She Woke Up At Cwazy

Over this past weekend, my kids (ages 6 & 3) didn’t quite make it to bed at their normal bedtime. Usually, they are in bed and ready for sleep by 8:30. This past weekend, because our friends were in town, they were in bed at 11pm on Friday and then a little after midnight on Saturday. Needless to say, they were a little behind on their sleep schedule.

Sunday rolled around and everything was normal. They were both up around 8am. Nothing unusual there. But on Monday morning, my son got up around 8:30am…and then my daughter proceeded to sleep until 11am. I had to go wake her up because Christopher had football camp at 11:30 and I always alot a little extra time to get them to wherever they are going.

So when I woke Ava up, I told her…”Ava girl! You slept like crazy last night!”

Well, she just smiled and rubbed her eyes, obviously still very much asleep. I got her clothes on her and we got Christopher off to camp without any problems. Later that day, I was telling Steph about how late Ava slept and how I had to go get her out of bed. Ava happened to be listening to the conversation and as I the story was about to end, Ava chimed in with a big grin on her face…

“I woke up at cwazy!”

And that just about sums up my daughter. LOL

Blog Awards Are Silly

Seriously…it’s butt-ugly and dumb.

So my friends Red and Suzanne recently picked me as a nominee for this “Arte Y Pico” award. Whoever came up with this thing is a freakin’ genious because everyone and their brother is winning it and we’re all falling for it! The rules are, if you are nominated for this “award”, you have to post 5 of your favorite sites as “nominees” and then you have to repost the link to the site that originated it. Brilliant! Seriously…I’ll bet this person (who speaks and writes in Spanish) is getting a crapload of people clickin’ in!

Here’s the deal folks…you either write this stuff to be popular or you write to let out creative steam. For most of us it’s either or…usually not both (although some lucky souls get both…right Danny at “Dad Gone Mad”?). I’m not in this to win a popularity contest. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even know that there WAS a contest to begin with. I am not looking for a gazillion hits by a certain date, I am not trying to score a book deal, I am not looking to get on t.v., I am not looking to be the greatest blogger in the history of the internet. I am in this to write. I love writing. I love writing the way I write on this site. I am not organized enough to write a novel or a short story (although I was a decent short story writer in my high school/college days!). I write because a friend thought I should give this a shot…and I did…and I enjoy it…and now I have folks who enjoy reading what I write! And that is really freakin’ cool! But I don’t need an award for it.

I have a family who loves me. I have a job that I really enjoy. I have everything I could want in my life aside from a home that is paid for and an endless supply of new release movies being beamed to a high definition t.v. in my basement. I am living the dream. And if it weren’t for the government totally screwing up everything, my family would be doing pretty good right now. But that stuff is all boring! No one wants to hear about how good I got it. So I write about things that I find to be annoying and stupid! It’s my niche! Oh yeah…and I like movies and music and talking about stuff that I do with my family. I hate the term “daddy blog” because I don’t feel that is what I am. I write about anything. I enjoy that because it leaves a lot of doors open. And I like that in all the sites that I visit frequently as well!

So screw this stupid award stuff. Below are the sites that I really give my love too. I visit them probably 2 times or more a day. I keep adding sites to my blogroll, but the ones below are the ones who are my main destinations whenever I get 10 minutes to myself. These people are, as far as I can tell, class acts who enjoy wiritng as much as I do. Go check them out and let them know that if I were to hand out silly blogging awards (which I kinda did here), they would be the tops of my list!

You guys rock!

Red at Dr. Pepper Is Good For The Soul

Suzanne at Twenty-Four At Heart

Danielle-lee at A Little Left Of Lost

Daniel at Daniel’s Critical Corner

Heather at Keltic Kaos

Whoever Is Runnin’ the show at Tales From The Vinyl Villager

Ashley at …is this thing on?

And I’ve also been enjoying the writing at “Midlife Slices” and “Dad Gone Mad” is an internet staple already…but I still give him props ’cause he makes me laugh like no other!

The other blogs on my blogroll are all good as well, but these are my favorites. Please visit them as much as possible! They’re very funny people and always an entertaining read. Now…on with the show!

