Tuells for Life

October in Pictures

2010-11-03T10:36:00.000-07:00

October has been a busy month for the Green household. First, October contains a holiday that ranks close to the top among favorite holidays in our family. Second, pumpkins start showing up in grocery stores and along roadsides in this month, igniting the imagination for new carving creations. Fall festivals to attend, Trunk or Treat events to participate in, and a craft fair opportunity for Sharla, and the month is full and spilling over. So here is a look back over the month in pictures, with a few comments along the way.

Pre-October preparations for pumkin carving coming soon.

Pumpkin minion, in honor of Despicable Me

Halloween costumes this year:

Rat-A-Pult game at church trunk-or-treat festival

Tuell zombie

Adventures of Possum Man

2010-08-30T14:06:00.000-07:00

This adventure happened back on my birthday on the 22nd, but it took me quite a while to put the video together. Thanks to Sharla for getting the video uploaded to my blog. You're awesome! (For unknown reasons, the video sometimes gets stuck. Just move the radio button a little bit, or move the page up and down a little, and it should continue playing.)

Stain removal

2010-08-22T18:54:00.001-07:00

Took the afternoon off from work on Friday and joined all my girls on an afternoon at the movies to see Despicable Me. It was a funny movie - actually better than I expected after hearing mediocre reviews from some who had seen it before.

Afterward Sharla noticed a spot on the front of my shirt, and we decided it was a butter stain from the buttery popcorn we ate during the movie.

That shirt was new - I had only worn it a couple times - so I was bummed.

Sharla did a quick search on the Internet and found that we could remove butter stains by rubbing dishwasher liquid on it before laundering it.

I went downstairs, opened up the cabinet and got out the dishwasher detergent.

Poured a little on the stain, and started rubbing it in.

The stain disappeared immediately.

Then the spot turned pink.

The dishwasher detergent was white - something was wrong.

I looked at the ingredients on the bottle of detergent, and saw in bold print, "Chlorine bleach." Aaaaack!

I was supposed to use dishwasher liquid soap, not dishwasher detergent. Oops.

I'm glad we buy almost all my shirts on sale, so it wasn't a big loss. But what was I going to do with a pretty blue shirt with a pink spot in the middle of the front?

How to make lemonade out of lemons?

I got a bucket, poured in more bleach, and dunked the whole shirt in the bleach. Gradually the entire shirt turned a nice, girly salmon color.

I can't say I have another shirt that color. Actually, I've never even seen a shirt that color. It's definitely unique.

I won't be wearing it out of the house...

Front porch makeover

2010-06-08T18:16:00.000-07:00

Here are some before and after pictures of my latest home-improvement project. Sharla's dad helped me pour some concrete in front of our front door last year to make a larger front porch, and I had intended to lay porcelain tile over it. Unfortunately, I never got around to it until now. I laid out the tiles, rented a tile saw from Home Depot and cut all the tiles over the Memorial Day weekend. By the way, that tile saw was awesome! It's fun cutting through rock with metal! I laid the tiles on Monday evening and Wednesday evening, and finally added the grout on Saturday morning. It was a lot of tedius work - more work than I thought it would be, but it also wasn't as difficult as I thought. And now I know what I'm doing if we ever decide to lay some tile inside the house. Outside was a good place to try it for the first time.

This picture is the only one I could find that partially shows the original porch with the L-shaped sidewalk. This picture is a re-enactment of the fall Sharla and Melaina took that motivated us to fill in around the sidewalk with concrete.

Here is what the porch looked like after filling in around the sidewalk. It looked about like this for about a year! :-(

Laying the grout. Not difficult, but very tedious. And it was really hot, even though I started at 8am Saturday morning (finished at 11am).

The finished product.

The makings of daredevils

2010-05-03T09:39:00.000-07:00

It is amazing what you can convince little kids to try when you do it first, then give them a little positive encouragement. I don't think Livian or Avalie would have tried this on their own, but they decided it was really fun after trying it a few times. Livian, our cautious child, was never willing to go as high as Avalie, but we know Avalie seems to have no fear, so that was expected. Mom, just to appease your concerns - no grandchildren were harmed (permanently) in the making of these video!

A thump in the night

2010-03-30T12:53:00.000-07:00

Thump, thump, thump...

What's that noise?

It sounds like it's coming from the attic.

Go up and see what it is - I'll never be able to fall asleep with that thumping.

(time passes)

There is something stuck in one of the roof turbines.

Go poke it with a stick.

(time passes)

I poked it. It was a dead bird that got caught in the turbine and decapitated.

Lovely. So glad you shared.

Daddy, can you help me ...

2010-03-28T19:31:00.000-07:00

Livian was in her element again this afternoon, and it nearly drove me crazy. Livian is so creative; she is always thinking of these elaborate projects that she just has to work on immediately, and once she gets the idea in her head, there is no stopping her. The problem with this is that her projects almost always require help from me or Sharla, and a lot of the time her ideas are so “out there” that we don’t want to encourage her by participating (feeding the obsession). A lot of times when Livian asks me for help with one of her projects, I kind of say yes, but then don’t really get around to helping much, even though Livian keeps asking and asking, and I end up feeling like a loser dad. So today when it started happening again, I tried my best to keep up with her, and still keep my sanity.

It started as soon as we got home from church after lunch. Sharla was at a baby shower, so I was left with no backup support. Livian and I had been working on making a model horse for part of her book report at school, and it was time to finish putting on the legs and ears and start painting. We used some green foam that people use to soak in water and put their flowers in, so we needed to spray paint it white. It’s an Appaloosa horse, whatever that means, and apparently those aren’t green! I assumed this would be our afternoon project. After several attempts to glue on the body parts and make them stay, we went outside and got the first coat of paint on. We set the horse down to dry for 45 minutes, and I thought I was done.

However, Livian’s imagination took the available opportunity to keep the craft projects going. Within a few minutes she and the boy next door came over asking if I would cut some wood for them to use to make a “birdhouse mansion” for them. And they needed my help right then! The boy’s dad said he’d give them the wood, but he wasn’t cutting it for them, and he wouldn’t allow them to do any cutting on their own. Smart man! Pass the bulk of the project off to the other dad!  I used one of my best comebacks in an attempt to avoid getting sucked in to another of Livian’s hair brained ideas – a stalling technique. I told them to draw it out on paper first so I’d understand what they were trying to make. They readily agreed, and hurried off to get paper and pencils. Phew! I figured that should last 20-30 minutes, and then it would be time to get back to the horse painting. Boy was I wrong! About 3 minutes later, I heard, “Dad, we’re ready!” They had drawn up a complete floor plan of this bird mansion in a matter of minutes! It involved six rooms, including an entrance, a bird bath, a feeding room, a nesting room, a bedroom, and an extra room for storing stuff. And they needed my help right then!

At this point I decided if I can’t beat them, I’d better join them, but on my terms. So I found some wooden projects that the girls had made at some past Home Depot Kids Workshop events, and told the kids they should use the wood from these projects to make their birdhouse, instead of cutting new wood. They agreed without much protest, and I ended up only having to make 4 small cuts! However, I still had to be involved in much of the project because it involved gluing the pieces together and then clamping them together while the glue dried. During this entire process we kept checking the paint on the horse and making touch ups, which was a never ending job because every time we touched the horse a clump of paint would pull off of the model, requiring another touch up. While the glue was drying on the new 3-story birdhouse, Livian got several kids from the neighborhood to join her in making a movie! She was going to be the director, and she needed my help to change the batteries in her video camera. And she needed my help right then! At this point I had to admit defeat. I tried my best to keep up, and I had failed. I pointed out to Livian that she was now on her third project, and I couldn’t keep up with her, and she needed to give me a break! She felt bad, and said ok, and proceeded to work on changing the batteries on her own.

It’s her bedtime now, and she just asked if I will download her video clips to our computer so she can edit them and piece them together into the movie. Yes, Livian, that’s exactly what I had in mind for how I wanted to spend the last few minutes of my evening!

Weekend in Houston

2010-02-10T20:11:00.000-08:00

I realize I'm really late at posting these pictures, but decided I'd go ahead and get them posted before we go on our next trip to Houston, this weekend. This is so long ago that I don't even remember what we did. I know Livian and I drove to Houston on a Saturday morning over a month ago, stayed with Mom and Dad in their little apartment, and then drove home Sunday afternoon. On Saturday afternoon, not too long after arriving, we decided to go over to a museum next to MD Anderson. I don't remember the name of the museum, but it included the words "Nature" and "Science," I think, and that was enough to interest Livian. We had a really fun time there, but I don't remember what we saw. I just remember the museum closed before we were done, so we had to leave before seeing everything. Oh yes, I remember seeing some animals, some dinosaur bones, lots of colorful, shiny rocks, and lots of shells. Oh, and there was some education about drilling for oil, and we saw some of the drill bits used to drill through solid rock. That was cool!

It was really nice getting to see the little apartment where Mom and Dad stayed for several weeks, and to see their daily routine first hand. Made it all more real for me, getting to experience it with them for a day. On Sunday, Dad returned from the hospital feeling sick, so he sat in the recliner and slept through our lunch. I think he was going to continue sleeping most of the afternoon, because he felt like his temperature was rising. Turns out he did get a fever, but it came back down before crossing the level that would have sent him back to the hospital. I've heard of people getting sick of being around me, but I didn't think it could happen that quickly! But then Dad assured me that it was not our fault that he got that fever - the doctors saw some indications of an infection or two in his body during his hospital visit on Friday, so he knew something like that might be coming. However, I'm sure we didn't help his cause, because I think he wore himself out during that walk around the museum. But he'd probably say it was worth it to see those cool drill bits.

Happy Birthday!

2010-01-05T20:05:00.000-08:00

In honor of a certain someone's birthday today (who just happens to be a vegetarian)...

Calling all detectives

2009-12-08T19:26:00.000-08:00

Take a look at this video and see if you can explain what's going on here, and why. There are no tricks, no magic, nothing hidden going on. Just some weird science that we happened upon in our kitchen the other night.

Will you play with me?

2009-12-08T19:07:00.000-08:00

Beware if you have a four-year old girl who asks you to play with her, and you say yes before asking what game she had in mind. You might end up like me, sitting on the floor putting Barbie dresses on Beanie Babies and other small stuffed animals. This is Melaina's new game she likes to do, so I should have known better.

But I got her back yesterday after work, when I asked her if she wanted to help me outside, and she said yes before asking what I had in mind. Hah! She helped me stuff 4 trash bags full of leaves and brush I had pulled/raked up from the yard on Sunday. It was dark, drisling rain, and about 40 degrees outside. Brrr! So I think we're even now.

Infection D-FEET-ed

2009-11-12T18:54:00.000-08:00

Woohoo! Thank you for all your prayers concerning Livian's toe. We are finally seeing improvements. The Cleocin that Livian started taking on Saturday started showing improvements by Monday, but gave Livian a rash. And this new antibiotic that Livian started taking yesterday, that treats both staph infection and pseudomonas, is also working. Livian's toe is looking so much better now, and it's not hurting as bad anymore either. Tonight Livian was walking down the sidewalk from our neighbor's house and asked if she could jog a little to see how it felt! (I said "No! Your toe is still broken, even if it doesn't hurt all the time!!")

For those of you who were brave enough to see the pictures of Livian's toe in the previous post, you will notice the improvement in how it looks tonight.

WARNING: Gross Toe Pictures Below

2009-11-07T19:07:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have been anxiously waiting to see some pictures of Livian's fractured and severely infected big toe, your wait is over. Here are some pictures that will walk you through the various stages of Livian's broken-toe incident. Due to my desire to NOT lose the few blog readers I have, please do not continue viewing this post if you don't want to be grossed out by pictures of yucky, swollen, oosing, rotting-looking toes. OK, you have been warned...

This is a picture of Livian's toe on Monday, Nov. 2, right before the pediatrician drained it to get the chunky pus out.

The next picture was taken right after the toe was drained by the pediatrician.

The next two pictures were taken a couple hours later Monday afternoon.

This final picture was taken while waiting on the ER doctor to see us on Friday night.

A Day in the Life of a Bag

2009-11-02T15:49:00.000-08:00

Check out this video from the Today Show that aired on Monday. In the middle of the video, my project, T-Link, gets mentioned. You'll notice a mobile computer screen mounted in one of the tractors that carries the bags from one airplane to the other. That computer is part of the T-Link program, and displays the optimal delivery sequence of transfer bags to the drivers. And we developed it! Pretty cool, eh?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

My Four Green Peppers

2009-11-01T19:13:00.001-08:00

Yes, you read that right. I know I'm deviating from the whole green bean theme, but I just had to share a picture of my harvest of green peppers. I planted a whole packet of pepper seeds back in the spring, thinking I would get a bushel-basket full of colorful peppers by early summer. Well, all the plants almost died before they got bigger than sprouts, and then when about 6 survived, they grew tall but didn't produce any peppers. I just kept watering them (or forgetting to water them) and then pretty much gave up on them. Then, astonishingly, I noticed a few peppers growing big and healthy in October! Maybe I just didn't read the instructions on the seed packet closely, but I thought for sure I planted early summer peppers, not fall peppers. But oh well, I was happy to get at least something from all my gardening efforts. Unfortunately, no one in my family eats peppers, so they will sit and sit until they wilt enough that I finally throw them away. But don't they look cute all lined up next to each other?? I'm so glad I'm not a farmer! I would be very, very poor!

Let's Make a Deal

2009-11-01T18:50:00.000-08:00

I bought 5 Six Flags tickets through at deal at my work a couple weeks ago, thinking that we would take the kids to Six Flags some weekend before they closed for the season, which was today. We were thinking we would go yesterday on Halloween, but for several reasons we decided it would not be a good idea to go. The obvious reason was Livian's broken toe, and the doctor's orders to stay off of it. And Livian has been in such pain the last couple days, we figured we'd need to rent a stroller or a wheelchair to use there, and even then, the pain would make it less than enjoyable for her and the rest of us.

I was ready to chalk it up to bad timing and just forget about it, but Sharla came up with the idea to try and sell the tickets. She jumped on Craigslist and posted the tickets for sale, and within 30 minutes we had a buyer for 4 of the 5 tickets for almost the same price that we paid (only $1 less per ticket). I thought that was great, but then today she updated the post to say we had one left, and knocked $5 off of it, and we sold that last one around lunchtime! Talk about wheelin' and dealin'. We got almost all our money back, and managed to provide a good deal for some other people to get to Six Flags on its last weekend of the season.

I figured Sharla probably wouldn't brag about herself, and probably thought it was nothing. But I never thought of trying to sell them, and I've never posted anything on Craigslist, so I wouldn't have even tried.

