Quick Trip to Disneyland

We just had a quick vacation to Disneyland and thought I would post some photos. We stayed at the Disneyland hotel which was the most fun. 

We started with a room service breakfast at 6:32am. We had to start early to get in with our extra "Magic Hour" and get in the park and find the line for the Radiator Racers ride. By the end of the evening we had ridden it three times. 

The kids still fussed with the bigger rides like Tower of Terror, but some of the rides have finally become fun. Grizzly River and California Screaming were the favorites this trip!

It was a good trip and we got to see family on Sunday, too. We watched Larry referee two soccer games and we got action shots. Unfortunately, we missed the dramatic presentation of the Red Card. 

We had dinner with the Callaghans of California, and Karen made Swiss chicken. It was a short trip, but a lot of fun. 

My Facebook Ghost Writer

I am your basic "deaf-mute" on Facebook. It is a term that sounds so much nicer than "Lurker". I joined Facebook because everyone else was and I wanted to know what the latest cool website was all about. I am so old I can remember when Facebook was only for college students. I was working at a Community College and I had an .edu extension on my e-mail address so I received an invitation to facebook before it opened to the general public. Anyway, I digress... I have never planked, taken pictures of the food I was about to eat, or posted pictures of the tips of my toes with the sunset in the background. trust me, no one wants to see a beautiful sunset picture ruined by my ugly toes. I do not actively post political rants or what I am thining every three minutes for the rest of the world to hear or take pictures of the glorious tuna sandwich that I had for lunch today. I mostly look at other peoples' posts and pictures and then either ask myself how do they have so much time on their hands or "really??? Do they really think anyone cares what they had for lunch?" It is safe to say that if you scrolled through my Facebook Timeline you would see one or two comments every three months, but nothing more. At least until recently. It started out innocent enough with the Facebook Check-In. My wife Dana is a Facebook user and when we would go out to dinner or on vacation or even nowadays to Starbucks it seems, my wife will check in. At first it was just her, but as you might guess, most of the time when we go out to dinner we are together, so she checks me in too. This prompted comments from friends like "I love that restaurant too" or "Looks like you're having fun" that I would see clutter my e-mail inbox and then delete them. Then the pictures starting showing up. Dana would post a picture of something and then tag me in the photo, too. Now, I have friends, some of the friends that are only my friends from the "Days before Dana" stage of my life that are commenting on photos that I did not post but are tagged with my name. It has been interesting to see the comments. And I have received more comments from friends I had not heard from in months and years than I have in the previous four years of Facebook. I guess it is still a simple truth from as old as when my grandmother told me. If you want to get a letter in the mailbox, then you have to write letters to other people, too. If you enjoy getting that Facebook message that someone has commented on something you have done, than you better do something! Just don't forget to take a picture of it and post it on Facebook. Or have a ghost writer.

No Longer Her Little Boy

About a month ago it finally occurred to Dana that her little boy will be taller than her. Probably in a month from now, or less. Andrew will be 13 in two months from today. As with most 13 year old boys, he can eat a horse for dinner and then be hungry an hour later. He is growing and growing and growing. At his physical for summer camp last June, he was 4' 11 and 3/4". The doctor would've concede the last 1/4 inch. Now, there is no question. Dana measured him last month and he is between 5'5" and 5'6".

To me, it is the change in his body type, more muscular, less stringy and scrawny. His shoe size we t from 8 1/2 to 10 1/2. His favorite Boston Red Sox t-shirt doesn't fit any more. On the good news side, he is strong enough to start the lawn mower and help me move furniture. At least that is helpful, but I will still miss my little boy.

As someone told me long ago, "enjoy your children every day because they will. Never be that age again."

