(See previous Simple Pleasure Friday posts below)
As the year winds down, it's easy to get lost in the craziness that is the modern day Christmas. Anny and I have realized that we have not sent out ANY gifts yet, and since a majority of ours are headed over the mountains and the Mississippi River, that's probably not good.
So, a special Christmas Weekend Edition of Simple Pleasures Friday!
Think back over the last year. I know that there have been pregnancies, births, household moves, new jobs, and other great things that have happened to all of us. This week, please share two things that have brought you great joy this year!
I'll also take this time to say a hearty Merry Christmas to you all. I know that blogs have changed the way we communicate, and that's okay with me! I have gotten to know all of you more this year because of it! I pray that you keep your sanity, and take some time to reflect at some point over the coming days!
(Okay, Denise probably won't have much time for that as Sarah is due any day! For you, Denise, I pray peace and as-much-as-it-can-be-pain-free experiences for the next couple of weeks!)
December 21, 2007
December 17, 2007
OUR Birthday
With a sick baby and a sick daddy in our house, our birthday was a bit muted this year.
On Saturday we planned to go with friends to cut down a Christmas tree in the upper part of Maryland. Their two boys are sick, as is Abby, so we scrapped that idea. Turns out that it was the right decision for both households.
Abby has been fighting with a chest cold/cough/snot event for a few days now. On Friday I got a call at work to see if I could pick her up from daycare because she was just miserable. Too much congestion to breathe, therefore she was struggling to both eat and sleep. I spoke with the doctor and got some suggestions over the phone.
Saturday was bad, but Sunday was much better. That's a good thing, as Mommy and Daddy were trying to be joyous about their birthday this year. We share the day, though the birth dates are four years apart. In an effort to make Anny feel younger, we're averaging our ages to a total of 31. That means that I get to skip 30 next year, and more importantly Anny can claim to be younger.
My brother and his wife treated us to dinner for our birthday. We kept dropping hints that there were two people at the table, and perhaps some desert would be in order, but before desert time rolled around, Abby was getting cranky and tired, so we rolled out. Dinner was also about thte time that I began to feel like I was not well. Today was confirmation of such. Abby is on the upswing, while I am plateaued right now, and hope to be on the mend tomorrow.
My sister came up here for a few days as her fall semester at college ended. It's nice to have her around, even if we have to work during the day. (I hope we don't get her sick!)
Tomorrow we take Abby for her six month check up and shots. Check up is good, shots are rough.
On Saturday we planned to go with friends to cut down a Christmas tree in the upper part of Maryland. Their two boys are sick, as is Abby, so we scrapped that idea. Turns out that it was the right decision for both households.
Abby has been fighting with a chest cold/cough/snot event for a few days now. On Friday I got a call at work to see if I could pick her up from daycare because she was just miserable. Too much congestion to breathe, therefore she was struggling to both eat and sleep. I spoke with the doctor and got some suggestions over the phone.
Saturday was bad, but Sunday was much better. That's a good thing, as Mommy and Daddy were trying to be joyous about their birthday this year. We share the day, though the birth dates are four years apart. In an effort to make Anny feel younger, we're averaging our ages to a total of 31. That means that I get to skip 30 next year, and more importantly Anny can claim to be younger.
My brother and his wife treated us to dinner for our birthday. We kept dropping hints that there were two people at the table, and perhaps some desert would be in order, but before desert time rolled around, Abby was getting cranky and tired, so we rolled out. Dinner was also about thte time that I began to feel like I was not well. Today was confirmation of such. Abby is on the upswing, while I am plateaued right now, and hope to be on the mend tomorrow.
My sister came up here for a few days as her fall semester at college ended. It's nice to have her around, even if we have to work during the day. (I hope we don't get her sick!)
Tomorrow we take Abby for her six month check up and shots. Check up is good, shots are rough.
December 15, 2007
How are YOU?
"How are you? "
What do you tell people when they ask "How are You?" I don't mean friends that you can be honest with, I mean folks you know through work, church, or other group. People that you like, but not people you would call if you needed something.
I only ask because I have fallen into a trap. I now have a standard reply, but I'm not sure that I like it.
Other: Hey Rob! How are you?
Rob: Can't complain. Doesn't do any good when I do.
I have two reasons that I don't necessarily like this:
1) Things are typically going really well for me! I have rough days, but overall things are on the up and up.
2) It's just not catchy enough for me!
A pastor I know through work always (always) responds with "Not bad for an old broad!" The first time I heard that I was confused. Can I agree, that she's an old broad? No. I just kind of laughed, which I think was her goal.
A man at church who has lived through some rough health issues recently also has a standard response. "Any day I can see the top of the grass and not the bottom is a good day for me!" The first time I heard this one I did not get it. Did he mean that he needed to cut his grass? Nope, he means if he's on top of the soil and not in it, things are good enough for him.
I want a catchy response. Do you use one? Do you want to come up with one for me?
What do you tell people when they ask "How are You?" I don't mean friends that you can be honest with, I mean folks you know through work, church, or other group. People that you like, but not people you would call if you needed something.
I only ask because I have fallen into a trap. I now have a standard reply, but I'm not sure that I like it.
Other: Hey Rob! How are you?
Rob: Can't complain. Doesn't do any good when I do.
I have two reasons that I don't necessarily like this:
1) Things are typically going really well for me! I have rough days, but overall things are on the up and up.
2) It's just not catchy enough for me!
A pastor I know through work always (always) responds with "Not bad for an old broad!" The first time I heard that I was confused. Can I agree, that she's an old broad? No. I just kind of laughed, which I think was her goal.
A man at church who has lived through some rough health issues recently also has a standard response. "Any day I can see the top of the grass and not the bottom is a good day for me!" The first time I heard this one I did not get it. Did he mean that he needed to cut his grass? Nope, he means if he's on top of the soil and not in it, things are good enough for him.
I want a catchy response. Do you use one? Do you want to come up with one for me?
December 14, 2007
Simple Pleasure Friday - Dec 14th
Back again for another week of seeing the positive things in people's lives. Please comment below with something that has been great about your last week!
December 07, 2007
Simple Pleasures Friday - Week 4
I'm glad that people are commenting on these....
SPF - Simple Pleasure Friday's
It is always great to hear from folks about positive things in their lives. Most blogs that I read go dormant over the weekends. I think that speaks about how we spend our time, and I don't think that it's a bad thing!
On a local radio station every Thursday they have time to share people's "Simple Pleasures." This is a time where people get to call in and be positive, and a LOT of people do. The hosts each share something that seems simple, but has been a nice thing for them.
example: The smell of a summer rain in the middle of a drought.
Seeing a kid's face the first time they try to catch snow on their tongue.
(I really need to listen next week so that I have better examples!)
You get the picture.
So, here are the rules:
Share something special that has happened to you or you have witnessed in the last week.
Place your Simple Pleasure in the comments below!
That's it!
My goal is that this is about community, so I will share my Simple Pleasure in the comments, not as part of my post. My other goal is to give you a place to write a little bit over the weekend, and to share in the joys that other's are experiencing.
Feel free to pass this along to others!
SPF - Simple Pleasure Friday's
It is always great to hear from folks about positive things in their lives. Most blogs that I read go dormant over the weekends. I think that speaks about how we spend our time, and I don't think that it's a bad thing!
On a local radio station every Thursday they have time to share people's "Simple Pleasures." This is a time where people get to call in and be positive, and a LOT of people do. The hosts each share something that seems simple, but has been a nice thing for them.
example: The smell of a summer rain in the middle of a drought.
Seeing a kid's face the first time they try to catch snow on their tongue.
(I really need to listen next week so that I have better examples!)
You get the picture.
So, here are the rules:
Share something special that has happened to you or you have witnessed in the last week.
Place your Simple Pleasure in the comments below!
That's it!
My goal is that this is about community, so I will share my Simple Pleasure in the comments, not as part of my post. My other goal is to give you a place to write a little bit over the weekend, and to share in the joys that other's are experiencing.
Feel free to pass this along to others!
December 06, 2007
December 05, 2007
Help for the Holidays is Here!
Good news is that neither my family nor Anny's requires the following Holiday Kit!
December 04, 2007
So Much to Blog About...
So little Blogging time!? If only Abby would feed herself, then I could use both hands on the laptop in the morning. :o) Kidding, of course. I like to feed her, it's the only time I feel like I can tell people to butt out, it's our time. (Anny feels the same way, so we often bicker over who gets to feed her instead of who has to feed her.)
Some observations:
**I love that the radio now has 24 hour holiday music. I'm sorry to those that disagree, but almost every time I turn on the radio I'm thinking "Do They Know it's Christmas time at alllllllllll?"
**My kid is adorable. Freaking adorable. I won't deny it. Last night I was singing System of a Down to her, and she was giggly and smiley. Love it!
**No matter what project I take on at home, it will take longer than it should. I pulled out our kitchen faucet to replace it with a new one on Saturday night. Pretty easy project. Unless I'm the one that bought the faucet. There is an O ring that arrived smashed inside the faucet. i.e. I never could have had any control over it, but it makes the faucet leak. Badly. Oh yeah, the O ring is not available at Home Depot.
**THIS is just gross.
**I love my wife, and we're a good team. She's been sick and I've been sore, both during the last two weeks. We take care of each other. I must acknowledge, though, the she does a lot more taking care of me than I do of her. She's not even that mad that the faucet is taking longer than it should.
**I really like our church. We have been to two pot-luck-types of dinners in the last couple of weeks and have been reminded of how much of a family we have there. Our pastor is incredible and the other parents with young kids (and there are a LOT) are awesome.
**THIS is just adorable.
Hopefully I will get around to a real post this week. Don't hold me to it, though!
Some observations:
**I love that the radio now has 24 hour holiday music. I'm sorry to those that disagree, but almost every time I turn on the radio I'm thinking "Do They Know it's Christmas time at alllllllllll?"
**My kid is adorable. Freaking adorable. I won't deny it. Last night I was singing System of a Down to her, and she was giggly and smiley. Love it!
**No matter what project I take on at home, it will take longer than it should. I pulled out our kitchen faucet to replace it with a new one on Saturday night. Pretty easy project. Unless I'm the one that bought the faucet. There is an O ring that arrived smashed inside the faucet. i.e. I never could have had any control over it, but it makes the faucet leak. Badly. Oh yeah, the O ring is not available at Home Depot.
**THIS is just gross.
**I love my wife, and we're a good team. She's been sick and I've been sore, both during the last two weeks. We take care of each other. I must acknowledge, though, the she does a lot more taking care of me than I do of her. She's not even that mad that the faucet is taking longer than it should.
**I really like our church. We have been to two pot-luck-types of dinners in the last couple of weeks and have been reminded of how much of a family we have there. Our pastor is incredible and the other parents with young kids (and there are a LOT) are awesome.
**THIS is just adorable.
Hopefully I will get around to a real post this week. Don't hold me to it, though!
November 30, 2007
Simple Pleasure Friday - 3rd Week
It's back! Sorry to have missed last week, but I didn't touch a computer for more than 24 hours, and that might qualify as a Simple Pleasure
SPF - Simple Pleasure Friday's (I'm still not sold on this name, so feel free to give suggestions!)
I would like to hear from folks about positive things in their lives. Most blogs that I read go dormant over the weekends. I think that speaks about how we spend our time, and I don't think that it's a bad thing!
On a local radio station every Thursday they have time to share people's "Simple Pleasures." This is a time where people get to call in and be positive, and a LOT of people do. The hosts each share something that seems simple, but has been a nice thing for them.
example: The smell of a summer rain in the middle of a drought.
Seeing a kid's face the first time they try to catch snow on their tongue.
You get the picture.
So, here are the rules:
Share something special that has happened to you or you have witnessed in the last week.
Place your Simple Pleasure in the comments below!
That's it!
My goal is that this is about community, so I will share my Simple Pleasure in the comments, not as part of my post. My other goal is to give you a place to write a little bit over the weekend, and to share in the joys that other's are experiencing.
Feel free to pass this along to others!
SPF - Simple Pleasure Friday's (I'm still not sold on this name, so feel free to give suggestions!)
I would like to hear from folks about positive things in their lives. Most blogs that I read go dormant over the weekends. I think that speaks about how we spend our time, and I don't think that it's a bad thing!
On a local radio station every Thursday they have time to share people's "Simple Pleasures." This is a time where people get to call in and be positive, and a LOT of people do. The hosts each share something that seems simple, but has been a nice thing for them.
example: The smell of a summer rain in the middle of a drought.
Seeing a kid's face the first time they try to catch snow on their tongue.
You get the picture.
So, here are the rules:
Share something special that has happened to you or you have witnessed in the last week.
Place your Simple Pleasure in the comments below!
That's it!
My goal is that this is about community, so I will share my Simple Pleasure in the comments, not as part of my post. My other goal is to give you a place to write a little bit over the weekend, and to share in the joys that other's are experiencing.
Feel free to pass this along to others!
November 28, 2007
Almost a Week Ago...
The last time I blogged appears to have been more than a week ago, and that post wsa mostly about shopping. Shame on me.
What's happened:
(Wednesday) We took Abby to a local Turkey (and Cow) farm to pick up a turkey for Thanksgiving Dinner. From her school she can see the cows and turkeys from a distance, but she was really taken with all of the sights and smells at the farm. It was fun.
(Wednesday) We took Abby to her first hockey game! Again with the sights and sounds - she seemed to genuinely have a good time.
(Thursday) During the day we spent good quality family time. Playing with Abby and catching up as a couple. Good time together. During the evening we did Thanksgiving dinner with family and a few friends (who are genuinely extended family at this point).
(Thursday) (between dinner and pies) We got to give Abby her first "solid" food of cereal. (Yet another link to the other site) It was fun, funny and functional - Michael's Trifecta of a good gift!
(Friday) We did some sale-shopping for ourselves. We got essentials for each of us as the weather turns colder, and some just plain cute stuff for Abby.
(Saturday) My brother got two tickets to another hockey game, and I could not turn it down! The Caps actually won the game, which made it even better!
(Sunday) We played hookey from church to get some things done, and didn't get to any of them. Abby is cutting her first tooth and we decided to walk at the mall with her as a distraction. It worked for us all, and we didn't spend any money!
Last night was an evening Presbytery meeting. Fairly low key, but it makes for a long day when most of us get here by 7:30 and the meeting doesn't end until after 9pm. I don't see how people do that on a regular basis!
This post is a catch-up post. I hope to post something with substance tomorrow!
What's happened:
(Wednesday) We took Abby to a local Turkey (and Cow) farm to pick up a turkey for Thanksgiving Dinner. From her school she can see the cows and turkeys from a distance, but she was really taken with all of the sights and smells at the farm. It was fun.
(Wednesday) We took Abby to her first hockey game! Again with the sights and sounds - she seemed to genuinely have a good time.
(Thursday) During the day we spent good quality family time. Playing with Abby and catching up as a couple. Good time together. During the evening we did Thanksgiving dinner with family and a few friends (who are genuinely extended family at this point).
(Thursday) (between dinner and pies) We got to give Abby her first "solid" food of cereal. (Yet another link to the other site) It was fun, funny and functional - Michael's Trifecta of a good gift!
(Friday) We did some sale-shopping for ourselves. We got essentials for each of us as the weather turns colder, and some just plain cute stuff for Abby.
(Saturday) My brother got two tickets to another hockey game, and I could not turn it down! The Caps actually won the game, which made it even better!
(Sunday) We played hookey from church to get some things done, and didn't get to any of them. Abby is cutting her first tooth and we decided to walk at the mall with her as a distraction. It worked for us all, and we didn't spend any money!
Last night was an evening Presbytery meeting. Fairly low key, but it makes for a long day when most of us get here by 7:30 and the meeting doesn't end until after 9pm. I don't see how people do that on a regular basis!
