Guess What

It is raining. It rained all night and should rain most of the day. No worries here though, because we have a birthday party to attend. (By the way, I dig the idea of a party at 9:30 on a weekday morning).

The best thing to do on a rainy day... Get lots of kids from the neighborhood, put them together inside and turn them loose on a cake and candy binge. Good times.

A side benefit of these things for a SAHD, All of the real mommies will want to hold The Princess. My elbow will get a well-deserved rest!

Until then, we are playing Firefighter with the vacuum tubes. Wait... now the game is Baseball. Man these vacuum tubes sure are versatile.

Biting the Hand that Feeds Me

The Boss Lady did some contract work for The University. AtHomeDaddy ended up getting drug into the entire process and I became the delivery boy.

Once the job was complete, AtHomeDaddy laid down the law. $100 for delivery charges. Once The Boss Lady realized how important I was to the whole deal, she begrudgingly accepted my kind offer. Of course it did not hurt that The University was paying $100 more than she thought...

So I went to The Fishing store last night. New line, new baits to replace the new ones I lost last week, and a new type of worms to try out. AtHomeDaddy also decided that he and The Talker will be fishing Thursday, if there is no rain.

Rainy Day, Part 156

AtHomeDaddy did not get the Gucci Baby Carrier for Father's Day. Now, my birthday is coming up (HINT, HINT!) and all I really want is 4 days in a row without rain.

The Boss Lady told me "No Promises. I'll do what I can.". Which sounded a lot like a recording of the time I begged The Queen Mother to send me to Ireland with the High School band. No, I did not make it to Ireland, though Sis did.

And I have serious doubts that it will not rain for 4 straight days ever again. To paraphrase The Queen Mother's family motto - I have seen a lot of disappointment in my life.

Really, I just want to get the yard mowed. I don't want to do anything fun. Heck, at this point I'll even settle for 4 hours during daylight without rain...

Elmo is a Klutz

After The Boss Lady left this morning, The Talker decided to take up ballroom dancing. His partner, a large Elmo doll. The Talker would spin once, yell "I'm dancin' with Elmo!" and then WHAMMO, Elmo would fly across the room and slam into the nearest wall. The Talker would pick up Elmo and resume the dance.

Now, AtHomeDaddy might not be a good dancer, but he has never thrown his partner across the dance floor, either. Note to The Boss Lady, we might need to send the boy to dance lessons before his High School Prom.

Re-cap of Monday

The Boss Lady was gone all day to a conference, but luckily for AtHomeDaddy, she came back in this evening. She will have to head out early in the morning, but this way The Talker and The Princess each got to spend time with mommy.

We took a walk this evening and The Talker got to play with the neighbor kids. Home early for dinner and bathtime. For AtHomeDaddy, it was Monster Garage and a quick rinse of The Boss Lady's car. We don't need no stinkin' waterspots...

It was nice that the garage is clean when it started hailing today. Easy to get the Windstar out of the weather. Hey, that van may be a lemon, but at least the paint looks good. Besides that, only 13 more payments and it is ours!

Making Life Hell, in 2 easy steps

Take a 2 1/2 month old who easily takes a bottle or nurses with The Boss lady and give her unimpeded access to mommy for 3 weeks. Then, send momma out of town and switch back to a bottle for the morning feeding.

It will be hard to distinguish who is crying louder, The Princess or AtHomeDaddy

"Life takes a nosedive..."

Back on the Program

We interrupt this summer break to bring you an out of town conference. The Boss Lady is gone for three days so this is AtHomeDaddy's opportunity to get The Talker and The Princess back in shape.

This will be our one week this summer to act like insane monkeys. We are planning absolutely nothing, yet we will get a lot of useless stuff done during The Boss Lady's trip.

AtHomeDaddy might get a little house cleaning and laundry done while the kids nap, or I might catch up on my Nazi and prison shows on The History Channel. Hopefully there will be back to back episodes of The Big House.

Sunday Recap

I got nothin'. Silence usually doesn't last long around here.

Enjoy!

No Baseball Guys

The family went to the local minor-league baseball game tonight, though it was raining when we left the house. Pouring at the stadium, but they were showing the NCAA World Series game on the Jumbotron, so The Talker was happy. When we gave up and headed home, he told us he had fun but there were "no baseball guys tonight".

The Talker was also happy because he spotted a Mini Cooper in the parking lot. Light Tan with black top. Nice!

AtHomeDaddy spent several hours getting the garage converted back into a space to park a car. Trying to give the Escort paint a chance to fully cure before we park it back outside.

The Escort Wagon Lives! (Part 2)

The Escort is back. It looks like a million bucks. Ok, taking into account that it is

1.) An Escort
2.) A four door
3.) A station wagon

it looks like 50 bucks. But that is a lot better than it looked Monday afternoon.

