So Fun!

I'm tired and sore. Although I had a great time today, it was a very long day. A long day of running up and down the stairs in the house and outside. I'm must have run about 2 miles yesterday...of course with a beer in my hand.

The group was a lot smaller than we expected. We were expecting closer to 40, we ended up with 31. I thought for sure we would have extra food. We didn't, not even close. I'd like to say that we planned everything perfectly, but it was more like luck. We probably could have cooked more chicken, so there could be seconds, but I think we were okay. We had one slab of ribs left, after cooking 9 of them. 2 tablespoons of chili beans were left over and there was some more rice casserole and bean salad available for doggie bags.

Total consumptions was as follows:

• 9 Slabs of Baby Back Ribs
• 34 pieces of Chicken
• One large crockpot filled with homeade chili beans
• 1/2 ton of bean salad... 1/2 was left in the pot and divided up for doggie bags.
• A really large amount of rice casserole.
• 32 chesscakes, not cheesecake or cupcakes, but chesscakes.
• 2 gallons of tequilla
• 750 ml bottle of Triple Sec
• 4 -1.5 litre bottles of margarita mix.
• 3/4 case of beer
• 2 cases of sodas
• 12 Capri Sons
• 3 bottles of water
• 30 marshmallows (For Chubby Bunny)

Writing the consumptions numbers makes me feel better. I always love when people eat and looks like everyone ate well.

My sister-in-law brought marshmallows for a game called chubby bunny. Basically what you do is stuff a marsmallow in your mouth and say, "Chubby Bunny." You continue to stuff another marshmallow in your mouth and say the magic words until the group decides they can't understand you any more. You cannot chew the marshmallows at all or your thrown out. I guess I did okay, because I got second to my much younger and bigger cousin. I won a really cool towel. This game was a lot of fun and I think next year we should have a couple of different games with prizes. We could do the shoe flicking contest. Maybe some three-legged races. It might be fun to have a cooking contest of sorts too.

I was bummed to see everyone leave so early. My family, outside my immediate family, tend to eat and run. This year I didn't serve food until 4:30 pm. I tried to keep them long enough to visit.

When everyone left, I was tired. Gina was so tired that she got the boys to bed and then herself to bed around 8:30. Although I was tired and sore, I knew if I didn't do some picking up, we would be in a lot of trouble and I'm sure that Sammy would get in to everything. I picked and cleaned up everything that would get Sammy's attention and then got to bed around 11:30.

I totally forgot to take pictures. So if you have some, please send them my way.

I often schedule too many things in one day. Not because I want to, but because I don't know how to say no to someone who wants to help me. Today, the day before the big BBQ, Verizon Support scheduled someone to come out and check the lines, because my DSL speed is pure crap. As much as I wanted to say, "Can we reschedule?" I didn't . I do technical support myself, so I know how I think of a person who says no to a troubleshooting appointment. I think that the problem must not be that important to them, so why should I go out of my way... I know, it's a bad thought, but that's all part of the thought process and you have to move on... Anyway, I didn't say no and let them schedule themselves to come in the afternoon. I figured I would work from home.

On my way to work, I get a call from the Tier 2 technical support person saying that someone can come out to the house now if I want. I said, "Sure, what the hell?" So instead of going to work, I go back home and wait for this dude... and I wait. The guy doesn't even tell me he's there and when he leaves. He calls me up and says, "I checked your outside lines and everything seems okay, so it must be on the inside or your DSL router. I'll have someone come out during your regularly scheduled appt. ERRRRRR! Talk about frustration. Luckily, I work for a very understanding company who knows that nobody ever really takes time off and works from wherever they are. So I stayed home and got some cool research done... And no, it wasn't PORN. So I finally call Verizon at 6:30pm and ask where the guy was and I was told that my ticket was closed. I was pissed and told them that I was and I needed to be getting what I paid for and expected some sort of compensation for the lack of effort on their part. Guess what? I got a month free...when it decides to work. Anyway, since we have the big BBQ tomorrow and the Verizon guy didn't show, it was time to finish what was needed for tomorrow.

First off, I opened a bottle of beer. Simply wonderful. I put all the tables out with umbrellas. I pulled all 50 chairs out in a place that had easy access for everyone. You think I'm going to set them up too? No way...okay I probably will, but it sounded good to say, "No Way" I put up my brand spanking new, state of the art outdoor speakers. Okay, not state of the art, but down right cheap. They do sound fairly good though. I also started my pre-BBQ ritual. I BBQ'ed the veggies ahead of time and decided to make some chili beans, last minute. I finished the night marinading the chicken.

