Stop me if you have heard this one before.
The Boss Lady took the kiddos with her to work today. I am supposed to go pick them up at 2PM. You would think I could have gotten a lot of things done around the house this morning, with 5 hours of no distractions. Right?
Did I mention that we bought a Wii game system last week?
The good news is my Tennis ranking is over 1300 now!
But my shoulder hurts.
It is Junkin' Season. Actually today the city trucks should be at our house, to pick up our pile of bulky items that we can only throw out once every 6 months and that will end Junkin' for another 6 months.
Junkin' used to be a neighborhood sport. All the dads would try to outdo each other to see who could find the best treasure, like Maria, in some random pile at some stranger's curb. Then it sort of waned. Who can afford to drive all over the neighborhood for hours on end looking for treasure at $4 a gallon? I can buy new junk cheaper than that!
Plus, nowadays everyone seems to either keep their good junk or sell it on Craig's List.
RaceCar Man and I made one quick jaunt through the 'hood Sunday afternoon. Other than moving a piece of junk from my pile to his yard, and finding a few other little things, the trip was a wash.
After all of the great stuff I have found on the piles around here, a power washer, garage shelving, garden accessories and the like, I came home almost empty handed. I did find a like-new padlock WITH the keys still attached. So that is something.
But even after several poor Junkin' seasons in a row, there is hope for the future of Junkin' Sport. You see, yesterday The Princess spotted a little nightstand on a neighbor's pile. She wanted to use in her room, so we spent a couple of hours cleaning and fixing it up. Now she has declared it her "Beauty and the Beast dresser".
The Princess did all of the scrubbing and cleaning the outside of her find. I fixed a broken drawer slide and helped clean up the inside. It is already in use beside her bed.
And finally, bringing back the competitive past of Junkin', The Talker was ticked off that he had gotten nothing from Junkin' this year. That is, until he found gold! Orange and gold, actually.
At the bottom of a pile, glowing like a beacon, the boy spotted a Vortex football. He is happy with his and all is right with the Junkin' World. Plus, he didn't have to spend a lot of time cleaning his find. Though I think it did stay with him in the bed last night.
Long live Junkin'!
For the first time in a long time, we had nothing planned this weekend. Cool, right?
Nowhere to go. Nothing to see. Just the way I like my weekends.
Yesterday wii shopped for Wii accessoriis, since The Boss Lady is finallii on board with the new game system. Now that wii have a second set of controllers, thii wife can pound mii senseless on Wii Sports Boxing.
Today we switched our church membership, something we have been planning for a couple of months. We leave behind a church of a couple of thousand and a multi-million dollar campus where we often felt lost in the shuffle and a Sunday School class for adults with developmental disabilities that I helped teach.
In trade, we have joined a church with 600 members that meets in rented space. But we probably know 20% of these people already, so I doubt we will be lost in the crowd. And now the wife and I can actually sit in church together because it will be a while before I take on the teacher role again, even though I will miss the occasional "colorful" language that some my class members used. Nothing like a good curse word or two to liven up a Bible lesson, right?
Other than all that, nothing much going on around here. And I hope it stays that way.
Who is with mii?
How many days until I stop seeing Mii characters in my nightmares? And is that a sign that I might have been in front of the Wii console just a little too much?
For the record, The Talker is the world's greatest Wii bowler. But you have to give him some serious room to work with. That back swing is an awesome thing.
The Princess is the queen of Miis in our house. She convinced me try out the Check Mii Out Channel, through the broadband connection. There we found Miis that other people had designed in some of our favorite styles. Tigger, Chicken Little, Indiana Jones. They also have Snoop Dogg if you need.
Thanks to the Check Mii Out Channel, Batman and Barack Obama bowled head to head in our living room last night. Barack won even though his ball seems to swerve to the left every time.
Ba dum bump. Thank you, Cleveland! I'll be here all week.
The Boss Lady is headed home! After three days and two nights of no chaos or noise, I was a little concerned that she might bolt to North Carolina or parts unknown.
The kids might have enjoyed a wee little too much Wii yesterday. Everybody is tired and grumpy.
But instead of blaming the newest family member, I'll just blame it on the rainy weather.
So the kids have been awesome for the last couple of days, while I have felt awful. The Princess and Talker are back to 100%. I am hovering somewhere near 63%.
We needed milk and I felt like a little reverse bribery was in order. The kiddos were each given a $10 limit to buy a new toy while I picked up the essentials.
On a related note, the Target we shop at hasn't had a Wii in stock that I have ever seen. Until this morning. They HAD 2 in stock and ready sell.
On an another related note, The Boss Lady is at a conference a hundred miles away for 2 more days.
Wii will be having fun later this afternoon.
On a final note, Thanks for the birthday cards, Mother of the Bride, Pops and Mom and Dad. Thii cash should help thii wife get over being pissed at mii a little quicker.