This post is a catch-up post. I hope to post something with substance tomorrow!
November 20, 2007
Thanksgiving Week
This is the week that we celebrate things we're thankful for. Last year I wrote a poem about the things that my family was thankful for. I had everyone send me something and mushed it all together into a dorky poem. It was all just a ploy to announce that we were having a baby. That made it cute, not dorky.
This year we do not have an elaborate announcement, but we are still very thankful. Abby is happy and healthy. So are Anny and I. We both have good jobs and great family and friends.
But this week is about more than being thankful. It's also about Turkey. It could also be about slapping, if you watch How I Met Your Mother. In our family we leave out the slapping, but are heavy on the turkey! The dinner is big and wonderful and prepared tirelessly by one of my aunts.
Two turkeys - one baked, one fried.
Two kinds of cranberry sauce - the traditional and a creamy version for those "outside the box thinkers" in the crowd.
Almost as Many Pies as People - yes, it's going to be true this year. My brother has his own cherry pie. Several pumpkin pies. Some sort of cream pie. Pudding for me since I don't like pie crust!
The food brings us together. We see each other fairly often, but it's different at holidays. No bickering, just having good conversation and general fun.
Oh yeah, and there's always the Robly-Anticipated Black Friday Shopping! Last year I was to Target and back with breakfast in hand before Anny was out of bed. After she was ready to leave we stopped at another Target on our way to the family beach house located near - you guessed it - MORE shopping! I went to three Target stores - in two states(!) in twelve hours.
Something is wrong with me. I love to shop on Black Friday (and Saturday). I love to shop on Christmas Eve. I worked retail for four and a half years and my favorite days were the long busy ones. I am looking forward to strapping Abby into the Baby Bjorn and heading out shopping just before the sun is out on Friday! (We will be at the Outlet Stores in Rehoboth on Friday. Back in town for Saturday.)
Here are my tips for Black Friday shopping:
1 - Research on Thursday in the newspaper what you are hunting for on Friday.
2 - If you are looking for an electronics gift, get there early. If you're after clothes, sleep in.
3 - Dress in layers! It's chilly in the early hours, but hot inside stores by mid-morning. More people = higher temperatures!
4 - Be nice. Everyone is looking for a deal, not just you. Be especially nice to the store employees. You are NOT the first person to complain that they don't have the camera you wanted.
5 - Set spending limits and stick to them. This one is hard for me to type because I tend to overspend. If you go out and take advantage of EVERY deal you will be happy, but broke.
6 - Set time limits. If you're shopping alone this is not as important. If you're out shopping with someone, though, you need to take a break for food and drink, and sometimes it's best to just say "we'll shop until noon and then be done for today." Don't get your beloved mad at you over a sale on sweaters! (Anny, I wrote this to show you that I am trying to learn!)
In case I don't post tomorrow - Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours!
If you go shopping - have fun! If you don't - have fun anyway, but stay away from the mall!
This year we do not have an elaborate announcement, but we are still very thankful. Abby is happy and healthy. So are Anny and I. We both have good jobs and great family and friends.
But this week is about more than being thankful. It's also about Turkey. It could also be about slapping, if you watch How I Met Your Mother. In our family we leave out the slapping, but are heavy on the turkey! The dinner is big and wonderful and prepared tirelessly by one of my aunts.
Two turkeys - one baked, one fried.
Two kinds of cranberry sauce - the traditional and a creamy version for those "outside the box thinkers" in the crowd.
Almost as Many Pies as People - yes, it's going to be true this year. My brother has his own cherry pie. Several pumpkin pies. Some sort of cream pie. Pudding for me since I don't like pie crust!
The food brings us together. We see each other fairly often, but it's different at holidays. No bickering, just having good conversation and general fun.
Oh yeah, and there's always the Robly-Anticipated Black Friday Shopping! Last year I was to Target and back with breakfast in hand before Anny was out of bed. After she was ready to leave we stopped at another Target on our way to the family beach house located near - you guessed it - MORE shopping! I went to three Target stores - in two states(!) in twelve hours.
Something is wrong with me. I love to shop on Black Friday (and Saturday). I love to shop on Christmas Eve. I worked retail for four and a half years and my favorite days were the long busy ones. I am looking forward to strapping Abby into the Baby Bjorn and heading out shopping just before the sun is out on Friday! (We will be at the Outlet Stores in Rehoboth on Friday. Back in town for Saturday.)
Here are my tips for Black Friday shopping:
1 - Research on Thursday in the newspaper what you are hunting for on Friday.
2 - If you are looking for an electronics gift, get there early. If you're after clothes, sleep in.
3 - Dress in layers! It's chilly in the early hours, but hot inside stores by mid-morning. More people = higher temperatures!
4 - Be nice. Everyone is looking for a deal, not just you. Be especially nice to the store employees. You are NOT the first person to complain that they don't have the camera you wanted.
5 - Set spending limits and stick to them. This one is hard for me to type because I tend to overspend. If you go out and take advantage of EVERY deal you will be happy, but broke.
6 - Set time limits. If you're shopping alone this is not as important. If you're out shopping with someone, though, you need to take a break for food and drink, and sometimes it's best to just say "we'll shop until noon and then be done for today." Don't get your beloved mad at you over a sale on sweaters! (Anny, I wrote this to show you that I am trying to learn!)
In case I don't post tomorrow - Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours!
If you go shopping - have fun! If you don't - have fun anyway, but stay away from the mall!
November 16, 2007
Simple Pleasures Friday (Week 2)
Introduced last week, with quite a few commenters and even more readers! It's back!
SPF - Simple Pleasure Friday's (I'm still not sold on this name, so feel free to give suggestions!)
I would like to hear from folks about positive things in their lives. Most blogs that I read go dormant over the weekends. I think that speaks about how we spend our time, and I don't think that it's a bad thing!
On a local radio station every Thursday they have time to share people's "Simple Pleasures." This is a time where people get to call in and be positive, and a LOT of people do. The hosts each share something that seems simple, but has been a nice thing for them.
example: The smell of a summer rain in the middle of a drought.
Seeing a kid's face the first time they try to catch snow on their tongue.
You get the picture.
So, here are the rules:
Share something special that has happened to you or you have witnessed in the last week.
Place your Simple Pleasure in the comments below!
That's it!
My goal is that this is about community, so I will share my Simple Pleasure in the comments, not as part of my post. My other goal is to give you a place to write a little bit over the weekend, and to share in the joys that other's are experiencing.
Feel free to pass this along to others!
SPF - Simple Pleasure Friday's (I'm still not sold on this name, so feel free to give suggestions!)
I would like to hear from folks about positive things in their lives. Most blogs that I read go dormant over the weekends. I think that speaks about how we spend our time, and I don't think that it's a bad thing!
On a local radio station every Thursday they have time to share people's "Simple Pleasures." This is a time where people get to call in and be positive, and a LOT of people do. The hosts each share something that seems simple, but has been a nice thing for them.
example: The smell of a summer rain in the middle of a drought.
Seeing a kid's face the first time they try to catch snow on their tongue.
You get the picture.
So, here are the rules:
Share something special that has happened to you or you have witnessed in the last week.
Place your Simple Pleasure in the comments below!
That's it!
My goal is that this is about community, so I will share my Simple Pleasure in the comments, not as part of my post. My other goal is to give you a place to write a little bit over the weekend, and to share in the joys that other's are experiencing.
Feel free to pass this along to others!
November 15, 2007
What's Up you Ho Ho Ho?
For the AP article, click here.
It appears that in Sydney, Australia some Santa Clauses have been told that they now need to say (merrily!) Ha Ha Ha! instead of Ho Ho Ho! Why, you ask? Because Ho is a slang term IN THE US for prostitute. Not even in Australia (please, Bec, correct me if I'm wrong!).
I think that this particular incidence is a bit much for me to handle. Ho Ho Ho is the precursor to today's kids movies. Yes, I am man enough to admit that I snicker inside a little bit every single time I hear a Santa at the mall or on TV say "Ho Ho Ho" because I think he's calling a kid a name. It's funny. It's fun. It's okay.
Remember when we were kids and we watched movies? Robin Hood (the awesome cartoon version). Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Snow White.
These movies were made for children and drove parents up a wall because of their child-ness. They were voiced by no-named people because the parents would mindlessly buy anything by Disney. Kids didn't care and neither did parent types.
Now the movies that are prevalent are different. Yes they are child oriented, but there is a lot of parent humor to keep moms and dads interested. Finding Nemo. Monsters Inc. Bee Movie. Voiced by everyone from Seinfeld to Chris Rock. Kids don't care about those guys.
There are a lot of points of humor that are lost on kids completely because there is parent-funny material embedded. What child gets the humor of "oderant" in Monsters Inc? Certainly not my four year old niece. Every time I see it (which I saw at least eight times during one road trip this summer) I laughed. Most of the time I laughed out loud even!
Santa should be able to say Ho Ho Ho. It is something that kids know and something that I can laugh at.
It appears that in Sydney, Australia some Santa Clauses have been told that they now need to say (merrily!) Ha Ha Ha! instead of Ho Ho Ho! Why, you ask? Because Ho is a slang term IN THE US for prostitute. Not even in Australia (please, Bec, correct me if I'm wrong!).
I think that this particular incidence is a bit much for me to handle. Ho Ho Ho is the precursor to today's kids movies. Yes, I am man enough to admit that I snicker inside a little bit every single time I hear a Santa at the mall or on TV say "Ho Ho Ho" because I think he's calling a kid a name. It's funny. It's fun. It's okay.
Remember when we were kids and we watched movies? Robin Hood (the awesome cartoon version). Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Snow White.
These movies were made for children and drove parents up a wall because of their child-ness. They were voiced by no-named people because the parents would mindlessly buy anything by Disney. Kids didn't care and neither did parent types.
Now the movies that are prevalent are different. Yes they are child oriented, but there is a lot of parent humor to keep moms and dads interested. Finding Nemo. Monsters Inc. Bee Movie. Voiced by everyone from Seinfeld to Chris Rock. Kids don't care about those guys.
There are a lot of points of humor that are lost on kids completely because there is parent-funny material embedded. What child gets the humor of "oderant" in Monsters Inc? Certainly not my four year old niece. Every time I see it (which I saw at least eight times during one road trip this summer) I laughed. Most of the time I laughed out loud even!
Santa should be able to say Ho Ho Ho. It is something that kids know and something that I can laugh at.
November 13, 2007
Toilet Training - From the Other Side of the Oceans
Found this on a parenting site I read. Had to share!
November 09, 2007
A New Feature on my Blog!
Today I would like to bring to you a new and hopefully ongoing feature of my little place of the web. This is a participation post, and I expect you to call me on it if I lag behind!
SPF - Simple Pleasure Friday's (I'm not sold on this name, so feel free to give suggestions!)
I would like to hear from folks about positive things in their lives. Most blogs that I read go dormant over the weekends. I think that speaks about how we spend our time, and I don't think that it's a bad thing! The reason that I get to read the blogs is that Abby still gets up early, even if it's a Sunday morning and we don't have anywhere to be. Anyway.
On a local radio station every Thursday they have time to share people's "Simple Pleasures." This is a time where people get to call in and be positive, and a LOT of people do. The hosts each share something that seems simple, but has been a nice thing for them.
example: The smell of a summer rain in the middle of a drought.
Seeing a kid's face the first time they try to catch snow on their tongue.
You get the picture.
So, here are the rules:
Share something special that has happened to you or you have witnessed in the last week.
Place your Simple Pleasure in the comments below!
That's it!
My goal is that this is about community, so I will share my Simple Pleasure in the comments, not as part of my post. My other goal is to give you a place to write a little bit over the weekend, and to share in the joys that other's are experiencing.
Feel free to pass this along to others!
SPF - Simple Pleasure Friday's (I'm not sold on this name, so feel free to give suggestions!)
I would like to hear from folks about positive things in their lives. Most blogs that I read go dormant over the weekends. I think that speaks about how we spend our time, and I don't think that it's a bad thing! The reason that I get to read the blogs is that Abby still gets up early, even if it's a Sunday morning and we don't have anywhere to be. Anyway.
On a local radio station every Thursday they have time to share people's "Simple Pleasures." This is a time where people get to call in and be positive, and a LOT of people do. The hosts each share something that seems simple, but has been a nice thing for them.
example: The smell of a summer rain in the middle of a drought.
Seeing a kid's face the first time they try to catch snow on their tongue.
You get the picture.
So, here are the rules:
Share something special that has happened to you or you have witnessed in the last week.
Place your Simple Pleasure in the comments below!
That's it!
My goal is that this is about community, so I will share my Simple Pleasure in the comments, not as part of my post. My other goal is to give you a place to write a little bit over the weekend, and to share in the joys that other's are experiencing.
Feel free to pass this along to others!
November 05, 2007
I'm Just....
I was complimented ths morning via email. It is always a little weird. I have some esteem issues and often refer to myself as "just an administrative assistant."
I think this comes from the fact that my wife and bunches of our friends are teachers. My brother and his wife are both on the verge of higher-higher ed degrees. My little sister has aspirations in the field of criminal psychology. I talk to higher-educated people everywhere I go. I just have an Associates. A four-year-to-get-a-two-year-degree Associates at that!
I'm just an administrative assistant. No - worse than that. I'm just an admin.
When we reviewed my job description earlier this year I was asked what I thought my job title should be, if different from "Program Assistant." I support seven other staff members either directly or one degree of directness, so maybe a new title would be good.
Administrative Assistant to all?
Office Assistant?
Office Grunt!
We stuck with Program Assistant.
Some people talk about being called to a particular field. Typically these people are teachers, politicians or people in the ministry. I have never heard anyone say that their call was to work in an office.
I truly feel like this is my calling. I like what I do and I'm good at it. Better than I let on, but don't tell anyone!
Anyway - All of that is to say that I came across a really great quote from Martin Luther King Jr. Actually, it was sent to me by a minister when I told him I was simply a messenger.
I think that I strive to be the best. I know my faults. I discuss them at the office openly, and will talk with anyone else about them if the need arises. I know what's wrong, and I work to fix it so that I can "sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry."
So, I leave you with that to Ponder and Comment on. What are you good at? What else do you read into this quote?
I think this comes from the fact that my wife and bunches of our friends are teachers. My brother and his wife are both on the verge of higher-higher ed degrees. My little sister has aspirations in the field of criminal psychology. I talk to higher-educated people everywhere I go. I just have an Associates. A four-year-to-get-a-two-year-degree Associates at that!
I'm just an administrative assistant. No - worse than that. I'm just an admin.
When we reviewed my job description earlier this year I was asked what I thought my job title should be, if different from "Program Assistant." I support seven other staff members either directly or one degree of directness, so maybe a new title would be good.
Administrative Assistant to all?
Office Assistant?
Office Grunt!
We stuck with Program Assistant.
Some people talk about being called to a particular field. Typically these people are teachers, politicians or people in the ministry. I have never heard anyone say that their call was to work in an office.
I truly feel like this is my calling. I like what I do and I'm good at it. Better than I let on, but don't tell anyone!
Anyway - All of that is to say that I came across a really great quote from Martin Luther King Jr. Actually, it was sent to me by a minister when I told him I was simply a messenger.
If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.
If you can't be a pine at the top of the hill, be a shrub in the valley. Be be the best little shrub on the side of the hill. Be a bush if you can't be a tree. If you can't be a highway, just be a trail. If you can't be a sun, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.
I think that I strive to be the best. I know my faults. I discuss them at the office openly, and will talk with anyone else about them if the need arises. I know what's wrong, and I work to fix it so that I can "sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry."