Gina on the other hand does some much flippin' stuff it's borderline insanity. After she got home from work, she did the Costco thing, the Safeway thing, picked up the boys and came home. Then she proceeded to bake something called Chesscakes. Not Cheesecake, but Chesscake. I tried one and YUMMY. Unfortunately, when she was taking out some of these cakes, some of the molten sugary substance oozed out on her finger. She screamed an F-Bomb and the word CRAP!!! It must have hurt big time because it actually disrupted here for around 30 minutes. She was in obvious pain and nothing could help her. She did laugh a little bit when Tucker came in and said, "What's CRAP?" I thought he said crab, so I said, "You don't know what a crab is?" He said, "No, CRAP!" Gina laughed a little and said it's poop. He replied with, "I wanna see!!!" We then had to say that mommy got hurt and it was just an expression to let out her pain. He didn't get it, all he got was that he now knew what the word CRAP meant.

So after Gina started feeling a little bit better...after a beer or two. She finished the cakes, made a bean salad and started decorating. Here it is 12:30 am and she is still decorating. She is absolutely nuts. I just hope that everyone realizes what she does to make these things special. It's not always the case and sometimes we all, me included, take it for granted. I know that once I go to bed, she is going to stay up and make her world famous chocolate covered pretzels.

Tomorrow morning it's up early and get ready for the crowd, which will probably start showing up around 11am. I'm hoping it's a partying crowd tomorrow. I'm in the mood to have a great time.

Barfing Dogs, Funny Kids, Stressed Out Wife and a Backed Up Sink

Barfing Dogs, Funny Kids, Stressed out wife and a backed up sink. It's been a heck of a day. I think the best news of the day is that Sammy, The Barfing Wonder Dog....didn't. That's right he didn't barf on the way to or from the groomers today.

Some people know that Sammy, our dog, has terrible car sickness. We can't even go around the corner without him puking. We always have a roll of paper towels handy to catch the vomit. What's odd is that Nick will catch the dogs vomit with a paper towel, but won't pick up poop with a shovel. I wonder what that's all about. Anyway, today was a dream come true... no barfing from the Wonder Dog and he looks good too.

So if you read yesterday's blog you will know that I had a bit of a hard time communicating to Ryan about being safe and listening...with your ears. (as opposed to what???) Anyway, while we were in the car he said to Tucker, "What's your problem?" After he said it, I remembered that a few days ago when we were walking into the grocery store he said it to a stranger walking by. He looked straight into the eyes of the stranger as we were walking in and said, "What's your problem???" I was horrified and hope that the guy, who was bigger than me, hadn't heard it. I was wrong. He whipped his head around, looked at me, then looked down and saw Ryan, who didn't have a clue what he just said. The guy laughed. Phew, what a relief! Anyway, this morning I was going to try and communicate to Ryan that it wasn't okay to say that to strangers. I personally don't care if he uses it with his brothers or me, because it is meant to be a joke on his part. So this morning I say, "Hey Ryan, do you remember the two things we talked about last night?" He did and told me exactly what I wanted to hear. "Music to my ears" I told him that there was another thing that he needed to remember. I said, "When you pass by a stran..." He interrupted and said, "I know, I know, don't talk to strangers!!!" While I was proud about his knowledge of this, it wasn't what I wanted to communicate to him so I said, "That's great that you know that, but when you pass by a..." Yep, he interrupted again with, "I know, I know...Don't talk to strangers without an adult!!!" Well that even better that he can clarify his statement further, but... That still wasn't it. So once again, I tried to say my statement, only to get interrupted again with the same results. This happened about 10 times. I thought Nick was going to pee his pants, he was laughing so hard in the back. Tucker was trying to interrupt Ryan, but finally gave up. It was impossible. This is when I brought in the bribe. I told him that he could have a piece of candy if he listened to everything I had to say. He did listen to me asking him to not say, "What's your problem?" to a stranger this time, but quickly followed it up with, "I know that. Can I have a piece of candy now?" A deal is a deal so he got his candy. I asked him again, later on in the car and sure enough he remembered. I guess I'm just not getting it... at least not fast enough.

