First day of Kindergarten

Alexa's first day went smoothly (We havent heard how the day went):

Guess my first viewing of a "Christmas Carol" can't be far off......

...Yankee candle has their Halloween candles and displays out.......an Labor Day isnt until next Monday!!!!

PLSBP

Think i ate a lot of sodium over the weekend? 2 in one day.

PLSBP: 2

Blame pie eaten only by me

This is another post you can skip if you want. Its something should have written around noon yesterday. Backstory:

When i started playing soccer about 18 months ago and started running for real last March I made some progress in losing weight. I lost about 25 pounds thru last fall, put ten back on during the holidays and the winter...thru the spring i took off the ten and thats where it has stopped........MY fault. At the end of the spring season (early june), I made a mental note to drop 20 before the fall season (which started yesterday). Ya its great i can play soccer at my age (43) and yes I can run farther than anytime in my adult life, big fucking deal.

I still feel like i'm the slowest asshole on the field.....I exercised plenty this summer...thru the humidity so what happened? What caused my progress to grind to a halt? ME, moi, the guy writing the post....stupidity.

I work nights and blow it late.....one too many trips to mike and ike machine (dont laugh...pure fucking sugar).....bags of pretzels mid shift......nibbling when i get home....how many handfulls of gold fish have i had this summer. I dont eat big meals at work so i've narrowed the problem.

This isnt a "oh woe is me post"...I'm on vacation this week, figured it would be a good week to get my house in order (not to be confused with my vacation 2 do). To start a food log (dont worry it wont be on the blog)....

I can't tell you how many times I've left the soccer field since spring of 05' pissed off at me, determined to make changes, get my proverbial "shit" together.....I'm not expecting miracles, I know i'm 43, but i also know I have a very good understanding of nutrition and diet. . So hennce forth I will note the following: PLSBP: Pounds Lost Since Blame Pie.

So off we go as I try to get this post in before midnight

Vacation 2 do

This post is purely for me....I'm off til the 5th of September, but feel free to laugh and play along. This list is quite fluid and subject to change at any time based on the weather and my motivation:

(updated wed......aug 30:)

1. Assemble Metal shelf for upstairs bedroom (done)
2. Clean and decorate upstairs bathroom (cleaned)
3. old grill to Pratts
4. Get rid of old water pump parts
5. Dipose of table boxes (done)
6. Set up septic appt. (done)
7. "Garage" purge 1/2 day project (saturday or monday)
8. paint materials
9. carpet cleaning appt for basement
10. re-org the "circuit room"
11. Begin purging of Alexas old toys (started)
12. finish "1776" CHANGED to: "no need for speed"
13. New cellphone
14. Return unused A/C to Bestbuy.
added:
15. RE-fill propane tank
16. clean grill
17. wash and WAX car
18. complete a 7 day food log. (in progress)
19. Clean our computer desk

The NEW season

I would be remiss if i did not toss in a post about my beloved Manchester United...Haven't written much about the team and this blog went off in another direction about a month after i began writing here last winter....If you go back to some early posts i treat this as a bit of "United column"...


anyway...the season has begun amazingly well....2 wins in two games and tommorrow we face Watford a team promoted from one of the lower leagues.....We should be 3-0 by noon tomorrow....

Extending summer

Trying to milk a few more days at the park and baseball park before school starts next week:
oh...and Alexa has finally mastered the MONKEY BARS!!

From my brother

credit for this one goes to my brother....Jenna when she was just a little baby...

wireless test

now i'm a REAL blogger......testing out the new laptop

How much do you remember???

My daughter starts kindergarten in two weeks so it got me thinking of how much I remember about it. It made me feel old to realize I went in 1968......I still have my report card (yellowing of course). My teacher was Mrs. Coffey and after that there ain't much.....