So, I leave you with that to Ponder and Comment on. What are you good at? What else do you read into this quote?
October 31, 2007
Two Things We Grew This Year
 |
| From October 2007 |
And both weigh about 15 pounds this year!
Yes, the pumpkins that I thought I killed over the summer produced two big ones after all. This is one of the two, the other is on the porch. I can't bring myself to carve them.....
Abby will Trick-Or-Treat at a couple of houses tonight, but I am reserving the right to sample the candy on her behalf.
October 25, 2007
Baby Got Book
This is hillarious and you internets will apreciate it for it's humor more than my co-workers!
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
October 23, 2007
No. Seriously. No.
Why is it that the President thinks that we should underfund health care for children that need it but continue to pour money into the war(s)?
My points -
1 - "Homeland Security" should in some shape or form focus on the land that is home. We are still fighting for someone else's homeland.
2 - I keep being threatened on TV and in print by Bush and his support staff about the SuperBugs that will wipe out masses, but flu shots, though finally back in stock, still cost money to everyone.
3 - Shouldn't we do everything we can to protect the young people, the ones with vulnerable immune systems.
The reason Bush gave for not fully funding the SCHIP program is that the money is for low income children, and that some middle-income families would take advantage of it. Oh, okay, so we are going to spend an extra hundred thousand treating a child that may be able to afford it themselves. Spend it!
I don't know if it's because of where we live in relation to the heart of politics, but I am finding myself being drawn into more political conversations now than ever before. I don't see it getting any quieter in the forseeable future.
The good thing, I think, is that people are talking. I know that I'm talking more now than in previous stages of my life. A friend of mine has directed me to an important website that seeks to facilitate these conversations.
http://www.howimvoting.org/
Talk people. Talk.
My points -
1 - "Homeland Security" should in some shape or form focus on the land that is home. We are still fighting for someone else's homeland.
2 - I keep being threatened on TV and in print by Bush and his support staff about the SuperBugs that will wipe out masses, but flu shots, though finally back in stock, still cost money to everyone.
3 - Shouldn't we do everything we can to protect the young people, the ones with vulnerable immune systems.
The reason Bush gave for not fully funding the SCHIP program is that the money is for low income children, and that some middle-income families would take advantage of it. Oh, okay, so we are going to spend an extra hundred thousand treating a child that may be able to afford it themselves. Spend it!
I don't know if it's because of where we live in relation to the heart of politics, but I am finding myself being drawn into more political conversations now than ever before. I don't see it getting any quieter in the forseeable future.
The good thing, I think, is that people are talking. I know that I'm talking more now than in previous stages of my life. A friend of mine has directed me to an important website that seeks to facilitate these conversations.
http://www.howimvoting.org/
Talk people. Talk.
October 18, 2007
Creating a Greener Life
Okay - I missed the official Blog Action Day about being green, but I was caught off guard when Sarahlynn calls us "greener" than their family. There are certainly greener families than ours, but I would say that we're not doing too terribly right now.
It made me realize that we do some things that are normal, and a couple of out-of-the-norm things to shrink our footprint on the environment.
The easiest of the things that we have done is replaced burned out bulbs with the energy efficient versions available everywhere now. We bought in quantity at Sam's Club bulbs in various sizes a while back. The one thing that is a drag about this "easy" project - finding dimmable compact florescent bulbs. I've seen them on TV, but can't find them in stores. (Any suggestions would be great!)
An out-of-the-box thing that we do is harvest our rain water. When it rains. The nice thing is that by storing it, we have still held on to water from the last storm, a whopping (and record) 35 days ago!
We do not clean the water for drinking or anything, but we collect rain water in a barrel as it comes from our front downspout. We use this water for our birdbath and to water plants and pumpkins around the yard. We spent $50 for the barrel, and have probably saved $35 on one year's water bills. By that math we will have paid for it outright within two summers.
We got ours locally from Arlington Echo Outdoor Education Center. There are online outlets that carry them, but we like what AEOEC does to get theirs. First off, they recycle the barrels from the local Pepsi plant for their projects. Secondly, the barrels are then crafted by students as they learn about the environment and things that they can do to protect it for the future. Very cool. Secretly, Anny's dream job is to create curriculum for a center like this. She had an incredible experience working at an Environmental Ed place in Tennessee a few years back.
What we don't do yet, but we are investigating:
Create a front lawn that requires less water to begin with. There is no shade out there, so whatever is out there bakes in the summer.
Cloth diapers. We're just waiting for the daycare to say yes. Apparently they have never had the request before. Hmm.
So - what are you doing for the environment? What do you wish you could be doing? What else should we be doing? I would love comments on this one.
It made me realize that we do some things that are normal, and a couple of out-of-the-norm things to shrink our footprint on the environment.
The easiest of the things that we have done is replaced burned out bulbs with the energy efficient versions available everywhere now. We bought in quantity at Sam's Club bulbs in various sizes a while back. The one thing that is a drag about this "easy" project - finding dimmable compact florescent bulbs. I've seen them on TV, but can't find them in stores. (Any suggestions would be great!)
An out-of-the-box thing that we do is harvest our rain water. When it rains. The nice thing is that by storing it, we have still held on to water from the last storm, a whopping (and record) 35 days ago!
We do not clean the water for drinking or anything, but we collect rain water in a barrel as it comes from our front downspout. We use this water for our birdbath and to water plants and pumpkins around the yard. We spent $50 for the barrel, and have probably saved $35 on one year's water bills. By that math we will have paid for it outright within two summers.
We got ours locally from Arlington Echo Outdoor Education Center. There are online outlets that carry them, but we like what AEOEC does to get theirs. First off, they recycle the barrels from the local Pepsi plant for their projects. Secondly, the barrels are then crafted by students as they learn about the environment and things that they can do to protect it for the future. Very cool. Secretly, Anny's dream job is to create curriculum for a center like this. She had an incredible experience working at an Environmental Ed place in Tennessee a few years back.
What we don't do yet, but we are investigating:
Create a front lawn that requires less water to begin with. There is no shade out there, so whatever is out there bakes in the summer.
Cloth diapers. We're just waiting for the daycare to say yes. Apparently they have never had the request before. Hmm.
So - what are you doing for the environment? What do you wish you could be doing? What else should we be doing? I would love comments on this one.
October 17, 2007
Published? No, but Acknowledged!
http://www.parenthacks.com/2007/10/halloween-hack-.html
We submitted our Pumpkin Carving Secret to ParentHacks and she used it today!
ParentHacks is a website that solicits and posts ideas that are non-traditional but work briliantly in solving common parenting issues. Check them out!
Also, feel free to comment on their post about how briliant my idea is so that I feel better about myself. Your call, just an idea....
We submitted our Pumpkin Carving Secret to ParentHacks and she used it today!
ParentHacks is a website that solicits and posts ideas that are non-traditional but work briliantly in solving common parenting issues. Check them out!
Also, feel free to comment on their post about how briliant my idea is so that I feel better about myself. Your call, just an idea....
October 16, 2007
Baptism Weekend!
This post has been posted on both blogs, you're not losing your mind!
Everything went swimmingly! Anny and I snipped at each other twice, but aside from that the weekend could not have gone better, and for that we are thankful.
I picked up Anny's brother and family mid-morning from the airport and headed directly to destination number one: Wendy's! There are none left around their house, so whenever they go places that have Wendy's, a stop must be made. (I learned of this in July on our drive to Iowa as well.)
The Parent-In-Laws started their trip on a sour note, but made the most of a couple of days off of school. When they got to the airport they found out that their flight to Denver had been canceled completely. The next flight had only 3 available seats, so there was little to no chance they would fly out Friday. Their logical next step? Get gas and drive to Denver! It's only a four-and-a-half hour drive. They got in a bit later, but would not have missed this weekend for anything.
On Saturday we had a pre-baptism party to celebrate because a lot of folks were heading home pretty quickly either by car or airplane. We had a ton of family and friends over, and Abby was awake for part of it. She slept hard this weekend, so we think we might be growth-spurting again. We received some very thoughtful gifts and are once again finding ourselves overwhelmed by the generosity of others.
The baptism on Sunday was very nice. Abby was a little fussy as our pastor set things up (prayer, congregational questions) but once we handed her over, she was very calm and content. We had practiced putting water on Abby's head so that she was not caught completely off guard and freaked out. It would have been okay if she did, but it was better that she didn't.
When we were not with large groups of people, we spent a lot of quality time with Anny's family with a very relaxed theme. We intentionally did not schedule anything for our time since we had a four year old and two infants to work with. We tried a new restaurant on Sunday since our go-to restaurant closed in June. High marks from all of us!
Monday morning I took the Parent-In-Laws to the airport for their flight/drive home. Just us "kids" hung out until lunch time and we made a quick trip to Ikea! They don't have one in their city and had never been. I know they are looking at remodeling at least a bathroom and there are a ton of deals to be had.
It was a wonderful weekend and we both realize how blessed we are to have that many people that care about us.
Everything went swimmingly! Anny and I snipped at each other twice, but aside from that the weekend could not have gone better, and for that we are thankful.
I picked up Anny's brother and family mid-morning from the airport and headed directly to destination number one: Wendy's! There are none left around their house, so whenever they go places that have Wendy's, a stop must be made. (I learned of this in July on our drive to Iowa as well.)
The Parent-In-Laws started their trip on a sour note, but made the most of a couple of days off of school. When they got to the airport they found out that their flight to Denver had been canceled completely. The next flight had only 3 available seats, so there was little to no chance they would fly out Friday. Their logical next step? Get gas and drive to Denver! It's only a four-and-a-half hour drive. They got in a bit later, but would not have missed this weekend for anything.
On Saturday we had a pre-baptism party to celebrate because a lot of folks were heading home pretty quickly either by car or airplane. We had a ton of family and friends over, and Abby was awake for part of it. She slept hard this weekend, so we think we might be growth-spurting again. We received some very thoughtful gifts and are once again finding ourselves overwhelmed by the generosity of others.
The baptism on Sunday was very nice. Abby was a little fussy as our pastor set things up (prayer, congregational questions) but once we handed her over, she was very calm and content. We had practiced putting water on Abby's head so that she was not caught completely off guard and freaked out. It would have been okay if she did, but it was better that she didn't.
When we were not with large groups of people, we spent a lot of quality time with Anny's family with a very relaxed theme. We intentionally did not schedule anything for our time since we had a four year old and two infants to work with. We tried a new restaurant on Sunday since our go-to restaurant closed in June. High marks from all of us!
Monday morning I took the Parent-In-Laws to the airport for their flight/drive home. Just us "kids" hung out until lunch time and we made a quick trip to Ikea! They don't have one in their city and had never been. I know they are looking at remodeling at least a bathroom and there are a ton of deals to be had.
It was a wonderful weekend and we both realize how blessed we are to have that many people that care about us.
October 04, 2007
Kidney Update!
I guess it's been two weeks since I saw my nephrologist, but between Abby, Anny and I all taking turns being sick I have not updated you all on my kidneys.
He immediately gave me the bad news that I have gained 7 pounds instead of losing weight as he requested. When I told him that we have a three month old at home, he understood (a little) and told me that I need to lose weight before my next visit.
My protein levels are down to a manageable range. Protein spillage is the way that we can figure out how my kidneys are actually doing.
Most of my other levels are in the normal range. NORMAL (!) range, not just manageable. Potassium, phosphorus, blah blah blah. I focused on the fact that I'm the healthiest (internally) that I have been in more than five years.
He did have concern that my cholesterol is too low. Dangerously too low. That meant taking me off of one of my drugs! I have to have blood work done in a couple of weeks to be sure that my cholesterol does not jump back up, but he doesn't see that as too big of a concern.
I celebrated with a steak. :o)
So, news is good news! I agree with him that I need to drop some weight, and have for a long time. If you read previous posts you will realize that I weighed in at 185 before I got sick, but jumped to 265 in a matter of two months (less really). I have never gotten back down to 185, and that is just a pipe dream. If I could get down to 210 and stay at 210 I would be happy. (For the record, I'm not at 265 now, but I'm not far off) I can't do any fad-that-work diets like the one that worked so well for Anny because they all rely on protein overload, which increases potassium for some reason.
It will work out eventually, especially if I work out.
And that's my kidney update for the fall of 2007. I go back in six months.....
He immediately gave me the bad news that I have gained 7 pounds instead of losing weight as he requested. When I told him that we have a three month old at home, he understood (a little) and told me that I need to lose weight before my next visit.
My protein levels are down to a manageable range. Protein spillage is the way that we can figure out how my kidneys are actually doing.
Most of my other levels are in the normal range. NORMAL (!) range, not just manageable. Potassium, phosphorus, blah blah blah. I focused on the fact that I'm the healthiest (internally) that I have been in more than five years.
He did have concern that my cholesterol is too low. Dangerously too low. That meant taking me off of one of my drugs! I have to have blood work done in a couple of weeks to be sure that my cholesterol does not jump back up, but he doesn't see that as too big of a concern.
I celebrated with a steak. :o)
So, news is good news! I agree with him that I need to drop some weight, and have for a long time. If you read previous posts you will realize that I weighed in at 185 before I got sick, but jumped to 265 in a matter of two months (less really). I have never gotten back down to 185, and that is just a pipe dream. If I could get down to 210 and stay at 210 I would be happy. (For the record, I'm not at 265 now, but I'm not far off) I can't do any fad-that-work diets like the one that worked so well for Anny because they all rely on protein overload, which increases potassium for some reason.
It will work out eventually, especially if I work out.
And that's my kidney update for the fall of 2007. I go back in six months.....
September 28, 2007
Good for Nickelodeon!
It appears that Nick is not the Nickelodeon of our time, friends. That's not necessarily a bad thing! (For starters, they have several channels. I remember when ALL of the kids programming was on Nickelodeon. No Nick meant no TV.)
I admit that I have not yet begun to watch kids shows since Abby does not watch them. I have a friend that started sitting down with his boy the weekend after he was born to watch Saturday morning cartoons. I, on the other hand, refuse to give in until I have to.
Anyway, I heard this morning about a good think that Nick is doing. Seems that they realize how much TV is contributing to the obesity of children, so they are going off air tomorrow for a three hour period! I would imagine that means that they are losing money in revenue, but for all I know it may just have their logo and a logo for Coke or something.
It's a part of their annual Worldwide Day of Play. They encourage folks to get outside and do something. Anything. They have a website to come up with ideas if you're fresh out of them. This is the fourth year.
I say good for Nick. I think I'll go out and play to celebrate! (Actually, I don't have a choice. It's Homecoming and Anny wants to show off Baby.)
I admit that I have not yet begun to watch kids shows since Abby does not watch them. I have a friend that started sitting down with his boy the weekend after he was born to watch Saturday morning cartoons. I, on the other hand, refuse to give in until I have to.
Anyway, I heard this morning about a good think that Nick is doing. Seems that they realize how much TV is contributing to the obesity of children, so they are going off air tomorrow for a three hour period! I would imagine that means that they are losing money in revenue, but for all I know it may just have their logo and a logo for Coke or something.
It's a part of their annual Worldwide Day of Play. They encourage folks to get outside and do something. Anything. They have a website to come up with ideas if you're fresh out of them. This is the fourth year.
I say good for Nick. I think I'll go out and play to celebrate! (Actually, I don't have a choice. It's Homecoming and Anny wants to show off Baby.)
September 19, 2007
Took This Quiz Today, Not Too Surprised
| You Will Not Be a Cool Parent |
 And that's pretty okay. While your kids may not think of you as a friend, they will respect you. You know that kids need discipline and structure, and you're not afraid to give it to them. Just be careful that your strictness doesn't lead to rebellion. It's good to have standards and rules, but you don't need to have an iron fist when enforcing them. |
September 17, 2007
Preparations A-G, No H
So I have to assume that most folks prepare for their childs baptism in some way. Arrange for a cake and some platters; do a thorough cleaning of the house; invite friends and family to be a part of the celebration of brining a child to the church (officially).