Victoria's Secret and My 9-year-old Daughter

I never really figured that my daughter would grow up with anything other than perfect self esteem, perfect body image, graduate from high school and receive a full college scholarship to a fabulous university like Harvard or Stanford, find a marvelous husband who adored her, win the Nobel prize for Chemistry or Physics, and then be elected the first female President of the United States.  Every parent looks at their new born and young children and has every hope and dream for them to grow up and have a wonderful life.  Oh, I knew that there would be issues along the way, and with a daughter I had chosen to think that she would be a strong, confidant woman with super model looks with no questions or other bumps along the road.  Don't get me wrong, we have no major problems yet, but I made an observation the other day and it got me thinking just how much a young girl is bombarded with sexual images on a daily basis.

Valentine's Day was last week and the kids and I had gone shopping at the mall to get a present for Dana.  We actually went to Williams & Sonoma to get her a cookbook stand for the kitchen. Yes, after 13 years of marriage Valentine's presents are about practicality, not chocolate and lingerie.  We also decided to get an iTunes gift card from the Apple store which was right nearby.  At least something a little fun and spontaneous instead of staying with Mom's practical Valentine's shopping list.

When we came out of the Apple store, we were right across the mall from the Victoria's Secret store.  A quick aside, I have noticed this to be fairly common in more than one mall.  I have two theories for this common occurrence.  First, the retail store marketing experts from Victoria's Secret,  think that wives/girlfriends will go shopping for underwear and and bras and their husbands/boyfriends are more comfortable looking at computer gadgets instead of trying to be unobtrusive holding a shopping bag standing around in Victoria's Secret, or second, the retail store marketing experts from Apple think that tech geeks who would rather talk to their buddies about processor speeds and how much RAM in a computer than talk to a real, live girl can look at the windows and dream.  Of course, the third option is the stores conspired together.

However, I digress... when we came out of the Apple store, we were right across the mall from the Victoria's Secret store and their window display model was dressed like the photo you see here.  Delaney stopped for a good long moment and assessed what the model was wearing.  She did not say anything, but I noticed the pause, the look, and you could see the thoughts rolling around in her head.  So I attempted my best understanding Dad speak and asked. "Do you have underwear that looks like that?"

She looked down shyly and said, "No."  Then we walked towards our car for about 20 feet and she said, "I have never seen Mom wear underwear like that either.  Who wears underwear like that?"

I opened the door, and now was having second thoughts, but figured it was too late.  "Well, sometimes when you are older and you go on fancy dates you might want to wear fancy underwear."  This seemed to answer her question and a breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"Dad, how old do you have to be to wear fancy underwear?"

"25."  It is my standard response for questions about dating, boys, sex, etc.

"Does Mom wear her fancy underwear when you take her on a date?"

Why oh why did I start this conversation was running through my head, but was in for the duration.  I said, "Sometimes, but most of the time just her regular underwear."

Another pause and then, "Where do boys buy fancy underwear Dad?"

Now I was stumped.  "I don't know.  Mom buys me fancy underwear sometimes but she never tells me where she buys it at."

"She buys it at Old Navy.  I was with her at Christmas time.  But please don't tell her I told you."

"OK Delaney, your secret is safe with me."

Duct Tape

The latest craze sweeping the 9-year-old female gender (at least the one in my house) is duct tape.  Yes, the girl who will rant, rave, and/or feign illness to avoid a trip to Home Depot is now asking on a regular basis if we can go to Home Depot.  I can't remember when it started.  I think it was after one of her friend's birthday party, but then she sat in her room with scissors, card board boxes, and a roll of duct tape creating.  The first creation was a storage box for her craft supplies.  A simple brown cardboard box was transformed into the much more artistic purple and leopard print pattern.  I did not know their was duct tape in a leopard print, but it was Delaney's first media to work with when the duct tape craze began.

She has also created a hair clip with multi-colored ribbons of duct tape which she has worn to school and been complimented (genuinely) about what a pretty hair ribbon she has.  my fear is that the tape will stick in her hair and end of ripping strands or handfuls out, but so far, she has made sure all the sticky part is covered and no problems to report yet.

