Make mine Veggie next time

I have this real aversion to getting any type of Chinese food with meat in it from our local Chinese Takeout (the one we go to from work all the time). It's mostly the breaded meats I don't like. I used to get the Sweet and Sour Chicken and every so often I would bite into a chunk of meat that has some cartilidge and other unidentifiable stuff in it. So today, I thought I would have pork. Hot Braised. It's breaded. crap!. I got through half of it before I bit into some that just didn't taste right. I threw the rest away. None of my co-workers have complained though. Don't think it is dog....

Nate's becoming quite the little two year old. Likes to say "NO" a lot lately. He spends a lot of time in timeout. He's still a joy though. We still play Weebles everynight, and he still insists on sending his Disney Pixar Cars down the Weeble slide and Mater still gums up the works.

I got out my Hot Wheels train and we play with that also. I just discovered it is remote controlled.

I have this strange feeling I've already wrote about all this....

Big Snow storm tonight. Already like 4 inches out there. I'll have to see if I will be going to the Y tomorrow. May be taking my clothes with me so I don't have to come back home to go to work. Can imagine that the co-workers won't get in in any decent time either.

Spent tonight in the basement going through the book shelf and reorganizing it. Tried to put all the Christian books together, Lynn's fiction and my fiction in another area. We are hosting SuperBowl on Sunday and we are going to let the kids play downstairs, so I've been trying to get the place straightened up as much as possible. Will need to probably also box up some of Nate's Tractors cause I don't want them to be messed with. Also I sorted through all of 2007's bank statements. I've been bad about just throwing the unopened envelope in a drawer. So now they are all opened, and thrown in a drawer...

I'll leave you all with the following pictures. Nate had a bath the other night and I washed his hair and thought I might take some Pics...





Later,

If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes

Today was one of those weird Missouri Weather day. I got up at 5:30 to go to the Y. It was like 50 degrees then. When I headed into work, I had my winter coat on to walk to the car and I left it in the car when I got to work. then I heard on the radio about the cold front. So, all afternoon, we dealt with tornadic winds, snow, hail; all the fun stuff. Now it is like 25 degrees. It was up to 70 around noon. a new STL high.

I got Nate some Bob videos off eBay and he is watching them now. We'll have to pack them up and take them downstairs to play on my Playstation.

We've been playing with a HotWheels Train that I got at a yardsale this summer. It has a remote control on it so you can back it up. He likes to put his Disney's Pixar Cars in them (Lightning and Mater) and have it go around the track and then unload.

My parents got me a real train set a couple years ago for Christmas. I'll have to try to get that out soon.

Sunday we are hosting Super Bowl at our house. I'll need to try to find the optimal spot where we can pick up Fox with the Rabbit ears.

Well, need to go.

Later,

Touching

Lynn made a wonderful post over at her blog regarding Nate. You all need to check it out.

I've been really bad this month with taking pictures. the only pics I have taken are of eBay stuff to sell. Nothing of Nate. I changed that last night. Took lots of pics of us playing in the basement as a family. Nate and I retreat down there at night to give Lynn a break for a while.

Our favorite thing is to play with the Weebles. Nate has a "Weeble Castle". I take the Weebles and pull them out of the moat and put them on the top of the castle as fast as I can. Nate pushes them down the slide as fast as he can. It's fun.

Here's a picture of Nate from last week, on Tuesday in fact. He pretty much spent the day on the couch watching his videos on the laptop.


Here Nate is looking at the Bubbles in the Basement last night:


Here he is playing with his Combine and Tractor.


My father had bought him the combine at the farm supply store a while back now. The tractor was bought at my Grandfather's auction. so they both have a family tie. We are looking to find some farm implements for him to pull around. I have a disc harrow that I also bought at the auction, but it is 1:32 scale, and still in the box, won't work. Doesn't mean that Nate still doesn't try to get his mitts on it...

Later,

Lazy Bum

I've skipped out on going to the Y all week since Monday. I really need to get up tomorrow and go. It's a little weird with Nate having the cold and all. He will be coughing in the middle of the night. I feel so bad for him. Last night he wouldn't sleep so Lynn took him in to our bed and laid him between us. He was laying there looking at me with the big grin on his face. It was majorly cute. Almost didn't want him to leave.

Nothing much else is new around here. Nate was good enough to go to his Parent's day out so Lynn was able to attend a Joe White talk at church. She's heard there is a men's thing going on downtown that he is hosting. I'll have to check that out.

I've found out that I can find rarer items in eBay lots, snatch them up for a reasonable price and resell the item again for the cost of the lot. Pretty cool way to get some stuff and not really spend money. Just have to be careful. I've been a little to agressive with the ebay purchases lately...

