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Welcome to Lintz Land Log. We utilize this page as a means of capturing all of the interesting and not-so-interesting happenings in Lintz Land so that our little Lintzs may have this as a record of their childhoods and so that all interested parties may keep current with what's happening in Lintz Land. May 10, 1999 I'm currently at work eating a sandwich and thought I'd type a quickie note. Hope all the Mom's out there had a great Mother's Day. Randa and Cody both made something for Des in school (Cody a flower chores thingy and Miranda a flower in a paper bag). We also bought her some porcelain birdhouses and a wind chime. Des's Mom and Dad were in town so we went to eat at one of the Casino's in St. Charles (near her sisters home). We had a nice time. We've been very busy lately with Cody's baseball. He usually has practice once or twice a week and then usually 1-2 games a week (typically Monday and Wednesday night at 6 p.m.). He had a makeup game this Saturday that we went to from 1-3 p.m. He's been playing second base and left field and this Saturday he got to catch for an inning. He did pretty well and even made the last put out of the game when the ball was hit about 2 feet in front of home plate - he made a pretty decent throw to first base for the last out. Des and I are just glad that he seems to be enjoying it and we don't feel like we're forcing him to play. We've also been playing a lot of whiffle ball in the back yard. He still needs some work on his hitting. I took him to the batting cages in Maryville yesterday and he's gradually improving. Many of the other parents and coaches along with myself agree that they shouldn't have kids pitching to batters at this age. The kids hitting get maybe one or two balls the entire game to hit and probably about 70% of the kids walk on four straight. I wish they either had coach-pitch or a hitting machine. Between work, baseball, three kids, Cardinal games on TV, and trying to get our landscaping looking decent, we've been pretty busy. I'd like to get my patio finished before June but I don't see it happening. Time and money.... I got a free ticket to last Thursdays game with the Pirates. We got slammed but I did get to see Tatis hit number 11. The seat was in the Suite 70 - the are where McGwire hit number 70 last year. They turned it into a Suite. SAP hosted us with free food, drink, and souvenirs (Cody loves the hat and Miranda, well, let's just say she was less than impressed with the SAP logo baseball). The two little ones doing just fine. Bubby got a big wheel for his birthday that he just loves. He loves all of the toys that Des bought him for his birthday - she really did a great job picking out things he'd enjoy. He's a typical boy and loves cars, trucks, Legos, and airplanes. Randy April 19, 1999 What a busy weekend! Friday night was pretty uneventful but Saturday and Sunday were pretty busy. We got up at a decent time on Saturday so that we could make a trip to the St. Louis Science Center. We invited our neighbor Katie along for the day. We had a great time at the Science Center where the kids were able to run around and look at all of the exhibits (look for pictures either tonight or tomorrow night). Jordan was a little afraid of the life size dinosaur (T-rex that was about 20 feet tall, moved its head, mouth, and neck, and growled) however so we had to shy away from that area. We bought tickets and went to the Omnimax showing of the "The Great Barrier Reef". We all enjoyed that thoroughly. Miranda thought the entire building was moving as the dome-theatre produces some amazing effects. Jordan fell asleep about 10 minutes into it (it was nap time). After the Science Center, we drove over to the hill (Italian section of St. Louis) and had lunch at Mama Campisi's. The food was OK but it was fun to experience something other than the old standards we're used to near home. That night, Des and I went to the movies for the first time in several months and saw The Matrix. It was pretty decent. Afterwards, we went over to Applebees and shared some Nachos over a beer for me and a strawberry daquiri for Des. It's always nice for her and I to get out and share a little peace, quiet, and adult conversation without all of the little Lintz rugrats running (and of course screaming) around. Des arranged for tag-team babysitters - she asked our neighbor Katie (who's about 12) and another girl in the subdivision that Des used to babysit (she's about 14 now). Sunday was spent primarily doing yard work. I planted several plants, cut the lawn, applied some weed killer to the entire yard, cut and put down somemore landscape timbers on the side of the house, put down some Roundup in the back where I need to mulch over, and helped Des with the front mailbox area (she did a really good job). The yard is starting to look pretty nice - I can't wait to get started on the brick patio. I'm going to take off of work on Wednesday as Dad offered to help me as he's off this entire week. Here's a cute Miranda