So, this past weekend, Dana had a meeting all day Saturday, and I was with the kids.  After the requests all week, I asked Delaney if she wanted to go to Home Depot and she gladly jumped at the chance.  Before i knew it she had a coat on, shoes on, and was waiting for me, instead of the normal routine where I asked her three or four times to get her shoes on.  The total cost for one roll of red duct tape was $6.97 at Home Depot.  The only disappointment was all they had were solid colors like red, blue, yellow, and no patterns or leopard print.  I could only imagine a general contractor taking out his roll of leopard print duct tape one day.  He would be laughed at by all the other contractors.  Anyway, Delaney spent almost all of Saturday creating.  The latest creations are a cross with fashion, and now she is sporting the duct tape belt and the duct tape backpack.

Either way, I have not got my money's worth from any purchase as much as I did for the $6.97 I spent there in quite a while.

The Flintstones are a band down by the river

I know that everyone gets old, and the pop culture of your day becomes the good old days of your children.  I just never thought it would happen to me.  There have just been a number of incidents in the past few weeks that make me feel that my time in the cool and hip generation has passed me by.

The other night at dinner, Andrew was telling us about a YouTube video that his homeroom teacher had shown them in class.  My first clue should have been YouTube.  He said that his homeroom teacher had shown the class a video from a motivational speaker that he thought was very good, and very funny.  He couldn't remember the name of the speaker, but he was fat, had glasses, and talked really loudly.  After a moment of thought, I asked if the motivational speaker "lived in a van down by the river?"  When Andrew replied yes, I said his name was Matt Foley and it was a sketch from Saturday Night Live.

The Grammy Awards were this past weekend and Delaney and Andrew were both very excited about watching all the music stars on TV.  You know, you get to see what the person looks like after you have listened to their music forever.  The preview show was the first indicator as stars walked down the red carpet before the show and I would ask my children each time, "Who is that?  What song do they sing?"  I did recognize some of the people like Mumford and Sons, and Taylor Swift because at this point I think I am the only male over 18 that she hasn't dated in the last month.  On a related note, I didn't recognize Brian Wilson, but that was due to one too many face lifts and plastic surgeries, more than me not being familiar with the Beach Boys.

This week, we were out to dinner and somehow the conversation turned to TV shows and family TV shows.  I asked Andrew if he knew who the Jetsons or the Flintstones.  He said that he did not know the Jetsons, until we show him a clip from YouTube on my iPhone.  However, he did reply with confidence that, "aren't the Flintstones that band that you have a CD in your car?"

The fact that I still listen to a CD player in the car, should have told me that I was a golden oldie already, and I could have figured it out without my kids help.

The danger of unattended candles

It is a staple of Hollywood movies throughout the ages. A dinner table bathed in the glow of candlelight, a couple sharing a romantic dinner, talking of their future life together long into the evening as the candles burn low…

But not at my house. Delaney is convinced that an unattended candle will result in a raging inferno that engulfs the house in a matter of seconds. If you turn your head for just a moment, Delaney will blow a candle out.

Dana will light a candle in the kitchen area every now and then because it smells good and makes the kitchen smell good after grilling liver and onions or something like that. We will come and go from the kitchen as we do things around the house, laundry downstairs, sit in the living room, watch TV, but the candle still burns low and the house smells great. However, during Christmas vacation when the kids were home, Dana would come back in to the kitchen and find that her candle had gone out. She would dig the wick out of the wax and shape it or “hug it” like she has read in Martha Stewart or some such place that only females know about, but sure enough when she left the kitchen, the candle would go out again. At one point, Dana was sitting in the living room reading and she saw Delaney coming out of the kitchen. She asked Delaney, “Is my candle still burning?”

To which Delaney replied, “No, I just blew it out for you”

This fear of the open flame goes throughout with Delaney. We have a gas fireplace insert in our basement that is controlled by a thermostat. During the winter when it is cold in the basement, when use the fireplace to help heat the area. If we are hanging out in the basement with her watching TV, playing a game, or whatever else, all is fine. But if we live the basement and she wants to stay and watch TV she will get a blanket to stay warm and turn off the fire because you never know with an open flame.

