Fifedom

Books

noreply@blogger.com (Fifecat75) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 19:16:00 +0000

There is this website I like called Money Saving Mom and she's offering a free ebook if I plug her new book. Here I go...

The Money Saving Mom's Budget

Honestly, I wouldn't mind reading this book since I find her website very helpful. And since my birthday is coming and all:D

Tree House

noreply@blogger.com (Pete 'Fifedog' Fife) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 01:03:00 +0000

So the tree house project has started. Papou and his friend Jimmy came down this week and started on the tree house for his grand children.

The kids are really excited. The project has grown a bit however the kids will be able to grow into the house. More pictures have been uploaded to the pictures site. Enjoy.

I do not doubt.

noreply@blogger.com (Pete 'Fifedog' Fife) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 23:54:00 +0000

Of those who I've been talking to, you know that I've had a inclination to leave my current employer, Stone Cobra. As of today Sept 14th is my first full day as an independent consultant. Yes that's right, not working for any one else, but for everyone.

This hasn't been an easy decision. Although, a decision coming for the last couple of months. After several, let's call them signs, I'm to believe I'm meant to go down this path. A path which has no lights, no foreseeable distention. The scary thing is, it's not just me, but my family as well. The kids will have no clue but that Poppie is staying home as he was for a time (when I was unemployed). From sermons at church, to Dreamforce, and even a video from Stone Cobra played just last friday, all pointed to one thing: Live life to the fullest. Don't be afraid for God is there. Know oneself and be willing to grow. Do what you love, and pursue it with all your passion.

When the company I was working for in 2010 was shut down in Nov, I decided to start my own company building a application called Phone2Lead. The company I started was Keystone CTI and I when through all the stuff one has to do to get a business license, bank account, EIN number, ect, ect. Come December at salesforce's annule user conference, Dreamforce 2010, I meet some old co-workers from the dot boom days, 1999. It turned out they started a company building a software solution on top of salesforce.com. That company is Stone Cobra. The owners where gracious enough to allow me to work part time to build my company and software product. Come Feb they asked me if I was on board or not. I said I was on, which meant Keystone CTI would be placed on the back burner. I thought would die a slow death.

Since then Phone2Lead hasn't died. I have a couple clients, by way of another college in the consulting word started to engage with me more and helping me sell Phone2Lead. One thing lead to another and after many discussions with my wife I came to conclude: I want to try the independent consulting. This was tough because I could of gone to any one of the current consulting firms, or even the mothership, salesforce.com. However I truly think this path is the path I'm meant to be on.

As gold is refined in fire I to will be refined by Gods plan for me in this time. I do not doubt this time will be hard. I do not doubt I will doubt myself. I do not doubt Gods plan for me. I do not doubt I will become a better man. I do not doubt.

Spidey

noreply@blogger.com (Fifecat75) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 00:34:00 +0000

Dude: I'm Spiderman.

Bean: I'm Spiderman girl.

Dude: Oh. Spiderman isn't naked. He doesn't just wear underwear.

Bean: This one does.

Just do one thing

noreply@blogger.com (Pete 'Fifedog' Fife) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:47:00 +0000

Not a real exciting post but I feel good about it. With the master bathroom now half done, working shower with a rain overhead shower panel, I've told myself that I need to try and do one thing each night. It can be as small as installing a toilet roll holder.

However since I have my brother-in-law and his family here with me I've decided to try for a little bigger. Hanging the bathroom cabinet over the toilet. After three days of working an hour or two each night it's finally up. I feel really good about it because there is only about a 1/4 inch gap on each side of the filler strips. I'm most proud of the crown molding I had to put on.

I had to read up on putting crown molding on cabinets, blocking up the back. However the blocking still wouldn't give as much support as I thought needed. Then we'd still need to nail through the molding from the front. My brother-in-law came up with a brilliant workaround. Simple put, we braced it from the back side.

It's now hung. I have to put the quarter round to cover the gap between the filler strip and wall but other than that, I'm pretty happy with it.

Last Day of School

noreply@blogger.com (Fifecat75) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 22:32:00 +0000

Since we've been on vacation, our last day of school activities weren't posted in a timely fashion. Our last day was at the end of June. All the participating families were going on vacations for large chunks of July thus we decided not to meet in July. Being that the 4th of July was only a week away, we ended school with a bang and some fireworks! It was an unusually cold morning, cloudy and breezy.

Dude wasn't all that happy about it. He held the sparkler for a few seconds then dropped it and ran.

Bean, on the other hand, loved them and wanted to do all of them.

This was as creative as I felt like getting for a patriotic snack: vanilla pudding pie with fruit roll up strips and gummy stars. The fruit roll ups started to disintegrate on the pudding after a while. But the kids liked it for the most part.

In August Bean will be in Kinder and Dude in Preschool. I'll be busy.