Now maybe I won't feel so hesitant about buying tickets for something in advance, worrying if we will actually use them or not. Knowing we have the equivalent of a used-car salesman in the family, we're sure to get our money back.

Free from School (and Work)

2009-09-18T19:04:00.000-07:00

Livian and Avalie didn't have school on Thursday and Friday this week, so I decided to play hooky from work and do some fun activities with the girls on their first day off (Thursday). After dropping off Melaina at preschool, we went over to the local bowling alley and used a coupon to get a free game of bowling for each of us. We had to pay for the shoe rentals, but that was it. Since it was just after 9am, the lanes were pretty empty, so that was nice. It's been such a long time since we've been bowling (aside from Wii Bowling), we all had to re-learn how to do it. But we had fun anyway.

After a game of bowling, we went over to Putt Putt for a round of miniature golf. It was misting and sprinkling off and on all morning, so I was afraid the Putt Putt place would have the golf course closed, but they didn't. Again, since it was so early in the morning (and since it was raining), there was no one else on the course but us. The girls had more fun playing golf than bowling, and they especially enjoyed the zoo animal statues scattered around the course. Of course the girls and I didn't mind getting rained on a little bit, and it actually made the course a little easier for me, with the carpet being so wet and squishy.

Sharla was not interested in bowling or putt-putt, so she decided to stay home and work on some sewing projects without any distractions. She made a lot of progress on some awesome baby blankets for a friend while we were gone.

Future American Idol?

2009-08-31T10:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday during lunch, (while Sharla was running an errand), the girls and I started playing a game where I would name a movie and the girls would start singing or humming songs from the movie. We started with Scooby Do, and then moved on from there. My girls love watching the same movies over and over again, so the songs from the movies get stuck in their heads.

At one point, we were quite a sight, me standing in the kitchen singing along to High School Musical songs with my girls. Yes, I'm such a manly man. I'm just glad there were no cameras rolling!

Do you know any songs from the following movies? My girls all do! Scooby Do, Brother Bear, Meet the Robinsons, Island Princess, Spirit, Peter Pan, Jungle Book, Curious George, School House Rock, 12 Dancing Princesses, My Little Pony, (I'm sure there were more than that).

Farm Town Addiction

2009-08-01T20:59:00.000-07:00

They say the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Well, here it goes...

I am addicted to Farm Town on Facebook.

There, I said it! I have been spending too much time playing that silly game, and it has taken away precious minutes that I could have been using to think up things to blog about. Thus the 1+ month with no blogs from me.

I'm hoping this short little blog will help get me back on the right track. The problem is, my plan may be error prone. Instead of thinking about how to lessen the time I spend playing Farm Town, I'm trying to figure out what else I can stop doing to find more time to blog. Yes, I still need some help, don't I?

Unfortunately, I can't get any help from my beloved wife. She's more addited to Farm Town than I am.

And she hasn't admitted it yet.

This didn't happen when I was younger

2009-06-25T21:09:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed the previous blog vote so much, I've decided to offer another one. Here is another debate going on in the house - should I go see the doctor or not? Does my ankle look broken to you?

Actually, there is no debate going on, but it is a pretty gruesome sight, isn't it? I must have gotten kicked during my indoor soccer game on Tuesday night, because my lower leg was hurting and swelling on the way home from the game, and this is what it looked like Wednesday morning. It didn't hurt during the game, so it's just a bruise, not a sprained ankle or anything serious. I actually got kicked just above the ankle, but all the blood drained down around my ankle and pooled in my foot. It looked even worse after my soccer game on Wednesday night. Yes, I played soccer again on Wednesday - I just wrapped it with a bandage and hoped nobody kicked me. It doesn't hurt to run or play soccer, but it does hurt to push on it. So if I had gotten kicked there, I would have been a sight to see - hopping around crying like a girl! But I scored 4 or 5 goals Wednesday night (I can't remember exactly) and we won the game, so it was worth the risk!

I never got hematomas like this when I was younger. I'm afraid this is yet another sign that I am getting old.

The votes are in!

2009-06-25T11:13:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all of you who commented on the Fort Worth Zoo logo. Judging from your comments, it is obvious (unanimous, actually) that the logo is indeed an elephant, NOT A DUCK! Sharla says she has thought it was a duck for as long as she can remember. (I know, how sad.) And Livian was convinced it was a duck too! Do you see what I have to deal with around here? Fortunately, Avalie agreed it was an elephant, so there is some hope for this family.

Hospital Fashion

2009-06-23T19:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of me visiting Dad in his isolation chamber at M.D. Anderson last week, complete with the hair net, gown, mask, gloves, and shoe covers. I'm glad I didn't notice the mirror on the back of Dad's door, so I didn't know how embarrassed I should have been until after I got home!

If you don't succeed, ask again, and again

2009-06-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

Livian had another one of her compulsive episodes this weekend. You know how she sometimes gets something stuck in her head and won't let it go, and drives everyone around her crazy by talking about it nonstop to anyone within earshot? Well, Livian and Melaina found a small bird egg outside sometime on Friday, and it just had a tiny hole in the side of it, but was otherwise intact. Livian thought that was the greatest thing ever, and her mind started turning, trying to figure out what she could do with it. She soon decided that she needed to build a nature museum to display things of nature that she found or created. First, she wanted to build a nest for the egg, then go get a model bird from Hobby Lobby to put in the nest. Then she needed to find a good place for the museum. Don't ask me why, but it had to be an outside museum, which meant she needed to build a roof to protect her exhibits from the rain and snow, and it needed to have a door so rats and other pests couldn't get in and ransack the place. Which meant she needed my help.

That girl followed me around ALL DAY on Saturday talking nonstop about that museum, trying to get me to help her decide the how to build a roof for the museum, asking me if I liked her ideas, and asking me for other ideas for what she could put in the museum. NONSTOP TALKING! I tried my best to be supportive, but also realistic. I have learned that if I'm too supportive, then I get roped in to execute all her elaborate, outlandish, plans! I tried to get her to build her bird's nest by herself, thinking she would enjoy the challenge, but she didn't go for it. First she asked how to do it. I suggested she look online. So she asked me to help her look online. So we found a site that demonstrated how to build a nest on your own. But Livian said the article only listed the materials, but not actually how to do it. I suggested she get some vines from the wysteria plant to form the basic shape, but then she wanted me to help her do it. I wound a few vines together to get her started, but she said she didn't understand what I was doing. By then I was roped in, so we worked on it together until it was done. We included leaves and grass along with the vines, and finished it off with some lint from the dryer. Livian was very happy with the finished product. Her neighbor friends couldn't believe it was handmade when she showed it off to them.

Next Livian wanted more ideas for what should go into the museum. I pointed out that lots of museums had art in them, and suggested that she draw some artwork to put in the museum. Instead, Livian decided to take pictures of nature on our street and print them out to display in the museum. She spent a long time walking up and down the street taking pictures, and she must have taken about 60 pictures of nature. Then she wanted me to print them all out. ALL of them! I finally won that battle after continually changing the subject every time she brought it up.

During her picture expedition, Livian found a dead cicada that still looked alive. She decided that she needed to find a bunch of bugs and pin them to a piece of wood to add to the museum. We got the cicada attached to cardboard (instead of wood), and found a grasshopper to add as well. However, the grasshopper was still alive, and it didn't die when we (that is, I) pinned it to the cardboard. It just sat there wiggling it's legs and spitting on the cardboard. After about 30 minutes Livian came out and told me the grasshopper was too small for her collection, and we should take it off. After some prodding, the truth came out. She felt too bad that we had pinned the live bug to the cardboard, and she just couldn't bare to look at it anymore. She is such a nature lover, even for bugs and other pests! So we let it go, only to have Melaina start playing with it. Truthfully, given the choice of being pinned to cardboard or being Melaina's playtoy, I think the grasshopper would have preferred the pin and cardboard. But Livian didn't pay enough attention to come to its rescue that time.

Next she drew some pictures of a fire ant colony and the life cycle of a butterfly, and added those pictures to the museum. Oh, and she also rescued a weed with flowers on it as I was pulling weeds in the front bed, planted it in a pot, and added it in the museum.

Near the end of the day, I finally convinced her that the museum would be fine without a roof and door until it rained, and there is no rain in sight for days and days around here. Livian allowed just a bit of reality to seep in, and she conceded. Yippee! One small victory for Daddy! Thank goodness, because there was no way her roof idea was going to work, but she just wouldn't let it go!

As you can imagine, I was exhausted by the end of the day. But you gotta love her!

What's this picture?

2009-06-22T18:08:00.000-07:00

OK, I need your help to solve this little family debate going on in the Green Bean household. What animal do you see in this logo? Please comment on the obvious answer. The polls will close after everyone goes to sleep tonight. Thanks!

To Fly or Not to Fly

2009-06-17T15:15:00.000-07:00

I had quite a difficult time accomplishing my plans to go visit Dad at MD Anderson in Houston for a few days this week. On Sunday afternoon I made arrangements with Uncle R.C. to pick me up at Houston Hobby airport at 11:15am on Monday morning, and sent emails to coworkers to let them know I wouldn't be in the office Monday thru Wednesday. On Monday morning when I went online to check in for the flight, I found that the flight had filled up since I had checked it the previous evening. So I couldn't take that one. The next one was also full, but the 1pm flight still had 20 open seats, so I booked that one and called R.C. to let him know to pick me up at 2:30pm instead. When I checked in for this flight, everything was normal, and I even got a seat assignment, so everything looked fine. Sharla and the girls drove me to the airport a little before noon and dropped me off. We said our goodbyes, and Sharla drove away. I went through security as usual, but as I checked the monitors on my way to the gate, I found that my flight was cancelled! I had checked for the departure gate before we left for the airport, so the flight had cancelled sometime during that 30-minute period! How frustrating! I talked to a gate agent about rebooking me on another flight, and he suggested flying to Intercontinental airport instead. But that airport is a lot farther away from both R.C. and the hospital. So after talking to Sharla on the cell phone, and getting her to look up flight availability for the rest of the day and the next day, I decided to try again on Tuesday morning. Sharla got the kids back in the car and headed back to the airport again to pick me up. Meanwhile I called Mom and told her the situation, and I also called R.C. again to tell him he didn't need to pick me up on Monday anymore.

Tuesday morning, I checked in for the 9:55am flight 4 hours early, and again got a seat assignment, since there were 20 open seats on this one as well. Things were looking good. Sharla and the girls dropped me off at the airport, said their goodbyes, and headed off to swimming lessons. I went through security, checked that monitors to make sure my flight was still on time, then settled in to wait to board. Well, at about 9:45am, the gate agent announced two bad things. First, the airplane for our flight was going to arrive late, so our flight would be delayed by about 50 minutes. That meant another call to R.C. to let him know a new time to pick me up. Second, a flight going to Intercontinental airport had just cancelled, and they had rebooked people onto my flight, so all standbys like me were back on the standby list (our previous boarding passes were now invalid). I was #7 on the list, but the flight now full with rebooked passengers. I waited around to make sure everyone who had a seat showed up (which they did), and then called Sharla to have her check on later flights during the day. There wasn't much hope for me to make it on the next flight, and the ones later in the day wouldn't get me to Houston until late afternoon, if I even got on. So at that point I gave up on flying to Houston and decided to drive. At least then I would be in control, and I wouldn't have to keep calling R.C. and revising my plans. Plus, I figured I'd get to Houston at about the same time as I would if I kept trying to fly.

So Sharla got the kids in the car once again, and headed back to the airport to bring me home. The kids threw a fit (one child in particular) when Sharla told them they had to get in the car again, so Sharla let them watch a movie on the portable DVD player to keep them occupied on the complete waste of time they had to endure to come get me again. The green beans were not happy campers at this point!

So after returning home, I changed into shorts and Crocs, made sure I had my lunch and some munchies for the drive, and headed out of town. During this ordeal I kept thinking, "Is God trying to tell me NOT to go to Houston?? Is that why my travel plans keep getting disrupted?" I'm not sure if you believe God works in those ways, but I decided maybe He just didn't want me to FLY to Houston. But in case he really didn't want me to go to Houston at all, I said a quick prayer and told God he was welcome to make my car break down if he really didn't want me to go, and I would get the hint. But please make it break down before I get out of town. That would be so NOT cool to get halfway there and then get stuck in the middle of nowhere. That would be just cruel. Fortunately, my drive was successful without incident, and I didn't even get sleepy during the entire 4 hours! Yes, I was surprised as well.

So I guess God just didn't want me to FLY to Houston, but he was fine with me driving there. Or he really didn't want me to go at all, and I just didn't take the hints, so he gave up. Or life just stinks sometimes, and that's just the way it is. In any case, I have enjoyed being here and getting to be with Dad, and R.C. and Betty were VERY accommodating Tuesday night, so it has been all good here.

Oh, except that I'm having to wear latex gloves while typing this blog. Have you ever tried to use the little mouse finger pad on a laptop while wearing latex gloves?? Well, it doesn't work very well. Those pads were designed for much less friction!! And the glove keeps wrinkling as I rub my finger across the pad. Frustrating!

Can't...get the....mouse pointer...over....to the...Publish Post...button...

Zoo Fun

2009-06-09T19:35:00.000-07:00

I took my Memorial Day holiday from work on Monday, and we all went to the zoo after swimming lessons in the morning. We got there just before lunch, walked through the monkey section, then stopped for lunch. Then we headed up to Texas Wild and rode the carousel. With our zoo membership, we were able to ride the carousel for free, so that was fun for the girls (and relaxing for me!).

We all got tired pretty quickly, and we had to get back home in time for gymnastics at 4:30pm, so we didn't stay long enough to see all the animals. I think Sharla spent more time observing all the people at the zoo than watching the animals. She even took a picture of a man wearing what she called the ugliest shirt she had ever seen! I have decided not to post it, for fear that one of you might own a shirt just like it. I wouldn't want to offend... :-)

Speaking of offending people, during our visit we happened to see some early ancestors of Rho. Now we know where the goatee and the love of rock climbing come from. Hah!

And here is my favorite animal of the day. Wouldn't it be nice to be that relaxed and carefree? I decided not to tell you who this picture reminded me of (again, trying not to offend).

A week in Montreal

2009-05-31T19:32:00.000-07:00

Here is a summary of my trip to Montreal for the AGIFORS Operations Conference.

I left DFW on Sunday afternoon on a direct flight to Montreal. I got to sit in first class on the flight, so that was nice - made the 3.5-hour flight much more comfortable. The in-flight movie was "Paul Blart Mall Cop." Not a good movie, but I watched it anyway. It helped pass the time...

