Rather than sleep...

I really should go to bed. And will shortly. But there are so many things/ideas bouncing around in my head, both safe and unsafe, in a sense. Pure evil and pure innocence. Or something like that.

But before I forget -- as you can see on the right, I'm riding my bike 50 miles in the North Shore Walk & Roll for the American Cancer Society. I'm accepting donations, via the link over there. If you want to donate, just click there and it'll take you to my page. My cousin Will, whom many of you know, is riding as well, and my buddy Luis was talking about joining our team too. OK, that's all on that.

For one, I'm completely excited about the prospects of seeing my basement family room done and functional very soon. Tomorrow, both the electrical and the fireplace are supposed to be finished. That means I get to install the insulation soon after, and I'm getting a quote on drywall services on Saturday. It saddens me that I'll have to pay some people to put up, tape, mud and sand down drywall, as I know how to do it and can -- but we just don't have the time. I'll be lucky to get the insulation in the walls, the wiring in for the cable setup for the TV and something, anything, done with the floor, which is a complete and total mess right now.

But at least we will have walls, a ceiling, electric and a heat source (and primary room focal point) taken care of (minus trim and paint, of course) in time for the party. Given where we were two weeks ago, it's astounding we're at this point.

Other things are just floating around...I feel as though things are slipping away from me in many cases, mostly because I have a lot of things going on and so do a lot of other people around me. I wouldn't say I feel overly stressed, but I'd love to have a personal assistant right about now to keep my schedule straight and keep me going in the right direction at times.

A.J. is an unbelievably great and wonderful son, except that he's been waking us up most nights, and he simply won't go back to sleep for me. I rock him to bed when I absolutely have to pick him up -- we try to avoid that at this stage -- but the minute I go to put him down in the crib, he wakes up screaming, no matter how slowly and gently I try. It's a pain.

But, on the flip side, lately he's been wanting to be with me a lot -- reaching for me to pick him up and whatnot, climbing on me when I'm on the floor or he's on the couch with me and everything. It's amazing what it does to you, emotionally, when your son "likes" you and wants to be around you. Especially given that he's relied on Mommy so much for most of the time.

Anyway, he's rocking and rolling in his development too...talking his tongue off (saying nothing but gibberish, of course) all the time. And he's one hell of a little character. And watching him learn how to do things and all that is so much fun. I love it!

So anyway, I hope things are going well with you...if you're all still even reading this...I'll be here and there...

Sump or money pit?

There is currently a six-inch-wide trench being dug around the perimeter of my basement family room, a few-foot-deep-and-wide pit being dug under my porch, and it smells like dirt in much of the house now.

So goes the installation of a drain tile system. Read about it on my house blog. http://buildbetterbungalow.blogspot.com.

I'm too lazy to type it all out again. :)

Looking back...

Well, I sat down this week and joined Ancestry.com, and began to put the pieces of my family tree together, bit by bit. Ancestry.com is pretty cool...you can search for all kinds of information and see original documents and everything. Some cool things I found out, mostly family-related, a couple things related to my bungalow's "genealogy," which is something I'd like to look up (i.e., who owned it, what did they do, etc.) because I think it'd be neat to see.

1. I found out from the 1930 census a couple things. First, my house was owned by a Romanian family named Stoffer. The father was a bricklayer, and they had two kids at that time, a 17-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son. They came to America sometime between 1913 and 1921 (between the births of their kids). So it's interesting to note that. There's a lot more I hope to find about the house...that's just a start.

2. I was able to dig up a whole bunch of data on my family ancestors and where they were living during the 1920 and 1930 censuses (sp?). Big shock: Both my mom and dad's families were living on the Southwest Side, pretty much within a mile or two of where I grew up and my parents still live.

3. I found a digital copy of the ship manifest for my great-grandpa's (my mom's maternal grandpa) immigration to the U.S. Had all his information (where he was from, where he was going, age, etc.). Really cool to see that...EllisIsland.org, which is free, actually has a picture of the ship too -- also neat to see.

4. Found out that my great uncle (one of my dad's paternal uncles) worked for a meat company in the Union Stock Yards. He was a beef casing measurer. I'm not sure what that does, but you can bet your ass I'll be looking into it at work Monday. :) This wasn't a total shock to me...I kind of had a feeling that one of my ancestors somewhere along the line must have worked for a meat company back in the Stock Yards' heyday. This confirms that.

5. Also found out that same great uncle lived in a house on the block I grew up before my grandpa owned our house. Some other family was living there at the time of the census (I believe this was the 1930 census, again, but I could be wrong).

6. As "morbid" as it might seem, I've been able to confirm dates of birth and death of several relatives -- that's part of the point of doing a family tree as well, I guess.

So now I need to get in touch with my various relatives and find out who knows what, where, how and why, and get those things recorded and into this tree somehow. All in all, it's very interesting, and I'll probably head down to the Harold Washington Library sometime over our holiday break to do more research on my house and family.

We've survived...

Well, another Thanksgiving, another hosting, another meal down in history.

Gina and I hosted Thanksgiving again this year, as has become tradition of sorts...went well -- turkey came out good, from what I hear (I'm not a fan of turkey, honestly...yes, I'm un-American, or something), and we had way more food that we really needed (now, THAT'S definitely American if ever there was something...disheartening if you think about it), and way, way, WAY more desserts too.

But it was fun, as usual, to have the families assembled here, for the most part complete. A.J., of course, was the show...he sat in his playpen through the entire dinner behaving, rolling and scooting around, playing with his toys and "talking" to us from the playpen. He's been such a great little boy.

Today, Eddie and Delana hosted Thanksgiving Part II at their place. I got to play with the fireplace and keep feeding the firewood in...I love wood-burning fireplaces, let me tell you...I wish I could have one here...again, we had a lot of food and desserts, and everyone got to see A.J. who didn't on Thanksgiving.

Now, I'm fighting to figure out my wish list for Christmas, particularly for our cousins grab-bag, for which I have a $30 limit. That makes it tougher...I'll have to do some research and thinking on this one.

Hope your Thanksgiving went well, and that you're all set and ready for the holiday season, because, once again, it's here!

What I'm thankful for...

1. My son.
2. My wife.
3. My friends -- longtime, brand new and somewhere in between.
4. My family (why are they fourth? Because they're stuck with me... :) )
5. The health and happiness of all of the above, as well as my ability to help bring that about whenever possible.
6. My health and happiness.
7. My life, my history and where I appear headed. I have few, if any, regrets. So I'm thankful for God's watchful eye over me, or guidance, or whatever you want to call it, exactly.
8. My guardian angels.
9. My home.
10. My job and financial situation.

Regardless of your situation, I know that if you try, you can find 10 things you're thankful for as well. You just have to clear out the negativity and think positively, and I bet they'll come to you. Thank you for reading and for caring about me, even remotely or occasionally. I hope that you've got a reason to be thankful for me either being in, or having been in your life, however grand or minuscule that might be. And if not, what am *I* waiting for? :)

Have a safe, happy and enjoyable Thanksgiving!