We paint. Actually, I'm beginning to think that we prepare for any milestone by painting! Before we were "ready" to bring a baby home, (if that's really possible) we needed to paint the nursery.
The weekend of the batism, though, we are going to have great fun with lots of people staying with us, and even more people coming through for meals or just hanging out. This has brought about another version of THE LIST.
I am a list maker and, more importantly, a list follower. When we were getting final things in order for Abby's birth, we made a large post it note for each room in the house, and systematically moved them to the "finished" side of the wall when they were done. Granted, a few of those have not been done yet, but that's another post, on a different day.
My MIL and FIL do not require much preparation. They have "their room" which actually has furniture that came from their house about 18 months ago. It still smells more like their house than it does our house, to be honest. (which is fine, just an observation)
My BIL and SIL, on the other hand, have not been here before. They had the first children, and it has made the most sense to make trips west rather than have everyone fly east. They are going to come for the baptism, and we're elated! But it means that we have to get some things in order.
Sleeping: We have three adult beds in our house, plus two for Abby. We're set for the adults, and are going to borrow an air mattress for Ellie the toddler. Ada the (will be) ten month old will need the pack-and-play.
That led to the decision to move Abby to her room. She turned three months old this week, and with the combination of her age and the need to let someone else sleep in the pack-and-play, we moved her into her own room Saturday night. She did amazingly! Slept for seven hours and when she woke, she happily stared at the mobile above her. If she made peeps through the night, they didn't disturb us because it was through a monitor, not 14 inches from my head.
She slept there again last night and did really well again. She woke up right at 5:15, which is when I've been aiming at. That gives us enough time to eat and get dressed before my ladies have to leave for schools.
Dining: Our dining room had some very old, very not-our-style blue wallpaper with birds and a colonial theme. Our dining room is also sloped. The front half of our house is. The combination of the wallpaper and the slope has been known to make people a little woozy while dining. Our little kitchen table will not fit six adults, a toddler and two infants, though. This means that we need to make the dining room into a dining area again.
I have already taken down the wallpaper, but now have to patch some holes and get some paint up. That should happen over the next ten days or so.
The lists usually work, hopefully THE LIST does again. I'll probably update here as I go along. We're glad to have a reason to get some of our house projects done!
We paint. Actually, I'm beginning to think that we prepare for any milestone by painting! Before we were "ready" to bring a baby home, (if that's really possible) we needed to paint the nursery.
The weekend of the batism, though, we are going to have great fun with lots of people staying with us, and even more people coming through for meals or just hanging out. This has brought about another version of THE LIST.
I am a list maker and, more importantly, a list follower. When we were getting final things in order for Abby's birth, we made a large post it note for each room in the house, and systematically moved them to the "finished" side of the wall when they were done. Granted, a few of those have not been done yet, but that's another post, on a different day.
My MIL and FIL do not require much preparation. They have "their room" which actually has furniture that came from their house about 18 months ago. It still smells more like their house than it does our house, to be honest. (which is fine, just an observation)
My BIL and SIL, on the other hand, have not been here before. They had the first children, and it has made the most sense to make trips west rather than have everyone fly east. They are going to come for the baptism, and we're elated! But it means that we have to get some things in order.
Sleeping: We have three adult beds in our house, plus two for Abby. We're set for the adults, and are going to borrow an air mattress for Ellie the toddler. Ada the (will be) ten month old will need the pack-and-play.
That led to the decision to move Abby to her room. She turned three months old this week, and with the combination of her age and the need to let someone else sleep in the pack-and-play, we moved her into her own room Saturday night. She did amazingly! Slept for seven hours and when she woke, she happily stared at the mobile above her. If she made peeps through the night, they didn't disturb us because it was through a monitor, not 14 inches from my head.
She slept there again last night and did really well again. She woke up right at 5:15, which is when I've been aiming at. That gives us enough time to eat and get dressed before my ladies have to leave for schools.
Dining: Our dining room had some very old, very not-our-style blue wallpaper with birds and a colonial theme. Our dining room is also sloped. The front half of our house is. The combination of the wallpaper and the slope has been known to make people a little woozy while dining. Our little kitchen table will not fit six adults, a toddler and two infants, though. This means that we need to make the dining room into a dining area again.
I have already taken down the wallpaper, but now have to patch some holes and get some paint up. That should happen over the next ten days or so.
The lists usually work, hopefully THE LIST does again. I'll probably update here as I go along. We're glad to have a reason to get some of our house projects done!
September 14, 2007
An Open Letter:
An Open Letter to Sanitation Workers:
As a parent of a three month old, I must send you my sincere thanks and appreciation. As I opened my trash can this morning I was hit with the power of three-day-in-the-heat-of-the-trashcan poopy diaper stench.
I will be honest, I have never envied your job. You work long hours and deal with some nasty things, but I feel like I have been gentle on you for at least the last ten years of my life. I have put out an occasional moldy piece of fruit, or scrap wood from a house project, but not much more.
Now we are producing more in both volume and stench. For that, I must apologize. If the diaper can were full only on days that you picked up the trash, that would be a miracle. Instead, they tend to be full, or full enough for us to notice, about three hours after your visit.
I will even go so far as to send thanks from every parent that uses disposable diapers.
Your work is VERY appreciated by us all!
As a parent of a three month old, I must send you my sincere thanks and appreciation. As I opened my trash can this morning I was hit with the power of three-day-in-the-heat-of-the-trashcan poopy diaper stench.
I will be honest, I have never envied your job. You work long hours and deal with some nasty things, but I feel like I have been gentle on you for at least the last ten years of my life. I have put out an occasional moldy piece of fruit, or scrap wood from a house project, but not much more.
Now we are producing more in both volume and stench. For that, I must apologize. If the diaper can were full only on days that you picked up the trash, that would be a miracle. Instead, they tend to be full, or full enough for us to notice, about three hours after your visit.
I will even go so far as to send thanks from every parent that uses disposable diapers.
Your work is VERY appreciated by us all!
September 12, 2007
Pumpkin Update!
I gave up on the pumpkins on day this summer when the AC was out. I needed to vent on something, and the vines were growing up the outside fan unit. I folded back half of the vines onto itself, and assumed that would be the end of my fun, no maintenance project.
We planted the seeds in late May/Early June, and proceeded to ignore them completely after Abby was born. Priorities, you know. I based my decision to kill the project based on the drought we had been having.
I went out to take care of trashing the vines, and found a pumpkin bud. (no picture, sorry.) I began to water with our harvested rain water every other day or so, but didn't do anything else. This past weekend I went out to snap a photo of our one pumpkin:
(the dark green croc is mine, a size 12-13!)
And discovered a second one:
We're going to pick the one orange one this week to be sure it does not go bad, and hopefully to get the other one ripe because the nutrients will all go to one instead of two. We'll get some good autumn photos of Abby this year!
We planted the seeds in late May/Early June, and proceeded to ignore them completely after Abby was born. Priorities, you know. I based my decision to kill the project based on the drought we had been having.
I went out to take care of trashing the vines, and found a pumpkin bud. (no picture, sorry.) I began to water with our harvested rain water every other day or so, but didn't do anything else. This past weekend I went out to snap a photo of our one pumpkin:
(the dark green croc is mine, a size 12-13!)
And discovered a second one:
We're going to pick the one orange one this week to be sure it does not go bad, and hopefully to get the other one ripe because the nutrients will all go to one instead of two. We'll get some good autumn photos of Abby this year!
August 28, 2007
A Family Game
Anny and I have not taken a true road trip in many years. A trip now and then to the beach is about as far as we drive. (We do a lot of flying, but this game is not a flying game....)
Our silly little game has been ongoing since a trip about six months ago. Our trip was not really even that long, just up to Columbia. Our game is...
Should that car be yellow?
We each drive 10+ miles to work on highways, so we see a LOT of cars everyday. Some cars look rediculous because of their tacky spoiler, some because there is a red door on a blue car.
Most often, though, we notice that people drive yellow cars that should never have been painted yellow.
Examples:
Any Minivan (never seen one, and it doesn't look like an option on the Odyssey)
Hyundai Accent
PT Cruiser (Especially the "Woody" version)
Don't get me wrong, I can apreciate a cool car in yellow. It has to be yellow-apropriate, though.
Examples: (8/19/07 - I had to break the links because of too much traffic from folks looking here for pics of these cars. Not an issue for the cars above....)
Ford Mustang
Ferrari
Corvette
You can start to get the picture. Yellow cars scream "Look at my cool car!" That just can't be done in a minivan, or most cars with four doors.
What other cars should be on the wrong list?
What others should be on the apropriate list?
More importantly, as we will make another drive to the beach this weekend, what kind of things do you do on road trips to pass time?
Our silly little game has been ongoing since a trip about six months ago. Our trip was not really even that long, just up to Columbia. Our game is...
Should that car be yellow?
We each drive 10+ miles to work on highways, so we see a LOT of cars everyday. Some cars look rediculous because of their tacky spoiler, some because there is a red door on a blue car.
Most often, though, we notice that people drive yellow cars that should never have been painted yellow.
Examples:
Any Minivan (never seen one, and it doesn't look like an option on the Odyssey)
Hyundai Accent
PT Cruiser (Especially the "Woody" version)
Don't get me wrong, I can apreciate a cool car in yellow. It has to be yellow-apropriate, though.
Examples: (8/19/07 - I had to break the links because of too much traffic from folks looking here for pics of these cars. Not an issue for the cars above....)
Ford Mustang
Ferrari
Corvette
You can start to get the picture. Yellow cars scream "Look at my cool car!" That just can't be done in a minivan, or most cars with four doors.
What other cars should be on the wrong list?
What others should be on the apropriate list?
More importantly, as we will make another drive to the beach this weekend, what kind of things do you do on road trips to pass time?
August 22, 2007
Greatest Feeling
I am a morning person by nature. I am only ever awake past 9 pm by nurture. Sometimes nurture is not even enough to keep me awake, but that's another post for another time. I am also an extrovert - so if you meet me in the morning, please accept my apologies. I really am that annoying sometimes!
Anny is a night owl by nature. She get's up in the morning as necessity for teaching. Apparently schools insist on having teachers available and at school when students are there. Oh well. Anny is an introvert. She needs her rest to work the whole day long when other people are involved.
Abby is still a baby. She is still figuring out her routine. She wakes up sometime between 3 and 4 in the morning to get a small snack and go back to sleep. This is the pain part of having an infant in the house.
The part that makes it all okay is when she goes from completely awake and fussy to completely limp and asleep on my shoulder. This morning I could feel all of her weight shift from tense and whiny to completely relaxed and cuddly.
I could (and have) fallen asleep to the thought that I make another human being that relaxed. I konw that it will change when she's older, so I will continue to savor it each time she does it now.
I can't wait to see what other things she will do to let me know she love's me as she grows into a little lady.
Anny is a night owl by nature. She get's up in the morning as necessity for teaching. Apparently schools insist on having teachers available and at school when students are there. Oh well. Anny is an introvert. She needs her rest to work the whole day long when other people are involved.
Abby is still a baby. She is still figuring out her routine. She wakes up sometime between 3 and 4 in the morning to get a small snack and go back to sleep. This is the pain part of having an infant in the house.
The part that makes it all okay is when she goes from completely awake and fussy to completely limp and asleep on my shoulder. This morning I could feel all of her weight shift from tense and whiny to completely relaxed and cuddly.
I could (and have) fallen asleep to the thought that I make another human being that relaxed. I konw that it will change when she's older, so I will continue to savor it each time she does it now.
I can't wait to see what other things she will do to let me know she love's me as she grows into a little lady.
August 14, 2007
Starting a New Program at Church
I've gotten to the point of being truly annoyed by people that continue to whine about what the church (or any organization) can do for them, but always always stop short of being willing to step up and pitch in when it comes time to implement.
At my last congregation there was a need for unity between the two youth programs. Rather than complain about it, we got concerned parties together every other month to make sure that everything remained on the up and up for the good of the total ministry of our church, not abandoning the younger youth because they were not able to do things, and not to write off the older youth because they did not have compassion for the younger members. That worked.
That also brings me to our current project! I will be forthcoming in saying that Anny and I, though we work well together, have never had any urge to start a group from scratch. That is mostly due to Anny's introverted nature, and my wanting to make sure that she's happy. We are both so excited about putting together a ministry like this one, not just for us for for all involved, that we decided that I would torn up my planning side and she would turn her extroversion up a little.
So, our new project: a ministry for parents with children under the age of 5. It really stemmed from the fact that we have a group of folks that we know on an every-Sunday basis that we would like to get to know in a better context. We don't have many friends around where we live with kids (though one couple will be having theirs anytime now!) and don't want to hang out with parenting groups all the way up in Columbia.
In particular I'm peeved that any parent groups that I can find mention of in the greater DC area are aimed at moms OR dads, whichever is a StayAtHome. StayAtHome would be an awesome idea for either of us, but we have chosen paths that are not the money makers that we could be in, and we have acknowledged that as we have grown our life together. I want to do things as a family, not just a Dad group or a Mom group. I understand that both of those have value, but we really do work well together and want Abby to grow up knowing that.
Our problem with our Parents of Young Children group is that we don't have any curriculum or direction with what to do with our time. I have gotten one recommendation from an Educator freind, but it looks like the resource is out of print and I can't find it on Amazon.
So, my question/plea is: do you know of any good materials for gatherings of parents? It does not have to be church based necessarily, because I have never been good at following the pages I've been given and will adjust as needed anyway.
If you're a part of a group (inside or outside the church, it just happens to be our place of choice) of this nature, what sort of things do you do in your program time?
Any help would be great. If you don't want to post in the comment section, drop me an email at armonroe (at) gmail.com.
At my last congregation there was a need for unity between the two youth programs. Rather than complain about it, we got concerned parties together every other month to make sure that everything remained on the up and up for the good of the total ministry of our church, not abandoning the younger youth because they were not able to do things, and not to write off the older youth because they did not have compassion for the younger members. That worked.
That also brings me to our current project! I will be forthcoming in saying that Anny and I, though we work well together, have never had any urge to start a group from scratch. That is mostly due to Anny's introverted nature, and my wanting to make sure that she's happy. We are both so excited about putting together a ministry like this one, not just for us for for all involved, that we decided that I would torn up my planning side and she would turn her extroversion up a little.
So, our new project: a ministry for parents with children under the age of 5. It really stemmed from the fact that we have a group of folks that we know on an every-Sunday basis that we would like to get to know in a better context. We don't have many friends around where we live with kids (though one couple will be having theirs anytime now!) and don't want to hang out with parenting groups all the way up in Columbia.
In particular I'm peeved that any parent groups that I can find mention of in the greater DC area are aimed at moms OR dads, whichever is a StayAtHome. StayAtHome would be an awesome idea for either of us, but we have chosen paths that are not the money makers that we could be in, and we have acknowledged that as we have grown our life together. I want to do things as a family, not just a Dad group or a Mom group. I understand that both of those have value, but we really do work well together and want Abby to grow up knowing that.
Our problem with our Parents of Young Children group is that we don't have any curriculum or direction with what to do with our time. I have gotten one recommendation from an Educator freind, but it looks like the resource is out of print and I can't find it on Amazon.
So, my question/plea is: do you know of any good materials for gatherings of parents? It does not have to be church based necessarily, because I have never been good at following the pages I've been given and will adjust as needed anyway.
If you're a part of a group (inside or outside the church, it just happens to be our place of choice) of this nature, what sort of things do you do in your program time?
