Leftovers

I am the leftover King!  I love them.  I work afternoons so leftovers are a way to eat home cooking at work.  When Robin was working we ate out a lot.  Take out, eat in, drive thru, it was convenient albeit more expensive.  But when we had two incomes that was the trade off.  Now we are back to one income and I am enjoying having home cooked meals again more often.  Although I'm pretty good at weeding out the leftovers from our fridge there are pitfalls I've found.  Case in point, chili.  Robin made chili one day.  It was a special meal for me since I'm the only one in our family who likes chili.  I add cheese to melt on top and add a little sour cream and waa-laa, a delicious meal for me to take to work.  Since Robin made a large batch we decided to seal some up and freeze it.  A few weeks ago I found myself searching for leftovers in the fridge and to my disappointment there were none!  Oh the horror!!!!  Then I remembered we had froze some chili!  Saved by forethought and large batches!  Or so I thought.  There were 2 bags in the freezer, one large and one medium sized.  I saw the word "chili" on the large bag but it was much too big for a meal so I went for the medium sized bag.  I placed it in my lunch kit, added some sour cream and cheese in containers and off I went to work.  Chili was on my mind all the way up to dinner time.  I took the chili out of the bag, placed it into a bowl and popped it into the microwave.  After about 2 minutes, I stirred it and replaced it for another minute.  Ahh steaming, hot, wonderful chili awaited.  But wait, as I stirred it I noticed....a mushroom cycle thru the bowl.  Hmmmm, I certainly didn't remember mushrooms in the chili, so I went for a taste.  AARRRGGGG my chili was spaghetti sauce!!!  So there I was, at work, hungry, craving chili, but having only spaghetti sauce.  No noodles!  No bread!!  The dinner I was salivating over was now a bowl of spaghetti sauce.  Being the leftover King I did what every good man faced with such a dilemma would do.  I ate spaghetti sauce for dinner.  Maybe next time I'll take just noodles and call it even.

Family Vacation?

Spring Break, two words that offer a nice respite from the bump and grind of the work week.  This year, as many before, we decided to drive to my In-Laws in Missouri.  The irony is we drive when I work for an airline and we can fly for free.  Lately the flights have been so full though that driving was by far the easier choice.  We drive it many times even if the flights are not full.  Driving allows us to take the trip at our own pace, gives us a vehicle to have while in Missouri, take our dog Maggie and make any stops that we need along the way.  The drive takes 10 hours and can be a bit exhausting but we've driven so many times we know what to expect.  Anyway, here we are on vacation in Missouri.  We have a good time and it's very relaxing.  There's not a lot to do here but that's okay because it allows us to get away in a very real sense.  The kids get a lot of lovin' from Grandma and Grandpa and we get a little spoiled sleeping in a few times.  Maggie gets to play with their dog Abby and everyone settles in easily.  The kids are good travelers and Maggie also loves to take trips.  We spend a lot of our vacation time traveling between families, mine in Michigan and Robin's in Missouri.  As years go by we try and make sure we plan trips to each home away from home.  Traveling can be harder on the grandparents than on us with the kids at times so we try and make sure to visit when we can.  Vacations are all about getting away and recharging.   Sometimes going home is just the recipe.

2010 Winter Olympics

As I sit here watching the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics I'm surprised at how entertaining I found them.  I'm not a puff and fluff type of guy when watching any type of ceremonial programming.  I prefer to watch the meat of the program, however I was pleasantly surprised while watching the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics.  The set up and execution of the acts, choreograph, music, and stage was exceptional.  The projection onto the stage was especially well done.  The detail and interaction of the scenery projected onto the stage with the people was very well choreographed.  It was so well done there were times my kids asked it some of it was real such as when they made the stage look like water and had whales swim through as they blew from their blowholes.
One thing that I found interestingly notable, when they were having the athletes come into the stadium most received a warm welcome, however, when the United States athletes came in the reception was substantially louder in approval.  Funny, I thought we were not very well liked outside our own country.  Apparently we are more popular than many news organizations and politicians would have you believe.  It was heartwarming to hear the emphatic applause that went up upon our athletes entrance.  It was nice to hear that we are not as loathed as we are led to believe.  Perhaps we need to redefine our perceptions of what other countries really think of us?  We may find we are amongst friends more than we know.

I Blinked

Oops, I blinked.  I didn't mean to.  It just sort of happened.  It seems that no matter how hard I try I still blink.  I wish I wouldn't, because I seem to miss too many moments of my kids growing up.  I blinked and my little girl who I spent evenings rocking to sleep is now reading in her bed at night.  I blinked and my little boy who used to love sleeping with us wants his own bed and own room at night.  Sometimes I think it's old age creeping in because I turn around and my little girl is now a 6 year old telling her daddy he's silly.  My boy is becoming a young man reading the nativity story out of his bible Christmas Day.  At 8 years old he has surpassed me in some things he's doing.  He kicks my butt in Mario Cart (easily I might add) and most other video games.  But most of all, he gets it.  He gets that Faith and God are the most important things.  He's learned in 8 years what took me almost 40.
As they get older I try and make sure I'm not being the workaholic I used to be.  I've learned that if I were to pursue more work, bigger paychecks, and higher positions I would be losing out on something more important and fulfilling, my family.  I have Robin to thank for that realization.  I was becoming a person who always wanted to make more, but now we just use what we have better and spend the time I used to spend working doing other stuff like playing the Wii as a family and spending time with friends.  She helps me stay focused on what is really important to us, being together as a family and making sure we have good friends to enjoy.  I still try not to blink because Connor and Sara are growing up so fast I don't want to miss anything.  But at least I know that I'm fighting to keep from blinking too much.

