People say it gets easier

It's getting worse. As the babies get more and more mobile, the stresses increase. Right now Liberty is quite literally screaming because Trinity won't stay in bed. Clell won't stay in his bed either, but he's in a room with Titus, so that's not as huge a deal. I take one step forward and two steps back on my bathroom project. Finish work eats me alive. I'm not skilled at it and it's so time consuming for me. Then, a little girl puts glue on one of my boards and sticks a painted board onto it. I don't notice so when I go to work with it I find that it takes the strength of a gorilla to pry it apart and some of board goes with it. I guess that's why they call it gorilla glue. Of course, my babies can rip the bezel off of my media center pc that is glued on with the same glue....

Sigh. some days are harder than others, that's for sure. Usually rebekah and I make a good team, but occasionally we both hit our limit. Mine is much lower than hers and gets hit on an almost daily basis, so I guess it's really more a factor of Rebekah hitting her limit at the same time I've hit mine. I'm not trying to complain about the situation, just document. Maybe I can guilt my kids into letting me live in their guest house when i'm old and infirm. I wonder if my kids will be rich when I'm 50? STOP LAUGHING.

Well, take care. And If you see us on the evening news, please don't say "they were such nice people. I never saw it coming."

I'm hurt

not a single person called 911. I could still be stuck under there for all you know. I mean, don't you have a heart? <sigh>. Well, I made it out of the crawlspace. I was victorious. Almost 10 years of mediocre drainage were put to death by a swift (well, 2 hours) of determined plumbage. I tried to plan for all contingencies since it's so miserably hard to move around down there. I bought a couple different elbows and cut a couple different sizes of pipe to join in so I had 2 different heights and 2 different lengths. Well, 3 if you count the other elbow. Actually, I think I had more than that. let me think. Wow, that's actually a lot of combinations. I'm pretty smart. But when you're down under your house you have to live by your wits. Anywho, it was challenging to cut the pipe fitting off due to the cramped space but I managed it. I had to get kind of intimate with the main drain line but it was cool cause we had dinner first. After I cut the fitting off, I eyeballed it and yep, there was a bunch of gunk in there. But, when I tried to clean out the stub piece that went into the main drain I discovered that it was pretty much totally gummed up. I had to have one of my boys bring me a drill and use that to power through. There was definitely some rust, but after some drilling, jabbing, swearing, and poking I got it cleaned out. I then put the new fitting in and use the fernco couplers to get it all nice and snug. Was a little bit looser than I liked, but I reefed on it until it seemed nice and tight. Rebekah ran the water and no leak! wow. I topped off my final (i hope) excursion by putting a little sensor by the mainline to detect any water leaks. Kind of neat and for only $10 at home depot I think it's a good idea. The main line has a patch on it and it's seeping a tiny amount. At least this way if it gets worse I should find out before the house floats away.

Fat bottomed girls...

...you make the rockin' world go round. Inappropriate? Yes. Offensive? Possibly. Funny? Absolutely. I mention this because Rebekah woke me up this morning by bringing Trin in to see me and for some reason I turned on the radio. Maybe to see her dance a little. maybe to wake me up. Not really sure. Don't really care. But there I was playing with Trin (and baby Clell made an appearance too) and the song "Fat Bottomed Girls" by Queen came on the radio. Needless to say this song has given me much amusement over the years and has provided an auspicious start to a day when I have much to do and little sleep on which to do it. I went and played a couple board games with some guys last night which might seem a little lame but is actually quite fun. The most unique game involved cars and violence. The goal was to score the most points in the bloodiest and most appalling way possible. Hitting organic speed bumps (ahem, pedestrians) was first and foremost on everybody's mind. Of course, they're slippery little buggers so it's easier said than done. And what would a violent game be without the opportunity to shoot your fellow players (or flame throw, or land mine, or ram) and wipe-out as you head around turns? Of course, it's modeled on real life where when you crash you get to start over after giving up an accessory card, and taking a minus to your points. I will tell you this, it was a lot more fun driving home later. Unfortunately, somebody must have been through ahead of me because I couldn't find any moving speed bumps to hit. . Last place in life AND in the game.

There I was...

...holding my jigsaw with pumpkin guts all over me and the saw. My memory was fuzzy. I looked down and in horror saw 4 dead pumpkins. The oldest was obviously a victim of my saw but what about the others? What happened? I started to think back...

It was a brisk autumn day and I decided that I was going to somewhat celebrate the pagan holiday of all pagan holidays-Halloween. But, knowing that i was far too lazy to wander around in the dark w/ my kids I decided to start small and just get some pumpkins. I rushed home from work and picked up my two boys who eagerly had been asking about halloween even though we've never done anything before. We made the quick trip over to the produce stand (on steroids) and proceeded to wander around in the cold not knowing what to do. I prefer my food to be dead, cooked and on my plate. This was a new experience. Finally I asked someone about pumpkins. After giving me a stare usually reserved for dudes and deadbeats, she gave me the low down. If we wanted to, we could take a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch and get sweet, juciy, ripe, and beautiful pumpkins there or we could look at a pile of mangy cast-offs. I chose the castoffs. I let the boys pick their pumpkins (of course I had veto power) and then I picked a couple baby ones for the girls. When we got home we started the messy business. I started Titus off first and while he was disemboweling his, I did the two girls baby 'kins. Typical girls. did not want to get their hands dirty. Finally, I got to Forrest's 'kin. I thought it odd that his had a different texture but didn't pay much attention until later. I tried using the same knives on his pumpkin only to bend them. Finally I had a hole in it but cutting was a nightmare. I alternated between a serrated knife and my gerber multi-tool saw blade. Talk about frustrating. Finally, I decided that the risk of slipping and cutting a nearby observer was too great and I went and got a bigger hammer. Figuratively that is. Literally, I got a saw. I came back to the table with a gleam in my eye and a fresh battery. I got the blade in and started cutting. It was beautiful. It was like a knife through butter. Not hot, but not cold. maybe about 60 degrees or so. room temperature if you like it cold or are trying to preserve a body and throw off the time of death for the medical examiner. But I digress. I was careful and finally got the top of the 'kin. And there I found the reason why it was so hard to cut... it was made of gold! Yes it was, wait, no. Well, it turns out it was just really thick-skinned. I'd say it was at least 1/8" thick. probably more but i'm not very good at the maths. less than 1/4 but more than an 1/8. 3/16? maybe? Anyway, everybody was happy. except the pumpkins

I'm not sure using a saw counts as carving

Sigh. somehow I wiped out my blog post. needless to say, using a saber saw on a pumpkin makes for great fun. if anyone cares to hear the whole story, comment and I'll write it up again. Otherwise, just content yourself with knowing that I have pumpkin guts on my saw.

It's so quiet

with only two kids around. I don't feel well (flu-ish) and stayed home and kept Trin and Titus. Trin is so mellow that for the first hour she just sat with me or wandered around. Now that Titus is inside he's playing with her, too roughly, it's a bit louder but still much quieter than all 6. 