A little over a year ago, we swapped the majority of light bulbs in our house for compact fluorescent bulbs. This morning I finally got around to replacing out one of those new bulbs that had burned out. In the past year I think we have had two of the smaller, desk lamp sized bulbs burn out. But this is the first full-sized, 11 watt bulb I have needed to replace.
I knew going into this that compact fluorescent(cf) bulbs last longer than incandescent bulbs. And though this bulb didn't last too long, there are something like 20 other cf bulbs that are going strong into their second year of service.
I did try some cf flood lamps a few months ago, but they were a miserable failure. I thought that I could use them with a dimmer switch, as long as I ran the switch on full power. But these are controlled by a sliding dimmer switch and the process of turning these switches up to full power caused the bulbs to burn out within a few on-off cycles. Now you know.
Ans another side note, we never noticed a huge drop in our electricity bills after the bulb swap. But once we finally commit to fluorescent capable dimmers and we replace the last of the incandescent bulbs in the house, that should make another little dent, too.
Saturday, all morning and early afternoon spent at a family reunion. Saturday late afternoon at the park. Saturday evening, spent at the outdoor musical with some of the same family from the reunion.
Sunday, barf.
Everywhere.
Coincidence? I think not.
So now, a note to the extended family. You people make my daughter sick!
The pediatric nurse says this stomach bug can run it's course in a couple of days or take it's time over the course of 10 days. And a side note - the wife leaves town for 3 days in about 36 hours.
Thanks guys. I'll return the favor sometime.
Soon!
Here I sit at Zilker Park, waiting for the summer outdoor musical. Zilker Hillside Theater is the best spot in the entire universe to watch a sing-along play, especially if they can keep the kiddos content.
Tonight's musical should fit that bill nicely. Beauty and the Beast.
The play starts in a couple of hours, so the rest of the fam is over at the playscape. And I get the fun of baby-sitting our blanket, so that no one steals our choice spot.
More live blogging later, if the connection holds out.
After I banished the kids from their toys this morning, I set about doing other cool AtHomeDaddy stuff. I started some laundry, I started a load of dishes and I decided to tackle the annual scrubbing of the microwave.
Ewwwwwwwwwwwww. Yuck! It took me almost half an hour and the thing still isn't spotless. After I gave up, I scrubbed the top of the stove. It could use a little more elbow grease (or sandblasting) on those stubborn stains, too.
Seeing that I cook a meal or two around here, and that microwave and stove top were that nasty, I think I should punish myself by not allowing myself in the kitchen for a while.
The Talker has just felt the drop of The Hammer. He is off the Legos for a while. Because my foot hurts.
His room was such a disaster that it required the two of us almost 30 minutes of straightening just to make it halfway decent looking in there. The room still isn't totally picked up. And he is already onto playing with other toys, but losing his Lego privileges seems to have already made a little bit of an impact.
It all started when I reached to help pick something up. And I stepped, bare-footed, on some half built and now smashed, pointy and sharp Lego contraption buried under the other junk.
After I quit crying about my foot I bellowed "ALL Legos are getting put away! NOW! Parts, pieces, projects buildings, cars, people, animals, boats, planes, trains, farms, towns, cities, cops, robbers, Star Wars, Indiana Jones and all their respective cohorts and any other Lego stuff that I forgot about are going into the Lego box on the top shelf of your closet for storage until further notice!"
The boy took the bad news like a champ. He started putting every Lego in the box and he did it without much complaint. Which goes a long way towards getting them back sooner...
But I almost cracked up when, as he was packing up, he set a stack of Lego magazines in the box. "Here Dad, these are about Legos, so I guess they go in, too."
Which got me thinking, should the blockade apply to his Lego Indiana Jones and Star Wars video games, also?
Just for the record, The Princess, she is off Polly Pockets and all of her associated critters. Not because they hurt your feet, but because The Princess threw a gigantic fit while helping with the cleaning of her room.
Plus, Polly Pockets are created by the devil and they annoy the heck out of me.
The Boss Lady's summer ended this morning when she was at work before 7 A.M. By default, my summer break ended when the kids woke up at 7:05 this morning. Summer Break is righteous, but a Principal's summer break, not so much.
Saturday we headed down to the coast. Where I gathered a nice crop of sunburn because I am an idiot. The kids collected some cool sea shells since The Boss Lady was smart enough to slather them and herself with sunscreen because she is not an idiot.
The kids had a blast playing in the sand and surf. I had fun sitting back with a cold one, after my microwaving was complete.
Yeah boy! That is 7 six-packs of the good stuff, right there! Why only seven? Because that is all there was to be found in the entire town. I even went back to the grocery store on our way out for one last check.
To celebrate a successful road trip, and to give myself a good reason to work up a thirst, I started adding a pergola-style slatted wood roof to the kid's playscape. For now I am going to leave it open like this, to discourage wasps from nesting up there. If it does not give enough shade, then I will consider a solid roof next time.
The wood came from a neighbor's deck that is being torn down. After cleaning it up of old screws and knocking to worst of the old stain off with the power washer, I think it looks pretty cool. Kind of like a clubhouse that kids would build if they had access to power tools and a neighbor who was trashing his deck.