It was very easy getting through customs in Montreal - no lines at all. And since I didn't check any bags, I was out of there in no time. Nobody checked my temperature or asked if I had a fever, so I guess they are not as over-reacting about the swine flu as other places I've heard about. I shared a cab with Deepak and Balaji to the hotel – arrived around 8:15pm. After checking in, I went to my room to put away my luggage, but the key card didn’t work in the room door. So I went back down to the front desk and told them the key didn’t work. The hotel receptionist took the key and revalidated it, and sent me back upstairs. This time the key card worked, but when I opened the door and walked in the room, there was someone else already in the room! Yikes! I was really embarrassed, but luckily the guy didn’t appear too bothered by me walking into his room. I quickly excused myself from the stranger's room, then went back downstairs and told the front desk what happened. The receptionist was very apologetic, and to make up for it, she gave me an upgraded room on the 11th floor for the same price. After unloading my stuff in the new room, I quickly went downstairs to the last 30 minutes of the AGIFORS welcome reception, then back up to my room to turn in for the night.

Monday was conference talks all day, so not much eventful until the evening. Most meals are included in these conferences, so we are never hurting for food. The breakfasts and lunches each day were buffet-style meals, so I had plenty to eat.

Monday evening, the conference attendees walked for about 20 minutes down to the St. Lawrence River and boarded a boat for a dinner cruise. The cruise lasted 4 hours, and the dinner lasted for the first 3 hours! It was a 5-course meal, including lobster and grilled salmon for the main course. I’ve never had lobster before, so that was an adventure for me. It was good, but probably not worth the effort (and the mess). Plus, there is just something disheartening about your food staring up at you from your plate.

Because the cruise lasted so long, we didn’t get back to the hotel until 11:30pm. I was still trying to prepare for my airline update presentation, so I worked on it a little more and got to bed late as a result.

We listened to talks from 8am to 3pm on Tuesday, and then had the vendor exhibition after that. The rest of the evening was on our own, so Deepak, Balaji and I walked down to Old Montreal to take in some of the sights of the town. We tried to go into the Notre Dame Cathedral, but it closed at 4:30pm, so we just got pictures of the outside. After walking around for an hour, we stopped at a restaurant for dinner, and spent 2 hours eating dinner there. They really take their time at meals!!

I got back to the hotel around 9:30pm that night, so I had enough time to finish preparing for my airline update and get a good night of sleep for the first time in Montreal. I was really dragging all day on Tuesday, so it felt great to get a good night's sleep!

Wednesday morning at 8:15am, I gave my airline update, and it went well. I was glad to do it, but it was a relief to be done. At 4pm Wednesday afternoon, I went out on my own to do some souvenir shopping. It was raining all day on Wednesday, but Montreal has an extensive underground network of walkways, shops and restaurants, to allow people to get around during the 6 months of cold winter without going outside. I made it to within one block of the souvenir shops staying underground, so that was fun.

At 6:30pm, we walked (underground again) to the restaurant for the evening. Again, a 3-hr meal, including seven courses. This was an authentic Quebec restaurant, specializing in "game." I got to try some new foods, including caribou jerky, chicken liver mousse, duck sausage, and caribou steak as the main course. It was fun getting to experience all the different kinds of foods, but 3 hours is just too long to sit at the dinner table!

Thursday morning we had one more round of presentations, then lunch, then the closing conference meeting. The conference ended around 1:30pm. Tim and I shared a cab back to the airport and flew home, via a connection in Chicago, on two uneventful flights. I arrived back at DFW airport around 9:15pm. I had started reading the book "The Same Kind of Different as Me" the last night in the hotel, and I continued reading it on both flights home. I am really enjoying the book, and I almost read the entire thing during those two flights.

It definitely felt good to be back home again. Rachael and Thom next door watched the house while Sharla drove to the airport to pick me up, so we could leave the girls in bed. Livian was still awake when we got back to the house, but the other two didn't see me until Friday morning. They both gave me big hugs to welcome me back home, so it was nice to feel missed.

Career Day

2009-05-15T06:42:00.000-07:00

Hello, Blogging World! I just realized it has been over a month since my last blog! What has happened with the time?? It has been so long that I nearly forgot my password. Yikes! Anyway, I hope to start getting back into the habit of blogging again, at least more like twice a month. Hah!

I volunteered to participate in Career Day at Livian and Avalie's school today. What was I thinking? Now I have to figure out a way to explain what Operations Research is to classrooms of kindergartners and 3rd graders. I can't even explain it to Sharla!

Wish me luck. It should be entertaining (at least for me!). My worst nightmare will come true if one of the kids falls asleep during my presentation.

2009-04-13T18:43:00.000-07:00

Now that spring is here, my yard has started looking colorful again. My Bridal Wreath Spirea always looks beautiful for several weeks this time of year, and they both flowered very nicely again this year.

And the tulips I planted were amazing. I didn't do it on purpose, but the bag of bulbs I bought last fall contained a mix that had different bloom times for the tulips. So just as one group of tulips were beginning to fade, another group (with a different color) were just starting to bloom. We had four different sets of blooms spread across a month and a half!

Now, just as the tulips are finally starting to fade, my azaleas (behind the tulips) are in full bloom, so they are starting to take center stage. The rose bushes under the front window are also blooming profusely, so the front yard is still full of color! The goal is for some of my butterfly-attracting flowers to start blooming next - we'll have to wait and see how well they can compete with what we've had so far.

Another video of me being a kid

2009-03-28T17:41:00.000-07:00

Here is another video I created to show off some of my kid hobbies - speed stacking, double speed. Maybe this will motivate you to get out the cups again and hone your skills!

Inspiration Strikes

2009-03-10T18:40:00.000-07:00

I had my "Now that you're here, what have you done" presentation this afternoon, and I was happy with how it went. Except for being too long, I think it was entertaining for most people. The only problem was that one of the videos didn't display on the projector. It worked fine on the laptop, but just showed black through the projector. I was bummed, because it was the video of me on my Heelys. So here it is for all you blog readers to view. Some of you already know I can Heely, but this may be new for some of you.

Inspiration Anyone?

2009-03-09T19:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't been blogging lately. I guess I'm waiting for my next inspiration. There for a while I was busy preparing for the talk I gave at the TORUS conference at ACU on Saturday, Feb. 28. After that Sharla and I attended some sessions of the Marriage Matters seminar at North Davis, presented by Jerry and Lynn Jones. Since then I have been expending all my creativity working on a presentation for work. Tomorrow is my turn to give a short presentation called "Now that you're here, what have you done" at the monthly birthday celebration in the OR group at work. It's my chance to tell everyone a little bit about myself - what projects I have worked on at AA, interesting places I've traveled, hobbies, etc. The problem is, we've had some really good ones in the past several months, so the bar has been set pretty high. I'm trying to come up with something a little different from the norm, which is the reason for the extra creativity required. I'm also trying to cram too much into this short presentation, which means I'm going a little overboard. Oh well, it will be over tomorrow, and then hopefully I'll have some creative energy left for blogging. Who knows - maybe some of the presentation will end up on my blog. That would be easy, wouldn't it?

Pumpkin Science

2009-02-18T19:46:00.000-08:00

Here is one of the science experiments that didn't make the final cut into the Valentines Talent Show last week. I thought it was a close contender, but then Sharla reminded me that it was supposed to be a kid talent show, and even though I acted like a kid, it wouldn't fly. So this experiment's only light of day is here on my blog.

Valentines Banquet at North Davis

2009-02-16T19:03:00.000-08:00

We had the Valentines banquet last Friday, Feb. 13, for the senior saints at church. The tables were all decorated with placemats made by the kids, and the kids escorted the guests to their tables and did all the serving and cleaning up. There were probably about 65 guests at the banquet. The food was provided by Spaghetti Warehouse, delivered in separate pans. A few parents, including Sharla, made the plates of spaghetti and salad. The kids would stream into the kitchen one by one and take a plate back out to the waiting guests at the tables. The kids also served the bread and the drinks with the dinner. As people finished eating, some of the kids picked up the plates as others walked around pushing the dessert trays. The desserts were provided by parents (including Sharla), and there were lots of yummy sweets to choose from. Sharla brought a cherry cream-cheese dessert, which looked very Valentinesy, and it was a very popular choice - the first one gone. The kids also offered coffee to anyone who wanted it. After all the guests had been served their dessert and coffee, the entertainment for the evening began - the talent show. There was a nice variety of talents, including gymnastics routines, trumpet playing, artwork, and science experiments! We videotaped Livian's science experiments during the talent show, and I have it here for your viewing pleasure. I had to cut the video into three sections to upload them to the blog, so here they are, in sequence. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

Anybody got Potassium Iodide?

2009-02-10T22:55:00.000-08:00

My new soccer shoes arrived in the mail today. Remember the ones I ordered off eBay? I have a soccer game tonight, but I’m not going to wear them – I need to break them in a little before wearing them in a game. I am very busy trying to get all the chemicals necessary to do the experiments we want to do for Friday’s talent show. We have decided to do three experiments for the talent show, but I can’t find the right chemicals for the third (and coolest) experiment. The chemistry department wasn’t much help either. They thought we could get them from a drug store, but I went to about 5 stores without finding them. Ugh. Too much time being wasted on this project!

Oh, by the way, we won tonight’s soccer game 5-1. The team we played was undefeated last season (beat us twice) until the championship game, and we tied them 7-7 and then won in a shootout. They were missing their star striker tonight, and it definitely showed in their inability to score more than one goal.

Too sick for work

2009-02-09T21:50:00.000-08:00

Today I went home from work early because of my cold. I would not have gone to work at all if I hadn’t had two important meetings to attend today. I took a bag of Kleenexes with me to all my meetings to keep from dripping on my notebook. Hee hee.

Sharla is still sick as well, and Livian almost stayed home from school today because she has a cough, a sore throat, and a headache. But after breakfast she started running around, laughing and playing with Avalie like nothing was wrong, so we sent her to school anyway. And she did fine. After school Livian said she still felt sick, but she at least felt better than she did that morning. Hopefully she and I will get over it quickly. Unfortunately, Sharla has something worse than the rest of us, because she is too nauseous to eat anything, and therefore she is weak and tired all day long. At least the chills and fever have gone away. Maybe the end is in sight?

Gifts for the Sweets

2009-02-08T21:48:00.000-08:00

Today I took Avalie and Melaina to Bible class and worship and left Sharla and Livian sick at home. Sharla stayed in bed most of the time, while Livian occupied herself with reading and crafts.

Two older women from church brought Valentines gifts for our girls this morning. They said our girls are so sweet, and they appreciate receiving the chocolate-covered spoons our girls have been handing out at Xmas time for the past several years.

That evening after Bible study I read more of Book 3 from the Twilight series. I think I’m getting obsessed with these books. Sometimes I can’t put them down. Sharla says Book 3 is better than Book 2, so I’m hopeful. So far so good.

Saturday Treasures

2009-02-07T22:45:00.000-08:00

I took Livian, Avalie and Melaina to the Home Depot Kid Workshop this morning. They made treasure boxes, complete with felt on the inside. Oh great, like we need more reasons to go hunting for more "treasures." I also took the girls to the park in the afternoon to enjoy the warm day. We took a kite to fly, because it was windy, and the girls also played in the sand pit (the sand volleyball courts). I already had a runny/stuffy nose from the wind on Friday, so being out at the park didn't help matters. I attributed my worsening runny nose to allergies.

Sharla was sick all day today – she stayed home from the park and tried to sleep. She has all the flu symptoms except a fever, but says she thinks our ear thermometer might not be very accurate, because she was getting chills like is typical with a fever.

Oh, and I finished Book 2 from the Twilight series this evening and started Book 3. Woohoo!

Goal-scoring maniac

2009-02-06T21:44:00.000-08:00

Today I had an indoor soccer game at 11:20pm! I told myself I wouldn’t go to games that started after 11pm, but I missed the last game and was feeling guilty about missing two weeks in a row, so I forced myself to stay awake long enough to make it. We only had 7 players (which means only 1 sub), but we still did fine. I did really well, scoring 5 of our 8 goals. However, our defense was quite pathetic at times during the game, and the other team came back from 3 goals down with under 5 minutes to go and tied us 8-8. Bummer! But at least I felt good about having such a good game.

Is no news really good news?

2009-02-05T22:05:00.000-08:00

This is getting hard – I’m surprised I have remembered this much! Thursday is gymnastics day for Livian and Avalie, so I usually get home from work before they get back from practice. I don’t remember anything memorable about this evening, so I’ll just say I read more of book 2 of the Twilight series. I’m almost finished. This one started out quite boring, in my opinion, but the last half is good.

Prep for Valentine's Day Banquet

2009-02-04T23:00:00.000-08:00

The Children’s Ministry is having a Valentine’s Day banquet for the senior saints at church next Friday (Feb. 13), and this evening was a planning and decorating event at the church building. The kids will be seating the guests and serving dinner and dessert, and then they will have a talent show for the entertainment. We talked Melaina into reciting the books of the Old Testament for her talent, and with a bribe of a lollipop, she agreed! She practiced for Richie (the Children’s minister) tonight, so we know she can do it. I fully expect we’ll need another bribe come Friday night, but let’s hope Melaina doesn’t try to up the ante on the value of the bribe.

During the preparations Livian and her friend Cale decided it would be fun to do a science experiment for the talent show, and they asked me to help them come up with a good science project. I have narrowed the choices down to 4-5, but I’m waiting to see if Cale’s mom can appropriate the necessary chemicals from the chemistry department at her school, because I can’t get them. I plan to get the performances on video. Pictures just won’t do them justice.

Oh, and today was the day of Sharla and Melaina’s infamous fall outside the front door. You’ve probably seen her account of the event on her blog, including the re-enactment pictures. Very realistic looking, weren't they? I was planning on putting down stone tiles to cover up the hole around the sidewalk where Sharla tripped, but now I’m thinking that those foam gymnastics mats might be a better choice!

New soccer boots

2009-02-03T23:06:00.000-08:00

Sharla had her girls’ night out tonight, so I ate spaghetti with the girls and got them through the bath and into bed by myself. My Thursday soccer game was on Tuesday this week, but the game started at 11:30pm (Yikes!), so I decided to skip it and enjoy my sleep. Instead, I was home at the right time to bid on a new pair of turf shoes on eBay, and I won! But before you get too excited for me, I was the only bidder, and I won with the opening bid. Not very exciting. I guess not too many soccer players need shoes as big as my feet, so the competition is slim? That or I’m the only want who thinks these particular shoes were a good deal, and everyone else knows better. I guess I’ll find out when they show up on my doorstep. I have gone all Nike for my soccer shoes (indoor, turf, and cleats). They fit better than any other shoes I’ve tried, so I’m sticking with them until they change styles.