Last week we received a generous gift from somebody anonymously. Well, the week before last week. So, last-er week I guess. Anywho, this gift was extremely timely as I had planned some very specific things for Rebekah's birthday But our bank account went dry which was going to seriously dampen my enthusiasm for spending money. Money isn't important to me until I don't have enough to pay my bills and meet my needs then it's very important. So, the money came in and we were able to get somebody to babysit all day. We were gone from 9ish until 7 that night! Pretty wild huh? So we left our 6 urchins with supergirl Hannah and went to the big city of Boise.  After a marvelous fast food breakfast, we then hit the mall in Nampa. I like that mall better. Smaller, less crowded. Even has some guy stores (translation: no clothes).  After rebekah came down from her shopping high we went to goodwill. She got some random stuff there but I found a cool home-made bookshelf for $13! It fit our house perfectly. Rustic, yet sophisticated. Ok, not really. It was a neat design but done by an amateur. Probably some kids shop project. But even with some rough edges, I "fell in love" with it. No. No, I didn't. But I did want it. So, I crammed it in the suburban. Next up on the day of fun was lunch at the Brazilian restaurant Tucanos. Now, I'm not big on ethnic food but the way they do it is very cool. First you pay them lots of money. Then you can eat what you want off the salad "festival" and then they bring meat and stuff around to your table.  It was in a rotation, so you feel a little frustrated at first since you want your food and you want it now, but be patient and they bring some pretty groovy things around. Rebekah was even brave enough to eat a marinated chicken heart! Sheesh. After eating leisurely we left before we were stuffed (imagine that!) and journeyed to the Outlet mall. It was a bit pruned down since we had been there last, but more stores for the little woman at least. I suggested we stop in the Levi's store and that was a mistake. The chick there started trying to "help" us and rebekah threw me to the wolves. I didn't want her help. I was 15 feet away facing away from her and she tries to talk to me. Doesn't she know how this works? Talk to the female companion of the male shopper. She is the intermediary. I don't talk to chicks about clothes unless I know them. Just another example of the moral decay of America I guess <sigh>.

Anyway, things were good and the money was great and now I feel kind of rotten and I have been having headaches. I'm going to go read a book if I can. Thanks for reading, and remember Keep Smiling!

 

Clubbing

I always want to start my blogs with something about clubbing. I'm not sure why, but it's probably because my parents didn't love me enough or they didn't get me the GI Joe w/ the Kung Fu grip or something. Either way, whatever sanity I have sometimes doesn't seem quite enough. God seems to provide (if you're a heathen then I guess insert an empty space where I wrote God) what I need but it's pretty darn close sometimes. The boys have been doing better because we've been keeping a daily accounting of their behavior. If they've been bad they end up w/ a "frowny face" and their reward/punishment is bare bottom spanking. Thankfully, that's been pretty rare because we give them a reality check when I get home. Then they get the opportunity to turn it around but the best they can do for the whole day is and OK. Basically, I define that as "Kids are not small adults, and therefore they will make mistakes and I will not crush their spirits too much." A "smiley-face" is "I about passed out because when I came home my wife wasn't in hysterics and screaming "Why did you do this to me!?!" and I am able to enter the home and go to bed at night w/out almost having a heart attack. Also, you probably did something without being asked and did a good job. Oh, and you ran and got me water whenever I asked for it." 

A frowny face on the other hand is much much grimmer. It consists of the aforementioned hysterical wife with details such as "he said i hate you." or lying and bullying the girls or wanton destruction or some such evil that is wicked (as were we all once) children. I worked with Forrest on proper nouns. Ok, forget all the complicated stuff. Proper nouns are nouns that are always capitalized. Get that, then work on what makes them special. I don't do much w/ helping schoooling (yes an extra o for the extra work) but Forrest was working on greater than/less than. Ya know < & >? I remember being confused on those. I swear I was in sixth grade. What the heck? why was I doing that in sixth grade. I gotta be wrong on that one. Anyway, I finally figured it out so I told forrest to picture the symbol < as pacman eating the bigger number. I drew a partial circle (come on, you can picture it) and threw on some eyeballs. I even added teeth. That seemed to help him a lot and it made it more fun to boot.

Anyway, something is always going on here. Rebekah and I are currently in tense negotiations over Turkey Day. Plans changed since her lazy sister moved away. Right now i'm looking at a multiple-hundred $ expense to drive to Colorado. I will stop now before I get in too much trouble. Rebekah gets these blogs. She's shopping right now while I sit here like a zombie. Granted, a zombie with higher brain function, but still a zombie.

We are also looking at refinancing our house. I'm a little frustrated over homeowners insurance of all things because our house is old. Hopefully we can put that to bed soon. I've committed to an appraisal though so if things go belly up now, i'm on the hook for $500. If not, it'll get rolled into the loan (i think). <groan!> See why driving to Colorado stresses me out? Not to mention the 6 small children and an over ten hour drive. Sanity, I'll see you on the flipside :)

Threats, lies and deceit

another day parenting. I think we do most of the threats with the kids doing the latter two. Some days I worry that we're going to be on nationwide news and not for good sweetness and light reasons. But, I have learned that most parents feel exasperated (that's an understatement) at one time or another. I deal with most of the stress by plugging my ears and yelling "nuh nuh nuh nuh" at the top of my lungs. That's is a small exaggeration. Like lilliputin small. or maybe even only dust mite small. sigh. My poor wife. Can you imagine what she has to go through every day? If we had really docile well behaved children (don't laugh, I think I've seen some demo units before) then it would still be just this side of insane. But no, our kids are typical hellions that hit each other with sticks and get stuff out of the trash and basically behave like drunken frat boys. The girls wouldn't be so bad, but there's two of them and the boys corrupt their sugar and spice into snips and snails. When I was a boy I was offended by that little poem, now I get it and agree with it. I love my boys and they are good kids but the combination of a small house with so many young kids and my wife trying to home school is, to put it bluntly, a nervous breakdown cocktail. I told Rebekah we need to form little bubbles of order amidst the chaos. partition the house. maybe make a DMZ with land mines so she can teach without being pestered. I'm considering all options. Your prayers would be much much coveted. BTW, coveted can be good as well as bad. I mean, you don't have to covet your neighbors wife. Instead, try coveting a nice bell pepper. It's better for you and there's no guilt!

your slightly insane friend,

Grant.

Moving on up

Or something. I just completed the last step to adding a toilet upstairs. Granted there's a lot of finish work left, but a major step has been completed. Of course, tomorrow I'll get a phone call with more screaming than normal and come home to a house reminiscent of Hurricane Katrina. Yes, it's a proud day in this ballard household. Now, if you'll excuse me I must finish watching a show about a serial killer trained to use his craft to right wrongs (not wongs.)

SOS

Save our Sanity... Please. I don't know what else to say.

The San Francisco Chronicles

I'm trying to write this blog while watching a movie with copious senseless violence. It's appropriate because my brain is pudding, or maybe oatmeal. I've been working upstairs all day, but I'll get to that in a bit.

