Major Crisis Brewing for The AtHomeFamily

I have been searching for four days for a missing CD. This is not just any CD mind you, I have plenty of those. This is my copy of The Trinity Sessions by The Cowboy Junkies. A serious loss, I assure you.

See, I bought this CD right after High School graduation. It was one of my first discs. Some kids took the money they got for graduation and saved it for fall tuition. Me? I went and bought a CD player and 4 discs. Of those 4 discs, this is the only one that remains in my collection. Honestly, I can't even remember what the other three CDs were, I just remember not having enough money to buy the player and 5 discs.

Yes, my cat during college, Margo was indeed named after the lead singer, Margo Timmins. There, now you know the truth that I have hidden since 1989.

For at least 10 years I listened to this disc almost every night at bedtime. It would not actually put me to sleep. I was almost always awake to hear the last chord of the last track, Walking After Midnight. After the disc ended, I would roll over and sleep like a baby.

Only since The Talker was born, have I stopped listening to this disc at night on a regular basis. But, once in a while...

Well, last Thursday was one of those 'once in whiles'. I stumbled to the CD player at midnight to give The Trinity Sessions a listen. And that is when I discovered another disc in its place. Slot 42 has held The trinity Sessions for as long as I have owned this CD player. Now, so other Cowboy Junkies disc is in slot 42 and The Trinity Sessions has gone AWOL.

We will now have a moment of silence for my missing copy of The Trinity Sessions. Let's all join hands and bow our heads...

THIS is Why I Don't Drink Coffee...

Tonight we ran over to the Organic, High Dollar, Veggie and Free-Range Tofu Foods Store to buy a few bulk grains and rice to make baby food for the Princess. I promised The Talker a smoothie and we headed to the juice bar.

The smoothie-maker man asked me what I wanted.

"A medium Very Berry smoothie."

"What size?"

"Medium."

"We have 16s, Orginals, or Premiums. Which would you like?"

"ME DI UM." But I was really thinking, Who the hell came up with this idea? All I really want is a medium. Dammit, you can't make me order a freaking, 'Original' you power-hungry vegetarian. You're only doing this because you know I was making beef jerky this afternoon, aren't you? Eat some red meat you skinny little socialist.

"You want a 16? An Original? Or a Premium?"

I was digging in my heels for a good verbal fight to the death. I was betting I could make this guy cry AND still have him make The Talker a smoothie.

Right then, The Talker yelled "I want my smoovie!" And not wanting to hear The Talker scream again, I gave in to the skinny little smoothie-maker man.

"One ORIGINAL Very Hairy Scary Triple Stinky Tofu Berry Smoovie, please." Jerk.

And you know what? It was a very good MEDIUM Very Berry Smoothie.

But I think I'll stick to home-made smoothies and Dr Pepper. Because someone would end up in traction if I ever had to order a 'Double Grande Mocha Latte Frappachino' instead of a 'Medium Coffe' at Starbucks.

A Peek Into the Mind of AtHomeDaddy

Wanna get scared? Check out the new right side column of this blog. You will now find AtHomeDaddy's Current Reading list, a list of books most Recently Read and a listing of books that I am Waiting to Read. Currently, the lists contain 3 works by the same author. Get used to it because that is AtHomeDaddy's way. Find something you like and stick with it until boredom sets in or until something more interesting comes along.

By the way, feel free to Post A Comment to suggest a book.

Enjoy.

He Still Ain't No Harold Taft*

Last night the entire AtHomeFam headed to a park to watch an outdoor showing of Shrek 2. The Talker had been excited about getting to see the movie and getting to stay up late, since the movie started at 8pm.

The weather forecast showed a little storm activity for overnight, but the early evening was just supposed to be cloudy. They stated the movie a little early, and everything was going great. The Talker was having a blast and was following the movie pretty well, too.

About an hour into the movie The Talker laid down on the blanket. I asked him if he wanted to leave and he said "yes". But then he sat up and started watching the show. After a few minutes we asked again and he said that he was ready to go. So we headed home.

At the car, while we were loading the kids into their seats, it started sprinkling. By the time we were out of the parking lot it was raining pretty good. While driving home, I was watching for Noah's Ark to float by with The Big White Dog aboard. But, thanks to The Talker's new found weather forecasting ability, we were all nice and dry.

*If you don't know Harold Taft, then you didn't live in Ft. Worth/ Dallas in the 70's. All the cool people watched him, not that dork in the bow tie on the other channel.

Can You Tell Me Why...

The Princess decided to stay awake until 4pm this afternoon, completely blowing-off her 2pm nap? And what in heck was The Talker doing this afternoon when he got up from his nap and he kept calling the piano bench "Momma"?

I am pretty sure I was not hallucinating. The boy called the piano bench "Momma". Several times. He even hugged it once.

I would like to know why.

I think.

But right now I am too busy guessing why he is running naked through the back yard. I'll worry about the piano bench later.

What You Can Buy With 88 Quarters

The Talker loves to pick up loose change around the house. It is one of his favorite Reasons to go visit The Queen Mother's house. That place is like the US Mint, change everywhere.

This morning, after raiding the baseball bank for quarters, we headed out to Target and the grocery store. Here is what we bought on our quarter-fueled shopping spree:

At Target:

A new teether rattle for The Princess
A scooter for The Talker - 1/2 Price on clearance
A bottle of shampoo for The Boss Lady

At the grocery store:

2 Dr Pepper 3 liter bottles
A pound of american cheese
A 1/2 pound of ham - FREEBIE with coupon

Yes the cashiers were annoyed, but they really were doing a huge public service. Everyone in the store was about to get a peep at my drawers, because my pants were sagging from the weight of the quarters. So for the public good, the cashiers took the quarters.

What a load of excitement! Plus, the next time The Talker decides to empty his bank all over his bedroom, like he did last Sunday before church, it won't take nearly as long to pick up all of the change.

Morning After Regrets

The entire neighborhood spilled out into a couple of front yards last night. Actually it was the entire neighborhood with children under 5. But these are the only neighbors we socialize with anymore. Still, it was 30 people or more. THIS is a breeding neighborhood. Says so right on the front gates.

Most of the parents were hanging out, but a couple of the older kids were not playing nice with The Talker, so I hung out in the middle of the action, playing referee.

One of the neighbor kids loves to be thrown in the air. She is almost 3 but weighs like 8 pounds, so she can soar! After tossing her around, all of the other kids wanted me to throw them up, too. Man that is quality writing... Knowing that I could not do that, I started spinning kids around one at a time. Every kid got several turns. I still feel like my head is riding a centrifuge. AND we are out of Dr Pepper. The children and I will be running to the grocery store in a while.

Maybe next time I'll act my age, but don't bet your Dr Pepper on it.

The Talker Gone Wild

The AtHomeTrio went to meet the SAHDs group at a new park this morning. The Talker was excited when we pulled up at the park because they had two huge wooden playscapes. The main deck of the larger playscape was 5 1/2 feet off of the ground, so I thought The Talker might be hesitant to hang out up there for too long. Proving his daddy wrong, The Talker decided first thing to slide down a 7 foot tall fire pole by jumping from the deck to the pole. He made it. 3 beautiful times, right in a row. He did not make it the 4th time. He did not try a 5th time. Yes, he can learn.

The 4th go down the fire pole was UGLY. He did a face plant from five feet into the gravel. At least his feet were most of the way down before he fell. Tears flowed for five or six seconds, until another child went up to the main deck. The Talker hung out with his buddies for a while before trying, quite unsuccessfully, to use the monkey bars. He fell right off of the deck into the gravel. He is now the proud owner of a nice sized scrape right up the back of the leg. Once again he cried for three or seven seconds.

Later, while playing on the much lower toddler playscape, The Talker did a nice re-enactment of his face plant and wiped out while running across the deck. He did not cry this time. He just hopped up, and came and told me "I am ready to go home now."

In the end, his face scrapes match his head scrapes and his leg scrapes, too. I asked The Talker if he liked the new playscape when we got home. He quickly asked me, "Can we go back, now?"

But, I think we will stick to playing on an air mattress on the floor for the rest of the day. Maybe I'll wrap The Talker in bubble wrap, too, just to be safe.

All is Quiet at Home

Friday afternoon The AtHomeTrio hit Costco to pick up a few things, especially the new Ray Charles CD, Genius Loves Company. From what I have managed to listen to, this is one awesome disc and you should add it to your collection. But, it has taken me 3 days to listen to the first seven tracks. So you might want to seek out someone else's more knowledgeable opinion. I hope that I will get to actually hear the entire disc before winter comes.

This is one of the things that I have gotten the least used to after kids. It is a good thing that the stereo system is tied into the TV and satellite system. Otherwise, it would never get used. A perfectly good, and full, 200 disc CD player and a decent tuner/amp sitting idle is a real shame. It is hard to just veg out to Cowboy Junkies or Robert Earl Keen at a low enough volume that I don't wake the kids. So there it sits, nice, quiet and not waking anyone up. My stereo.

I did get a nice surprise from The Boss Lady, The Star Wars Trilogy DVD 4 disc set, widescreen edition, of course. I sat down to watch Star Wars last night, once the kids were in bed. But listening to Star Wars at half volume just did not do it for me, guess I need to wait for the weekend to watch... but I also have to watch when the Talker is gone since he would be scared by some of the best creatures. So, maybe I'll get to watch the set when the kids are in high school.

AtHomeDaddy got a pass this weekend and went to see The UT Longhorns whip Rice. All of the people around were asking me to "sit down and shut-up", but this was the first time I was able to make noise in a month, so there I was screaming louder than the entire student section. I should have taken a portable CD player or DVD player with me. Then I could have really jammed out to my new discs without waking anyone up, except maybe the Rice defense.

