Snowman at Eight Feet

We had just the best day and the best time building this gimormous snowman. He is about eight feet tall and all five of us got outside to build him. Filling buckets of snow, scooping the snow, shaping the man, using a ladder to finish him up. Fun, fun, fun,

Christmas 2009

This is one of many of our Christmas photos. It takes a lot to get the right shot. Expressions, headwaving, lighting, batteries and all. But it is worth it to see a nice shot of all of us.

the beginning of the end

The EndWe are nearing the end of our vacation. it has been a great time. a few sunburns. a little tired. but no worse for wear. weather people were saying that today was about 75F, but it felt like a lot more in the sun minus the breeze. we spent yesterday and today at the pool doing very little beyond laying there or swimming. Today we went to the Atlantic Ocean to see what was going on there. A lot of people were doing the same thing. Nice beach. Crashing waves knocking kids over left and right. some guy build a sand hand sculpture on the beach. Kite flying. surfing. wind supported kite surfing. Pelicans. Seagulls. Sand. More sand. Except for the cool breeze it was a nice spot. The water was warm enough. And salty. The kids had fun running from the blanket to the water. From the water to the blanket. Back again. Chasing waves chasing kids chasing waves.

Marco Polo.



At the pool in the afternoon we had about eight or so kids playing Marco Polo. Some know how to play. Some don't. Some adults chime in from the poolside shouting out Polo in chorus with the kids in the pool. Some adults scold the other adults for playing Marco Polo. Good times.

Denny's or Lenny'sIn college, I had friends who made up a counter restaurant to Denny's called Lenny's. So every time a conversation is had about Denny's I automatically think about Lenny's, sometimes out loud even, like yesterday. We had supper at the nearby Denny's. It was our second attempt as a family at Denny's. I had eaten there before by myself with good success. Our first family outing to Denny's wasn't the most ideal experience. I had a good enough time but it brought enough hesitation to us eating there again. It was a good time. The food was good. The kids were content enough to eat all they could. I actually really enjoy my fahita steak wrap meal. The kicker was the $42 price tag. That's about $75 or $93 dollars Canadian for those of you doing exchange rate things. A bit unexpected from Denny's, even with five people. No desert tonight. The lady serving us was entertaining. The impression was that she was just starting out working there.

The BeginningSometime tomorrow we begin the long trek home. Don't know when we will leave exactly. Just know that the road will be long. the drive will be long. Hoping that the snow will be gone. We have one stop in Boston. But the getting there will be the fun part. No need for Pedros on the way back with us having stopped there on the way down. Happy trails.

P90X a la carte, bags of oats and a certain deja vue

The Deja Vu

My daughter (4) loves to watch videos. And this morning it feels like deja vu. It feels like I've posted this post before, while she is watching a spiderman video about the green goblin and my disco profile picture and web surfing feeling. I know that I haven't done it like this before, but it feels so real as a repeat kind of event!

P90X a la carte

Last night was a lot of fun. The wife and I did a 45 minute P90X workout without Tony Horton. It was a best of P90X kind of thing, where we included our favorite exercises (hers were Kempo'd, not my favorite!) and included our Tony sayings. "Ain't nobody gonna lift more than me!" It was hard to keep the focus, I like the video layout to see how to do it. But it was worth it to see QM's running man plyo routine!

Bags of Oats.

What are you working on today? That's the question I ask my dad-in-law when he comes over to our house. It's really code for, "what help can I give you with what project?". So today's project was loading about 20 bags of 25kg oats and about 10 bags of 40kg oats on his truck to take to a feed store. Ugh, like I want to do arms and back this morning! It helps him out though, which I don't mind. He does a lot to help us out, just wish that every time he came over wasn't attached to a request to get something done!

The Zombie

My wife finally woke up! It's 1PM and she slept for hours. Now she is looking for brains. Won't find any here!

Enough Cabin Fever To Go Around

My Apologies.

It has been nearly two and an half years since my wife has seen the light of day in town by herself, with me at home. Call it what ever you want. I am sorry that it has taken this long, but it is what it was. If you knew then you know. I think she enjoyed the outing. It won't be two years before it happens again.

No. There aren't chains and locks involved or any other bondage related stuff going on. Not yet anyway.

Cryptically,

kingMEdia

I am the whipping boy

How I see Valentine

I wish I were getting spanked the erotic sense of the word, but not a chance. Nope. Instead I am here while my wife works. She went in to work an hour early and said that she may stay a couple of hours later past her shift time (it ends at midnight). Valentines Day sucks is great. No card from her. No card from me. Just a 'I'm off to work, happy valentines day' lean over and kiss me on the head kind of thing. Not much different than last night (two hours on the computer then falls asleep on the couch) or the past however many months days. I don't enjoy posting here anymore... to much negative about me being spread about. I am just tired of it all. You are supposed to be supportive and all that. Right. jUst keEp on blaming it all on me. I am the bad guy. Still.

In my other inbox

I have 2186 unread emails. All from people who care less about me and are just looking for ways into my wallet. It takes a lot of time to filter through them and I probably could just delete them all... except for the ones from puretracks (i like the FTOW)

For your brain

Find the synonymous word for each word in the following
pair. For each pair, the words you find should rhyme with
each other, the first word being an adjective and the
second a noun. Some of these are easy, others are more
challenging. Good luck!

For example: angry father = mad dad

sneaky insect
humorous rabbit
happy boy
muscular tune
close fright

Final thought

The radio said on Friday that a study shows that a large number of people have headaches on Valentines Day. I think that they might be on to something there. I have a huge migraine right now. I think it is great sucks.

Yes Or No?

When to Say "Yes" and When to Say "No"
By Michael Masterson
I make a lot of commitments that unnecessarily add stress to my life. Why I find it so difficult to say "no," I can't say. But it's something I'm teaching myself to do.
The first step is to figure out when to say "yes" and when to say "no." Here's what I've come up with...
1. Say "yes" - often but not always - to two people: your spouse and your business partner.
2. Say "no" - as often as you possibly can - to everyone who asks you for help. This would include:
your lazy colleague
your shiftless friend
your spoiled children/grandchildren
your most self-centered customers
anyone who isn't willing to give back
Here's something else you can do to lighten your load and maintain your forward momentum:
Write a list of 20 things - people, situations, responsibilities - that cause you stress.
Reduce that list to 10.
Reduce it again to three.
Now pick one of those three - and stop doing it.
If you are like me, the thing that is creating the most stress in your life right now is something you are doing to help out someone who doesn't deserve it. And if you're like me, you feel guilty about even thinking about stopping.
Do yourself a favor. Call him up right now and tell him very definitively that you are going to stop doing it at the end of this day/week/month/year. Offer a simple explanation. Don't feel the need to elaborate. If he objects, say "I'm sorry that this will be inconvenient for you. I am sure you will be fine in the end. But the decision has been made."
And stick to it.
Try it. You'll be amazed at how good it makes you feel. Do that and don't take on another responsibility for at least 24 hours.

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

Not too bad advice. I am on track with agreeing with his statement on saying yes often but not always to your wife, which is something I have always tried to do but sometimes it is harder to do than others and ends up in discord... something for another post, in my head.

On his line about making a list of the 20 things, then reducing it, then again... I just don't see how that works. There have got to be certain circumstances where that is not possible to 'reduce the stress', particularily if it involves family or friends. I know I have some things beening done around me that are causing me stress and I would love for them to be stopped and have even tried to put an end to them -to no such luck, the things are still going on and I am still being stressed about them (along with other things). Maybe he is talking about something different. Not saying it cannot be done, just not sure how it can work.