And Another One Bites The Dust

American icon and beer maker Anheuser-Busch is sellin’ out. That’s right…the barn doors are closing on the Clydsdales and the brewery will now be owned and operated by a Belgian company. Is this okay? I mean, it IS going to be run and operated out of St. Louis. The company will be renamed Anheuser-Bush InBev, splitting the name with the company that is buying them out for $52 billion. So the United States gets to keep the workers in St. Louis happy. But are you okay with another one of our companies being owned by a foreign company? I don’t know what my feelings are at this point. Seriously…as long as the production stays on our soil, does it really matter where the owners of the company reside? I can’t decide if I care or not. Here’s an article on the whole matter in the New York Times.

Checking out a long list of other companies that are owned by foreign companies, there are quite a few that I wouldn’t have expected including Firestone tires, Dial soap, Holiday Inn, 7 Eleven and French’s mustard??? And then there are even more historical American landmarks that are owned out of country such as the Chrysler Building, the Chicago Skyway and the Plaza Hotel in New York City! WTF?!?! I had no idea…

So now every time you drink a Budweiser or a Bud Lite (which I do occasionally), you will be drinking a foreign brew. Kinda weird. Anybody know the Belgian way of saying “Wazzup”???

A Weekend Of Fun With Friends

So my wife’s friends came and went this weekend. Driving from as far as the Quad Cities in Illinois, the crew piled into 2 cars and made it late Thursday evening. The cast of characters were 3 of Steph’s best friends from high school, their husbands and their kids. On Friday, we went to King’s Island. Then on Saturday, Steph and the group went to the Cincinnati Museum at Union Terminal and saw the “Bodies” exhibit that has been so controversial around here. After that, everyone came over to our house for some grillin’ and fun! Later in the evening, the oldest of the kids (he’s 17…so he qualified) watched the younger ones (5 of them to be exact) as the adults went out for some drinks and more…adult conversation.

Anyway, I am speaking for myself and my wife when I say we had a great time seeing them and hope that we can get together with everyone again next summer! And a note to Josh…I am so sorry about the torture that Christopher put you through! But trust me…it ain’t half as bad as what your mother has done to you through the years! LOL  It was nice seeing everyone! Hope you had as much fun as we did! 

Ava Showed Amy All Of The Pictures Of Herself!

Prepping A Delicious Meal!

Some Ate Inside…

And Some Ate Outside

Connor (aka Pooh)

Matt Hogged The Popcorn

The Husbands

BFF’s (minus one! Teresa…they missed you!)

Christopher Loves Hangin’  With Josh!

 

Tossin’ Pillows

Animal lovers are not gonna like me after this one…but hang with me here and see if you can at least see my point of view…

It’s 5:50am. The reason I am awake is because of a cat. My cat. My cat that I have had for 13 years now who has finally gone insane. Well actually, she’s not insane…she’s just gotten too old. So old that she can’t get up on the bed anymore. So now, since she’s gotten too old to hop up there on her own, she whines about it. Loudly. At 5:30 in the morning.

Now, for the record, I’ve loved my cats. Used to be 4 of them. Steph had 2 and I had 2. 3 have passed on to the big litter box in the sky. The most recent was the sister of the one who is whining now…and ever since I had K.C. put to sleep, Bootsie (the cat who is whining) has been acting all weird. I know she’s old, but now I’m wondering if she’s missing her sister? I dunno…but here’s what I do know…she’s waking me up at all hours of the night and she’s pissing me off!

My wife is sympathetic. When Bootsie whines, Steph gets out of bed and tries to find her to put her on the bed. Which is fine except for one thing…Bootsie doesn’t liked to be held…or picked up…ever. So she whines, then she hides. So then Steph gets back in bed because she can’t find Bootsie and then she whines some more! So now maybe you can see where this is driving me a little nuts…right?

So my answer to this? I throw pillows. I sleep with 3 pillows, one of which is between my legs (long story, not going there). So I launch a couple of them to shut her up. I figure a pillow flying through the air should freak her out a little bit, right? I’m not actually trying to hit Bootsie because I don’t know where she is really. I’m just trying to get her to SHUT THE F%$& UP ALREADY! It’s 5:30 in the freakin’ morning you stupid cat! So SHUT IT!

Am I wrong?

The Culprit

Picture Of The Day_7.13.08

Beating The Heat!