Any help would be great. If you don't want to post in the comment section, drop me an email at armonroe (at) gmail.com.
August 13, 2007
The Greatest Compliment Ever
I have gotten the greatest compliment that I can think of twice this weekend.
"You look like a father. It fits you so well!"
The truth is that we waited and worked long an hard for Abby to be a part of our family. I won't go into that here, but that's an important part of why I'm so excited to have her with us now. She really has made our house a home.
I have begun to take the 2 am feedings in preparation for the school year starting next week (for teachers like Anny). Do you know how little there is on TV between 2 and 4 am? When it was 1:00 there were still the LateLate shows on. I have been watching all of the Last Comic Standing episodes and deleting them off of the TiVo as I go along. I have secret desires to try out for the show one year. I know that I have funny stories, but does that translate to comedy? I doubt it.
Here's a picture of us chillin on Friday afternoon.
I'm glad that I get to be her daddy.
"You look like a father. It fits you so well!"
The truth is that we waited and worked long an hard for Abby to be a part of our family. I won't go into that here, but that's an important part of why I'm so excited to have her with us now. She really has made our house a home.
I have begun to take the 2 am feedings in preparation for the school year starting next week (for teachers like Anny). Do you know how little there is on TV between 2 and 4 am? When it was 1:00 there were still the LateLate shows on. I have been watching all of the Last Comic Standing episodes and deleting them off of the TiVo as I go along. I have secret desires to try out for the show one year. I know that I have funny stories, but does that translate to comedy? I doubt it.
|
| From August 2007 |
Here's a picture of us chillin on Friday afternoon.
I'm glad that I get to be her daddy.
August 08, 2007
How do You Drive Traffic to your Website?
At my church we are trying to prepare for an onslaught of new employees at Fort Meade through Base Relocation efforts in the works. Some are hoping that new people in town will translate to more people in the seats on Sunday. Some do not share in that hope. "We're okay the way we are." (I hate that notion, but that's a different post for a different day.)
I fall into the camp of open-armed members that would love to have some new folks with us each week!
We are located close enough to the base that we should be able to attract attention, but I certainly can't find any! When I google phrases that I think should pop up our beloved church, I get others that are farther away.
Being that we're a medium sized church we don't do much in the way of advertising. The denomination is slow to perform in that area too, which is disapointing. I have seen the UCC and United Methodist advertisements and they get my attention every time. Jealous? Yes.
I know that I have some churchy folks that read my blog from time to time and so I pose this question:
How are you using the web, specifically, to bring in visitors?
What other types of advertising do you do?
I fall into the camp of open-armed members that would love to have some new folks with us each week!
We are located close enough to the base that we should be able to attract attention, but I certainly can't find any! When I google phrases that I think should pop up our beloved church, I get others that are farther away.
Being that we're a medium sized church we don't do much in the way of advertising. The denomination is slow to perform in that area too, which is disapointing. I have seen the UCC and United Methodist advertisements and they get my attention every time. Jealous? Yes.
I know that I have some churchy folks that read my blog from time to time and so I pose this question:
How are you using the web, specifically, to bring in visitors?
What other types of advertising do you do?
One Year to the Day
One year until the Summer Olympics. All of the news outlets are making a big deal about it.
I'm more of a team sport fan, so the summer games are not fun for me.
Do you care about the summer games?
I'm more of a team sport fan, so the summer games are not fun for me.
Do you care about the summer games?
August 01, 2007
I Have a Hard Time with Art
I have only been to an art gallery on purpose once. I went there to meet up with friends, not necessarily to see the art. (I have been to art galleries because we were downtown and didn't want to walk the Mall.) The art was a nice sideshow. (A REALLY nice sideshow, it was Georgia O'Keefe's tour at the Natioanal Gallery of Art!)
It is often hard for me to see art as art.
Pottery - YES!
Paintings - YES!
Sculptures - Most of the time.
Masking Tape - Hell no!
If you have not heard about this story, you can see video HERE.
This to me is some boring, lazy guy spending way too much time and money in his house. It's like a rubber-band-ball. It hardly ever starts out as a RBB, but once you have a dozen or so in a ball, it becomes fun.
Not art.
Am I way off base to think that this guy is more of an idiot than an artist?
It is often hard for me to see art as art.
Pottery - YES!
Paintings - YES!
Sculptures - Most of the time.
Masking Tape - Hell no!
If you have not heard about this story, you can see video HERE.
This to me is some boring, lazy guy spending way too much time and money in his house. It's like a rubber-band-ball. It hardly ever starts out as a RBB, but once you have a dozen or so in a ball, it becomes fun.
Not art.
Am I way off base to think that this guy is more of an idiot than an artist?
July 26, 2007
What You Don't Notice Could Hurt Me
Take a minute and go grab your deodorant. No really, I can wait.
Have you ever noticed that line on the back before? No, well I have. "Please consult your physician if you have kidney disease." Wha!?
Do you remember being told when you were younger that deodorant would cause cancer? (If not, you must have had nice friends. Mine reminded us of it every day after Gym Class.) While it may not cause cancer, it can cause problems for people with kidney diseases of all sorts.
For years I ignored this. Then I decided about six months ago that it was time to at least find the one without that notice. People with kidney problems don't smell bad, so they have to be using something, right?
I settled on one and was pleased (Speed Stick, for those curious). When I made a quick run to Target to gather some final things for the St Louis/Iowa trip I grabbed up my SStick and, much to my dismay, discovered the same warning where there was no warning before. Bummer.
I decided that I needed to research to find out exactly why certain deodorants were a problem and some were not. I found out that deodorants that are also anti-persperants contain aluminum which can get into your bloodstream and further cause damage. Not a relief necessarily, but at least I have the information to find what I'm looking for.
After deciding that I really should wear some sort of anti-stink for the tight-quarters drive from St Louis to Iowa I made another trip to Target. This time I had the information I needed to make a smart purchase. As it turns out, Degree has just come out with two different Aluminum-free deoderants! Woo Hoo!
So, I want to know: have you noticed that label before? Have you cared? I have put up a poll on the right and would love to hear from you! (Yes, I am just trying out the Blogger Poll feature, thanksforasking!)
Have you ever noticed that line on the back before? No, well I have. "Please consult your physician if you have kidney disease." Wha!?
Do you remember being told when you were younger that deodorant would cause cancer? (If not, you must have had nice friends. Mine reminded us of it every day after Gym Class.) While it may not cause cancer, it can cause problems for people with kidney diseases of all sorts.
For years I ignored this. Then I decided about six months ago that it was time to at least find the one without that notice. People with kidney problems don't smell bad, so they have to be using something, right?
I settled on one and was pleased (Speed Stick, for those curious). When I made a quick run to Target to gather some final things for the St Louis/Iowa trip I grabbed up my SStick and, much to my dismay, discovered the same warning where there was no warning before. Bummer.
I decided that I needed to research to find out exactly why certain deodorants were a problem and some were not. I found out that deodorants that are also anti-persperants contain aluminum which can get into your bloodstream and further cause damage. Not a relief necessarily, but at least I have the information to find what I'm looking for.
After deciding that I really should wear some sort of anti-stink for the tight-quarters drive from St Louis to Iowa I made another trip to Target. This time I had the information I needed to make a smart purchase. As it turns out, Degree has just come out with two different Aluminum-free deoderants! Woo Hoo!
So, I want to know: have you noticed that label before? Have you cared? I have put up a poll on the right and would love to hear from you! (Yes, I am just trying out the Blogger Poll feature, thanksforasking!)
July 24, 2007
Whirlwind Weekend!
Last Thursday night began our long-but-short family weekend trip.
Thursday night the three of us hopped a plane from Baltimore to Saint Louis in the late evening hours. Much to our surprise, 3 1/2 year old Ellie was still awake and excited at 9:30 at night. She was mostly excited to finally meet her new cousin Abby. She was very pleased to see that we came along too. I think....
Friday morning we had a relaxed theme. A little shopping and a lot of playing with three little girls preceeded a nice time with Sarahlynn's mom and mom's friends. Really nice to have met them, they seem like they could get into a lot of fun and a lot of trouble all at the same time!
Friday afternoon we loaded up the van for the drive up to Iowa. Four adults, one toddler and two infants in the minivan. It was fun, but I think I watched WAY too much Finding Nemo! By the time we got back on Sunday, I was confident that I could go to a drawing board and map out the story for you, scene by scene.
Saturday in Iowa we went to a memorial service for Anny's grandfather. It was nice, though I must admit that I missed a lot of it. Abby was fussy, and it was much more important to me that she be fully there. I think/hope that she apreciated it. On our way back to the house we picked up a couple of copies of Harry Potter so that folks would not completely miss the train.
In the evening we enjoyed time just hanging out with family. That's the reason to make the Christmas in July trip every year. Kids playing, adults catching up. Just plain fun times!
Sunday afternoon we made a diversion stop to take a family picture with all of the grandchildren in Anny's immediate family side. All three girls were awake and alert through the whole thing! We could not have asked for a better time there, either. When we were done there, we loaded back up and headed for Saint Louis again.
Monday we caught a mid-morning flight home. By the time we landed and made it home, we were all pretty beat. After a quick dinner with Nadia and SuperUncle, we called it an early night.
We'll go back next year. There is even discussion about a spring break trip to Wyoming. That will have to be more than a quick weekend......
I love time with family!
Thursday night the three of us hopped a plane from Baltimore to Saint Louis in the late evening hours. Much to our surprise, 3 1/2 year old Ellie was still awake and excited at 9:30 at night. She was mostly excited to finally meet her new cousin Abby. She was very pleased to see that we came along too. I think....
Friday morning we had a relaxed theme. A little shopping and a lot of playing with three little girls preceeded a nice time with Sarahlynn's mom and mom's friends. Really nice to have met them, they seem like they could get into a lot of fun and a lot of trouble all at the same time!
Friday afternoon we loaded up the van for the drive up to Iowa. Four adults, one toddler and two infants in the minivan. It was fun, but I think I watched WAY too much Finding Nemo! By the time we got back on Sunday, I was confident that I could go to a drawing board and map out the story for you, scene by scene.
Saturday in Iowa we went to a memorial service for Anny's grandfather. It was nice, though I must admit that I missed a lot of it. Abby was fussy, and it was much more important to me that she be fully there. I think/hope that she apreciated it. On our way back to the house we picked up a couple of copies of Harry Potter so that folks would not completely miss the train.
In the evening we enjoyed time just hanging out with family. That's the reason to make the Christmas in July trip every year. Kids playing, adults catching up. Just plain fun times!
Sunday afternoon we made a diversion stop to take a family picture with all of the grandchildren in Anny's immediate family side. All three girls were awake and alert through the whole thing! We could not have asked for a better time there, either. When we were done there, we loaded back up and headed for Saint Louis again.
Monday we caught a mid-morning flight home. By the time we landed and made it home, we were all pretty beat. After a quick dinner with Nadia and SuperUncle, we called it an early night.
We'll go back next year. There is even discussion about a spring break trip to Wyoming. That will have to be more than a quick weekend......
I love time with family!
July 16, 2007
Coupon Craziness
I assume that you have received "great coupons" at the checkout of your local grocery store, or perhaps CVS. I believe the intent is to target coupons to each customer based on their purchase. Get you hooked on a product that correlates. Easy marketing.
A good example is:
You buy a bottle of wine.
They reason/deduce/assume that you are drink wine.
The coupon is for a new, different wine company.
Another good example is:
I bought Tostitos Chips. (Can't eat potato chips because of potassium. I miss potato chips!)
They figured that I like me some tortilla chips. (And very right they are!)
The coupon is for Queso Dip. Good call.
In reality, though, I have experienced some pretty strange purchase-to-coupon transactions.
I bought five pounds of post-Halloween candy.
They reason that I like candy and sugar.
They should have give me a coupon for more candy, perhaps a different brand.
The coupon is for toothpaste!
I sure didn't like the implication there!
What sort of fun non-corresponding purchase-to-coupon's have you received?
A good example is:
You buy a bottle of wine.
They reason/deduce/assume that you are drink wine.
The coupon is for a new, different wine company.
Another good example is:
I bought Tostitos Chips. (Can't eat potato chips because of potassium. I miss potato chips!)
They figured that I like me some tortilla chips. (And very right they are!)
The coupon is for Queso Dip. Good call.
In reality, though, I have experienced some pretty strange purchase-to-coupon transactions.
I bought five pounds of post-Halloween candy.
They reason that I like candy and sugar.
They should have give me a coupon for more candy, perhaps a different brand.
The coupon is for toothpaste!
I sure didn't like the implication there!
What sort of fun non-corresponding purchase-to-coupon's have you received?
July 10, 2007
Any Good Books Out There?
I need a book to read while we travel next week when we go to Saint Louis and Iowa. I am digging into The New Father by Armin Brott. His book on The Expectant Father was really helpful during the pregnancy.
The New Father is for fathers in the first year of fatherdom. I am reading the chapter on the second month, which we enter on Friday, but I don't want to get too much farther along in the book! When reading TEF I got too far ahead of myself, and got things mixed up when it came time to talk with Anny about things going on with her.
I was also reading a book, When Not to Build, about reasons not to build a new church building - and more importantly reasons TO build. I got halfway through it before Abby was born, but I think that most of my questions were answered and I am going to return that one tomorrow.
I need a book that is practical but moves along swiftly. I have never been good at reading fiction, I get distracted by the twists and characters. I tell people it's because I am too creative to grasp someone else's creativity. I get lost in movies, but that's because they don't last long. (Watching Stranger than Fiction right now.)
I don't want to read crap magazines that I normally do on trips. I'm bored with SI and ESPN since hockey season is over. I also don't want to just plug in the iPod buds and ignore the world. (Abby would probably prevent that)
Any book suggestions? (needless to say, it needs to be an in-store book so that I can get it in the next seven days!)
The New Father is for fathers in the first year of fatherdom. I am reading the chapter on the second month, which we enter on Friday, but I don't want to get too much farther along in the book! When reading TEF I got too far ahead of myself, and got things mixed up when it came time to talk with Anny about things going on with her.
I was also reading a book, When Not to Build, about reasons not to build a new church building - and more importantly reasons TO build. I got halfway through it before Abby was born, but I think that most of my questions were answered and I am going to return that one tomorrow.
I need a book that is practical but moves along swiftly. I have never been good at reading fiction, I get distracted by the twists and characters. I tell people it's because I am too creative to grasp someone else's creativity. I get lost in movies, but that's because they don't last long. (Watching Stranger than Fiction right now.)
I don't want to read crap magazines that I normally do on trips. I'm bored with SI and ESPN since hockey season is over. I also don't want to just plug in the iPod buds and ignore the world. (Abby would probably prevent that)
Any book suggestions? (needless to say, it needs to be an in-store book so that I can get it in the next seven days!)
July 09, 2007
Surprise No More
Everything was worked out and timed perfectly:
On the Thursday we're flying to Saint Louis.
On the Friday we'll drive up with family to Iowa.
When we arrive, it will surprise the in-laws like nothing has ever before!
Info got out through several of the conspiring sources, so it is a secret no more. The factors:
Word was that it was only a surprise from MIL, so FIL knew.
MIL's father was in failing health, and she needed some good news.
MIL's father passed away, and she needed some reassurance that if she left early, we would be seeing her in a few very short weeks.
It's a shame, but a relief, that everyone now knows. I hate surprises, and therefore have always been bad at keeping them. If I get you a gift, I'll most likely tell you about it way before I will give it to you.
This trip will be a bit harder than the last couple of years, as we say goodbye to a beloved member. It will be easier for us, since this time we have been blessed with the baby. We tried long and hard, and were quietly jealous of the others in the family with little ones. This year, we can more easily share in the joy.