Delaney likes to have candles at dinner because she thinks they are fancy. We have done this on a few Friday nights for fun, and she always gets a kick out of it. Of course we have to blow the candles out after we eat dinner and we are clearing the table before we eat dessert, just to be safe, and then re-light the candles for dessert. Not quite the Hollywood image from the movies, but for now, it works.

Crate & Burial

This is just a simple story about cute kid phrases that have stuck with us even as the kids have grown older.  Last night we went to "Crate & Burial" to look at appetizer plates that Dana was looking at for a party she is hosting on Friday.  Most of you probably know this store as "Crate & Barrel", however when Delaney was four years old, she would call the store "Crate & Burial"  No matter how many times we  told her the correct name, or had her say it slowly and carefully, pronouncing all the words, she would always return to "Crate & Burial"

So for our family, we still go shopping at "Crate & Burial" all these years later.

Draw Something with a 9-year old

I am playing Draw Something with my 9-year-old daughter.  For those of you who do not know what Draw Something is, it is a game similar to Pictionary that you can play with your friends on an iPod or Smart Phone.  Her friends told her about it and then she started playing with random people online and me being the paranoid dad said, "why don't you play with me instead of people you do not know."  So, this is how I came to be playing Draw Something.  I do not consider myself an exceptionally good artist, but I do pretty good for this game.  Of course, we all think our drawings are good when we know the word, but have no idea what a person is trying to draw when we do not know the word.

Anyway, I am wandering.  Delaney chose a category "Rock & Roll" and then drew a picture of the word.  On the receiving end, it displayed the category to give me a hint.  I was ready.  The drawing began with what I thought was a guitar, which made prefect sense to me, being that it was Rock & Roll.  There was a kinda of curved rectangular shape with a circle in the middle and what looked like two dots of some kind.  Now, for those of you that have not played this game, the guesser is presented with about 12 letters and the numbers of letters in the word.  Kind of like a cross between hangman and the word jumble, with a picture for a clue.  Sometimes it helps, sometimes it just confuses.  So my first problem was there was no "G", so guitar was out.  I started to think of any six letter word that I could create with the letters available, but either it was a word and the picture didn't seem to connect, or I couldn't think of a word that related to Rock & Roll.

After a certain number of guesses, the game takes away a number of letters available to help narrow down you guesses.  At this point, I saw the word "Poison".  You know, Bret Michaels, big hair, glam metal, "Every Rose Has A Thorn".  Delaney had drawn a poison bottle with a skull and crossbones symbol, not a guitar.

Once again, the game may be played by all ages, but different words and categories have different meanings to different ages and generations.

Gambling lesson gone bad

My father passed away almost two years ago. As the Personal Representative for his estate, we spent a lot of time going back and forth to Brookings, OR where he lived. During the summer when the kids were out of school, we spent a lot of time driving to and from Brookings with the kids in the back seat. From Portland to Brookings is a seven hour drive, no matter which way you go. We have tried various routes, going down to interstate, cutting across various highways that all seem to end up two lanes and winding, as well as going south along the coast. The coast is scenic, but not the fastest route.

Anyway, regardless of the route, about the halfway point we will stop at one of the Indian Casinos for a break, get out of the car, stretch our legs, and the highlight for the kids is to eat at the buffet. It also prevents the number of times we hear, “are we almost there yet?” from the backseat. I think all kids like buffets because there are so many choices of food, if you choose badly, your parents don’t make you eat it and you get to go back for something that tastes better, and all buffets have good desserts. So, on one of these trips, as we were eating dinner at the Three Rivers buffet, Andrew asked me what Keno was? The big Keno boards are displayed in the restaurant and Keno runners walk around the table in case anyone wants to play Keno while they dine, so he was wondering what Keno was. As a parent, I seized the opportunity as a teaching moment to demonstrate that gambling was a vice and that hard work and diligence are virtues to work towards, not the allure of gambling and easy money. The game instructions were on the table and the kids could figure out if they had won or lost.

A quick aside for those who do not know how to play Keno. A player chooses 20 out of the 80 numbers. The Casino draws 20 numbers at random and depending on how many numbers you match, you will win more or less amounts of money. Of course, you will lose your money if you match 4, 5, or 6 numbers.