Super Bowl Sunday

2009-02-01T22:59:00.000-08:00

I taught Bible class this morning. We have started a new Bible class series called "When God Calls," based on the book by Dr. Glenn Pemberton. It looks like it will be a very interesting series – we’ll be looking at stories in Scripture when God called people to special tasks, and what we can learn from those stories.

Then, of course, later in the afternoon was the Super Bowl. We invited our small group over to watch the game together. It was a fun game to watch, even though I wasn’t too thrilled about either team making it that far. I decided to cheer for the Cardinals, and then I almost stopped watching it in the third quarter because they were doing so bad, but they made it interesting in the fourth. I recorded the game on our DVR in case we wanted to pause it and then pick up again where we left off, but that didn’t end up happening.

Ten days ago

2009-01-31T20:13:00.000-08:00

Rho had a great idea to create some retroactive posts to make it seem like he was posting more frequently. Since I have fallen off the edge of the Blogging world for the past month or so, I decided I would follow Rho's lead and do the same. So even though today is Feb. 9, I'm going back as far as I can remember and start posting from there. So here we are, Saturday, Jan. 31. I know, I'm pathetic.

Today I decided I would pretend that my girls were boys and try to do boy things with them all day. Every time they would suggest something girly, I would scrunch my nose and say "Ewww!!" and then suggest something a little more manly. I have had enough Polly Pockets, My Little Ponies, pretend princesses and princes, and Webkinz. OK, so that's a bit of an exaggeration - I actually just wanted to play some sports with the girls, which is something they rarely want to do. Part of my motivation was that it was a reasonably warm day today, after being bitter cold (and icy) earlier in the week.

So I set up my pop-up soccer goals in the back yard, pumped up our size-3 soccer balls, and took all 3 girls out for a game of soccer. Amazingly, they all three agreed. Actually, Melaina was the first to jump at the opportunity, but she soon opted for the swingset, and spent most of the time asking me to watch her swing. But even so, we all had a fun time.

After a while, Livian and Avalie decided they wanted a water break, so I went in and grabbed some baseball gloves and a tennis ball. When Livian and Avalie came back outside, I informed them that we were going to play catch (another common and entertaining boy activity). You should of seen the look on their faces! Horror-struck! They turned and looked at each other as if to say, "Did he just say what I think he said??"

But I don't want them to be in junior high and have other kids tease them for "throwing like a girl," and the earlier you start, the easier it will be. So I forced them to play catch with me. And yes, I did have to force them! So sad! I am such a meanie. Avalie was more agreeable in the beginning (as if that were a surprise), but I finally convinced Livian to join in as well. She automatically started complaining that the glove wouldn't fit right, and then it wouldn't close, and then her hand started getting sweaty. *sigh*

Avalie was just starting to get the hang of catching the ball in her mitt, and then one of my soft, gentle tosses went right through her glove and bonked her right in the nose! She started crying (her girl instincts kicking back in), went and sat down on the steps, and refused to play anymore. Livian and I continued to play for a little longer, and she actually got to where she could catch almost every toss. Of course, I had to make sure the toss was aimed directly at her open glove and away from her face, but I managed. Livian has quite an arm - she was using me as target practice instead of just throwing the ball to me. She thought it was funny for me to have to dive out of the way to avoid getting pelted by her fast balls from 6 feet away! But she too soon tired of the game after a few more minutes, so we called it a day. They probably still wonder what they did wrong to deserve such treatment.

Oh, I just now remembered what else we did later on Saturday afternoon. Livian was begging for us to go down and see the three horses that live in a pasture about a half-mile from our house. I thought it would be fun to ride our bikes, and it might be just the incentive Avalie needed to finally learn how to ride her bike. She is so close to getting the hang of it. Unfortunately, she is still too afraid to ride her bike, since the last time she tried she fell one time and it scared her. So once again, I forced her to try for a few minutes, hoping to replace her frightening experiene with a more positive one. (Yep, mean Dad again, two times in the same day!) Avalie whimpered and whined the whole time she biked up and down the cul de sac with me running beside her to keep her from falling, and she ran inside as soon as I let her get off the bike. So much for the positive experience!

So Livian and I rode bikes to go see the horses by ourselves. These trips to the horses are always the same. I have to listen to Livian talk nonstop the entire way there and back about how she wished she had a horse, how she wished she knew the owners of these three horses so she could learn more about them (and go inside the pasture to be closer to them), how she is going to buy a horse with her own money as soon as she has earned enough (she found one on the internet from Minnesota for $200), and how long I thought it would be before she gets one. Last fall the conversation also included detailed descriptions of how we could redesign the backyard so that we could build a small stall and paddock for the miniature horse she was determined to get (from Minnesota). She even drew it out on paper more than once to make sure I understood what she was describing, and then asked me several times a day when I was going to start building. This bike trip to visit the horses was a partial success, because Livian was able to coax two of them over to the edge of the fence where she could feed them some green grass from outside the fence. Unfortunately, her favorite one (I think she named it Twilight) wouldn't come over, so she was a little disappointed about that.

Harry Potter Room

2009-01-21T18:27:00.001-08:00

Over the Christmas/New Years break, I spent a bunch of time working on renovating the closet under the stairs into a pantry. For as long as we have been in this house, this closet has been the storage place for coats, umbrellas, the vacuum cleaner, and a dumping ground for anything and everything that didn't have another home. It was so packed with stuff that Sharla and I hated venturing past the coats to look for anything. There was no light in there, so you had to take a flashlight to look for anything, and you had to climb in and out of the mess to find whatever you were looking for.

Well, those days are gone. After Sharla hinted enough times that she needed more pantry space than the one small pantry closet in our kitchen, we decided to clean out the closet under the stairs and build some shelves to store extra food stuff. Once we found homes for all the stuff that was in there, I decided the closet needed a little more than some new shelves if we were going to be actually using it on a regular basis. Including new flooring, a fresh coat of paint, and a light. The new paint came first, than I scraped up the old vinyl flooring that was in there and put down some new laminate wood flooring. Then I built the shelves and finally installed a new light switch and a new light. I took Dad's advice and put in a flourescent tube light, and I think the result turned out really nice. I even went through the trouble of feeding the electrical wires through the wall from the switch to the light, so now there are no exposed wired to hide. Here are a few pictures to show off the finished product.

Sharla is very excited to have more storage space for hoarding - I mean stockpiling (does that sound any better?) - more food and paper goods. The girls are excited because ever since we cleaned out the closet, they have wanted to go in there to play. They had been taking a battery-powered lantern in there for light, and playing school, Polly Pockets, and anything else they can think of. So now there is space for them to play as well.

Hematoma

2009-01-14T19:37:00.000-08:00

Thank you for your blood donation, Mr. Green. Please accept this hematoma as a gesture of our appreciation.

I just read Mom's letter about donating blood with a rookie phlebotomist who had to move the needle around a bit, but my experience today tops that one. First, I was thrilled that my hemoglobin was high enough to allow me to donate. It was 12.8, and the minimum is 12.5, so I barely made it. And that's after taking 2 iron pills a day for the last several days!

Anyway, I had a feeling of impending doom, the minute stepped into the room, and laid my eyes upon that (donor) chair.

OK, can you name that song??

Back to my story. I started feeling a little nervous right when I got into the chair, because the person (phleb??) supposed to take my blood was sweating. It was cold in that room, so he wasn't sweating because he was hot. More like he was nervous. He was probably thinking, "Oh no, here comes another victim." Anyway, I got more anxious as he was tightening the elastic Velcro strap on my upper arm to identify a good vein, because he admitted he always has trouble with that step. Yikes! If he has trouble attaching an elastic strap, what is he doing anywhere close to 4-inch long steel needles??

He then proceeded to talk through every minute detail of the steps we was doing. After the first two steps, I realized he was talking more to himself than he was to me. Kind of like he was going over the steps out loud to make sure he was getting them all right. "Now I'm going to rub this antiseptic on your arm for 30 seconds. One...two...three...four..."

Oh, and he was going extremely slow. I surmised he either hadn't done this enough to learn the efficient ways of doing things, or he was one of those people who never thinks about doing things differently, or he was just one of those people who doesn't get in a hurry. I really, really hoped it was the third option. A fourth option would be that he just wasn't good with his fingers, and that didn't make me feel any better. A fifth option was that he never played with stickers as a kid, because he had trouble peeling the stickers off the backing and attaching them to the test tubes.

Well, the time between the multi-attempted elastic strap procedure and the time to stick me was long enough that the sweat on his forehead had nearly dried, but as he pulled out the needle, I noticed that it had returned. As much as I wanted to get up and run out the door, I decided my veins were big enough that even if he was just out of training, he would be able to find them. Plus I hadn't gotten my free T-shirt yet.

Anyway, he got the needle ready, said you'll feel a little sting for a second, and then went for it. And let me tell you, he really went for it. I swear he even took a backswing! He rammed that needle into my arm as if he was convinced it was like pulling off a band aid - you know, rip it off fast and it only hurts for an instant! It wasn't a little sting - it hurt bad, and it didn't hurt for just a second, it kept hurting. I was surprised the needle wasn't poking out the other side of my arm. But I'm such an optimist, I assumed it was ok - surely he knew what he was doing.

He stepped back, looking pleased with himself, and wiped the sweat from his brow. The pain started to lessen, so I assumed all was ok. After 10 seconds or so, he opened up the tube to start filling the pint with blood. After opening the tube, he started looking puzzled. The blood wasn't flowing fast enough. He bent the tube a little more, shook it a little, acted like he was going to ignore it, then took another look. Then he lifted up the cloth covering the needle in my arm so he could see under it but I couldn't. Then he carefully put it back down, turned from me and called for one of the other plebs. When one of the others started coming over, he said, "Hematoma." He then took the cloth off and I saw that there was a walnut-sized ball forming under my skin around the needle. "Do I need to take it out?" he asked the other pleb. Of course! Please! Before it pops! He took the needle out and asked me to hold the cloth over the blood bubble he made in my arm, and then the other guy took over. He told me - after apologizing for the other guy - that he probably either pierced straight through one side of the vein and out the other, or he just severed the side of it, but either way, I was bleeding into my arm instead of into the tube. He was very calm about it, but he also took it pretty seriously. He helped my hold my arm up while he massaged the lump for a minute or so. He said that would help stop the bleeding, but I now wonder if he was just trying to spread the blood out under my skin so it wouldn't bulge so much!

The rest of the story is not so interesting. They sent me home with a sack of ice packs and heat compresses, saying I needed to use the ice packs every two hours for the next 12 hours, and then start using the heat compresses tomorrow. He also said I would have some nice bruising there for several days. The more "in charge" workers there in the room were very apologetic - I think they felt really bad (and embarrassed) for what had happened. Two of them said they would take steps to make sure that didn't happen again. They also said someone from their office would be calling me over the next few days to make sure I was doing ok. That is standard procedure for them. So it's good that they took it seriously, even though my arm was not sore or aching or anything, and I feel fine now.

But as I was leaving, another poor soul was climbing up into that same chair, and the same guy was approaching - sweat, fumbly fingers and all. Hopefully someone was going to be close by to supervise this time. For this lady's sake, let's hope that was the case.

Happy Birthday, Bro!

2009-01-05T19:30:00.000-08:00

Here is a shout-out to my brother up in the wintery wonderland of Colorado, on his birthday. Happy Birthday, Rho! I collected this selection of random pictures from the past for your viewing pleasure. OK, so maybe it will be for the viewing pleasure of everyone else, at your expense.

We'll start with the youngest one, age 13. Wasn't he just adorable?

I'm not sure about the age in this photo, but he looks to be about 13. He sure loved showing off his jump-roping skills at that age, as you can tell! And look at that lovely wallpaper!

Now we move on to Birthday 14, complete with the center part! I remember that being cool back then.

OK, these last ones aren't so funny, but they still bring back memories of years past. Since I'm in them too, I can't laugh at them too much without laughing at myself, too. Wow - those were the days, weren't they?

Christmas Quiz

2008-12-17T18:49:00.000-08:00

I've never seen a guy complete one of these quizzes, so I'm stepping out on a limb here hoping someone else out there is macho enough to join me and do one of these too.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I like watching people (especially kids) unwrap presents, so I'd vote for wrapping paper. Except for those odd-shaped gifts that are a nightmare to wrap. Gift bags are so convenient in those cases. Especially for those of us who don't like their wrapped packages looking like they were done by someone with no thumbs.

2. Real tree or Artificial? We always had artificial growing up, so that was the standard, but while in North Carolina we decided to go for the real ones. One year we brought home a beautiful tree from a tree farm, and after a few days, I noticed the trunk had sap all over it, and the sap looked like it was moving. Upon closer investigation we noticed that our tree was infested will little black bugs! Thousands of them, all over the tree, and our presents, and the tree skirt. It was gross. (But kind of cool, too) Now that we're in Texas we have reverted back to artificial.

3. When do you put up the tree? We usually start around the second weekend in December. Putting up our tree is a multi-day ordeal, because I first have to straighten all 1888 branches on the tree, then add all the lights, then add all the garland, before we can start hanging ornaments. The girls just don't understand why they can't start hanging the ornaments immediately after the tree comes down from the attic. Sharla complains that I take too long.

4. Wreath on your door? Nope, we have a fabric snowman that Sharla made. It seems we have to re-glue the styrofoam buttons on every year.

5. Do you like eggnog? Ewww, gross, I don't like to chew my milk. And milk shouldn't taste like eggs.

6. Favorite Christmas gift received as a child? Big Wheel

7. Easiest person to buy for? My girls. They tell me exactly what they want. And then remind me every day.

8. Least easiest? Dad - he never throws anything away, and finds everything he wants at garage sales or worse. And he fixes everything that breaks, so nothing of his every needs to be replaced.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, a Little People Nativity Scene. Thanks goodness Sharla didn't bring it down from the attic this year. The pieces end up all over the house.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail cards. Can I take credit for it if Sharla does all the work?

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? It's the thought that counts, right?

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Charlie Brown Christmas. The Grinch is pretty good, too

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? November

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I take pride in my recycling.