Wii Fit Plus

We have a Wii.  It's been a great game system for the kids but Robin and I only play it when playing with the kids.  It holds little adult entertainment value outside the occasional Guitar Hero with friends on special occasions.  Until now.  Robin got Wii Fit Plus for Christmas from her parents.  Since then we've played Wii Fit Plus several days.  Even her parents have gotten into playing.  Her Mom and Dad seem to enjoy playing almost as much as the kids.  I think some of that comes from playing with the grandkids but I also suspect they receive a good amount of fun from playing it as well.  We've had some good laughs at our own expense and have enjoyed family time more lately than we've done in a while.  And we are getting some exercise to boot!   We've all created our Mii and set up our own training account.  We've found out that it doesn't matter how athletic you are or how old you are, every game provides an opportunity for anyone to excel.  It helps keep track of how much exercise you're getting and even provides an estimate of calories burned.  All in all, it's been a home run gift!

Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize just became a toy prize from a vending machine.  No longer does it hold the distinguished honor it used to be.  The committee to award this has relegated it's status to that of a political tool to be used to encourage certain political viewpoints.  I'm embarrassed for the committee as they have just made themselves irrelevant to world events and have, in one moment, decreased the stature of this award to that of toy prize at a carnival fair.  What's even worse is that all those who were awarded this prize before have just been slapped with the realization that the award that was supposed to recognize their great achievements has now been cheapened to the likes of a popularity contest.  It's a sad day for Alfred Nobel.  Five people just made a mockery of his legacy.

According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize should be awarded to the person who:

“	during the preceding year [...] shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.

 What part of "shall have done" not proposed to do, hoped to do, wished to do, do they not understand?

The award was given just because of who he is, not what he's done.  It's just sad.

Maggie the Wonder Dog

To say Maggie is our dog just doesn't do her justice.  She's more than that.  She's one of the best pets I've ever had.  We got her as a companion for my other dog Chiquita.  I thought Chiquita had taught Maggie how to go sit by the door if she needed to go out but now I realize that it was probably more Maggie learning on her own by watching Chiquita.  She's one smart dog.  Lately though, she's developed a rather strange habit.  In contrast to Chiquita who would down her food in 4 gulps as soon as you placed it in front of her, Maggie will leave her food well over several hours until she's hungry.  Now she's even gone so far as to wait until we are eating before she will eat.  We'll feed her and she'll leave it alone until someone sits down at the kitchen table to eat.  It's like she's developed manners.  She's part Beagle so sometimes her desire to run overrides her obedience and she'll bolt out the garage or front door if we're not careful.  But I also learned years ago that she comes back too.  After 15-20 minutes she'll start wandering back around the house and all we have to do is invite her back inside.  One time at our old house she escaped out of the back yard.  I search the entire yard for where she was getting out of but couldn't find anywhere she could fit through.  So I waited and watched her one day.  She had found a fence picket that wasn't nailed down on the bottom and would push it open until she was out.  The picket would then snap back into place thus she had a secret escape door!  I have no idea how she found that picket.  The neighborhood kids love her.  She's kind and gentle around them. 

She doesn't try and grab food and is happy to have her belly rubbed.  She barks when someone is at the front door but she's not a barker.  If she wants to be petted she'll gently place a paw up on your leg as you sit on the couch.  If you say down though she'll take it back down.  She's not stubborn which is unusual for a Beagle except when you want her to go outside and she doesn't want to.  Then she'll slowly crawl across the room to you as if she's in trouble.  I think she thinks being put outside is punishment.  She loves to chase (and catch) birds.  I've seen her catch 2 birds from mid-air.  Once she found a rabbit in our yard.  I was standing on the back porch and here she comes around the corner of the house with a rabbit in her mouth, plopped it down right at my feet and just walked away like it was something she'd done many times before.  I was pretty proud of her (even though I was a little sad for the rabbit).  She loves to play and will fetch when she's feeling playful.  We can leave her inside for several hours without worrying about having "surprises" when we get back.  She's been on 14 hour car rides and loves to go on trips.  All in all we couldn't have asked for a better dog family member.   She turned 11 yrs old this year.  I try not to think of a dogs life span because I know that when it's her time it'll be one of the hardest day I'll ever have to deal with.  Hopefully she'll live longer than normal.  She's in great shape at 11 yrs old.  even the vet has mentioned her excellent shape.  I can only hope we get to enjoy her love and affection for many years to come.