So, there are four in our family, and if I had let the kids choose 20 numbers we would probably still be sitting at that table as Andrew agonized over which ones were his lucky numbers, so we just divided the numbers into four groups. Delaney got 1-20, Andrew chose 21-40, I picked 41-60, and we let Dana have the remaining numbers 61-80. When the first game started, all eating at the tables ceased and the kids watched the numbers on the board, crying out with delight when it was one of their numbers. When all the numbers had been drawn, Andrew and Delaney would look in the pamphlet on the table and announce their results. As you would expect, most of the time, the result was they lost their money.

Yet, the power of gambling and allure of big money brought the cries that if they could just pick their own numbers and play for real, then they would surely win millions before we had finished our dessert. So, I made them a deal. They would bet five dollars per game and if they won, I would pay them and if they lost, they owed my $5.00. They quickly agreed and Delaney emphatically announced at the end of the first game that “there was no way she was going to walk home to get me $5”. I explained that we would write it down and keep a record, and she would not have to pay me until we were home again. After seven or eight games of Keno, I think each of the kids owed my $30 and I was able to clearly show that gambling was a vice to avoid in life and felt like such a brilliant parent for taking advantage of this learning moment.

We continued eating dinner, as Andrew made a third trip to the taco bar and I gorged myself on shrimp. As we were eating dessert, all of a sudden, Delaney screams, “you owe me $500 dollars!” I had moved on from Keno, but she had continued to watch each game. Well, in this game, she had actually done so poorly, matching only one number, that she would have won $500. Then came the explanation that we really were not playing with actual money and that I was just trying to show that gambling was not a good way to spend your money and this was a lesson to learn from.

A couple days later, we had Dana’s parents over for a BBQ and her dad asked the kids how the trip was? The first words out of Delaney’s mouth was, “We played Keno and dad won’t give me my $500!”

My good intentions and a life-long lesson were trumped by a pretend winning Keno ticket.

Normal Routine Again

So, for our entire marriage, I have worked in an office and Dana has been the one at home taking care of children and/or working from home.  In the past few months, I have been working on a contract and telecommuting from home.  I am helping design a Sharepoint web page and can do everything remotely.  Every now and then I have meetings that i need to attend at the office or on the phone, but I am working from home 90% of the time.

Now, please, don't get me wrong.  I have listened to Dana and for most of the time, I have taken a week off between Christmas and New Years which is the heart of Christmas break from school.  Christmas Break is always fun and we do things with the kids that range anywhere from movies or bowling, to driving to see Christmas lights or Zoo Lights, to just wandering the malls.  One year we surprised them and spent one day at a water park all day.  I think I still have the echoes of Delaney's high pitched shrieks as she went down the watersides ranging in my ears.  However, after staying home for the entire break this year and trying to work from home during the break, I can finally understand the relief, joy, whatever you want to call it of having the kids go back to school this week.  Yeah!!!

We have gotten back in to the routine of daily life.  We get up, make lunches for school, shower, feed the kids breakfast, sprint up the hill with Delaney to catch the 7:32am bus ride to school, and by 8:30 when Andrew is on his way, calm falls over the house.  I have learned that the dog sleeps on Delaney's bed for about two hours each morning before coming out to the kitchen to be with me.  I have also learned the number of telemarketer calls that occur each day.  I get work done more quickly, and more of it done, too.

Anyway, I just wanted to share with all of you who already knew, us parents enjoy the first days after Christmas vacation almost as much as Christmas itself.  And, I am going to have to find an office job when summer vacation starts.

The 20-Game NBA Season

This is my annual post on why the NBA season should only be 20 games.  Nothing about cute kids, my wife, or my mortgage today, but it is more something fun for me.

The NFL is popular because most males play football growing up and understand the rules and enjoy watching. The unspoken popularity is the gambling, office pools, fantasy football (which is really gambling in a different form), etc. I think the other aspect that enhances the gambling opportunities is simply that the games are played once a week as a general rule, on a regular schedule. Also, a team can lose a few games without being eliminated from a championship. but at the same time, there are few enough games that each game does matter. I guess that is where I am going with this, that other major sports could learn a lesson from this strategy as well.