15. Open presents on Christmas eve or morning? Both. Christmas presents from aunts and uncles on Xmas eve, and from Mom and Dad and Santa on Christmas morning

16. Lights on the tree? Both white and multi-colored. And flashing.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Last Christmas (by George Michael), Mele Kalikimaka, Mary Did you Know, Feliz Navidad

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Now we usually are home for Christmas morning. But growing up we always spent Christmas at Grandmother and Granddaddy's house in Indiana.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer’s? Yes

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star

21. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? The orange that was always stuffed at the bottom of my stocking (thanks a lot, Santa!). Just kidding. I'd have to say fudge and divinity

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Materialistic society trying to kick-start the Christmas season right after Halloween

23. Favorite Tree ornament, theme or color? Little glass balls, which Sharla finds gaudy and boring. We have the same debate every year about those ornaments.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes

25. Brussels Sprouts? That was random. Must be a British thing

26. Favorite accompaniment to the Christmas Pud? See #25

27. Favorite Christmas Carol? Silent Night

28. Your very Favorite Christmas Thing? Vacation from work, where the kids get to be my boss all day long

29. A Christmas wish? Sharla dressed up like one of Santa's helpers, complete with a hat and curled, pointy shoes

30. Tag a Seasonal Six! I don't know what this means.

Merry Christmas!

OK, now it's your turn.

If you can't see the leak, is it really there?

2008-12-15T18:19:00.000-08:00

Have you ever spent one whole hour trying to tighten a nut on a bolt? Have you ever spent another hour in that same day trying to adjust the feet to level an appliance? Sharla and I got a new dishwasher, range with smooth cooktop, and a matching microwave this past weekend (early Christmas presents for each other), so I spent way too much time trying to install the dishwasher this week. The range and microwave were not difficult, but the dishwasher was more of a challenge. I have concluded that plumbing is a perfectionist's nightmare! I have yet to complete a plumbing job where everything worked out like it was supposed to. And this dishwasher installation was no different.

Removing the old dishwasher was actually easy, which gave me false hope that the installation of the new one would go just as smoothly. WRONG! First of all, I needed an extra part to connect the dishwasher to the hot water line, so I had to go to the store to get one before I could even start. Next, the drain tube that came with the dishwasher didn't fit the hose that was attached to the disposal, so I had to get a special attachment for that too. Next, there was no attachment at Lowes to attach the drain hose to the hose I already had, so I had to get something close and figure out a way to make it work. Three attempts later, I got it. Third, after sliding the dishwasher into the slot under the countertop, there was very little room to use a wrench to tighten the hot water line to the dishwasher. Thus the one hour spent tightening the bolt. But then, sadly, when I turned the water back on, there was a slow leak where the water line attached to the dishwasher. I had already tightened it as much as I thought I could without risking damaging something, so I decided to get a new hot water line and try again. So another trip to Lowes to get one of those new flexible ones (instead of the old copper ones). Once again, I spent an hour tightening the new hot water line to the dishwasher, thinking that I would finally be done. Nope - this one leaked too! Ugh! That's definitely NOT supposed to happen, especially since I had done everything right, including using that teflon tape around the threads to make a better seal. So I tightened a little more. And then a little more. And then a little more. Now the leak is down to about 1 small drop every 20-30 minutes. I was afraid to tighten any more, so I stopped. I figure the girls spill more water than that on the floor every time they use the sink or bathtub, so I should be able to live with one drop every half hour. I still have a crick in my neck from lying on the floor for so long! I need to avoid all future plumbing work at all cost, and stick to home improvement jobs that don't involve the risk of leaks!

The sad part about getting new appliances in the kitchen - now we want to get new cabinets and countertops to match! AAAACKK!

Thanksgiving Top Tens

2008-12-01T18:18:00.000-08:00

"Top Ten" memories from the Thanksgiving holiday:

12. An army of jungle animals and horses lined up across the family room floor
11. Getting the old race track up and running in the family room
10. China Star on Friday night
9. Racing on my Heelys against Jade on her scooter
8. Justin playing Polly Pockets on the floor with Melaina
7. Mom's delicious Thanksgiving dinner
6. Completing the 5K Turkey Trot with Sharla and Mom
5. Completing the 1-mile Fun Run with Livian and Taylor
4. Watching the Dallas Cowboys win on a 42-inch Plasma TV
3. Mom jumping on the pogo stick
2. Beating Lenna at Ping-Pong
1. Too many desserts at each meal to choose just one

"Bottom Ten" memories from the Thanksgiving holiday:

12. Picking up all the little animals off the floor each night before bedtime
11. Putting the race car back on the track every time one of the girls raced it too fast around the turns
10. The raw middle part of my pumpkin pie
9. Getting laughed at for being a grown man skating on Heelys in the parking lot
8. The "Bob" song reincarnated
7. Getting up too early in the morning to run the 5K Turkey Trot
6. Listening to the ACU Wildcats lose their playoff game
5. Dad's new ceiling fan crashing to the floor
4. Melaina finding a dead bird in the tree house and handing the head to Justin
3. Getting beat by Lenna at Ping-Pong
2. Limiting myself to only two desserts per meal
1. Hearing Taylor say, “That was random” for the 100th time in two days

I hope you too had a memorable Thanksgiving holiday!

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T15:06:00.000-08:00

Sharla found this cartoon and thought it was appropriate for me. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Turkey Trot Training

2008-11-24T18:55:00.000-08:00

Mom convinced us to sign up for a 5K run/race called the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning in Abilene. We also signed Livian up for a 1-mile Fun Run after the 5K ends. Livian always seemed like she could run forever, so we thought she would enjoy participating in the 1-mile event. Livian was excited when she learned about the event.

I decided that Livian needed to go run a mile sometime before Thanksgiving to 1) see if she could do it, and 2) so she would know what it feels like to run that long (so she knows what we got her into).

So on Saturday afternoon before dinner, we finally got everyone together and went for a 1-mile Family Fun Run. I pushed Melaina in the jogging stroller while everyone else ran. Sharla ran at Avalie's pace, and I ran at Livian's pace. Livian stopped two times, but made it the complete mile in 11 ½ minutes. Avalie made it one minute later. But after that Livian said she didn't want to run in the Turkey Trot anymore. I guess she decided running that far and getting that tired is not so much fun after all. Oh well, we will still get her to do the fun run, but she may not be as motivated to make it without stopping as I hoped she would be. But that will be ok. Taylor will help keep the "fun" in it.

One mile at Livian's pace wasn't really testing me much, so I decided I needed to go run 5K before the Turkey Trot to prepare myself for the event. I can't remember the last time I ran that far, so I was really curious how it would affect me. So I got up earlier than usual this morning and went on a 3-mile jog. I made it in less than 29 minutes, without stopping, but it wasn't much fun. I realized why it had been so long since I ran that far - it's boring and it makes me tired! So now I don't want to run in the Turkey Trot either. Just kidding! But I'll have to think twice before I use "Turkey Trot" and "fun" in the same sentence from now on.

In other news, Livian lost another tooth Sunday night before going to bed. She wondered how the tooth fairy would learn about her lost tooth with such short notice, but we finally reasoned that it had something to do with placing the tooth under the pillow, and it really didn't matter when it came out. So now Livian has 3 holes in her mouth, and I think she showed Sharla another loose tooth this morning!

In other news, I have been in my new office for over a week now. I am really enjoying it. Did I mention that it has a door? And an entire wall of windows? And the windows face toward the northeast, so I don't have the afternoon sun beating down on me anymore! And for some reason it seems a little bigger than my boss's office. He was jealous when we came by and saw it. He says the desk is nicer and the chairs are newer than his. We went to the mall last weekend and I got a couple pictures to put up above the shelves along one wall. That's where I put most of my plants, too, so now it looks nice and homey. Sharla is planning to bring the girls up to admire it during lunch tomorrow, so that will be fun.

Nails and Toes

2008-11-13T18:53:00.000-08:00

OK, I have a medical question for my loyal readers. Suppose your big toe got stepped on and it is very clear that the right half of your toe nail is going to come off, but the other half is just fine. Suppose that the right half has already separated itself from your toe, but the other side is still attached. And suppose that when you peel back the right half of the nail and look underneath, it looks like the replacement toe nail is not formed yet. And when you peel it back, the nail comes loose all the way to the cuticle, so that you have to tuck the corner back under the cuticle to get it back in place.

So here's the question: What would you do with such an injury? Would you leave it alone and wait another six months for the new toe nail to form? Or would you cut the flippy-floppy part off and hope the new nail underneath is ready for the challenge? What would you do?

And would you like to see a picture to help you formulate a recommendation??

A Tall Fish Tale

2008-11-10T18:55:00.000-08:00

Sharla threatened to steal my blog entry, so I had to hurry and post these pictures of our fishing expedition last Saturday before she did. I'm not feeling inspired to write a lengthy story about the fishing trip, but hopefully I will gather some momentum after I start. If not you'll just have to enjoy the picture story.

As you may recall, when we went on the campout the previous weekend, we tried fishing for about 45 minutes and never got even a single nibble. As you would expect, the girls lost interest fast, and Livian and Avalie were off hunting frogs, and Melaina was throwing rocks and sticks into the water. I would have scolded Melaina for scaring all the fish away, but since there apparently weren't any fish there anyway, what could I say. So because of our pitifully unsuccessful outing that time, we came home with a styrofoam cup full of worms. Instead of dumping them into my compost bin, I decided to save them (remember, I'm a Green - I save EVERYTHING). Saturday morning I had this great idea to put those worms to good use and try to erase the sour memory of fishing as a hot, boring, useless waste of time by taking the girls to a little pond nearby where I knew we would catch some fish. The girls were excited (surprisingly), and even Sharla thought it sounded like fun! After picking myself up off the floor, we quickly got dressed in our jeans and outside shoes, jumped in the SUV, and headed for the adventure of the day! And if you think it odd that I mentioned that we put on jeans, may I remind you that I live in a house of girls who only wear skirts and dresses. Jeans make you look like a boy! Oh, and the girls grabbed their jackets too, but real men don't need jackets when it's sunny and mid-60s.

Well, for the first 20 minutes at the pond, it was a repeat of last weekend. We went straight to the spot where we had caught lots of fish the last time we were there (albeit over a year ago), but we weren't getting any nibbles. Once again Avalie said she was done and gave me her pole. Livian left her pole lying on the grass with the hook and bobber still in the water and started trying to catch minnows with a big plastic tub we brought to hold all the fish we were going to catch. And Melaina started gathering sticks to practice her javolin throws at my bobber. Sharla was sitting in her folding chair with her coat on, staying warm and comfortable. Camera in hand, with nothing to take a picture of. Mocking me. This wasn't turning out like I had expected.
But have no fear, I was not about to give up so easily. This was a stocked pond, for pete's sake! I decided to try to smaller pond right across the road from where we were, and I slowly began working my way around toward the far end. I cast the line out about 15 yards from the shore, and gradually reeled the worm in until it reached about 3 feet from the edge, and then tried again. And again. And again. Finally, half way around the pond, about 4 feet from the edge of the water, I got a nibble. Hallelujah! There was at least ONE fish in this pond! And it would be MINE! Unfortunately it didn't bite again, so I hoped there would be at least ONE MORE fish in this pond. And IT WOULD BE MINE!

OK, I'm already growing weary of this story, so if you're still reading at this point, I'll make the rest easy for you. I made it to the end of the pond, and that's where ALL the fish were. They were about 2-7 feet out from the edge, and they would start biting almost as soon as the hook hit the water, especially if you had a big, fresh juicy worm on the hook. You still had to use some skill and timing to catch them on the hook, but we all got the hang of it pretty quickly and started reeling them in. They were all perch, ranging in size from 3 inches to 6 inches, but the girls had a blast. I think we probably caught about 25 in total. Livian and Avalie started naming each one of them as we caught them and put them into the plastic tub. I think they named about six of them, but then they lost track of the names. They kept count until we got to about 10, but I was pulling them in so fast they couldn't keep up. Sharla had joined the fun as well, because Avalie was more interested in playing with the fish in the plastic tub than actually catching them, so we had an extra pole for Sharla. She was hauling them in just about as fast as I was. But she made me stop every time she caught one because she didn't want to touch the fish, so someone had to get the fish off the hook. Oh, the sacrifices I make as the only man in the house! (To Sharla's defense, she was perfectly willing to bait her own hook, so I was impressed. But she still said Oooowww, Gross! every time she touched one of the worms. But that was probably just for dramatic effect.) Melaina kept herself busy getting as close to the water as possible, and slipping in the mud and getting completed filthy. After that, and the scolding that followed, she occupied herself by putting leaves and grass the plastic tub of fish to make the fish feel more at home.

After we had our fill of fish catching the girls took turns setting them all free. One at a time. But this was the first time they were really interested in touching them, so it was pretty cute watching them handle the slippery, slimy fishies.

OK, are you ready for the picture story now?

Belated Jack-o-lantern

2008-11-05T18:57:00.000-08:00

Andrew, Ally and Michelle came over to go trick-or-treating with us Halloween night - oh wait, I guess you already know that from reading Sharla's blog, right?! I'll spare you the pain of reading my version of the night, except to say that I missed out on the party (and food) on our street because I had an indoor soccer game at 5:30pm. So by the time I got back, showered, and got into my costume (the awesome Dumbledore costume that won the adult costume contest at the party down the street, thank you very much!), the food was almost gone, and Sharla and the rest of the trick-or-treaters were ready to go down the street. Oh, and we won our soccer game, in case you were wondering. Actually, our team only won one game last season, but this season we're undefeated at 6-0. We added one really good player on offense, got a good keeper, and dropped a bunch of the scrubs who were playing with us last season. We're in the worst division, so that's all it takes to move from last place to first place. Pretty cool, eh?

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes, after obliterating all the other costumed adults who dared compete against the awesomeness that was my Dumbledore costume in the costume party, and collecting a hefty basket of Halloween bounty as my price for being the WINNER, we all headed back to our house to unload our baskets and compare our loot. I must say that Sharla deserves all the credit for my costume awesomeness, because she did all the work putting it together. She found the mask on clearance somewhere, she found the cape (looked like a cross between a Santa cape and a king's robe by itself), and she sewed the cloak I wore under the cape and the hat. All I did was add the spectacles to the mask and put it all on. I thought the pieces looked pretty silly by themselves. But put them on all together and Voila! I'm Dumbledore! Thanks Sharla - you are the wind beneath my wings! (I wonder if I'll get brownie points for that comment...)

Oh, I also made a funky wand out of a stick, some crumpled butcher paper, lots of tape and some spray paint, but it paled in comparison to the rest of the outfit.

By the way, you can always tell that I'm having a slow week at work when I write these long blog posts. My boss is in Japan this week. Hee hee. Oh, I hope my boss doesn't read my blog! Oh, and if you know my boss - keep quiet! I know who you are!

