Grutz says, "What do you mean 'ventilation'?" or "Man, after staining this table, I feel goofy!"

We picked up an inexpensive, unfinished pine table and chair set.  Lord knows I'm rough on furniture, so being the Handy Andy I am, I've been applying coats of polyurethane, sanding in between of course.  Though the weather has been balmy at best, it's still too chilly to open the windows, thus, a lack of ventilation.  Just weeding out the slow and old brain cells. So I apologize in advance for any, um, shortcomings in my, uh, writing.

Dusting.  Taking a vested interest in my role as house-husband, I dust.  A lot.  A ridiculous amount in fact.  I attribute this to the rehab going in the apartment across the hall.  But they've been more or less finished for a week.  SO WHY ALL THE DUST?  So I donned my Inspector Lewis hat and started to investigate.  Could it be the coal power plant, only a few blocks away?  Maybe.  Could it be Carleen's capacity to throw flour all over the kitchen each day before she leaves for work?  Ah, what about he furnace?  Let's check the filter.  Filter?  What filter?  There was no filter.

Oh my.

I installed a new filter, which in itself was almost impossible due to the positioning of the furnace (on its side, behind a wall (is that up to code?)), and cleaned what ducts I could get to.  Now, as I mentioned above, it's pretty balmy here, also being the tighta$$ I am, the thermostat is set pretty low, and we're on the 3rd floor (yeah, heat rises, cha-ching(saving money sound)), the furnace hasn't kicked in.  I'm interested to see the results.  I've dusted everything yesterday, rounded up all the dust bunnies, (which, I might add, due to all the debris in the air, those bunnies turn into dust donkeys in a matter of days, literally), and scrubbed all the floors.  I wipe down the floors ever other day.  On my knees with a microfiber rag.  I've almost become obsessive about the floors.  (By the way, a big thank you to my wonderful mom, Theresa Grutz, for the fine gift of an assortment of microfiber cleaning rags.)  I'll keep everyone posted on this issues, I know you're all on pins and needles waiting....

Handyman, cleaning dynamo, and.....handsome chef?  Yep.  Check it out.

Bland, ordinary whole grain muffins?  NO WAY! Baked falafil.  Ingenious, I know.

Since Carleen is busting her hump for CPS, I've been making dinner, too.  The other night I made some creamy mushrooms and pasta.  And last night I threw down some delicious potato au gratin.  The key is cutting the taters an 1/8 of an inch think.  And heavy whipping cream.  Tonight's menu: herb-crusted tilapia, curried chickpeas, asparagus, and a wee salad (w/ homemade dressing no doubt).

Of course, I'm also looking for jobs, too.  If you haven't seen the audition for Wrigley, here it is.

Lastly, it's not all work and no play.....

Carleen gets her game on.

On Sunday we hit up Fireside Bowl (yes, that Fireside Bowl of historic music mythology) and threw down a few frames.  It was dirty, kinda smelly, and super fun, just like bowling ought to be.  Once warmed up, I tossed 3 strikes in a row.  Thank you.

Bowling and the happy couple.  Awwwwwwww.

Lastly, I couldn't find the original video for Camper Van Beethoven's "Take the Skinheads Bowling" for this blog on youtube, but I found one riiiiiiiiiiight here.  Check it out, it's a classic.  Off to prep some fish, yes!

And thanks for all the fun geographical names!