Perhaps Happy Harry Hard On Was On To Something…

In 1990, Christian Slater starred in a movie about a high schooler who set up an underground radio station in his basement and broadcast illegally using the moniker “Happy Harry Hard On”. I’ve always liked that movie and today I put it in ye ol’ DVD player and was giving it a spin and realized that whoever wrote the script for the movie was really onto something. It was written by a guy named Allan Moyle and as far as I can tell, he hasn’t done anything else that I know or care to know. However, truth be told, he filled “Pump Up The Volume” with enough nuggets to fill a lifetime! Here are a few excerpts from the script of the movie…

“Do you ever get the feeling that everything in America is completely fucked up? You know that feeling? That the whole country is, like, one inch away from saying, “That’s it! Forget it!”? Think about it…everything’s polluted. The environment, the government, the schools, you name it!”

“There’s nothing to do anymore, everything decent has been done, all the great themes have been used up, turned into theme-parks so I don’t find it exactly thrilling to live in a totally exhausted decade where there’s nothing to look forward to and no one to look up to.” 

“Feeling screwed up at a screwed up time in a screwed up place does not necessarily make you screwed up.”

“I like the idea that a voice came just go somewhere, uninvited, just kinda hangout, a dirty thought in a nice clean mind. A dirty thought is like a virus, it would just kill all the clean thoughts and just take over…. that would be serious. That would be totally serious.”

Granted…I’m not on a radio frequency (tried radio…too corporate and no money), but I would like to think at some point someone might be scanning the internet and come across this blog and see someone who is having as much trouble dealing with our society right now as Happy Harry was. Granted…Harry was a high school student dealing with a lot of different types of issues in the film. But I think that Allan Moyle was writing not just for the teenage set. I’m thinking this guy was as frustrated being a grown-up as I am and wrote Harry as an extension of himself.

We’re all a little pissed off right now and trying to cope. This blog site is MY radio station. It won’t be heard by as many people as a stolen FM frequency, but I’m hoping, at some point, someone will take notice. So for now, I plan to keep on keeping on blogging about whatever comes into my brain whenever I think it. Happy Harry Hard-On is my muse…and I think he was on to something way back in 1990. As I watched that film I found myself thinking how long ago that was and things haven’t gotten any better. Kind of a shame, isn’t it?

I Won An Award…or a Nomination…Or Something…I Dunno…

So my friend over at Twenty-four At Heart has won an award! It’s very exciting and it’s a very ugly interesting award. It’s called the “Arte Y Pico” award and she won it because her site was nominated as one of style and substance. She then, in turn, nominated me for the award! So, curious to what the award was all about, I went to the website of the “Arte Y Pico” award and discovered it’s a site written entirely in Spanish! So I don’t know what I’m supposed to do…

Do I follow the rules that are posted on her site and repost all of the rules and guidelines that are set in place? Or do I say to heck with it and move on because I have no idea what this thing is all about? I mean, the Spanish site could be a website totally about child porn or something (actully, it looks like it’s about knitting…but what do I know). Yeah…I know, not likely, but how am I supposed to know if I can’t read it? I guess Barack Obama IS on to something when he says we should all be bilingual in some way.

Anyway, I appreciate the nomination from 24 At Heart! She is an awesome blogger and I visit her site just about every day! But I am going to decline the award just on the basis that I don’t want to link to a site that I can’t read! That and the award is just ugly too big and I got enough crap in my house already…I don’t know where I’d put such a god-awful interesting looking piece of crap artwork. But to keep with the idea of the award, I am going to start my own award called “The Totally Awesome In An 80’s Kind Of Way Blog Award”! I will follow the exact same rules as the Pico, but it will be for all of us to promote other sites of interest that is not a return link to me…it’s just a great way to share other sites with friends and everyone benefits! Here are MY choices for “TTAIA80KOW” award!!!

1. Twenty-four At Heart: As I said, I read Suzanne’s site every day and love seeing what she has to say next! Now ya got 2 awards! LOL

2. Vocabulary Of My Life: Kim got me started doing this blogging business, so you can blame her for all the nonsense that I write. She doesn’t blog enough these days! Maybe if you stop by she’ll start up again! Oh yeah…we used to date about 20 years ago. Can’t forget that little nugget…

3. …is this thing on?: Ashley has a unique and funny way of looking at life! She loves taking pictures, shooting things and making fun of anything from the 80’s. She is DEFINATELY up for an award like this…

4. A Little Left Of Lost: Danielle-lee is all woman and all kinds of funny!

5. Daniel’s Critical Corner: My favorite movie review site. Dan is THE MAN when it comes to finding a funny way to review a movie. His review of “The Happening” had me in tears!

