me. It should make for an exciting Friday!

Lights out!!!

Mrs. Lime and I went out with some friends last night. One of our friends at the party got a text from their babysitter saying that the power was out in our neighborhood. We had left the girls at home with a babysitter too. Mrs. Lime got on the phone to check on things. Kali, after the initial scare when the lights went out, was now painting by flashlight. Everything was well.

We got home to find the power still off. Kali ran right to us to tell us all about the lights going off. After all, it was her first big power outage! Giselle hardly noticed and decided to sleep through it. We got our power back about 20 minutes after we got home. The world was back to normal.

Dancing and making noises

Kali 3.3 heads over for her second dance class today. She was VERY excited to go. I'm sure that she'll get to meet more new friends and learn more dance stuff.

Giselle 0.6 is quickly becoming the talker in the family. She's yapping all the time and is pretty sure that you understand every word she's saying. She's also learning how to interact more. Mrs. Lime caught Giselle leaning over to blow with her mouth on Mrs. Lime's arm. She was trying to make noises, much like we do when we blow on her tummy. Smart girl.

She's a comedian and didn't know it........

A few days ago, I went out into the backyard to grill some steaks. Kali 3.3 went out with me. I turned on some music in the backyard, which is output through two speakers that look like rocks in our flowerbeds.

Kali: Daddy, what's that noise?

Me: I think it's music.

Kali: Where's it coming from?

Me: I don't know.

Kali: I think it's coming from that rock.

Me: Really?

Kali: Yes, it's coming from that rock, Daddy!

Me: Rocks can't play music.

Kali: Yes they can! It's a real rock music instrument!

**rimshot**

Kali 3.3's first bowling outing............

Kali went with me to bowling a week or two ago. Thought it would be fun to see how she liked it. We got there and even managed to get our own lane with bumpers already set up. For the uninitiated, the bumpers are rails that pop out of the gutters and keep the ball from going into the gutter. The ball just bounces off the bumpers until it reaches the pins.

Can you guess which color ball Kali picked?



Down the alley it goes......



Success!







Posing for the camera...........





You see that third frame next to Kali's name? That's a 'X'. Her first strike! Note the blazing speed of 4.2 MPH on her ball (Daddy was throwing around 16-17 MPH for comparison).



Kali's final score. Not bad at all.......

Flower planting!

Mrs. Lime and the girls did some flower planting about a week ago. Here's some pics of Kali 3.3 helping out.....





Giselle 0.6 decided all this work was for the birds and hopped in her car where she could supervise the process.......

Plowing through the vegetables...........

Giselle 0.6 is making her way through all of the forms of blended vegetables that Gerber has to offer. A brief summary.....

Peas - "I've tasted better."

Squash - "That's what I'm talking about! Those are good!"

Carrots - "First bite wasn't too good, but it got better as we went along."

We've got green beans coming later this week. I think she'll like them.

What is that?!?!?!

Giselle 0.6 got her first taste of vegetables tonight. She got to try out some peas.

First bite: gag reflex
Next several bites: not sure
Final few bites: I think I've had enough of this stuff, Dad.

Mrs. Lime forgot that Kali's first dose of veggies ended in her throwing up, so I think we'll cut Giselle some slack. It's no small move from rice cereal to peas.

Giselle version 0.6!!!!!!

Final measurements are in from the six month checkup.

Height = 50%
Weight = 90% (!)

Doc says that breast-fed babies thin out after 6 months. If so, Giselle should see a downward trend from here on out. Right now, she's just healthy!

Only a week to go.......

Next week, Kali 3.3 starts up her first dance class. It'll be interesting to see how she reacts to the class environment with other kids. I know she'll be fine, but it's always a new experience when she gets to do something different for the first time.

Giselle 0.5 is talking quite a bit more. If a babble can be interpreted as opinionated, Giselle is opinionated. She loves to make her presence known and is very frustrated if you aren't paying attention to her words of wisdom. She also is quite frustrated at how her legs and arms don't get her anywhere. She's doing a lot of kicking and grabbing, but the balance isn't quite there yet to sit up on her own. She'll be happy when she can keep up with her sister and/or the dog. I think she'd take either at this point.

The gift that keeps on giving.......

A few months ago, I went down to the cafeteria to get my morning shot of caffeine. When I went up to pay, there was a lady who had her breakfast but forgot her money. I offered to pay. She thanked me and told me she'd repay me. I told her it wasn't a big deal and not to worry about it.

Ever since then, if this lady is down in the cafeteria when I go down in the morning, she leaves the exact amount for a refill with the cashier so I don't have to pay. I think we're about even by now, but she just keeps on paying. I'll have to pay for her breakfast soon before she gets too far ahead.

Yesterday (or night).......

Kali's got a new word that she likes to use. Whenever she talks about the preceding night's events, she refers to it as 'yesternight'.

Using it in a sentence:

"I stayed in my bed all yesternight."

I think it's generally a sign of intelligence that she's forming her own words in that manner, but I've started the process of trying to get her to use yesterday. It's going to take some work because she keeps telling me, "No, Daddy! It wasn't yesterday! It was yesternight!" The logic is there, but the grammar needs some work.

All over the place.........

Crazy weekend for the family. Mrs. Lime headed off with her dad for a weekend in New York City. Kali 3.3 and Giselle 0.5 headed down with their grandparents to the Lake of the Ozarks. Kali reportedly caught her first fish.......and then went on to catch six more! Giselle received marks for being a well-behaved baby.

I stayed at home and tried to get some stuff done. Cleaned some showers, took trash out of Mrs. Lime's office, worked on a French drain, filed a tax return, worked on alcohol permits for our family business, etc. Lots of boring stuff, but it needs to be done.

