Hooray For Saturday!

It's The Not Knowing

I haven't written here in ages.  I've been meaning to, but just haven't.  There is really no excuse as to why I haven't, besides the fact that I'm lazy and haven't had the motivation to do so.

Note I just used the contraction: haven't, a bunch of times.

Our lives are in limbo right now.  We know/think we are moving to Columbus, OH, it's just a matter of when.  Ideally this would happen now, the sooner the better.  Seeing that we would like to start kids in new schools at the beginning of the school year.  However, my wife's job is holding the keys to that vehicle.  We are in the passenger seat and they are driving.

So it's the not knowing that is what is driving me crazy. 

Each night I look at the real estate market here, where we live, and wonder when can we put our house up for sale.  Then I look at the real estate market in the Columbus area and wonder if we will be able to basically create a push out of the move.  That, on top of researching school districts, different areas and commutes has me up at night wishing I knew what the heck is going on here.

I'll be around. 

Happy Holidays

The holiday season is now in full swing at our house. 

My mother made it here safely from Louisiana and the children have already enjoyed spending the first two days with her.  They have had a daily schedule, set up by Doodlebug & The Little Man, featuring craft time, restaurant time, holiday TV specials time, and plenty of playtime.

My mom went way overboard with the gifts, as three big ass boxes of stuff, showed up to our home via a delivery man.  Originally she was going to drive up here with all the goods, but at the last minute she found such a cheap flight, she could not pass getting here sooner and still saving the money to ship the goods up.  Plus, not to mention, it gave me great peace of mind.

She did show up at the airport without a coat on Sunday afternoon and was none to happy to be greeted by temps in the teens and a wind chill below zero.  However, she was warned it was cool up here.  Right mom, you are not in Louisiana anymore.  The weather has turned warmer, but also nastier with rain and sleet.  We'll see what it deals us for Christmas, but I don't think it's going to be white.

Again this year I'm finding it hard to get into the holiday spirit, but I am looking forward to watching my mom play with the kids during her stay here.  Especially on Christmas morning. 

If you or loved ones are traveling to be together for the holidays, I wish the journeys well.  Our house also wishes you much laughter and joy, not only during the holiday season, but throughout the new year as well.

In Bloom

So just in case we didn't have enough going on, we adding another activity to our schedule.  Doodlebug is now a Daisy, which is the beginning stage of the cookie selling, patch collecting, good times had with friends movement of Girl Scouts.  She has been to two meetings, so far, and each of them seemed to be a blast.

I can only hope that the life lessons our daughter will learn from being a part of the Girl Scouts movement will stay with her for a long time.  It seems the ladies that run the local Girl Scout store might could read over the Girl Scout promise or pledge again.  I stopped in the place the other day to pick up some Daisy gear for our little scout and they were pretty salty.  Granted, me and The Little Man walking into a small, tightly confined area full of patches, books and other gear might look like trouble, but we knew right what we were coming for and didn't cause any worries for them.  I'm sure they will have another opportunity to make a better first impression, because of the numerous patches that will soon adorn the Daisy tunic.

The troop of girls that she is a part of consists of numerous schoolmates, so they already know each other pretty good.  They meet every other Thursday at a branch of the local library, which is great because I get to hang out and enjoy the library myself, sans children.

Our local library system is pretty amazing.  I think it is safe to say that this is one thing this community has right, in the sense that it has the library system in place for the growth rate of the area.  Other things, not so much.

Happy Halloween

Our children are really looking forward to trick or treating this evening.  Our daughter even told me she is going to walk all the way to the giant pumpkin, a inflatable jack o'latern which is really not that far, just around the corner.  In her mind it seems miles away, which is funny.

The children have been walking around using their spooky voice, which is kind of saying everything with a deep stutter and a hearty laugh after each statement.  I have been doing nothing but encouraging it, because I remind them they didn't say it in their spooky voice, just for laughs.  It's like a house full of high pitched Vincent Price impersonators around here.

We've been reading some silly, spooky books and telling ghosts stories, preparing for the day.  Today we will carve some pumpkins and get ready for the trick or treat walk. 

As I was reading my newspapers this morning, I came across this article about the most haunted place in America, The Myrtles.  If you are ever in Louisiana for a visit, it's worth stopping by one night to take a tour of this place, especially if you like things that go bump in the night.  Not only is it interesting to see this antebellum home, but the storytelling of your guide is worth the visit in itself. 

S-p-o-o-k-y HaHaHa!!!!

Have a safe and happy Halloween.

A Week Being Grandkids

My mother traveled up, from Louisiana, to stay with us for a week.

It was a whirlwind week of entertainment and catching up with Grandma that went by too fast.  She was able to help us celebrate The Little Man's birthday with the in-laws and enjoy all the activities we have been taking part in over the summer such as; swimming lessons, gymnastics, playing outside, going to the Cincinnati Museum Center and random daily stuff.

It had been a while since she was last up here and our daughter informed me that I should invite her up more often, seeing that "Grandma is a much better story reader than you are dad."  Nice.  I learned another thing about myself, via my mom, while she was here.  She said the kids told her, "We like daddy better when he wears a blue shirt, instead of a white one."  OK, whatever?