So, I left a week ago to go to San Fran for a convention for VMware. Packed. 17,000 people. Too many people. The classes were packed out unless you go to them an hour early. Getting in line for an hour before for an hour class is not my idea of fun. But I finally figured out a good way to navigate the wilderness successfully to make the most of my time. Unfortunately, I got some bad blisters and by Wednesday they were seriously painful. I thought at college I had done a lot of walking, but this took the cake. I made it up to the warf w/ my boss and we ate at a couple places up there. I bought some souvenirs and promptly left one of them when I sat down waiting for my boss to wander back. Stupid blisters. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have put my stuff down. Grrr. Anyway, I never made it to the Castro district (hehe) or anything interesting. But that's cool, because I'm not really impressed by people, or culture, or anything much. I did read a couple local publications while I was there and I surprised that they were well written and not crazy liberal. It really confused me. I guess since everybody is so liberal there anyway, they don't have to use propaganda as much? Who knows. Anyway, it was fun seeing the kids when I came back. When Trinity first saw me she got this really weird look on her face. Almost like she was going to cry. It was quite touching.

So, I've been working on the bathroom project. Estimated time of completion is 2013. But I'm making good progress. I've figured out PEX and run supply lines (mostly). But before I can actually put a toilet in I have to fix the slope on the floor. So, I'm taking up the flooring and putting in sister Joists so I can put the flooring back down and make it level. Well, when I took up the carpet and 70 year old linoleum I found tongue and groove wood and I hated to just destroy it. Thus, I am trying to remove it and reuse it which makes the job much much harder. But, i'm semi-optimistic that it won't be a complete disaster and I hope to have a big chunk done before work tuesday.

well, i'd better go. Baby Clell is up and coming for me.

bend, dont' break

Or break for all I freakin' care. It's odd how some things stress me out. Although I hate traveling, it doesn't stress me out too much. Thankfully this trip to San Fran was a direct flight and I had a friend going with me. We got in mid afternoon on Sunday and I took my first mass transit train ride. It was freakin' LOUD. I am definitely going to write Ms. Pelosi when I get back. Nobody's tried to mug me yet, but there's still time. A fair number of homeless guys out there panhandling. I wonder if they take credit cards? The conference so far has been less than I'd hoped for but meeting good people and making good connections so it's cool. One of our classes had an ethnic individual that I had no idea what he was saying. The Indian dude before him sounded like a native English speaker comparatively (and yes, I know the official language of India is English. so What!). I brought a webcam so I could say hi to the kids, but I've been so busy by the time I get ready everybody is in bed.

Rebekah told me some news from home today. Makese me want to stay here. Liberty got pushed off of a ledge by our stairway and hit her face. Blood but apparently she's still alive since Rebekah didn't say anything about coming home immediately. Also, Titus put his body through a window of our storm door. Cuts but nothing major. Good, because I need to kill him. (note to Department of Health and Welfare. This is a joke and nothing bad will happen to the boy because of this. His Dad might snap and curl up in a fetal position and cry for a few hours, but that's cool because he's over 18).

Well, I better get back on twitter and see what's happening. I'm starting to figure out why it's so cool. Real time info better than cable news.

The horn blows at midnight

Well, Rebekah's Grandma sent us some money for Forrest's birthday to use for the whole family so my excuse for not going to the zoo is shot. Going anywhere with 6 kids is difficult at best and my enthusiasm is always very low and I'm kind of lazy so hence my reluctance to go. Oh, and I'm cheap. don't forget that. But my plumbing project is in a mild lull as the parts and pieces i ordered won't be here until next week. I'm spending too much money. Nothing really expensive but it all adds up. I've got the drain lines to the upstairs and I've started putting supply lines in using Pex. Basically, Pex is some sort of plastic-ish tubing that is somewhat flexibile and it's pretty cheap. Copper costs 4 to 6x as much. But, nothing is ever simple and there are different types of ways to do pex and so it can get confusing. I think I picked a good balance between cheap and easy. Anyway, I'm learning stuff. Today at work I plumbed an ice-maker for a refrigerator with a little help with some friends. One of those things that amazes me. I've never been very good at stuff like this, but necessity is a great motivator. Oddly enough though, pride is the biggest reason I'm trying to do so much myself. Of course, I don't have the money to pay somebody either so it works well. Since my Dad did most everything himself (and still does) I try to tackle as much as I can too. I understand better why my Dad got so frustrated at some household issues though. Some things get old. Since my main drain vent is plugged that explains (probably) why our bathroom sink has such trouble. But it's an old farm house. It has character. Much like a third-world country.

Sooo much stress

Well, I wrote a post about what was on my mind but with my luck even though heavily sanitized I would've ended up saying something wrong so I deleted it. Them;s the breaks I guess. 

Life is stressful as always although a bit more than normal. Won't bore you with why, but if you're of the praying mind then see if you can get something to not bounce off the ceiling for me, mmmh-kay?

We had our big maple tree trimmed a little over a week ago. Between those huge branches and some Poplars that were dead we have a bunch more wood for winter. Of course, I have no more room on my property to store branches. I can't burn the ones I have or I'll lose my carport, my woodpile and my shop. Yesterday I raked branches (yes, there were that many) into a pile in the driveway and burned them. Fire is cool. I like fire. But it's scary too. The local Wendy's burned down due to a careless attempt to thaw some AC pipes. Yep, no more square hamburgers for me.

In other news, my plumbing project is creeping along. I made the mistake of buying some professional plumbing books that were highly rated on Amazon. Now I know all the things I was doing wrong, or rather, not as right as I could be. Gentle Bends, my friend, Gentle Bends. No, that's not a bear! That's Ben, not Bends. Sheesh. I also think I'm going to invest in plumbing supply companies cause their margins have to huuuge! A two foot piece of ABS (4") cost $10!! But, I have the pipe in my closet where I need to drill a hole to run it to the second floor where it shall be its home. I figure I need about another $150 in pipe and fittings just for the drain line. But in different yet related news, while I was reading my expert/pro plumbing I got to thinking that maybe my main drain vent was plugged up. So, yesterday I climbed on the roof with my snake and found that it only went down 15 feet and no amount of pushing or prodding would make it go farther. Well, I think that explains at least part of the problem with our drain that we've had for years. Now, how do I fix it? I guess I'll just try some things. This is technically known as "winging it" and I practice it with great aplomb.

I've figured it out

For those of you who didn't know, the reason remodels are so costly is because you have the time and expense of the whatever, plus you have the time to move stuff that's in the way. Then you have to move it somewhere else which requires more time and expense. Then you have to destroy somewhat serviceable walls and floors to run pieces through. Then you run stuff through them. Then you spend more time and money fixing them. etc. etc. etc. Yep, good times.

The day after

Before I forget, I face dialed someone the other day. In case you're confused, face-dialing is an arcane art praticed by budhist monks in outer mongolia and jedi knights (pre-clone wars only). It is similar to pocket dialing but has the added twist of using the face/cheek while on the phone with one's father. It is extremely dangerous and I admonish you to not try it at home lest you invoke a golbal thermonuculear detonation. You have been warned.

Moving on... So, been doing more digging and I'm hoping my communion with the backyard soil is near an end. I have run pipe as of this weekend from the drain line into the basement. Just a trial run mind you. I'm not brave enough to glue it yet. But I've now had a couple nights to think and regret and nothing has come to mind so I think I'll try it. It'll all end in tears I know, but I have to try.

