Happy Belated Father's Day to all the Dads out there. I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy their day. If either couches, TV's or backyards were involved, the day was well spent. I unfortunately had to work but I still reaped the benefits of fatherhood when I got home.

Sweet Pea showed her generosity by cleaning out her room and wrapping it up for me.

It looks like she just wrapped herself up, which is gift enough for me, but trust me there are a garage sale worth of items under the pink crepe.

Here is what it looked like unwrapped. So many things that she had to use a bucket that she personally decorated with cut out pictures of puppies and kitties. My favorite.

My adventures in gifting started out with individually painted clay newts complete with hats and lamp. I was so excited that two second after receiving them I broke one of the lizards legs. Luckily, I'm a dad and have super glue in the garage.

The next group of gifts had the 'Nightmare Before Christmas' theme. SP drew a picture of Jack Skellington, Sally and the Doctor. I also got a clay Jack head and a playdoh like Jack head. I think she achieved a very good likeness in all three mediums.

This is her self portrait showing off the crackle nail polish that she bought with her own money.

The last bit of art work are these marine life scenes she made in an art class a little while ago. With the haul I made this year, I'll have the best decorated garage on the block.

The red bucket of surprises also a finger knitted tie for work which had a safety pin at the top to attach to my shirt. A stuffed moose, a cartoon journal and few smiley face pins filled the rest of the bucket.

Every Father's Day the best gifts are the homemade gifts. Even a coupon for a free nap of my choosing is better than anything from a store. I hope SP keeps exercising her artistic talents. As long as she does, I will have a space available in the art gallery.

Wonders of the World

Do you ever wonder about things? Of course, everyone does. Listening to the radio today a caller to the show used the word 'fantabulous'. A combination of fantastic and fabulous. I have heard this word often before, but I thought, why haven't I ever heard the word 'fabulastic'? It's a combination of the same two words only reversed.

And everyone has probably used or heard the double combination words, absitively posilutely. Heck, those words are almost always used together. So why aren't fantabulous and fabulastic joined at the verbal hip? Just something I wonder about.

Something else that just randomly fell into my head is the phrase, "Bread-butt sandwich". You may not have heard of this before because I just made it up. It's a sandwich made with the last two slices of bread in the bag, or the butt ends. Also known as the bread that only Dads eat. Kids and Moms will always refuse to eat the butt end of a loaf of bread. They won't even consider putting it in the toaster. Therefore, those pieces always get wasted in the garbage unless Dad steps forward for his bread-butt sandwich. Does anyone know who to call about getting credit for a new phrase once it sweeps the nation?

On an unrelated note, just recently, I overheard this conversation in the kids' bathroom while they were brushing their teeth before bedtime.

N1S: What smells in here?
SP: It doesn't smell in here!
N1S: Yes it does. Didn't you just go to the bathroom?
SP: Yeah, but I didn't go number two!
N1S: Well, it smells like you went number four!

What exactly would number four be?

SP wonders, "Does grass blink?" This is the question I got driving her to school one morning. Then when we were watching the movie Alice In Wonderland she turns to me and says, "I like this movie because all of the animals and flowers can talk."

I then observed, "Yeah, but the mushrooms don't talk."
SP then exasperatedly let me know with a subtle roll of her eyes, "Well, of course they don't talk."

Well, how obtuse of me.

I guess there are some things I will always wonder about.



PS:After finishing this post I searched for the phrase bread-butt sandwich and found this. I guess someone beat me to it. Wonder no more!

We Got The Beat

No one can debate that the 1980's were the rockinest decade of all time. Who could argue that the hits that came out of 1980 will all stand the test of time? Spending our high school years in the 80's prepared us to Pump Up the Jam as well as the Volume.

Back then It was Hard For Us To Say I'm Sorry, but easy for us to say Hello, and then Hello Again. We also Said You, Said Me.

We were Born In the USA. Then we Took It On the Run to Africa and the Land Down Under.

Our decade had lots of Material Girls who Just Wanted to Have Fun, Smokin In The Boysroom. Girls like Roxanne, Rosanna, Billie Jean, Jessie's Girl and Sister Christian.

We were Footloose, Hungry Like the Wolf , Maniacs and we may have Given Love a Bad Name, but we sure Let the Good Times Roll and we never Stopped Believin'.

Sometimes we were Licenced to Ill and called Dr. Feelgood. But we also wanted Candy and Ran, Ran So Far Away in the Heat of the Moment.

So when we weren't Fighting For Our Right to Party like it's 1999, Dancing in the Dark at St. Elmo's Fire, we were doing our Final Countdown of 99 Luftballoons.

