The Swedes are laughing at us!!!

I went to Ikea over the weekend with my wife. We like Ikea and think that there storage ideas are always neat to look at. Our bed, bookcase, coffee table and kitchen table are all from Ikea, so it wasn't like this was our first time in the store. We were looking at new sofas and generally browsing through the store when we came to the children's section. Once again, as a general rule, Ikea does have some nice things. We bought our first wooden train set for our son there which has since exploded into many, many, many more pieces, but that is another story. Anyway, we noticed their stuffed animals which we have been guilty of buying for whining children as a way of keeping them entertained and maintaining peace and a tantrum free shopping trip. yet, on this day, we were struck by how ugly these stuffed animals were. There was a bat, a snake, something that looked like a weasel, and a gopher. And, of course, our favorite, a rat! Has buying unnecessary crap become so ingrained in American society that we now buy ugly stuffed animals in the shape of nasty creatures just so our children won't whine. The Swedes have to be laughing at us. It is probably a contest who can design and sell the most ugly toys to us. Wow, talk about being smacked in the face by consumerism, that was it.

It should go without saying, that we decided our old sofa wasn't really that bad. We bought a picture frame, and a box to store magazines. That was enough for us for one day.

I have an excuse this time

Well, it has been a while, but that is because I was on vacation. I went to California to see my family. There was alot of driving from house to house and visiting cousins, but it was fun. The kids got to swim, which they loved, and we went to the beach which is always a treat. Other than that, they bounced on the trampoline with their cousins, rode bikes in the driveway, and made play-dough with Aunt Barb. A pretty typical family vacation.

When we arrived home, we were greeted with a leaking main water line. Just in case we hadn't spent enough money on our vacation, we got to shell out an additional $2500 dollars to replace our water line. What looked like a little leak turned into the mantra that every contractor, plumber, electrician, or other tradesman is taught in school. "Oh no problem it should be easy to fix." Then, as soon as they have ripped up your floor, knocked a whole in your wall, or cut off the electricity to your kitchen, "Wow! Who would have built it like this? I can't believe they did it this way? Well, i don't know..." At this point they trail off with a blank stare and then pronounce that it is going to take twice as long, require twice the number of people to do it, and probably four times the cost. It wasn't that bad, but what was a little leak at the water meter turned in to pipe that was out of code and had to be replaced. On the good news side, they were able to bore under the driveway so they only had to jack hammer the sidewalk to get it fixed. Maybe I'll encourage my son to become a plumber. They can't outsource that job to China or India.

Failing as a blogger

It has been over a week. This is why I just can't see what being a blogger is all about? If I needed a diary, I would keep a diary. I don't really imagine that my life is so earth-shattering that people are waiting on the edge of their seats each day, checking to see if I have written something new. Yet, I swore I would do this so I am not one of those people who become old and set in their ways and just can't figure out what all the kids are talking about with the new technology.

Not much to say today. It is Monday. My Saturday was spent shuttling between kids' soccer games, grocery shopping, and running errands. It is the 4th week of school and we did have our first homework emergency last night. Yes, Andrew was selected to bring in the "Magic Star" board this week. It is a chance for each child to decorate a poster board with photos and pictures and stickers telling about themselves. A great idea, but he is seven years old. Maybe it is me manifesting my ideas onto the school work of a 2nd grader, but my grand design ideas were in conflict wit his crayon on white paper with some Spiderman stickers. Well, I shouldn't be too critical, at least this year Andrew did write down all the different things that he wanted to talk about and grouped them in to categories. After that, we sat at the computer and sorted through digital photos that I keep telling myself I am going to organize and categorize with logical names instead of the date that is assigned by the camera every time I download them. Hundreds and hundreds of pictures, and I can't find anything. So we sat and chose the ones he liked and I cropped and fixed red eye and made sure their were no goofy faces and 45 minutes we had pictures for the board.

That was my limit. After that I turned it over to my wife the scrapbooker. It took her half the time and with her cutters and fancy glue pens and highlighters and fancy paper she had converted what I thought was a hopeless pile of disorganized photos into a homework project that will make all the other parents squirm as they think of ways that "their child" can do it better than "Andy" did. Competition is a wonderful thing.