ROARRRR!

Happy Halloween

Andrew was a dinosaur for Halloween this year. He loved his costume. For weeks before the big day we were teaching him about dinosaurs. We bought him books and got him to roar every time we asked what a dinosaur says. The only way to get him to open his mouth for me to brush his teeth was to ask him what he was going to be on Halloween. When we took him to the neighbors' and to the church Funny Face festival, he was so amazed with the whole thing that he never roared all night. Oh well, he was the cutest little dino I've ever seen!

The Great Pumpkin

We took Andrew to a local farm north of town last weekend to pick out a pumpkin and some mums for our front porch. He had a blast! In the pumpkin patch, every time he saw a small round gourd, he'd pick it up and say "ball" and throw it. We all learn something every day! Happy halloween!

Bluesfest official poster

Here is the final (and official) Greater Ozarks Blues Festival poster for 2007! I sent it to the printer yesterday. Pretty psychedelic because of the young jam band-type of musicians coming this year. North Mississippi Allstars are one of my favorite bands and I am so excited to see them this year! Joe Bonamassa is a hot, young guitarist who plays smokin' Jimi Hendrix-like blues rock. Leon Russell is an "old guy" with a long white beard and hair. He has performed several times at the famed Filmore Auditorium in San Francisco in the 60s and early 70s– the heyday of psychedelic rock and posters. All this inspired me to create this colorful and a bit nostalgic poster. The committee also were very adament at using the blues guy I painted for the festival in 2005, but I psyched him up a little. We haven't decided on the type of t-shirt to make yet. They are trying to reach a younger audience this year with the lineup so I'm thinking another graphic T like the last 2 years, but some of the committee may want a small image in the front corner pocket. We'll see. I think my generation likes graphic Ts like Old Navy/Gap, but the next generation up likes it a little more subtle. Any suggestions? Ticket prices are still a little high for college kids, so we may not get any younger of a crowd. I am really looking forward to the festival this year! Woohoo!

Bluesfest sketch idea 2

This was a little more colorful idea I had to show that the Blues is color blind and can effect any person anytime. Since it is an outdoor festival in downtown Springfield, I turned a couple of surrounding buildings into giant amplifiers. This was more of a fun, cartoony idea. We didn't go this direction either. I thought it had potential though.

Bluesfest 07

I just finished this year's Greater Ozarks Blues Festival poster and related material. Tshirts are next. This sketch was one of my initial ideas, but we went a little different direction. I really like it anyway.

NINE months, baby!

We got Andrew's nine-month photos taken last weekend. Isn't he cute?! Yes, he is. He is on the verge of taking a step and walking, but is most comfortable crawling. He has 8 teeth: 4 on top and 4 on bottom. The babysitter said the photo of him with blocks really captures his personality well. I agree, he is very good natured. The one of him with crazy-face is a huge smile. The biggest I've seen! He almost looks as if he is a demon child rattling his cage trying to get out, but really he was having lots of fun. That one cracks me up. Happy weekend.

tons of fun!

I finally have a few minutes to update this blog. Things have been super crazy the last few months (on top of having a baby). We are moved in to the new/old house and have been "living" there now for 3 weeks. We have been walking around piles of boxes and furniture and our clothes are divided into 3 closets. It seems like we are already out of room, but really we aren't using all the space yet. There is a family room in the back of the house, off the kitchen that we are keeping pretty empty until we can remodel it. We need to replace the wood paneling and ceiling tile with drywall and we might as well put in a new coat closet door and french dackdoors. We could even add a window if we wanted. Then I'll lay in a new floor after all that's done.

Whew. I get worn out and worked up just thinking about the details and possibilities. Today the plumbers are filling my yard back in after a week of rerouting the sewer line through the driveway, in front of the garage. The week after we moved, mom stayed around to help get us settled. I had to go to Chicago for 4 days to a Photoshop/Illustrator conference so it was just Jenny, Mom and Andrew. I missed his 9 month birthday and doctor's appointment. Kind of a bittersweet trip. Anyway, of all weeks, the sewer backed up into the basement which was my worst fear of moving into an old house. We knew the sewer line needed to be redone anyway, but this just moved it to the top of the list. Mom cleaned it all up and was an amazing help! Thanks, Mom! Our families have been tremendous help in this whole process.

We finally got new kitchen counter tops and sink this past Monday so it feels more comfortable and useable. I had to tear up the old ones pretty badly to paint the cabinets. There is still a lot to do on the cabinets – doors to paint and hang and hardware to replace. Anyway, the house is coming together little by little, but this still feels like just the beginning of work on this house. OK that's enough for now. My brother, Jeffrey graduates from MSU tonight and family's coming down for the weekend.

Lots of new stuff!