Well, time for bed. Lynn is blogging right now also, so she should have an update soon also.

Later,

Geek Code

Lynn had submitted an item on one of her diaper boards about the "geekiness" of their husbands. I went out and found the geek code and filled it out and posted it to the left here, so you all can know how "geeky" I am. A lot of it has to do with Systems stuff, which I don't know, but it is kind of fun to read. Later,


GCS d++ s: a C+ UB P+ L E-- W++ N o-- K- w+ O-- M- V- PS-- PE++ Y+ PGP- t+ 5 X R+@ tv- b++ DI D G e++ h---- r+++ y+++

The (Organic) Freaks come out at night

Nate has been struggling with a coupy, coldy, coughy, runny nose thing since Friday night. We've pretty much been staying at home all weekend, taking turns getting out of the house and all.

Saturday night, I was sent out to buy a house humidifier. Went to Sears at about 8:45 to get it. Walked by the fitness equipment and there were these two teenagers doing their workouts in the middle of Sears. It was a bit odd. Bought the humidifier and got it home.

Last night, Nate's congestion got a little worse. Lynn had gone out to Walgreens to see if she could find some Similisan Sinus Clearer stuff. Walgreens didn't carry it. She checked the website and found that Whole Foods carries it. It was 10:15, I told her that it's open until 11, so I would go down there. It was my first excursion into St. Louis with the highway 40 closure. Had to go up to the airport and down 170. It was a pretty good trip. They've really messed with the interchange though so you feel like you are running into oncoming traffic.

so I get at Whole Foods. found the stuff. Saw a lot of the Organically minded folk there. I guess they all link to hang out there and talk about their liberal thoughts and all. I did my part though, made my purchase and even refused paper or Plastic to save the environment. Got home and Nate's nose was sprayed and he can breath now. That's good. Lynn said I was a hero...

Today is MLK Jr day. I'm off work. Was planning on getting up early to go to the Y but that didn't happen. Have to bargain with Lynn on maybe going this morning and letting her go out sometime this afternoon. We'll see.

I've got a couple of eBay auctions ending tonight so I should spend today packing up some of the items to ship on Tuesday (if they pay on time). I'll have to see if I can nab the box to the humidifier also to use to ship a larger Item I have also.

Later,

How long has it been?

I guess it has been about a week since I post. Sorry about that. It's not like I didn't have the time.

Lynn & Nate was out of town on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday morning, so I was pretty much a bachelor those days. Nothing exciting happened though. Jackson is especially more needy since he was alone in the house all day.

Nothing much else interesting has happened. No new pics of Nate to post either. I'm looking in our January folder and I have zilch in there.

I've been posting on Ebay like crazy. I have about 22 items out there now. TOday they had a .20 sale of posting stuff. So I put some stuff out there slightly over-valued. See how that goes.

Pet peeve time. I'm a little aggrevated by international buyers. They all want me to let them know the cost of shipping something to them. and I'm supposed to open up my auction for them. I think I will just be selling to US and Canada from now on. We'll see.

Later,

Some pics.

Just some random pics we've taken over the past week:


This is Nate in one of his New Diapers. Cowboys I think...


This is Nate's Toddler Bed. We set it up Dec. 30th. He's been pretty good about staying in it, although this morning, he opened the door and came out...


Here, Nate is wearing my sandles that my mom got me for Christmas. He walked around the house in them for quite sometime. Guess it must have been entertaining for him..

Later,

Big Storm a'Comin'

We've got this huge storm a comin' our way. supposed to bring huge hail and stuff. wonder if the 'ole power will go out again tonight. Only way to find out is wait and see...

Later,

2007 New years Resolutions

Thought I would recap on last years resolutions and see how I did....

Career

1. Keep on chugging with what I am doing at Jones. I am going to be working on a big project at Jones this year which will challenge me with my J2EE knowledge. Hopefully I will get it accomplished okay for the implementation date they have set for August 2007. I did some Java stuff this last year. It was good. I will also be doing some classes this spring with work.
2. I have a Annual Review in April. Don't expect any big change from that, but hoping that after it happens, I can really kick in with some real work to try for next year to get some big kudos. I got an exceeding on my last review. So that is good.
3. Mentoring has been one of my bosses biggest goals for me this year. I will attempt to train/guide some co-workers into some of the J2EE technologies. This didn't go so great. Got to busy to show them much.