story: She was sitting on my lap the other night and asked me if when Des and I got married, did she attend. I told her no, that she wasn't even born yet. She looked at me pretty perplexed and asked what I meant by her not being born yet. I replied that she wasn't even alive when Mommy and I got married. She said back to me, "You mean I was dead" in a shocked voice. I replied, "No, you weren't dead, you just weren't born yet." "Oooooh, you mean I was in Mommy's tummy" in a matter of fact tone was her next reply. "No, you just weren't born yet" was all I could say before I asked Des to "help me out here Mom". Mom didn't have any additional words of wisdom so Randa just dropped the subject. More tonight maybe... Randy April 14, 1999 I had to work late tonight and didn't get a chance to plant the plants I bought last night. I bought a total of seven plants (three hostas, a fern, and some other plants) and three bulbs for 25 bucks. A guy I work with (Ken, the same guy that gave me the grass catcher) told me that he was going to go visit a person he saw in the paper who was selling shade perrenials. I figured it would be fun to join him and it was. He knows a lot about plants and gave me tips on what the plants liked (e.g. shade, sun, water, peat moss, etc.) and I'm anxious to get all of the plants in. I'm glad that they're all perrenials. I'm hoping that one of these days all I'll have to do in the spring is remulch my plant beds as opposed to having to replant a lot like we have the past few years. Des went to Miranda's parent-teacher conference tonight. All went very well and the teacher just raved about Randa. Des was a glow after the conference. The teacher told Des that Miranda is the class leader and that all of the kids love her. I'm really giving Des the third degree that she probably spent hours on the phone today shooting the breeze with her friends but won't take 10 minutes to record a Lintz Land Log so that Miranda can read for herself what she was like as a child. I think it might be working and maybe soon you'll see some notes from her. We have baseball practice tomorrow night and a Tiger Cub meeting here the next. I wish I had access to a nuclear powered sub like Larry and Jenni do for a cool Tiger Cub visit. Not a whole heck of a lot to see at Monsanto's campus or my cubicle except my always growing collection of Diet Coke cans!! Speaking of Tiger Cub meetings, I better go so I can figure out exactly what I'm going to do tomorrow. Randy April 11, 1999 Well, we've had a pretty busy weekend. Des worked yesterday for about five hours. I took the kids for a drive and ended up at the mall. I let the kids cruise the toy story there for about a half hour before I let them each pick something out. Miranda picked out a puzzle and Cody a spirograph type drawing thing. We then went home and we washed Mom's van (Bubby actually just played in the bubbles and was soaked to the bone before we were finished). Her van looks really nice all cleaned up - I even Windexed the windows and Armor-alled the tires. After that we ate and I did a load of dishes so that they would be done before she returned home. After she got home, we did a lot of yard work the rest of the day. Weather wise, it was a pretty nice weekend - nice yesterday but a little cool today. Yesterday, Cody helped me out a bunch - he helped me cut the grass (actually he trailed behind me with the wheelbarrow so that I could dump the grass clippings in it from the grass catcher). He also did many odd jobs for me yesterday and never complained. I fired up the weed eater yesterday for the first time for some trimming. I finally planted three of the five trees that Dad gave me - one in the backyard and two on the east side of our backyard fence. Des took part in the festivities as well and rearranged the bricks on the corner of our driveway and remulched the bed. Today, we didn't do much. We visited Dad and gave a few big clumps of the tall grass (3-4 foot tall) that he has growing in the front of his home. I planted a clump right behind our mailbox and then a large as well as a small clump in the front landscaping near the street corner. His pictures from our recent landscaping fun:
April 8, 1999 What a week! I had to make a quick one-day trip to Memphis on Tuesday so I took an early flight and a late afternoon flight back to St. Louis. I had to visit the facility from which we ship the cow milk production increase hormone - it was an interesting visit. Then yesterday I got caught in a meeting that was supposed to end at 5 and went until about 6:30. I then dialed in from home for a few more hours of work - and of course had to have the radio on to listen to the Cardinals. They won again today so are currently 2-1. Cody actually tried to find the game on TV last night so that he and I could watch it. Of course it wasn't on but he did find the Houston-Chicago game and was very excited to tell me that "the Cubs and some other team are playing." I was delighted to then see him watch the game without me even in the living room for about 15 