By the way, I worked up a bunch of links for this post, but they were bugging out, so I took em' out. Do your own searching, next time.

SUPER HAROLD to the Rest of You!

The Talker has a secret identity.

SUPER HAROLD has been hanging around our house for a couple of weeks, but he has been kind of sporadic about his visits. Tonight, The Talker made his transformation into SUPER HAROLD and the entire family went out for a walk. Actually, since we were trying to ensure that our 2 1/2 year old super hero did not cross the street without help, AtHomeDaddy had to go for a run.

SUPER HAROLD is not a character that we know much about. We have no idea where the name came from. The Talker became SUPER HAROLD one afternoon when he put a long blue piece of scrap fabric on his head.

SUPER HAROLD is very similar to The Talker's Racecar Man. Anytime he sits on the potty chair and covers his head with a bath towel hanging from the rack above, he becomes a Racecar Man. But Racecar Man is sedentary and only hangs out in the bathroom at night.

On the other hand, SUPER HAROLD has the run of the AtHomeFamily estate and one never knows when SUPER HAROLD will make an appearance. Tonight was his first forray into crime fighting on the mean streets of the neighborhood. And since SUPER HAROLD was about to go on patrol, AtHomeDaddy fashioned a cape out of the blue satin cloth scrap.

I say SUPER HAROLD was going on patrol, but actually, we don't even know what SUPER HAROLD does. He might fight crime or put out forrest fires or fly helecopters or...

In regards to this information, The Talker ain't talking.

So, if you see the flash of a blue satin cape running through your town, please know that you are safe, because SUPER HAROLD is on duty. But please make sure someone holds his hand when he crosses the street.

Toast This!

Last night, while AtHomeDaddy was out rocking the evening away at guitar class, The Boss Lady decided to let The Princess, now 5 months and 19 days old, try toast.

All I can say is: Why did we wait this long? This is one happy child. She is currently two-fisting pieces of toasted wheat bread. Once in a while she either drops the toast and screams or she finishes the toast and screams. Either way, she gets more toast and does not scream.

Who woulda thunk that stale bread could be this entertaining?

Just so you know

It is now 7:54 AM do you know where your children are? Mine are in bed.

This has been a public service announcement brought to you by a gloating daddy with a migrane and the letter R and the number 234


Thank you, Thank you very much.

Look, ANOTHER Tractor

The Talker lets us know every time he spots a tractor or a Mini Cooper on the road or in a parking lot. The Mini Cooper sighting thing is pretty funny, because the AtHomeFamily has a huge crush on these cars and we want one.

But the tractor sightings are great, because it is seldom that we see any tractor larger than a lawn mower. The Talker's tractors are more commonly called Jeeps. The old style REAL jeeps, not the minivan Cherokees. We have a minivan, he is not impressed by things with four doors, unless it happens to be a real big, loud F350 crew cab with a Cummings Turbo diesel.

$2 First mile, $.75 Every 3/32 a Mile Thereafter

The Talker is getting a college fund! I decided tonight that there will be no more free rides, even if I do need the exercise. See, I take The Talker out for a ride once in a while in his bike trailer. But when the trailer comes out, I must give a ride to every kid in the neighborhood.

This evening The Talker was already playing at a neighbor's house by the time I got the bike and trailer ready. I thought several of the neighbor kids were going to cry when I told them that The Talker would get to take the first ride. That did it.

So, from now on, if I am hauling your whiny brat around the neighborhood on a 3 hour tour, then I am cashing in. No credit card accepted. No discount for multiple riders. I'm too fat to encourage that. And for dang sure, NO REFUNDS! But I will take a check because I know where you live.

Right Again, Rick

Rick is an evil genius. Yep, the minivan needed new front brakes, too. Thanks for the warning. Next time send a check along with your prediction, OK?

Hanging Out, AtHomeFamily Style

The AtHomeFamily hung out around the house most of the day. The Boss Lady and The Princess slept in while AtHomeDaddy and The Talker headed to church. We ate lunch and hit the grocery store in the early afternoon. Not very exciting you say? Hah.

You see we were together in the minivan. Living on the edge, because we are rebels. Managed to complete all of our running around with out blowing any tires or needing to bum a jump start! Now that is excitement. OK, it isn't but we are boring.

Deal with it.

AtHomeDaddy headed over to the quarry to go fishing while the others took naps. It was hot, but there is nice shade for me and the fish, so it was a successful two-hour trip. I saw the largest fist I have ever seen in a lake. It had no interest in any of my bait, but that is OK, too. Cause if I catch him, I have to deal with him. Since I was fishing from a little perch 8 feet above the water, that big ol' hog would probably pulled me into the water. I have heard about the 6-8 pound bass in this quarry, now I believe!

Hopefully I'll head over there again soon and try to catch another peek at that big bass. If I am lucky, I won't end up in the water with him.

On The Road Again and Again and

Because I know you are worried, a quick update on the tot-toter.

New Battery $80 The biggest that would fit Monster Garage style.
New Wheel Covers $20 - NOT Monster Garage style.
Destroying My Youthful Ego - FREEBIE!

Turns out that you can buy plastic wheel covers for $20 a set up to $80 bucks a set. The extra $50 will get you some nice spinners or LED lights like these. I wanted to hold out for the Iron Cross spinners, but I needed the van looking top-notch this by afternoon. Or I could have gone with the Mobile light show. Righteous! But again, these would not be ready for our trip to The Boss Lady's staff picnic this afternoon.

When it was all said and done, I ashamedly plunked down my $20 on some plastic that looked easy to clean. Cleanability. Yep, that was the deciding factor. And as I was walking to the van I was wondering, am I really this old?

New Blog Link

The Distance is Justa Dad's blog. I finally added a link on the Blog Links list. 16 days ago I planned to do it and now it is done. Pretty quick for a professional-level procrastinator, don't you think?

Dang It Rick, Cut It Out

Did I ever tell you why I hate Mazda Miatas? Rick and his toy car are really starting to wear me out. A while back his Miatapox ended up costing me a new paintjob on The Boss Lady's car. Now that dang topless car has done it again. Four new tires for the Miata ended up costing ME $160 and a chunk of my afternoon.

I had a blowout today in the minivan. The tire was covered under a road hazard claim and two others needed to be replaced because of tread separation. So, in the end, I bought one tire. Of course, some of the lug nuts were stripped, so throw in a new set of those. One lug post is stripped also. Obviously, The minivan needs an alignment. AND the freaking wheel covers/hubcaps are trash, so we need a new set of those.

Plus, after putting the spare tire on while sitting on the side of the freeway at rush hour, THE @#($ing van would not start. So while we are getting the other stuff done, throw in a charging system check and maybe a new battery.

Now I am starting to wonder, what else is gonna break. Rick let me know what is going on with the Miata so I can have a heads up, OK?

Eureka!

I finally found THE script I have been looking for. Thanks to Blogger Forum. Being an idiot, and knowing nothing about Blogger templates or html (or whatever the heck they write this stuff in, has put me at a disadvantage. All of the coolest blogs are way head of me, but I am getting a little closer!

Now, when you click on a link to a website that I reference, you will get a new browser window whenever I can make it work. I updated my Blog Links and Web Links lists to reflect this change and future sites will be linked this way and over at ADHDaddy, too.

At least you will get a new window in IE Version 6.0.2800.1106. I don't know about other browsers. Heck I am actually just guessing on this one...

Sorry if you are cool and use a different browser.

Wanna Mess Up Your Own Brain?

The Queen Mother and Dad will be proud to know that The Talker is currently infatuated with a tape of Disney songs that includes the classic I'm My Own Grandpa. Everytime we get in the van, he wants to hear this tape.

Add that to the book that I am currently reading, which happens to include lots of information about polygamy and the family structures that result from guys marrying their own step-daughters.

While we are riding in the van this morning, I'm My Own Grandpa comes on and I am sitting there wondering if I should let my son hear this song that espouses (pun fully intended, I worked hard for it, so I want credit) fundamental Mormon theology.

But the option was to hear The Talker whining and wanting the music back on, so we just sang along.

Monster Truck Momma

This morning, The AtHomeTrio headed out to The Boss Lady's school for a car swap. The Talker loves riding in Momma's Car, a 10 year old station wagon, because it is novel and cooler than the minivan.

We took her car for it's annual state check-up. When the inspector drove off The Talker was sitting beside me screaming

"That's MY Momma's car!"

Just as I got him calmed down, the guy drove back around the building and screaming started over. We watched him finish up, but The Talker was still ticked off.

Driving back to the school to swap vehicles again, The Talker let me in on a secret. Seems his mother has a little bit of road-rage. Not the parent most of you would have suspected, right?

It went like this:

I asked Who's car do you like more?
He answered Momma's, It's FAST!
Momma drives fast?
Yeah, FAST! Crush those cars, Monster Truck!

Then he started telling me about the Sprite he got to drink at dinner last night. The shared insight into my drag-racing car-crushing wife was over as suddenly as it started.

But, I always suspected. There was that time she tackled a school bus with her brand new car. And the time she hit a woman who just had a heart-attack (Scratch that - that was me, but it was in HER car). Then the time she drove her car into the side of a bar at 2 in the afternoon. On a school day. On school business. And her hatred of silver BMW's and SUV's (Oh wait, me again).

Yep, the signs were there all along. Just to be safe, I think I'll double check the kid's seats in her car tonight. Better make sure they are strapped in real tight for the next monster truck rally.

That's My Girl

After a 2 day hiatus using a high quality clone, the Princess came back on duty today. This week she has been having a great time all day long. Never before had she been so happy to spend time with AtHomeDaddy. Today she was back to some of her old tricks. Thankfully though, like The Boss Lady after a three day weekend, she made a half-assed run at it. The Princess did not scream all day, but she decided a nap was not on the agenda.