Speaking of bosses and slow work weeks and non-work related activities, I am finally getting an office with a door! I was supposed to get one with my last promotion, but there weren't any available. One just became available on my wing, so I'll probably be moving into my new office next week! Woohoo! No more cubicles! And now I will be able to close my door and spend more time blogging, and no one will know. Oooooh, yes, it's so Evil. Wait, I don't know how to do that. And I don't really Need a duck. Hmmmm, this is going to be harder than I thought.

OK, the first person who leaves me a comment with the correct movie that quote came from wins a prize from me.

OK, back to my story. A couple times during the evening Andrew popped up with, Uncle Tuell, you need to carve a pumpkin for me. I would just laugh and say, Oh really?, thinking he was just being silly. Well, back at the house, Michelle told me he was serious, and he had actually brought over two pumpkins to leave at our house for me to carve. So I asked him what he wanted me to carve. Andrew thought for a moment, and then said he wanted a spider on the smaller pumpkin and he didn't care about the bigger one. Well, Andrew, my first attempt at a spider failed miserably on your smaller pumpkin, and it was beyond repair, so alas - that one has found its permanent home in the compost bin. I was disappointed, too, because it was turning out so well in the beginning. It had a nice big body and long spiky legs, and poky fangs. And then the legs started falling off, and then a fang fell off! I tried using toothpicks to re-attach the appendages, but the legs were too thin and just broke into pieces when I inserted the toothpicks. So in the end I had a crumbled mess of spider parts, and it just couldn't be salvaged. Sharla pronounced it dead at 11:04pm, Monday night.

So Andrew, I still owe you a spider pumpkin. I still have some uncarved pumpkins lying around the house, so hopefully I'll get to it before Thanksgiving. In the meantime, here is what I came up with for your other pumpkin. I put it in the mail today, so it should be arriving to your doorstep tomorrow or Friday. (Just kidding)

Pictionary with a 3-year old

2008-11-05T18:41:00.001-08:00

Parent tip #327: why you should never play Pictionary with a 3-year old.

Aside from the obvious danger of letting a 3-year old loose with a white board marker, we experienced this first hand while playing Pictionary with the girls tonight. Since Melaina can't read yet, I read her word to her. I asked her, "Can you draw Milk?" "Yes," Melaina said, and walked over to the whiteboard and said out loud, "I'm going to draw Milk." So much for guessing her word! Luckily, only Sharla understood what she said, so we let her continue. Now for the hard part - how in the world is a 3-year old going to draw milk? A cow maybe? Or a sippy cup? Or a bowl of milk for a kitten? Nope. Melaina started with a small circle and then started drawing larger and larger circles, and then started drawing marks all over the circles, like she was crossing out what she just made. At first I thought she might be drawing spilled milk. Then she moved over and drew a smaller blob next to the big blob and started coloring it in. Meanwhile the girls were busy guessing what Melaina was drawing. Do you think they were getting close? After a few minutes we asked Melaina what she was drawing. She said the big blob was a nest for a bird, and the smaller blob was the bird.

"What did that have to do with Milk, Melaina?"

Response: "Um, it's a spider web?"

I gave up after that.

Only one more day!

2008-10-30T20:02:00.000-07:00

Only one more day until Halloween, and I still have more pumpkins to carve! I'm running out of time! This latest one just makes me laugh.

Pumpkinpalooza

2008-10-27T18:43:00.000-07:00

Our friend Amy hosted a pumpkin carving party at her house on Saturday afternoon, and of course that was something I just couldn't miss! Livian and I went to Wal-Mart and got a bunch of pumpkins and then we all went over to join in the fun. There were lots of kids at the party, and lots and lots of pumpkins. I was just like one of the kids, carving my own pumpkin. Unfortunately, I kept getting interrupted by one of the girls asking for help with their pumpkins! The girls had lots of fun carving pumpkins, jumping on the trampoline, and playing with their friends at Amy's house.

Here is a close-up shot of the girls' pumpkins. Avalie's is on the left. She drew the shapes on the pumpkin and I cut them out. Melaina's is in the middle - Sharla helped her make the cuts. And Livian's is on the right. She did almost all of her pumpkin by herself - I was very impressed with her patience and attention to detail. I thought it turned out really cool.

And here is a close-up of the pumpkin I made. Only four more days until Halloween - how many more pumpkins can I carve before then??

In other pumpkin news, the article about the pumpkin carving contest was published in the newspaper this Sunday. The picture of the winning pumpkin was plastered across the front page of the Your Life section, and mine (the Runner Up) was displayed on page 6, along with the other top ten carvings. Thanks again to everyone who voted for my pumpkin. It was fun seeing my carving in the paper, and I enjoyed reading the article. The article included a few paragraphs about me and my carving, so that was fun. You can read the online version at http://www.star-telegram.com/919/story/993852.html.

Pumpkin carving mania!

2008-10-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

The skin on this pumpkin was too tough to cut through with a knife, so I got creative.

Take Two!

2008-10-19T19:54:00.001-07:00

I suppose all of you already know after reading Sharla's latest post that I won second place in the newspaper's pumpkin carving contest this past week. I want to personally say thank you to everyone who worked so hard to get more votes for me. I would name names, but I'd don't want to risk incriminating anyone! Anyway, I heard about several of you going above and beyond to get more votes for my carving, and I really appreciate it. We really gave that pumpkin in prison a run for his money!

The good news is that second place is nearly as good as first place, because I still get my pumpkin's picture in next Sunday's paper! The bad news is that I have to do the carving AGAIN and take it to the Star-Telegram's office on Monday for the photo shoot.

If you didn't already know this, I chose the original pumpkins straight off the vines in a pumpkin patch in Seattle while visiting Sharla's family last weekend. I chose them specifically for this carving, and I intentionally got the tall boxy green one with the long stem on top as the sinister friend because I thought a green pumpkin with sharp yellow teeth would look cool next to the fat round orange one with pumpkin brain matter spilling out. Little did I know that green pumpkins only seem to grow in Seattle, and that I would have an impossible time recreating the scene without taking another trip back to Seattle to get similar pumpkins. I searched several stores around here in vain, and finally settled on a yellow one to replace the green one. Here is the final result.

The next time we go to Seattle in October, I think I'll have to bring a few green pumpkins home with me in an extra suitcase. They really are cool, and you never know when you might wish you had one.

Pumpkin carving contest

2008-10-15T17:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! As many of you know, pumpkin carving is my second calling. This year I entered a carving contest with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and my entry made the top 10!

However, now it’s up to the public to cast their votes on their favorite pumpkin. I would appreciate any votes cast on my behalf! You can go to http://www.star-telegram.com/919/story/976411.html. Cast your vote in the box to the right; my entry is “Pumpkin Enemies” (#5 in the slideshow online).

About my creation: I wanted a carving that was 1) fairly simple, and 2) gave the pumpkins personalities. If jack-o-lanterns were alive, I imagine this would be one of the more sinister jokes one pumpkin would play on another. I named it "Choose your friends carefully," but I guess that was too long for the Star-Telegram, because they named it "Pumpkin Enemies."

I carved these pumpkins while in Seattle this past weekend visiting Sharla's family. We went out to a pumpkin patch on Saturday morning and I chose these two pumpkins with this creation in mind. I chose another pumpkin for another carving, but ran out of time before I got started on that one. Hopefully I'll find the time to get a pumpkin somewhere around here and carve it before Halloween.

As of this posting, I am in second place. I got out to an early lead, but it didn't last long. Actually, I'm not sure I want to win, because the winner has to attend a photo shoot where they have to recreate their carving. I just want to get my carving in the Sunday paper!

Melaina's dream

2008-10-08T19:53:00.001-07:00

Here is Melaina describing a dream she had last night.

A Meeting of Hearts

2008-10-01T18:56:00.000-07:00

Here is one of my favorite excerpts from a book I just read recently - The Shack, by William P. Young. Mack is talking to God about why his daughter Missy was kidnapped and murdered about three years earlier.

Mack: "Is that what this is all about? Did she have to die so you could change me?"
God: "Whoa there, Mack. That's not how I do things."
Mack: "But if she hadn't died, I wouldn't be here now..."
God: "Mack, just because I work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies doesn't mean I orchestrate the tragedies. Don't ever assume that my using something means that I caused it or that I need it to accomplish my purposes. That will only lead you to false notions about me. Grace doesn't depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets and colors."

This week in Vegas

2008-09-28T18:54:00.000-07:00

I spent two days in Las Vegas this week. Unfortunately, I was there for work, not pleasure. My team was conducting a bag-scanning test at the airport, trying to measure the impact on the operation if they scanned the bags as they are loaded on and unloaded off the airplanes. Anyway, we flew in early Tuesday morning and stayed at the airport doing the time study until about 6pm. We had reservations at the Tropicana Resort on the Vegas Strip (there were eight of us from AA on this trip), so we all shared a rental car and drove over to our hotel, checked in, and then went to eat at the buffet in the hotel across the street, the Excalibur. Then we all gambled away our life savings until the next morning. Just kidding.

One interesting detail about the hotel is that, upon check-in, I was informed that they had run out of the standard rooms, so they gave me a luxury suite for the same price. It was on the 20th floor, had a separate living area and bedroom, a mini bar, a huge jetted jacuzzi, and a bathroom the size of another room. Very cool! The jacuzzi felt really nice on my tired legs and feet, after standing/walking on them all day long.

We spent all day Wednesday at the airport doing more time studies, and then I caught the 6:20pm flight back to Dallas. I got home around 11:30pm, I think, so it was a long, tiring two days. However, I can't complain too much, because the rest of the team stayed in Vegas for another two days to continue the study, so they didn't come home until Friday night. I was glad to come home earlier, because I got to attend Livian's 3rd grade program after the PTA meeting at school Thursday evening. The kids did a really good job in their program - all the parents were very proud.

Don't try this at home

2008-09-14T19:25:00.001-07:00

Have you ever seen how, when the winds are just right, certain birds can get in an updraft and just float motionlessly in the air, floating high above the ground without flapping their wings? Well, Hurricane Ike blew through the DFW area on Saturday, and the tropical-storm force winds were perfect for trying the human version of that magic. I couldn't get my massive girth off the ground, but Avalie and Melaina - both light as a feather - managed quite well. Melaina is demonstrating "The Angel," while Avalie is demonstrating "Soarin'."

Livian says the pictures look like someone was using a Hovering Charm on them. That gave us an idea. For our next magic trick, we'll try disapparating. So if in the near future you hear a loud CRACK! outside your front door, it's probably just Livian popping in for a short visit.

Labor Day Camp Out

2008-09-02T18:32:00.001-07:00

We had a fun, memorable time this Labor Day weekend. All summer I have been thinking it would be fun to take the girls on a camping trip somewhere close by, so they could experience cooking on a campfire and sleeping in a tent. Well, I mentioned this idea to Sharla on Saturday morning, and Livian happened to be listening. Livian got all excited about going camping – specifically roasting marshmallows, so now I was in trouble. I explained that I still didn’t know of a place to go, so we couldn’t do it anytime soon. Livian suggested we just camp here at the house instead. Without giving it much thought, I said, “Yeah, that might work.” That was enough of a confirmation for Livian, so she was off planning every detail of this camping adventure at our house.

The main details included building a fire in our fireplace in the family room on Saturday evening for roasting hotdogs and marshmallows, followed by sleeping in a tent in the family room. I told her I couldn’t do it on Saturday evening because I needed to prepare for my Bible class in the morning, but that we could try for Sunday. Livian, however, was not deterred, and said they could roast marshmallows with Sharla on Saturday and then do it again on Sunday with me. When Sharla found out about that plan, she made the correct response and said No Way. She also said we could not build a fire in the fireplace and roast marshmallows inside the house; when we spend hundreds of dollars a month trying to keep our house cool, why would we want to light a fire inside the house? She suggested that we roast them on the grill outside, but then it was Livian’s turn to say No Way. That wasn’t real enough. So I said we’d have to make a fire pit in the backyard and build a campfire outside instead. Sharla asked if that was illegal, but I quickly changed the subject. Livian was thrilled with that change of plans, and went to work manufacturing marshmallow pokers out of sticks from the yard. I furthered her excitement in the camping plans by getting out one of my knives and helping her whittle the ends of the pokers down to sharp points. Livian looked at me with amazement and said, “I didn’t know you could whittle, Daddy!” Livian thought those sharp pokers were pretty cool, and I said now she understands why boys like playing with swords. Before that point, I had not committed to participating in Livian’s campout plans, but after that activity involving making sharp objects out of wood and knives, and my daughter’s admiration of my whittling prowess, I was hooked.

We finally convinced Livian that our adventures were not going to start until Sunday evening, but Livian could hardly wait. After lunch on Sunday, Livian and Avalie collected sticks and bark in the backyard and piled them up so we’d be all set for the camp fire. Then they set up the tent in the family room. And then they waited. Is it time yet? No, not yet? How much longer until we can build the fire, Daddy? About 5 hours. How much longer now, Daddy? About 5 minutes less than 5 hours. And so went the afternoon.

We finally got started building the fire around 8:30pm Sunday night, and by then it was dark outside and we all had to use flashlights to see what we were doing. It was interesting listening to the girls’ conversations while I worked on getting the fire going, because they were not used to being outside after dark. Avalie and Melaina were scared of the backyard in the dark, and talked about monsters and other creatures that might be lurking in the darkness. They would not venture far from me, even with their flashlights. Livian noticed the stars in the sky and starting finding a special one for each of the girls. They all thought the little fire we built was the coolest thing ever, especially the bluish green flames that came from the burning newspapers we used to help get the fire going. We all enjoyed roasting marshmallows and making smores until about 9:30pm, when Sharla decided it was bedtime. Melaina liked the idea of roasting the marshmallows, but they were too hot for her to eat, so she preferred eating them straight out of the bag instead.

All 3 girls then got ready for bed and piled into the tent in the family room. After reading books to each of them, I tucked them into their sleeping bags. They looked like sardines all wedged into that little tent, and with all the tossing and turning that kids do in their sleep, I knew they would be in for quite an experience that night. So I said if one of them was bothering the others with wiggles, elbows in the ribs, talking, snoring, or otherwise keeping them from sleeping, they were welcome to go back to their nice, comfortable beds, but they were not allowed to argue and complain about each other. They agreed without argument, so we turned out most of the lights and went upstairs.
If you can believe this, for almost two hours we didn’t hear much more than a peep from downstairs. I refrained from going down to check on them, deciding that any problems downstairs were their own problems, not ours. But I was convinced that eventually they would all decide to give up on sleeping in the tent and drag themselves up to their beds, so at about 10:50pm I decided to go turn on the nightlights in their bedrooms so they wouldn’t have any problems finding their ways to their beds in the middle of the night. Well, when I went into Melaina’s room, guess who was already in her bed? Yep, Melaina was lying backward in her bed, sound asleep! Neither of us heard her come upstairs, so we don’t know how long she lasted in the tent. I went downstairs and found that Melaina’s sleeping bag and pillow had been ejected from the tent, and Livian and Avalie were sleeping soundly inside the tent with the extra room.

