Monthly Archives: March 2012

Kylie and Her New Bed

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Tonight was the first time Kylie got to see her new bed. When we got home I tried to prevent her from seeing the frame to her old bed hiding in the corner, but because she is so super observant I had no such luck. At first she wasn’t sure what it was, but as she got a little closer she could see all the pieces and realized immediately what it was. She looked at it and said “Hey, wait a minute, what am I going to sleep on?” and before I could even answer her she was on her way to her room. I was able to get my phone out to catch a quick video of her reaction and if you want you can view it here. Needless to say she loves the new bed and is very excited about it.

[EDIT: 03/31/2012]
As you can see from this picture she had no trouble sleeping on her new bed last night at all!

Leather Levers

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Earlier this week I realized the chrome on my levers is flaking off again! I say again because this happened before, though I apparently didn’t write about it. Back in 2009 the levers were replaced as part of a larger overhaul do to some damage and they were replaced with a set of Kuryakyn’s that were supposed to be very good. My 2009 riding season was rather short (due to said service) and everything seemed fine, then came the 2010 riding season and all seemed well. Until mid way through the season, when I swear the levers felt odd. Every time I checked, and others checked for me, they looked fine, so I let it go. But then in the beginning of August while out for a ride it felt like I got a splinter in my finger, when I stopped to check I did have a splinter, a chrome flake splinter! The chrome plating on the lever was indeed peeling off. I ordered some replacement levers from Nicholson’s and waited for them to come in and in the mean time I just rode wearing my full finger gloves. By the time the levers came in the riding season was just about over so I decided to wait to put them on until the 2011 season. Chuck was nice enough to install the new levers for me during the off season and they felt and looked great all season. Now this year I get the motorcycle out, the earliest ever I might add, and after riding it home for the first time I once again feel like the levers are pitting and flaking! When I checked it turns out they are. At this point I am thinking that maybe I just have a high acidic level to the oil in my skin. Maybe? In any event I have decided not to order a third set of levers, instead I have ordered these leather lever covers. I purposely chose these because there are no long tassels, I am personally not a fan of them. So now I need to wait for them to arrive and hopefully they look good when I put them on.

Her New Bed Arrived

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Kylie’s new bed arrived today and once the Gardner White delivery guys finished setting it up, the new bed takes up almost the entirety of the free space in the middle of her room. I think this will be just fine though as Kylie prefers to play with her toys in the living room anyway. Not that there isn’t any space left in her room though, there is still some. In any event the bed looks really good and I think Kylie is going to enjoy it and be very surprised. Now we just need to go purchase some new sheets for the bed. I am thinking her first set will be pink, Kylie seems to like pink and I think it will look good against the black bed frame. I can’t wait until she comes and sees her new bed!

Fine! She’s Growing Up.

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I finally broke down today and succumbed to the realization that my Little Bit is growing up, both in terms of age and height, and finally purchased her a new bed. Up until now when she came to spend the night at Daddy’s she has been sleeping in her toddler bed, but recently it has been becoming very apparent that she has out grown this bed and needed a bigger one. We had looked at beds over the weekend via various websites and today after work I went over to Gardner White and picked out a bed for her from their Kenny Collection. Kylie had seen this one and liked it, so I choose the panel headboard with the storage foot board. Here are a few stock images of the bed.

In addition to the bed itself I also picked out a new mattress and, even though this bed frame does not need it, a bunky board as well. I decided on the bunky board because it will give a little more support to the mattress, and considering Kylie will be on this bed for a long time to come, I want her to be as comfortable as possible. The bed is going to be delivered and set up tomorrow, so the plan for tonight is to take apart her old toddler bed and rearrange her room to make space for the new larger bed.

Early Ride and Some Disapointment

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Today marks the earliest I have ever been able to get the motorcycle out for the season! Today and the rest of the week are supposed to be beautiful and I am looking forward to being able to ride again. After picking the bike up from Chuck’s and riding home, Melissa and I decided to ride down to Sidetracks for dinner. When we got down there I also did something that I had never done before, I backed the motorcycle into a spot that was part of a line of motorcycles. It was a pretty neat experience to be part of that brotherhood, to look back and see my bike in a line with others. Of course this is also when I had a chance to verify something that I was dreading, the chrome on my levers is flaking and pitting again! I am beginning to suspect that I may just have a high acid level in the oils in my skin. It’s the only sane conclusion I can come to. Not sure what I am going to do at this point, but I really don’t want to replace them again if they are just going to flake again!

Two Planets, One Kylie

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Tonight I had an incredible opportunity to show Kylie not one but two planets in the sky at the same time! While this month is a great time to see all five visible planets, due to the hours and positions of their viewing relative to our location I was only able to show her Venus (on the right) and Jupiter (on the left), and she was amazed by them. After seeing these we then had an hour long conversation (some of which she was in the shower) about the planets, gravity and orbits. She was so excited about them that we read two of her planet books before going to bed, one each about Uranus and Neptune. It was an awesome hour! The only way this could have been better is if I had the time and space to have set up our telescope and looked at them through it, perhaps next time. Click the picture to view it in the gallery.

Power Outage Means Bonding

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Tonight we had our first real power outage in quit some time. We lost power at about 5pm from high winds. We had no way to know just how long the power was going to be out, but considering it typically comes back on within minutes we continued to watch TV for a few minutes as everything was running off of the APC. After about 30 minutes though we decided that the power wasn’t going to come  back so we turned off the TV to conserve power on the APC. Thankfully we had already eaten dinner before the power went out, so we didn’t have to worry about food. So Kylie and I found other ways to pass the time. We talked about everything and anything that came to our minds, from Kylie’s classes and her friends, to her ballet and violin lessons and even Daddy’s job. While we still had some natural light we also read some books to each other and played games. When the light started to diminish we lit a number of candles through out the apartment, and then took some pictures of them. Bedtime came and we still had no power, so I turned Kylie’s night light to on and told her that as soon as the power came back it would turn on but until then I was going to leave a candle lit on her dresser for light. Then I lied down next to her so we could talk a little more before she drifted off to sleep. After about 30 minutes of us laying down and talking, the power came back on! So I was able to turn on Kylie’s radio and blow out all of the candles. It was a lot of fun not having power and I think that maybe we will make a point of “losing power” in the future to allow us to spend some uninterrupted quality time together.