The Great Adventure

We are back.. back home from our cross country (half of it at least) to Missouri. We went, we saw, we got stressed, we relaxed, we took pictures, we visited, we laughed, we drove, we walked, and we walked and we walked.

Visited the Zoo (and yes, we saw the baby zebra), Powell Gardens, Crown Center, Union Station, Holden, and a few other spots I can't think of at the moment.

We took a ton of pictures with the Xti (over 800) so we will have much to discuss and look at in the near future. Let me just say, that traveling through Chicago O'Hare with 4 kids, 3 car seats, 1 stroller, and 4 carry-on bags was quite a debacle at first. On the return trip (through O'Hare again) we had quite a system figured out and could could board a plane pretty easily. One thing that blew our minds was the fact that United DOES NOT PRE-BOARD FOR PEOPLE WITH CHILDREN AND THE ELDERLY ANYMORE! We couldn't belive it, so we just waited until the very end and got on the plane last... we got the hurry up treatment from one flight attendant and we shut her down with the fact that if they still did pre-boarding it wouldn't be such an ordeal for us to board.

The weather was pretty wacky in Chicago on our way back. Our flight out of KC was delayed by about 30 mins, then as we approached Chicago we had to circle the city for about 45 minutes until the tornado warning was ended. We were a bit freaked because we only had a 45 minute layover and we were still in the air by the time our plane was supposed to leave! But luckily when we landed we found out that our other flight was delayed and our great flight attendant called ahead to the next gate to have them hold the flight for us. The flight from KC to Chicago was great, it was probably a 150-200 seat plane with no more than 15-20 people on it.. it was so empty it was scary. We got great service from our flight attendants, they all fawned over our kids and played with them and took Lila around the plane to meet everyone. It's funny cause the Flight Attendant made a comment that Maria found to be very rude (I thought it was funny), but it was funny that she ended up being really great and made the flight fly by (sorry for that bad pun).

The flight from Chicago to Baltimore was kinda bad.. at least at first. We were stuck on the runway for 30 mins in a hot plane.. and Lila would not stop crying.. I mean like the really bad crying.. arching her back and screaming louder than she ever had before. We couldn't get her to stop, we tried everything... people kept looking at us and you knew we were the talk of the plane. We were those parents with that baby that cried for 30 minutes. But as soon as we put her in Larry's car seat and the plane started moving she finally fell asleep and stayed that way until we landed.. then she picked right back up where we left off.

I have tons more stories and funny/exciting stuff that happened that I will expound on, but for now I must get back to work.

A Simple List

Ok, I know I will get some grief for this and that's ok... I get grief for a lot of things so this will be nothing new. But with the trip to Missouri coming up I feel like something important I will need will be forgotten. I have (at times) let Maria pack for me.. and she often forgets something that.. while usually not important... drive me crazy.

Random things that come to mind that Maria has neglected to pack for me (over the past 5 years)

Underwear
Deodorant
Toothbrush
Socks
(Will pack the razor, but not the shaving cream?)
Qtips

I always say "That's it! You aren't packing for me anymore!" but my lazy side wins out and I just let her pack for me anyway... not bothering to check if she forgot anything I might need or might think I might possibly could need.

RANDOM THOUGHT SECTION
One thing I need to bring is my cell phone charger. Today I spent some of my lunchtime getting a haircut (actually I got them all cut.. HAR!) and I had a fantastic stylist named "Baby Joy". How much do you tip when you are throughly pleased with your haircut? I gave her $4... thought about $5... am I in the ballpark? I also stumbled across some blogs of people I "know" and it's pretty wild how many people you know or knew in a past life now take part in the blogging universe.. it's bigger than any of us realize.. we are the internet

OK, mood recovery mode for the significant other... I loved our little slow dance last night in the kitchen.. the best use of that under the cabinet radio yet. Someday I will burn that CD of NPR Podcasts you have stockpiled. I will also buy you flowers again someday for no other reason other than being mad crazy in love with you.

There... I feel like I finished pretty strong there... dog house averted... (I hope)

I don't mean to brag, I don't mean to boast

I've been playing in a Softball League again this year... and we are even less competitive than last year. Actually we've had a lot of close games that have been pretty fun, only last week wasn't as fun because we lost like 21-2.

But I had fun if only because I hit my first Homerun... albeit with the bases empty and albeit being down 21-1... so celebrating wasn't really an option.. but it still felt good. It was funny.. people were like surprised I hit one... I actually was surprised myself that I haven't hit more by now. Being 6'2" and 230lbs, I should be Cecil Field'in the ball more often.

Not Turning This Into a Food Blog

But like Maria said, my mom out of the blue has now offered to watch the kids for about 2.5 hours every thursday (awesome). So today we went to Saladworks and had lunch... and while what I had today was mearly a salad, it was a mightily delicious version of a salad... greater than any mortal salad could hope to be (do people actually feed each other in public like this?). I like that they toss your salad (get your mind out of the gutter) in a wooden bowl.. only to pour it into a big ass upside down firehat of a bowl. I was excited that I might actually get mine in a wooden bowl.. so I was a little sad when it was not. And we had some super obnoxious douchebags there who didn't get along talking about work... one guy was talking about "The Office" and said he didn't find Michael funny.. that he offended him more than anything.

But it was fun to have a nice lunch with the wife and a more than decent meal to boot. Looks like we have a new Thursday mid-day date from here on out.

Maybe I Just Have Bad Taste

Panera keeps discontinuing my favorite salads and sandwiches. Just got word today when I stopped in the get my free lunch that they were not going to have the "Fuji Apple Chicken Salad" anymore.

I cried a little bit into my Smokehouse Turkey Sandwich. :(

A Shirt For You Baby

I saw this shirt today and I thought of you. I know you can relate to it on so many different levels. First would be your overwhelming support for the union worker. Second would be your insatiable appetite for the glorious game of bowling. See you at the lanes hottness.

Gather The Children

And Clap Yo Hands to This!

Not Becoming A Music Blog

But when I find something new (to me) that I really like I'm going to post it here. Found this band out of Denver called the flobots that I really dig. Very political and very much I like. I would say it's a mix of Cake, Emeinem (but better) & RATM (if only for the political part).

watch the whole thing, makes it's point towards the end
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuK2A1ZqoWs

another song I really like (no video yet, but a fan made one)

So I Found This New Band

Called MGMT... for some reason I really like their songs. I went to youtube to see if they have any videos...they scare and intrigue me all at the same time. "Time To Pretend" is their most popular song, but I like the song "Kids" better(although the video isn't MGMT.. it's a fan made video)



Here is a real video by them (they have disabled embedding for some reason.. and NO IT's NOT A RICKROLL)

click here

Testing

Read above, this is just a test to show you that hyper linking works just fine

and this don't forget this

The Great American Lawn

My neighbor just returned from over 1 year in Iraq, while he was gone his wife did an admirable job maintaining the house and yard last summer. Well since returning home he has proceeded to kick his lawns ass. He cut down all these nasty bushes in the backyard that Maria was trying to get me to cut down, (even thought I told her they were not in our yard, she still wanted me to do it!). I had just cut our yard a few days previous.. but he cuts his down to about half the height of mine, in the process making this house look like the house of a slob who is lowering standards in the neighborhood.