So we are two days until our BBQ. Gina is starting to show some signs of stress. She really wants to roll out the red carpet for everyone and make sure that nobody feels put out. I, on the other hand, love to ask people to help out. This year, instead of telling people not to bring anything, we have said, "Sure, bring whatever you'd like." I think my mom mentioned salads or desserts, which is perfect. So we are preparing on cooking the main course... or are we. As you might expect, Gina is worried that what if there aren't enough salads or desserts. Because of this, she is making a salad and desserts... just in case. As I was doing some picking up in the living room, Gina comes in and says, "I'll trade you." Of course I am curious as to why, so I ask, "What's wrong?" She says, "The sink is clogged." Ugh! Our kitchen sink/pipes are so old they fart dust. They clog with the simplest of things. It's not like she was putting a small child down there. It was a small amount of leftover pasta and to top it off, it went through a garbage disposal. So I go down to the garage to get my pipe wrench, because the only way to clear this out is via a snake down the drain. Guess what, there is no pipe wrench and I have no clue where I put it last. I thought it was in the garage with the rest of the tools, but nope, it wasn't. So now as it's getting close to 10, I realize that I"m not going to find it and we either call a plumber for 150 bucks or wait until the morning so I can get a wrench and comeback and fix it. We are waiting.... So Gina decided to chug along and make some cookies, rice casserole and a salad. This is my superwoman. Of course, she is stressed out about everything, but never gives up until it's completed to her liking. I just can't wait until tomorrow evening when we drink beer and champagne while we setup the tables and stuff. I'm sure she will chill out then.

Some more good news is that the Verizon guys are coming out tomorrow to fix my DSL lines. I purchased speeds of up to 1.5 mbps, but haven't gotten faster than 384kbps. I think the phone lines are as old as the pipes.

At what point in your life do you realize when you are doing something unsafe? Maybe I was just always a safe kid growing up, but yesterday I had to sit down the two youngest boys and talk to them about safety and listening.

I was working on the pool filter while they were swimming with their older brother. Things were going just fine. Nick is awesome with the little guys. Then Nick wanted to get out and the craziness began. These guys seem to keep trying to out do each other at everything. It was all fine for a bit, then they started jumping on each other in the pool and holding the other one underwater. If they were older that would be one thing. The fact that they don't swim is another.

I asked them to get out and they acted as if I wasn't even there. I continued to ask until I had to talk in my LOUD VOICE. If you know me, you know that I have a really loud voice in general. My LOUD VOICE is louder than most PA Systems. Trust me on this one!!! Anyway, that got their attention and I got them to come to the pool. I tried to explain to them about being safe in the pool and what they shouldn't be doing, like jumping on each other when nobody knows how to swim. You think that would have been enough, but, "NO" they didn't even hear a word I was saying. They kept doing it until I had to get them to the edge of the pool and pull them up out of the water by their floaty suits. Well, Ryan was the only one who was wearing one. Tucker got the message and came right out. Ryan thought I was just playing around and jumped back in the pool, then Tucker started walking back in. I just didn't/don't get it.

I finally got them out, took off their clothes and put towels on them and told them to get in the house because I needed to talk with them. I was trying really hard to remain serious as I viewed this as an important issue. They still weren't getting the importance of this and kept messing around all the way back up to the house. Ugh!!!!!!!

Once in the house they both sat on the couch and I tried to tell them how important it is to be safe and to listen. Ryan kept jumping around and giggling, causing Tucker to laugh with him. Sure it was funny and cute, but I remained serious and started to get frustrated as they weren't listening to my message. In the middle of my serious speech Ryan raises his hand and says, "I know why you need to be safe." I felt like this was tremendous progress considering I didn't think he was listening so I asked him why. He told me, "You need to be safe so I can go to the bathroom right now." He then jumps up....naked and runs to the bathroom. That set Tucker off and he couldn't help but crack up. I almost lost it there. It was hilarious, but I remained serious and then talked toTucker when Ryan was in the bathroom. Tucker got the message, so I let him go downstairs. Now it was on to Ryan....