Now, however, Frankie tells us to Relax, but our Reflex is to Jump, Rock Like Hurricanes and Neutron Dance.

Only The Good Die Young and we are still around. In other words, We Are The Champions!

Oh Yeah! (Chicka-chickaaaah)

How Much Is That Puffball In The Window?

Change is happening outside and along with the seasons, a big change is happening inside our home too. Some of you may have read a while ago about our beloved puppy, Liberty, passing away after 16 wonderful years. Well, apparently she had left a large vacancy in our lives that we needed filled. So last week, we had an addition to our family.

Her name is Ruby. She is a toy poodle pup. She is black and came with a lot of cute cred. She certainly has not replaced Liberty but is filling the void nicely. In fact, potty training is filling more than one void in our lives. I didn't realize how much idle time I actually had on my hands until the all-day-Ruby-watch started. She tries to act innocent and disinterested in pooping when we are outside. Then we come inside the house and she bides her time until I finally blink due to dry eyes from keeping a constant vigil to catch her before she does her business. She is tricky. Once she fills a void by emptying her bowels in the house, she resorts back to the innocent look complete with puppy dog eyes. Luckily, a little puppy has little poops.

Everything else is pretty normal. We've been showing her off to all our friends. Many of whom ask, "Is it real?" the first time they see her. Her size has caused her to be mistaken for a Beanie Baby.

We wanted to surprise the kids so we didn't tell them anything about getting a puppy. On the day we brought her home we took her to Sweet Pea's school at the end of the day. When SP walked into the office, her first words were, "It is real!!!". Followed by, "She's so cute. I love her!"

We've had Ruby for one week now and she is finally getting into a routine. In the morning we get up and immediately pee. Ruby outside, me inside. Then we come in for breakfast. She is so tiny that our old dog bowls were too deep for her. She eats out of a Tupperware lid and drinks out of a Barbie play bowl. Then Ruby plays for a half hour and exhausts herself. She then climbs to the top of the tallest pile of laundry she can find and zonks out for an hour or two.

The rest of her day is spent similarly. Sometimes she substitutes play time for curling up on Lady Di's lap or my shoulder. She only weighs about a pound and feels like she has bird bones. But she's pretty tough and likes to roll around a little.

In the evening we let her outside one more time to do her puppy business which she is sometimes reluctant to do. Mother Nature decided to play a trick on us and lower temps to the 40's and crank up the wind. We sometimes have to create a wind break for Ruby with our feet to keep her from being toppled by the mildest of gusts. She will often squat to pee and then race back to our feet to look up at us and whimper from the cold. I tell her she has to finish going potty. She looks around and then turns on the turbo-cute by adding a squeaky bark with her sad eyes.

Once in her kennel bed, we wind up the clock for the tick-tocking and set our alarms for every 2 & 1/2 hours to let her out for overnight potty breaks. It's funny how after Ruby finishes her nighttime business, I strangely feel the same urge to complete some bathroom business. It's also puzzling how I usually count only one overnight trip to the front yard, but Lady Di says she wakes up two to three times a night. Maybe the alarm is quieter on my side of the bed.

Hopefully, when the weather warms up a bit the potty training will get a little easier. Regardless, Ruby is earning her keep by entertaining us with cute puppy stuff with cute puppy toys. As long as her poops stay small she can probably stay.

Fun with Paint and Wood

Ladies, start your engines! Our local Girl Scout organization hosted their 3rd annual pinewood derby race last week. Which means that once again, I had to clean the sawdust from my tools from last year's car and help Sweet Pea create another wheeled work of art. Each year I let SP choose how she wants her car to look. I try to cut, sand and chisel her wood block into a reasonably similar shape to her idea. Then I let her work her magic with paint and accessories.

To view previous pinewood derby cars just click here and here.

This year SP decided she wanted her car to look like one of the minions from the animated movie, 'Despicable Me'. A minion is a cute yellow Tylenol-shaped worker who wears goggles and denim overalls. This design was actually much simpler for me because I only had to round off the corners of her block and glue a round, washer holding cup to look like a one eyed goggle. Did I mention that some minions have one eye and some have two eyes?

So, using the DVD case as a guide, SP created a very believable likeness with bendaroos used as arms.

SP decided that her minion would have a smug, contented look about him so she drew an eye with a half closed lid. You can't see from the picture but her minion has one black curlicue hair on top of his head.

Our cars usually are not made for speed, but this year SP won her first heat and got second in her other two heats. Not good enough for a trophy but still OK.

So when SP wasn't racing, I had plenty of time to view the competition. About 160+ cars of competition.

There was evidence of much creativity among the wheeled wood blocks. Some cars had better paint jobs than the van we drive.Each girl scout got to vote for their favorite cars. This walrus car won for 'Most Creative.'