DIY Progression

noreply@blogger.com (Fifecat75) — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 23:11:00 +0000

So we get home from our camping trip to Sly Park and Fifedog is fried. What I mean is he didn't put sun screen on his back. Just being out in the sun when we got back, even with a shirt on, caused great pain. Being the loving wife I am, I told him I'd do all the camp unpacking from the truck, etc. so that he could stay indoors.

But that doesn't mean he is sitting on the computer and vegging. Nope. He got right to work finishing sealing the grout and hanging our curtain. All of which will make our new shower fully functional!

He has hung a new light for the toilet area already. And on the right in the closet is a good look at the cabinet that will hang above the toilet. The vanity is the same style and stain.

Can you tell he's excited to wash the camp off himself in the new shower?

Big Wheel

noreply@blogger.com (Fifecat75) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 23:48:00 +0000

Here is a random summer night photo. The kids were having a blast playing in the back yard.

Here is Dude's first time on his new Big Wheel. Thanks Grandpa.
He loves it. The only bummer is that he's still a tad too short to ride it.

He obviously loves it:)

Free~

noreply@blogger.com (Fifecat75) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 19:08:00 +0000

My little Dude is going potty all by himself- 1 & 2! I'm so excited. I'm even becoming brave enough to have him leave the house in regular underwear, not pull ups. I can't believe that life with diapers is actually ending. Woot!

We also got a call from Lowe's. Our new vanity has arrived. I'll swing by there later today and pick it up. It'll be a while before we install it. The floor needs to be cleaned and painted/stained first. Hopefully in another month it'll be ready. It would be sooner but this weekend we are camping and then next weekend we leave for Portland. Then the week after that Lil Sis is visiting....

iMovie = Producer

noreply@blogger.com (Pete 'Fifedog' Fife) — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 03:35:00 +0000

So I recently upgraded my mac to 10.6 and put the new iMovie and iPhoto on. Every time I do this there this and that, some things different, like new themes for iMovie. The same went for this one but to my surprise it didn't just give me some theme to use, but a short template and this is what I laid out all in 15 mins. See video channel

Bathroom Progress II

noreply@blogger.com (Fifecat75) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 22:59:00 +0000

Fifedog tackled panting the walls this weekend. There is a dark green wall (my favorite color) and then the other walls are all light green. The dark green wall is where the mirror and vanity will be. The light green will also be painted in the bedroom. I'm debating using the dark green on our headboard wall. We'll see.

Bathroom Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Fifecat75) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 22:18:00 +0000

Lots has happened since we finally hired someone to finish off the bathroom. Fifedog removed everything himself, but we went with a contractor to run the electrical and tile. The hot mop is done (which is why the shower is black on the bottom). You can also see the tile we selected (bottom right) and the two wall colors we are considering. It is hard to see it though since the floor lights really ruin the colors on the tile. I'd redo the pic, but since it is taking me forever to post these days, you'll just have to be happy with what I've done;)

The wall colors were chosen based on the accent tile we selected below. Though now that the colors are on the wall, they may be better as accent walls and then picking the lighter shades on the color swatches as the main wall colors. I love this tile so much that I think I'm going to use it to paint the entire inside of the house.

Kids Room

noreply@blogger.com (Fifecat75) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 21:58:00 +0000

Sorry it took so long to post the kids' bedroom progress, but life just happens. Here is the view of the kids' "new" beds. Dude has Cars stickers all over his walls. We will hopefully be able to get him a full size mattress by the end of summer.

This is the princess meets cars corner. That's Bean's dresser, a Snow White poster, blackout curtains, and a brother poem on the red plaque.

Here is the full princess side view. Belle dancing, pink and purple everywhere. Dude's dresser is on that side, but it won't fit anywhere else. We didn't touch the closet to organize or paint. That will be tackled another day.

Here you can see the door, which we didn't paint either. But the growth chart is finally hung. You can also see how awesome the brown painted floor looks. There are padded tiles on the floor with a Cars rug on top for Dude.

Dudism

noreply@blogger.com (Fifecat75) — Wed, 25 May 2011 21:12:00 +0000

Me: Dude, want a grilled cheese for lunch?

Dude: Mom, I'm not a girl. I want a BOY CHEESE.

Also, I can't believe I'm stuck in the house because of pouring rain on May 25th. Sigh.

As long as we are talking about Dude, we are going to have his birthday party next week during playgroup. The playgroup is meeting at a park with a water feature (although if the weather is like today we won't need it) and we'll bring pizza and cupcakes to celebrate. Yay for Dude! He's turning three and doing very well with potty training and he's down to only having his paci at bed time.

Jesus!

noreply@blogger.com (Fifecat75) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 00:28:00 +0000

At this moment, Bean is climbing up our orange tree yelling at Dude, "Jesus!" Dude is walking past the orange tree singing, "Come down! I'm going to your house today!" I'll give you three guesses as to what yesterday's Sunday school lesson was about.

Honestly, it is one of my favorite stories because,

A) It's about short people.

B) The main character gets to climb a tree.

C) Dinner with Jesus.

Sounds like a fabulous time.