Most 2 1/2 year olds start balking at nap times. Ours will head to his room and lay down when he is tired. And he gives a 2 or 3 hour nap every day! So to those of you who have a kid who does not nap, I say HAH HAH!

Don't worry, your revenge won't take long. I have doubts that this nap-friendly attitude will continue with The Princess. So, in another year or so you will all be laughing your butts off when neither of mine will nap.

Some friends you are.

AtHomeDaddy Comments

As of today, AtHomeDaddy will be occasionally removing comments from individual entries. It may be because I don't like your comment or some random other reason. As I once heard on a playground: It is for me to know and you to find out.

Current Reading List

A lot of blogs contain a list of books that the writers are currently reading, so I think I'll let you in on my list once in a while.

Last week I started on Under the Banner of Heaven, A Story of Violent Faith, by John Krakauer. Here are some links to reviews:

Review 1
Review 2

Normally, I would not delve into a book about Fundamentalist religion, but I have read lots of things by Krakauer and have enjoyed them all. But most importantly, the central group in this book is currently building a compound in West Texas and the entire process has been very intriguing. Here is a link to the newspaper articles at The Eldorado Success.

That, sadly, is my entire reading list. Usually I am jumping between a couple of books at once. Worse? I have been working on the first ten chapters for a week already. Normally this book would have taken me a night or two.

My take-away from this book? Books and 5 month-old babies don't mix.

Deep insight, right? Hope you can use that sometime.

My Dear People

The following line, from my previous post was not intended to get anyone talking about another child for this household - especially grandmothers or know-it-all-neighbors.

Can we use that with Kid #3?

Sorry to get your hopes up. I want to make sure this is public knowledge because I like my bed. Just look at this email I got from The Boss Lady:

OK, the public discussion of a #3 makes my stomach ache... I'm gonna slap you stupid if you are talking about another now...

Otherwise, your ass will be sleeping on the couch and my last name will really become work--Work you like a dog!

Now, get on with your lives and quit gossiping about the AtHomeFamily. I have to finish cleaning the kitchen and dining room, I better get some laundry done, too. Just to be safe.

Sorry Boss Lady.


By the way, I found the smell. It was a mix of piled up dirty dishrags from a kitchen cleaning gone horribly wrong over the weekend and a beef-jerky-fest on the dehydrator.

Yes, it stinks, but I am still going to eat it. What could happen?

What's That Smell

I emailed The Boss Lady to tell her I was chasing a mystery stank around our house this morning, with no luck finding the source. She emailed me back:

Mystery Stank is in our third grade class.

I was laughing my big ol' couch-shaped butt off! That woman just makes me crack up. The worst part for her, now she will keep hearing about Mystery Stank for weeks.

Mystery Stank - Hey, Boss Lady, Can we use that with Kid #3?

Weeks on end, see what I mean.

Access Denied, Try Again in 5 Years

This morning, AtHomeDaddy was hoping to find something novel for The Talker to do. So we headed to the library.

Novel, get it? That's right, I am this funny all of the time.

We were on the search for a high-speed net connection so that The Talker could play games on PBS kids. I knew that the main library has a computer area just for kids, so we headed downtown. Once there, The Talker had a blast playing with puppets, activity tables and reading books with The Princess.

Later, we headed over to the kid's computers. 30 machines, set aside for kids. Not a single computer was in use nor was any other kid in sight. The Librarian told me that these computers were for 8-15 year olds only and that The Talker could not use them.

What the heck kind of rule is that? Don'tcha know there are no other kids over there?

Next, her reason was because they only allow independent work, no parents are allowed to sit with the kids while they work on the computers. We could use the computers in the Adult section if we wanted.

Yeah, that its a great policy. Always keep the parents in the dark about their kids online activities. No thanks to the Adult computers. My kids don't need to be hanging out around a room full of dudes cruising porn instead of hooking up with Monster.com.

Finally, she told me that it was because the area was funded by a grant from The Dell Family. They required in the grant that The Talker not be allowed to use their machines. Actually she told me that the ages were stipulated in the grant.

Whatever. Michael Dell has no interest in seeing kids younger than 8 years old begging their parents for a new computer? I bet they just over looked the pre-school market entirely. Yeah. Right.

The Librarian did let me take home a comment card, so that I could explain why I thought the policies were idiotic. Maybe I'll just email a link back here. After a fascinating discussion about the appropriateness of PBS kids for 3 year olds, we checked out some Joe Mcdermott CD's and headed home. At least I KNOW he is pimping his wares to the under 8 set!

What the Heck?

Yesterday The Princess screamed from 7:30 am until 10pm. It is not often that I ditch The Boss Lady and run off, but I took a nice drive around the neighborhood at dinnertime just for some quiet. No radio and windows down. It would have been cool if my cruise had been in a nice convertible or an old classic truck, but the world's-least-reliable-minivan provided a quick escape, so away we went. Also, the realization that I might breakdown and get stranded was very appealing after 8 hours of screaming!

This morning I suspect The Boss Lady was ready to get to work, just to avoid the repeat of Sunday. At 7am I was trying to get ready for the onslaught of screaming. It never came. This child tried her darnedest to imitate her older brother. She was one laid back baby. Happy all day.

She and I laid in the living room floor and laughed at each other for two hours while The Talker napped. What a blast!

I am afraid that the gig is up, though. See, my usual excuse for getting nothing done around the house is "The baby cried everytime I put her down...". Today's reason, "We had too much fun to stop and clean the house.

A few more days like this and The Boss Lady will start expecting a clean house. All in all, I think I can squeeze in a few minutes with the vacuum cleaner if The Princess will stay this happy, but it might take another few days of laughing on the living room rug to know for sure.

He Calls 'Em Like He Sees 'Em

Today, while riding around in the van, AtHomeDaddy and The Talker were practicing our emergency information. He answered perfectly every question I asked.

An example:

AtHomeDaddy: Boy, what is your name?

The Talker: My name is The Talker Boy. He answered with first, middle and last names.

AHD: What street do you live on? Again, perfect answers.

AHD: What is your Mommy's name? and so on...


Tonight at dinner I wanted him to show off for mommy, so I asked

AtHomeDaddy: What is your last name? He answered perfectly, just like this afternoon

AHD: What is Mommy's last name?

And he yells out, "WORK!"


I thought she was going to cry, right at the dinner table. Ah, good times...

Applause for AtHomeDaddy? Yeah, Right

Yesterday we sat in on a new group at our church. The leaders were chatting up The Boss Lady about education and local schools, when the conversation turned to me.

"So, what do you do?"

Inspired by this recent post, What Do You Do? on another SAHD's blog, I answered.

"I am a stay-at-home-dad."

Then a couple of the people in the room actually clapped. Truthfully, I was a little embarrassed, but it got worse. One of the ladies in the group was telling something about her husband 'working on the road for another six months or so.' They have two or three kids and this lady is raising them solo for another six months.

I should have stood up and applauded for her.

It is Grandparent's Day!

Bro was at a hardware store a while back with his 1 year old son. The cashier asked him something like 'How old is your grandson?' Evidently, they are moving across the state just so they won't have to shop there anymore.

That story just warms my heart everytime I hear it.

I thought of Bro today. It is Grandparent's Day at The Boss Lady's School. She said they would have 300-400 grandparents roaming the halls today. I think they plan these programs so that guys like Bro will not feel too old when they come to visit their kids at school.

I Always Suspected She was a Werewolf

I got an email from The Mother of The Bride today in response to this eariler post. The email ended:

Kiss those babies for me...at least until I can get to town and slobber all over them myself!

Just to be safe, I think I'll keep the kids hidden during the next full moon.

I Married Lunch Lady Doris

One of the kindergarten kids at The Boss Lady's school has taken to calling her The Lunch Lady, because the only time he sees her is in the cafeteria.

This really makes me question the $30,000 for that Master's Degree. Really now, she could have learned to cook in the Army while she was GETTING paid. She was the Queen of Future Homemakers of America in High School, right? I was the one that almost gave my home-ec teacher a nervous breakdown.

So sorry about melting all of the Tupperware in the broiling drawer, Mrs. Baker. I learned my lesson and have never done it again! By the way - isn't that a great name for a home-economics teacher?

Warning - People In The Talker's Imagination May Appear Cooler Than They Actually Are

This morning The Talker has been playing with two of his toy motorcycles. Every once in a while one motorcycle Uncle Lemon will talk to the other, Bro.

Now, either of these guys might be cool enough to ride a motorcycle, but I have not seen either of them out popping wheelies or jumping school busses, lately.

Knock Knock Knockin' on Death's Door

Classic Rock on my mind? Yeah, a little, since I managed to go to my first guitar class this week. The first riff we worked on was some little 8 note blues thing inspires by Led Zep - or so the instructor says.

Actually though, AtHomeDaddy has just faced his own mortality this week. Turns out The Boss Lady's virus was not done with us last weekend. AtHomeDaddy was sick Thursday night after rocking out at guitar class.

The upside - I realized that I am not a total slug with kids, at least not most of the time. Yesterday, I WAS a total slug. Slept on the couch while the baby alternated between the swing and the exer-saucer. The Talker was watching a stack of DVD's. Yeah, I know, a real nurturing environment. Let's hope genetics helps make up for the lousy dad-ing they got yesterday!

(See, even in a weakened state, I can still make up words. Maybe AtHomeDaddy should run for office)

AtHomeDaddy's Helpful Household Hints - Vol 1

When your lovely wife bakes a nice chicken dinner and you get up the next morning to clean up the kitchen, do not try to take the easy way out. Just throwing the baking pan into the dishwasher, will not work!

Oh, the dish will come clean, but the remnants that looked too burned on to scrub off of the pan WILL come loose, too. They will eventually land on the heating element and during the dry cycle you WILL learn what burned chicken smells like.

