The Sound of Silence

It was time for Ally to say her prayers before bed, and she pleaded to be able to say them 'in her head.'

I said to her, 'But I want to hear!'

She said, 'Just listen!'

She then assumed the position, said her prayer in silence, and finished (a mere 10 seconds later) with a verbal 'Amen.'

'See!' she said proudly.

Yes, I saw, but I found it hard to listen to silence! (I guess I need to study Zen more?)

Show-off!

Tonight as Cindy was in a quandary about what to fix for dinner, I suggested waffles.

Kenner's face lit up, and when I asked Ally she also nodded and grinned ferociously.

Cindy got out the Bisquick, and I opened a couple cupboards in my search for the waffle iron.

Cindy watched for a second, then felt the need to comment.

'It's been TWO YEARS!' she cooed, her tone edged with the finest Damascus steel. Yeah, I guess we have been in the house that long now.

The sarcasm having sharpened my senses, I said, 'Ahh....it is in one of the cupboards with a shelf that pulls out!'

Rolling her eyes, she turned to Ally and sweetly asked, 'Ally, where is the waffle iron?'

Ally beelined to a lower-level cupboard, opened the door, pulled out the shelf and pointed proudly.

Cindy put out her hand and they exchanged a high-five.

This is kinda how Cindy looked at that moment (in terms of facial expressions only....and in the context of "The Karate Kid" final scene.....)



Ah, the proud look of Mr. MiyaGI!

Bear Country

We have enjoyed wonderful sunny weather the past couple days, and our neighborhood is mimicking a community of bears--everyone is coming out of hibernation and wandering around the neighborhood.

Let me be quick to add that, unlike bears, they are looking for conversation and exercise rather than food.

And yes, one of the older neighbors who shall not be named was out at 5 PM in his PJs--but I think he only walked a lap or two around the block.

I guess the above analogy doesn't hold too well under scrutiny because--at least in my case--it is plainly manifest that I spent more time eating than hibernating over the winter!

I found a good likeness of how I feel--gray hairs, pasty pink skin and all!

Drug me!

Ally has had mild fevers and coughing the past 5 days or so (it's mostly coughing right now), and Cindy called me at work to tell me that Ally had woken up at 7:15 and had walked into our bedroom holding a bottle of Motrin in one hand and a spoon in the other.

That girl knows what she wants!

I pity her husband! (Though at least he'll feel wanted too!)

Now that's lucky!

On Saturday night I took Kenner to dinner and a Father-Daughter dance at the school together with our 2-houses-over neighbor Joe and his daughter Kylie.

I got the best of the bargain though. It was the second-to-last dance before I was able to talk Kenner into actually dancing with me (most of the time the dance floor was covered with little girls running in circles and otherwise roving in madcap girlish packs with all the dads being wallflowers).

And then halfway thru the dance she said her stomach was hurting her (my diagnosis was 'Too many treats--she didn't concur), so that ended that!

Still, I had a hard time getting her out of the gym because the last song was Taylor Swift's 'White Horse.' (If it had been Ally, it would've been an impossible task!)

Games Girls Play.....

The other day Ally was busily drawing a picture with her crayons.

Cindy came by and Ally piped out, 'Mom, what color should I use? Red or blue?'

Ally then added in a conspiratorial tone, 'Say red!'

Cindy dutifully answered, 'How about red?'

Ally replied, 'No! I'm already using BLUE!'

[Insert Evil Laugh Here]

I was calling someone tonight to set up an interview--we all know what that means, don't we!--and I walked into the kitchen towards the end of the voicemail message I was leaving.

Being extremely bright, Cindy must've picked up on the gist of the call.

As I turned the phone off she gave me a serious look, and said, 'Hey, you left something out on your message!'

Being not so bright, I replied with concern, "Oh? What?"

'The evil laugh!' she evilly chortled.