Jesus!

noreply@blogger.com (Pete 'Fifedog' Fife) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 00:25:00 +0000

Wildlife Care Association

noreply@blogger.com (Fifecat75) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:22:00 +0000

Monday we had a visit from the Wildlife Care Association. They are a local Sacramento group
that rescues native, local animals, rehabilitates them, and releases them back into the wild. On a field trip earlier this year I discovered them and invited them to do a presentation at my house for our home-school. It was a HUGE success. There had to be between 20-30 people in our playroom. Even Dude was mesmerized.

Our presenter, Linda, did a superb job of speaking to such a wide, and sometimes distracted, age range (few months old to 70!). This is the burrowing owl she brought. He has a broken wing and can't be released so he does school visits. There was another female owl she brought that is blind in one eye.

The only thing Linda requested was that our group bring donation items to help care for the animals. If you're local, you should check this group out.

Snow

noreply@blogger.com (Fifecat75) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 00:04:00 +0000

A week ago we drove up I-80 to play in the snow. It was beautiful fluffy, dry, sticky snow. The kids had a blast and Fifedog and I got to do some tubing thanks to Grandpa. We only got pics of the ladies that day.

.

20 Years

noreply@blogger.com (Pete 'Fifedog' Fife) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 17:20:00 +0000

This weekend is a bit special to me. I headed up to winter camp at Forest Home 20 years ago and to be truthful, wasn't that excited about it. There was some teenage drama going on in my youth group that winter and I was caught in the middle of it. Thus, my trip up the mountain to commune with God was more focused on my own hormone influenced and emotionally charged issues.

Yet, even though I was not all that focused on God, He was focused on me. And 20 years ago this Saturday, He gave me a glimpse of his perfect plan for me.

I love you, my Tightend. *wink, wink*

Father Daughter Dance

noreply@blogger.com (Pete 'Fifedog' Fife) — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 16:09:00 +0000

[written by Fifedog]: Back in Jan our church had a father/daughter dance and it was a lot of fun. I'm glad I was able to go and get dressed up for my bean.

Empire Mine State Park

noreply@blogger.com (Pete 'Fifedog' Fife) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 20:17:00 +0000

Saturday we had our first monthly Family Day. It was awesome. I would highly recommend visiting Empire Mine State Park. We will return on one of their festival days for sure.

Fourth Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Pete 'Fifedog' Fife) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 04:02:00 +0000

Our fourth Christmas began with the arrival of Grandpa and Grandma. Boy were the kids excited, big and little ones. Dude LOVED his aircraft carrier. Especially when he realized it came with missiles he could shoot. He walks around the house all day shooting things yelling, "Starburst!" Don't know why.

We all chugged down to the railroad museum for one of Dude's friend's birthday. Going to a museum with the kids is always more of a herding adventure than educational, however it was raining outside so doing an indoor activity worked. After the train museum, we strolled down by the river and around Old Town Sacramento. The kids loved getting candy from a candy shop.

Of course the kids wanted Grandpa to build a fire while he was there. Unfortunately our fireplace is not as big as Grandpa's so it was a small fire.

Since the Grands had to drive the truck to see us, they decided to bring along a twin bed frame and chest of drawers we want to eventually set up in the kid's room. One of the beds is currently set up in the room with Bean's little toddler mattress on it. Hopefully in a few months we'll be able to pick up the other half of the bunk bed as well as buy twin mattresses for the kids to use. In this picture, Grandpa and Dude are relaxing after setting up Bean's new bed.

Third Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Pete 'Fifedog' Fife) — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 17:21:00 +0000

Christmas Day was spent celebrating our third Chirstmas with Nana and Aunt Foodie. Aunt Foodie astonished us all by showing up at the Fifedom on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day~Yay! Good thing there was room for her at the Inn:D She was welcome with VERY rambunctious games of cribbage.

Christmas Day started slowly, mostly to Bean sleeping in, surprisingly. Dude helped Fifedog get the fire going. Look at all the presents. Thanks Nana and Aunt Foodie!

Of course we couldn't forget who's birthday it really was.

And we then had a wonderful dinner of prime rib, mashed potatoes, and salad. yum! What a blessed holiday.

.

My Favorite Farm Picture

noreply@blogger.com (Pete 'Fifedog' Fife) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 02:41:00 +0000

Drill Master

noreply@blogger.com (Fifecat75) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 23:30:00 +0000

Finally I am getting into the swing of doing some preschool with the Pups a few days every week. We usually focus on one letter for Bean; reading a book about the letter, writing it, phonics, websites. Then I switch to math and we do some counting activities on papers or the Internet. Last, I have some cutting activity or art for her to do. AND she really seems to like it, for now.

Dude is getting some action now too. He is better at pencil control now and really enjoys mazes. Then we do some letter recognition and counting. But he never wants to be left out so I let him color and cut with scissors too.

I'm excited to see progress for both of them.

I actually started typing this on my IPad...but it wouldn't let me type anymore than the title of the blog. Anyone else experience this?