minutes. He actually seemed interested!! I really hope he enjoys baseball, by far my most favorite sport. Des and the kids have been enjoying this week off for Cody. I'm taking tomorrow off so that I can spend a little time with Cody before he heads back to school next week. I know the weather's supposed to be pretty nice so I'm hoping to get a little more landscaping work done and will definitely get Cody over to the park to practice some ball. That was the most important goal I had last weekend but unfortunately the only one that I didn't accomplish. He had his first practice last night that I missed because of the long meeting. Des said that he did pretty well - he's not exactly star of the team yet but appears to be holding his own. Maybe one of these days he'll really catch interest and want to play constantly. I'm still attempting to get Des to create these Lintz Land Logs but she's hesitating even though I've provided her with step-by-step instructions (it's really pretty easy to do). She's as-I-type wrapping up her Pampered Chef party. I hope she gets lots of free stuff from hosting the party. Well, I hope to be a little more active in updating Lintz Land this weekend - between yard work, play, and baseball watching/listening. Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!! Randy April 5, 1999 Well, we all had a pretty nice Easter - hope you did as well. We took advantage of the beautiful day and did a lot of yard work. I was able to mow the lawn and tryout my new grass catcher. It worked pretty well after I improvised with a piece of rope to provide a little better support. It's a pain in the a** to have to continually empty it but it's definitely better than raking the lawn. Our lawn looks pretty nice now - very green and with no grass clippings. We also ran to K-Mart yesterday as Wal-Mart and Schnucks were both closed. We bought and loaded into the van 16 landscape timbers and 12 bags of mulch. I replaced the cedar shake little landscape fence by our trees with landscape timbers. I even cut the angles so that they joined a little better (not perfectly but better than no cuts at all). I'll post a picture here tonight of the area. We also cleaned up the back yard a little and got the timbers in place to make the kids' play area a little nicer with a mulch (instead of weed) surface. Cody and Miranda enjoyed their Easter baskets from Grandpa Larry and Grandma Lynn which were left on the front porch. They also enjoyed hunting for the eggs that Grandpa and Grandma left around the front yard. The kids enjoyed the toys and candy they were given in their baskets (Bubby's cars, Miranda's Barby, Cody's Legos, water balloon launcher, and Star Wars giga-pet). All three of the kids played outside all day yesterday with many of the neighbor kids while I did yard work and while Des prepared the Easter turkey and cleaned the kitchen. Of course this took her about all day as the neighbor women were in and out of the house constantly. The kids are off of school today but will be forced to stay indoors as its supposed to rain. I'm anxious to get home a little early to watch the Cardinal's home opener. Dad is going to the game tonight - lucky &X$#!@. Randy April 3, 1999 Well, as predicted, the weather people were actually right (what a shocker) and today was pretty nasty. The kids and I did get outside for a little while today to fly some of the paper airplanes we made yesterday outside (instead of in our basement as we did last night). Here's a picture of Cody and Randa right before we went outside:  During Bubby's nap today, I took Cody and Randa to see the new Doug (from Nickelodeon) movie. The kids enjoyed the movie and the quiet time gave Des a chance to paint our dining room (which we really utilize as just another room for the kids to play in). She didn't paint the whole room but instead applied a layer of beige paint on top of the maroonish (I'm sure there's a better name for the color but hey, I'm a guy) with of all things, a featherduster (with real feathers). Here's a close-up picture of the effect:  Still later, I took Randa to Dad's (Grandpa Larry and Grandma Lynn's) to pick up the bookcase which was part of the Shrunk they bought while in Germany (probably around 1984 or so). Here's a picture of the bookcase against Des's freshly painted walls:  Thanks again Dad and Lynn for the bookcase and for taking the time to drive it up and help me bring it in the house. And of course with this being Easter eve, we had to color our easter eggs. The kids had a great time coloring the eggs. Des bought two kits this year, one in which the kids used little sponges to "sponge paint" the eggs and another whereby you place a few drops of paint into little plastic bags and then insert your eggs. We both agreed that we liked the traditional drop the eggs in the liquid and wait a few seconds approach and that we would return to it next year. In any case however, here's a few shots of the Easter egg coloring festivities:    Randy April 2, 1999 It's funny how you can entertain a couple of kids with a few sheets