I tried asking him to remember 2 things, Be Safe and Listen. He eventually got the Be Safe thing, but couldn't remember the Listen thing. He kept interrupting by saying he had to say something. I told him that he could say it after he told me what 2 things he needed to remember. He could remember the Be Safe thing, but not the Listen thing. He kept saying, "No Fighting??" Finally after about 15 times, I figured that I better let him say what's on his mind so it will release some space to store the listen thing. He said, "Sammy's hair is falling out." While that was true, that was the last thing I thought he would say. Right after he said that I asked him again. "What 2 things do you need to remember?" He quickly replied, "Don't Fight, Be Safe, and Listen with your Ears." Holy Cow, wtf??? What made a difference there? I would love to know if anyone has any insight. It's absolutely crazy.

If I could figure out how to get those answers quicker, I'm sure I would be a much better father and perhaps pass on my knowledge to others in the same boat of frustration...

So many things went through my mind today it was well... mind boggling.

First off, we all woke up fairly late this morning and the day started off with grouchiness. I couldn't stand the mood I was in when I left the house. I did, however, see that Paris Hilton was released last night.

Thoughts on Paris Hilton: Now I am one of those people who do think that she was given a raw deal because of who she is, but... and a very large but... I believe that she is what's wrong with teenagers growing up. It's great to aspire to live a life of luxury and privedlege, but what kids don't understand is that the only real way to get to that point is to work hard at it. They think that it is owed to them, so they take advantage of everyone around them to try and live that life. It just makes for a backstabbing world, ala Perez Hilton, and every other tabloid. I can't control it or do I plan to try. All I can do is make sure that I raise my kids to know the value of hard work and integrity. Anyway, it was great to see how happy she was to be getting out of jail, but it reminded me of a small child around 11 getting a highly wanted christmas present. Then it hit me, she really isn't all there. Something is definitely wrong with her, mentally. I don't know what it is, but I'm sure it will come to me at some point. I love to make observations.

Meanwhile, back to my life...

Because everyone was late today, the lunches weren't made and I was to rushed/lazy to make lunches for them. They have the option of getting a hot lunch at daycare, but it's mainly for the toddlers and are quite bland in flavor. Because of this and to get them dressed quicker, I bribed them with Lunchables. When they hear that lunchables are the prize, they get dressed quicker than they ever have.

So we get to the store and they know exactly where to go. If you've ever been in the store with Tucker and Ryan, you know that they have to have everything. There was one time that I took them shopping, gave them each a basket and let them choose whatever they wanted in the grocery story. They always remind me of that when we go. Anyway, to get to the lunchable section we have to go through the Health and Beauty Aids section. They pull out every coupon, smell every shampoo, conditioner and a few deodorants. When we get to the lunchable section, they have to look at every box and inspect it thoroughly. I know exactly what they are going to get, "Chicken Strips," but they really want to make sure that they get the best toy possible. The funny thing is that I don't even think they like these things and would rather have salads, but salads don't come with a toy... Phhht! Toy, who are we kidding. It's a piece of plastic with a design on it. But it's something and they finally choose....the chicken.

Then it's back down the HABA aisle and they smell the remainder of the shampoos and grab the rest of the coupons they missed. Tucker thought it would be cute to put a few coupons into an ice cooler that was in front of the checkout counter. I told him that he was wasting paper and that for his punishment he should take it out of the cold ice water and put it down his shirt. He started to refuse, but before he could Ryan yells, "I want to put the cold paper down my shirt." I tell you that kid wants to try everything at least once.

Tucker wanted to take the bird egg to school today to show the class. It was kind of cool to see Tucker and Ryan so careful in holding the bag that the egg was in. You would have thought they were caring a human heart to a transplant victim.

Today, Nick also came home with his new "BabySitter." She just graduated from high school and let's just say that Nick was trying to act real cool around her. He's at that odd age where he doesn't need a babysitter, but we feel weird leaving him at home alone, so we got someone to just "hang out" with him and transport him to soccer practice, Great America, Raging Waters, etc... We will see how it works this summer. Next Summer will be interesting, since Tucker will have an open summer too.

I look foward to the days that no babysitters are needed.

Gotta keep chuggin along. Sure there are still quite a few things to do before the party on Saturday, but I can just sit back and rest, right??? WRONG!! I gotta keep moving.

As we get closer to party time, Gina and I tend to get stressed out. My family is not the type of family that needs to have everything perfectly planned. We are quite informal and really can be comfortable anywhere. Gina and I, on the other hand, work hard at trying to be informal. What that really means is that we want to have everything just right...or right enough.

Gina did more shopping today and purchased probably the last of the non-perishable stuff needed for the party. We will get the food probably on Thursday and start cooking what can be cooked on Friday Night. It looks like somewhere between 30-40 people will be coming. I'm thinking it may be more like 40, but who knows.