So you know what I did about it? I got out our new Craftsman LT2000 Lawn Tractor w/ 42" deck and cut my effing lawn down to bare dirt in the front yard... that'll show him! You may be a real American Hero "Mr. Neighbor", but I'm ready for you!

*Pumps Fist*

Keep Your Eye On The Ball

So our softball team had it's first game last night.. in near freezing temps. Actually it was in the low 50's.. but still, that's pretty dang cold with a stiff breeze. Had the game tying double late in the game... but we lost in the bottom of the 7th to a walk off 2 run homer. It was a very fun game though and I'm looking forward to playing with the guys & gals on the team this year. Last year we had a lot of cocky loudmouths who kinda pushed the limits of what is expected in a church run softball league. This year should be a whole lot more fun.

Holden & Larry start tee-ball next weekend, should be fun. Although lately Holden has shown little interest in practicing his batting and even less interest in fielding. Larry hasn't quite grasped the art of swinging yet, but he seems to really enjoy it when we are out in the backyard practicing.

Best Damn Show Going Right Now

Only Dexter could make a normal morning routine seem so... murderish? Is that even a word? Seriously though.. this is the best show on TV right now... it's not even close.

Season 3 starts in October.. so you got plenty of time to rent/buy season 1 & 2 on DVD... or just watch it on Showtime On Demand (like we do).

A lavishly groomed Moustachio

Maria made the comment "Guns don't kill people, people with moustaches kill people" and then we (I) got going on a diatribe about how people with moustaches really aren't all that good at killing people because they aren't as aerodynamic.. "top heavy" if you will.

Guess you had to be there

Zoolander

Pictures at the Zoo on Earth Day 2008.

Woot Makes Me Sad

Dear Woot,

I ordered the screaming monkeys at the end of the last woot off. I was sent a confirmation and the subsequent tracking information, no problem. Followed the progress of my package through the normal route, then it seemed like my packaged has been lost or vanished. Now my tracking info has started over (from Dallas, TX.), so I assume a new order is being sent out? It was been several weeks now and I just was wondering if I am correct about the original shipment being lost and that a new one is currently being sent in it's place. All my info is below for the original order.

Thanks,

Chad


Woot Member Services to me

Reply

It appears both items were returned to us for unknown reasons by the USPS. We can, however, have the items reshipped to you but we need the complete physical address you would like it shipped to. Please advise. Thanks for Wooting!

Riley

Not sure what to make of this... It's not like I haven't ordered close to 20 things from you already! I guess this isn't your fault woot, but the postal service's. I will vehemently dislike the postal service from now on, but woot is too dear to my heart for me to be mad for too long.

SADFACE:(

Need vs. Want

OK, we have a semi large yard that needs to be mowed quite frequently. We have 2 banged up mowers both Murray (went out of business about 5 years ago). We got the push mower free from family and it works well enough, but then we bought a Murray riding mower last year for $100. We bought that mower from our Church's yardsale and the money went into building a church down in Guatemala, so really the mower was a bonus. Well, I finally got the chance to work on it this past week and got it running pretty good and the deck engages and it's ready to cut... only problem is the damn mower won't shift into any gears.. just stuck in neutral.

So I NEED a riding lawnmower to cut my yard... my busted up rider NEEDS a new transmission.

I want THIS

We have a sears card with plenty of credit and would have until next April to pay it off. I would make room in the big shed to park it after every use. This post is an attempt to convince my boss to let me get one and sell the red abomination in the driveway. Help save me from push mowing the whole yard for another summer... Help me convince her~!

OH, and guess what... the monkeys were lost in shipping and new ones have been dispatched to take their place. Thanks Justin for rhymin' and stealin' my kids toys!

Condition: Screaming

I am bummed that the 3 screaming monkeys that are on the way have been delayed by a day. I cannot wait to get these monkeys and launch one up on stage this Sunday during the sermon. And shoot one over my supervisor's cubicle at work. And over the dog. And over the house. And over my neighbors house. And over the rainbow. And over a copy of Radiohead's "in rainbows" cd laying on the ground. And.. And...

Kansas Is For Lovers

Or at least I love them, since they just won me some cizash in my work pool. Yay

Before We Went

Some pics we took before a night on the town

1825 Days

43,800 hours
2,628,000 minutes
157,680,000 seconds

I couldn't come up with a better title for this than you already have baby... 5 years. These past 5 years have been the happiest and most joyful 5 years in my life. You are the perfect partner for me to share my life with. I love coming home to our busy house with the choruses of "daddy! daddy!" and as much as I complain about being worn out by the kids, I can't imagine our life being any different.

I love how much you care about how my day went and actually pretend to be interested in what I actually do at work. It makes me laugh how worried you can get about your body image, I think you look amazing. I love how well you take care of the kids, people ask me how you do it (manage with 4 kids) and I never have a good answer... maybe I should tell them "because she is SO money"?

I knew from our first official "date" (first night Annapolis) when we both sang along to Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me" in the car as loud as we could that I had found the one. I'm finding it's hard to write this in the short amount of time I have here at work today without things sounding cliche or from plagiarizing your blog too much.

I love that you think my farting is funny.
I love that you laugh at my dumb jokes when no-one else does. (you love to LOL)
I love that you want to have 23 children with me cause you think I'm that "money".
I love that you are the whitest person I know. (and I am possibly the nerdiest?)
I love that you care deeply for other people, like.. more than anyone I know.

I love you baby for all these things and so many more. I love you more than this blog post traveling through the inter-tubes could ever convey. I can't wait to see what the next 5 years have in store for us.

Love,

Chad

New Hotness

Maria and I bought ourselves a nice, new, digital SLR for our 5th anniversary coming up in a few days (April 5th to be exact). We take a ton of pics and just weren't happy with the quality of our point and shoot.

Some pics taken with the new hotness (click for large version, blogger dosen't support the insane resolution these are at, but they get the point across).