Baby update:
Andrew started crawling (forward) on Valentine's Day last week! Now we are having a hard time keeping him still anywhere – in our laps, on the changing table ...
He has been eating baby food for a month or so and loves applesauce! On the menu: carrots, peas, green beans, and sweet potatoes. And Applesauce mixed with baby rice cereal.
We gave him a sippie cup last week also. He liked it, but hasn't quite mastered the fact that you have to raise up one end to get the water to come out.
Last Saturday he started saying "da-da". I think it's his favorite word! He says it all the time. I'm so proud.
Seems as though developments are progressing so fast now. He is 6 3/4 months old. Not too early to do these things if you're a genius super athlete President artist like Andrew!

Icetown

We've made it through the worst ice storm in Springfield in the last 20 years, maybe even worst in history. The roads were never very bad, but the tree damage was so severe that 75,000 customers lost power. We were lucky enough not to lose power for more than 10 minutes all weekend. The street behind us is out. Oddly enough our other house downtown hasn't lost power yet. The photos above show the damage caused by the ice at that house. The only house damage so far is a small section of gutter that was knocked off the house. We were lucky! As of today power is still out for 25,000 customers/households. They expect some to still be out through the end of the week, and it is cold–21 degrees today. The ice is even thicker just a few minutes north of Springfield in Willard and along I-44. Think 3/4 inch on the top of each branch. Not circumference, radius! Needless to say, the plumbing work has been postponed on the new/old house. You can't even drive all the way up the driveway. I think the trees at that house will live, but they won't be pretty. Some large trees in the area were uprooted or split flat into many pieces with a stump sticking up in the middle. Pretty surreal.
We are fine and Andrew doesn't know anything is wrong other than that Mommy is off another week of school. Missouri State canceled classes today. They are using one of the old arenas as a special needs shelter for city residents. Ken (my father in law) said it is a mess. One very overweight man broke a toilet by sitting on it. Luckily Jenny's parents didn't lose power either. People are buying generators for upwards of $2,000. Gas and kerosene are running out all over town and lines at all hardware and convenience stores are out the door and winding around the parking lots.
We are a very blessed family to have made it this long through the disaster!

plumb crazy

The plumber is almost done repiping the horizontal pipes in the basement with this plastic "Pex" piping. Apparently it is all the rage in the plumbing world. If the pipes freeze, they won't burst because it expands a little. I bought a 50 gallon water heater for him to install and it was an ordeal just to get it from the store to the house because I had to borrow a pickup. He should put that in and a 3/4 horsepower garbage disposal on Monday. The water pressure looks good! We need to get a new shower head though because the old one is really rusty. The water shoots out really fast without the head on though!

He snaked the sewer and finally got the root cutter to go all the way through to the main line 3 times. He had trouble getting the video camera through and said it is just too blocked. He definitely recommends abandoning the old line and rerouting around the garage with new pipes. He'll give me an estimate Monday – if he can still work in an ice storm! I have Monday off for MLK Jr. Day. It will be really expensive to do I'm sure so we may have to put off one of our other projects. Or see how long we can live without a sewer!
I'll get photos of the house up soon.

Jan 9 update

Just a little update on our house progress:
I arranged for the plumbers (Delong Plumbing) to start repiping the house at 1012 S. Fremont for this Thursday. If all goes to plan they should be done Friday sometime.

I met a wallpaper remover this morning at the house and he estimated the removal for the whole house to be $1800–$2000 for 75 hours of work. He charged by the hour so I should probably ask for a reference or two. This guy doesn't mud the walls afterward, so I'd have to get someone to do that. The other wall guy I talked to charges by the amount of paper removed and he does the mudding too, so I'll have to figure out what would be better. Any suggestions? I'd like to get the walls stripped before we do the floors.

New (old) house remodeling started

We are moving! Not real soon, but work has started on the basic remodeling of Jenny's Grandma's old house. Dorothy moved to an apartment in Springfield after living more than 50 years in her 1918 Craftsman style home. Now the Montgomery's are moving in. It's nice to keep it in the family. Jenny's grandpa built the detached two-car garage in the back yard many years ago. I painted it for Dorothy while I was in college. Jenny's dad and his siblings have their names in the cement from when they added a back room in the 60s. My brother Jeffrey and I have both worked in the yard many times. A lot of history!

We are excited about the neighborhood (a few blocks from Missouri State University) and neighbors we already know. There are several remodeling things we would like to do before we move in to make it more comfortable for our little (growing) family. For instance, the plumbing needs to be replaced in the basement, bigger water heater, garbage disposal, sewer worked on. We want to remove all the wallpaper in the house, which is everywhere, and paint. We want to remove the carpet and clean up the wood floors underneath. We would also like to paint the kitchen cabinets and get new cabinet fixtures. This is the basic remodeling needed at first. Eventually we would like to add a bathroom and closet to the main floor and remodel the two other bathrooms and kitchen. We figure we'll be here a while so we'll be able to take our time with these large projects.

We plan to get our house on the market this month, so we'll see if we can keep it clean for a while. Having a baby changes everything!