Important life lessons
Posted on May 15, 2008 - Filed Under And your point is?, Travel
1. When Aunt Jessica was little, her parents got her to eat cauliflower by telling her they were CareBear Clouds. So each time she ate a cloud, a CareBear lost its home and fell to it’s death. So sad.
2. While visiting Maggie’s great-grandparents in the nursing home, Jason and his two cousins, Chuck and Nicholas, decided to have a throwdown wrestling match in the courtyard. During one of the wrestling matches, Chuck, the older brother, put Nicholas in a mercy hold and Nicholas screamed, “I’m too young to die, I don’t want to die”–in a nursing home, of all places.
3. We went out to dinner with Jason’s Dad and Marty. As we left the restaurant, Jason chose to back out of the parking spot when he could have just pulled forward. I said, “why didn’t you just pull forward?” Jason said, “I don’t know.” Marty said, “Men just have a way of doing things their own way.” Maggie answers from the backseat with all of her 2 year old wisdom, “Backwards!”
4. Walter the farting dog provides an excellent response to silly jokes!
5. People in Washington DC CANNOT drive!
6. We were turning left onto a two lane street; we could not see what or who was occupying those lanes until we turned. It’s a good thing we turned into the left lane because walking down the center of the right lane was a male ‘little person’ (that’s ‘midget’ for those of you not inclined toward political correctness) with some mighty big hair and wearing a purple Wal-Mart style sweat suit. The moral of the story: When visiting large cities–like D.C.–be prepared to have some very surreal experiences.
7. Well water and detergent cause grease spots.
8. While at a restaurant, never put your dentures on a napkin. They disappear!
10. It is so sexy, It’s Dirty!
Another spring time visit
Posted on May 12, 2008 - Filed Under Travel, Parenting
We are on the downslope of our trip back east. It has been a very long 10 days thus far. We drove well over 1000 miles (which cost about $160 in gas, in case you’re wondering); slept in 3 different hotels (including tonight) and 3 different homes of family/friends; eaten exactly 1 home-cooked meal (not that we don’t like eating out–we really do, actually); visited with 22 individual family members and friends; have had to deal with a sick Maggie (she ran a fever for 3 days or so); and will finish up tomorrow on the 2000 mile return flight home. I don’t care what anyone says–traveling, to whatever destination, is a stressful event. We are definitely bruised, battered, and more than a little worse for the wear. It might sound a bit wimp-ish to say that, but I don’t have a problem admitting that we are two people who started the trip each loaded down with work stress and inexperienced at doing this kind of thing with a two year old in tow. Speaking of Maggie, she too seems to have been impacted by the stress and out-of-routineness of this. On this trip, she began taking on the typical ‘terrible twos’ traits more so than ever before. Yeah, it’s been a long week and a half but satisfying in a lot of different ways. We are very thankful to all of those who took their time to hang out with us, feed us, and put up with whichever of the three of us wasn’t feeling especially gracious at any given moment.
Funny sayings by a 2 year old
Posted on April 27, 2008 - Filed Under Uncategorized
Maggie says last week when we are outside, “I going in to find peace of mind!”
Jason was telling me about a study done that concluded that pregnant women who gain excess weigh have a higher chance of having a boy. I said, ” if that were true, Maggie should have been a boy.” From the other room we hear, “I not a boy, I a girl!”
Maggie was playing on the playground swing & I was chewing gum. Maggie swings close to me and says in a please stop that tone of voice, “chomping, mommy!”
“Ok, we’ll see you later…have a good day at work”
Posted on April 12, 2008 - Filed Under The Daily Doodle, Parenting
Something kind of bizarre happened today. Maggie has grown to the point, in both her height and finger dexterity, that she can open our front and back doors. Her speaking ability has also grown by leaps and bounds of late. Lastly, her characteristic independence has done nothing but become more pronounced. All three of these factors combined today when she said to Erin and I, “I going to work” and proceeded to put her shoes on. I said, “Oh yeah?” and told her to go give her Mama a kiss and say goodbye; she did exactly that. When she came back in my direction, I asked her if she was going to give me a kiss as well; she came over and did so. She then opened the door, opened the screen door, and went out on to the porch. I wanted her to continue on her adventure and ensure her safety as well, so I followed behind unseen. She walked over to the stairs, stepped down, and grabbed the car’s door handle. Opening it is a task she has not yet managed, so she moved on and began walking down the sidewalk toward her ‘workplace’, the playground about 75 yards from our house. I couldn’t allow her to go all the way because dinner was almost ready, so of course she screamed and cried like the two year old she is. The humor of the situation was a bit diminished by all of her carrying on about having to go back inside but as I look back on it, I still find myself smiling.