This One is For You.. JH

Even though I don't shop at Walmart

I'm going to buy laundry detergent there from now on

OMG, WTF

2DAYWOOTOFF

PRODUCTIVITY AROUND THE OFFICE DROPS 37% DURING FRIDAY WOOT OFFS. EVEN THE BOSSES GET IN ON THE ACTION.. AND THE LOLCATS ARE NECESSARY IN TEH MESSAGE BOARDS.

IT'S EPIC I TELLS YOU, EPIC

Hey There Delilah

Mr. Ed Was a Hoarse

Just like my voice is today. I had no voice at all this morning when I woke up, and slowly over the day I can make enough sound to be audible (barely). I can whisper what I'm trying to say louder than speak.

And yes, I still came to work today. I'm pretty hardcore like that.

I'll Take 2

If I could have any car in the world at the moment it would be the one pictured above. A Nissan GT-R (Also known in other parts of the world as the SKYLINE). It is going on sale in the U.S. this June 2008 (just in time for my birthday, hint, hint).

0-60 in 3.3 seconds
1/4 mile in 11.6 seconds

If you are reading this Maria, I would like a black one.

Keeping Up With The Joneses

I always like to at least stay within earshot of the cutting edge when it comes to electronics and geeky stuff, it's what I like. I have been wanting a HDTV for a good while now, and while I understand that since we have cable we don't need to upgrade anything to get ready for the digital switchover, that doesn't make me want one any less.

A few days ago I ordered this for my PC, a HDTV Tuner Card that will allow me to watch digital tv and analog tv right on my computah. I had to go dig out my rabbit ears last night and try this puppy out. I couldn't find the power cord for my old aplified tv antenna, so my signal was dropping in and out, but once I found a nice position I got about 5 HD channels over the air. Watched a bit of Jericho.. then my jaw really dropped when I watched some Letterman. It was just so damn sharp and clear... looking forward to watching some sports on it later in the year.

I think down the road I am going to build a home theater pc and it's going to use one of these cards.

College basketball is in full swing now.. the glory of the bracket. I'm in a large work pool for this... Kansas and UCLA FTW!

Camera Phone

I got a new Phone. It has a camera on it (rare, I know). Here are some pics I took from this past weekend.

Leaving On A Jet Plane

So, it's official. The Maryland contingent of the Stewart family is heading West for the green pastures and cow patties of Missouri this summer. We are going to be in Warrensburg and the surrounding area from May 31st to June 7th.

Looking forward to seeing everybody (Tember, I'm sure you're the only one out there that reads this.. maybe Jenna too, can't wait to see you guys.)

And flying with 4 kids with a layover in Chicago should be interesting to say the least. And having to buy 5 full price tickets is fun too... we will be starting a telethon soon to help keep us out of the poor house.

That's a lock

I think we might need to put a padlock on everything. Clothes dressers, closets, refrigerator, bathroom, bedrooms, beds... everything. Maria and I are finding out firsthand how destructive and messy 2 & 3 year old boys can be. Pearl isn't totally innocent in this though, she did paint that nice mural on our upstairs hallway.

If you have a lot of little kids, don't bother buying anything nice for the house until they are old enough to grow a beard and vote.

OH... almost forgot. My bag of crap was really a bag of crap. I got an atomic wristwatch (not sure if it even works), a clown punching bag, reel butler, & digital camera bag.

CRAPTASTIC! DON'T GET THE CRAP YOU WANT, WANT THE CRAP YOU GET!

Maybe he's a wizard?

So Maria and I take the kids to our local Chuck E Cheese here in Salisbury. We print out a coupon and got a pizza, 4 drinks & like 40 tokens for 18 bucks... not too shabby. So we are heading out and getting the kids some toys with their tickets. The guy getting the stuff is really talkative, and missing most of his teeth. He's nice enough and tries to initiate small talk, and we return the volley.

We are heading out the door and the guy says "Have a magical night!" Maria tries her hardest not to bust out laughing and says thank you. As soon as we are out the door we wonder if that is what you hear when you leave Epcot Center.

Or maybe he had his ipod on repeat on this song?

When I'm with my friends then it's magic in the air-air
Good vibrations always surround us
Play some good music, the moment has left
Happiness and joy's everywhere-ere-ere

So have a good a time, everyone have some fu-u-un
People leave your problems behind you
Come and sing along, join in on my song
Sing about this magical ni-i-ight

Magic night - magic's in the music
It's a magic night - we all need the music
We can have a good time
And enjoy all the magical vibes of this great -
Magic night - good friends all around you
It's a magic night - magic sure will find you
So let's all try tonight to feel love
Coming from inside each other

When I'm with my friends, friends with whom I can share-are-are
All my ups and downs and betweens with
When I'm with my boys, the moments are clear
So much love is found in the air-air-air

Magic's when I come, together with my frie-ie-iends
People from the world all around us
Sharing good things we all love to share
So much love is found in the air-air-air

Magic night - magic's in the music
It's a magic night - we all need the music
We can have a good time and enjoy all the magical vibes
Of this great magic night - good friends all around you
It's a magic night - magic sure will find you
So let's all try tonight and feel love
Coming from inside each other

Ahh-ahh, ahh-ahh-ahh - so much magi-ic
Ahh-ahh, ahh-ahh-ahh - so much magi-i-i-i-ic
Ahh-ahh, ahh-ahh-ahh - so much magi-ic

Magic night - magic's in the music
It's a magic night - we all need the music
We can have a good time
And enjoy all the magical vibes of this great
Magic night - good friends all around you

This song completely encapsulates the vibe of the night. Especially the part about all the magical vibes and the music. I swear I heard this song playing in my head... it was magical.

"Ballad Of Cherishing"

I have become hooked on a website called woot.com. This website sells stuff. One item everyday. Sometimes the item is cool and sometimes it's something not so cool. About every 2 months they do something called a woot-off, where they sell a new item every 5 -15 minutes (however long it takes to sell out. I have all my co-workers hooked on it too.

Just this past week during a woot-off was able to purchase 3 items that are the hardest to buy items that they sell on their site.

A Bag Of Crap

I was able to order 3 of them finally after about 6 months of trying. They don't go on sale too often and when they do they sell out in seconds, (this past "Beloved Organ-shaped Candy" sold out in a bit over 6 seconds.. at a pace of one "Burly Overgrown Chevy" every .017 seconds... 4500 total). Each bag of crap is $1 and the shipping for all 3 is $5. Everything they sell ships for $5 and Maria and I have bought plenty so far. 2 Zunes, A Roomba, A Dyson Vacuum, A Zune Dock... the list goes on and on.

Well, back to the bag of crap..all they do is throw random stuff in a box and mail it to you, sometimes it is truly crap.. used stuff, broken stuff. Sometimes it's gag gifts or funny stuff. Sometimes it's something really nice... like really nice.

Should have it by the end of next week. I'll let you know what I get.

