What you think does matter

Don’t try to grow up so Fast! I tell my daughter all the time - "don’t worry about growing up, that will happen. Enjoy being a child now, because when you do get old [ grow up ] you’ll wish you were a kid again". This leads me to a conversation I walked in on with my daughter and wife. I walk into the kitchen and bang the conversation stops [ clear sign I should get involved ]. So after poking my nose in - I find out that my eleven year old girl wants to "shave her legs" - so first I get defensive and ask why and throw in a "your too young". Then I get logical - I break it down for her with a series of questions: How old are you? Who are you trying to impress? Are you a model? Are you going somewhere other than school? What hair on your legs? [ still has thin small almost invisible baby hair. ] I told her look, I can’t see any hair to shave and if you start shaving now, the norm is that your baby hair will grow in thicker and then you will need to shave. S...

? ? ? Honey what’s that Smell? So here we are watching TV and the kids are doing what they always do [ argue about something trivial ] and this weird smell hits me. It just seemed to fill the air. I didn’t notice it before so I was a bit confused - ofcourse at first I thought someone let one rip [ you know, silent but deadly ]. After much debate [ it was daddy, no mommy, no Isaac, oh that smell...] we soon realized it was coming from that small little creature called general. Our visitor was starting to smell, it’s normal after all he is a dog [ literally ]. So the time came for my wife to give her first "doggy bath". Hey that’s what you have to do if you have a dog. I expected this to be a disaster, a real nightmare - but it turned out to be a mild inconvenience.. The dog was no trouble at all, my wife on the other hand was acting like the dog was a new born baby and she was a first time mother. Can I do this, will this hurt him, is it the right soap... On and on.... it’s ...

A friend and a blog fan made a request for new material.... read more below, below A Friend and a blog fan asked me to try and do [ use ] new material for the blog. She told me just last Wednesday that she checks her email for my "email updates' with a giddy expectation to see whats new on the blog. She says she loves all the jokes, the pictures of the kids and the dog - but she was wondering if I had anything new, defferent. Well, this put a lot of pressure on me to create something new. after all - the blog is about the insanity that is my world - meaning my kids and the spouse. And if I don't want to sleep with the dog, the spouse is off limits.... So after several hours of thinking and thinking - I cracked, I could not perform under this pressure. So I created the above photo gallery slide show for you, yes you Betsy - hope you like it..... it's something new! See you sunday ...

A lesson in Humility from a King. I am sure we've all done it, I know I have. You sit there upset because you know you deserve better. In fact you expect better - after all - your special. My kids do it all the time - they act like things are a given - they forget and I occasionally have to remind them that my love for them does not make them deserving of everything. You still have to work for things and you can't get everything you want. But I ran across this news video [ posted below - excuse the ad ] - it reports on this African King who is in New York and he drives a bus. Unlike the Eddie Murphy movie "coming to America" he isn't rich - but he is humble. He doesn't want people to know that he is a King. In fact he is here working hard to help 20,000 people that live in his tiny kingdom village - he's trying to build a well for drinking water. Which surprised me. You see, my first thought was - hey a bus driver who learns he's a king - boy he has it...

Oh look out generals back!! Well, guess whose back? Yep that little dog with the big name "general". General is cool but he just has a weird effect on my family. My wife treats him like a baby, probably gives him more attention than me. My daughter - she treats him like a china doll - afraid that everything will hurt the dog. look out here, look out with the dog... no he'll get hurt... leave the dog alone Isaac.. My son is the funniest of them all - this kid of mine spends most of his time calling general to him only to run in fear when general comes near him. It only gets worst in the morning when my wife lets the dog loose, my son does not want an excited pup jumping on him at six thirty in the morning - lord help me. Don't let these pictures fool you - it takes all the nerve my son can muster just to be this close without getting hysterical... Well, general is going to be here for a while [ helping out a friend ] so I better get use to the insanity. Look at me...

Teaching my child the meaning of true friendship? Ok, so my little girl is not so little, after all she’s eleven years old. According to her she’s a pre-teen [ whoopee doodad ]. The problem is that she is to nice for her own good. I don’t think she’s naive or gullible - just innocent. She has this one friend who only seems to want her around when she has no one else- you know the type. The so called friend who doesn’t know you exist until she has no one else to call. It’s bad enough that when she is interested in communicating with my daughter - she calls three or four times a day. They cackle on the phone for ever - But when she has a new “new best friend” - poof, you don’t hear a peep from this girl. It’s the kind of person I call friend but really consider them an acquaintance. Maybe I’m being over protective, or maybe I want my little girl not to be so blind. I guess it’s one of those things kids have to learn on their own - child, pre-teen or teenager and in some cases - adults. W...