Surprise or no surprise, we're looking forward to the trip in a couple of weeks!
On the Thursday we're flying to Saint Louis.
On the Friday we'll drive up with family to Iowa.
When we arrive, it will surprise the in-laws like nothing has ever before!
Info got out through several of the conspiring sources, so it is a secret no more. The factors:
Word was that it was only a surprise from MIL, so FIL knew.
MIL's father was in failing health, and she needed some good news.
MIL's father passed away, and she needed some reassurance that if she left early, we would be seeing her in a few very short weeks.
It's a shame, but a relief, that everyone now knows. I hate surprises, and therefore have always been bad at keeping them. If I get you a gift, I'll most likely tell you about it way before I will give it to you.
This trip will be a bit harder than the last couple of years, as we say goodbye to a beloved member. It will be easier for us, since this time we have been blessed with the baby. We tried long and hard, and were quietly jealous of the others in the family with little ones. This year, we can more easily share in the joy.
Surprise or no surprise, we're looking forward to the trip in a couple of weeks!
July 03, 2007
Wii Would Like to Play. Would You?
My brother is diligent if nothing else. He went to eight different stores in search for a Nintendo Wii for me last week, and was successful!
I'm now the proud owner of one of the coolest toys that I've ever played with. Info is here http://us.wii.com/
I'm now the proud owner of one of the coolest toys that I've ever played with. Info is here http://us.wii.com/
I have logged several hours while Anny and Abby are napping, and I'm very happy with my purchase. Anny has even played a few games while Abby is napping, so that makes it a family toy now! (She's great at bowling. We're going to have to work on baseball.....)
Anyway - I needed to publicly thank Jason for his hard work, and that's what this post is all about!
Do you have a Wii? What is your favorite game thus far?
If you live locally and would like to join in the festivities, let me know and we can try to rock some gametime!
June 25, 2007
Good Judge, Bad Judge
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070625/ap_on_fe_st/67_million_pants
If you have not heard about the $54 Million dry-cleaner case, read the above article. It was a local issue so we hear about it about every other day.
The Basics:
Judge sues dry cleaner for $54,000,000 because they lost a pair of his pants. They were a nice pair of pants, but no pants are worth that amount of money, even with "mental anguish" as a claim.
His suit was based on a sign in their window, Satisfaction Guaranteed, was false advertising.
He got his pants a day late.
HE'S A JUDGE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. Based on his filing of this completely useless case, I think he needs to have action taken against him by the Bar Association.
I'm relieved that the judge presiding over the case has common sense and ruled in favor of the dry cleaner!
If you have not heard about the $54 Million dry-cleaner case, read the above article. It was a local issue so we hear about it about every other day.
The Basics:
Judge sues dry cleaner for $54,000,000 because they lost a pair of his pants. They were a nice pair of pants, but no pants are worth that amount of money, even with "mental anguish" as a claim.
His suit was based on a sign in their window, Satisfaction Guaranteed, was false advertising.
He got his pants a day late.
HE'S A JUDGE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. Based on his filing of this completely useless case, I think he needs to have action taken against him by the Bar Association.
I'm relieved that the judge presiding over the case has common sense and ruled in favor of the dry cleaner!
June 22, 2007
Pumpkin Update
I have kept up at weeding and watering about every other day. No fertilizers yet. Definitely no pesticides.
No flowers just yet, but hopefully those will be coming soon. Here's a picture from June 20th:
For perspective I have put one of my shoes in the background. They are size 13's! That's a great start this early in the yar.
We still have not seen bees, but I think I am going to buy a hummingbird feeder today to get the scent out.
No flowers just yet, but hopefully those will be coming soon. Here's a picture from June 20th:
|
| From 2007 Pumpkins |
For perspective I have put one of my shoes in the background. They are size 13's! That's a great start this early in the yar.
We still have not seen bees, but I think I am going to buy a hummingbird feeder today to get the scent out.
June 17, 2007
My Celebrity Lookalike
On this, my first, Father's Day, I decided to see who else I might be mistaken for. Umm.... I was better off being myself.
Then I thought, I should make one for Anny too....
Your thoughts?
Then I thought, I should make one for Anny too....
Your thoughts?
June 12, 2007
ABBY IS HERE!!!
It happened! We had our baby today!
This is the picture of the happy family.
More pictures are available HERE.
This is the picture of the happy family.The essentials details are these:
Abigail Carolyn Monroe
Abigail Carolyn Monroe
Born June 12 at 1:25 pm
Weighed in at 7 pounds, 13 ounces
Length is 20 inches
Anny is a trooper, but I will not share more of the actual birth story without her express, written consent for fear of beheading!
Weighed in at 7 pounds, 13 ounces
Length is 20 inches
Anny is a trooper, but I will not share more of the actual birth story without her express, written consent for fear of beheading!
More pictures are available HERE.
Go ahead, let me hear your applause and congratulations! I'll pass them all along to Anny and Abby tomorrow.
BTW - they should both be home on Thursday afternoon!!
June 10, 2007
Movie THEATER Review
This one is for the locals:
Don't go to the movie theater in Calverton ever again!
The theater used to be a Loews Movie theater but is now owned by AMC. Overall the theater was never the best, but was affordable and close enough to get to in ten minutes or so. I can remember seeing some of the great movies there: Titanic, Tommy Boy, Star Wars during it's second run.
Yesterday we went to see Knocked Up, and the theater killed the movie experience for both of us. The movie was good, though it had way too much foul language. I felt like I must be too old to have gotten into the see it!
But the theater!? $8.75 each for the matinee, because they no longer offer discounts for the mid-day showings. Grr. The theater has certainly never been with that much, no matter what the movie!
Worse than the no-more-matinee prices are the insanely small seats! I've packed on a couple of pounds over the life of the movie theater, but this was ridiculous. Anny had a hard time getting in and out of the seats.
The third strike was the bathrooms which were extremely sub-par. A mop would have taken care of this, but it was apparent that no mop had been seen for a while!
So - go see the movie for some food fun. Don't see it, or any other movie, at the movie theater on Powder Mill Road in Calverton!
Don't go to the movie theater in Calverton ever again!
The theater used to be a Loews Movie theater but is now owned by AMC. Overall the theater was never the best, but was affordable and close enough to get to in ten minutes or so. I can remember seeing some of the great movies there: Titanic, Tommy Boy, Star Wars during it's second run.
Yesterday we went to see Knocked Up, and the theater killed the movie experience for both of us. The movie was good, though it had way too much foul language. I felt like I must be too old to have gotten into the see it!
But the theater!? $8.75 each for the matinee, because they no longer offer discounts for the mid-day showings. Grr. The theater has certainly never been with that much, no matter what the movie!
Worse than the no-more-matinee prices are the insanely small seats! I've packed on a couple of pounds over the life of the movie theater, but this was ridiculous. Anny had a hard time getting in and out of the seats.
The third strike was the bathrooms which were extremely sub-par. A mop would have taken care of this, but it was apparent that no mop had been seen for a while!
So - go see the movie for some food fun. Don't see it, or any other movie, at the movie theater on Powder Mill Road in Calverton!
June 06, 2007
My OTHER Summer Project
I've been writing so much about Anny and Abby that I've neglected to post pictures of my other summer project: competition sized pumpkins! Last year we stole some straight-from-the-carving-table pumpkin seeds and I planted them in the spring. This year I've decided to use the more traditional from-the-pack seeds.
I have planted in three places, but only two are doing much of anything.
Bed 1 - Actually started out as a plant bed anyway. I added some compost-ish leaves and hay and such from last fall over top of the dried dirt. I planted four seeds directly into proper planting soil. One plant has sprung forth quickly, and one has grown some but has been lagging.
I've been watering every other day or so, and we had some good, soaking rain over the weekend. We have begun to harvest rain water to use around the yard, so I use that water as often as possible.
Last year we only got one small pumpkin. Bigger than a softball, but smaller than a bowling ball. I found out afterwards that bees are needed to pollinate between the flowers that become the pumpkins, and we didn't have any bees until September. WAY too late to be fruitful!
So, this is the first in (hopefully) a series about my great pumpkin adventures. Wish me bees!
I have planted in three places, but only two are doing much of anything.
Bed 1 - Actually started out as a plant bed anyway. I added some compost-ish leaves and hay and such from last fall over top of the dried dirt. I planted four seeds directly into proper planting soil. One plant has sprung forth quickly, and one has grown some but has been lagging.
|
From 2007 Pumpkins |
I've been watering every other day or so, and we had some good, soaking rain over the weekend. We have begun to harvest rain water to use around the yard, so I use that water as often as possible.
Last year we only got one small pumpkin. Bigger than a softball, but smaller than a bowling ball. I found out afterwards that bees are needed to pollinate between the flowers that become the pumpkins, and we didn't have any bees until September. WAY too late to be fruitful!
So, this is the first in (hopefully) a series about my great pumpkin adventures. Wish me bees!
June 04, 2007
Visit Your Farmers Market!
Okay people.
I grew up in the house that I now own. Less than two miles from my house is a local Farmer's Market. Until last summer when we were bored one Saturday morning we had never been.
Oh my! GO!
I can't eat a lot of vegetables because of their potassium content, so the idea going was not appealing. At the grocery store there is no one in the veggie section as Anny and I argue about what is and what is not on "the list" of bad things. At the FM, though, there would be tons of people hassling me to buy all of their stuff, good for me or not.
Wrong.
They family that has the biggest spread is just that, a family. The kids don't want to be there at 7 am on a Saturday, but they are and they try to be cool about it. They always have a mix of locally grown fruits and veggies, as well as staples from other areas of the country. (i.e. cant elopes, which are good in Florida right now, but not here)
We even save money on the food that we buy versus buying it at the grocery store.
There are other goodies from other vendors, though, and you don't want to miss those either! Our local FM has a plant person, a (cut) flowers person, two people with baked goods, and a smaller, all-local fruit & vegetable person. (by person I sometimes mean people)
While our original visit was for veggies for the house, we quickly discovered the goodness that is "Farmers Market Breakfast!" Always said with the "!". Now we look forward to each Saturday morning just for the freshly made cupcakes and pastries in many varieties. We each have our favorites, but are trying to branch out.
We also have been buying a loaf of sourdough bread each week from the baker. Really great bread! This past Saturday I challenged Anny to branch out and we got a load of Rye bread too. Also really great!
So - moral of the story is that you need to go and seek out a Farmers Market near you! Some are only open on weekdays, and that's a pain. Ours is Saturday mornings from 7 to 10 (might go later, but we're early people) from May to October.
Stop by. It will be worth your time!
I grew up in the house that I now own. Less than two miles from my house is a local Farmer's Market. Until last summer when we were bored one Saturday morning we had never been.
Oh my! GO!
I can't eat a lot of vegetables because of their potassium content, so the idea going was not appealing. At the grocery store there is no one in the veggie section as Anny and I argue about what is and what is not on "the list" of bad things. At the FM, though, there would be tons of people hassling me to buy all of their stuff, good for me or not.
Wrong.
They family that has the biggest spread is just that, a family. The kids don't want to be there at 7 am on a Saturday, but they are and they try to be cool about it. They always have a mix of locally grown fruits and veggies, as well as staples from other areas of the country. (i.e. cant elopes, which are good in Florida right now, but not here)
We even save money on the food that we buy versus buying it at the grocery store.
There are other goodies from other vendors, though, and you don't want to miss those either! Our local FM has a plant person, a (cut) flowers person, two people with baked goods, and a smaller, all-local fruit & vegetable person. (by person I sometimes mean people)
While our original visit was for veggies for the house, we quickly discovered the goodness that is "Farmers Market Breakfast!" Always said with the "!". Now we look forward to each Saturday morning just for the freshly made cupcakes and pastries in many varieties. We each have our favorites, but are trying to branch out.
We also have been buying a loaf of sourdough bread each week from the baker. Really great bread! This past Saturday I challenged Anny to branch out and we got a load of Rye bread too. Also really great!
So - moral of the story is that you need to go and seek out a Farmers Market near you! Some are only open on weekdays, and that's a pain. Ours is Saturday mornings from 7 to 10 (might go later, but we're early people) from May to October.
Stop by. It will be worth your time!
June 01, 2007
Getting Ready All Over
It may seem like an easy task:
Make sure that everything runs smoothly while I'll be out of the office when Abby is born.
It's is easy, but it's not.
If all goes according to plan, I'll only be out of the office for two weeks, and am accessible by phone or email.
I spend a lot of my day working for different people in the office. I keep trying to put on the persona that it's not too big of a deal that I'll be gone. I work with extremely competent, working adults. Everything should continue like clockwork. There seems to be a sense that it's not going to be such a nice clock, though.
I have written down in detail all of the operations that I typically do that others don't: web-calendar, voicemail controls, overnight delivery instructions, et cetera.
I think that the key to the anxiety is that the time off can't really be planned. Will it start in two days or ten? Will there be false trips to the hospital that trigger panic but are essentially just smoke and mirrors?
I think that doctors should stop using due dates. It focuses everyone onto one specific date, when we know that it's not in the realm of beign true. Only 5 percent of women deliver on their due date. ONLY 5%!!!
But anyway - in addition to the chaos of getting things done at home, I also am working hard to get things ready at work. Good news is that I get to reevaluate the way that some things are done!
There's always an upside!
Make sure that everything runs smoothly while I'll be out of the office when Abby is born.
It's is easy, but it's not.
If all goes according to plan, I'll only be out of the office for two weeks, and am accessible by phone or email.
I spend a lot of my day working for different people in the office. I keep trying to put on the persona that it's not too big of a deal that I'll be gone. I work with extremely competent, working adults. Everything should continue like clockwork. There seems to be a sense that it's not going to be such a nice clock, though.
I have written down in detail all of the operations that I typically do that others don't: web-calendar, voicemail controls, overnight delivery instructions, et cetera.
I think that the key to the anxiety is that the time off can't really be planned. Will it start in two days or ten? Will there be false trips to the hospital that trigger panic but are essentially just smoke and mirrors?
I think that doctors should stop using due dates. It focuses everyone onto one specific date, when we know that it's not in the realm of beign true. Only 5 percent of women deliver on their due date. ONLY 5%!!!
But anyway - in addition to the chaos of getting things done at home, I also am working hard to get things ready at work. Good news is that I get to reevaluate the way that some things are done!
There's always an upside!
May 30, 2007
Power Struggles
We’ve been fighting with the power levels in our house for about two weeks now.
No wait, that makes it sound like Anny and I have fought over who gets to do what. That’s not right. (we all know that Anny has the power!)
We have been fighting with ACTUAL power…you know, electricity…. for about two weeks now.
Let’s start with fun things earlier this spring:
Our local water utility has been going around our town and replacing both the water and sewer lines in the streets. Very good thing for the long term use of the system. Very bad thing in the time it is taking them to get the work done.
They have managed to shake electrical connections loose in almost all of our circuit breakers, and apparently on the connection from the pole to our home. Last night they came out and fixed the connection at the pole. When I got home this afternoon to meet with the satellite repairman, the lights continued to flicker.
With the loss of reliable power we don’t have many of our creature comforts. The two biggest are the television and the internet. (I’ve hijacked someone else’s wireless connection to post this!)
I’m the first to admit that I “watch” too much TV. I don’t know that I really do, but it is on often enough that it seems that way. I’ll leave the TV on while I do many things. Actually, almost anything that is inside the house. You could say that I use it to tell time, or at least time elapsed. (“That project only took one episode of Trading Spaces to get through.”)
It’s really playing games with our heads because the power is neither on nor off. The power is either low, at normal, or surging the daylights our of our appliances and such. I would almost rather have the power out completely, so that I didn’t get the notion that it’s okay to work in the workshop. No, it’s really not safe to work in the light-dark-dark-light-BRIGHT-dark of our surging power.