Peyton Manning Was There

Maria and I took a CPR class on Saturday at the YMCA. It's a great class to take, especially if you have kids. This class was by The American Red Cross & focused on child/infant choking & CPR. Learned a LOT about what to do in an emergency. I think every parent should take this class if they want to be well prepared for... an emergency.

4 hours + 20 bucks = worth it

Gullible Much?

Everybody reading this has a computer right? OK, I'd say probably most if not all of you have an email account or know someone who has one, right? OK, most people have received mass emails trying to scare/fool/trick/convince of some ridiculous scheme or point of view that seems plausible when reading the email. OK, great.

I want to share something with you from deep within my sources inside the inter-tubes (He sorta resembles the banker on Deal Or No Deal) At least 99.2% of those mass emails are full of made-up crap.

Next time before taking one of those factious emails and running with it.. try visiting snopes.com and maybe look it up beforehand?

Grammar

A sorta funny moment at Church Sunday... Maria sits next to me while I run the media most every Sunday morning. Phil (our worship leader.. who sings the songs) has taken over typing in new songs into MediaShout for me beforehand. Well this Sunday there were a few grammar mistakes in the songs and Maria leaned over and was like "that's not right".. I'm like "I know, I know.. nothing I can do about it now" moments later Jim (our sound guy) leans over my other shoulder and asks "where are all the apostrophes?"

I think for a second as said "You'll have to ask Phil about that" I'm sure Jesus LOL'd

And Barack Obama visited my house yesterday, left a bunch of crap on my porch and made me waffles

The End

Like I needed another excuse

I am an NFL fan. I love watching the games, I love playing fantasy football (maybe even more than watching the games). I like to root for the Chiefs.. as hard as that's been the past few years. And I like the Ravens plenty too.

Other than that, I generally root for the underdog in most sporting events. I was pulling hard for the Giants in the Super Bowl. Partly because I don't like the Pats.. I feel like they've won enough Superbowls the past 7 years... their coach is a douche and I just don't like how smug they are. I'm like that with all dynasties in sports.

Hate 'em

Like I needed another excuse

Stuph

Saw a few movies over the past week. "The Prestige" & "Children of Men" Both were excellent... the last movie before these Maria and I tried to watch was the second "Pirates of the Carribean" and we both fell asleep about 30 minutes into it (it was soooo booring). I've never been a huge movie buff.. but going on a good streak of movies like that gets you amped to watch another one. We really had no idea about either movie before we watched it... it's better when you go into it without any preconceived notions about how good or bad it's going to be.

Maria posted this on her blog.. but yeah, Pearl is potty trained. She's always shown an interest in using the toilet.. so one day Maria just put her in normal underwear and she didn't have an accident. Day after day of this and now here we are, only 2 weeks later and 2.5 weeks before her second birthday... potty trained.

I told Maria if Pearl was our first we would have thought Holden was broken. Pearl has never been hard to put to bed for a nap/bedtime... she's never bad in public... she doesn't like getting dirty (divaitis). So far we are a 5.0 on the Parental Richter Scale.

Upper Heavenly

So I went snowboarding up at Ski Liberty last weekend up in Pennsylvania.. had a blast. Didn't get to make as many runs down the mountain as I would have liked, but it was crazy crowded due to a majority of the trails and lifts opening up for the first time this season. They haven't had hardly any snow up there, but they've been making a ton of the man-made stuff. I went with Holden, my sister-in-laws (and their husbands, kids) and some other family. Us guys went snowboarding of course, and the kids went snow tubing.

Nate & Jason are pretty good skiers, but decided to try their hand at snowboarding (how hard could it be, they said). Our first couple of runs were pretty pathetic, we went down a green trail and each of us fell probably 20 times until we reached the bottom. Our next couple of runs got substantially better, I made it down only falling once.. and the other guys I was with were getting tired of running the same trail over and over (as was I).

So we decided to check out the backside of the mountain. We had no idea, but there were a ton of trails on the backside. All of them ranged from Blue (normal/moderately dangerous) to Double Black Diamond (I hope you have your will in order). We started our decent down the blue trail.. Upper Heavenly I believe is what it was called. It was really fairly steep and very bumpy. Nate takes off and makes good time getting pretty much out of sight, while me and Jason try not to kill ourselves right off the bat on this new trail. Jason wipes out pretty hard and I pass him.. I'm taking it easy, making big sweeping carves and just enjoying the quiet (the backside was WAAAYYY less crowded than the front). About 1 minute later Jason comes flying past me.. he's flailing his arms around looking like he's about to crash.. and does. It looks bad.. he doesn't move... I work my way down there to see if he's ok when out of nowhere I hit a big mound of snow and fall very awkwardly (and going rather fast on a steep slope) on my left arm. It twists back behind me and I feel a "pop".. sharp shooting pain down my arm and all the way to my shoulder. I'm laying on my back (still sliding down the hill.. can't stop.. too steep). Some skier stops to ask if I'm ok.. he saw me wipe out and my arm bend back).. he asks me if I'm ok.. and I tell him I'm not sure.

My arm is completely numb.. I can move it but not without pain... I'm guessing that it's dislocated. I sit there for about 2-3 minutes until I can finally get the tingelys back and I feel like I can make it down. I get going and see Jason walking down the mountain holding his board and making a grimacing face.. "I think I broke my arm" he tells me. I felt bad for him, he's vacationing from Florida and they've had a pretty shitty couple of days from the stories he's been telling me.. this is just icing on the cake at this point.

We get down to the bottom and meet up with Nate.. Jason finds a medic and gets driven to the first aid building to get it checked out. Turns out it was a shoulder dislocation.. but really that's worse news than a break. Dislocations take many more months to heal and sometimes require surgery later on down the road.

Otherwise I had a blast.. I wish we lived closer and it was cheaper to go.. I would go every weekend if I could. Funniest moment of the trip was when me and Nate were sitting about halfway down the front side marveling at the little kids that were tearing it up... I mean, some of these kids are like 8 or 9 years old look like pros out there. We see this one "kid" on his way down and I'm like "woah, check out this kid coming down" So we watch him go by... with his goatee and stubble.

I'm sorry if I offended you little person... you were kicking ass out there.

When all else fails... post pictures

All Nimbly Bimbly

Somebody Has A Case Of The Mondays

It Was Dang Cold Out

So the other night Maria comes back home from a trip to Baltimore. She had already made inside the house with Pearl and I ran out to help unload the car and bring Delilah inside. On my way back from the car to the house with my first armfull of stuff I see Maria is on her way from the house to get stuff from the car too. I get up to the front door and it's locked... the kids had managed to lock the deadbolt and Maria and I were stuck on a cold rainy night on our front porch. We started banging on the door and asking Larry or Pearl to unlock the door (since it was probably Larry who did it), but they had no idea what those crazy people outside were up to. We kept banging and yelling for the kids to open the door (we were surprised none of our neighbors heard us and came outside to see what all the ruckus was about).