The end of the first week of school and his 1st report. If my son is enjoying school, he sure isn’t letting on. I ask him everyday the same question after I pick him up from school. How was school? What did you learn? What is your teachers name? Have you made any friends? What is his response - nothing! The most I get out of the boy is that he eats "coconut cookies" for snack time - whoopee... Ofcourse he has found time to tell his mom that he has made 2 friends at school and has been playing games at school. I finally received his "end of week" school report. I am glad to see that he has a good report on behavior and work habits. I was afraid he was going to run the teacher ragged since he can’t stay still at home. But I am a bit confused with why they have “ability to open and close door” as one of his study units???? I get the games that use grouping and identifying items. I understand using games and play to teach kids their numbers and alphabets… but "abi...

Ever get lost. Too embarrassed to ask for directions? Are you the type that wont take directions? Well I have a funny story for you. When I first married and moved to Florida - before the kids and all that. My wife wanted to take a trip to miami - you know, look at the beach. Now I didn’t want to go and I let it be known, but I went, I even did the driving. We drove over 600 miles that day why. Because when I finally got to the beach in miami, I was still unhappy and again let it be known - so we argued for 5 minutes, looked at the beach for 2 minutes and then got back in the car to drive back home. of course the traffic was bad and I got lost. It took the insisting nagging push of my wife to get me to ask a police officer [ sheriff here in Florida ] for help with directions. Once on the road it was late and my wife doze off. of course again I got [ let say ] confused and took the Florida turnpike [ wrong, really wrong ] I had no idea where I was, how to get off and I was not going to ...

What do you do when your facing down possible hurricane It’s been about three or four years since several Hurricanes came thru our town and brought a stop to the belief that people were safe inland. So when the reports came in that tropical storm “fay” was projected to become a level 1 hurricane - lets just say some people went bonkers. I’m glad it didn’t turn out as bad as it was predicted - but there has been a lot of damage, especially flood damage around all parts of Florida. We did our part to get ready for the storm after that we just had to sit and wait. So what do you do while you wait for the worst and try to keep your family calm? Here is what I did: Watched chicken little movie with family Played black jack with kiki Played uno w/ kiki Played with my son Ate dinner together - early just in case Relaxed as son played in shower and daughter played her DS Played battleship w/ kiki Talk with wife and helped clean up [ she always clean when nervous] Relax as waiting for next “fay...

First Day of school - first trip of this school year. I don’t know what was worst - being all torn up and trying to be tough or watching my little boys eyes well up with tears as we left him at school all alone. Well not alone - but with out us. I’m sure by now he has a friend and doesn’t remember we exist. It was a hard day for the wife - little girl in middle school [jr high] and little boy starting school - driving her to school was tough - she’s holding back the tears and I’m trying to be strong. Imagine if we both would have broken down..... Here I am - alone at home thinking of when I have to pick him up. Who knew I would miss him so much. Man that kid has me all messed up. Excited but always playing Little girl - first day of Jr High [ middle school ] Have to look good you know - my kids......

It’s a dark day at my house, the first day of Pre-K school is this Monday and today we had to take my four year old son to his school orientation. Getting the family ready today was hectic and probably an indication that everyday from here on forward will be the same. Personally I’m torn - I want my boy to grow up and all that - yet I want him to stay my little man. My buddy I spend my days with. My partner in fighting crime [ or more like committing crimes against my wife wishes.... ] First it was the shock of having my baby girl turn eleven and starting jr high [ here it’s called ‘middle school’ ]. Now I’m faced with my little guy starting school and it’s a bit too much to handle. I know - your thinking I should be celebrating - wee their off to school - I get a break.... But maybe I’m just weird that way. Tell me, who really wants their kids to grow up and face the inevitable that they will leave you and worst - that your growing old. First it’s the first day of school, then they wa...

I used to have a boss who apparently only felt comfortable when she made everyone else feel inferior [ dumb ]. It didn't matter what was happening or if she was wrong - as long as she made you look dumb - she was happy. I am so glad I don't work for her any more. That's why I work hard to teach my kids [ especially my daughter ] to value themselves, to feel confident in themselves. Theres nothing wrong with being shy or wrong - but never think less of yourself. Also, it doesn't matter if it's your boss, friend or family, your important and have value... don't let anyone tell you different.

Gummy Bear and My kids - Lord help me... I wrote a post a day or two ago about making sure my kids watch intelligent stuff and the challenge I face with them watching what I call ‘dumb programming”. I also wrote about how as parents we have to be diligent protecting our kids from “improper things” on the internet. I was watching TV in the living room and as usual I decided to sneak up on my kids and take a look at what they were doing online. Normally my daughter gets online to play on kid friendly social sites like Penguin. But what really caught my ear was the singing - especially the catchy toon I heard coming from my computer. Like I said - I wish my kids would watch only intelligent programming - but sometimes I even get caught up with some of these catchy silly videos. I’m not happy she was on Youtube but relieved to find her watching this silly Gummy bear video [ it’s had 10,405,136 views ] That didn't stop me from giving her the parential speech....