Take the time to scrub the pan and make your life easier. Your keys will be easily found, the doors will be unlocked and your car will start. And your whole house will not smell like burned-on death.

I guarantee it.

What Are YOU Getting Her?

So AtHomeDaddy is ready to head to the flower shop, because it is our anniversary and I am not a total jerk. I am a mid-level jerk, there is a difference. A mid-level jerk only forgets his wife's birthday once, a total jerk blows it every year.

Kid #1 in the minivan, watching the recycling truck do its thing out front. Kid #2, on the floor of the living room, waiting for a lift to the car and playing with AtHomeDaddy's car keys.

Car keys??? Awww heck, I hope the front door is not locked. I'll just try it. Maybe it is not locked.

Damn.

Back door is not locked. Woo Hoo. Run around the house. Twist the knob and

Damn. Deadbolted.

Garage doors. No worries. Into the garage and back on easy street.

Damn. Locked. Both of them. Double Damn.

Guess I should have not griped at The Boss Lady for leaving the garage doors unlocked yesterday.

House key at the neighbors? Yeah, but they are out of town and the key to their house is INSIDE, nice try.

Kid #2 now crying on the floor of living room and the recycling truck is gone, so Kid #1 is now in the driver's seat honking the horn and flashing the hazard lights.

OK, desperation time. Just give the door a push and see if it gives. It is a 20 year-old tract home.

Well, not too much damage, just a broken door frame and trim. Stinks that my house was that east to break into, but we are on the way, now. There is a hardware store on the way to the florists, so back to no worries.

Kid #2 into her car seat. Keys in AtHomeDaddy's hand this time. Kid#1 in his seat. AtHomeDaddy in his seat. Keys in the ignition.

Turn the key and nothing. NUTHIN, NADA, ZIP.

Damn. Damn. Damn-ity Damn.

I do not know much about cars, but I do know this - turn the key and drive away.

Not today.

So Boss Lady, you might be expecting flowers or a visit. Sorry. Hope this explains most of the reasons why it is not happening today.

Happy Anniversary, Boss Lady

Today is AtHomeDaddy's and The Boss Lady's ninth anniversary. She could have avoided a lot of this had she only run a credit check before the wedding... Instead she's gotten nine years of bliss that included:


6 places to live, including one pop-up camper

6 different cars, 0 with more than 200hp

1 Mini Cooper fascination that has spread through the entire family

4 pets - Ok, 3 pets and one evil cat-thing

2 rounds of major cat surgeries

3 degrees - 2 for her, one for me

3,567,345 Dr Peppers

2 radio contests won

1 less gall bladder than we started with

2 washing machines, including one that fell from a 3rd floor porch

1 dryer that now sounds like it wants to take a suicide leap, too

1 backpacking trip that proved the value of a good tent

4 jobs for The Boss Lady, 8 counting summer gigs

4 for AtHomeDaddy, 5 if this gig counts



And most importantly -

2 wonderful kids that gave AtHomeDaddy a reason to be



Thanks Boss Lady, CBH

Guilt in the 2nd Degree

Most nights, when the Talker is heading to bed, he comes into the kitchen to put his milk cup in the refrigerator. This is when he tells me good night and usually something like 'Thanks, Daddy, for playing trucks. It is always nice and sincere.

Recently, this has also included gratitude for popsicles since The Talker gets an Otter Pop occasionally for snack after dinner. Tonight, he got no Otter Pop after dinner, because he ate no dinner. When The Talker came to tell me good night, he let me know that he remembered getting the shaft.

"Thanks, Daddy, for no popsicles" was all he would tell me. The best part, though was that he said it exactly the same way he says the nice stuff on other nights.

A little sarcasm form the 2 year old, perhaps?

The Boss Ladies are at Work, Let the Party Begin

This morning, The AtHomeTrio is meeting up with KB and his son while they are in town. KB's Boss Lady had to go to a meeting and The Boss Lady is at work, so the 5 of us remaining are going to the park. Afterwards, we are going to hang out here and trash the house during naptime.

The Talker is very excited about playing with KB and "That Boy". But, he always gets excited to see people who bring him new toys. "That Boy", is now tops on The Talker's list, because he came over last night with new fire trucks for The Talker!

I am pretty sure that The Boss Lady talked to The Princess last night about acting like a lady. Just because she is running around town today with 3 handsome guys and KB, does not mean she should start acting like KB or her daddy.

The Boss Lady is Down for the Count

The Boss Lady has endangered the lives of the entire family. By starting this new job, she is evidently bringing an entirely new line of germs into the house.

First, AtHomeDaddy was sick for a day last week. I thought it was just allergies, but now I realize that The Boss Lady was poisoning my system.

Next, The Talker was out of commission for a couple of days. He got better, then worse. The events at Joe's Crabshack occurred a few days after he first got sick.

Then The Princess succumbed. She ran a fever, but nothing more. Good girl, way to keep your bodily fluids to yourself! That will always make AtHomeDaddy happy.

Now The Boss Lady is home early. She is snoozing it off. Hopefully this is the last of it.

AtHomeDaddy is too busy to get sick. Lots of manly stuff to get done today. Vacuuming, mopping, laundry. Yup, it is a real testosterone-fest around here today.

Puke on You, Joe's Crabshack

Eating dinner at Joe's, the AtHomeFamily and The Queen Mother and Dad. Having a great time, watching the kids across the room dancing. The Talker looked like he was not feeling 100%, but earlier he had been playing and feeling fine. So we ate.

The best part, The Princess fell asleep in my arms. This is a rarity. This girl will only sleep with her mommy holding her. So I am having a good meal, because this cute thing is neither screaming or crying AND she is sleeping in my arms. I would not even share her with The Queen Mother, because this is a moment for the history books.

Finally, I gave in and abdicated the baby to The Queen Mother. Almost immediately, The Boy went off like a fire sprinkler. AtHomeDaddy can handle anything but barf. So there I am, trying to not throw up on The Talker while I am helping get him cleaned up. We managed to get out of the restaurant with out AtHomeDaddy puking on a staff member. That cannot be said about the boy.

Good thing we 'hit' before the lunch rush.

Today's Forecast - Sappy, Not Crappy

Today we ate lunch with Dad and The Queen Mother, who made a surprise sneak attack last night. Sitting at the restaurant, The Queen Mother told us about the first day of kindergarten, for one of my cousin's son's.

She was re-assuring the boy that his dad would pick him up from school before they went in, when he turned and asked something like 'Momma, who's gonna love me while I'm here?'

Damn, just rips at your heart strings, doesn't it. Seriously, this kid was able to verbalize the fear that I bet a lot of kids in his place are feeling. So teachers, watch out and be nice to The Talker's third cousin, because that boy is watching you, closely. And you don't want to tick off his momma...



We now return you to the usual useless crap.

The Play Deck and the Patio Umbrella

First off, 65-0, in the end, Directv got my $30 so that I could sit at home with sick children and enjoy the game. Good thing I am really a UT fan at heart. Now, let's never speak of it again. Go UT, beat OU, for once, PLEASE! Go UNT , beat the hell outta Baylor, again! Several weeks until either of those games, so not likely to make many football posts for a while.

AtHomeDaddy took advantage of having The Boss Lady around today. I finished
the neighbor's patio umbrella repairs and it looks like new, with the exception that all of the moving parts were originally riveted together and I don't have a rivet gun. I finally decided, after and hour or two cruising the little hardware store by our house, to use small carriage bolts and stop nuts to make the repairs. Should work great and if not, I won't have to grind through a bunch of rivets next time.

The play deck, DONE!

A one day project that actually went as planned. Nice! I decided at the last minute to build it a little smaller, 5x6 instead of the originally planned 6x6. It looks a lot better, and it fit easier on the hillside. The Talker had a blast this evening hanging out on his deck. I think I will double up on the floorboards. The floorboards I am using are re-cycled from other projects. No real risk, though. The highest part of the deck is less than 10" off of the grass. Most of it is only 3 1/2 inches high.

I posted a picture of The Talker playing on 'His deck'. Look for it on his page. Email me if you need the address. I'll send you the address if I like you.

17 Weeks Until Christmas, And FYI, AtHomeDaddy is CHEAP!

AtHomeDaddy has started thinking about your Christmas gift. The Boss Lady started getting Christmas catalogs in the mail this week, and AtHomeDaddy actually saw Christmas displays going up at Lowes. Nothing like The Christmas Season lasting a quarter of the year.

So here are a few of my gift ideas:

For those of you who do not know your butt from a hole in the ground...The Butt/Face Towel
My guess, AtHomeDaddy will be giving a lot of these!

For our mathematically challenged friends with a sweet tooth Penny Candy
50 pieces for $13.80? Shouldn't that make it 27.6 Cent Candy?

For Sis, quiet possibly the most sacrilegious Nativity in her collection

For The Mother of the Bride, A decoration for your home, I'll let you decide which is most special

And for the frat boys up the street, I think they need to pursue a higher-minded skill, like chess
It might be a little more challenging to check-mate when you see two kings

Don't fit into one of these categories? Don't worry, I'll find you something nice...

AtHomeDaddy Has a Job!

After all of these years, AtHomeDaddy has decided to take the advice of The Mother of the Bride. Of course, the job should only take an hour or so and one trip to Lowes, and it only pays $20 bucks, but hey, it is honest work.

The neighbor stopped by yesterday. Like rubber-necking a wreck, I can't resist finding out what task she needs help with.

Today's mission, installing a seat in her minivan. Sounds simple. Stupid Chevy Minivan... 45 minutes later, because of a lack of any instructions and a seat that has not been installed in 4 years, the seat is in and the neighbor has shelled out the usual Dr Pepper payment.

