Day: February 8, 2004

Time to check on the kids and bring more wood down for the fire. I’ve made lots of smaller logs so I should have a hot burn tonight but much refueling. I want to watch tv with the wife

Had hamburgers then watched Blue Clues to see Blue talk! Still undecided on the format. It definitely opens up marketing potential as far as greater variety of things to sell, support for the live show etc. It also gives them the option of dropping the live action character at anytime and the voice is generic enough that any character actor can handle it.

Time to put kiddies to bed.

Time to cook. Hamburgers tonight.

Whew! Have enough wood for a hot fire this evening and maybe even next. Made a great mix of well seasoned and relatively fresh wood.

I keep bouncing from cleaning task to cleaning task accomplishing very little of anything. It’s so overwhelming but I know once I start into it things will go well and quickly.

I talked to the neighbor. His neighbor is putting up an 8 foot tall privacy fence right on the property line. I was trying to explain his rights and that he could exercise them for a phone call and he just didn’t seem inclined to want to fight the issue.

I hate privacy fences. It screws with the animals (I personally like possum and snakes and raccoons etc), devalues the neighborhood and generally adds nothing to neighborhood.

Chopped some wood and tried to save the fire. Heading to the garage for a bit.

Shifting focus to the outdoors. Going to work on 1) wood splitting 2) driveway and 3) garage

My fuse is short for the 13 yr old today but I think he is wanting a fight. I’m working really hard to stay calm and respond smartly.

Downstairs trash minus bathroom and bedroom and all upstairs trash moved to curb for pickup. Kitty litter scooped and freshened. Baby given juice, a hug and encouragement to take her nap.

Today’s Goals:

• Chop wood
• Clean
• Find hotair balloon (I want to fly it with the kids. Today is perfect!)
• Work 2 hours in Act to arrange contacts for job searching tomorrow

Decided to put wood chopping off until later. Don’t want to change into grubbies now. Instead, going to tackle cleaning the office some. The 13 yr old has done his home work and enjoyed it.

I love to watch my baby! She is an endless source of amusement. She shows so much intelligence. My wife and I says she is an “old soul.”

A few minutes ago she abruptly looked up from the television and said “Where’s Mama?” Then took off at high speed down the hall. A couple of minutes later I look down the hall to see the bathroom light on and door open (we keep the door closed) so I assume the wife is in there. The baby has one of her 10 yr old sister’s socks pulled up to her elbow and in the other hand is holding the bottle of baby wash and was putting her socked hand to the open top and then touching it to her head. Although she never got soap on the soak, she was “washing” herself. I let her continue until she was “all done” and then I put the soap away and closed the bathroom door.

I love to cook. I wish I had a more functional kitchen but that doesn’t stop me from having fun. My wife and I have a wonderful arrangement. I cook (make the mess) and she cleans up. I usually try to clean as I go but there is always something left to do after the meal. Of course, I remember a 2 month stint at Wendy’s in high school where I was morning shift and my best friend was closing; I made the mess, he cleaned it up; I enjoyed my job, he hated his. I must remember this and make sure the wife doesn’t hate our arrangement.

This morning I went a little further than normal. I cooked scrambled eggs, toast, sausage, and decorated the plates with orange slices and banana slices. I put out butter, ketchup, salt, pepper, grape jam, and orange marmalade. The baby giggled when she saw her plate because it was quite different than her usual mornings. She ate 2 helpings of eggs, some sausage, nibbled the grape toast but shook her head to the orange marmalade toast. We all finished our feast.

Now I’ll take a coffee for desert and decide on a direction for today.