The fourth was interesting. We spent most of the day @ church because we had a monring service, lunch, then afternoon service. Looong day. Of course, then we had to do some fireworks ourselves but it doesn't get dark until 10 or so. Man was it hard keeping the kids behaving until then. And the boys were so excited it was really hard to keep them in line. That combined with the fact that where we had decided to set them off (i wasn't consulted and was too lazy to make people move) was below a tree that is dying. Man, was I scared that something would land in it and we'd have a 4th that we'd never forget.

well, I'm going to reboot my ubuntu now. first linux OS that I've ever used that is easier in most ways than windows. but they have mac envy.

Dirt was never so much fun

Some parents take their kids to disneyland or on a cruise. zor <gasp> a world cup game! (man, that would be child abuse in my mind). But few let their offspring dig ditches for a family event. Yes, well, I like to have my kids earn their keep. It has the added bonus of tiring them out so much that they fall fast asleep quickly. Unfortunately, sometimes they fall asleep on their shovels whilst still still on the job. Then I have to cut their food rations as punishment. Sad, but necessary.

Ok, give me a break. Have you ever tried to dig a ditch with two 3 year old girls, one five year old boy, and one six year old boy?? it's chaos! First you have to try to find shovels for everybody and then you have to keep the oldest boy from splitting the girls'' skulls open as he shovels. Then you have to show one girl how to use a garden spade while the other girl fills in the hole that you're digging. And while all this is while your other boy is digging up the grass where you don't need it dug up. Let's just say I was relieved when they had to go inside for dinner.

tomorrow we have a father/son firearm extravaganza @ the Sherrif's dept. shooting range here in Payette. Pretty cool. Bring your guns, bring your ammo, and prepare to expend some rounds. I swear I can see a quarter instead of a round fire out of my .357 every time I shoot it. Maybe that's because the last time I bought ammo for it that's how much it cost. Well, hopefully nobody shoots anybody else. But if it happens, I'm sure it'll just be a flesh wound ;)

Odds and ends

I put up a tire swing the other day. I had been promising the kids I'd do it for about a year but kept forgetting (just kidding, I just didn't want to do it). So, I had the tire (a white-wall no less) but no rope. Something kept tickling the back of my brain. After I killed the spider I remembered that I saw a tow cable in my truck. Since I haven't had to tow anybody (in the past ten years) I decided that my kids (and my sanity) would appreciate using it for a greater cause. I climbed up in a tree right when we as a family had to go somewhere and while my kids were screaming at me, I looped it around a branch. Rebekah came out to hear the screaming, saw me in the tree, and proceded to continue getting ready to leave. It has worked out pretty well, although the nylon has stretched a couple times so I've had to adjust it. The sun will destroy it soon I'm sure as it does with all things plastic, but I figure a couple foot drop isn't too big a deal.

My Dad was here this weekend and we spent most of friday figuring out plumbing issues. He gave me a lot of good ideas and it was gratifying to talk to him and actually have some good ideas already. I think now I am ready to start working. I'm hoping to get the plumbing and a toilet in before the year is out. Seems pretty low expectations to some, but with a full time job and various obligations plus 6 kids I think that's a realistic goal.

In other news, I'm hungry and I am going to eat a sandwich.

Anniversary fun

three interesting things today.

1. Trinity was so excited when she saw me today that she waved at me. The first wave she's ever done. very cute.

2. The whole family went off-roading (I actually used 4-lo) and enjoyed it. Although, the last hill we went up had Rebekah freaked out a bit. I was a little afraid we might get stuck but Titus really enjoyed it and was kind of making fun of Mom for shutting her eyes.

3. baby Clell was trying to stand on his head for us and just waved goodnight to me as well. He always is at his most goofy when we get him up after his normal bedtime for some reason.

That is all.

Go fly a kite will ya?

I did some minor repairs on our little picket fence. when i was done i took the boys and we went and flew the dragon kite we bought when the girls were babies. That seems pretty simple, right? Well, it wasn't too hard. I had to fight off the boys cause they were so excited. I was going to fly it over my neighbors field, but since he had just planted some crops I figured he wouldn't appreciate us tromping around. So, we meandered over to the middle school which is close to our house, Titus got pretty tired when I couldn't get the kite to achieve the flight to my satisfaction, so he wandered around playing in a dry irrigation ditch. I made Forrest help me most of the time. After a bit I finally got the kite up pretty far and Titus got to hang onto it. He was able to fly it for a bit before the wind failed us and it returned to earth. Forrest didn't get quite as long of flights but he was able to fly it more on his own. He even managed to keep it from crashing once. All told I was pretty impressed and the boys had fun. I hate to say it but I even enjoyed it a bit. Now if I could figure out some way to put a wireless webcam on there, that would be cool.

My wrists are suffering from overwork. We've had too many outages at work that required long hours, so they are hurting me pretty bad. I can't complain too much since it's been over a year since my last major flare-up. I just have to be really careful with them for about a month.

In other more boring news, i'm close to deleting my facebook account. I guess my anti-social tendancies are flaring up too.

good news and bad news

What are hills without valleys huh? We managed to pay off some significant debts with our tax return as well as put some into savings for wood purchases, furnace oil, etc. Unfortunately, we had some expenses unplanned for and so my funds for working on a new bathroom are non-existent. But due to my willful ignorance of our financial state combined with Rebekah's difficulty in keeping me in the loop I have taken over the management. So, at least now if we don't have money I know about it. Of course, Rebekah was kind enough to do the finances before because they stressed me out so much. Hopefully, I've matured a little bit and I can manage to be a little more mature about it.

Titus was working on something tonight and I guess he was using my tools to put some "signs" up. Normally, I wouldn't approve of a child hammering nails into my trim but the piece he was "working" on was so beat up that I decided it couldn't look any worse. After that he took a hammer and and pencil and paper and sat at the table deep in thought. Sometime later he went and got a plastic sack and went around the house picking up toys. Without being asked. Very sweet. He frequently asks when we're going to go visit Grandpa too. We need to make a trip that way, but just for gasoline we're talking $70. Tack on some meals and stuff and it's at least $100. <sigh>

Sigh...

Ever have one of those days when it seems like the only thing that will quench your anger is the spilling of blood? Sometimes I don't understand myself. I just had to apologize to my oldest because he moved a cup full of juice to the wrong table and baby Clell spilled it all over. I think on days like this I need to just withdraw from human interaction to minimize the collateral damage. Speaking of which, Forrest knows what collateral damage is. I bet not too many kids his age do.

Forrest is being home schooled with public school curiculum via k-12. It has been working well because there is a plan and accountability. It works well, because we can ignore some of the secular humanist teachings while still educating the child. Forrest graduated Kingergarten early and was promoted to first grade. The nice thing is that if he's doing well in one area he can go as fast as he wants. But so far he hasn't had any issues so he's working on first grade math and phonics. Rebekah is planning on going over things with him all summer. So, I am pleased. Titus has different strengths and weakness so he'll probably be a bit tougher, but I'm sure he'll do fine too. He'll start up in September. Rebekah is working with Titus and the girls, but oddly enough Serenity knows almost the whole alphabet which is more than either Titus or Liberty. Shows like Word World on PBS help as well.