Baseball is talking about adding another two teams to their playoffs because more fans will be excited about post season play and more fans will attend late season games, making more money. This argument is false. Just look at the NBA.

At this point, most of the NBA teams have played 20 games, or 25% of their season is complete. Today, we already know who will make the playoffs and the remaining 60 games are for owners to make money to pay outrageous player salaries and give me more opportunities for fans and dads taking their kids to games to pay $6 for a hot dog and $9 for a beer and $5 for cotton candy, etc.  For my family to go to an NBA game, it is between $200 - $300 dollars for tickets, parking, and popcorn and a drink.  If we bought any souvenirs, add another $50 minimum.  Or, I could buy buy the kids an iPad for the same price.

Additionally, it doesn't help when only 9 teams win the championship in the last 32 years. It drops to just 7 teams when you take out one-year champions, Philadelphia and Dallas. Only 8 other teams have been to the finals and lost.  Put another way, only 23% of teams have ever won a championship, and almost 50% of the teams in the league have never played for a championship in 32 years.  In the same thirty 32 time period, 14 different teams (43%) have won the Super Bowl and only 4 teams (12%) have never been to the Super Bowl.  From a fan perspective, on opening day, only 1 in 4 NBA fans believe their team can win the championship while each year in the NFL brings new hope. Some of the NBA fans are just hoping to win one series in the playoffs for it to be a really good year before they get beat by the Lakers or the Celtics.

I do not watch games on TV because the schedule is so erratic. My favorite team might play five games in one week and two games the next, and not even on the same day of the week. I do not even know which games will be televised. However, with football, I know that my team will be on TV every Sunday. It is either the early or the late game, but Sunday afternoon, I can watch football with my friends and root for my favorite team. Owners could make more money by having fewer games that were more meaningful in deciding the league champion. The TV and radio broadcast rights could be sold for more money if more viewers watched. More viewers would watch and more fans would attend if there were fewer games and the schedule was played at the same time each week. Games could be played on Wednesday and Saturday. The NFL plays a schedule where not every team plays all the other teams and that has not dampened enthusiasm for their sport. Why does the NBA insist on having every team play every other team, both home and away?

So, without further ado, we will write down the eight teams from each division that will begin playing the real NBA season starting in April and ending in June. Check back in April to see how meaningful the remaining 60 games were.

Eastern Conference                Western Conference
1. New York                             1. Oklahoma City
2. Miami                                    2. San Antonio
3. Atlanta                                  3. Los Angeles Clippers
4. Chicago                               4. Golden State
5. Brooklyn                              5. Memphis
6. Boston                                 6. Utah
7. Milwaukee                             7. Minnesota
8. Philadelphia                         8. Los Angeles Lakers *

You will notice that the 8th playoff spot in the west is is the Los Angeles Lakers, because although they are the ninth place team by two games, I am a believer in the league-referee conspiracy that says you always need to favor the Lakers in order to insure high TV ratings.  Looking at the standings, really, the top four or five teams are really the only ones with a chance.  Te rest are playing to see who gets beat in the first round of the playoffs that no one will watch anyway.

April 19th UPDATE:  The playoffs start tonight in the NBA. 

In the Western Conference, we got 7 out of 8 teams correct.  We were unable to predict the 15 game Denver Nugget winning streak where they only lost one game in March, and the injury to Kevin Love of the Minnesota Timberwolves which damaged their chance at getting bloewn out in the first round of the playoffs.

In the Eastern Conference, we got 7 out of 8 teams correct. also.  Indiana finished in third place.  At the 20-game mark the Pacers had 10 wins and 10 losses.  The remainder of the season they won twice as many games as they lost.

