Be Hospitable

Tonight we had some friends over for dinner.  Aaron & Trish Anderson and their two children.  We really enjoyed our time with them and learned a thing or two about them.  Hopefully they learned a thing or two about us, too (mostly that we’re quirky weirdos).  We love having people over and giving them the best time we can with a tasty dish and serving them.  If you haven’t had someone over for a meal and honestly served them in some time, give it a shot.  You’ll probably gain something from the experience and they will, too.  And its known to help solidify relationships, imagine that!

Fake It Please

This evening while I was talking with Abby Evelyn walked in and held up a Polly Pocket figurine and said, “Daddy, fake it please.”  Unfortunately her pronunciation isn’t what it could be… the reality of her slip-up was too funny to me.  There’s nothing like putting a rubberized wig on a tiny figurine with the refraining echo of ‘fake it’ ringing in your head 🙂

WordPress 2.3

Just a quick FYI: I upgraded this blog to use the latest WordPress 2.3 software (as of this writing its the latest, you could find this post in the future and then it could be ‘old’ – congrats if that’s the case).  I found one small bug that I’ve fixed but I wanted to warn you that there could be surprises if something didn’t go as expected.  Odds are it won’t matter, but I thought I’d let you know just in case.

Naughty Children and the Lying Parents that Lie to Them

Today at “Old Knavy” we were looking at clothes in the “I like pink” section for children and a mother, whose child was out of hand, said to her child who was out of hand, “See?  Those girls just asked their mommy & daddy why you were being so naughty.”  Jessica and I began to laugh because 1) our girls were just being out of hand seconds earlier and 2) the mother was lying to her daughter to get her daughter to obey.

I think that this mother totally missed the boat – if you’re going to lie to your children scare the carp out of them.  Make them wish they had never been naughty because of the aliens on the other side of the clothing rack that are ready to suck their brains out through little straws that will go into your children’s ears.  That will cause your children to stop being naughty.  When they’re as young as our children are peer pressure just doesn’t have the same effect.  Of course my children will be disciplined for naughtiness in large quantities and it appears that the girl we were witnessing gets disciplined when Santa comes to visit with the 3,500 dollars in presents come every holiday.  That is to say… never.

Thirty

So today I am thirty.  Thirty years of heart pumping, sweat inducing action.

Or sitting behind a computer desk typing.

The good thing is that I’ve learned some things since turning 18 and being legally an adult:

  1.  If you find a girl worth marrying – don’t wait!  The worst part of 18-21 was not being married
  2. Church legalism kills – I left a few churches and tried out many more.  If you find legalism – move on.
  3. Credit cards are not free money – they have cost me thousands of dollars in paid interest and interest unearned on investments
  4. Waiting to lose weight is a dumb idea.  I am finally down to below 170 after spending the latter half of my twenties above 170 and 180 and 190
  5. I stink at fulfilling new years resolutions like 99% of the rest of the Earth’s population
  6. If you find a company worth working for – stick with it.  I love working for my major client because they’ve got great character in the owners.  I can honestly say I love those two guys [and many of the employees there].
  7. Be patient.  With your wife/husband, kids, friends, relatives, co-workers, animals, other drivers and yourself.
  8. Keep smiling and laughing.  If everyone is laughing, they may be getting a break from a lot of hurt.  Or if they’re doing well before, they’re doing better now.
  9. Kiss your wife every day as often and as caringly [SIC] as possible.
  10. Spell check your blog.

My children are beautiful, my wife is amazing, my church home continues to amaze me, my job is going well and I’ve learned a lot.  Thanks for participating in my thirtieth birthday!

DVR Saves Me on a Late Night Sick Kid TV Fest

Last night Evie was puking her tiny little guts out.  She got some sort of bug and just let it all come out.  All over me, Jessica, her bed and some even on her blanket that she likes to cuddle.  While she was awake feeling bad I was up watching shows on the DVR after quickly scanning and seeing that late night infomercials were all that was on.   I would have preferred to have been sleeping and have had Evie well and not being sick, but at least the Good Eats episodes I watched were consistently weird Alton Brown creations that I enjoy watching.

Oh, and Ask This Old House was kinda cool to learn about vegetation in Las Vegas.  Weird.

A Post Wherein Abby Joins Girl Scouts

Abby will be going to her first Girl Scouts meeting this afternoon. Jessica is taking her and has told me (though I’m not convinced) that its not going to involve cookies at this age. At this age.  Next year or the year after she’s going to be hawking diabetes-in-a-box to help send her to a camp where they’ll teach her how to be a feminist [I’ve put my foot down, once the cookies come out, so does Abby].  Yeah! Sure, I sound skeptical, but the truth of the matter is that I’m actually just afraid that my girl is growing up.

When I was a young boy I had the chance to join the Boy Scouts but I passed up on it because of reasons I don’t even remember. However, Abby is a little social butterfly and so the idea of her turning into a brownie or whatever they call the girl scouts her age – twinkies, dough-girls, or what have you – just means that she’s going to have yet another place to be extroverted. Its good for her. I’m just going to keep telling myself that.

Thankful Thursday: Singing Children

My girls both sing loudly about random things they are thinking.  Abby will walk around on our terrace in the back yard and sing loudly about princesses, God, jungle gyms, bikes and rocks.  Loudly.  Evie, right now as I write this, is singing in the other room as well.  I can’t make out what she’s singing, but she’s doing it joyfully.  There’s something wonderful about little girls singing and making noise that just brings a smile to my face.  I am thankful to God for my little girls and their singing.  I hope they never stop – as long as they keep off of American Idol.  Heaven forbid they get on national television singing some made up song about jungle gyms 😉 [not really – unless the judges mock them]

Oxygen

I was recently in at the 16th street mall in downtown Denver and I saw an ‘oxygen’ booth selling oxygen for the partier who was trying to avoid a hangover.  Seriously, that was their gimmick.  But instead of fun happy looking people sitting at the booth two women who looked rather stressed and tired were sitting there with hoses around there face.  In the middle of downtown.  With hundreds of people passing by.  The weirdness did not stop there.  We passed the booth going South the first time.

Going North we passed the booth which had no customers, but the employee was standing there.  Next to his oxygen tanks.  Smoking.

Dumb!