The tables have been rented, the chaise lounges have been put out by the pool. The staff have all been told their responsibilities and the menu has been planned.

Although it seems like a lot still needs to be done, there isn't really much now. One thing I do need to do is get Sammy groomed. He is blowing coat like crazy now. I could take an hour and comb him out myself, but the amount of hair that comes out is gross. Since I already cleaned off the patio, I would prefer not to do it and get hair all over.

Tonight I BBQ's a beef tenderloin. Around 3/4 of the way through cooking the beef, I ran out of propane. It was a good thing I did, because the meat was cooked just the way I like it, medium-rare. I got sidetracked during cooking so I wasn't really paying attention, until I heard the pop.

I was able to put together my cooler that Gina got me for our anniversary back on the 1st. It's a pretty good sized cooler, so I hope it will hold all the drinks. As I was putting the legs on it, Ryan kept asking me why I was putting in another screw. That got old pretty quick. Finally I told him that if I don't put any screws in, there won't be anything to drink at the party. I don't know why that worked, but it did. I think he just wanted an answer that would show how it would affect him. Kids are amazing.

You could tell that Tucker and Ryan were still tired from the weekend. They weren't really all that busy this evening. Nicholas is with his father until Wednesday, so we have all been missing him. The dog is going nuts without him too.

Someone asked me today if I write in this blog everyday, to which I answered, "Yes." They followed up with, "Why?" I hadn't really given it much thought until that point. I guess it's some kind of therapy. I've always loved to write. I hated to read, but loved to write. Weird, isn't it? Could be an arrogant/selfish thing???

Writing truly does help me keep control of my thoughts and lets me move on. I will continue to write everyday as long as I'm able to. Some days will have something worth reading, other days won't... Like today!!!

With that being said, I will end for now. I need to upload some more photos to share with the family.

Although wake up time should have been around 7am this morning, it ended up 2 hours later due to the late night at the wedding the night before. This was the day to finish cleaning up the yard, pool area and do anything else that we need to do to get ready for the big party next weekend.


I took a quick trip to the local hardware store and bought a shovel to replace the one I broke last week. While I was there I saw a cool little fish fountain that was on sale. I figured that it would fit perfectly in the area of a bush that I took out last week, so I bought it. After I got home, I got started.


First the patio needed to be tended to. The wine grape vines were out of control. From the looks of it, the only solution was to cut off some of the vines. I felt bad doing this because grapes were already forming and I felt like I was wasting. I decided to take the crazy vines and redirect them around the railing on the patio. Remarkably this went really will. One of the vines actually had grown through a bench. I had to take apart the bench, remove the vine then put the bench back together again. Tree Huggers must love me now.


One the patio was finished it was down to the pool area. I took pieces of old bush and through them in the yard rubbish bin and then what I dreaded happened. "RETURN OF THE YELLOW JACKETS" Yes, the yellow jackets returned with a vengeance. I found the nest in one of the light fixtures near the pool. Luckily I had a can of spray so I could get rid of the fairly large nest. A few of the critters fell out after I sprayed, then the rest came back looking for revenge. I picked them off one by one and remarkably didn't see any other. As I was picking off yellow jackets, Ryan was using a squirt gun to squirt spider webs. He squirted one spider web and all of the sudden I heard a scream. I went to take a look and a black widow spider came crawling out, thinking it had scored a large bug. Nope no bug, just a pest with a squirt gun. I need to get rid of that spider, but didn't have the right stuff yet. I do have a picture thought. Check out all the little guys home. This was after I spayed it a couple of times...


I covered the bare areas of the plant beds with tanbark and all of the sudden started hearing the sound of baby birds. I looked up towards the nest that we have in the bell outside our house, but couldn't see anything. I took a closer look and both the mother and father bird came really close to me. That's never happened to me, so I was pretty awe struck. I respected their wishes and left the nest alone. I found a partial egg out on the lawn, so I brought that in for the kids to take a look. Maybe they should learn to respect the homeowner by not discarding their egg shells on my lawn.

I put together the fountain and got that going. As I was working around the area of the fountain, I almost fell asleep. It was quite relaxing. I also hooked up the lights to the umbrellas and cleaned out the BBQ's.

The bottom line of the day was that I am sore. As a matter of fact, I'm heading to bed now.