Then she remembers 'something else'. Once, the 'something else' was repairing a clock. Another 'else' was the lightbulb in the shower stall. And then there was the time I tried to figure out the solar water heater for her pool when I went over just to open a stuck cabinet... This time, though, the 'else' pays. She insists, since it is a holiday weekend...

Cabanna Boy AtHomeDaddy at your service, holiday schmoliday...

The wind caught her brand new pool umbrella and broke a couple of the structural ribs. Repair the umbrella? No problem. Any good Cabanna Boy knows that you gotta keep the customer happy if you want a good tip. Or in my case, you gotta keep the neighbor appeased or 'else'.

We Pre-empt this UT Football Season to Bring You a UNT Whoopin'

So this weekend is one that The Boss Lady dreads each year. College Football gets rolling big time tomorrow. The alma mater, UNT Mean Green have to endure a whoopin' from the home team Texas Longhorns so that they can cash a big fat check afterwards. I have to endure the game this Saturday, so that I can get back to following The 'Horns. No matter how I try... No matter how unlikely... No matter how many generations of my family have worn the Burnt Orange, I just can't root against the Mean Green.

Since the game is on pay-per view, and costs $20, I'll be heading to the bowling alley to watch the game. Will I show up wearing all of the UNT Forest Green I can find? Doubtful, but I won't show up wearing any of my Burnt Orange, either.

It's a good thing The Boss Lady could not give a flip. She might self-destruct, since she has placemats hanging on the wall from both schools.

Izzza Friday, Y'all

First, the Thursday recap and then the plans for today and the weekend.

Thursday afternoon The Talker and I worked on the flower beds on the retaining wall while The Princess was napping. I used to grow a lot of veggies and stuff up there. Weeds were never really a problem, because I was constantly working the beds. Now that I have freakish mix of flowers, herbs, succulents, vines and onions (yes, onions, I'll tell you if The Princess stays asleep) all mixed in together in these beds - looking like an Paul James, The Gardener Guy, landscaped my yard while on an acid trip, the weeds try to take over quickly.

The Talker helped me haul weeds and herb cuttings to the brush pile and he kept watch on the water delivery truck working the neighborhood. The Boss Lady came home for a couple of hours between meetings, so AtHomeDaddy got the front yard mowed and edged. Very exciting stuff, because it was the only thing I did yesterday that could not have been done by a well-trained helper monkey.

Seriously. No monkey would ever have spent that much time on his hands and knees weeding between and under the rocks along the flowerbed edges. If my yard looked like yours, maybe I would claim it had been done by a monkey, but not mine...

And now, our plans for the weekend...












Thank you, thank you very much. I know those are some excellent plans. It will be a blast. A life changing experience for the children and pets.

On a side note: Did you know Blogger spell check tries to correct Y'all with Yale? Are they saying something about my southern education? Hell, The President of the University said "Now Y'all Git...Y'all done gots learned" at the end of my college graduation. OK, that never happened, but it would if AtHomeDaddy were the President of a University...


PS Wanna know about the onions? If not, stop reading...

The Mother of the Bride's ex mother-in-law (Aka Pop's Mom) Gave us a few onions that she had grown for years. She said her mom had some when she little. They self-propagate and are kind of cool. (The onions, not Pop's family) Anyways, these things can take over the a yard in a few years. 5 years ago I planted some and now WE'S GOTS US LOTSA ONIONS. Want some?

Morning, Sunshine

The Princess slept an hour and 15 minutes later today than usual. Whatever it was, alignment of the stars, the inspirational speeches at the RNC, or maybe The Princess is doing drugs, don't know and right now, I don't care. Add that to The Talker playing for an hour in the backyard, it all adds up to a good start to a day!

What a morning, dishes are done, laundry is started and we are off to the park!

Does not even seem like too long until 10pm, when The Boss Lady will be home from School Board meetings...

R E S P What The Heck???

AtHomeDaddy was listening to the local light rock, pop you know, Crap Rock station on the radio while trying to give The Princess her bottle at lunch. She was wailing away, because the bottle was either too hot, too cold, too slow in arriving or something else. Take your pick.

Anyways, The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin came on. They started playing Respect. The Princess got quiet and smiled through the entire song. Once the song was over, The Princess stayed happy for a while, because I was laughing my rear off while trying to feed her.

If this girl just needs a little bit of soul to be happy, then AtHomeDaddy will be going out tonight to buy the entire Aretha Franklin collection!

Your Blog May Be Next

AtHomeDaddy got another blog mention. Go check out The Distance to see how AtHomeDaddy rates with JustaDad, another SAHD.

Funny, I'll give you. I am the funniest guy I know. I am freaking hilarious.

Healthy? Questionable, especially if you start dealing in the realm of mental health. Then, AtHomeDaddy may or may not be drinking from a full sippy cup on the playground of life...

GMail Accounts for the Asking

By now I am sure you have heard of Gmail. It is still in Beta testing and you still need a invite to get an account. Do you need a Gmail account or half a dozen? Learn More Here. AtHomeDaddy can hook you up. Drop me an email or leave me a comment.

Available until all of AtHomeDaddy's invites and The Boss Lady's invites and The Princess' invites and The Talker's invtes are gone.

Boys Night In

The Boss Lady had a meeting this evening and she took The Princess. The Talker and I managed to get a lot done in the 3 hours the girls were gone.

We put out all of the trash and recycling for the morning and we got a little bit of work done in the backyard. We hung out for a while with the neighborhood kids and we watched a little Bob the Builder. Haven't been out in the workshop lately, so I am living vicariously through British claymation.

Quotes Weblog Featuring the Works of AtHomeDaddy

Quotes Weblog - Famous Quotes now features an excerpt from AtHomeDaddy. Helen Keller, Aristotle, Thomas Paine and AtHomeDaddy, together at last! Right now you can see it on the main page, but here is a direct link to the quoted poem.

Maybe I should try out more poetry, or maybe AtHomeDaddy should get a job! Thank goodness those guitar lessons start up next week. I got a comment yesterday from someone totally unknown to me (although her comments about guys named Mike make me wonder...), and now this. AtHomeDaddy is going big time. If The Princess could talk, she would be screaming with delight. Instead, she is just screaming.

Morning Rituals Ruined

Thanks to the local PBS station for changing up the morning routine of preschoolers all over town, without notice! We have enjoyed Sesame Street at 8 am since The Talker was old enough to be interested.

They re-arranged the schedule this week and have Sesame Street on at 7 am. If The Talker catches onto this and starts waking up an hour earlier for his Elmo fix, I am going to hunt down the station director at home and crank up some Elmo tunes in the Windstar, while sitting in his driveway at midnight for a month.

This guy went and screwed up a perfectly good routine for no reason. OK, he may have reasons, but his reasons are stupid. See, I knew I could think rationally about it. I am so depressed, I wrote a poem.

Some people are coffee junkies
Some dudes dig on dope
Some cool guys drink Dr Pepper by the gallon
Others, they snort coke

But all I really need
All I really want
Is ELMO and I want him at 8 o'clock

So it is not a good poem. Sue me.

Addendum
August 31, 2004 1:00 pm

I got an email response from the local PBS station. I guess I should take a hint. Complain about the programming and the Membership Services Coordinator will respond.

Hey cheapo, you are not a member, are you? That is why you don't know anything. Pay up and we will let you know in advance of schedule changes.

Hey at least they responded. But we are still watching Nick Jr. today.

Fun and Frolic On Aisle 5

The AtHomeTrio loves the new grocery store that we have been going to for the last month or so. If I can help it, we will never darken the door of the pharmacy again. See Why, at ADHDaddy. But otherwise, it is a great store.

AtHomeDaddy has declared this the best store in town. Reasons why?

1. Racecar Baskets. May not be important to you, but it makes shopping with The Talker a lot easier and more fun, because he is entertained at the store. Yes, we have left when all of the racecars were out on the 'track'.

That is it, really. They do have good customer service, much better than the last store we shopped at. But, I would grocery shop in a gas station if they had Racecar Baskets. They also have all sorts of great freebies for the kids, but in the end it is all about the Racecar Baskets.

Just so you know... Today we had a blue Racecar Basket with number 23 on the side. We could have used a yellow one with 15 on the side, but The Talker chose well. Last week we had a green one. Next week, maybe red.

Almost forgot, The Princess puked a pile on me while we were on Aisle 5. Guess she got queasy from shopping at a high speed.

Next Time, I'll Take a Spatula

A few weeks ago, while the SAHDs group kids were playing at a park a mother kept taking this stupid ladle - yes, a big soup spoon, away from all of the kids. She brought the ladle for her kid to play with in the sand. Her kid was not interested. Every other kid was.

Anytime another kid touched the ladle the mom would step in and take it away. She would say, "My daughter gets upset if anyone else plays with the ladle".

'So, teach your brat to share. Besides, she does not seem to care. You are just being a butthole'. That would have been cool, if I had actually said it, and not just thought it 5 hours later...
Today we went back to that park. I wish the Ladle Lady had been there, because I took the ladle out of our kitchen and had it in my back pocket, just in case. I was going to jump in as soon as she took away the ladle and hand the kid mine.

Then I could have said 'Here, since Ladle Lady won't let you use her big spoon, you can use mine. Feel free to go throw some sand at the old hag with it. You do know that it is OK to throw sand if an adult tells you it is OK, right? And you know there is a pile of rocks over there by the slide... I wonder what you could do with those. Think you could hit Ladle Lady's minivan?'

But then the kid would have probably told me 'Shut up, mister, I'll find my own spoon'.

Ladle Lady was a No-Show. Good for me, because I can't handle rejection from a three-year-old in the sandbox.

