Why I Oughta...

Normally when someone gives you a bathroom scale as a gift, you probably wouldn't be geeked.  But that's not the case in the Parrillo household.  Can't wait to get more data based on weigh-ins - coupled with movement data points.  This scale - called the FitBit Aria - couples with the personal Fitbit that I wear on my belt everyday.  It connects to our homenetwork via wifi and *magically* keeps track of your weight without any need to track it yourself.  The data just shows up in the Fitbit dashboard every morning.  With just 2 days of data in, there clearly is no intelligence gained, but I expect to generate some data over the course of a couple of months.  The tricky part is going to come up with a routine to weigh myself in the same manner everyday. Now all I need is some sort of device that monitors all the chow that I stuff in my piehole.  Then I'll be lean and mean.

Who'd thunk that I'd be surrounded by all these women!  Here's my three ladies and myself out on the front porch this morning.  Last day of leave for a bit, so we're savoring every minute of it.  I'm a lucky guy! Don't think you can get a better Father's Day present that the new addition to the family - whom we're calling 'The Bird' here on the blog.   Her Papa, who was sick last week, also got his first chance to bond with The Bird when we traveled to their house to celebrate with him.

A 55 gallon tank is perfect for a suburban dad with a finished basement, right?  I'm in the market to start up an aquarium for both me and the Babe.  Nat isn't that thrilled with the idea, but she has given me her blessing to go ahead.  As long as she doesn't have to clean the tank.  Ever.

In spite of the fact that I brought home a "4th of July" tomato variety, the Romas are the first out the game with little tiny tomato fruits budding.

Might be a bit too thick and lustrous?  In the winter, I might be able to pull this off, being Paternity Leave and all, but in mid-June?  That's a stretch. Now that we have photos of The Bird and me with a strong beard (just like the ones we have with The Babe from a few years back), I'm fine with it coming off for the summer.  We'll see you again in the fall, Beard!

We've had this blue lamp in our garage for the better part of a month.  It came from Nat's Mom and we failed to sell it at our Garage Sale back in May.  It has a big crack in the side but still works as a lamp.  Unfortunately, it won't *work* for us in our house.  Just not the right fit. But, when I was digging around on the web, I somehow came across this tutorial for transforming an old lamp into a birdbath .  First thing you clip off the lamp fitting then get set to find a bowl to sit on top.  We don't have anything just laying around, so I'll try to get out to GoodWill in the coming weeks to find something that is suitable.  Maybe a white bowl?  Or a grey?  Once I get the hole drilled and the bowl set with epoxy, I'll get it out in the yard so our fine feathered friends can enjoy the water this summer.

With The Bird being at home with Momma, I was able to take The Babe out to spend some time with her cousins this week.  I've LOVED bonding with her and being her primary care taker for the past few days.  I could barely get her out of this trampoline down the block!

Just 36 hours after her arrival, we got the thumbs up to pack up The Bird and head home.  No time like the present to get going and start being a family of four plus a dog back in Elmhurst.  Love her already!

Born this morning at 9:38 am, our little girl joined her big sister The Babe and her amazing Momma in our new family of four.  Nat did an amazing job and seeing new life enter this world NEVER gets old. Can't wait to get to know her.

A week or so ago, Nat scored us some flower box holders from one of her friends in the neighborhood.    We've been focused - mostly - on our landscape beds and the perennials the past few years and have for the most part ignored any sort of pots with annuals.  Sure, we have a few annuals in our front porch box, but those are usually an afterthought.  In fact, in years past, I've planted a few perennials in there only to rip them out after they bloom and plant them in the landscape somewhere. But, with the flower box holders on hand, it is time to get some annuals up and running on our back deck.  I jammed them with petunias, spikes, asparagus ferns, ageratums, and one other annual that didn't have sticks in them.  See those redish flowers?  Know what they are?  Maybe reverse Google Image search will help?