So now I sit here waiting to yell at the power company over the phone when they return my call. I think I hear the phone ringing now……
No wait, that makes it sound like Anny and I have fought over who gets to do what. That’s not right. (we all know that Anny has the power!)
We have been fighting with ACTUAL power…you know, electricity…. for about two weeks now.
Let’s start with fun things earlier this spring:
Our local water utility has been going around our town and replacing both the water and sewer lines in the streets. Very good thing for the long term use of the system. Very bad thing in the time it is taking them to get the work done.
They have managed to shake electrical connections loose in almost all of our circuit breakers, and apparently on the connection from the pole to our home. Last night they came out and fixed the connection at the pole. When I got home this afternoon to meet with the satellite repairman, the lights continued to flicker.
With the loss of reliable power we don’t have many of our creature comforts. The two biggest are the television and the internet. (I’ve hijacked someone else’s wireless connection to post this!)
I’m the first to admit that I “watch” too much TV. I don’t know that I really do, but it is on often enough that it seems that way. I’ll leave the TV on while I do many things. Actually, almost anything that is inside the house. You could say that I use it to tell time, or at least time elapsed. (“That project only took one episode of Trading Spaces to get through.”)
It’s really playing games with our heads because the power is neither on nor off. The power is either low, at normal, or surging the daylights our of our appliances and such. I would almost rather have the power out completely, so that I didn’t get the notion that it’s okay to work in the workshop. No, it’s really not safe to work in the light-dark-dark-light-BRIGHT-dark of our surging power.
So now I sit here waiting to yell at the power company over the phone when they return my call. I think I hear the phone ringing now……
May 28, 2007
Can't Say I was Lazy This Weekend!
Anny has a habbit of telling people that I am good at starting projects. She leaves it at that. Okay okay, I might be guilty of leaving a few projects in the air as days and weeks pass with no completion.
Several times this spring I have decided that I would start AND finish a project in the course of a weekend. The problem is that each project gets stopped because something else should be done to improve the overall use of the entire house, not just the one room/project.
We were telling the lurker-extroidinaire last night that we got a new freezer six months ago and just now is it resting where it will be for the forseeable future. Here's how it went:
Got the new freezer
Moved out the old freezer to friends house.
Tried to fit freezer into the closet where the other fit. Didn't work.
Ripped out shelving in closet to get better fit, and it was time to redo shelves anyway.
Painted said closet and realized at once "This would make a great office!"
Moved the desk to the new Office, former closet.
Put freezer into furnace room.
Discovered moldy flooring under the tiles in the furnace room. Must be dealt with.
Ripped out plywood and replaced.
Decided that furnace room would be better suited for tools rather than food!
Moved shop stuff into furnace room.
Moved freezer into newly designated storage/craft room.
That brings us to this weekend. The original freezer move was back in early March.
We heard from two doctors to plan on having a baby in the next two weeks, not four. We immediately took to writing down all of the projects that need to be finished (and some started and finished) in preparation for baby arrival. It's a long list room-by-room on post-it notes. BIG post-it notes!
One of the projects was to make the craft bench/storage for stuff shelving. I started with just lumber and two Ikea As-Is desktops. This is how it turned out:
Several times this spring I have decided that I would start AND finish a project in the course of a weekend. The problem is that each project gets stopped because something else should be done to improve the overall use of the entire house, not just the one room/project.
We were telling the lurker-extroidinaire last night that we got a new freezer six months ago and just now is it resting where it will be for the forseeable future. Here's how it went:
Got the new freezer
Moved out the old freezer to friends house.
Tried to fit freezer into the closet where the other fit. Didn't work.
Ripped out shelving in closet to get better fit, and it was time to redo shelves anyway.
Painted said closet and realized at once "This would make a great office!"
Moved the desk to the new Office, former closet.
Put freezer into furnace room.
Discovered moldy flooring under the tiles in the furnace room. Must be dealt with.
Ripped out plywood and replaced.
Decided that furnace room would be better suited for tools rather than food!
Moved shop stuff into furnace room.
Moved freezer into newly designated storage/craft room.
That brings us to this weekend. The original freezer move was back in early March.
We heard from two doctors to plan on having a baby in the next two weeks, not four. We immediately took to writing down all of the projects that need to be finished (and some started and finished) in preparation for baby arrival. It's a long list room-by-room on post-it notes. BIG post-it notes!
One of the projects was to make the craft bench/storage for stuff shelving. I started with just lumber and two Ikea As-Is desktops. This is how it turned out:
(click on the photos for larger views) I am really happy with the way it turned out. I have already put the shelvable items on the shelves! It ended up only costing about $50 to do. ($28 for both of the as-is desktops!) I already had the plug strip, it was just a matter of mounting it. You can see that Anny's sowing machine is already on there, too. So THERE, Anny. I CAN do a big project in a weekend. Now I guess I should hang the door on the nursery that has been ready for three weeks...... |
May 25, 2007
Lost - Found?
We finally watched the Season 3 Finale of Lost last night.
Briliant!
During the last ten minutes or so my jaw was just dangling open! Lots of theories, most of which my brother and I spoke about on the phone last night! I just called and said "holy crap!"
He knew what I was talking about.
Now we wait for the DVD and all of the extra features. We'll probably make a day of it before the next season starts!
Briliant!
During the last ten minutes or so my jaw was just dangling open! Lots of theories, most of which my brother and I spoke about on the phone last night! I just called and said "holy crap!"
He knew what I was talking about.
Now we wait for the DVD and all of the extra features. We'll probably make a day of it before the next season starts!
May 24, 2007
Lost Without Lost
We didn't stay up to watch. Now I feel like I can't read blogs this morning.
Yahoo News has an article. Can't read that one either.
Turn off the radio, they're talking about it too.
Damn me and my sleepy head. (Never one to damn Anny, I will say that she would not stay up either!)
Luckily I'm the only one in my office that watches, so it's like a safe environment.
6:00 can't come fast enough......
Yahoo News has an article. Can't read that one either.
Turn off the radio, they're talking about it too.
Damn me and my sleepy head. (Never one to damn Anny, I will say that she would not stay up either!)
Luckily I'm the only one in my office that watches, so it's like a safe environment.
6:00 can't come fast enough......
May 21, 2007
The ABC's of Me
I was tagged by OrganTrail.
A - Attached or Single? Married.
B - Best Friend: My lovely wife, followed closely by a gaggle of great people.
C - Cake or Pie: CAKE! Always cake.
D - Drink of Choice: Water. Lots and lots of water.
E - Essential Item: iPod. I'm hooked.
F - Favorite Color: Orange, for now. It was always green before that.
G - Gummi Bears or Worms? Not a huge Gummi fan, but it's fun to bite a bears head off.
H - Hometown: College Park, baby!
I - Indulgence: Video Games
J - January or February: January. More work-holidays.
K - Kids: one, in less than a month!
L - Life is incomplete without: Love.
M - Marriage Date: 03/30/2002. A double palendrome, I've been told.
N - Number of Siblings: 2. one of each.
O - Oranges or Apples? Apples. Oranges have potassium.
P - Phobias/Fears: Failing my wife once the baby is here.
Q - Favorite Quote: Might as well be "Early to bed, early to Rise" Skip the rest of the quote, I just fit into the first part!
R - Reasons to smile: There are so many every day. Waking up each day, I guess.
S - Season: Spring, I think.
T- Tag Three: NeurosesGalore, SarahKM, Sarahlynn
U - Unknown Fact About Me: I have a list of things I want to do before I die. I am afraid to publish it because we don't talk about death in my house, so there's no reason for such a list.
V - Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals? definately a meat eater.
W - Worst Habit: not finishing projects around the house.
X - X-rays or Ultrasounds? REALLY bad experience with an ultrasound, so X-ray.
Y - Your Favorite Foods: Yes!
Z- Zodiac: sagittarius
A - Attached or Single? Married.
B - Best Friend: My lovely wife, followed closely by a gaggle of great people.
C - Cake or Pie: CAKE! Always cake.
D - Drink of Choice: Water. Lots and lots of water.
E - Essential Item: iPod. I'm hooked.
F - Favorite Color: Orange, for now. It was always green before that.
G - Gummi Bears or Worms? Not a huge Gummi fan, but it's fun to bite a bears head off.
H - Hometown: College Park, baby!
I - Indulgence: Video Games
J - January or February: January. More work-holidays.
K - Kids: one, in less than a month!
L - Life is incomplete without: Love.
M - Marriage Date: 03/30/2002. A double palendrome, I've been told.
N - Number of Siblings: 2. one of each.
O - Oranges or Apples? Apples. Oranges have potassium.
P - Phobias/Fears: Failing my wife once the baby is here.
Q - Favorite Quote: Might as well be "Early to bed, early to Rise" Skip the rest of the quote, I just fit into the first part!
R - Reasons to smile: There are so many every day. Waking up each day, I guess.
S - Season: Spring, I think.
T- Tag Three: NeurosesGalore, SarahKM, Sarahlynn
U - Unknown Fact About Me: I have a list of things I want to do before I die. I am afraid to publish it because we don't talk about death in my house, so there's no reason for such a list.
V - Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals? definately a meat eater.
W - Worst Habit: not finishing projects around the house.
X - X-rays or Ultrasounds? REALLY bad experience with an ultrasound, so X-ray.
Y - Your Favorite Foods: Yes!
Z- Zodiac: sagittarius
May 17, 2007
A New Standard Question in the Line
I think that there is a new Standard Question that I am just now getting to in life.
You know the Standard Questions:
Youngster - What do you want to be when you grow up?
Teenager - How soon do until you get to drive?
Older Teen - Where are you going to college?
Young Adult - What is your major? (sometimes followed up by: Really?)
College Grad - When are you going to get married?
Married - When are you going to have kids?
Expecting a Child - Are you nervous??
Am I nervous? YES!!
Am I nervous? NO!!
Be specific!
What I am nervous about, as it relates to the next six months of my life, is mostly short term. I am a little nervous....
...that I going to pass out during the delivery.
...that I will let Anny down if I pass out during delivery.
...being sure that I am appropriate with how we spend time with people once Abby's here.
I am NOT nervous about the things that some people mean to imply. I am not nervous about...
...Abby taking all of Anny's attention from me.
...changing diapers. Yes, they're gross, but I've been there and done that.
...most things!
I think that mostly people are trying to spark conversation, but that can be quite a loaded question!
Friends, ask your questions, but sometimes it is good to be specific. If you're not specific, you could get an answer that's much more than you bargained for.....
You know the Standard Questions:
Youngster - What do you want to be when you grow up?
Teenager - How soon do until you get to drive?
Older Teen - Where are you going to college?
Young Adult - What is your major? (sometimes followed up by: Really?)
College Grad - When are you going to get married?
Married - When are you going to have kids?
Expecting a Child - Are you nervous??
Am I nervous? YES!!
Am I nervous? NO!!
Be specific!
What I am nervous about, as it relates to the next six months of my life, is mostly short term. I am a little nervous....
...that I going to pass out during the delivery.
...that I will let Anny down if I pass out during delivery.
...being sure that I am appropriate with how we spend time with people once Abby's here.
I am NOT nervous about the things that some people mean to imply. I am not nervous about...
...Abby taking all of Anny's attention from me.
...changing diapers. Yes, they're gross, but I've been there and done that.
...most things!
I think that mostly people are trying to spark conversation, but that can be quite a loaded question!
Friends, ask your questions, but sometimes it is good to be specific. If you're not specific, you could get an answer that's much more than you bargained for.....
May 10, 2007
Try This!!
You'll have to touch the screen in this video, so sit closely. I promise you that this is not one of those screamy pictures, but a very cool video from a Brittish psychology buff. Their website is www.quirkology.com.
Did you end up on the right square? I sure did! (Comment below to let me know which way yours went, please.)
They have another interesting video HERE. Enjoy it, after you let me know if the embeded one worked!
Did you end up on the right square? I sure did! (Comment below to let me know which way yours went, please.)
They have another interesting video HERE. Enjoy it, after you let me know if the embeded one worked!
May 09, 2007
(re) LEARN TO DRIVE!
Okay, it seems that a lot of people have forgotten things from driving classes when they were younger, so I would like to take a minute to remind you of a few things.
I have been assured that these problems are not exclusive to the DC Metro area, but I seem to end up dealing with these idiots all the time.
What are other driver-caused hazards that need to be preached? Please share.
- When it rains, turn on your headlights. It may be a sprinkle now, but you will not think about it in the deluge.
- When you change lanes, use your turn signal. You paid for it when you bought your car, might as well use it.
- Don't cross a solid line on the road. White, yellow, purple! It does not matter. When the line is solid, it means you are not supposed to change lanes there. Keep on driving. In another ten feet the line will break and that's where it is safe to change lanes.
I have been assured that these problems are not exclusive to the DC Metro area, but I seem to end up dealing with these idiots all the time.
What are other driver-caused hazards that need to be preached? Please share.
May 07, 2007
Learned 'em Up Good
Yesterday we had the service of Confirmation for the nine youth that I've been working with this spring. It was a really great service and all were properly presented to the congregation. I'm truly blessed to have had the chance to learn from them, and I hope that they learned from me too.
I was highly impressed and elated by our seminary intern throughout this process. She did not arrive until February when we were already three or four classes into teaching, and was not involved in any of the planning. She hung out for two classes, and then jumped right in and taught/led as much as I did. Great to work with her!
I continue to be happy with our pastor and all that she does. She and I planned out all of the Sunday's of teaching, though she had to shift out of her leadership role toward the end. She included something special from each Statement of Faith that the confirmation class had written! It was moving to see each of the youth as they were referred to specifically in a sermon to the whole church. Her sermon is not yet on the web, so I cannot link to it, but it was really great, trust me!
I am excited to have this group of youth joining our church and am looking forward to seeing what direction they lead us to in the near and not-so-near future.
I was highly impressed and elated by our seminary intern throughout this process. She did not arrive until February when we were already three or four classes into teaching, and was not involved in any of the planning. She hung out for two classes, and then jumped right in and taught/led as much as I did. Great to work with her!
I continue to be happy with our pastor and all that she does. She and I planned out all of the Sunday's of teaching, though she had to shift out of her leadership role toward the end. She included something special from each Statement of Faith that the confirmation class had written! It was moving to see each of the youth as they were referred to specifically in a sermon to the whole church. Her sermon is not yet on the web, so I cannot link to it, but it was really great, trust me!
I am excited to have this group of youth joining our church and am looking forward to seeing what direction they lead us to in the near and not-so-near future.
May 01, 2007
The End of an Era
Today is the day.
After a year in our family, Maggie, our 14 month old beagle/foxhound mix has found a new home. When we agreed to take her, we did not know that we would be having a baby this summer. Now that we are getting closer to that date, we have realized that Maggie is just not a right fit for our household, long term.
Thankfully we have friends that live in the outskirts of Northern VA that happened to be thinking about getting a dog, just like ours. Right needs at the right time for us.
Maggie will be missed, but we are all apreciative of the way that the situation is turning out.
(Now is when I could play for you a montage with some cheesy 80's song with some pictures, but I don't know how to add music, and I've already posted all of the good Maggie pictures that we've taken on here before!)
After a year in our family, Maggie, our 14 month old beagle/foxhound mix has found a new home. When we agreed to take her, we did not know that we would be having a baby this summer. Now that we are getting closer to that date, we have realized that Maggie is just not a right fit for our household, long term.
Thankfully we have friends that live in the outskirts of Northern VA that happened to be thinking about getting a dog, just like ours. Right needs at the right time for us.
Maggie will be missed, but we are all apreciative of the way that the situation is turning out.