I gave her an evil 'Bwah-ha-ha,' which she gave a thumbs-up to, so I guess I'll have to try it out some other time!

The Blog of Revelations???

I see that the last post was number 666 on this blog.
And it just happened to be about being wicked!

I guess it's a good thing I didn't inadvertently work in the number 144,000 anywhere!

Who knows what I might've started!

Wickedness Never was Happiness???

Well, maybe, but from what I've been able to tell, 'Wicked' is sheer delight to the womenfolk in our home.

Cindy and I went to see this stage version of a 'chick flick' a week ago Thursday, and though it was quite enjoyable (despite the fact it stars a green-hued lass named 'Elphaba'--Elpheba???!!!) that was just the start.

Cindy now swoons every time she listens to the CD ("It's just like seeing it again!") and prefers it even to Regis and Kelly in the morning. The girls are enchanted too. And now I find myself unconsciously humming some of the songs.

Still, it does get me out of the obligatory annual 'chick-flick' DVD rental date night that all husbands endure. And if she wants to go see another show (she bought these for us (HA!) for a Christmas present) I can just pop in the CD and let her relive it!

Elphaba????!?!??!?!?

Thatta girl!

Yesterday Allyson called upstairs with the following gem:

"Dad! Makenna is tattle-telling!"

Men's Jewelry

As I was getting Ally ready for bed, she was sorting through some kid jewelry.

'Here Dad,' she said, 'Here's a necklace for you.'

Ah, another teaching moment, I thought.

'Ally,' I gently remonstrated, 'Boys don't wear necklaces--at least, not most boys.'

She replied brightly, 'Frodo wears a necklace! One with a ring on it!'

Touche!

This is what I get for having a Lord of the Rings family movie marathon over Christmas break....(with the Clearplay filter cutting out the more violent frames).

(At least she hasn't had the need to say something like, 'He was twitching because he's got my axe embedded in his central nervous system!')

An afterthought....

Erin had a bball game tonight (they lost in overtime), and Ally and I got home at 7 PM rather than the usual 6:15 PM or so.
Cindy had a harried look as I walked in, and she promptly said, 'You're taking me out tonight!'
5 minutes later we were backing out, and we ended up at Godfather's Pizza.
15 minutes later we were eating a 1/2 Supreme Combo 1/2 Pepperoni pizza. Cindy was in heaven! You see, seven months ago we had first tasted a Supreme Combo on the occasion of a nephew's HS graduation, and she had fallen in love. (Of course we had never gone back, as a large multi-topping pizza costs about $20--and there ain't no coupons!)

30 minutes later as we were pulling out of the parking lot, she gushed, 'That is the best pizza EVER! Oh, Godfather, I love you more than anything!........Well, second only to 'Mr. Darcy.' (See the previous post....)
Then she paused briefly, looked over a me, and continued (having only missed a couple hundred beats, or so it seemed].....'Well, YOU'RE number one, of course!'

I'm glad that is straightened out!

Pride and Preju-GPS

One of Cindy's 'non-surprise' gifts for Christmas (and it's surprising how many of these there were...) was a GPS unit.

As she was fiddling around with the settings, she came across the language settings for the voice, and after trying some of them, she selected 'British English' and as soon as those mellifluous tones began emanating from the speakers, she swooned, murmured something about 'My Mr. Darcy' and her countenance was lit up by a beatific smile.

We gave it its first test-drive on Sunday when we went to Middletown (my nephew is fresh off his mission to Hong Kong and was speaking). As the English voice kindly provided driving instructions Cindy went limp in the passenger seat and said,

'Yes, YES, this is my Mr. Darcy!.....I think I'll take a drive from one end of Huber Heights to the other!' (HH is famous for its maze-like street system, and thus there would be a lot of verbal instructions.)

Sounds like I won't have to buy a Valentine's gift now!

Chuck Norris the Omnipotent??

I don’t know if this is just a local phenomenon or a more widespread disease, but Cameron has recently been hearing, finding, and memorizing Chuck Norris jokes.

Here is a sampling:

The quickest way to a man's heart is with Chuck Norris' fist.
Chuck Norris does not hunt because the word hunting implies the possibility of failure--Chuck Norris goes killing.
Giraffes were created when Chuck Norris uppercutted a horse.
Superman owns a pair of Chuck Norris pajamas.
Chuck Norris is 1/8th Cherokee. This has nothing to do with ancestry--the man ate a Jeep!

And my personal favorite:
Chuck Norris was originally offered the role as Frodo in Lord of the Rings. He declined because, "Only a wimp would need three movies to destroy a piece of jewelry."

Now, he has never seen a Chuck Norris movie (those Golan-Globus low-budget shoot-em-up chop-em-down blow-them-up flicks) or any of the TV shows. He probably doesn’t even know what he looks like. So for others in the same situation....




I got online yesterday and found a 100-joke list for him to use. (Of course, it was only 80 jokes after I got rid of the adult-themed ones, and then I had to tastefully edit the filthy-foul language out of some of the other ones). After that experience, I forbade him to get on the Internet and look up more jokes by himself.

Thanksgiving 2009

A time of great feasting and......and......and more feasting at my sister's home!

The Prep Work--Looks like there was some HAM along with those turkeys!

The Spread....it makes the Cartwright's Ponderosa spread look downright puny!

The gracious hosts.

The thankful and hungry Pilgrims

More HAM at the dinner table!

The pie table. Somewhat disappointing, I may add, as there were only 8 pies for 6 adults and 7 kids. Oink oink!

Makenna the Hippie

Allyson getting her daily dose of horse.

To not upset the sensibilities of sensitive readers, no photos of people groaning as they are supporting their distended stomachs have been included.

I went, I spent, I came home

I had hoped to get out of going this year, but as luck would have it, I was 20th in line at Sam's Club at 4:15 AM.

Cindy had gotten up at 3:15 in preparation for her yearly masochistic ritual, but I got to sleep in until 3:45!

And I got a free breakfast out of it too! I just brought it all home so that I could eat it after the sun comes up!

Turkey Day Smells

Yesterday Cindy and I went for a nice 4-mile walk late in the morning.

Just before we left I put the cold-smoked turkey in the oven, so as we were leaving I cheerily proclaimed, "By the time we get back that turkey should be smelling REAL good!"

Cindy cheerily added, "When we get back, we should certainly be able to smell YOU real good!"

What's to argue???

Has She Been Listening to the Commodores?

Yesterday we were talking about funerals, etc., and Cindy was telling how she gets teary-eyed and emotional at them.

Erin listened, then commented, 'I keep my feelings inside,' tapping her chest.

"Yes," she continued with some degree of satisfaction, "Right here in my brick house!"

Tradition! Tradition!

Mid-day yesterday was kinda slow at the homestead, so Cindy looked at me and said, "I know you like to put up the Christmas tree on Black Friday while I'm gone, but why don't we just put it up today!"

I obligingly replied, "Ha! There is NO way! That is the only thing that helps me maintain some degree of sanity in the home while you are gone all day!"

This from the lady who thrives on traditions in a way that would make Tevye hang his bearded head in shame--always having the birthday person sit in the "Birthday Chair," having "Monkey Bread" for Christmas always eating babyback ribs for Christmas dinner, singing "Long Live the Salsa" at birthdays, etc., etc. (Yeah, I will pay big time for that last one....)

Anyway, I am glad I was able maintain this one tradition that I hold dear.

On a final note, Erin was listening nearby, her mouth agape.

"But Dad!" she stuttered in disbelief,"You NEVER tell Mom 'No'!"

I guess in the survival of the fittest, some traditions just don't have the requisite staying power!

Well, THAT was short-lived!

I now have Cambone crouched over the heating vent in the study, and Ally on my lap.