Livian and Avalie ended up making it all night in the tent, and reported sleeping just fine all night long. We still insisted that they have a rest time after lunch on Monday, but they were fine for the entire day.

Monday morning we got out our bikes and went on a bike ride to a duck pond and playground nearby. We took some bread to feed the ducks at the pond, but when we got there all the ducks were out in the middle instead of at the edge of the water, so we didn’t get to feed them. Instead, Melaina pulled out a piece of bread and started munching away. We spent about 1 ½ hours on our bike ride, including some time at the playground. And except for Livian getting too tired on the way back home, and getting gnats in her eyes 3-4 times along the way, we all had a good time. We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner Monday evening to finish out the “camping weekend,” even if it was on the grill instead of a campfire. Oh, and Dad will be pleased to know that the button he pulled off an old grill and gave to me worked perfectly on my grill. It lit the burner on the first push! I was excited at how easy it was to attach to my grill, and that it actually worked with no tinkering, duct tape, or wooden contraption that usually accompanies these kinds of repairs.

M&Ms for breakfast

2008-08-28T18:33:00.000-07:00

Well, another birthday has come and gone. My birthday was last Friday, and I was greeted in the morning with breakfast in bed – a plate of frozen waffles with peanut butter and syrup and a side of peanut M&Ms. Oh, and a can of diet 7Up! The girls are so clever – they thought their breakfast concoction was very funny! They also gave me some presents they had made for me during the week, including a collage of pictures and words that reminded them of me that were cut out from old magazines. Pictures of pretty potted plants, a nicely landscaped bed of flowers, and a guy with a dumpy hat and a goofy grin that looked like a “This Old House” host wannabe. The caption under the guy said “DAD.” Yeah – real funny, girls! But the words included “Fabulous,” “Great,” "Terrific," "Cool," "Funny,” and “Smashingly Handsome” (Ok, I added that last one).

After a boring day at work, we all went to Meet the Teacher night at the elementary school, where we got to meet Avalie’s teacher (same Kindergarten teacher that Livian had) and find out that Livian’s teacher is on maternity leave until November. Livian will have a long-term substitute teacher until her regular teacher returns, and this substitute is a regular at school, so Livian already knows her.

After dinner I got to open more presents. I had asked for a motorcycle, a unicycle, and a pair of Heelys for my birthday. Sharla gave me a lot of grief about all of those requests, saying that I would either kill myself or severely injure myself if I had any of those items. I think she even said I need to grow up at one point. She would even point out all the news articles about people dying from motorcycle accidents, which seems to be a frequent occurrence, by the way. Much to my surprise, the last present I opened was a new pair of Heelys! I was excited, because I have wanted some since my last birthday! Livian was excited too, because she has some too but didn’t have anyone to practice with, so she has never learned to use them. You wouldn’t believe all the warning labels they put on the shoe box, on the instructions inside the box, and on the shoes themselves! I felt like I was tempting fate just lacing them up!

After presents we had cake and ice cream. Sharla made a chocolate-chocolate chip cake with chocolate icing, and wow – it was chocolatey! Too chocolatey for Sharla, but I loved it! The girls didn’t eat much of it either, but I think they just like the idea of birthday cake more than actually eating it. They preferred the vanilla ice cream.

I had an indoor soccer game Friday night at 11:20pm, and after about ten minutes into the game I regretted eating that chocolate cake (plus all the leftovers from everyone else’s plates). I didn’t play so good that night.

Sunday afternoon Livian and I both put on our Heelys and started practicing in the downstairs hallway. After about ten minutes of use, one of the rubber wheels on my shoes started crumbling into a lumpy, crumbled mess. It must have been that my blazing speed was too much to handle. Or the wheels weren’t designed to handle the weight of a grown-up. I’ll let you guess who suggested that theory… But I didn’t fall a single time, so already I’m doing better than my first attempt at the clown stilts. That’s probably not a fair comparison, since I never let go of the wall while practicing with the Heelys, but there is something to be said for being cautious. At my age, recovery takes a lot longer than it used to.

So now I’m planning to order some new wheels that hopefully will last a little longer, so I can reach my aspiration of being like those 10-yr old boys zooming down the airport terminals, zig-zagging in and out of those slow-pokes walking in normal shoes. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

Another Melaina-ism

2008-08-24T13:13:00.000-07:00

You have heard Sharla talk about some recurring conversations that we have with Melaina? Well, here is another one.

It starts when one of us is putting Melaina to bed, and she asks, “When I get up in the morning, can I have a waffle? I want it cold, with nothing on it.”

“Sure, goodnight.”

In the morning: “What do you want for breakfast, Melaina?”

“I want a cold waffle.”

I get a waffle out of the freezer and give it to her, and she takes it delightedly and goes over to her seat at the table.

About 1 minute later: “Daddy, can I have yogurt, the kind with a spoon?”

“But you only ate one nibble of that waffle! A squirrel would eat more of that waffle than you did.”

“I don’t want it anymore.”

“Plus, you never eat the kind with the spoon.”

“But I want it.” (Can you hear the whine in her voice?)

If I give in and give her the yogurt, she eats two bites and then says, “Can I have some chocolate cereal?”

If I give in again, she will eat two bites of that and then ask, “Can I have a breakfast tart?” (She still gets confused between a pop tart and a breakfast bar, but by past experience I know she means a breakfast bar.)

If I say yes and give her that, she’ll eat one bite and then say, “Can I have a fruit bowl?”

Now, before you roll your eyes and think how gullible I am for continuing to give in, I’ll have you know that it didn’t take long for me to wise up to her games. Now I say, “You didn’t eat it last time - are you SURE you’re going to eat it this time?” before I give in to her requests. And I don’t give her the yogurt anymore.

Aren’t you proud of me?

Projects Finished!

2008-08-17T18:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finally completed three projects I have been working on periodically over the last several weeks. We recently bought a new entry door and storm door for the back of our house, and I hadn’t quite completed installing either of them. The entry door still needed to be painted, and the storm door needed another thin piece of wood attached to the brick mold so the hinged side of the door would fit flush to the frame. Saturday morning I took the entry door off the hinges and took it outside and stood it up on the driveway so I could paint both sides at once. I used my paint gun instead of a brush so the paint wouldn’t have any brush strokes in it, and I am pleased with the result. I did have to improvise though, because even though the steel door was supposedly pre-primed, the surface was VERY slick, so the paint kept sliding down the door instead of sticking. I had to go over it many, many times with a little paint roller that I had from a previous project until the paint finally dried enough to stick.

Once the paint dried, I put the door back on the hinges and then took the storm door off so I could install the wood trim, then reinstalled the storm door. It was good to get those two projects completely finished, finally.

My other project was to install a shelf near the ceiling of Livian and Avalie’s room that wrapped around half their room. They have lots of things that should be displayed, but no place to display them. So lots of their things either get stored in the closet or on the floor! Well, I got the shelves put up last week, but still needed to touch up the pink paint to give it a good finished look, so I finally got to that as well on Saturday afternoon. Now we finally have a place to display all of Poppa’s cool wooden puzzles he sent to us quite a while ago. I remember when he showed Livian a book of dinosaur puzzle patterns and asked her to circle one that she wanted him to make for her. Livian was still really into dinosaurs at the time, and instead of circling one dinosaur, she circled about 8-10! Well, Poppa took that to mean he was expected to carve all of them, so he did. Livian loved it!

I got all that work done on Saturday, so I had no projects left for Sunday afternoon. So instead I mowed the lawn. Woohoo - what fun! But, oh, you should see how nice the lawn looks now! Maybe I’ll take a picture and blog about that another time!

Bad Dad

2008-08-11T13:27:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Livian went outside to play with a friend, and Melaina was headed out right behind her. Sharla and I were still eating lunch, so Sharla called to Melaina and said, “Melaina, please don’t go outside.” No response from Melaina. However, 2 seconds later the screen door slams shut, and Melaina is gone. I get up from the table and go to the door to retrieve Melaina, who is still following Livian out on the front driveway. I call to her, and she reluctantly turns around and heads back to the door. As she comes inside, I tell her that she needs to go sit in time out because she disobeyed Sharla. Without any protest, Melaina marches right over to the door that leads to the garage and sits down. She knows where the timeout spot is downstairs. As I head back to the kitchen table, I tell her, “I’ll let you know when 2 minutes is up and you can get back up,” and then proceed back to the table to finish my lunch.

15 minutes later, we hear Melaina call, “Mommy, look at Mango.” (Sharla and I are still sitting at the table chatting.) Sharla’s response: “Where is he?” Melaina: “He’s in the bathroom.” Tuell calls out, “Is that good or bad?” Melaina responds, “Bad.” Sharla turns to me and asks, “Where is Melaina, anyway?” I have no idea, so I call out, “Melaina, where are you?” Melaina’s response, “I’m in time out!”

Yep, that’s right! I forgot about Melaina being in time out and left her there for 15 minutes! And she never made a peep the whole time! I couldn’t believe it! I jumped up and picked her up and said her 2 minutes were finally up, and she just smiled at me. I hugged her and played with her a little just to make me feel a little less guilty, but I don’t think she cared. I think she just sat there around the corner and listened to us talk until Mango walked by and distracted her. If it hadn’t been for Mango, Melaina might have stayed there in time out until naptime! What a bad dad!!

The Last Chapter

2008-08-06T06:03:00.000-07:00

I should have been a secret service agent. Or a private investigator. Or a detective. Or someone else who makes a living out of figuring stuff out. Not only do I have a keen sense of hearing, I also have excellent deductive reasoning. That’s right – I know when 2 + 2 equals 4, and I also know when 2 + 2 equals 0. And at this moment, 2 + 2 was equaling 3, which meant that something wasn’t adding up.

I quickly replayed the facts I had ascertained in the last 5 seconds since I heard that first thump. The second noise I heard coming from the next room was too loud to be a mouse or a rat, so I dismissed that option immediately. An eerie panic started to set in as I wondered if an intruder could have made such a sound. A bead of sweat appeared on my forehead as I slowly reached down under my mattress for a miniature wooden bat that I could use in self defense just in case there really was someone in the next room. Unfortunately, my hand came up empty, and I realized I didn’t own a wooden bat, so there was no way I could have one hidden under my mattress. I made a mental note to myself to check the Rangers’ schedule for the rest of the year to see when it was Free Miniature Wooden Bat night at the ballpark. That would definitely come in handy on a night like tonight. But I couldn’t just go out and buy one – I mean, come on, I’m a Green!

I was running out of options fast, and something was still missing. And then I heard it. A single “chirp.” Not the chirp a little bird makes, but a soft, high-pitched chirp that rolls the “r” like, “brrrrrt.” Now it all added up. I wouldn’t be needing that wooden bat this night. You see, we have a little Maine Coon kitten that thinks he doesn’t need to sleep at night, and has decided that nighttime is the best time to roam around the house finding things to attack and play with. The common trill of the Maine Coon had given him away. Not that he was trying to be discreet. I'm sure he would be thrilled to have someone else up at this hour to play with him. Apparently, he had once again knocked my contact case off the cabinet in the bathroom, and now had moved on to attacking one of the million little stretchy hair bands we having lying around the house. When you have 4 girls in the house who all have long hair, you end up with lots and lots of hair bands. And a majority of those 4 girls apparently don’t know where extra hair bands belong, because when they are not being used to create pony tails, pig tails, French braids, and such, they end up everywhere except in the drawer in the girls’ bathroom.

Well, this was not the first time that Mango had woken me up in the middle of the night, and I knew he wasn’t going to stop just so I could go back to sleep. He would have to be put out of the bedroom so he would go somewhere else to play. I considered leaning over and asking Sharla if she wouldn’t mind getting Mango this time and putting him out of the bedroom, since I already did it last time. But another detective skill I have developed is to learn from my past mistakes. Nope, I would be the one getting out of bed and taking Mango out tonight. Luckily the time on the clock radio next to my bed showed 12:35am, so factoring in the time it would take to put Mango out of the room and return to bed, plus another 90 seconds for me to fall asleep, I still had 6 hours and 23 minutes before I had to get up in the morning. It was going to be ok.

Getting Mango out of the room and getting back to sleep was accomplished without a hitch. The next thing I knew the alarm was waking me up at 7:00. However, I realized that I was no longer in my bed, but was actually on the floor beside my bed. How did I get there, and how long had I been there? I looked up at Sharla, and she was sleeping soundly like a baby in the middle of the bed, with a big grin on her face. Maybe I should rethink the real value of my acute hearing…

The End.

That thump in the night

2008-08-03T20:07:00.000-07:00

Did you know that some people breathe louder when they’re asleep than when they’re awake? Apparently, this is true. According to Sharla, I am one of those individuals gifted with this special talent. I personally have not witnessed it before, and she has no documented proof, but this phenomenon has been the subject of many lengthy discussions over the life of our marriage. Not snoring, mind you. She admits that I don’t snore, so don’t think I’m using “breathing loudly” as some politically-correct substitute for snoring. Nope, this is normal breathing that somehow becomes mysteriously amplified when I go to sleep. Is this sounding strange, yet? It does to me too.

Plus, I have this inherited ability to fall asleep almost immediately after lying down and closing my eyes. You can do a simple test to identify how long it takes for you to fall asleep by setting your alarm for 5 minutes or so after you go to bed and see if the alarm wakes you up. For Sharla, most times she will still be awake when the alarm goes off. For me, I could set the alarm to 2 minutes after I go to bed, and it would still wake me up most nights. I say inherited because Dad has this talent too.

The one thing that seems to interfere with my ability to fall asleep immediately is the slightest ticking sound of a clock or wristwatch in the bedroom. In the past, I have had to bury my watch deep inside my sock drawer so that I wouldn’t hear its incessant ticking as I was trying to go to sleep. I’ve even had to take watches and clocks out of the bedroom so that I wouldn’t hear them ticking away.

Sharla says part of the reason she can’t go to sleep before the alarm goes off is that I go to sleep almost immediately and then start breathing loudly, and that annoying distraction prevents her body from properly relaxing to the point where her mind will allow her to go to sleep. Again, I have not personally witnessed this happening, so I am at a severe disadvantage when our discussions turn into debates. But the ticking watch that sounds like a gong in my head doesn’t seem to bother her in the least.