Happy Birthday Maggie!
Posted on March 15, 2008 - Filed Under Uncategorized
Today was Maggie’s 2nd birthday! We had a nice quite day - just Mama, Daddy and Maggie. I still can’t believe she is two years old.
I’m back … again!
Posted on March 14, 2008 - Filed Under Adult swim, Travel
I made it back this afternoon! Jason and Maggie were waiting for me at the airport. When Maggie saw who I was she walked right up to me and gave me a big hug! We all got a bite to eat at Chili’s, drove home, and Jason passed out on the couch within seconds. It seems that all went well while I was gone. Maggie’s language and conversational skills have increased tremendously - just in 6 days! The house is a bit messy but I can’t complain too much.
My conference went well. There were 20 Site Directors from North America (Idaho, Nevada, Florida, DC, Oklahoma) and the Pacific (Japan, Korea, Hawaii and Guam). I found it fascinating to listen to American women talk about living in a foreign country. (I asked them a ton of questions!) My presentation went well and I had a good time talking with folks during and after nightly dinners. I was busy from the time I woke up until I went to sleep.
What’s the secret?
Posted on March 13, 2008 - Filed Under Adult swim, Travel, Parenting
I can’t say precisely why but I have become resolved over the last few years to not being ashamed to admit when I lack strength or ability. Well, the last 5 days have been ones wrought with displays of my personal weaknesses. As you know, Erin has been on a business trip in Oklahoma, leaving Maggie and I to fend for ourselves. Of course, it couldn’t be as simple as that; I also had a bunch of work to do for a class I am taking and papers to grade for work, all in addition to working all day. Anyway, nothing major has happened (yet–Erin doesn’t get home until tomorrow afternoon), so I guess we made it through okay. That said, I have gained a tremendous amount of respect for long-term single parents. I simply don’t know how people do it. I can categorically say that, if something were to happen and Erin was no longer in the picture, something major would have to change. I would not be able to have the job I currently have and likely would not take any classes, at least for a while. And I am alright with that.
Gone, Mama, gone–part 2
Posted on March 6, 2008 - Filed Under Uncategorized
That’s right, Erin’s off on another adventure. She leaves Sunday for the great state of Oklahoma for a work-related conference; she’ll be gone until Friday afternoon. Despite what I said about people should confidence in a child’s father being able to care for him/her while the mother’s away, I will freely admit this next week is going to be very challenging for me. On top of not being anywhere near used to caring for Maggie on my own, I have a set of papers due back to my students on Tuesday and a significant project for a class I am taking due two days after Erin returns. In addition, things at work are not good. So, it’s going to be a bit tough and definitely one of those of those timeframes in which we sometimes find ourselves in which one’s mentality must be, ‘I will do what needs done the best I can and the rest will wait.’ That said, know that if you call to ‘check in on us,’ you will probably not get me on the phone nor a call back—-I’ll simply be too busy.
The good thing is Erin being able to not only get sometime away from a ton of responsibilities but getting out of this stupid little town of ours. It’ll be good for her.
I’m back!
Posted on February 25, 2008 - Filed Under Uncategorized
Hey everyone. Yellowstone and snowmobiling was awesome! I have put up photos and will continue to add more. If you click on the photos and scroll through there are more photos to view. I will also be putting up some video & more photos from my co-pilot, Denise, when I get them. She had a really awesome digital camera and got some great pictures! I did all the driving which meant that I couldn’t take a lot of pictures, so Denise did it for us.
Gone, Mama, gone
Posted on February 22, 2008 - Filed Under Outdoors, And your point is?, Travel, Parenting
Erin leaves tomorrow morning for a three day snowmobiling trip in Yellowstone National Park. I have been wanting her to get out and do something by herself for a long time; she finally listened to me. Hopefully, it is the first of many such adventures.
Word has reached me that some are more than a little concerned about my ability to care for Maggie while her Mama is out of town. Frankly, I am a little ‘butthurt’ (as my students would say) over this. I am her father; if I can’t care for her for a few days, something’s wrong. So, what are we going to do in Mama’s absence? Maggie and I haven’t yet fully decided but she’s pulling for going to Cabela’s to see the taxidermied animals and to help Papa shop for his next gun. Sounds like a plan to me. Maybe we’ll have lunch at Hooter’s and then go over to Victoria Secret Baby to get Maggie her first thong.
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