Playscape Addition

Tonight The Boss Lady gave approval to another of AtHomeDaddy's harebrained ideas for the backyard. Since the privacy fence hides the yard from view, I pretty much get free reign out back.

We have a retaining wall that runs down one side of our back yard. We can't really do much landscaping on the wall, because the neighborhood powerlines are buried there. YOU can dig, I'll even lend you the shovel. Go deep. It'll be a good show.

The Talker and the neighborhood kids like playing on the wall, so we are going to build a small deck on part of the wall. I want to build it big enough to put one of the kid-sized picnic tables or the art easel up there. (Yes, I know, we only have two kids, yet we have multiple kid-sized picnic tables. The Boss Lady is a sucker for Little Tikes stuff at garage sales and AtHomeDaddy brought home a wooden one on big trash day).

The deal is, AtHomeDaddy is to build this architectural masterpiece with the lumber that has been stacked beside the house for most of a year. WonderLady, the neighbor had the fence between our houses replaced last winter. The old fence was much better than the fence on the other side of our yard, so I was going to rebuild it over there. And there it is, stacked neatly beside the house eight or nine months later.

AtHomeDaddy noticed that the stack was starting to lean today, so that spurred the creative process.

Lookee there, the fence wood stack is leaning.
I ought to re-stack it.
What a hassle.
I'll just put it all out on the next big trash day anyways.
Let it lean.
Maybe I should just build something out of that wood.
Lookee there. A flat spot on the wall.
Think I'll build The Talker a deck.
Hey, Boss Lady, guess what I want to do...

Yep, it happens that quick. And notice, not once did I ever think about actually building the fence.

Victory Lap

I bet you thought I would talk about the Bristol Race again, didn't ya? Nope. A much more important victory lap took place tonight, right in The AtHomeFamily's front yard. The Talker announced that he was going to tee-tee in the potty as he was ripping off his diaper at bedtime.

This is not unusual. Odd, yes, but it happens all the time around here, so it is not unusual. (I think there is a good country song in that last sentence...) The unusual part. He actually did it! So, running buck nekkid through the living room and out into the front yard, The Talker took his victory lap with AtHomeDaddy.

He did it so well, that he had to make a second victory lap around the front yard. No worries, we live on a cul-du-sac (That is French for dead end street) and the neighbors are all hermits, so nobody saw anything. But it was one heck of a good looking victory lap! And no, AtHomeDaddy was not buck nekkid.

Thank God.

NIGHT RACE! Addendum

Saw video of this while watching the race tonight. And to think I made fun of people who got married at Wal-Mart in my last blog post. Dang, that is hillbilly.

NIGHT RACE!

Is there anything cooler than a NASCAR Nextel Cup Night Race? The racing seems faster and the crashes are always more spectacular. Yes, AtHomeDaddy watches for the crashes. But at least I did not get married AT a Wal-Mart.

Back to the race, Bristol is awesome. 500 laps - 266 miles at up to 128 MPH on a half mile oval! At Night! With 42 other guys trying the same thing... Kind of like Houston rush hour traffic without all the guns and people flipping the bird.

Don't call AtHomeDaddy tonight, the race starts in a few minutes.

Oh yeah, The Princess did something the other day. She rolled over. Big news since she is so young. It is a little early for her to roll over. Then The Talker told us that he 'helped' her roll over. Turns out Humpty Dumpty was pushed.

Yard Work

Until recently, the decent looking yards on our block were all done professionally, EXCEPT mine. It has nothing to do with pride or responsibility. I am cheap. These guys get $60 to mow and edge a yard . That is with a weekly contract. $70 - $75 for an occasional mowing without a contract. Since you have to mow more than half of the year around here, the neighbors are laying out more than $1500 a year FOR MOWING! A couple of these families have teen-age sons, too... And they pay for mowing?!?!?

In the past, I would be out there every 5 or six days for a couple of hours getting the yard looking great. It was always easy because The Talker would take his afternoon nap and I would mow. Once the Boss Lady got home I would finish everything else up.

This year I have been lucky to get the mower out every ten days or so. Seems The Princess does not agree with the mowing schedule. She does not usually nap long enough for me to mow. So now, I am out there after dinner, racing the sun to get everything done, since I hate to waste a Saturday morning mowing when I could be fishing or sleeping. Tonight, I almost got finished. I still need to mow up on the retaining wall and work in the front flower beds. I guess there is no fishing this weekend.

But at least The Boss Lady did not have to work overtime to pay the mowing bill this week

Better never than late

Thought AtHomeDaddy had died, did ya? Too bad, still here. Just nothing exciting to report lately. Allergies and sinus infections don't count as exciting do they?

Ragweed sucks!

The Bugs are winning

The Talker and AtHomeDaddy are both getting sick. Luckily, he is a lot better at being sick than me. If we were both whining this much I don't think I could stand it.

This is how close to death I am:

I ran out of Dr Pepper Monday night at 6pm. 27 hours and 55 minutes, as of this post. I have been hitting the Cherry Kool-Aid pretty hard, but it is not the same.

Short of the Grim Reaper paying me a personal visit tonight, I'll have to take the kids to the grocery store in the morning. Because now we are out of Dr Pepper AND sugar, so no more cherry Kool-Aid, either.

You really expect a guy live this way? At some point is it really worth it? These are the questions that I ponder in my caffeine-free state. (caffeine-free state - sorta like Indiana, I've spent some time there, but I sure as heck don't want to live there!) See, my mind starts to wonder without The Nectar of the Gods.

Maybe the Boss Lady will run to the store if I whine real loud.

By the way before I die, Rick, I hafta know, why no Dr Pepper on the Swill List?

The Princess is an Eater and Other Stuff

The Princess had her first taste of something other than breastmilk tonight for dinner. The Boss Lady made some rice cereal the girl tried to devour. It took The Talker a few days to figure out the eating thing, and we all know how smart he is...

The Princess had it down in three bites. She is a super-genius, I am sure.


Also, check out The Simpson's quote at the bottom of your window. I think it is slick. Stole the script from some teen's blog and then I adapted the script to quote Homer. She had a rotating message, but it was too much script to copy and paste and then re-work. Because, unlike my children, a genius, I ain't.

That's My Boy, You Like His Dress?

Once in a while The Talker sleeps in one of my old T-Shirts. Actually, they are generally left-overs that I designed while working at recreation centers and kids summer camps.

Last night he slept in an art festival t-shirt from five years ago. This morning, he woke up very excited and ran into my bedroom proclaiming at the top of his lungs, "Look, Daddy, look at my cool dress!"

I was very proud. After all it is a very cool design on that shirt. I worked hard on it, never thinking that someday my own son might wear it to his prom.

Think I Could Use it at Her Funeral?

The Mother of the Bride sent me a joke the other day. Thought I would share it with you. If my posting this joke breaches any copyright laws, let me know I will gladly sell out The Mother of The Bride for a small fee or assurances that she will do hard time...

A guy goes on vacation to the Holy Land with his wife and nagging, confused mother-in-law. Halfway through the trip, the mother-in-law dies.

So the guy goes to an undertaker who explains that they can ship the body home, but it'll cost $5,000. Or, they can bury her in the Holy Land for $150.

"We'll ship her home," says the son-in-law.

"Are you sure?" asks the undertaker. "That's a huge unnecessary expense. I can assure you that we will do a very nice burial here."

"Look," says the son-in-law, "two thousand years ago they buried a man here, and three days later he rose from the dead. I just can't take the chance with my mother-in-law."

The Mother of the Bride's joke. An oldie, but a goodie - and the joke ain't half bad, either.

Ba Dum Bump

I kid. I love that Mother of the Bride. I love that she sends nice Christmas gifts, I love that she calls on my birthday AND I love that she lives 3 1/2 hours away.

Ba Dum Bump

A Day to Remember

After church and lunch we all settled in for naps. The Boss Lady got to nap for an hour and scored a 6.345. The Talker slept two hours and the judges scored it a 7.894. Not perfect, but a nice effort. The Princess slept three hours and the judges scored it a 10. Perfection in action!

AtHomeDaddy slept 25 laps - about 25 minutes because people in Michigan can't seem to keep the trash off of the track. If it were not for all of the caution laps, I might have missed something exciting. Judges Score? Are you kidding, this is racing, there is only one score, First. (Or third, if like me, you root for Dale Jarrett).

Homer Quotes

If your personal philosophies runs closer to Play-doh than to Plato, check out The Random Home Simpson Quote Generator. I'll be back there often.

A Two Year Old and Circular Logic, Fun for All

The Talker has gotten into trouble lately for yelling "No!" when asked to do a chore. Today at lunch, AtHomeDaddy asked him to do something and got the new favorite response "NO!"

So I reminded him that "You don't say no to Daddy, do you?"

What should he say?

"Yes. I do say no to Daddy." True, but he would have gotten in trouble for being sassy.

"No. I don't say no to Daddy." Right, but that would require saying no to Daddy and we don't do that.

So he chose to say nothing - good choice, because then I realized what I had asked him, and he was off the hook!

Running Late

Not much time to catch up with the blog this week. The AtHomeTrio has been going crazy trying to get settled into the school-year routine. We had to sit down and map out the week for the AtHomeFamily on a markerboard. Seems like we have gotten everything done this week that we needed to, except hitting the Lotto.

Maybe next week.

1/2 Down 35 To Go

It is now the third day of the school year and The AtHomeTrio is settling into a nice routine. Hopefully it will keep up until May 26th. This morning, after watching the recycling and trash trucks, we headed to the park to hand with the other SAHDs. This outing turned way too exciting when one of the three year olds walked away from the playscape.

He was found in the grocery store next door to the playscape. But the time spent searching for him seemed like an eternity, especially since I left The Talker and The Princess sitting with a dad and an 8 month old that I had only met half an hour before. It was too hard not to run past MY kids every few minutes while I was looking for the missing boy. Everything turned out fine, but once he was found, we headed home cause AtHomeDaddy needed a nap and a Dr Pepper!