Modern Medicine

Alexa had her check up today for school.....shes five. I HATE where we go. its EVERYTHING about modern medicine i loath.
The check in takes forever...............
We wait in an overcrowded area...
The woman who measures,weighs, gives Alexa her hearing and sight tests has ZERO personality for kids....Shouldn't someone who does this for a living make the child feel good instead of going thru the motions....
We like her Doctor..very nice, but in my opinion shes not the greatest doc who ever walked the planet BUT we tell her that Alexa is scared of getting her three shots. After ending the check-up, she says the shots will be right up.
then;
We then sit in the sterile room with a now fussing 18 month old and a scard five year old for 30 FUCKING minutes.
NICE......
Really compassionate for kids......

oh yes..thanks for asking we WILL be looking for somewhere new!

Cool Friday

A little feel of Fall in the air....Love the picture of Jenna in the swing.....the perspective of how small she looks going up against the blue sky.....and my attempt at something "artsy" with the Jenna in swing shot:

Thanks Terrorists!!!!!!!!

LOOK at those people^^^^^^^THEY are enjoying what???? The AIRTRAVEL experience!!!! Lucky bastards! NOT knowing what was to come in about 25 years. Terrorism happened over there. They're probably relaxed...going to get home and watch their $1000 VCR (Betamax anyone???). The middle east? Something THEY saw on the network news....no CNN yet. Waiting in the termimal? Probably reading a local paper....USA Today? Nope....Five years later. NObody is bothering you with their cell phone....No GAMEBOYS...we just got pong for godsakes. They're probably pissed off about gas too and they may have to sit in actual gas lines. Their inflation is nuts. Listening the Bee Gees or maybe The Knack on the radio (could be AM or FM). Cassette in the car? not yet Mr. or Mrs 1977 traveler (the photos above are from mid 70s ish). CDs? about 8 years away. In the car? Closer to 15. Yes I'm a little jealous of our friends from 1977....Even the girl in the bottom picutre is smiling and shes in the MIDDLE seat! The airport seemed like a quieter place.
Dare I say it.......a FUN place....

(fade to August 10, 2006.................................)

Just sitting and thinking how much I used to enjoy flying and the travel experience. The thrill of going to the airport. I used to fly alot when i was going to school in Arizona. And when i was younger....we used to fly to Phoenix every winter. We'd get the tickets early..take a ride to the airport to get our boarding passes (pre-internet days of course..talking late 70's here). Or waiting for someone to arrive and actually sitting at the gate. Can you IMAGINE that now? And smoking a cigarette!!!. Biggest complaint back then....how EXPENSIVE food was. HOw bout' parking outside the terminal with the engine running to pick someone up? you're ass would be arrested so fast it would make your spin several times over.

Would I want to get on an airplane now? Fuck NO! Not so much for the fear of getting blow out of the sky....Whatt a freakin' pain in the balls.....traveling by air now has become an endurance test. AND i have kids! Hours and hours of waiting to board and then what the fuck do you do on the plane????????????? ipod? nope....laptop? nope...Starbucks from the terminal? nope. Brush my teeth? nope....refresh my contacts? nope. I heard tonight you can't even bring an eyeglass case on board. I'm in no way making fun of the security measures they are now taking but it seems like its going to get to a point where you will be able to take NOTHING on board...except you! How long til everyone is shackled to their seat?? I know i'm getting carried away here but it is really quite sad.

THANKS TERRORISTS!!.....oh ya....FUCK you!

Not much

I don't know how many days I have left on the planet, but ever have one of those days that were frighteningly routine?? Had a quiet day with the kids..worked on Alexa math skills, went to work which was quiet.....I guess uneventful is ok.....

I make a women with her two year old at Target laugh about my theory about the "rogue" sippy cup...no matter how hard you look after you begin the dishwasher...that rogue sippy cup (or in our house a baby bottle as well) will appear somewhere, usually under the sofa......

Pool Sharks

The sun is out, the humidity is down and the pool is open!:

Flashback Friday

My parent and grandparents were NOT big picture takers.....so kid photos of me are in short supply.....This is me on my birthday in the mid 60's....Heres a happy kid getting his tri-cycle: