Reality Me

Poor Noah. He went outside again today unprompted to “bury poop” as that used to be a chore worth money on the chore sheets. He came in and hours later said, “where’s my chore sheet?” Cathy removed them weeks ago because no one was paying any attention to them!

Noah is a wonderful child. He contributes to the family without prompting and is genuinely a good boy. He has the smarts and charisma to be a great leader but I fear he allows himself to be victomized by his peers. It is hard not to contribute that to actions on his brother’s part. When Tommy acts up, Noah retreats mentally. It’s as if his whole body shrinks some. He doesn’t have to physically hide because when Tommy is having a blowout everyone else goes unnoticed. So, I can imagine that if a peer acted a bit like Tommy and noticed Noah’s retreat then they could conceivably gain influence over him. Noah is also attracted to other children that act like Tommy. It is what he knows.

After Tommy’s rough start I expected the whole mall experience to be horrible. Fortunately we chose to see Santa at East Town Mall (now East Town Centre) and everything went smoothly. The Santa was Disney perfect! Could not have asked for a better Santa.

At one point I wanted to show Amy what to expect. Our conversation went like this:

D: “Who is that?”

A: Seeing the toy in the elf’s hand “Elmo!”

D: “Yes, but who is that?” Pointing.

A: “Santa!”

D: “Will you sit in Santa’s lap?”

A: Shakes head no.

D: “Are you going to tell him what you want for Christmas?”

A: “Yup!”

D: “What do you want?”

A: “Lots of presents.”

Santa: Leans over and whispers toward the baby’s ear. From our prespective we see his mouth move and his beard rub the baby’s head.

A: Laughing. “Santa eatting baby!”

I about died laughing!

I just spent 10 minutes switching bulbs around on a string of lights to turn around and check the fuses and while putting the fuse back it it bounced out and disappeared into the ether.

Where my light tester is is anybody’s guess. This would be fun if I wasn’t so overdeadlined.

So when I was fixing the dryer (fixed) I learned that there is an alarm inside. If the belt ever breaks the alarm sounds.

For the past few days an alarm has been sounding but the drum still turns. My guess? I suppose the belt is either slipping or sticking. I guess I’ll add a washer and dryer to the Christmas list.

But wait! Let’s check one thing. Oh look! The lint catcher has a carpet on it! Yes, that thing which is supposed to be cleaned before every load probably hasn’t been cleaned in a week. So our alarm was telling us to clean the lint catcher.

arcite wins with “after sending the kids off for overnight medical experiments (someone has to try the new drugs & we need the beer money)”

Yesterday was a hard day for Molly. We began the day cramming for dog school. We practiced several times before lunch. Molly had bath which she deplores. On the way to dog school we tried to got Petsmart. She encountered small yipping things and big sniffing things but we bailed out quickly. The crowds were unbelievable!

So, onto dog school. We get there early and Molly enjoys everyone’s presence. Then we throw the ball. Then there is a half an hour of exercises. Then an hour of testing. The dogs all did great. Molly’s performance could have been better but “if there was an award for most improved, Molly would get it!” She had a blast.

I’m going to miss dog school. Molly was so wiped out that she slept the whole afternoon. Then in the evening she joined Cathy and I in bed (yes, a dog has come between us) but slept the entire night in the same spot on her back with all 4 paws up in the air. She looked like the horse from Animal House.

A New Day!

Let’s start the day off with a PayPal donation link:

This Morning

I have this terrible fear of letting people down. So, I’ll often try to go above and beyond to impress even if it is at my own expense. I also don’t like to say no. If I know I can do something or help someone then I want to do it. Furthermore I sincerely believe there is nothing that I can’t take on and success. Combine these three things together and you have a perfect formula for disaster.

Today I can feel the ache all over.

So, I’ve escalated the efforts to get the dog accostomed to pottying outside instead of in the house. I now carry all poop from inside the house to a specific spot outside.

Today I look outside to see my most helpful child (8yr old) burying the poop!

Next step in the training will be to put urine scented sticks and leaves in the same area and spray down the favorite spots in the house with a scented deterent.

How do we ever live to see our teen years?

The 8 year olds are playing Marco Polo on the trampoline.

Does anyone actually use a Celeron processor? Comments?

David of Partisan Shots has two great posts (post 1 and post 2) highlighting Europe’s response and the Republican’s response to We’re Sorry Everybody.

And, btw, England has posted a NOTICE OF REVOCATION OF INDEPENDENCE TO CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

MSN Spaces is Microsoft’s answer to Blogger, Moveable Type and TypePad.

I am testing it at http://spaces.msn.com/members/juggler/

A New Day!

Let’s start the day off with a PayPal donation link:

This Morning

Molly and I started the day with some dog training practice. She did well! Let’s hope I didn’t just use up all her good behavior for the day. Today is dog school graduation.

I could have had a major win with Molly but the cold weather drove me in. Once inside, she instantly let a gallon flow! Had I waited a few minutes!!

I need echinacea! I can feel something coming on but I am going to fight through it. If not for this blog entry my family would not even know. Now my wife will tease me with the “poor me’s”.

Hoorah!

Intrinsa is a testosterone patch in development for the treatment of female sexual dysfunction, which is a condition characterized by a lack of sexual arousal, desire, and pleasure.

I wonder what are the ethical implications of sneaking one of these onto your mate while she sleeps.

It feels so good to be my daughter’s hero. This morning I was holding her (the 2yr old) on my right hip and poured a juice single handedly with my left hand. She leans away from me so she has room to clap and quickly and repeatedly pats her hands together while cheering “yeah Daddy!” with a BIG smile on her face.

My life doesn’t have a soundtrack yet (unless my sound track is Art of Noise or Stomp) but I certainly do have a cheering squad!