So at this point we've been outside only about 5-10 minutes.. but we have Delilah with us on the porch and it's really cold. So I run around the side of the house to try and get Holden's attention, he's upstairs in the office playing a game on the computer. So I yell for him as loud as I can to look out the window at me.. and he does, but dosen't see me and goes back behind the curtain to his computer game. I yell for him again (this time jumping around like a fool waving my arms). It's pitch black on this side of the house but he eventually sees me the second time and realizes what I'm saying.

Holden comes down and effortlessly unlocks the deadbolt and lets us in. That little guy comes in handy every now and then ;)

The Tide Has Turned

I no longer want to be a Republican anymore

I Should Have Gone All In

Maria and I were driving around running errands and going shopping when we somehow got into a discussion about Gout. Maria said something like this "Isn't gout what sailors get on their necks? It's a big lump on your neck!"

I start laughing hysterically and tell her it's a foot problem and it hurts really bad, and that my uncle has/had it and told me all about it.

Maria at this point tells me how dumb I am and that I'm totally wrong (negating the fact that I'm usually right when we get into an argument about totally random things (like her thinking that cheese wiz came in the aerosol can.. it's not EZ Cheese, it comes in a glass jar.)

We are both highly competitive (in a friendly wifely/huserbandly type of way) and alway are like "We'll Google it when we get home", or we make monetary bets (sharing the same checking/savings accounts makes that funny) but this Gout issue wouldn't wait. I guess it was my joking about "What's that on your neck? I think it might be Gout!" that made her brake down and call her father. She calls him up and asks him what gout is.. telling him she thinks it's something that happens to your neck. He laughs and says no.. it's mainly feet related.. you're thinking of a goiter. We both bust out laughing and I hold my hands over my head for keeping my streak alive (and almost hitting a curb).

It ends up that she confused Gout for Goiter & Goiter for Scurvy. (do your best pirate.. arrrrrr!) lol

Vote For Delilah

http://bluebugphotography.blogspot.com/

Go this site above and vote for picture #6. If only because my arm looks spectacular in the picture.. or that my baby girl is very pretty in it.

Vote early and vote often... and tell your friends to tell their freinds to vote as well. Picture NUMBA SIX!!!!!!

Lack of Planning

Maria and I would really like to go out on New Year's Eve to enjoy an adult night out to bring in 2008. We only up until this past week or so thought about the fact that we probably would need a babysitter to pull this off. Problem is we don't have a heck of a lot of family down here and what family I do have down here just happen to be out of town that night.

Oh well... I'll just keep Maria from drinking 2 different types of wine and we'll be ok. (There is a story in that... but I'll save that for her if she wants to tell...)

Bank On It

So I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and all that good stuff. The kids had a blast , acutally at times it was probably a little overwhelming. We couldn't fit all the kids loot into the big honking expedition to bring home with us.

Maria, Hope and I went to our local IKEA megastore earlier today to go spend some of that Christmas money we received. I pull up to a branch of our bank that we've never been to so I could deposit the cash into our account. I walk into this new bank and I looked around a minute and something was missing. There was one lady working at a tiny little round table with a computer and a smile. She welcomed me and probaby took joy in the confused look I had on my face. So I wander on to the back where the deposit slips are and start filling all that good stuff out. I get done with that and now I have to figure out if this is a real bank or not because it looks like there are just a bunch of kiosks with TVs everywhere (well, not everywhere.. but like 6 of them.

So I go up to one of them and out pops one of these drive-up banking tube cylinders (you know, the type where you put your checks and slips and license and it gets sucked up the tube). So I put my cizash into the tube and off it goes, flying up into the ceiling. No idea if people other than the smiling lady work here. Next to the tube is a phone and there is a tv screen in the middle. I'm wondering if I gotta pick up the phone or something until a nice lady pops up on the screen to welcome me to the bank and asks me if I need anything else.

So this is probably gonna get rolled out to more and more banks. I can see why too, there is no way for a bank robber to get to anyone at this bank. It's just a shame that our world is becoming so impersonal though :(

Love the Lolcats

She Has A Point

Italian Food For The Ass

So we had a very busy second half of the weekend. We took the kids to basketball at the Y from 9-10am. Larry really dosen't like doing anything but passing, and Holden won't do things on his own when I am trying to help Larry. So we get done with basketball and we head on up to Baltimore for my God-daughter's 1st birthday. We hang out with family most of the day Saturday, and on Sunday we went to the party (which we had to leave really early for ANOTHER party 2 hours away). So we get there early to help out with getting the house ready and the food and whatnot. I get in the mini-van with Chuck, with what looks like red stuff all over the seat. The car wreaks of bad italian food and I ask him before I sit down if anything was spilled on the seat (it looked like a stain.. not fresh).

He told me "NO, we had some takeout that must still be in here somewhere" and that was good enough for me as I proceeded to sit in some nasty old italian spillage on the front passenger seat. I didn't notice it until several hours later when the wife is like "You smell like ass, what the hell?" I told her she was crazy and I didn't smell like anything. Until I got out of the car then the full bouquet of aromas hit me and it was bad... real bad. My pants looked like I had some sort of anal leakage.. nasty stuff. I had to change real fast and head over to the other party. Couldn't go to the party with that asstastic smell on my ass now could I?

Iron and Wine

So the holidays are upon us. Thanksgiving came and went (where did November gooooo?). We hosted thanksgiving this year at our house and it went off pretty awesome. Maria and I started cooking around 10am or so and we had the dinner around 2pm... or so we hoped. I had never cooked a turkey before, but I figured "how hard could it be" and waiting until it was time to get the bird in the oven to start to wonder what the hell I was doing wasn't the best course of action. I goggled about preparing a turkey.. what's this about removing the neck? The gizzards are in a bag inside? There is a plastic hook thing that needs to be removed? Do you baste the bird or season it at all? Do you cover it with tin foil or leave the rag top down?

The neck was interesting to take off. I had to basically break the neck (Maria could hear the cracking and popping and was getting really grossed out, while the kids took great joy in seeing their father snapping the neck of a large bird in the comfort of our home.

We made way too much food, and now have way too many leftovers. Thanksgiving was fun, it was really warm as the temp outside got up around 72 degrees or so. We had to open all the windows and turn on the ceiling fans cause it got so hot inside (or maybe it was all the wine we were drinking?).