of paper and some crayons. I used all of the instructions for making paper airplanes that I passed out to my Tiger Cubs on Tuesday to make some paper airplanes for Cody and Miranda this evening. All in all, I probably made about 15 airplanes from about 5 different designs. Cody and Randa both loved throwing them around the basement and coloring them with their crayons and markers. Of course, Bubby had to get in the action too and destroyed the planes just about as quickly as I could build them. For those interested in making some paper airplanes, here's a link to paper airplane links to my new links page which is full of links to sites I frequent. I was hoping to get a lot of yard work done this weekend like mowing the lawn (I'm anxious to try out my new grass catcher that a good friend from work, Ken Gamache, gave me after he happened to find it in his garage) and working on some of the landscaping. Unfortunately, it sounds like the weather's not going to cooperate very well. I'm also excited about the baseball season starting Sunday!! Cody will have his first baseball game later this month. I'm assuming that he'll start practicing soon. I'd love to coach him one of these years but with working relatively far away (about a 45 minute commute) and knowing the hours I work, I'm afraid to commit at this point. I'll try to get Cody and the other kids to the school this weekend if we have some dry periods to play a little ball. His weakness right now is still definitely catching the ball. He can throw the ball relatively accurately and is batting well but he has problems catching the ball and positioning his glove properly. It'll just take a little more practice. OK, I'm off to bed for today. Randy March 30, 1999 Well, another Tiger Cubs meeting is in the books. All in all it went pretty well tonight. We didn't finish the kites but got them pretty far along and I sent the kids home with directions on how to attach the string (that's all that was left). I also sent the kids home with instructions on making about 5-6 different paper airplanes. Here's a picture of the "Speak Stick" which I introduced to the kids tonight. All in all they did pretty well while we were talking around the table but I lose control the second we all get up to do an activity or otherwise get away from a group discussion.  The kids really enjoyed our paper airplane aircraft carrier landing game whereby the kids made a paper airplane, stood about 8 feet away from a big piece of particle board painted grey and decorated with stripes (ala an aircraft carrier) laying on top of our basement table. Here's a picture of the carrier "deck".  See the Maryville Tiger Cubs page for more details on tonights meeting. Des is really stressing out from her job. I know she's always been very appreciative of the fact that she's able to stay home with the kids all day and Lord knows she has me pretty spoiled (I seldom cook, clean, or do laundry) but I really think she's even more appreciative of not having to get up every morning and spend the whole day in an office. More later... Randy March 29, 1999 A big Lintz Land welcome to Dick and Nancy Heston, new net surfers who hopefully will enjoy Lintz Land and the internet! Well, we all made it back from Grandma and Grandpa Hestons. Thanks Dick and Nancy for a wonderful weekend! The kids enjoyed themselves as always and so did Des and I. What a beautiful home you two have. I'll be posting before-and-after pictures soon (probably in about a week) of the amazing transformation process that Dick and Nancy have been involved with over the last few months. What a beautiful day we had here in St. Louis. I kept pretty busy just doing little things around the house. I got my mower into shape for the year (put in a new spark plug, new air filter, changed the oil, and put on a new blade). I also did a little bit (a single load) of laundry for Des today. Des is doing a little work for a company that a woman here in the neighborhood works for - mainly some database entry type stuff. Sure to add a little stress to Lintz Land but I think she'll enjoy being out amongst adults in a work setting again. Plus, it should just about pay for the brick patio we've been talking about and planning for about a year now. I also spent a lot of time getting ready for our Tiger Cubs meeting tomorrow night. I made a "Speak Stick" (a dowel rod decorated with leather wraps, feathers, and markers) which hopefully will help control the kids tomorrow night. The concept is that only the person holding the "Speak Stick" may talk - all others must be silent - I'll let you all know how it works and post a picture of it also. I also made a prototype of the kites we'll build tomorrow night. Not enough wind in St. Louis today to test it so I'll keep you all posted on that as well. I took Bubby and Randa to the new Big Boy in Collinsville for lunch today. Two thumbs down - way down on the restaurant. I waited nearly half an hour for some pancakes (for Miranda and Bubby to share) and a grilled chicken sandwich. No tip was left and I won't