(Now is when I could play for you a montage with some cheesy 80's song with some pictures, but I don't know how to add music, and I've already posted all of the good Maggie pictures that we've taken on here before!)
April 30, 2007
Wow! That's What I Call a Weekend!
Because of a quirky college schedule, my sister drove up from Richmond to spend the weekend. She likes all of the progress in the nursery, which she was a part of painting right from the beginning. She has worked her fall semester so that she has Friday afternoons off, so odds are we'll see her a bit more often!
We enjoyed Maryland Day at the University of Maryland on Saturday. Last minute invite from my brother and SIL, who had come down with their neighbors to enjoy the day. I've lived within walking distance of UofM for something like 15 years now, and have never attended Maryland Day. It was a good time. Basically, they open up the campus to the community and have free shows, the spring football game, and carnival type food.
There were demonstrations at some of the buildings, but we didn't see those until we were in our car headed home. Anny mostly liked the idea of playing with the chemistry students, and my goal is to make sure she gets to do that next time.
Lots of walking, but good times overall!
Sunday was my Ordination Service. (See previous post below) It was neat that my sister happened to be here, and that I guilted her into coming. I was more neat that my grandfather made a special and rare trip back from Rehoboth, DE, for the service. He was ordained as an elder many years ago, and it was special for me to have him there. My aunt also gets a big shout out for doing all of the driving and coming to church too!
Gramps and Pam have been at all of the milestones in my faith journey: Confirmation in 1992, Ordination as a Deacon in 1996 and yesterday's Ordination service.
Because I work in the Presbytery office with a lot of Ministers, and am close to one of my bosses, she came out and participated in the service as well. She has been excited to watch me grow over the past several years, and wanted to be a part of it. I'm glad that she was.
We all had a nice but quick lunch before heading home. A great way to spend a morning.
My sister left late last night so that she can get ready for exams. She had sure better not be reading this blog instead of studying..... I'm just sayin!
A special weekend that could not have gone much better. Now comes the rest of the week.......
We enjoyed Maryland Day at the University of Maryland on Saturday. Last minute invite from my brother and SIL, who had come down with their neighbors to enjoy the day. I've lived within walking distance of UofM for something like 15 years now, and have never attended Maryland Day. It was a good time. Basically, they open up the campus to the community and have free shows, the spring football game, and carnival type food.
There were demonstrations at some of the buildings, but we didn't see those until we were in our car headed home. Anny mostly liked the idea of playing with the chemistry students, and my goal is to make sure she gets to do that next time.
Lots of walking, but good times overall!
Sunday was my Ordination Service. (See previous post below) It was neat that my sister happened to be here, and that I guilted her into coming. I was more neat that my grandfather made a special and rare trip back from Rehoboth, DE, for the service. He was ordained as an elder many years ago, and it was special for me to have him there. My aunt also gets a big shout out for doing all of the driving and coming to church too!
Gramps and Pam have been at all of the milestones in my faith journey: Confirmation in 1992, Ordination as a Deacon in 1996 and yesterday's Ordination service.
Because I work in the Presbytery office with a lot of Ministers, and am close to one of my bosses, she came out and participated in the service as well. She has been excited to watch me grow over the past several years, and wanted to be a part of it. I'm glad that she was.
We all had a nice but quick lunch before heading home. A great way to spend a morning.
My sister left late last night so that she can get ready for exams. She had sure better not be reading this blog instead of studying..... I'm just sayin!
A special weekend that could not have gone much better. Now comes the rest of the week.......
April 25, 2007
Respect Your Elders!
It's official, so I'll officially blog about it:
I'm going to be an Elder at my church!
For more information, try looking HERE.
Or Wiki HERE.
(Wow, NOTHING on the actual PC(USA) website about what an elder is or does....)
Anyway, the long and short is that in the Presbyterian Church, Elders are the leaders of the church. Our church has a good, strong group of elders as decision makers, which is really important. I know of churches that just throw people there because they're willing to volunteer. I have attended two meetings so far, so that I can hit the ground running in May, and the people on our Session are committed to the mission and ministry of our church.
I'm honored that I was asked, and humbled too. The role comes with responsibility, and I think I'm ready for that responsibility.
The spot became open when someone resigned from the session about halfway through his three year term. I will not comment as to why, except to say that he did not share the same vision for the church as 99% of the congregation. My term, then, will end in December of 2008. I have the option to be re-nominated for a full term after that.
With my history, we joked that I would end up on the Education Committee. I have done Sunday School and youth ministry at other churches, and am wrapping up Confirmation Class at this church in two weeks. Education seemed to be the easy fit.
But it's the middle of the year, and changing things around would not make sense. I was prepared to join any of the committee's. I like the idea of expanding my knowledge to other aspects of the church. The man who left his position was the chair of...... Education. I found out yesterday that I'm going to chair the committee! I've always enjoyed the spectator role in committees. In my work life I have always been in charge of taking notes, which means I could interject when I want to, and use the note taking as an excuse to not participate.
Now I will chair a committee. I'm excited, to be honest. I acknowledge openly that I have confidence issues. To name it: I have no confidence in almost any decision that I make. Now I will have no choice but to at least fake confidence, which will hopefully lead to change in my mindset.
Also - when I thought that the other Elder on the committee was going to be chair, I gave her advice that I don't know that I want to follow. She was nervous about being chair since she had no direction to follow. I told her that with no template, she could run the committee structure how she saw best. Now that I'm in that situation, I find myself grasping for a rule book of some sort!
I'll come up with something. I'm sure I'll write about it, too!
I'm going to be an Elder at my church!
For more information, try looking HERE.
Or Wiki HERE.
(Wow, NOTHING on the actual PC(USA) website about what an elder is or does....)
Anyway, the long and short is that in the Presbyterian Church, Elders are the leaders of the church. Our church has a good, strong group of elders as decision makers, which is really important. I know of churches that just throw people there because they're willing to volunteer. I have attended two meetings so far, so that I can hit the ground running in May, and the people on our Session are committed to the mission and ministry of our church.
I'm honored that I was asked, and humbled too. The role comes with responsibility, and I think I'm ready for that responsibility.
The spot became open when someone resigned from the session about halfway through his three year term. I will not comment as to why, except to say that he did not share the same vision for the church as 99% of the congregation. My term, then, will end in December of 2008. I have the option to be re-nominated for a full term after that.
With my history, we joked that I would end up on the Education Committee. I have done Sunday School and youth ministry at other churches, and am wrapping up Confirmation Class at this church in two weeks. Education seemed to be the easy fit.
But it's the middle of the year, and changing things around would not make sense. I was prepared to join any of the committee's. I like the idea of expanding my knowledge to other aspects of the church. The man who left his position was the chair of...... Education. I found out yesterday that I'm going to chair the committee! I've always enjoyed the spectator role in committees. In my work life I have always been in charge of taking notes, which means I could interject when I want to, and use the note taking as an excuse to not participate.
Now I will chair a committee. I'm excited, to be honest. I acknowledge openly that I have confidence issues. To name it: I have no confidence in almost any decision that I make. Now I will have no choice but to at least fake confidence, which will hopefully lead to change in my mindset.
Also - when I thought that the other Elder on the committee was going to be chair, I gave her advice that I don't know that I want to follow. She was nervous about being chair since she had no direction to follow. I told her that with no template, she could run the committee structure how she saw best. Now that I'm in that situation, I find myself grasping for a rule book of some sort!
I'll come up with something. I'm sure I'll write about it, too!
April 24, 2007
A Good Lesson....
Kind of wish I learned this lesson earlier in life, but this is a funny clip!
Snl_dontbuystuff
Uploaded by shosterman
April 21, 2007
Interesting...
You can now reach me at either http://rob.mdmonroes.com or at the old address.
Please update, though!
Shouts go out to Jason for catching it.
Please update, though!
Shouts go out to Jason for catching it.
April 18, 2007
Welcome to My New Home!
You were just redirected, did you notice?!
Though mdmonroes.com is not fully operational yet, I have only a placeholder on it mainly, I thought it was time to run over my blog.
And I beat Sarah to the punch!! If it was a race, I just won!
Welcome all, to my new place on the web.
**If you are one of the two people that link over to me, please update your links! Thanks.**
Though mdmonroes.com is not fully operational yet, I have only a placeholder on it mainly, I thought it was time to run over my blog.
And I beat Sarah to the punch!! If it was a race, I just won!
Welcome all, to my new place on the web.
**If you are one of the two people that link over to me, please update your links! Thanks.**
April 17, 2007
I Could Not Say More Than:
In response to the pure terror that was April 16 at VA Tech, I don't believe that I can add anything to the things that have been said:
A collection from pastors within our presbytery: http://www.thepresbytery.org/Home/VoicesofFaithVirginiaTechTragedy/tabid/21020/Default.aspx
A Local Pastor: http://web.mac.com/royhoward/iWeb/SayingGrace/Blog/Blog.html
A friend and Tech Grad: http://wonderlis.blogspot.com
Another Local Pastor: http://churchforstarvingartists.blogspot.com/2007/04/jesus-knew-something-about-people-with.html
Official PCUSA Bloggers: http://pcusablog.blogspot.com
Teacher friend of my Brother: http://turnerland.blogspot.com/2007/04/are-you-serious.html
I just don't understand how this could happen. I do understand how to pray for all of the victims, students, faculty and families effected. I think I will do that.
A collection from pastors within our presbytery: http://www.thepresbytery.org/Home/VoicesofFaithVirginiaTechTragedy/tabid/21020/Default.aspx
A Local Pastor: http://web.mac.com/royhoward/iWeb/SayingGrace/Blog/Blog.html
A friend and Tech Grad: http://wonderlis.blogspot.com
Another Local Pastor: http://churchforstarvingartists.blogspot.com/2007/04/jesus-knew-something-about-people-with.html
Official PCUSA Bloggers: http://pcusablog.blogspot.com
Teacher friend of my Brother: http://turnerland.blogspot.com/2007/04/are-you-serious.html
I just don't understand how this could happen. I do understand how to pray for all of the victims, students, faculty and families effected. I think I will do that.
April 13, 2007
Check the Box!
April is National Donate Life Month, which focuses on Organ Donation. Please read the following, which was taken directly from the OrganTrail.
************************************
Dubya sez, "Be a Donor!"
Also, check out info about the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act.
"As of January, 2006 there were over 92,000 individuals on the waiting list for organ transplantation, and the list keeps growing. It is estimated that approximately 5,000 individuals join the waiting list each year. See “Organ Donation: Opportunities for Action,” Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (2006) www.nap.edu. Every hour another person in the United States dies because of the lack of an organ to provide a life saving organ transplant.
The lack of organs results from the lack of organ donors. For example, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients in 2005 when there were about 90,000 people on the organ transplant waiting list, there were 13,091 individuals who died under the age of 70 using cardiac and brain death criteria and who were eligible to be organ donors. Of these, only 58% or 7,593 were actual donors who provided just over 23,000 organs. Living donors, primarily of kidneys, contributed about 6,800 more organs. Between them about 28,000 organs were transplanted into patients on the waiting list in 2005. (See www.optn.org).
The 2005 data on cadaveric organ donors suggests there were 5,498 individuals who died that year that could have been donors who weren’t and that had they been organ donors there would have been approximately 17,000 additional organs potentially available for transplantation. (See generally, www.unos.org and www.ustransplant.org). However, these numbers to some extent are only estimates. First, they exclude individuals dying over the age of 70. Second, the data are self reported for eligible donors. Indicative of the absence of precision in this area is the report from the Institute of Medicine. According to the IOM, it has been estimated that donor-eligible deaths range between 10,500 and 16,800 per year. See Organ Donation: Opportunities for Action,” Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (2006) at page 27. www.nap.edu
Using the 2005 figures for deceased organ donors, this would suggest that between approximately 3,000 and 9,000 decedents could have been donors but weren’t. Further, if one assumes an average of three solid organs recovered from each of them, there could be between 9,000 and 27,000 more organs that might have been available to transplant into individuals on the waiting list.
The data for eye and tissue is, however, more encouraging. On an annual basis there are approximately 50,000 eye donors and tissue donors and over 1,000,000 ocular and tissue transplants.
This Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (“UAGA”) is promulgated by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (“NCCUSL”) to address in part the critical organ shortage by providing additional ways for making organ, eye, and tissue donations. The original UAGA was promulgated by NCCUSL in 1968 and promptly enacted by all states. In 1987, the UAGA was revised and updated, but only 26 states adopted that version. Since 1987, many states have adopted non-uniform amendments to their anatomical gift acts. The law among the various states is no longer uniform and harmonious, and the diversity of law is an impediment to transplantation. Furthermore the federal government has been increasingly active in the organ transplant process.
Since 1987, there also have been substantial improvements in the technology and practice of organ, eye, and tissue transplantation and therapy. And, the need for organs, eyes, and tissue for research and education has increased to assure more successful transplantations and therapies. The improvements in technology and the growing needs of the research community have correspondingly increased the need for more donors."
************************************
Dubya sez, "Be a Donor!"
Also, check out info about the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act.
"As of January, 2006 there were over 92,000 individuals on the waiting list for organ transplantation, and the list keeps growing. It is estimated that approximately 5,000 individuals join the waiting list each year. See “Organ Donation: Opportunities for Action,” Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (2006) www.nap.edu. Every hour another person in the United States dies because of the lack of an organ to provide a life saving organ transplant.
The lack of organs results from the lack of organ donors. For example, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients in 2005 when there were about 90,000 people on the organ transplant waiting list, there were 13,091 individuals who died under the age of 70 using cardiac and brain death criteria and who were eligible to be organ donors. Of these, only 58% or 7,593 were actual donors who provided just over 23,000 organs. Living donors, primarily of kidneys, contributed about 6,800 more organs. Between them about 28,000 organs were transplanted into patients on the waiting list in 2005. (See www.optn.org).
The 2005 data on cadaveric organ donors suggests there were 5,498 individuals who died that year that could have been donors who weren’t and that had they been organ donors there would have been approximately 17,000 additional organs potentially available for transplantation. (See generally, www.unos.org and www.ustransplant.org). However, these numbers to some extent are only estimates. First, they exclude individuals dying over the age of 70. Second, the data are self reported for eligible donors. Indicative of the absence of precision in this area is the report from the Institute of Medicine. According to the IOM, it has been estimated that donor-eligible deaths range between 10,500 and 16,800 per year. See Organ Donation: Opportunities for Action,” Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (2006) at page 27. www.nap.edu
Using the 2005 figures for deceased organ donors, this would suggest that between approximately 3,000 and 9,000 decedents could have been donors but weren’t. Further, if one assumes an average of three solid organs recovered from each of them, there could be between 9,000 and 27,000 more organs that might have been available to transplant into individuals on the waiting list.
The data for eye and tissue is, however, more encouraging. On an annual basis there are approximately 50,000 eye donors and tissue donors and over 1,000,000 ocular and tissue transplants.
This Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (“UAGA”) is promulgated by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (“NCCUSL”) to address in part the critical organ shortage by providing additional ways for making organ, eye, and tissue donations. The original UAGA was promulgated by NCCUSL in 1968 and promptly enacted by all states. In 1987, the UAGA was revised and updated, but only 26 states adopted that version. Since 1987, many states have adopted non-uniform amendments to their anatomical gift acts. The law among the various states is no longer uniform and harmonious, and the diversity of law is an impediment to transplantation. Furthermore the federal government has been increasingly active in the organ transplant process.
Since 1987, there also have been substantial improvements in the technology and practice of organ, eye, and tissue transplantation and therapy. And, the need for organs, eyes, and tissue for research and education has increased to assure more successful transplantations and therapies. The improvements in technology and the growing needs of the research community have correspondingly increased the need for more donors."
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