The Boss Lady finally admitted the reason for the paintjob. At her old school her car was just one in the lot. At the new school, her car sits in a parking spot with her name on it. Too embarassing for The Boss Lady.

Spend a few moments around this family and you will see that painting the car fits neatly into Family Rule 1.a - When momma is happy, everybody is happy.

Toobin'

The Talker went tubing this morning with his cousins. We met up with The Boss Lady's family at the lake and were set to enjoy a day of picnicking and hanging out. But the cousins had different plans. They had a bass boat to ski and kneeboard behind and a tube for the little ones behind the pontoon boat.

After The Talker watched his cousins tubing for an hour he said he wanted to try. AtHomeDaddy put him into the tube with one of his cousins and with Mr Punch driving the boat. A nice slow ride around the lake thrilled The Talker and bored the cousin. The Talker was not the youngest aquanaut of the day. His 1 1/2 year old cousin went in the tube with her mom.

Unfortunately, I did not dream that The Talker would ride the tube, so I did not take the camera. Worse though, we were at the lake and the fishing gear never came out of the van.

Don't tell The Boss Lady

But the guy in the fishing section at our local sporting goods store told me "Man you sure are in here a lot." Only because I am trying to figure this bass fishing thing out on the cheap. I am currently purchasing tackle that includes diagrams/instructions of how to set it up and use it.

Otherwise they have this rack of stuff that is likely made in the Dominican Republic for $.12 an hour by 9 year old girls. At least it is cheaper that way! This stuff is also less painful to lose. I fished this morning (and afternoon) in a flooded quarry at our church recreation area. Not a bite, but I am starting to figure out the new equipment, Thanks Pops!

The Talker and The Princess did some stuff and The Boss Lady did some stuff today too. Now you are up to date.

Cast of Characters

Primary Cast

AtHomeDaddy - Writer of this blog and father of The Talker and The Princess

The Talker - 8 year-old son

The Princess - 6 year-old daughter

The Big White Dog - A different big white dog

The Dictator - A 15 pound mutt

The Other OK - A different big orange cat

Marge - My 1968 Chevy truck

The Girls - Our flock of backyard chickens


The Boss Lady - The Talker and The Princess's mother


NOT actually people, but important to the kids
Phillip - The Talker's baby doll son
Snow White - The Princess' baby doll daughterPablo - The Talker's imaginary friend who seems to have been replaced by
Grandma and Grandpa - The Talker's imaginary grandparents who have lots of nice toys
Sharkboy and Lavagirl - Characters from a movie. They play pretend with them, too
Dora, Diego, Alicia and Baby Jaguar - If you don't know, you are lucky
Mariposa and Boy Mariposa - Our newest pretend characters


Secondary Cast

SAHDs - Stay at home dads, primarily the members of the local SAHDs group

Queen Mother - AtHomeDaddy's Mother
Dad - AtHomeDaddy's Dad
Bro - AtHomeDaddy's Brother
Sis - AtHomeDaddy's Sister

My So Called Aunt - Allegedly AtHomeDaddy's Aunt
Uncle Lemon - Husband of My So Called Aunt
The Babysitter - My So Called Aunt's oldest daughter (see Beautiful and Gorgeous)
Beautiful and Gorgeous - My So Called Aunt's children. I can't keep 'em straight...

Rick - (aka RM) Long time friend - resided 3 states to the right
KRB - The longtime buddy - currently in hiding from the FBI
JB - The college roommate - NOW back in Texas
Racecar Man - The neighborhood crew chief and mechanic
Norm - The home improvement king of the neighborhood
Law Talking Guy - The neighborhood attorney
Other Dad - Another SAHD in the neighborhood.


The Arch Villains
None currently assigned


More to be added as the lies grow...

Usual Summer Day

The Boss Lady always keeps AtHomeDaddy jumping during June and July getting work done on the house.

So far this spring and summer, new kitchen faucet, new kitchen lights, new dining room lights, new bedroom lighting, new pictures framed and hung in the dining room, kitchen, the bedroom and The Talker's room. Also, the kid's batroom got new pictures and some hardware replaced. Plans are in the works for AtHomeDaddy to get new blinds hung in the living room, kitchen, bedroom and master bath. And more pictures for the whole house.

We have lived here 5 years and we are finally hanging pictures. If not for the the clutter around here, one might think we were going for a minimalist look. No more.

In the dining room and in The Talker's room we framed antique postcards and photos taken in the 1930's of landscapes in the Southwest. We still have another set of cards to mount for the dining room, but we will have to find the right frames. The pictures, a bonus from the family reunion last weekend.

Library Day!

We are off to drop the Escort at the painter's and then we are heading out to the Library, thanks to the rain. The Boss Lady wants The Princess to have her Library card ASAP. AtHomeDaddy is surprised that it has taken this long.