I got a new computer game that is rather nice, COD4. My friend Dan is probably gonna get it and we will get back to the nerd paradise of online multi-player gaming until 1am on a school night. Maria used to give me so much grief for being a dork, but I guess now that I shower her with the "You're a dork!" comments she has subsided.

Why is it that every time Maria and I open a bottle of wine we finish it? It's nice, that some nights we can sit on the couch and watch a funny tv show or movie, and basically just have a glass and enjoy each other's company more than some hilarious tv show. Maria and I laugh at how people thought we wouldn't make it or got married too soon, or were too different personalties. I think we get along better than most married couples we know....or maybe it's just all the wine we've been drinking?

Camera Woes

Our kids broke our new camera only a day after our 30 day return window expired

how awesome is that

*cries*

Send In The Clowns

So we had Larry's adoption party this Saturday and I must say it was probably the bestest party we've ever thrown (that was kid related). We had a couple of party platters from Chik-fil-a and a friggin' clown came by to entertain the kids. It went off really well and it was the first major event we've held inside the new house (the floors didn't cave under the weight of 30+ people.. yay!) Pictures from the party below.

Smelly Used Car Salesman

Yeah, I'll get to why this is titled what it is in a minute. Today is Halloween, and we are taking the kiddos to our friend's house to walk around their neighborhood. We had planned going our our new neighborhood, but we'll do that next year. Only problem is we bought a lot of candy.. hopefully the kids are still out in our neighborhood after 8:30pm. I have been attacking the Sour Patch Kids, damn good! Holden is a Sheep, Larry is a monkey, Pearl is a Princess, & Delilah is a lion (I'll put up pictures tomorrow, honest).

I bought a 22" wide screen LCD for the computah yesterday at lunchtime, less than 24 hours later and the damn thing is already out for delivery according to UPS tracking... talk about a quick turnaround. It's great to have the best online computer parts warehouse only 3 hours away. Now it will be a little less painful when I'm working with long video-editing time lines in Adobe Premiere & After Effects.

Finally got my business registered with the State of Maryland and was able to deposit all these checks I had that I've been carrying around with me for the past 4 months because they were written out to the "company" (that didn't "officially" exist yet). I can't think of anything worse than trying to deal with any State or Federal government agency... such a pain.

So yeah, anyway... we went to look at some mini-vans (welcome to nearing middle age Daddom & Soccer Momness). We look at nearly every van they had on the lot, nobody asking if we need help or bugging us about anything, it was great. We find a couple that are really nice for pretty decent prices. We are not planning on getting one too soon, but we saw what we could afford and we were a little excited about getting one in the next year or two. Before we could get by the front door the oldest, smokyest old used car salesman snags us. Asks us if we want to get one and take a test drive. I'm figured why not, we are already here... maybe we could get one sooner than we think if the price is right and they treat us fair on our trade (har!). We check one out and I take it for a test drive, nice van.. good shape, low miles. I wanted to make sure it wasn't owned by a smoker... but that was impossible cause the Used Car Salesman was a chain smoker and the car filled with his smoke when he lit one up right next to me and my family.

Right about then is when we were pretty much not going to buy from this guy. Common sense would dictate that you do not smoke around a young family with 4 children under the age of 3 and you definitely don't get the smoke in a car they are potentially gonna buy.

To cut out the middle and go to the end. We let them work up an appraisal of our Expedition. The guy tries to get us to put pen to paper before telling us what our trade is and before we haggle on price. Maria asks him what the trade-in value of our truck is... we are floored. We basically just get up and walk out... no need to haggle here... it's late on a weeknight and we didn't really even want to go through all this in the first place.

Moral of the story is don't smoke if you work in sales and don't even bother trying to help us if you wanna take advantage of people like that.

I Gots Da Powa

I got a 30GB Zune a few days ago... love it. I got one for Maria too for Christmas. Holden has his official first day of Pre-K today.. he's as excited as a monkey eating pringles. Maria might take some pictures and I might post them if I think about it later. Until then, tootles

Reel Big Fish

No, nothing to do with the prominent ska band of the 90's.

Holden had his first day of pre-K today.. and seemed to really enjoy it. It was an open house so Maria & I and all the kids were there with him to check it out.

Just a few hours ago during our talk about your day and pray routine I asked Holden if he liked the Guneia Pig and the Goldfish in the aquarium. Holden shot back with "no daddy, those were real fish"... took me a few seconds, then I realized that the only thing that he knows called goldfish are these

They Need To Make Digital Cameras Out Of Kevlar & Granite

We have kids.

We want to be able to catch those "kodak moments".

We have kids.

We have kids who get a hold of things they shouldn't.

We have a digital camera.

We have kids who got a hold of our digital camera.

We need to buy a new digital camera.

--------------------------------------

Also as a footnote... I think Maria is going to be deaf (or death, if you asked Davey) by the age of 30. She plays things at very high levels, like NPR and various other audio that litter our hard drive. Well, she called me today to tell me our computer speakers blew out today as well. I almost pulled the trigger on a nice 2.1 channel Logitech computer speaker set a few mins ago, but I think i'll wait and use my old set of speakers I got hidden away in my computer parts box. Suffering will make the new speakers that much more appreciated.

*Note To Self*

Never jump up on Danny Bonaduce and dry hump him... ever

Great news for Everett

Many of you may have heard this already, but Kevin Everett (the football player that was feared paralyzed) now has movement of his arms & legs. Check out this amazing footage of him just the other day.

F@H

I just turned my computer into a folding machine. Probably have no idea what i'm talking about and probably wonder why you should even care (besides for me being interested in it). Basically "Folding @ Home" is a chance to let your computer become part of one of the most powerful distributed computing networks on the planet. It is based out of Stanford, and is protein folding.

Diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, cystic fibrosis, BSE (Mad Cow disease), an inherited form of emphysema, and even many cancers are believed to result from protein misfolding.

It runs when your computer is on (connected to the net) and isn't being used. When you jump on it to do something it basically goes idle while you are using it, then it goes back to work when the computer becomes idle again. If your computer is on most of the time anyway, why not have it do something useful that someday could save lives and make the world a better place?

http://folding.stanford.edu/

http://folding.stanford.edu/download.html

Bring Your Umbrella

Chocolate Justin

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Larry

You turned 2 years old today (Monday) and Mommy & Me are excited to finally get through this adoption process in the next few months. We love you, buddy.

Flippin' the Bird!!!

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals. Birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs during the Jurassic period, and the earliest known bird is the Late Jurassic Archaeopteryx. Ranging in size from tiny hummingbirds to the huge Ostrich and Emu, there are around 10,000 known living bird species in the world, making them the most diverse class of terrestrial vertebrates.