In poor taste? My significant other saw a video clip [ part of a video ] I was creating and said that it was done in “poor taste” on my part. Well, I’ll let you be the judge of the complete work. The goal behind this video was to help me talk about the “Effects Movies can have on children”. You see, we let our kids watch just about anything on TV, videos, internet or in the movies. I don’t mean you personally or I myself - I personally try very hard to shield my kids from a lot of programming on TV. But I will admit that America as a whole - parents don’t really concern themselves with what their kids watch. I also admit that there are times I let them watch things they really shouldn’t. Not because it’s bad but because it can effect them adversely. I know this will sound silly and it’s embarrassing to me - but I a grown adult can’t seem to take a shower or use the bathroom without wondering if someone is just on the other side of that shower curtain. Really, Psycho [ Hitchcock's o...

Kids are kids and I know from my experiences of my youth that kids are attracted to dumb things. But as a parent, I just wish my kids would do more than watch things like Sponge bob and Some of these dumb silly cartoons. Not that my kinds turn into vegetables or coach potatoes during the summer. My little has done a lot to improve her math skills over this summer - but she seems drawn to [ what I call - dumb cartoons]. I remember when all she watched was animal planet, Emerald Leggasse and other constructive and educational programming. But sometimes - even the kids in me over whelms the adult in me. I walked into my room yesterday and found my daughter and son singing and dancing to this video and I instinctively joined in on the dance craze. I’m such a bad parent….. LOL The Hippo video

Funny pictures and my crazy mind. Put the two together and you might find something to laugh at - I hope. Enjoy the 4th installment of funny pictures and my thoughts. Hey wait a minute - I'm not wearing a mask. Passing gas, how cute... [ only a baby ]

I lie to me kids all the time - well, more like exaggerate the truth. As a parent you find your kids doing something they shouldn’t - it’s a natural course of being a parent. And your always telling them what not to do and the kids - well, they are always asking why. Over the years I’ve adopted a madness to my method of correction. I just don't tell my kids to “stop that” but I also include "my crazy reason" why they should stop that in my command. Of course - sometimes the reason why is a bit more playful or exaggerated than need be. I guess it helps throw them off course and they would rather laugh than ask me - Why can’t I dad..... Here are some example of my crazy silly statements: * Don’t pick your nose, you’ll scratch your brain. * Don’t put your hand there, it’ll fall off! * Don’t pick your butt - your hand will smell bad for days. * Cover your nose when you sneeze, your brain will fall out! * Don’t jump on the sofa, you’ll fall and crack the floor. * Don’t fart, y...

Whats your name girl? Ever wonder what a name means, or where it came from. Do you know why or where your parents choose your name - or why they decided to name you after uncle Bob? I was having a bit of fun with the girls and going back to the old days where I use to make silly songs out of their names - I decided to have some fun - at their expense of course. How do you pronounce your name?

Ah, the world I live in and the craziness that follows. My life is full of insanity, and my crazy unstable mind has thoughts on these funny pictures. Tell me what you think and have a good funny laugh. Talk about high gas prices effecting your life. Drinking is bad for everyone Are you feeling safe & Secure today ? East meet West ... So much for political correctness.

I hear people talk about how video games are a bad influence on our children. And I am starting to wonder if they are right. I think my 4 year old son has a problem - atleast with video games. He woke up this morning and asked me one thing - “Can I play now?” Looking at this photo - I'm wondering if he wasn't sleep walking - boy does this kid have it bad for video games.

I couldn't help it. When your bored on a saturday afternoon and you've been left alone and all you have is your internet - funny things happen. Here is my second installment of funny pictures and my thoughts. Well, when your hungry - anything looks good. I didn't say it, I just point out the facts... Sometimes it's best not to get involved.... Someone call the fire department!

By now most of you should already know that my 4 year old son is a wee bit adicted to playing video games. he seems to favor Halo 2 and Tour of Duty. Half the time he doesn't really know what he is doing - but he is getting good at controling the figures, especially in halo 2. My own duaghter tells me that it's not good for him - that "this is why he is always talking about killing Dad". I wouldn't say he talks about killing becuase of the game - more like becuase of sponge bob, tom and jerry, bugs bunny - and maybe a bit of the game. But really have you seen how Daffy Duck gets shot in the face..... The bad thing is how he wants to eat, sleep and live the game. Every waking moment of the day he wants to know when he can play the game - I think he has made an IDOl of the X-box!