Summer's out forever...

Yesterday The Boss Lady spent 15 hours at her office. The AtHomeTrio stayed on the move all day to hold off the newborn-meltdown-sceamfest. A successful day! We hit a park in the morning, Toys R Us and Petsmart in the afternoon and we even went out to dinner. Bath and bedtime was tough. One of the two kids got a bath, but I can't remember which. Of course, there was a lot of screaming, so I might have been bathing a cat. Thank God AtHomeDaddy is not a single parent!

We are off to storytime this morning and may hit a park this afternoon. The Princess is already down for an early nap, so we may have hang out at the house if she is sleeping all afternoon. (Hey, a guy can dream, can't he?)

Great Timing

School starts tomorrow. Every little kid is dreading it and The Boss Lady is loves it! Well, she would if she could stay awake. The Princess decided that Sunday night would be a great time to eat every hour or so. Now, The Boss Lady will be off to a nice long day at school with no sleep. Plus, she gets to work 'Back to School' night after work - a nice 13 hour day. Also, 800 kids are hoping and praying The Boss Lady plays nice on Tuesday.

Want to come over and help me keep the baby awake today? Should be fun. We can make lots of noise. Because if The Princess sleeps all day, then she will be ready to party all night. Come on over, 800 kids need your help!

Hey Boss Lady, CBH

"Oh yeah, I'm a Rock Star"

Bonus points for anyone who can tell AtHomeDaddy the context of the quote in the title.

The Boss Lady has encouraged AtHomeDaddy to find some evening guitar classes. She says it is good for me to be away from the kids once in a while. Can't argue with logic like that, so today I registered for my first lessons. I'll autograph a copy of my first CD for you.

Once the other members of The AtHomeFamily re-joined AtHomeDaddy at home (How is that for verbosity? Can you tell I used to be employed by a municipality?) we chilled out and watched The Olympics.

While the family was gone, I worked on a few projects in the yard. The veggie garden is no more. I ran the tiller through the remaining weeds and now have a nice plot ready to plant again. But now I think that I should just sod it and be done with gardening for a few years. I also got a jump on the laundry for next week and kept the house relatively clean, even though the football game watching party lasted until 12:30 AM because after the game, we watched Blazing Saddles. And you should not stop a classic movie right in the middle!

This weekend has been completely Wiggles free. Nice Bonus!

Football Night

The Boss Lady let me skip out on the weekend trip because AtHomeDaddy is worn like an old t-shirt. Says she, "Stay home and rest. Enjoy the quiet."

Great idea! So what does AtHomeDaddy do? I spent the morning working in the yard and the afternoon running the tiller through the garden. No rest today. And now the guys are coming over to watch a little pre-season football. The Law Talking Guy, Racecar Man, Other Dad and maybe Norm will be hanging out to watch The Cowboys get beaten-up by the Texans.

I doubt if it will be too quiet around here, either but it has to be better than blogging all night.

Weekend Pass

The Boss Lady and the kids are off on a road trip with Pops this weekend. AtHomeDaddy was going, but The Boss Lady offered me a weekend at home, without the family. Just me and The Big White Dog.

I ran out in the garage when she offered, looking for paint or plumbing supplies. I figured the catch was that I had to finish a home improvement project while they are gone. Surely she expects me to be productive this weekend. Alas, the garage is empty. No paint, no plumbing supplies, no lighting to be hung. AtHomeDaddy wisely decided to take The Boss Lady up on her offer. I am home with nothing to do all weekend.

Maybe now I can get to the yardwork I have put off all summer. Or maybe I can finish reorganizing the garage. Or maybe I can get out the paint and touch up the kitchen.

Aww man, I am such a sucker. Now that I have agreed to stay home, I better have something to show for it when the family returns. On second thought, it might just be better to go spend the weekend with The Mother of the Bride.

This is MY Life?

I had one of those moments where you question every single thing in your life all at once. At 11:13 AM while standing at the park.

So we are off to the park, The Princess, AtHomeDaddy and Cookie Monster. He was Cookie Monster because he went to bed with a Halloween costume on and I had been unable to talk him out of it all morning.

I digress, There I was innocently watching Cookie Monster run around the playscape with a couple of girls from the neighborhood. One mom asks another "What formula do you guys feed your baby".

At this point, I am already looking for a bail-out from my Cookie Monster pal - C'mon hit someone, fall down and cry, ANYTHING! Because I know that the next question will be the same one, but addressed to me.

"What formula do you guys feed your baby". Why did I not answer Similac and let it go? Nope, had to go with the honest answer.

"The Princess is breastfed."

"Wow, how is that going with mom at work?" Then I was stuck watching my Cookie Monster chase girls while I was involved in a discussion about breastfeeding. And that is when it happened.

I thought to myself that only two years ago I was sitting at a desk working away the day. Now, I am stuck in a MOMMY CONVERSATION with no graceful exit. 20 minutes later, The Princess spoke up and bailed me out.

20 minutes.

It is not The Princess' fault. She is only 4 months old. Over time, hopefully she will learn to offer daddy a little help a little quicker, but it was OK for a first try.

Now the Cookie Monster, he should have been there for me. He is 2 1/2 years old. So he went to nap with no cookies. And I took away his costume.

Not really, but I sure am hoping that The Talker will be quicker to bail me out next time!

Happy Lucky Dog

It is official, The Big White Dog and AtHomeDaddy have voted.

WE will henceforth and forevermore have at least two (2) consecutive weekdays in the middle of August of each year, where the temperature starts out below 70 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature rises to no more than 87 degrees Fahrenheit and the relative humidity never rises above 35%.

The weather is great here. Everyone is happy because we can actually play outside today without risking going radioactive because of the usual unbearable August heat & humidity double decker sammich.

Don't try to call us today, as soon as The Princess wakes up, we are outta here. That's right, The Princess is just waking up at 8:15! Maybe that is why life is so sweet today. Either way, we hit two parks Tuesday before noon, we might try for three today.

Shots, no problem

The Princess handled her FOUR shots this morning like a champ. Afterwards we headed to see The Boss Lady at work. The Princess got shown off, The Talker got to play on the playscape. Next to the playscape was a load of pebbles straight out of the dumptruck. The Talker ran up the pile and slid down on his rear for 30 minutes straight. He got dirtier than he has ever been in his life. Good Times!

Chicken Attack!

AtHomeDaddy forgot to fill you in on the Chicken Attack this morning.

The Talker was playing with sidewalk chalk at the neighborhood park when a roadrunner jumped/flew/fell/something out of a tree and landed about five feet away. The Talker jumped to run away and the roadrunner took off as quick as a... Roadrunner.

The Talker, once he realized that there were no more birds after him, decided to chase the roadrunner. All the while he is yelling for me, "A chicken! Daddy, get da chicken!"

It is cool that the boy thought A, I COULD catch the chicken/roadrunner and B, I would know what to do with the chicken/roadrunner once I caught it! Once again, The One-Man-Fan-Club made me feel like a real man.

Too bad we didn't eat chicken or roadrunner for dinner. Maybe we will find a cow to chase tomorrow!

Shot Day!

Thursday morning will likely go down as one of the most memorable days during my time as a SAHD. The Princess has her 4 month check-up, complete with a couple of shots. Usually we divide and conquer for shots days, but the pediatrician's office had to change our appointment, so The Talker and AtHomeDaddy get to handle this trip together. The Boss Lady will be busy all morning.

We are really looking forward to a little bit of extra crying and screaming Thursday morning! Maybe she will cry herself out and the afternoon will be quiet around here. NOW THAT would be memorable.

New ISP for the AtHomeFamily

PeoplePC.com will be providing net service to The AtHomeFamily for the immediate future.

This is Part I of the AtHomeFamily's cost cutting measures. Don't be expecting a great Christmas gift. Cause if I can't have DSL, you can't have this.

Busy Day for the AtHomeTrio

We have not put the AtHome in AtHomeTrio today. In an attempt to curtail the amount of screaming that The Princess can do in one morning, we decided to stay on the go.

We were off to the neighborhood park at 8:30 AM to play with the 'locals'. Hung out so The Talker could play trucks until 10AM. Then, we were off to the SAHDs playgroup until noon. After that, The Talker and AtHomeDaddy went bowling while The Princess slept in her stroller.

The Talker pushed his ball and had a blast until he dropped the ball on his foot. After that, he was willing to let AtHomeDaddy tote the ball for him. He bowled a 70. Not bad for a 2 1/2 year old!

After a stop at "Chicken Nuggets" (aka Chick-a-fill or Chick-Fil-A) to eat and play, we headed home for naps. The Talker is down, but The Princess is screaming away.

Wanna comeover and see how loud we have to turn up the stereo to drown out baby screaming? The trick is, you cannot wake The Talker in the process, or you lose.

He don't know me very well, do he?

Today's junk mail harvest...

One envelope full of ads and coupons addressed to: To Our Neighbors At. This envelope comes from a company in Garden Grove, California. Close, but no cigar.

One ad magazine - with the banner title Serving Our Cities Exclusive Homes that is addressed to: Upscale Consumer. Yeah, right. These people ought to do a drive by of The AtHomeFamily's neighborhood. Might save themselves a little postage.

I guess it worked. I felt a lot better about myself as I was putting the junk mail in the recycling bin. Oh well, at least it is better than getting bills, right?

Just a Regular Tuesday

The Boss Lady and AtHomeDaddy are trying to get back into a nice routine. Since The Princess came along, we have been spoiled because both of us have been around the house a lot.

Now that school has started, The AtHomeTrio are trying to get a lot more things done around the house so that the evenings and weekends are not eaten up at the grocery store and waiting on the washing machine.