I think it's interesting how many experiences in my life were invaluable, and others were detrimental. My public school experience had such hugely negative impressions on me due to my classmates that in this day and age it's difficult to seriously consider putting my kids into a school system where teenagers decide they're lesbians and environmental propogranda is the rule of the day. That being said, I don't look down on parents that do use the public school system. Anyway, I am right and you are wrong. And if you don't agree with that statement then you just proved my point.

You are getting very sleepy

Oh wait, I am getting sleepy. I have no idea if you're sleepy or not. But, I'd guess if you have kids then you are. Today I spent some time working on building a Windows Home Server for my brother. It seems like whenever I try to help someone it gets more complicated and takes more time. Oh well, I usually learn something in the process.I did other miscellaneous things. We have a bad goathead infestation so we've been working hard on that. I've sprayed all the weeds twice and today rebekah and I pulled a whole bunch out of the lawn.

Today was an eventful day for Titus. Rebekah took his training wheels off and the timing was good because he's grown enough that in a few short hours he's gotten the hang of it. Not quite as good as Forrest, but he did really well considering how many times he crashed. We had a little girls bike that I fixed up for him because he was getting frustrated with his But after he rode it for a little bit, I think he decided his wasn't so bad. Now Forrest is riding the little bike and Titus is back on his bigger bike. The boys enjoy playing outside a lot more now that we've greatly restricted their other entertainment outlets. A few minutes ago, Rebekah said that they were trying to put my big aluminum ladder up against the tree so they could climb it. And they have hassled me all week to take a walk. So we finally went for one today. We can walk about behind our house down a field to the middle school. Not much there but lots of room to run. I think the boys will sleep well tonight :)

i need to get back to work on my bathroom renovation project but there's so many outside things dragging my attention away now. I've got 3 trees that I need to cut down. Hopefully, when my dad visits he can help me. I also probably need to try to climb up and limb some branches. But, that's a big and dangerous job. I'm lacking motivation to do much because they're all just "work" and not projects. Well, I'm too groggy to be clever and just want to watch some streaming TV about a vampire with a soul named Angel. In case you're curious, that show was created by the same person that created the show Firefly and Serenity.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Day 2

Due to Forrest's mouthy attitude and disrespect to his mother, we have implemented a child-wide ban on watching TV, playing computer games, or playing the Wii. This was Rebekah's idea, and I am supportive. To be honest, I wouldn't have gone this extreme but I don't like my kids being entertained too much. Not sure why, as I did it as much as my Dad would let me get away with. But, I must say that so far, so good. It is only day two, so we'll see. I think we need to go at least a week, but Forrest's attitude will determine how much more than that it goes. We may keep it largely in affect, or much more tightly regulate these things from now on. I'm not sure. But I stayed home today (vacation) because I couldn't get to sleep last night due to some various things. We have a goathead infestation on our property. I didn't realize how fast that stuff moves. It's hit the edge of our lawn and on close examination we have two feet of the edge of our lawn hosting those nasty things. I used all my herbicide yesterday and starting ho-ing (not the female kind, but the garden utensil kind). I'm gonna send Rebekah in town to D&B to round up some more. Until them, I'm trying to motivate myself to start focusing on working on our house again. The past couple windstorms have ripped a bunch of shingles off. Scary places too. Hope I don't fall off when try to fix them.

7 Days later (actually, closer to 8)

This is meant to be a follow-up post about our car purchase, but a lot has happened this week so bear with me. Sunday was our first run with the "burb" and it went well. There are some considerations to factor in loading/unloading but we were pleased. By the way, if this post seems a little scatter brained, it's because I'm typing it while being swarmed by four little ones demanding graham crackers. Ok, back to your regularly scheduled programming...

My follow-up to my car buying experience is largely unchanged. This is good. Occasionally there is euphoria that wears off after a bit of a reality check. Well, I was very happy to have purchased a vehicle that met our needs so certain things were largely ignored. Mileage, certain vehicle features, etc. I have to say though that although our Durango was a nicer trim level, there isn't much that I preferred over the burb. In fact, things like the ride, exhaust/engine sound, dual zone AC in the front, make the burb nicer than I expected. Most importantly I haven't found anything odd like replacement doors or anything to indicate that it'd been in a crash. Of course, I wasn't expecting to find anything like that since I had asked for a carfax first. Always ask for a carfax before buying a car. If the dealership won't give you one go somewhere else. Hometown didn't offer me one, but when I asked it was no big deal and I had it a few minutes later. So, how does this story end? Well, for most people it would be over. For us, we still have to see if they have a spare burb key and I need to give them our spare Durango key. That sucker is expensive so whoever buys it will appreciate having a spare. So, in conclusion, if you're in the market for a new car, do your homework and know the value on what you have and what you want to buy, find a good salesman like Mike Brufffet, find a good dealership like Steve's Hometown in Weiser, and probably most importantly, follow your gut. Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to have a good car-buying experience.

One last comment: I didn't go through their financing people as I wanted to use my credit union. I have been a member of Capital Educators Federal Credit Union since I was a kid. My Dad --a teacher-- used to have a guy come up once a year and sign kids up. In that many years, there have been a couple of mistakes made when I've done business with them, but the great thing about these guys is the level of service they provide. Anytime anything went wrong, they were obsessed with making things right and what more can you ask for? Happily though, this last experience was flawless as Cecile @ the Kuna branch worked on my loan. The service was prompt and friendly and I got a great rate. So, if you're not happy with your financial institution, I would strongly recommend these guys. They have really been branching out (hehehe. what a great pun) and so it's pretty convenient. I do wish they'd get one over in payette county though, but since they are in the credit union co-op, I can use one of the other local credit unions to get cash out.

Now for something completely different...

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blogging for a brief jaunt into where many fear to dread... buying a new car! Ok, it's used. But you still gotta deal with normally unpleasant things such as car salesmen, haggling, more hagggling, walking away, crying wives, crying children, kicked dogs, emasculation, and broken bank accounts. My first experience trying to buy a car about a year ago ended in tears, well actually laughter, as I was offered $6500 on my Durango when I owed $17,000. So, needless to say I was dreading this but we just couldn't put off the purchase any longer. After a few weeks of research we settled on a Suburban and found one at Hometown Motors in Weiser. (Here's a link to the vehicle, but it will be gone from the site soon). I was cautiously optimistic because my Dad had purchased his pickup from there a few years ago and he had a relatively pleasant experience from what I could remember.