The wife and I were also able to take advantage of some alone time while Grandma was here entertaining the children.  We drove down to Lexington and enjoyed a nice meal at The Lady's new favorite place, Malone's.  My apologies to all animal lovers out there, but I had a fillet mignon about the size of a K2 football and it was delicious.

I think my mom and I will be the first to agree that we can get on the nerves of one another a bit.  However, we didn't freak out on one another nearly as much as we usually do.  I think as the kids get older they are much more entertaining and I leave those three amigos alone, so we don't have time to bicker.  One thing I do miss is the late night conversations we used to have prior to our children being around.  We used to stay up well into the night talking current events, what's going on in Louisiana, what's going on with where we live and so on.  Now the kids take up a lot of that time and people just want to hit the sack when it calms down.  We got to talk a bit, but not the late night sessions anymore.  Not all folks can be like me, up half the night.

It was neat to watch my mom hanging out with the children.  She is the quintessential Grandma.  She lets them slide a lot when I would be giving them a tablespoon of what for.  She instructs me to detour to the ice cream shop when I wouldn't even think of it.  She played Play-Doh for hours during the week when I'm to the point I can't even muster up a Play-Doh pancake anymore.  She sang along to Hit Me With Your Best Shot and suggested, "Ooohh, Welcome To The Jungle' that's a good tune!" while watching us play "Guitar Hero".  She obviously read bedtime stories a lot better than I do.  And she bought them stuff....and more stuff.

Overall, the visit was excellent.  It was a wonderful way to wrap up what is beginning to be the end of summer.

My favorite quote from the visit, "There sure are a lot of Chinese people at the Olympics."  That's my mom....I love her.

Happy Birthday Little Man

So if you told me three years ago that our son, this little guy,

was going to be the crazed daredevil that he is today, I would have never believed you.

I had not gone back and looked at the photos from a few days after his birth since his last birthday.  It's still weird to think that he was born in August, three years ago, but yet he wasn't supposed to show up until after Halloween.  I suppose I will always think that around his birthday, seeing that one can't think about Halloween right now, when it is still so warm out and football season hasn't even started.

The events surrounding his birth seem like they were many years ago and we have had a lot of things go on in our family since then, but it was only three years ago that he was hooked up to all kinds of machines and he would stop breathing to turn purple while holding him in my arms.  Talk about a fat man sweating.  It's one of those weird things that happens to me, my mind seems to have a way of just shielding bad memories, overall in life, to focus on the good ones.  I still don't know if we got lucky, or if he is just a hell of a fighter, but he is turning out to be a regular goof-ball of a little boy.

Happy Birthday Son!

Spring Break 08

I know, I bet my five readers thought I fell off the face of the earth.  I haven't done that yet.

It's spring break around here.  No, we aren't funneling in Panama City, Florida, just enjoying some family time.

I will return very soon, bright eyed and bushy tailed. 

Sorry for the visual.

Just Being Nice

Doodlebug - Dad, why did you just flush it two times when you were in there?

Me - I was being courteous.

Doodlebug - What's courteous?

Me - It's just being nice.

the child walks into the bathroom, closes the door.  she reappears after going to the potty.

Doodlebug - Dad. 

Me - Yes?

Doodlebug - It stinks in there, that is not being nice.

the four year old child is a smart aleck

Amateur Night

We have two fired up young ones, in our children, two cooled down old ones, in the grandparents, and 20 party poppers.

It's going to get crazy!

Whooo!

See you...

Germ Free Humidity...I'm Not In Louisiana Anymore

Tis' the season for cold and dry air, which in our house means scratchy throats, stuffy noses and chapped everything.

So just in time, Vicks, the number one brand in humidifiers, has introduced a new Germ Free Humidifier that sanitizes the water for pure, clean warm mist to provide worry free, healthy moisture.  The patented germicidal UV chamber safely kills up to 99.999% of bacteria, mold and spores, impressive.  The latest in anti-bacterial technology, this humidifier is ideal for making dry indoor air easier to breathe, and is proven to help relieve cold & flu symptoms. 

I can really tell the difference between the warm mist that this Vicks unit produces, compared to the cool mist, evaporative type, humidifier we have used in the past and that's just with the humidity dial turned on a quarter of a turn.  I'm guessing if we really turned it to the max, The Little Man's room would become a sauna and some of the senior crowd from the neighborhood might be in there, hanging out in towels, talking glory days, politics and "The Price Is Right". 

The Vicks, model number V790, humidifier runs relatively quiet and has a blue colored light on the front control panel, which doubles as a night-light.  The light is brighter than what our son is used to in his room, but that's nothing a small piece of duct tape couldn't take care of.  It has two one gallon tanks, so it can run quite a while without refilling, and doesn't require a filter or wick, just occasional cleaning.  There is also a medicine cup for adding such potions as Vicks VapoSteam, to add the comfort of Vicks Vapors into the air.

The Vicks Germ Free Warm Mist Humidifier, model number V790, has a suggested retail price of $99.99 and is available at major retailers and drug store chains throughout the United States.

Additional information about humidification and caring for children with colds or flu can be found here.