This morning we headed out to the new grocery store. It is not really a new store, but it is not the store we used to go to because they have race car baskets! The cart keeps The Talker happy which helps keep everyone else happy. Go to ADHDaddy to read a little more about the side trip to the pharmacy.

After the trip to the grocery store we dropped off the goods at home and went to the library. The Talker and AtHomeDaddy read books while The Princess dozed. That is, until we ran screaming from the library because of some 4 year old brat. This PIMA (Pain in my Ass) (Eternal gratitude to Brad Hall, wherever you may be!) was driving everyone nuts, except his mother. She was either deaf or just oblivious. As loud as that brat was screaming, I HOPE she is deaf.

Is it OK to put Anti-Barking Collars on other people's kids? It is more humane than having him de-barked. Just checking.

Old Computers

Rick's Atari Shrine

This site got me thinking about the old computers that I have had through the years.

It is true. I was a Commodore 64 guy. That machine ruled our house for several years. We had the computer and a couple of game cartridges for several years before we got a disk drive. We never had a tape drive. So, unless we wanted to play the cartridge games, we had to type in the Basic or Assembly programs and then debug the program and then run the program and then debug and then... Until we got the disk drive all of the games ended the same way, eventually we would have to turn off the computer. POOF!, another game gone. We had a modem, but I was never able to hack into anything.

Bro and I burned out a couple of these machines over the years. I typed my college papers on a C= 64 for the last time during the fall semester of 1990. There might be one still in the closet at The Queen Mother's house.

While in High School I also had a Tandy Model 100 that I would tote to my Algebra II class. The teacher allowed calculators, so I would write programs to solve the formulas. No wonder I made it through college without any math credits! I knew when I got it that the Tandy was hot, so The Queen Mother made me give it back. Luckily, I got to keep it until summer. And no, I did not steal it, the guy I was working for bought it cheap and gave it to me in lieu of pay. It still had the metal inventory tags on it. COOL!

Granny bought a computer - a speedy 16mhz with monochrome orange monitor (and a color ribbon printer!)while I was living with her. I finished the school year with Granny's machine. And I frequently turned in cover sheets with 4 color printing.

The Boss Lady and I bought a 50mhz Compaq computer with integrated monitor that lived at my apartment while at UNT. That was the last computer I ever had with on-site warranty repair. When the 3.5 drive died, Compaq sent one via next day mail and then they sent someone to install the drive the day after that. The Compaq was good for Doom, JB will testify to that! I think I did some course work on it, but mainly I wasted a lot of time on the internet with that machine. It is sitting in The Mother of the Bride's garage.

We bought another Compaq that died a horrible death. All I remember was it was black, it started smoking green smoke and I sent it away. Someone rebuilt it enough to run a few games and it is still at the Recreation Center.

We bought a Dell while The Boss Lady was in Grad school. It is still running, but the modem died. I run a couple of graphics programs on it to design toys and I use it to burn CDs because my burner never got XP drivers. It is in the garage/workshop.

The HP we use now is a something or other model that I don't care about. I long ago gave up caring what is under the hood of the computer, only that it works. This one only works sometimes.

Gosh I miss that C= 64. It never got viruses or blew out modems. Microsoft never tried to upsell me software every six months and the C= 64 was just bad ass, especially compared to those Atari pieces of junk! The guys that had those were real nerds!

eBay - Cat Litter Supplies

Cat Litter Supplies

At the time of this post there were 249 items in this category on eBay. I find that astounding and hilarious.

And why do I find this funny? Because blogging while on Vicodin, thanks to a migrane, is always funnier.

Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY

The Talker has had a blast playing monster trucks in his room this weekend. The Boss Lady got him a rug for his room that has a city scene and road on it, so he has been driving over the buildings with his Bigfoot trucks. Kind of funny when the 2 year old is yelling "Crush da school!" and "Crunch da houses with da truck!" I don't know where he gets this stuff.

Disc Swing

The Talker got a new Disc Swing today.

Actually, it is kind of like this one, but a lot cheaper. The Talker and AtHomeDaddy worked this morning cutting piece of scrap wood into a circle and hanging it with a carabiner and rock climbing rope on the swingset. Any backyard activity that requires a trip to REI is ok by us!

Thank God for Tivo

OK, airport security may not be funny, but TiVo keeping a guy outta jail? Now THAT, is good stuff!

Austin American Statesman, August 6th, 2004

It was Brian Teasley's custom-made microphone that was responsible for shutting down five gates in Terminal C at Dallas Fort Worth-International Airport this week.
Next time, he'll ship it instead of carrying it in his baggage, he promised in a story in Saturday editions of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Teasley, a member of Dallas-based pop-rock band Polyphonic Spree, had been in Austin where the group taped an episode of 'Austin City Limits.' He was taking a flight from DFW to his home in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday.
The percussionist for the 25-member band had planned to do some recording at home, so he put the microphone in his suitcase.
When his suitcase didn't show up on the baggage carousel in Birmingham, he filled out the missing-luggage paperwork and went home. He didn't know the suitcase wasn't there because it was under scrutiny at the Texas airport.
A DFW terminal area and several gates were closed briefly after a routine baggage screening detected the device, which raised concerns because of the wires and threading caps running through it. A bomb disposal robot removed it, and it was taken to an open field.
By the time Teasley arrived home, he had quite a reception.
'I had Taco Bell in my hand, and all of a sudden, these cars block me in my driveway. They've all got tinted windows, 'X-Files' style,' he said. 'Then here comes one guy with a bulletproof vest on, another with a gun showing. It was a very harrowing day.'
Teasley explained that the item in question was not a pipe bomb, but a microphone.
'I told them we had just used it when we were on Craig Kilborn's show," he said. "I still had it on my TiVo, so I was like, `Come watch it with me.' After they figured out I was telling the truth, they were pretty cool. I was talking to them about music. But thank God for TiVo."

It is Friday - Do you know where The Boss Lady is?

The first full week for The AtHomeTrio has been a success. We have started back on our routine of playing, trashing the house, running the roads and spending The Boss Lady's money.

Of course, the first mistake AtHomeDaddy made this morning was staying up half of the night reading old SAHD message boards. If you have ever heard my theory on SAHDs, then rest assured that I stand by my theory. If you don't know about the SAHD theory and it's corollaries, drop me an email an I'll fill you in.

This is a family place and some things just should not be said in public where The Queen Mother might hear.

We spent the morning at the neighborhood park, playing with several 5 yr olds who are excited to start school ASAP. It was funny listening to a neighbor girl explain the difference between preschool ("it's for babies") and big school ("It's for me").

Only 4 1/2 years and AtHomeDaddy will be out looking for a day job... I better get cracking on the resume'.

It's Hot in the Backyard!

And the front yard and the van and the garage and the shed and the pool and the....

Props to Rick for the reminder of the old SNL skit. I have been using a paraphrased version of Eddie Murphy's line all week.

It finally hit 100 degrees here this week. Since we have a nice AC system, The AtHomeFamily hardly noticed until today. The kids and I hit the hike and bike trail downtown early this morning. We would have cruised along at a decent clip and gotten back in the car before the heat took command of the trail, but there was just too much to do and too many ponies to see.

Where else can you go downtown on a weekday morning and watch the local miniature horse rescue group walk ten ponies on the jogging trail? The Talker was in heaven, he got to pet the ponies for 20 minutes. The Princess was not impressed with the ponies and thought no one was paying sufficient attention to her.

Once home, the heat took hold of The Talker and he took a 3 1/2 hour nap! Maybe I'll get him to run some windsprints on the back porch tomorrow. AtHomeDaddy deserves another day of 3 1/2 hour naps. Don't you agree?

Dueling Naptimes

If today's title makes you want to listen to banjo music and stick flashlights up you nose, then you worked at too many summer camps while you were in college.

Besides that, I guess a better title would have been Dual Naptimes, since this is a celebration of the fact that The Talker and The Princess are both napping at this moment. Lately she has been playing until a few minutes before he wakes up, so there has been little rest-time for AtHomeDaddy. Except that yesterday I rocked The Princess for so long trying to get her to take an early nap that my leg fell asleep. The phone rang and I tried to lay The Princess in the crib without waking her as I was running to get the phone. It would have been funny to see. Glad we don't have a NannyCam.

Boss Lady, we don't have a NannyCam, do we?

Swim Day

The AtHomeTrio is off to the pool this morning. We are bypassing the neighbor's backyard pool and the near-by park pool to go to the coolest pool in the area. It is a 20 minute drive but well worth it.

The Talker loves this pool because they have all sorts of fountains and water play structures in a 9 inch deep pool. The Princess can sit and watch her brother run around like a soggy insane monkey on caffeine. And AtHomeDaddy will be the only man in the place, so that is always good for the ego!

It is supposed to be house cleaning and laundry day. We will see how that goes.

Happy Birthday, Queen Mother

The Talker and The Princess were going to work on a card for Granny this past week, so that it could be mailed on Saturday. All the art supplies are out and have been ready for four days, but we never got around to the actual creative process.

So sorry.

The Boss Lady just told The Talker "It is MaMa's birthday today... She is Six Hundred." A direct quote.

Today The AtHomeTrio went swimming at the neighbor's house after we played at the park while it was cool this morning (Cool meaning less than 95 degrees and 124% humidity) and we cruised the mall for chicks. Besides that, everyone took long naps, so all is well in AtHomeLand.

The Boss Lady just reminded me That "not EVERYONE got a long nap today."

So sorry.

Daddy's Day In

Got nothing for you today. Might as well stop reading now.

Since you insist... headache, skipped church, slept late, watched TV, napped on the couch, walked the neighborhood with the family and more TV.

See I told you to stop reading.