Baby and Baby Mama

I know I posted the Teardrop project first, but I wanted this at the top! And I know Chantal is going to kill me for posting these, oh well!




This is 5 weeks along, basically when we found out!




This is 15 weeks along, slowly but surely!




This is 25 weeks along, look at that belly grow!

Now we have a 21 weeks along picture but Chantal HATES it so for the sake of my own life I wont be posting it. lol I do have the ultrasound of 11 weeks 3 days so here it is!



This is at 29 Weeks!




So in this 11 weeks 3 days Claire is only 4 centemeters long! Whoa!


And this is one of those high-tech 3D/4D ultrasounds, though my understanding of the 4th demention is that it is impossible for us to humanly understand a 4th dementional being, since 'we' are living in the reality of the 3rd demention. But thats a whole other blog post!




Here Claire is covering her face! Can you see everything? You can see her arm, mouth, one eye and a bit of nose!

As Chantal's belly grows and we get updates you'll get updated posts. I know I have an new regualr ultrasound too, so I am going to look for it and get it up here!

The Teardrop

So I picked up this trailer in Oshawa. Turns out I knew the person, it was a friend of a friend of mine. Got it at a great price too. All I had to do was take it apart and re-paint it. So this picture is of the Rodgman helping me take all the old rotting wood off the steel frame.


And of course the bolts were so rusted I had to get out some man tools and grind them off!
There's The Rocket in the back, what an awesome car.


The final product! Rusted, Salted and all. Theres a lot more work where that came from.












Phew!





After that I took the beast apart and gave that a good grinding, I took of 7 years of rust and salt build up. I bought some red metal primer, and some black Trem-Klad? I think thats the name of it. Black Anti-Rust metal paint basically. To get rid of the rust and repaint it, it took me almost 5 days of work time! (8 hours a day for 5 days)






After it was painted and dried I had to go out and pick up some new bolts it since the others were so rusted, and of course since I put so much effort into the frame I couldn't just put old bolts on it! Thats me putting LocTite on the bolts so it doesn't come apart on me while on the road!

TADA! Now doesn't that look nice? An awesome flat black not an ounce of rust. You can see some primer on the front bit there, I scratched some spots putting it back together so I need to re-paint it.
Well the next task was the new flooring. I measured the metal frame to get the proper lengths. The trailer is 96" long and 51" wide. So I had to build the frame 96"long and 50 1/4" wide since the walls are 3/8" plywood and sit right on the metal frame I need to give a little play (3/8+3/8=6/8 which is 3/4). The floor frame is made of 2x2 and the flooring itself is 1/2" plywood, doubled up on the back for the spare tire and on the front, just cause I wanted it even! The black 'paint' you see is actually Undercoating tar. The stuff stinks, and its sticky as hell. I ended up getting some all up my arm and had to scrub for an hour just to get the crap off! But none the less, the tar insulates, and prevents the wood from rotting out from road moisture.
If your gunna do it, do it right!


So after all that I put on the metal frame, marked the bolts holes, drilled out the wood in the appropritate spots, bolted the wooden frame onto the metal one and Voila! Theres the lady right up on it! This picture is mimicing the picutre in the manual I am using to build this, so thats why Chantal is up there.

Oh I forgot to mention that before I put the wood frame on the trailer I insulated the floor, which once fully built, will keep out more moisture so there is no condensation on the inside. It will also keep us warm on the colder nights.

I like to add things as I go

I am adding interesting information I find on the interenet as I go along here. This is some very interesting and helpful ideas to save you a buck or two that I found on THIS site.

Frugal For Life Tips

# Use your your shredded paper for shipping - fill up plastic grocery bags to cut down on the mess

# Before you print off the web, do a print preview. Many times, the last page is blank and you can stop the print be for that page and save yourself paper and time.

# BBQ Grease Buildup: Wet rag with vegetable oil. Wipe the greasy area and it will come right off, then clean as usual.

#Leftover pancake batter makes good fried onion rings.Let soak in batter for fifteen minutes. Fry in hot oil

# The Cheapest funnel - cut the top off soda bottles and flip them over for use in your car, kitchen or in the children's sandbox.

# Don't want to fix broken furniture - take it apart and salvage all the good wood, hinges, and knobs for future projects

# Cut out the magnets at the bottom of (some) shower curtains before you throw them away, and use on the refrigerator

# Don't toss the pill bottle cotton - Use the cotton from pill bottles to clean small electronics like remotes - cotton and vinegar work great

# Juice Concentrate Lids - used for drink coasters, quickie ashtrays for smokers and Furniture leg coasters

# Carpet remnant uses - Lay on under the car,Scraps catch car leaks,Cut down on noise,Exercise Mat,Shoe insert

# When out of oil and need to grease a skillet- Rub it with a cut open potato.

#Soften Wind-chimes: stuff a cotton ball into each end of each metal cylinder. The result will be a muted, much softer sound

# Use your bathroom mirror as a dry erase board - much better than a shower wall, I've tried and have the grout to clean up

It may sound cheap but they are really great ideas!

The First of Many

I'm not sure how all this works, but Drew's Reality Check made me start my own. My understanding of blogging is that it is all about persistence.

Keepin' at 'er.

Since the readers I am writing this for are more than five hours away, I am attempting to help you; become apart; of the amazing things that are unfolding as Chantal and I,

Make Sense of a Senseless World.

First I would like to make an understanding of the title of this blog. No it is not meant to be a depressing name in anyway. It is meant as the title to a journey (or adventure) my Fiancee and I are about to undertake as a united couple. The trials and tribulations of an existence where credits cards are crappy, corporations rule all, and gas prices don't ever seem fair. But as a very wise man once said "life ain't fair, now do your homework."

*sigh*

Well none the less I am probably going to be doing most of the writing in this blog, Chantal may interject here and there with her wind passings or other comical excerpts as she is more famously known for.

For those of you who don't follow Drew's Reality Check, this dude is an epic one. He made a self-discovering journey to the northern reaches of Alberta, through treacherous winds and tremendous storms to rest gleefully in Athabasca. He is a photojournalist and a damn good one at that. His girlfriend Danielle seems pretty cool, but the telephone can only say so much, she must be rigorously tested with thousands of questions pertaining to the one she calls her man to gain the 'approval'. This may only commence when we officially meet in September. And might I add Drew is my best friend and the best man at my soon to be wedding. Keep up the epicness buddy. Keep on keepin' on.

And as for us (Chantal and I) we are due to wed on the twenty-sixth of September two thousand nine, and pop one out the twenty-sixth of October two thousand nine. Man is that an intense feeling. Becoming a Dad, I can't speak on Chantal's part but I'm sure the feeling of becoming a Mom is equally as awesome. As for the future I will become an RCMP officer where Chantal and I (and baby in tow) can live where we love it the most in this beautiful country. On the west-side. (figures crossed at being posted out there) I am sure everyone is wondering if you don't already know that the baby's name shall be Claire therefore making it a girl. (or us very cruel parents).

Also throughout this blog I will be posting pictures of a project I am working on. The awesome Teardrop Trailer. It's been going on since the start of May and I have lots of pictures I need to post to catch up to where I am at now. (hey Kev you better be keepin up with all this) (hey Syl you better tell Kev I wrote that) As well as I will be posting ultrasounds of my little baby, and on Mama's approval her growing belly. This week Chantal is hitting the Twenty-fifth week of pregnancy. She is glowing and beautiful; which everyone will soon see. And pictures of fun stuff Chantal and I go out and do, like this monkey, more baboon, it looks like it's... ah never mind you'll see soon enough.

I hope every read is an enjoyable one.