Financial

1. Refinance the house into a 15 year fixed term mortgage. This will set us to get our house paid for in 2022. I am hoping to have it paid off quicker, perhaps in 10 years. Yep, got this one done. Already a full year ahead of schedule.
2. Get on a budget that will work. We've not worked within an budget since we've been married. Pretty much just worked off a "you can spend about ths much". No budget here. But, we did end the year up in value, less cash in the bank, but retirement accounts and such surged.
3. Save up for another car. 2000 Dodge Caravan or 1999 Ford Taurus..... It's a race to see which might conk out first. I'm thinking that whichever goes first, we'll probably just get another mini-van, cause that is what we need the most around here (although I keep hearing that I need a nicer car, but I really don't have to impress anyone at work). Haven't really saved up, but the Dodge is working grandly right now.

Spiritual

1. Find a spiritual mentor. Find a man to be a guide and lead/direct me with spiritual priniciples. I can probably find a guy within my men's ministry at church. HAven't really done this. I have been going to a men's group at a new church. No direct mentoring, but they are supportive.
2. Find a place where God can use me. Could be anywhere, but I'm kind of picky on what I will do (I am kind of hung up on the commitment thing). Prayer that I can give that over to God and find something that fits our busy lives.Not really worked on this one either.
3. Deepen spiritual relationship with Lynn. This includes being a better spiritual leader in the household. This weighs a little bit more on me everyday when I realize that Nate's little mind of mush needs to be molded/sculpted. I just hope I do it the right way.... Failed at this one too mostly. Have to give it to God to be a better husband

Physical

1. Lose 40 lbs by the end of the year. May be unrealistic with this, but will try to get this down. Would help me feel a lot better about myself physically and all. Will be achieved via goal 2 below. Ha! Haven't gaine any weight.
2. Go to the "Y" at least 5 times a week. This should be easy to do.I did pretty good at this. There was a time last Spring where I didn't go for three weeks or so.

Intellectual

1. Read a non-fiction book every month. Would like to concentrate on people in history. Funny one is that I would like to read about the Bill Clinton Presidency. Lynn asked me a while back about him, you know that everybody thinks he was a scoundrel, but he must have done something good with his presidency. I'll find out what. People I would like to read about Yeah, this did NOT happen. I did read a lot of books, mostly fantasy novels. I know I've read at least 20 regarding the same world.
2. Do more Suduko. Lynn and Sandy both gave me Suduko books for Christmas. I've been doing one a night since. I think I have it figured out, but this will help keep my mind sharper. Started off doing them, got more interested in reading my fantasy novels...
3. Relearn Calculus. I love math, and just for fun, I would like to go back through my old Calculus book and relearn some of the things I've forgotten/"never understood in the first place". I have come to appreciate the fact that I think after a couple years of cooling off and not have academic pressure on you, concepts and ideas come to you more naturally. We'll see how that all goes. This didn't happen either, but Lynn gave me a Math Calendar for Christmas. A different math problem for everyday.

Family

1. Spend at least an hour with Lynn every weeknight doing something one-on-one. We've been doing this pretty semi-regularly so I would hope to get it more regularly. I will shoot for 3 out of 5 nights. This would be something like playing games, sitting and talking, but NO T.V. Maybe getting a movie from Blockbuster would be okay. Lately, we've pretty much just done our own thing each night. Need to get back to the connecting.
2. Be a great Dad for Nate. Spending quality time with him everyday. Giving him plenty of hugs and lots and lots of pat-a-cake. Also read him books (not much reading right now, he likes to look a the pictures). Been great at this. Nate is such a great little boy.
3. Be a better dog owner for Jackson. I think he's manaic depressive right now. Hope that I can spend more time with him also to get him a little more perkier. JAckson is still manic depressive. Haven't really spent a great amount of time with him. He's kind of pushy in your face kind of thing

Social

1. Do at least one night a month out with a guy friend. This can be pretty much anybody. I don't have real good guy-to-guy friendships right now.Not really done that great.
2. Bond with a couple from our church Sunday School class. This can be a couple that we can call on a Saturday to come over for a movie night or something. We've not really done this either. There have been a couple of couples that we hang out with, but wouldn't say they are bestest friends or anything.
3. The above will require me to come out of my shell a little bit more also.
Yeah, not happened. still as shy as ever....



All around, I think I accomplished half my goals, so not bad. I'll need to think of new goals this weekend and post them out there for you again.

Later,

Happy New Year!

Well, It's 2008. Today Lynn and I did a lot of out with the old, in with the new. We tore down the Christmas Tree, Nate took that pretty good. He loved to watch the lights on it, It's really going to tear at him when we take the outside lights off. Guess we can keep them up until the epiphany.

We also got Nate to sleep in a toddler bed last night so today we tore down the crib and took it downstairs. Opens up his room a lot. more room for the train table.

Also, we cleaned out the laundry room also. The Christmas Decorations were starting to take over the place. we are going to get rid of a bunch of lights. Fun....

Well, not much else to say. I'll have to give a report on my resolutions from last year and how I really bombed on them...

Later,