After much hemming and hawing, we decided to go ahead with "trying" to purchase it. Part of me was dreading this so much that I partially hoped somebody else would buy it before we were ready. After taking care of some housekeeping, we finally got approval from our Credit Union (Capital Educators FCU) this morning for a 3.9% interest rate. So, my wife called the salesman we had been working with and let him know I'd come up about noon. So, I trudged up there with my shiny durango to see if we could work a deal. Mike met me as I pulled in. I was ready to fend off the various tricks. I had super-glued my keys to my hand so they couldn't hijack my vehicle like another other dealer had (ok, I didn't really. But I wouldn't hand them over). So, I met Dan who would evaluate my vehicle and went with him while he drove it. Even that was pleasant. We chatted while he checked things out and the whole thing was painless. It took a bit while he got numbers on the durango. Mike and I chatted about things from drywall texturing to plumbing with PEX. He even offered to help me out and loan me tools. Was this a trick to lull me into a sense of ease so that I would lower my defenses? My cynical self would typically think so, but with Mike I honestly believe he was just trying to be helpful. We had many things in common, not the least of which was the fact that he had twins in his family as well. An identifiable, personable human being a car salesman? What will they think of next?? Anywho, we finally got numbers and right out of the gate they were pretty reasonable. I dickered on one point and without push-back or anything high pressure we came to an agreement quickly. I think we both got fair deals without any real stress. I think that's important in a car purchase and pretty rare. Maybe it's a game to some people, but I don't want to beat somebody out of everything but their shorts (that's my dad's saying). I simply want and need a fair price with good service. The car dealership and salesman need to make a profit too. I could go on, but suffice it to say the experience was actually enjoyable and the people genuinely friendly and helpful. I would strongly recommend the guys in Weiser and a special thanks to Mike B. our patient low-pressure salesman, Dan the friendly and fair appraisal dude, and Jake the guy who put it all the docs together and put up with all my questions while we signed papers. If this experience is typical, I will be a repeat customer. Any of my Oregon/Idaho friends, I encourage you to check these guys out.

Tricycle races

and plastic egg fights. That's my two older boys for you.

Today I put in a new hot water heater. Since my brother was coming sometime I was in a bit of a hurry, so I decided to be a little reckless. My hot water heater was up on some cinder blocks so it could hook into the water pipes. Instead of taking a couple hours to drain it (it was plugged up with sediment) I decided to unhook it and then move it. Move is actually kind of a euphemism because i kind of did a pull, shove, and then dive. 50 gallons of water is quite heavy and once it started falling off the cinder blocks I knew I couldn't control it like I had hoped so I got out of the way and let it come falling down. When it hit it took out some of my furnance pipe that I had removed and set aside. But, I wasn't hurt and I got it out of the way. Unfortunately, the water was now draining out into the basement. Not a big deal as it's seen water before but the water had to go somewhere. So, I kept putting buckets under it as it drained out for the next hour or so. Then I started working on installing the new HWH (hot water heater). It was the same size, so I knew I shouldn't have any major issues but I couldn't safely lift it up the foot I needed all by myself. I guess the inside tank is glass coated and is kind of fragile. If you bang it around you might break the glass and have a leaking HWH before it was its time. This world has enough pain and sorrow and I didn't want to add to it by crippling a HWH in the prime of its youth. Thankfully, I have a very strong wife so with her help (I think she did most of the heavy lifting) we hefted it up and put the HWH where it belonged. A few tweaks and we were good to go. While I was working on the furnace pipe (el crusho flato) Tyler and Amy and offspring arrived. We chit chatted and all was good and nice.

Lately, I've been rolling with the punches pretty well I thought. But it seems that I keep getting punched. The cynical part of me says that If I start throwing hissy fits and temper tantrums then maybe it'll stop. There's some logic to that as God says he won't give us more than we can take. I just don't want anymore things to load me down anymore. I guess it's all just a matter of priorities combined with offloading the burden to God. Everything seems to work a little smoother if prefaced with prayer.

Trinity (T-bone) and Clell (Sea Biscuit) are walking now. Trin has been a walking fool. Clell walked first, setting the precedent but now he's content to let his sister have the limelight. What a swell guy huh?

Gotta go. Titus just got sick. too much excitement with not enough sleep and he throws up. Kind of weird, but i'm the last person to be critical of someone with stomach problems.

Ok, so here's the situation: Trinity and spiders

So, I crawled under the house yesterday. The spiders were a little irritated, I think, but for the most part they kept quiet. In fact, I only saw one that was alive, although I confess that I wasn't looking too hard. That one spider (must have been a female) was right in my way on the drain pipe that I needed to work on. Of course, it had to give me a piece of her mind about going where I didn't belonged. I tried to point out that it was my house, but since it wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise, I squashed it. Conversation over.

Getting my large frame down there was fun (not) but my boys thought it was cool. I remember really thinking it was neat when my dad was under the house and I remember crawling under too. But i figured my boys would be a little more squeamish and be afraid of the spiders, but boys will be boys and they got under right along with me. Alas, I had no luck getting the cap off the pipe. But I did find out that the drain line isn't as elevated as it should be which is probably related to why it drains so poorly much of the time. But, I learned that I didn't want to run any more bathrooms into that line. So, I get to run a new line. Although that doesn't sound like fun, at least I can do that more on my own terms and can stay out from under the house.

Thankfully, Trinity hasn't met any spiders yet, but I bet they wouldn't scare her. I mention her because it's just the two of us @ home right now. My stomach was bothering me so I stayed home from church and Rebekah left Trinity. She has really bonded with me. I can usually get her to stop crying when nobody else can and if she's really upset a sing a little song to her that is set to "Chim, Chiminey, Chim Chim, Cheroo" and so far that always works. Obviously parents shouldn't have favorite offspring, but is it wrong to return the same affection to a child that seems to prefer you? Me not sure. I've been working harder to spend more time with Clell to avoid any expensive psychiatry bills for him in the future, but although he likes to try and rip my face off, he seems to prefer the mom vs "not the mom." So, striking a balance is always fun. I have Trinity as the wallpaper on my phone and Rebekah has Clell on hers. I think it balances out right?

Spiders fear me

Not the other way around. Well, that's what I tell myself at least. I'm going to crawl under the house and try to break open the plug on the cast iron pipe underneath my house. I'm realistic. I doubt I can do it, but I need to try. I'll let you know how it goes.

Boressed

a combination of bored and stressed. I'm at Carl's Jr. right now with the four oldest children. I've got my cool little netbook running Ubuntu netbook remix (linux) and connected to the free wifi. Pretty cool, but a little paranoid that somebody will steal my baby. Not my children. they make too much noise.

Why am I here? because I'm such a good husband and father? Not really. because I was hungry. True, but that's not the reason. Maybe I'm trying to pick up a single mom? Nice guess, I wouldn't have thought of that one, but no. For the free wi-fi? Not that desperate. Because my wife needed to work on finances and asked me to? Wow, you're good! But right now, I'm wondering just how much work my wife is getting done since I see she's posting to facebook. I might have to nominate her to midget status if she's not careful :)

I saw a friend who used to work @ woodgrain today. He and his wife have finally decided to join the rest of zombies and reproduce. The Bible says be fruitful and multiply but I think most people divide. either 2/1 and have two kids or 2/2 and have one kid. Rebekah and I took it to heart and multiplied by 3.

My back has been hurting me prety bad, and I think I've figured out it's something in my neck. I've had a pain in my neck lots of times but they're usually of the child variety.

Titus doesn't feel well, so I'd better post this and check on him. he tends to get sick when he's tired and playing.