And finally, I’m gonna give props to my brother one last time, in an attempt to aid him in his faltering attempt at blogging. I think it would be hysterical if all of a sudden he got 600 hits in a day just to see what his reaction would be! Visit Frank’s site at “The Veracity“. He’s not as funny as I am, but he loves to debate. You got something you want to bitch about? Go directly to him. He loves it! LOL

So there ya have it…”The Totally Awesome In An 80’s Kind Of Way Blog Award” nominees for this year! Maybe I’ll do it again next year! So stay tuned…’cause YOU too could be up for such a prestigious award!!!

A Trip To Kings Island

So my wife’s high school friends came to town for a weekend of fun and excitement here in Cincinnati. On Friday morning we all packed up our bags and headed to Kings Island for a day. It was a hot day and our thought that “maybe because we were going on a weekday so the crowds won’t be so bad” was pretty much dead wrong. The throngs showed up and so we waited in quite a few lines. But a good time was had by all! Here are some pictures from our adventure!

Ava loves the swing!

Smile Christopher!

Ready to FLY!

Ready To Get Wet

And Wet We Did Get

Apparently You Should Never Stand Up On A Roller Coaster

Chad & Connor On The Way Down

Ava Loves Dora!

Ruh-Roh Raggy!

Had To Stay Hydrated!

On Top Of The Eiffel Tower!

Ava Loves Her Carousel Rides!

We Had A GREAT Time!

What The Heck…Germs?

As far as I know, germs have been around for millions of years. I’m not a scientist, but I can only imagine that germs have lived long before we were ever around. It’s not in the Bible or anything, but I think it’s probably a no-brainer. So if these tiny little organisms have been around for so long…why is it so important that we murder them at such an alarming rate? Because I don’t know about you, but I think my wife has got the market cornered on those tiny little bottles of that germ fighting gel and she’s planning on using them until they run out or at least until she’s killed every last one of those little suckers.

We go to the grovery store. WHIP! She’s got the bottle in her hand, ready to pour to any poor soul who feels their hands are filthy with germs.

We go to the mall. BAM! There she is…ready for combat. Gel sprayed on every little surface of tiny tot palm.

We go to a restaurant to eat. WHAMMO! It’s spread from one child to the other, hands reaching for more of the wet stuff that will save them from the wretched germs!

We go to…well…just about anywhere really, and BADABING! There it is. Who makes this stuff? And why do they hate germs soooo much? Did the germs hurt someone close to them? Did a germ latch onto one of their favorite toys and refure to give it back when they were a child? What was it that caused such germ panic in my wife and many millions of other wives and mothers across our country?

Here’s the deal…I don’t like germs either. I guess. Hell, I don’t know. Aside from having someone sneeze in my face, I couldn’t tell you if I’ve ever gotten sick from a germ. I guess I have. But I wash my hands after I go to the bathroom and then I leave it up to mother nature to take care of me from there. I figure some soap and hot water before I eat can just about cover it. From there on out, I’m leaving it alone.

Here’s my question to all of you who use this stuff…this gel from hell, if you will…how do you know that this stuff even works? I mean, we are buying this stuff by the gallon, has it been proven that using it protects us from anything? Germs have been around for millions of years! Do you not think that they will evolve and eventually figure out a way to get around this gellatinous goo that we dump into our child’s hands every 5 minutes of the day? Do you really believe it works? Do ya?!?! Huh?!?!

Okay…got that out of my system. Now I’m over it. But seriously…kids are gonna suck on their fingers and put toys in their mouths that aren’t theirs and put their lips on a shopping cart handle at the grocery store and on and on and on. Germs will work their magic, no matter how much goop ya got. So don’t freak out when little Johnny catches a cold after going to the park 4 days ago. Odds are good, he probably got it from you breathing in his face when you were yelling at him to use his “Goop” to kill the germs! And NOW who is the enemy…Fun Hater Moms?