be frequenting that establishment any time in the near future. It was a lot of fun to hang out with the kids today and to pick up Cody after school - something I rarely get to do. We also picked up a new Whiffle ball and bat set this afternoon at Schnucks and played that a little with Katie B. after school. It's great because Cody and Miranda are both interested in it and both can swing the light plastic bat. Anyway, gotta get to bed - more tomorrow (I have a lot of work to do to get caught up with pictures and pages). Randy March 24, 1999 Not a whole lot to report on here in Lintz Land. Cody had a book fair at Maryville Elementary today and Des bought him a reading book that has some geometry examples in it. In Cody's first grade class, they're covering geometrical shapes, both 2D and 3D (cones, spheres, cylinders, cubes, etc.). Des told Cody tonight that he can get a book on Yo-Yos that caught his eye today. He's always thought Yo-Yos were pretty cool. He's really making a lot of progress in his reading due in large part to his wonderful mother who works with him everyday when he gets home from school. She ensures on a daily basis that he's read his homework story of the day, that's he's completed writing his weekly vocabulary words and sentence, and that he's gone through his vocabulary flash cards a couple times. He got in a little trouble yesterday for talking in class. I didn't get too upset at that but did when he told me "I couldn't help my mouth." I gave him a pretty lengthy lecture about responsibility and the fact that only Cody Lintz can make Cody Lintz do things - not the other kids in the class. I've got a little over a week to prepare for our next Cub Scout meeting. I'm currently thinking that we'll make kites out of dowel rods and heavy duty shipping (packaging) paper. Then the kids can decorate them with ribbons, markers, etc. Another thing I want to do soon is to teach them to make several varieties of paper airplanes and then have an aircraft carrier landing competition whereby the kids try to throw their paper airplanes onto a piece of plywood that I'll have to paint grey with white landing lanes (ala an aircraft carrier). If anyone else has any good ideas on fun projects, crafts, etc., please e-mail them to me. I've been pretty busy lately (from 9 to 11 at night anyway) trying to make some changes to Lintz Land. You may have noticed that I've added a "Find Picture" push button to the Picture of the Day so that you can look for a particular picture by date and title (which typically contains who's in the picture). Check it out if you haven't already! I utilized JavaScript to accomplish this. I've been studying Java and JavaScript lately from a few books I have (one purchased, one borrowed). Let me know what you think and if there's anything else I can add to increase your surfing pleasure. Randy March 21, 1999 Well, what a beautiful day we had today here in Southern Illinois! We here at Lintz Land had another great day. We started the day with mass and then we did a little more yard work. I applied some of the Scotts stuff I've been talking about while all of the kids (and even some of the neighbor kids) played in the yard. I put the stuff on pretty heavy (hope I didn't put in on too heavy - the last thing I need this spring is a brown and crispy lawn). Anyway, after the yard work and lunch, I took Cody and Randa up to Target in Edwardsville while Bubby napped. Sorry Dad, but the local Wal-Mart in Collinsville didn't have many kid sized ball gloves so I thought I'd try Target. They had a little bit better selection and I wound up buying Cody a Mizuno child size baseball glove and an Easton child size (19 inch) baseball bat. I was also looking for some new wheels for my rollerblades but new wheels and bearings cost almost as much as I paid for the whole skates (they're pretty cheap). So I did what any person would do - I took the wheels off of Des's skates which are in much better shape and put them on mine! I used mine last year much more than she did so it's only fair. Cody, Bubby, Miranda, and I also went up to Maryville Elementary school for a little BP with Cody. He was hitting the ball pretty well for it being the first time this year. Best of all, he was actually getting into it! We also played a little catch with his new glove - I've got to keep the oil on it and the rope around it to make sure it gets broken in well. Cody wanted to play on the playground with his little brother and sister so we made a typical "three more hits and you can" deal and after about 12 pitches (of which about 4 were balls) we were all playing on the playground. Des and I both look at and treat Jordan so differently now - one of us is never more than a few steps behind him. He had fun climbing the playground equipment there but I was pretty much right behind him in case he fell and was there at the bottom of the slide to catch him when he went down. All in all, it was a great weekend! Hope everyone else enjoyed theirs as well. Randy |
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