Bonding with the boys

I think it's interesting that "they" (not sure who they is) seem to think that in order to spend time with your kids you have to have "quality time" or direct interaction. My Dad always stated that he thought "quantity time" was more important and I think I agree. Forrest and I started watching Dr. Who and now the boys are hooked and ask regularly to watch it. Since it's a good show with a minimum of language I've been letting them watch it with me. Every once in awhile I have to brace myself ask one of them comes racing over to cower by me because something scary is going on, but it's pretty mild stuff. I compare it to some of the old radio programs that I listen to. Lots of suspense and that combined with "bad guys" and aliens seems to be a winning combination for us guys. I was amused to hear Titus and Forrest playing Dr. Who tonight after dinner. Somehow, playing star wars makes sense to me but Dr. Who? I guess they like it more than i thought :)

Well, after I worked on my fire hazard over the weekend I forced myself to go outside and try to do something with my squealing truck. At least that way I got away from the squealing girls. Anyway, I was pretty sure that it was a belt that was loose, but since I'm not a mechanic like the rest of family I'm stumbling around in the dark. So, Forrest and I went outside and he helped me put the truck on ramps and get things together. I was really pleased with the little bugger. Granted, he's a bit more motivated since when he does well I put some money towards his "Super Mario Brothers Galaxy" fund. But since the kid has been wanting it for at least a year it definitely won't be an impulse buy. The good news i think the noise was just a loose alternator belt. If not, well, I guess I'll just have to club a midget in sacrifice to the car gods and try again.

Tonight I decided that I needed to cut something and my finger still hasn't healed so I got my saws out and started working on making a crawl space in one of our bathroom closets. In case you haven't guessed, using power tools is therapeutic. So, after a couple hours cutting and whatnot, I now have a big hole in the floor. All in a days work right? I am looking forward to communing with the spiders and crawling down there soon to try to tap into the plumbing.

Must do something

Right now I haven't gotten anything accomplished today other than deal with my electrical outlet. I took the outlet out and the house wiring was good and it didn't look like there was anything wrong. So, I put an expensive GFCI outlet in (no wonder I normally shop @ home depot. It cost twice as much in here). I don't think the GFCI will help with that sort of an issue, but it make me feel a little better.

In other news (if you can call it that) our girls had to go cold turkey on Little Einsteins. But after talking to a friend I started recording Clifford and Curious George. Now my government dollars are doing something worthwhile as my girls are rabid Clifford (the big red dog) fans which is broadcast on PBS. And it's free! I think we'll totally cancel the satellite in a couple months (right now it only has "family" programming) and save $30. But, I'm taking baby steps because I love my wife (and to a lesser extent my family).

Except for Trinity. She ties with Mom me thinks.

Fun @ 4

AM that is. We woke up to the sound of an incessant beeping. Rebekah investigated as I was totally out of it. She reported that the breaker had tripped and now it was smoky upstairs. I assumed that without power the pellet stove couldn't vent properly and thus it was the cause of the smoke. We had a oil heater plugged into an outlet and so I figured that tripped the circuit. Odd, but not unheard of. I was holding Clell and so Rebekah in her jammies went out and flipped the breaker. As we debated the cause in the dark, a few minutes later I heard a pop and the power went off again. Again, the brave beka went outside, but this time when she flipped the breaker I heard more pops and flashes of light and then one solid wavering light. While still holding Clell I ascertained that the outlet was emitting something commonly known as "fire." I reached down and unplugged the heater and thankfully the fire went out. But needless to say, we were and are greatly disturbed. It was old wiring in the house and now that we think about it we have had some issues before, just nothing near this magnitude. The power to that circuit is currently off, but I have to turn it back on eventually. I am going to remove the outlet and make sure the wiring up to the outlet is ok. Then, i'll put in a GFCI outlet. My Dad thinks that the problem is with the heater since the problem seems to be external to the plug. I hope this is the case as that's a much easier "fix." I'm gonna go get started working on it and if there's anything eventful I'll post back here. If I don't get electrocuted or burned up in a house fire that is :)

itty bitty polka dot

computer. Well, it's itty bitty at least. No polka dots though. It is blue for what that's worth. I've had my eye on one of these for awhile but didn't really need one. It's a netbook. Too small for most people but perfect for facebook and blogging. I bought it from a friend who is taking the funds and redirecting them towards an iPad. Unfortunately, my wife is eyeing this poor defenseless netbook with a lustful eye. Kind of inappropriate if you ask me. I mean, she is a married woman. But anyway, I am hoping to be able to blog a bit more now. Probably won't really, but the point is that I am happy. I even put Ubuntu Linux Netbook remix on it. Fast little bugger. I think it's pretty amazing myself, but without being able to see it, it's hard to understand. I had it at church tonight (ya know, so I could play Farmville on Facebook during the service) and people just thought it was my Bible. Anyway, I got it for a nice price because I was patient and my friend gets to further Apple's invasion. Win win if you ask me.

It slices, it dices!

my finger that is. I cut my ring finger really bad with a box cutter tonight. Usually, I use dull knives so the damage isn't bad. This cut was deep though, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to stop the bleeding. But, pressure does wonders and a tight bandage seems to be keeping the green (oops. I mean red, my blood is red. not green. nope. no green blood here. move along) RED blood in pretty good. A bit hard to type, but not too bad. The good news is that Titus' little play area is almost done. I have some mudding and trim left to do and Rebekah has to paint it, but I think I'll let the kid move in this weekend. Then I'm onto my super big project--putting a new bathroom in upstairs. Gonna be fun!

Haunting

Most people like Nostalgia. It's cool when it's controlled and all warm and fuzzy, but I just spent an hour going through a couple old shoe boxes of college mementos and sorting out stuff that didn't have any real meaning from stuff that sort of did. Wow, are those some acidic memories. Not necessarily bad, just traumatizing. Of course, going through all that turmoil enabled me to endure the whirlwind romance with Rebekah later on in life. I was watching a documentary on Joseph Goebbels (google it you lazy bums) and they read from his diary. Man, I guess everybody has the same emotional problems regarding love (and life). Even my friend Kelly admits to being human in this area at some point in his life. Anywho, I found some neat stuff including a MAC-10 tie tack my Dad sent me. Well, nothing incredibly pithy or anecdotally amusing, just some mental drivel emitting since the house is quiet.

I'm confused

I just read my blog a minute ago and found out that I was a pretty great guy. Of course, I knew that already but somebody felt compelled to login to my blog and write something nice about me. What? No, I didn't write that myself! What do you mean, you don't believe me? Would I do something like that? Well, yeah, but that's beside the point, I didn't do it! Ok, I'm going to hold my breath until somebody confesses.

Grant has passed out and laying on floor bleeding from a bad head wound. Ironically is was his wife that wrote the blog post, thinking that she was logged into her blog. Hopefully, she'll come get him before he ruins the carpet.

My Husband

He's outdone himself this week - really! On Monday, he watched the four older kids (and a friend watched the babies) while I went shopping. I left the house before 9am and got home at 5pm, so it was all day thing. While I was gone, he fixed my computer and then worked some in Titus' new room. And when I got home, he helped unload the Durango. Today, after work, he got me a shelf unit from Lowe's. It's better than the one I had picked out, and looks awesome in the kitchen! He put it together while watching the 4 kids again while I took a couch in to town. See, isn't he great?! And you thought he couldn't be a sweet, lovable, and thoughtful fella! :-)

Oh, and tomorrow is his birthday, so that makes it even more amazing...it's his freebie week! LOL

Love you, Grant!