Kali makes sure to get her face time........

What happens when Giselle 0.5 gets too much attention. Kali 3.3 jumps into the frame............

Girls, Girls, Girls

Girls goofing around............

The girls ham it up for Daddy while he baby talks them into doing more goofy stuff........

Goofy sisters

Piano concert...........

Here's what happens when Kali 3.3 and Gwen 2.10 get together with a piano..........

Piano Concert

Long necks........

Kali 3.2: Does Giselle have a short neck or a long neck?

Me: She has a short neck, but it will soon be a long neck like yours once she gets bigger.

Kali: I don't have a long neck! I have a short neck!

Me: You do?

Kali: Yes! Daddy, do you have a short neck or a long neck?

Me: I have a long neck.

Kali: No, you don't! You have a short neck!

Me: I do? Well who has a long neck then?

Kali: A giraffe has a long neck, Daddy!

Me: Of course.

Rabbits and money

Kali 3.2: I don't like the rabbit in my room.

Me: You don't like the rabbit?

Kali: No, it's scary.

Me: It's scary? Alright, well we can move it out then, OK?

Kali: Mmmmmm-hmmmmm.

Me: You do know that rabbit is a piggy bank with money in it, right?

Kali: It has a slot where you put money in it.

Me: That's right.

Kali: I LIKE the money. But I don't like the rabbit.

Me: So you still want me to move it?

Kali: Yes, but I do like the money!

She's been accepted!!!!!

Kali 3.2 got her official acceptance today. She's going to preschool in the fall. She's worked very hard on her letters and numbers and I know it will pay off big-time when she enters the scholastic ranks.

That is, as long as she doesn't haul off and whack someone if they take away one of her toys.

Busy weekend..........

While we didn't really go anywhere of note, Mrs. Lime was working quite a bit this weekend, meaning I had the girls most of the weekend. We did have one outing to the Bass Pro store. Kali 3.2 got to check out some of the animals and fish in the place. We also picked up some fudge and ate lunch. Giselle 0.5 just kind of took it all in when she wasn't busy taking a nap.

Last night, we headed over to see Kali and Giselle's cousin, Gwen 2.11. We took the girl over for some pizza and gelato. Kali was so focused on interacting with Gwen that she didn't eat all that much. We took them all back to Gwen's house afterwards and the girls got to play in the driveway (riding scooter/bikes, throwing balls, swining on the swingset, etc.). Giselle watched them, but was stuck sitting with the parents. I can tell she REALLY wants to get out there and play, but those arms and legs just won't let her quite yet. Soon enough, she'll be playing with the big girls.

The zoo stinks (literally)......

Mrs. Lime, Kali 3.2 and Giselle 0.5 all went to the Kansas City Zoo yesterday. It's relatively cheap to purchase a family membership that allows for a full year of unlimited visits. In addition, they have a new membership this year which allows for unlimited rides on the carousel, train, tram, etc.

Mrs. Lime said that Giselle was interested in everything. Looking around, checking out everything on her first visit to the zoo. Kali is a big fan of the elephants usually, but something else caught her eye (or nose yesterday). She went on and on last night about how 'stinky the alligators' were. Even with the smell, she still liked the alligators the most out of all the animals she saw yesterday.

Hopefully this doesn't open up the future possibility of stinky boyfriends down the road.

The management ranks increase by one.........

Over the past couple of weeks, one of the toilets in the house had an issue with a leaky valve, which was allowing water to slowly come out of the water tank. As a result, the toilet would briefly fill every few hours. I knew what I needed to do to fix it, but never really got around to it.

Kali 3.2 would get scared initially when the water noise would occur. She'd freak out until I informed her that it was only the toilet. One day when it happened, I also added in the fact that 'Daddy needs to fix that'. Bad idea.

Over the past 4-5 days, every time the toilet would turn on, Kali would look at me and sternly say, 'You need to fix that!'. I was being lectured by my three year old two to three times a night on the subject.

Finally got the valve fixed last night. No more periodic flushing sounds. Hopefully that puts an end to the lectures.

Passed with flying colors.....

So I had a long weekend with Kali 3.2 and Giselle 0.5. No real issues of note. We went out a couple of times to run some errands, but mostly just hung around the house.

I kept Kali busy making necklaces, playing some games, and watching movies. Giselle was eating a lot, playing a little, and sleeping the rest of the time. Giselle has been sleeping a LOT at night, which is nice. She's been sleeping a steady 12-12.5 hours a night. Sleep is a fantastic thing. I like it.

When good work isn't good work........

We have a different sort of group in my work environment. I generally am a Point A to Point B type of guy. Give me the task and let me know when it needs to be completed and I'll deliver the goods. I'm not big on the incremental updating in-between those two points. In my latest task, I was supposed to replicate a problem on the system, implement a coding change from the developer, and verify that the change corrected the original problem. I had three weeks to get it done because the releases only happen every so often. I finished up work on the above process today, thus having everything done two full days before it needed to be done.

Only one problem. Unbeknownst to me, the lady who assigned me the work had complained behind my back to the manager a day before I completed the work that she wasn't getting regular updates. This lady walks by my desk literally ten times a day. At any time, she could have stuck her head in my office and asked how the progress was going and I would have been happy to tell her. So now there's a brief fuss with the management (which will blow over eventually) that I wasn't keeping her informed DESPITE THE FACT that I already have the work completed well in advance of the due date.

The moral of this story: Doing great work is only considered great work if you make sure to regularly pause and tell someone how great your work really is rather than solely focusing on getting the task done.