And OH MY GOD CAN THEY POOP. Maria & I were sitting at the beach watching the kids play on a pirate ship playset... when all of a sudden AN ANGRY MUTANT BIRD PROCEEDED TO SHAT POO ALL OVER MY FACE AND BACK. I'm like "what the hell was that" as I feel this hit me...I thought someone ran by us on the boardwalk and threw something at me. I look at my shirt and look up and realize that one of those huge seagulls that everyone feeds thrasher's fries has decided to try a pinpoint anal assault on ME. I was sitting within a foot of Maria on one side, and our stroller on the other.

The bird COMPLETELY MISSED MARIA, DELILAH & THE STROLLER and just totally destroyed me. Maria couldn't stop laughing as I used wipies and desperately tried to get it all off of me.

If I ever see this bird again I will have my alka seltzer tabs ready

Possible Contestant on America's Next Top Model?

What a frickin' hoser, eh?

We have a large 5.4L V8 Powered Ford Expedition (extra smog edition) that has been running like a piece of crap for about the past 5 months or so. In my quest to fix it myself, I started simple... did some googling and found that it is a symptom of a vacuum leak. I looked and looked, changed out cheap parts of the emission control system & found a few hoses that were cracked. "That should fix it" I would say... but each time I would be monumentally disappointed.

I was getting ready to take it up to the shop so they could remove that $300 that is burning a hole in my bank account to get it running right again. Maria and the kids drive around in it every day, and it's worth it for their safety and my (and Maria's) peace of mind.

Well, last week I broke down and bought a OBD-II code reader (it was only $50 and it talks with you car's computer and it tells you what is broken, mechanics charge you $75 just to hook it up and read the codes.. it's paid for itself already). It came back with 6 error codes, all related to a vacuum leak. So I did some googling and found the problem in only about 10 mins of searching. I ran up to Ford and bought the new PCV Hose Assembly and figured it was worth a shot. I got home and jumped up under the hood and what do you know... this hose that is hidden out of sight all the way behind the engine was completely rotted and cracked in half. I put the new assembly on and voila! It works almost like new again.

Give me props people... I'm proud of myself for turning what would have most likely been a $300+ repair job into a $34 one... and still never getting any of my cars worked on by a mechanic.

Company Yacht

Not really. Me and the fam went down to our local Nassawango shelter and had some fun. They have a big playground full of Russian children and a shelter full of Orange Sunkist Sodas & Crabs. I took Holden, Larry & Pearl out on a two-seater kayak.

I had a hell of a time getting out of the kyak... I almost fell out into the water. I probably missed the funniest thing I would have seen in months... my buddy Ed doing that exact thing.

OMG

Maria and I realized that we never got in the ocean this year. We went to the beach like gangsters earlier in the summer, then we just stopped going. Our kids like the beach... only for the sand. We try to get them down by the water and they freak out.. all of them.

This past weekend was different though. Holden really started having fun down by the water. He would run down and let waves crash down near him while he tried to outrun them... a few times he turned around too late only to be knocked off his feet and washed up on the shore like a piece of driftwood (laughing all the way, ha ha ha). There was this other little boy down near the water that Holden played with nearly the whole afternoon.

And the best part was that nobody was assaulted by a wild stallion this thyme... although there were more ponies and deer on our way in and out than we have ever seen. There must have been at least 20 or so ponies on the side of the road. Or as Pearl calls them... dog-dogs

Couldn't Have Said It Any Better Myself

All Your Base Are Belong To Us!!!

Tokyo (Japan) – A Japanese game company is withdrawing its arm-wrestling arcade machines after several players broke or fractured their arms. 155 of the machines are installed in Japanese arcades and the company is blaming foreigners (non-Japanese) on failing to read the instructions.

I bet the instructions aren't in English? (or maybe they are in engrish?) Would make sense if this is why the foreigners aren't following instructions. I normally would stand beside my Asian brothers in this situation, but not this time. If I saw one of these machines I would do an All-American ROUNDHOUSE to it's face while singing some random Bruce Springsteen songs.



How many much nutrition do you know? I know quite a few actually!

Ghost Town

Man, there is nobody at work today. I am the only person in the back half of the building... it's so quiet I can hear the ticking of the wall clock all the way across the room.

I took part in my first fantasy football draft of the 2007 season and I got another one Sunday night. That one is real important cause there's money involved.

Maria and I had a verbal agreement that if this next child was a girl (she is) that we would be done having kids. Maria has since reneged and our agreement and wants "just one more". I think I need to figure out how this guy made his detachable so I can hide it from the wife.

She's Money

So far so good with all 4 kids finally at home at the same time. Sure it's quite an ordeal going out and doing anything, but it's not as overwhelming as you would think. Lilah is doing good, of course she gets up several times during the course of the night, but being that I can't lactate that really doesn't affect me too much.

I cut our yard last weekend and it's already looking like a forest again. What a difference a month makes.. our yard went from brown and dusty to very green and lush. Although at the time I was missing having nice grass.. now, not so much. We have a riding lawnmower that we bought for $100, but it has issues. I don't really have the time or the money to dump into it at the moment, so hopefully this fall or over the winter I can get it going or find someone to work on it if I can't figure it out.

We brought our dog Lucas back home after a long time in Baltimore staying with Judie. Before he got shipped off he and the cats were finding a harmony around our house. Otis would flex is dominance over him and Abe would hide in the laundry room until the evening. Now, all of that is pretty much gone now. Once Luke catches a glimpse of a cat he's off to the races chasing them around and sliding all over our hardwood floors. It's highly annoying and not what you want to wake up to first thing in the morning. At least Luke didn't get into any dirty diapers and shred them all over the floor (yet).

Maria's mom friends got her a flower/plant arrangement for having the new baby... actually you would think that they got it as a fancy snack for the cat because they've eaten about all of it. That's the sad thing about cats, you can't really have any plants or flowers around the house cause your damn cats will eat them and make a huge freaking mess.

She's here!

This baby surprised everyone and is a girl... we've named her Delilah Mae Stewart

She was born @ 11:09am

She weighs 8 lbs 0 oz

She is 20" long

And she's cute

8/9/07 - Write It Down

That's when they are going to break Maria's water. I'm just super relieved I don't have to play doctor this time... I mean I was ready to do it a week and a half ago.. but it's just nice to be able to enjoy the experience and not have all the pressure and worry on my shoulders.

We will be at the Special Beginnings Birth Center in Arnold (right near the Safeway & Fire Department off of Ritchie Hwy.) Give me or Maria a call if you want to see the baby... we will be stuck there for at least 4 hours after the birth, so we will have some time to kill.

No Newz iz good newz?

