Category Archives: Confessions

Things about me you probably never wanted or don’t need to know.

They’re Merely Five and Two

Tonight we went looking for a present for Jessica’s upcoming thirtieth birthday.  Abby and Evie and I went out on the ‘hunt.’  Abby kept eyeing rather expensive jewelry at the Target.  “That looks beautiful, lets get that!.”  I had to gently tell her no because the budget was not in the $120 range for the girls’ gift.  Evie liked everything that sparkled.  Upon discovering that Target didn’t have anything but a Wii, which I wanted to buy “for Jessica” but did not, we headed off to Kohl’s to find some jewelry there at Abby’s request.

At Kohls she spotted a pair of ear rings that had a strand of rainbow colored glass embedded in them.  A rainbow that certainly catches the eyes of the young onlookers.  I totally disappointed her by saying that mommy would probably not have an outfit to go with the ear rings.  Needless to say we did not find any jewelry at Kohl’s either because what the five year old liked the two year old didn’t like.  What the five and two year old liked daddy didn’t like.  And what daddy liked the five and two year old were sure would make mom look ‘boring’.  Next time we go out I’m bringing cash and eash one of them will get to pay for their respective gifts, and it’ll help them learn that the $400.00 necklace is really out of their reach.

We walked to the register with Abby telling me that she had enough money in her piggy bank at home for the gift she wished we were buying.  I love her confidence, we just need to work on the financial math 🙂

Thankful Thursday: Listy Edition

Yesterday I watched the girls playing outside. Evie had been bundled up and put on one of her hats (I should have taken a picture) with little bits of material spiking out atop it. Abby was running about playing in the small remnants of snow as she likes to do even though we tell her to avoid the mud. Jessica was doing something in the kitchen next to me (I believe dishes were being put away, but I don’t recall clearly enough). Life was good. I’m very, very blessed to have the family that I do.

I’m thankful for

  • My family
  • My friends
  • My clients
  • My church
  • My Bible study group
  • My blogs
  • My house
  • My general health (parasite aside)
  • My country (wacky as some of it may be)
  • Pictures to remember much of this by
  • The imagination I’ve been given
  • You for reading this

Thinking in Lego

Abby has finally discovered the fun that is Legos. However, she has the patience to put together a fifteen piece set, but the desire for my 100+ piece ship set (from when I was a kid). That is of course how Jessica got roped into putting together the ship set. She is still working on it. It is now going on hour five or so. The problem is that many of my sets were all jumbled together so she has to find the right pieces inside of the thousands of pieces across the floor.

Jessica asked, “Are you laughing at me yet?”
To which I replied, “No, you have to learn to think in Lego.”

Thinking in Lego is what I would call the ability to see the spacial requirements of the project and instinctively be able to find the shapes and pieces simply because you know what Lego has to offer. I used to be able to do this, but at present my patience and lack of recent experience puts me at about a 30 piece kit. Jessica is a completer, though, so she will complete what she starts. I have learned to not commit to anything that I know will take more than two minutes. Which is about as long as this post has taken me, so it must be done.

Confession: I Love Make-Over Shows. Sort Of.

I really dig make-over shows. I don’t like the shows as much as I like the before and after stuff. I would totally love to have a network dedicated to them. Except that I’d have to record the shows and watch them like I do today. That is that I watch them in fast forward. I like about thirty seconds of the show which is where they show you the before and after. Thirty minutes of TV is now about thirty seconds of TV and that’s where I’m good. I don’t need a second more. I know all of the tricks that they do on the shows so I don’t need to see the bloody surgery parts, the tooth whitening or the botox.

I’m good enough with the before and after shots – because I’m currently living in the current before and after now. I’m not likely to be extremely made over. But I’m likely to be extremely fast on my TV watching.

Sitting in the Waiting Room

My brain is still on vacation due to the last remaining strains of this cold I’ve had. After a week and a few days I had hoped I would be over this stupid thing. I somehow feel like its a side effect of running Windows or something. My anti-virus didn’t catch something.

Either way: we’re feeling somewhat better around here, its just that we’re not all better all the way. Evie and Abby will run and jump and play no matter what they feel like (other than the flu, which causes Evie to snuggle me just long enough to throw up on me), but they do sound mostly better. If all goes well they’ll be right as rain tomorrow and we’ll have to velcro them back up onto the wall in intervals to have things be quiet again 🙂

Stand Still

I am standing outside of the DFW airport waiting for the shuttle to take me to the hotel. It is amazing how time to stop and think turns me pensive. I’m oddly thinking of the human will. Maleable by some standards but definitely stuborn. I have friends who are rather cantancerous, much like me, but who see the will differently. My buddy Dave sent me an interesting link (which is not easy for me to post now) that discussed techniques people use toinfluence or manipulate the human will. Churches are mentioned at one point in time, but I never identify with this because at least my current church avoids this tactic and instead leans towards letting the Bible’s text speak for itself. The Bible speaks of the will in strong language, but it doesn’t speak of manipulation… It is a sad thing to see the name of Christ so poorly represented. It is my will that I can be different – gentle, friendly and honest. Or at least less like Paul Crouch and more like the apostle Paul: a spunky Geek who spoke to the Greek.

The Sickness: Part II

Tonight I got a new keyboard.  Its a new Apple Wireless thingy.  You see, I had to get a new one because the old one received the puke of a two year old.  I’m feeling sick, Jessica is feeling sick, Abby is feeling sick, and Evie is most definitely sick.  Even Kurt & Becky are under the weather.  The sickness is annoying to say the least.  We missed church, we missed being with some friends whom we wanted to see… but we didn’t miss going out to the grocery store to buy things that will hype us up so that we can feel half-awake instead of mostly dead.

I have to fly tomorrow morning (Monday) so I’m super-excited to spread germs, receive germs, and generally make those around me miserable or question the safety of my company.  The good thing is that this new keyboard should cause me great discomfort for a few days in the hands department so that at least most of me is funky instead of just one part.*

By the way, too much vitamin C is actually diarhea inducing.  I know this because in Jr. High I fed my friend too much vitamin C because he liked the ‘cherry’ flavor of the C I had.  Little did he know that his immune system would kill most anything with that boost, but the explosive gastro-intestinal boost would kill his chances of getting a girlfriend.  Sorry, Matt 🙂

*I’m used to an ergonomic keyboard and this is not, but since my laptop is also not ergo, its good to get used to the ‘old’ style as needed.

Ret Her Into Your Heart

Clearly I have not talent and someone this age starting out with this much talent is going to rock whatever Idol they have in their country. Simon Scowl should watch out.

While our friends the Masons are in China we’ll be thinking of them – and this video reminds me of the cuteness that is their blessed daughter Nadia, who will clearly also rock the world, but probably for World Vision and not for YouTube. Have fun Masons!

Thankful Thursdines Day

This Valentines day I will simply state that I am thankful for my bride. Yeah, I’ve been thankful for her before, but she does rock the Casbah. In fact, speaking of rock, Abby was surprised to learn that Jessica liked rock music. For some reason the constant kids music Jessica would play to pacify the children led Abby to believe that Jessica would prefer to listen to kids music and the cranky daddy was the one who liked rock music.

Turns out my Ska, Rock, Classic Rock, Alternative Rock and generally music loving wife isn’t as big on Backyardigans as Abby had first thought. I’m thankful for that, too!