Here is some more of the girl scout's artistic ability. Someone actually carved that panda bear riding a toboggan. We also saw a car with working headlights.

With all of the talent and creativity on display, SP got some good ideas for next year. I will have to look into how to install headlights and probably add a working radio too. Hmmm...a derby car in the design of an Ipod perhaps?

Lenny the Leprechaun Strikes Again!

Did anyone catch the leprechaun last week? Sweet Pea gave it another try this year. Last year she set up an elaborate trap involving string, bait, weights and triggers to ensnare the elusive leprechaun. This year she modified her efforts by rigging an alarm to wake her when the leprechaun went for her bait.

SP's bait was a trail of homemade paper coins leading to an upside down wastebasket suspended with yarn by her bed. The trail of coins started at the other end of her room next to a note placed on top of her alarm clock. The plan was for Lenny the Leprechaun to read the note (stating press here for gold), press the alarm button, waking SP just in time to spring her trap.

SP's enthusiasm even got her brother in on the action too. He left a trail of paper coins too, not leading to a trap but to a list of leprechaun questions. His letter started out by wishing the leprechaun a lucky day and that he left a cup of Granny Smith Sweet Green Apple applesauce for him. He later wrote that his mom took the applesauce and he would have to find it in the refrigerator. N1S also wrote that he will not be setting any traps. By morning all of N1S's coins were gone and his questions were all answered in green marker. The leprechaun also signed his name in Gaelic which he must have looked up on the Internet. I'm pretty sure Number One Son knew what was going on but he still played along for his little sister.

I guess the leprechaun was too wily to fall for SP's note. In the morning SP's paper money was gone, but the kindly Lenny left her a box of orange flavored Tic-Tac's in trade.

I'm not sure if SP really expects to catch a leprechaun each year or if she just intends to trick her parents into giving her a treat every March. Either way, I'd say we all are pretty lucky to have Lenny to entertain us.

Are You Game?

How many board games do you own? If you are a board game family you know that the number is probably in the double digits. If you are not a board game family, you have a lot more shelf space in your basement than I. I grew up in a board game family. Lady Di also grew up playing games and cards at the dining room table with her family. To this day I can only win 1 out of every 10 games of 500 against Lady Di.

Which brings me to my original question, 'How many board games do you own?'

I was staring at our wall of games in the basement last week and I wondered, "How did we accumulate so many long flat boxes of fun?

Most of the blame can go to our parents. They are the ones who planted the game playing bug in our brains. Somehow, we also got the bright idea that a new board game every Christmas was sane. That way we could play a new game every Christmas morning as a family. After the new video games got boring, of course. Which is the beauty of board games. They always play differently each time you play. And I'm not talking about the strange way the rules tend to change to fit the needs of the current rule keeper. And why does every game have a rule to gang up on Dad and send him back to Sorry land or make him Draw Four or force him to pay for multiple stays in a fancy Boardwalk hotel every time?

Anyway, our grand total as of last week was 53 games! Games with and without boards. Games with dice, cards, pop-o-matic die, money, tiles, spinners, letters, numbers, colors,blocks, clay, pencils, paper, sand timers, and buzzers. Games with lead pipes, revolvers, top hats, thimbles, pegs, pawns and pigs. Games that give us Trouble, Cooties, Ants in Our Pants, Mystery Dates and Free Parking.

That total doesn't count the multiple packs of playing cards, memory cards, flash cards, match cards,Uno cards, Star Wars cards, Old Maid, Go Fish, Crazy Eight, Bandits, etc.

I also didn't count the 14 games that are currently on our summer garage sale pile.

We currently have 9 games whose name ends with the letter 'O'.

We have 3 different Monopoly games. Original, Star Wars, and Wizard of Oz.

We have 13 Parker Brothers games and 20 games from Milton Bradley.


We have 4 games that require shouting something. Yahtzee, Jenga, Uno and Sorry. I don't think Jenga actually requires that you shout Jenga when the blocks topple but that's how I play it.

We have only 1 game with a large mat with large colored dots.

We have games for small children like Don't Break the Ice and Candyland. And games for big children like Taboo and Catchphrase. We have smart (N1S & SP) people games like chess and cribbage. And for the other people (Dad) we have Taboo and Catchphrase.

Do we really need this many games?

I don't think we will make it through this winter without them. Our weather has been so hostile that it's daring us to just try and survive it. So with no where to go and nothing on TV, we turn to our cheap family entertainment. A little bit of cardboard, ink and plastic to arm us against cabin fever.

So I'm back to asking, "How many games do you own?" "Is it enough to last the winter?" And which are your favorites?