No baby yet. Many thanks for all the kind words and thoughts. Maria is going in for a sonogram today to make sure the amniotic fluid is still there and everything looks good. They did a stress test on Saturday and the heart rate was perfectly normal. So no worries... this Stewart is just setting a new record for showing up late for important events.

Full Moon

This baby is already two days late

Holden was 2 days late and Pearl was 4 days late

Maria ate spicy chinese food tonight

There is a full moon

Stay tuned here for pictures.. I will post a pic of the new baby here within the hour of birth.

LOGO

I guess I should come up with some sort of logo to put on my business cards and such for the new company I started up STEW*art PRODUCTIONS

I will post a few that I come up with over the course of the next few nights (or hours) and see what ya'll prefer. Oh and if you know anyone who needs video editing or any kind of graphics/brochure work done send them my way will ya? I'll straight up give people a 5% slice of what I make off of any work they send me way.. how sweet is that for basically doing nothing? ;)

Hit the Snooze

We have a bit of a ritual in the mornings. It involves Maria, Holden and I. I will recount this ritual as it has happened like clockwork the past two or so weeks.

6:00 -- Holden Wakes Up
6:01 -- Holden crawls into bed between Maria and I
6:02 -- Holden kick each of us in the backs and giggles and nuzzles under the covers
6:03 - 6:20 -- Maria and I are pelted with questions about random things Holden has on his mind, we retort with "be quiet or you're going back into your bed"
6:30 -- Maria and I can't take it anymore and I get up to turn on the Disney Channel (usually that clown show.. can't think of it ATM... and the TV is already set on Disney from the night before, because if we don't the first thing Holden will see is "Girls Gone Wild" commercials (because we watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report on comedy central before bed, and that's what's on comedy central @ 6:30 in the morn.))
7:00 -- the alarm blares some random reggae song we've never heard before, and Holden springs up to hit the snooze button so his dad can get an extra 10 minutes of sleep. Usually shortly after that Holden come in and tell me Larry is awake while I lay there super excited to be waking up to go to work.

It's hard to see Holden growing up so fast.. and it's true what people say.. kids sure do grow up fast. Each night before I go to be I go in to check on all of them and it's amazing how much kids change in such a short amount of time. Maria occasionally goes to baltimore for 2 or 3 days streteches and I swear I feel like I've missed a ton.

My favorite time with Holden is our evening talks. It's just Holden and Daddy time and we talk about his day, and lately he's been asking me alot about my day at work. Sometimes we talk for 15-20 minutes (Holden always tries to stretch it out even longer.. but I gotta draw the line somewhere or the boy would never go to sleep.)

Happy Birthday Buddy, I love you. Your Mommy and I are so blessed to have you.

Bored

I was going to spell the title of this blog "board" as an ode to my friend Davey, but I didn't want people to think I actually thought that was the right use of the wrong word.

I have been cranking out the work at work lately....only one downside to that. I get bored with nothing to do.. and the day drags on and on.

We had coconut cake here at work for Mark's birthday, we actually have a party each month for birthdays here at work. I have always hated coconut cake, except when Wayne's wife makes it. She must shred those freakers by hand cause it's really good, not that nasty, tasteless sawdust chips that most coconut cakes remind me of. I must find the secret recipe.

I started my own video production company called "STEW*art PRODUCTIONS" lame title I know.. but it's something to attach to my work.

I am getting very excited to meet this new little one we will have in our midst in the next 2 weeks or so. Maria is fairly sure it's a boy.. but I've been saying girl all along. If it is a girl then we are done having kids.. but if it's a boy I MAY give Maria one more shot at having another girl (that she wants so bad).

I have a ton of work to do around the yard to get it ready for Holden's blowout B-day party. Hard to believe the little guy is already turning 3 and is getting to be so opinionated and hardheaded. For all of that though, he is a very well behaved and thoughtful boy.. and when he does something and gets in trouble he takes his timeouts like a champ and really truly means it when he apologizes for, say: shoving his brother into the corner of a table, or smacking the back of Maria's leg with a piece of wood.

Baby Pearl

love this pic

This is Why I'm Hot

I'm hot cause I'm fly.. you ain't, cause you not

this is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot

Glutton for Punishment

I have a semi-big yard now.. it's going to be awesome when it's finished.. but as it stands now it has huge holes in it (we call them craters) and I am in the process of filling them with topsoil. I ordered 8 cubic yards to get things started, but the guy couldn't finagle his truck to dump it in the middle of the holey area... so now I'm stuck shoveling 5 gallon bucket load at a time. I've got about half of them filled.. the only ones left are the huge ones, and I need to have them all filled in for when we have the boatload of kids over to celebrate Holden's birthday next weekend (July 21st).. it needs to be flat so we can have a nice spot in the middle of the yard to place the Moon Bounce we are renting.

I'm also feeling rather handy and a bit cheap I guess, and have decided to build my kids an awesome swingset/fort in the backyard as well. I have been working on the plans in AutoCAD and I am going to start buying the wood and begin building as soon as I get a chance... probably won't be until after the new little one (Judah or Penelope).

Dr. V

So I had my dreaded visit with my new Dentist (from here on out Dr. V).. I have some crappy teeth.. several of them are in bad shape.. and I'm going to need several more fillings and one more needs to be removed.

I say one more because I just had one ripped from my mouth today @ 2:50 pm. I wasn't in any pain... He numbed me up really good (topical numbing.. then like 3 or 4 needles in my gums) He did a filling then had to yank my #2 tooth all the way in the back.. which wasn't a big deal anyway because there wasn't even a tooth below it so it didn't do anything anyway. The most uncomfortable thing was when Dr. V was cranking on my teeth I could feel my jaw bone flexing and I thought my face was going to split in half... but luckily it didn't.

Best part is I get to go back on August 7th to get the one on the other side yanked and another filling. I figured it's best to get all of this work done now, instead of waiting for it to get worse. I wasn't in any pain.. but any more waiting wasn't gonna do me any good.

Goodbye delicious soda... you will be missed

More than meets the eye

Saw Transformers the other day.. pretty awesome movie. I don't get people who try to pick this movie apart... it a movie about cars and airplanes turning into freaking robots. Just enjoy it for what it is.. awesome.

The most surprising part of the movie was how funny it was. Shia Labeouf was good in it too. Maria saw "Knocked Up" and said it was the funniest most entertaining romantic comedy she's ever seen. So there are good movies in the theatres folks, go out and see one.

And yes, Maria and I are officially an old married couple who see seperate movies.... (j/k.. I was in the mood for a little testosterone shot.. and what 27 year old who grew up with Transformers is gonna pass on seeing it on it's opening week in theatres?)

BLARG

Ifeelreallysickthismorning:(