On the drive to dinner, we encountered a few cows wandering the road. This happened more than once, during the length of our stay. Brandon and Lauren had been warned about “vacas negras” as something to keep an eye out for, while driving at night.
Today and tomorrow are a bit weird, in that I’m staying out in Valparaiso, IN but commuting in to Chicago. I rode in with Bob early in the AM (he came in to work on our place while I was at work), but took the South Shore line back out to Valpo at the end of the day.
Bob got involved in the Facetime chat, asking Audrey some questions as she tried out the “lie detector machine” we got her as a gift. Apparently, it dings when you tell the truth but shocks you if you lie.
Liz and I got the idea to get Bob a cake as a Christmas gift. And since we were in Indy, we decided a stop at Heidelberg Hause – the place where my family got nearly every single birthday cake for me and my sister, as we were growing up.
We couldn’t really come up with a good gift idea for my parents this year. With my dad getting some surgery on his eyes recently, his vision has drastically improved. So the idea of doing a VR thing came up – and we decided to turn it into a big, group outing.
I think we really need something like this at my office, at work. If you can’t afford the space for a full on Thunderdome, this might be the next closest thing to use for settling disputes.
Mid-morning today, I was down in the basement with Kirt helping to set up the Super Chexx machine. For all the time I’ve spent playing this game, this was my first time actually touching the puck (pretty cool).
Liz had the day off today. And instead of taking a much-needed break, she suited up and spent the day working on the living room. We had some backer board left to rip and put up, along with a lot of drywall pieces arond the window frames.
And she did it all. Table saw, circular saw, multitool, staple gun, the works.
We suited up after work tonight, and put more time in getting the living room prepped for drywall. Got some of the 3/8″ backerboards set up.
First bit of backerboard installed. Eventually, a sheet of 3/8″ drywall will sit on top of this thing. And a second sheet of 1/2″ drywall will cover both the 3/8″ and the backerboard. The idea behind the backerboard is to ensure there’s always material to bite into, when installing the baseboard/trim. No need to hunt for studs, since there should always be something to dig into.
I ended up working from home today, as I was feeling pretty under the weather. I had a runny nose the day before, and today I just felt off. Not sick to the point where I’m delirious with fever, but off enough to know that I shouldn’t be around other people.
I hate to say it, but we argued a great deal while working today. It wasn’t a very pleasant or stress-free experience. I got frustrated often, and Liz and I went back and forth a lot.
Liz got some solar-powered Christmas lights over the weekend, and set up the front porch with them. It’s a pretty great approach, though we’ve had several overcast days… so I’m not sure how much light these, er, lights are actually getting.
Post-dinner, we played a few rounds of Secret Hitler, which Katie had brought over. Last year, we played Ticket to Ride, and this year we brought over Azul.
For Julie’s birthday, Liz arranged for a day of various activities in Chicago. Starting around 2:00 PM, we hit up a few different locations in the area for Open House Chicago.