Random thoughts for the day.

Why is there seemingly 1 piece missing from every puzzle in our house?

Is it wrong to put some sort of device on your children that will keep them from being able to reach the wall? I am tired of seeing scratches and scrapes on all of my walls. Is there some written rule in the 3 year-old manual that says any toy that is carried in your hand must remain in contact with the wall as you carry it through the hallway?

How long can I get away with never letting my children out of the house, unsupervised, before CPS will show up at my door? I will let you know ;)

More to follow later today...

Survival of the fittest (or at least those who are quick on their feet)

The days following Christmas always require a little more caution as you walk around the house. especially as you make your way to and from the bathroom in the middle of the night. Why is it that when there is a small toy on the floor, it always finds a way to have the part with the most point facing skyward and then is alwasys strategically placed to lodge itself smack in the middle of the arch of ones foot.


Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. It's nice to be back to work ;)

The Big Christmas dinner

We will be spending Christmas Eve at my Dad's new house. It will be just him and his new wife, and the four of us. I look forward to all these Holiday's mainly because I LOVE TURKEY. I could eat some form of turkey everyday. I was slightly disappointed when he told me that we would be having a grilled pork loin for dinner. It sounded great, but it is no turkey. However, after talking the other day, they have made a menu change. No, not to turkey, but the main dish will instead be 7 lbs of slow-cooked prime rib. That's right.....PRIME RIB....and slow-cooked at that.

I can sacrifice the turkey this time around.




****drool*****

It's here!!!!!

Ahhh.....I can now rest easy.


I woke up this morning to a wonderful layer of snow laying accross my lawn. This was maybe 1/2" - 1", but it is all I need. Just something to whiten up the place and make it more festive. I do not, however, enjoy the accompanying below zero temps that have moved in as well. I guess we can't have everything we ask for.

Its all about perspective

What a wonderful treat I received yesterday.

My wife and the boys came by my work to pick me up and take me out to lunch. Unfortunately, they did not realize that I had a video conference call coming so I was short on time. Nonetheless, we ventured out to enjoy a nice meal at McDonald's. It was a around 2:00 so the lunch rush had come and gone. There were very few people remaining. We grabbed our food and found a booth to sit in. As is customary in our family, each boy took the opportunity to pray for our food. It is sweet to listen to them and to hear what they are really thankful for. For Jacob, he i always thankful for his videos. For Joshua, it is usually a game. We ate our food at a fairly rapid pace, reminding the boys that we were short on time and that we needed to focus on eating and not playing. Since McDonald's is a rare treat for the family, they had no problems with those instructions. I am sure the apple pie's that were being used as ransom helped a little too. The lady that was sitting in the booth behind us got up to leave, as she walked by she stopped at our table. The words that came out of her mouth, were words that almost made me cry. She said, "You sound like such a wonderful, happy Christian family. Have a Merry Christmas!" We thanked her for the compliment, wished her a Merry Christmas as well, and then she went off on her way. Other than the boys praying before we ate, at no time was there a mention of anything that would have given a clue of where our belief was. It wasn't until later in the evening when I was replaying the events to try and determine what it was that exposed us to this wonderful lady.

It was the fact that our family strives to live by a different level of what is acceptable. Don't think of this statement as some lofty, snooty, self-centered, holier than thou phrase. I am not trying to say that we are better than other families, or that only Christians behave this way or anything like that. I am simply saying that in my house, we serve God. That being the case, we try and live our lives to His standard. The way we treat people, the way we talk to one another, the way we live our lives. Since the day I was saved, I have wanted nothing more than for my 2 boys to understand the love of God and to have them live their lives so that others can see their love for the Lord.

At 3 and 4, they seem to have a pretty good start.

I WANT SNOW!!!!!

I know I am acting a little selfish....but it is Christmas and we live in Minnesota. Christmas without snow is just........wrong!!!


I can only remember one other year where we did not have snow on the ground come this time of year. It was many years ago, I think I may have been 8 or 9 years old. We used to spend Christmas at my great aunt and uncle's, but there were never any other kids around so I spent most of the time inside anyways. But it just doesn't feel right.




In case anyone was interested, the Frog and Toad production was absolutely wonderful. The boys had a great time. So good in fact, that the plastic swords they normally use to rescue the pricesses have now become their canes as they do a little soft-shoe number for us.

Adorable!!!!

Amphibious Date...and other musings

Tonight we are taking the boys to the Children's Theatre Company for their presentation of A Year With Frog and Toad.

We have spent the last couple of weeks reading the books to help them understand a little more about what to expect. A year ago we took them to see Dora - Live on Stage! and they had an incredible time. They talked about that show for weeks. I do have to admit that I was drawn into the show and was caught waving my arms and trying to catch the stars. Of course, it was all to help encourage the boys. ;)

I had another PC issue the other night. Actually, it was the same problem that I had before. This time, instead of jumping the gun and possibly causing more problems, I took the family to the library to get some books and so I could use their Internet access to do some searching on the problem I was having. I found some information that was helpful, but still didn't seem to fully explain a solution to my problem. I am beginning to think that there is a major problem with the hard drive in my mother's PC. Fortunately, a simple boot into XP's Recovery Mode and simple FIXBOOT command was all it took to get me back on track. Still unable to back-up the data that is on her hard drive, so that will have to wait until another day.

I went to bed last evening with visions of waking up to a covering of snow. The forecast said "several inches". I would love to be able to be that vague in my job and still be considered competent. As I sprang from my bed this morning and pressed my nose against the window, I was greeted by brown grass and mud. This IS Minnesota, isn't it?!?!?!?!?