Anyway, Sharla used to wear earplugs when we went to bed because she said she couldn’t sleep otherwise. And because purchasing high-quality earplugs was a luxury we felt we couldn’t afford at that time in our lives (has anything changed since then?), her solution was little wads of Kleenexes. Kuzdu loved finding those little wads of tissue lying around the room. She would start chewing on them, making these awful grinding sounds as her teeth tried to break through the tissue wads. If we didn’t stop her immediately, we’d find wet, shredded bits of tissue all over the bedroom floor in a matter of minutes. That was always fun to clean up. And usually provided the segway into another one of those discussions I mentioned.

Sharla also forced me into the habit of sleeping facing the side of the bed instead of the middle of the bed, because she said it sounded like I was breathing in her ear if I wasn’t facing the other direction. And if I accidentally rolled over in my sleep, Sharla would jab me in the stomach with her elbow to get me to roll over, or jostle me awake and tell me to roll over, or - my personal favorite - place her hand on my face and push it back deliberately until the strain in my neck was such that I was forced to turn over to prevent an unexpected trip to the emergency room.

But that was before her hearing was trained to ignore moderate changes in decibel levels in the room at night. Now she doesn’t need earplugs anymore. And I can’t remember the last time I woke up in the morning with a severe crick in my neck or a bruise on my sternum and wondered what happened. And despite our petty disagreements about the actual level of amplification in my breathing after I go to sleep (which I am unable to corroborate), the experiences seem to be producing dividends for Sharla in other ways. Case in point, Sharla rarely hears when one of the girls comes in our room at night to tell us about a bad dream she just had, much less when I get out of bed to take her back and tuck her in her own bed again.

With this in mind, I think you can see why I would suspect that Sharla probably did not hear the thump in the night that stirred me from unconsciousness and started the course of events that led to this story. In fact, I asked her about it a couple days later and she had no recollection of the events that took place that night.

To be continued...

It all started from a little thump

2008-07-29T21:51:00.000-07:00

The sound was like a small crash of metal against plastic. Like the sound the toy Matchbox car made when Melaina dropped it off the top of the stairs a few days ago. I pretended to continue sleeping, not wanting to give away the fact that I had heard the noise. I kept my eyes closed – not moving a muscle – and continued to listen. My hearing is amazingly acute, honed from eight years of listening for the slightest sound of a baby’s cry for comfort, the slightest increase in chirping crickets coming from the girls’ bedroom when one of them opens their door, and the whisper of our bedroom door opening that indicates a little girl is awake and has just entered our room. Several times in the past my hearing has failed me, and I was awakened to find a little 3-year old standing 2 inches from my face, staring blankly at me. One time I was caught so off guard that I screamed and jumped back in the bed, sending Avalie crying and running for the door. Just imagine waking up from a nightmare and coming into Mommy and Daddy’s room for comfort and having Daddy break the darkness and silence by screaming in your face! Poor thing – I felt so bad! And I vowed never to allow my hearing let me down again.

Now, you may be wondering why the girls would come over to Daddy’s side of the bed for comfort instead of Mommy’s, even though her side is closest to the door. Well, apparently Mommy’s hearing has not been so acutely honed, because she tends to keep sleeping. And when she does wake up, all the girls get by way of comfort is a muffled “Humph.”

Lying still in the quiet blackness of the night, I knew I could detect anything that moved in the bedroom or adjacent rooms upstairs. But all I heard was silence. Silence – except the distant sound of chirping crickets, and the soft, steady breathing of Sharla lying next to me. Apparently, Sharla has been honing her hearing to ignore all noises during the night, and it was paying off again. That’s probably my fault, but that’s another story all together. But, what if Sharla had heard the noise too, and, like me, was just pretending to be asleep? As I was wondering about the irony of two people lying side by side, both pretending to be asleep, and considering rolling over to see if she was staring at the back of my head, I suddenly heard it again! Yes, definitely the noise was coming from the adjacent room! Something was in there – apparently not overly concerned with keeping its presence a secret. My mind immediately drew up images of rats and mice crawling around the bathroom floors and inside the sinks and bathtub, long whiskers feeling everything within reach, tiny feet spreading germs and who-knows-what else with every foraging step.

I have been battling mice and rats in the back shed all summer. It started at the beginning of the summer when I opened the shed to get out the lawnmower for the first cut of the summer, and found that EVERYTHING in the shed had been chewed on. And yes, I mean everything. OK, almost everything. Lots of things. Including the rubber spark plug cap on my gas-powered blower and the fuel line on my weed-eater. And the plastic tops on both cans of roach bombs. And the stuffing I put inside the socks and shoes on the stilts I used for my too-tall clown costume. And the plastic container of bird seed. And every bag of fertilizer, Bermuda seed, weed killer, and insecticide. And my plastic hand fertilizer spreader. To say that I was a little peeved would be an understatement. I mean, Dude! What are you thinking? This means war! You don’t come around here, shacking up in my shed, eating everything you can get your teeth around, and not expect consequences!

Well, three months later, the battle is still on, but I definitely think I’m on my way to getting the upper hand. I’m not sure the varmints share that opinion, but hey, a positive outlook is a good thing to have. So far I have successfully captured and disposed of three baby possums, 2 rats, and 8 mice. The main problem is that if I don’t stay on top of it, the flies and ants are quick to stake claim to my price catches, and then I have to use my expert powers of negotiation to convince them that, yes indeed, it was I that baited and set the traps, and therefore it is I who should be allowed to dispose of my catches as I please. And oh, I’m so sorry that you have already laid eggs in the rotting belly of the mouse, and now what are you possibly going to do with the 327 baby maggots that are currently feasting on the remains of MY dead mouse. Do you really think that should be my problem? Like I don’t already have 327 OTHER things to be doing with my time besides finding new homes for your dirty, nasty, slimy, writhing, wriggling worm-like thingys? Yuck - I shutter just thinking about it!

To be continued…

One bean, two beans, black beans, blue beans

2008-07-25T20:01:00.000-07:00

As most of you already know, my family is a little weird. But in case you need a little more evidence, here's one for you. My family has a thing for beans. Not just beans. Beans and peas. Green beans, pinto beans, baked beans, kidney beans, lima beans, black beans, great northern beans, snow peas, sugar snap peas, frozen peas, chick peas, black-eyed peas. And all the others. We like to sort them by size, by shape, and by color. We like to stack them, line them up, separate them into good and bad. We like to plant them and water them and watch them grow. We like to eat them too. Not just eat them, but eat them in certain orders. But most of all, we like to count them. Oh yes, we love to count beans and peas. And we're good at it too.

A couple days ago, we were eating baked beans with our dinner, and Avalie asked me if I would count how many beans she could put in her mouth at one time. Oh yes, we also like to play games with them as we eat them. I said no, but then responded with another challenge, "Can you guess how many baked beans are left in the bowl?" I thought it was a funny question, but no one else laughed. (Recall Sharla's post about the amazing baked bean counting story.) We didn't get nearly as close this time, but it was still quite the bonding experience.

In case you're wondering why I said no to counting Avalie's beans, about a week ago, Melaina asked if I would count how many green beans she could put in her mouth at one time. I said sure, remembering that this trick had worked in the past at getting her to eat more beans and peas. Melaina smiled excitedly and started shoveling them in, and Livian and Avalie started cheering her on. At the count of 10 I started getting worried, because she was not chewing and she was still putting them in two hands at a time. I think she got to about 17 and everyone at the table cheered and clapped for her. She was so proud, and we were all impressed.

And then she tried to chew. She tried a few times, smooshing the beans quite thoroughly, but she wasn't making any progress. Her mouth couldn't even close all the way. She then got this disgusted look on her face, and she started spitting out smooshed green beans onto the table, her lap, and the floor. I was not happy about that, and I tried to get her to keep eating them, but it was a losing battle. Apparently 17 was a little too many. And then I tried to get her to eat the ones she spit out, since the whole point of the game was to eat the beans, but she complained that they were smooshed and wouldn't touch them. "Now whose fault was that?" I tried to reason with her. Apparently, it was my fault.

I wonder if I should stick to counting my own beans.

Chirp Chirp

2008-07-24T23:06:00.000-07:00

Mango can be such a pest sometimes. Tuesday morning I was in the family room cleaning out the tub of crickets (containing about 150 live crickets), and I had about 20 crickets in a tall plastic container waiting to be fed to Cactus. As I was moving the 150 crickets into their clean tub, Mango came over and started investigating the crickets in the small container. I should have known better, because Mango always goes a little nuts when I have the crickets out. All those little bitty creatures climbing around on themselves is just so exciting for a kitten that is deprived of live critters to attack! But I was trying to get the crickets into the clean tub without losing any of them, so I wasn’t paying any attention to the others. Next thing I know, Mango has tipped the container over on the carpet, and there are 10-15 crickets screaming “FREEEDOM!!” and racing for the nearest hideout! Mango is standing there, frozen, not knowing which one to attack first, because they are all headed in different directions. Smart crickets, I must say. You could tell they had their escape plan well thought out! I was able to scoop a few back into the container before they got under the couch, but not many. Mango only got one before I picked him up and locked him away in the bathroom.

So for the rest of the day, the girls were seeing stray crickets showing up in strange places throughout the house. And I'm sure Mango had a great time experiencing life in the wild - hunting for his food, until the girls collected them all. Oh, and Cactus just glared at Mango through the whole ordeal. “Those were MY crickets, you BEAST!” Mango now has two enemies in the house. First Sheba, and now Cactus. I'll bet Mango can't wait to terrorize Red Sugar (our Beta fish) the next time Sharla takes him out to clean his tank. He seems to enjoy making enemies.

Life Lesson #35

2008-07-24T06:53:00.001-07:00

Do not put gross stories or pictures on your blog that your mom won't want to see! Sorry about that, Mom. Sharla says that if I were still living at home, I'd probably be grounded. I assumed everyone knew not to believe everything you read or see on the Internet!

Just a warning, my next post will also be gross, but not in a bloody, self-mutilating way that makes you cringe and nearly lose your lunch. More of the gross that makes you say, "Eeeewww - that makes my skin crawl!!"

Pin-Toe Bean

2008-07-22T18:01:00.000-07:00

Sunday evening I started feeling like I was getting a cold. When I woke up Monday morning I really had it bad. I had a cough that hurt my throat, a nasty sneeze, a stuffy head and achy joints. So I stayed home from work and tried to rest as much as possible. I thought I probably got it from Livian, since she complained of having a goopy throat on Friday and Saturday. However, Sharla said it was probably my pinky toe that made me sick. She may be right.

On Saturday afternoon I (call me Grace) kicked the corner of the bottom of the stairs with my pinky toe as I was walking around some puzzle pieces in the front entry way. I felt my toe bend way farther than it is supposed to bend, and yes, it hurt like the dickens! I kept going, thinking it would stop hurting eventually, and I don't even think I told Sharla at that time. But it didn't stop hurting, and actually started getting worse. By the evening it was swollen and it stayed bent to the outside. Yuck! I bandaged it up Saturday evening, but keeping it held in the proper angle seemed to make it hurt worse. Poor me!

Sunday morning I decided to put my shoe on for church, and it actually felt better having it fully supported so that it couldn't move. So after church, I got to thinking about how I could keep it completely immobilized so that it could heal the right way, and I got this great idea. Actually, I got the idea from Dad (see his blog post for a reminder). Anyway, based on Dad's solution of sticking a pin into his big toe to hold it in place, I decided that would be the best thing for me. Sharla and I couldn't find a cool pin like Dad has, but I found the next best thing - a 2-inch finishing nail. I started second-guessing myself when Sharla strapped me to the kitchen table and said, "This will only hurt for second..." but by then it was too late! Here is the "finished" result.

As you can see, I think the 2-inch nail was probably a little too long, but all in all I think it worked out better than I expected. Plus, Dad was confident that his wouldn't hurt when they pulled it out, so I'm counting on that.

Needless to say, I was a little woozy Sunday evening, and so maybe my immune system was in cardiac arrest, and thus let the cold germs get to me and cause my cold on Monday. That's Sharla's theory, and who am I to argue with my doctor?

2008-07-20T12:23:00.000-07:00

I'm midway through the 4th season playing on an indoor soccer team in Keller. We have won the last 3 seasons, and we're undefeated so far this season. Here is a picture after the championship game last season. Notice how I kind of stand out there on the end, with the blue in my jersey and my blue-striped socks. Yep, I'm even a non-conformist on the soccer field. Actually, I joined the team after they had been together for several years, and they still use the jerseys they had before I joined. Bummer. A few weeks ago we were playing a blue team, and one of the refs mistook me for the other team! Before the kickoff, he was telling me to move to the other side of the field. Poor me! I couldn't figure out what he was talking about until he realized his mistake, and then I figured it out. I'm gonna start looking on ebay to see if I can get one with a red stripe for cheap. Wish me luck! Oh, and it's not cool to smile in your team picture. Most of us remembered that unspoken rule.

2008-07-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess I have finally caved in. For the longest time I said I wouldn’t start a blog, thinking it would require too much of my time, and anyway I didn’t want my personal stories out on the Internet for anyone to see. Plus, Sharla is doing such a great job at keeping everyone informed of our every-day activities. But every once in a while I started getting worried that you’re hearing only one side of our stories. You’re hearing our stories from the female perspective. Sometimes certain details get left out that we men might find interesting and entertaining. OK, that I find interesting and entertaining. For example, you never heard about how the lawn looked after I mowed it last weekend. Or how smoothly our new back door closes. Or how I’m getting along after playing two indoor soccer games on consecutive days. Or how I scored 6 goals in the indoor game 4 weeks ago and set a new record for most goals scored in a single game on my team.

So I’ve decided to give it a try. I don’t have a specific theme, or writing style, or agenda in this blog, so topics and posts will probably bounce all over the place. I don’t have the story-telling skills of Garrison Keillor, although I may make some attempts every once in a while. I have never uploaded a picture or video to a blog. But I will attempt adding some of those features occasionally, so you never know what you might get. And, in keeping with the blog title, I will occasionally offer up some words of advice, or lessons learned. Not that I assume my advice will certainly have any value to you, but just in case you may find some encouragement from my thoughts. I sometimes get these thoughts in my head, coming from Bible studying, or while taking a shower, or watching my kids interact with each other, or reflecting on my own parenting successes and failures, that just stick with me and compel me to pass them along.

So as you’re reading Sharla’s blog each day, if you ever wonder if there might be a little more to that story, or if you feel you might enjoy hearing a different perspective, click over to my blog and check it out. Unfortunately, you’ll probably have to wait a couple weeks for me to get around to that particular story – that’s about how delayed I expect I’ll be on this blog, but I’ll get there eventually. I can already tell this is going to take way too much of my time!! It already has… and this is just my first blog! Yikes!