A child 2 months, 2 weeks and 3 days old WITHOUT her own library card? Call the police, The Boss Lady should be reported!

Finished the dining room lights this morning by removing the dimmer that we had to use with the runway lighting system that used to hang in there. The new halogens needed a real switch or a different (expensive)dimmer. A quick swap with the master bathroom lights and now no humming in the dining room and mood lighting to bathe by.

Rainwater collection in high gear today. The garden and back yard really needed watering today, so the rain is welcome.

Also - migrane headaches suck! - Thanks Queen Mother for passing them on down...

The Escort Wagon Lives!

Tomorrow The Boss Lady's car is off to the paintshop. A reward to herself for the new job. AtHomeDaddy spent a good part of the day cleaning out the car and giving it a good washing.

Probably wasted effort, but since we are not putting a top notch paintjob on the car, I figure I should give the painters a little help.

AtHomeDaddy spent 2 hours mowing the backyard this morning. Once done, we were off to The Depot for new lights for the dining room. The brass and glass monster is no more. We put in 250 watts of halogen lights and they only put out 2/3 the light of the 8 bulb monster. Plus, AtHomeDaddy can now walk through the dining room with out getting a concussion!

Anybody want a brass and glass billiard table light? It is not only bright and huge, it is ugly too! Why this thing was ever installed in this house, I'll never guess. It was almost as big as the dining room, which is certainly too small for a billiard table. Why was it still here? Cause it was heavy and AtHomeDaddy is lazy.

By the way, you gotta swing by the house and check out the new light in The Boss Lady's/AtHomeDaddy's bedroom. It is indescribably cool!

The entire family played in the backyard this evening for several hours. Grilling, Bocce and splash time in the Little tykes pool - what a combination!

Taking a compass

AtHomeDaddy is heading into the jungle to mow. It has 5 days since I last mowed the backyard. Right now you could lose The Talker out there. I have been keeping a rope tied around The Big White Dog in case the mosquitoes try to carry him off.

Maybe if I mow with Round-Up, they will buzz off!

A garden update: After leaving the garden unattended for four days, I was able to bring in the mother lode of cucumbers and tomatoes. I am waiting on my second planting of beans to take off. The first plants are about played out.

The eggplant still look good and the gourd vines now touch the back fence, (about 25 feet up and over a makeshift arbor and across to the fence). There will be plenty of birdhouses around here next spring! Borers ate the pumpkin vines and the one pumpkin in the garden plot. I still have pumpkins up on the wall with the watermelons, but we will see if they get infested too.

Best of all, AtHomeDaddy has nice melons on the wall. The Talker can't wait for the watermelons to be ready in mid July.

Happy Workshop Day!

AtHomeDaddy got his wish for Father's day. 2 hours in the workshop playing toymaker. I finished one wooden truck for a 1 year old's birthday. I have most of a second car made, too, but it is not assembled.

I spent most of the two hours cleaning and straightening the garage before I could start. It is amazing the amount of crap that can pile up on a workbench between projects.

Today my goal was to use a new method to mount the wheels, but I decided to wait for another project since the neighbor is so young. The other goal, to not cut off any appendages, was met! It has been a while since I was out there so bloodshed was a distinct possibility. A piece of wood did get behind my goggles and it hit me right in the eyeball. I really have to get a full face shield (or I could learn to work with one eye).

I also got to watch the Nascar from start to finish uninterrupted - (Dale Jarrett - Third) and most of the US National team soccer game in Grenada (US 3- Grenada 2) . I did miss the end of the game so we could go visit the neighbors and The Talker could splash in the pool.

Tonight, mowing the backyard and/or working on the second car and watching The College World Series. Hook 'em!

What a Father's Day for AtHomeDaddy! Thanks Boss Lady.

Shin Diggity (a.k.a. The Family Reunion)

Saturday, June 19, 2004 - A day that should live in the infirmary...

The Boss Lady, AtHomeDaddy, The Talker and The Princess drove into the country today to meet with 35 other members of The Queen Mother's family at the annual family reunion.

Eventhough no mental health experts were on hand, a good time was had by all. Luckily AtHomeDaddy does not come from a family of vegetarians! Much cow was eaten and a lot of bull was spoken.

While there, Sis did complain about a blog post from a few weeks ago. AtHomeDaddy reffered her to the disclaimer at the bottom of this page. If you have not seen it, you should check it out.

Now we just have to hope for more excitement next year.

Fish Story Part IV

I posted two pics of the Great Fishing Trip of 04 on The Princess' photopage. Go there if you actually want to muck up your computer with a picture of AtHomeDaddy and a foul smelling fish.

Or was that foul smell coming from The Princess?