The kids were able to play out there until 11, so I guess it is giving enough shade for playtime. 
Also this weekend, while we were out of town and a friend was keeping up with the dog, our neighbor finally decided to trash the old fence. He got the old wood out of the way and is supposed to start installing posts this evening.
The plan is to finish up on Saturday. A little long for a fence project, but still quicker than the cable company.
Chaco Foot - What happens to your nice purty feet when you aren't smart enough to put sunscreen on UNDER the Chaco Sandal straps.
Yep. It hurts.
But not as bad as my knees. Sunburn on a nuclear level up there.
What's the Tooth Fairy paying out these days? A nickel? A half a saw buck?
I guess it is time for The Boss Lady to take on a part time job. Because The Talker just popped out his first tooth.
Between helping out with sports and games at Vacation Bible School 3 hours a day, a funeral yesterday, trying to keep 3 yards mowed this week, a migraine that kicked my fat ass yesterday and trying to find a little time to sleep, it has already been a long week.
Friday we have VBS twice! The church is having a carnival for the end of Vacation Bible School Friday afternoon. That I am supposed to help with. At the same time I am supposed to be across town helping with another event. Saturday I have a lunch time commitment but after thatn we are heading to the coast for a couple of days. That should be a nice change of pace.
If I live that long. Now, who hid my pillow.
I know there are a few other Stay at Home Dads who stop by the blog once in a while. And if you haven't heard, Aaron Rochlen, Ph.D. and Associate Professor down the road at our hometown university, is at it again.
In the past he has researched "men’s gender role socialization, help-seeking behaviors, and non-traditional work and family roles." Now he is beginning a new study, looking into several areas that are important to Full-time Fathers like:
"1) Evaluating reasons for becoming a stay-at-home father and how this relates to adjustmentAnyways, you know you want to help. You know you ought to help. Doc Aaron is a good guy. If not, he would do his research on Stay at Home Cows over at Texas A&M.
2) Looking at plans and perceptions about re-entering the workforce
3) Finding out more about how different factors relate to stigma and reactions from others."
The Boss Lady only has a week left of her summer vacation. I am starting to think this was the vacation that wasn't meant to be. So far, sickness, the weather and the government have all conspired against us this year.
The Boss Lady was sick most of the last two weeks. Made more fun by the fact that her primary care doc's office was shuttered for his vacation. When the doc finally called in prescription several days after her initial inquiry, The Boss was feeling really bad. Add to that the ER visit that came up the next morning when it became obvious that she was having an allergic reaction to the phoned-in prescription and it all made for a ton of of excitement.
Also, it has just been dang hot. And dry. Which makes kids and AtHomeDaddy whiny. There just aren't enough pools in the entire town to keep away the summer blahs when it is so dang hot. So we have watched a lot of Disney movies. Which makes kids happy but AtHomeDaddy whiny.
Tomorrow The Boss Lady has jury duty and the kids have another Vacation Bible school. Me? I think I'll be hiding from the heat and Walt Disney.
Someone go turn down the AC, OK?
We were originally planning to go down to Matagorda this weekend for some fun in the sand and surf. I balked when another event conflicted on the family calendar. Now that I have seen the weather report for this week, I don't really think I want to stay in town all weekend. I think we will all be heading down to the coast to see who can conspire against our vacation down there.
FOF, you got some good eyes.
The real reasons I did not take full pictures of Marge yesterday had less to do with not wanting to reveal The Talker's glorious decorating scheme and more to do with the following:
1. It was dang hot out there when I went to take the pictures.
2. The decorations were not totally finished
3. And the bed of the truck was still full of junk. Like my mower.
This morning, after I gave The Boss Lady's car a quick wash and wax (just FYI a quick wash and wax IS technically possible on a 2001 VW Bug) The Talker and I finished up with Marge. She is now parade ready.
We are off to the neighborhood parade and to paraphrase The Simpson's, we will celebrate America's Independence by blowing up a small piece of it! Hope everyone has a wonderful 4th and don't blow your hands off with your illegal fireworks.
And for those of you who don't follow TruckinDaddy, Marge's blog, here is a flashback to July 4th, 2004. When she was still on the farm.
This morning, after a quick trip to Dollar Tree, an everything is a buck shop, for more patriotic stuff the Talker and I started decorating Marge, our 40 year old Chevy truck, for the neighborhood 4th of July parade. You'll have to be satisfied with this little sneak peek until tomorrow. I can't risk anyone stealing our great ideas and using them as their own...
While stocking up for our parade extravaganza, we grabbed a few other essentials that you can only get at high quality shops like Dollar Tree. Rest assured, we have not blown the budget this year. I think we are into the decorations for $10. Along with a couple of boxes of $1 candy, we picked up the good stuff. 
2 joints for a buck? What a bargain. With 12 glow sticks included? Man, I would have never graduated from college if I had known that I could get 2 for a dollar.
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