"I Will Survive"

I have lots of profound thoughts that never make it to my blog. that's ok. most is just mental regurgitation that probably isn't that interesting anyway. Since the audience I have is so diverse (three different people) it is sometimes hard to avoid saying things that will offend. Normally, I don't mind offending people. That's not my goal, but if they get offended then I am doing my part to help them build a thicker skin, thus improving humanity. Why this odd post? Oh, they're all odd you say? Well, I had a challenging few hours last night. Nothing big to be quite honest, but they could have been very ugly. For once, family had nothing to do with it. I won't bore you with what happened at work, but suffice it to say I locked myself out of some systems. Then, after cleaning up that mess, I went home @ 7 PM only to find out there was bad news on that front too. Thankfully, Rebekah managed to prepare me for some bad news before hitting me with it. I sat down on the floor while she ejected the kids. My mind races through all sorts of horrible things before she told me. I had time to ask God that whatever it was to give me grace and not get too upset. Turns out that our pellet stove was broken. Instead of throwing a hissy fit as I am prone to do, I asked her some questions and went and looked at it. The auger wasn't turning, but you could hear the motor trying. Rebekah had removed all the pellets as well as the back of the stove so I was able to sit right down and look at it. I was able to quickly figure out that either something was wrong with the motor or the auger. I disconnected the motor and Titus helped me troubleshoot it (he turned on the power when I told him to). That was good. So, I looked at the auger. It sure seemed jammed to me. After messing with it, I finally opened up the stove door. There was a huge pile of pellets in the burn pot backed all the way up. Aha! It was Rebekah's fault. Not sure how, but she makes a cute scapegoat. So, we *think* that we didn't empty the ashes enough and that caused the pellets to stop burning which caused the backlog which eventually caused the auger to jam. We fixed that and I turned the shaft manually and it broke free. Sweet! I rule! I did a little jig like Hitler did after the successful invasion and surrender of Poland (or was it France? I think it was France) and promptly dropped all my tools and went downstairs and ate dinner (It used to be supper but my wife has corrupted me and now I use the wrong word). What's the moral of the story? I'm not sure, but I think it had something to do with Hitler and Obama.

Speaking of Obama, I'd like to take this time to thank President Bush and the Republican Congress of 2004 for passing the additional Child tax credit portion of the Working Families Tax Relief Act. Thanks to that we get a nice return due to the fact that they'll let me have some of my social security tax back before I'm old and the guvmint is bankrupt. Unfortunately, in 2011 (unless Obama decides to feel my pain) our tax refund will be less than 25% of what it was this year. Oh well, to quote some 70's singer "I will survive." Not sure about Bek and the kids, but I'll make it :)

Our girls are mostly normal

Much to my incredible dismay we had an appointment with a pediatric endocrinologist on Saturday. In Boise. At 12:00 PM. Argh! What's an endocrinologist you ask? Google it! I'm not here to answer questions for people too lazy to use a search engine. I'm here to regale you with stories of triumph over tragedy as well as a some of trial over tribulation. Now, back to my story. So, why were we going to an endo... forget it. Why were we going to the doc? Well, that's an ok question but too personal to put it on the blog. Suffice it to say, the girls have had an abnormality of the hirsute variety since birth. We didn't worry about it since the NICU docs said it was normal, but our ped doc freaked out and wanted to do all sorts of tests. I said we weren't doing that until somebody smarter than her (the Ped doc) told us we should. Obviously I was slightly more tactful than that... slightly. So, 4 months later we got hooked up to a traveling doc who knows something about these things. Turns out the girls are mostly normal (I was pretty sure of that) but their motorcycles might be out of tune or irregular or something when they were older. I forget, but I know he said something about cycles. And apparently cycles have something to do with getting pregnant. I've heard about such things with regard to cars and their backseats, but never about motorcycles. Anyway, i'm not sure what cars and motorcycles have to do with a couple unique little girls but that's ok. What matters is that our girls our "Mostly Normal"

Since I wasted my Saturday in Boise, I'm taking tomorrow off to do some more work upstairs.

Oh! and I was watching American Outlaws with Colin Farrel (Jesse James/western) and one of the guys @ a town meeting is "Clell Miller." cool huh?

Sieze the Carp! quick, before it gets away!

I really hope that when I'm more old and infirm I don't yearn for yesteryear. Most people's lives seem to have peaked in college. Well, thankfully I went to Bob Jones so that was the opposite of a peak for me (read pit). I know that many parents can't wait for their kids to grow up. I don't really feel that way. Yes, I'm running on the ragged edge of my sanity and of my abilities. But I do love my children and although it seems like all I ever do is yell at them, a friend pointed out that I must be a horrible Dad since the kids are so scared of me (yeah, he was being sarcastic). I think like Paul said (and I brutally paraphrase here) it is best to be happy in whatever situation you're in. The temptation to be discouraged or even depressed can be great at times, but I think that I have less (far far less) to complain about than ever before. Not that I've ever had a truly good reason to complain. I think that the point of Carpe Diem (sieze the day) gets lost. It is too easy to make everything about ourselves. And as much as I like to tell me wife that it is truly all about me, deep in the cockles of my heart I know tis not true. I think that being a parent is one of life's greatest responsibilities. So little of what I do is because I "want to" but rather because my family needs it. But I don't mind because I love my family. But to be honest, there's not much left of me when I'm done. But that's ok, cause I said so.

Oh, and my kids are already growing up too fast to suit me. They always have.

Before I finished this blog post a partially clothed Serenity came and laid on my side while drinking out of her sippy cup.

God doesn't like me very much

yeah, that's Rebekah and I were thinking last night. Of course, @ 1:30, 2:30, 3:00 AM you're not thinking really rationally. Of course, Rebekah was up a lot more than that. Both Trinity and Clell are sick. But last night they must've had a stomach ache or something because they were really miserable and let us know it by screaming. I was planning on taking this morning off so Rebekah could get some rest so I finally went upstairs and pulled out a mattress that we had put under the girls bed and slept on it. I would've slept on the floor at that point. Rebekah is going to take Trinity to the Dr. this afternoon so I guess I'll be home the rest of the day. Poor little baby girl has a bad fever. Clell isn't doing too bad though this morning and nobody got any toys out so he pulled himself up tot he basket and got some out himself. He's a self-serve kind a guy, just like his namesake.

Other than sickness, things are going pretty well. Christmas was enjoyable but really showed our financial limits. I'm not sure what else we can do and wonder repeatedly if I should look for a job elsewhere. We'd be fine but for all our medical debts, but I know that a little hardship is good for the soul, even though I don't like it. Why don't I get a job somewhere else? Because I'd have to commute to downtown boise in most instances. I don't think I would mind the time but to lose that much from my family every day is pretty hard to take. I guess I'm waiting on the Lord (that sounds better than "I'm procrastinating")

ok, If I don't see you again, have a nice life.