Funny things kids say

Andrew's birthday this year was on Mothers' Day. Not close, a few days before or after, but the same day. He is 12 now, so he has figured out that Mothers' Day does win out.
Anyway, we told him he could have a half birthday party instead in November. That was fine with him and as the big day approached, we decided to have his friends over for BBQ hamburgers and watch a movie. Hungry, bottomless pit 12 year old boys and hamburgers. We figured we could do the toppings bar and had ketchup, mustard, mayo, pickles (sweet and dill), lettuce tomato, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, and cheese. We bought a package of Kraft singles and laid it out next to all the other toppings.

So, the point of these post was when one of Andrew's friend saw the spread on the table with all the toppings before him, he said, "Is that the fake cheese that isn't cheese but tastes really good! That's awesome! We never have that at home!"

Kids do say the funniest thing...

Three Weeks Before Christmas

This is a late post, but I wanted to still put it out there...

It is roughly three weeks before Christmas, and I'm sure I am not alone, but there was something about the buying frenzy of Christmas that bothered me this year. I sound like Charlie Brown, I know, but it is just some little things that have happened recently that seemed to have snowballed.

It starts with Black Friday and then gets worse from there.  It is the desperation of the retailers, being swooped down upon by salespeople pleading to help you to make sure you spend some money in their store before you leave. And Black Friday has turned into who can advertise the most ridiculous low camera, flat screen TV, or other electronic device to lure you to their store. Not to mention stores are open on Thanksgiving Day. Anyway, Black Friday seems more like an excuse to buy yourself a present than to buy a present for someone on your list.

Next comes the game of "retail chicken". If a buy something the first week of December, I know that the next weekend it will be cheaper. However, the size medium sweater that my wife loved will be gone and now my only choice is XS of XX L. She will either think I have cheerleader fantasies or think she is fat. Not good for me either way.

And even when you do play the retailer's game, you can still lose. This year Santa was going to bring Bean Bag chairs for the kids. We ordered them on the Monday after Thanksgiving. In hip Christmas lingo, "Cyber Minday". We received one bean bag chair two weeks later. The other one, not so lucky. Two days after we ordered it, we were told it was on back order. When the first one arrived, we called to check on the second Bean bag chair and were told that it had been delayed because of the longshoreman strike on the west coast, but it would make it for Christmas. December 18th came and Santa still only had one bean bag chair. We called again, and were told that it would ship on Christmas Day. Santa plan B was activated, even though we did what the retailers say, order early to avoid the rush. We actually called the say after Christmas because we had not received notice the bean bag chair had shipped and were told that the color we had chosen was out of stock, permanently, and had been out of stock since December 18th. Arghhhhhh!!!!!

Eventually we did get the second bean bag chair on New Year's Eve, in a different color. I know this has happened to everyone, but like I said Christmas shopping has turned into buying something the retailer has discounted because it is a good deal, and not buying a gift that your family or friends want or shows you were thinking of them.

My favorite gift this year was a board my brother and I played when we were younger. He found it at Goodwill for $3.40. Yes, the decimal point is in the right spot.

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese should only be re-heated once

Alright.  It is a new year and I am really, really going to write something every day in this blog.  It might be a simple statement, such as the title above, or it might be a a story or incident about something happening in my life or the kids or my wife, or the mortgage.  Anyway, something every day is the goal for the new year.

For those of you who are new to my blog, this is my blog.  Yes, I have heard the story of the lady who started the blog about Julia Child and then sold her blog for a screenplay and movie, I have friends who are professional bloggers, guest bloggers, and sell their blog posts to other blogs, but as for me, this is my blog.  It is a simple story of my life with a wife, 2 kids, and a mortgage (I should include the dog too I guess but then the title was too long and not everyone is a dog person).  I do not have any followers that I know of,nor am I trying to collect the most followers of all the blogs in the world, but if you read one of my posts and you find it funny or touching or something you can identify with, make a comment and let me know we have something in common.

So, my wise words for January 1, 2013, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese should be eaten when you make it.  Leftover Kraft Macaroni & Cheese should be re-heated only once, on a stove top, and if there are leftovers after that, throw them away.  Any remaining leftovers will not taste good, no matter what you do.  Just throw it away, save the time, and if you want more, make another box.  It will taste much better!