Waking up Saturday morning was like waking up the day after school got out for the year except I didn’t put on a pair of Toughskin jeans and ride my bike as fast as I could to the jumping ditch to try to set a new high jump record on it.
Two points to make here. First of all, for those of you that don’t remember Sears Toughskin jeans, they were jeans marketed by Sears and Roebuck in the 70’s and 80’s that were indestructible. I think the material used in them was a precursor to the Kevlar used in bullet proof vests. Getting them caught in your bike chain, wiping out on gravel or sliding into second base had no effect on them. They were impervious to blood, grass stains, oil or the effects of poor BB gun handling. On occasion the knee would show wear, but your mom could iron on a patch the extended their life indefinitely.
Second, the X games that the kids watch on ESPN now……. They didn’t invent Big Air, we did, but we didn’t even call it big air back then and the bikes we used were of questionable construction. We didn’t wear helmets or padding and there were no foam pits to do trial runs into. If you saw a dirt mound, you rode over it a couple of times to test things out. As the knot in your stomach loosened you rode over it faster, then jumped it, then finally you took turns to see who could get the highest and land without cracking the frame of your bike. Of course you had to find the cracking point of the frame eventually and at that point you made up a story to your parents about “how your friend rode up behind you and did a tire rub that sent you flying or the grizzly bear that stepped onto main street that you had to swerve to avoid.” Luckily we had our Toughskins on that saved us from injury.
Ok, now that I’ve gotten completely off track here, lets reign things back in. This weekend I set out to do some things to get the baby room ready, etc. Nothing major, move some things to the garage, put some new handle hardware on a dresser, things like that. One other thing that needed to be done was that Katie’s sister Kaylan had bought a new bed and of course having a pickup I get elected to haul a lot of things. We got it loaded just fine, but then I realized that I didn’t have any tie down straps along so we stopped at my brother Brians to get some. Kaylan got a small taste of the storm approaching this weekend when everyone converges for the baby shower. I’m curious to see if any of their heads actually spin on axis when they see 25 people there to eat – and that’s just immediate family.
Katie worked all weekend, so being the awesome boyfriend I am, I cooked both days. On the menu Sunday was pork chops, but since we really don’t have a grill I was going to broil them. 10 minutes before I was going to start them though, I found out that we didn’t have a broiler pan. I refuse to disrespect meat by pan frying or baking it so I made a quick trip to Target to buy one. I like to keep as close to my roots as possible, but since it would be frowned up on kill a pig on the lawn, cut a hunk of meat off, skewer it with a green branch and roast it over an open flame you have to move up the cooking tree, which would be in order: open flame, BBQ over charcoal, BBQ over propane gas, broil, pan fry, bake and finally just eating Tofu on toothpicks with Strawberry Daiquiris. I’m not turning in my Man Card yet.
Yes, this post got a little long winded. Sorry about that. Coming soon, pics of the completed nursery!!
Oh yeah, one more thing. I think I’m banned from grocery shopping after coming home with Pickled Pigs feet and Horseradish. Pregnant women or I suppose women in general don’t find that as appetizing as I do.
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