Split Pea Soup

Yea we made split pea soup tonight....who woulda thunk it?

I am not sure I have ever had split pea soup but I liked it, not something I would do on a weekly basis...or even a monthly basis but for the most part I enjoyed it.

funny thing happened on the way to eating my split pea soup....I get a call from Lynn.

Who is lynn you might ask, well she is one of the moms that goes down to the Y in the morning that I befriended, hell even tommy plays with her son alex on occasion. Lynn is the type of person that can be a lot of fun to be around.....for a while....then she gets annoying. She used to be a hair dresser back like 14 years ago and still has hair from that time and thinks she knows all about hair......jen gets the pleasure of cutting her hair.....but overall one of the nicest people you will ever meet.

Lynn had asked a while back where I was appling for jobs and I had mentioned that I had applied at Junior Achievments for a part time director position. She called to inform me that over the last two weeks basiclly the whole office just up'd and quit....and that she knows the person they called back to fill in. She used to be the director but left about a year and a half ago to start a family....they are paying her double her previous salary and she is currently pregnant and is only working until feb 1st......HOLLLLYYYYY SSSHHHHIIITTT

So I called (btw if you have forgotten my spilt pea soup is getting cold) and the lovely nicole (yep the one that is leaving) answered and forwarded my to a contact in Milwaukee at the corporate office. I have to wait until Monday of course to call but how cool would it be to get a job in the next couple of weeks. well no expectations....they could pay like shit....

Would you Rather

Last night was one of those nights where your just not hungry, or at least not craving anything. So for over an hour we had this discussion:

"So what do you want to eat?"
"I don't know, you choose"
"I don't really feel like cooking"
"me neither"
"want chineese?"
"no"
"what about pizza?"
"nope"
"So what do you want to eat?"
"I don't know, you choose"

And that is the way it went, in fact we even got in the car, buckled the kids up and drove....well really we were leaving great grandma's house but we had no plan. So we just drove, decided that it would be easiest to just get pizza.

As anyone who reads him knows he does a "would you rather". very funny at times, well I got one cause it actually happened to jen. Would you rather while shaking on salt and pepper have the cap come off:

The pepper

or

the salt

sure shit, as jen was taking the pepper to put on the pizza the cap fell off and pepper all over the wonderful pizza that came out. Now it is a scramble to get it off without pushing it into the cheese. Let me just say that it was the spiciest pizza I have had in a while.

Those of you following my brides blog will have to wait for her entry. Because if tommy could get any cute'r we would have to kick his ass!

Little spiddy

Apparently I have a four year old little spider man on my hands. Yep Tommy rocks at spiderman on gamecube. Now don't get me wrong he doesn't understand how to win levels but man can that kid swing, and beat up bad guys. It is so much fun watching him play.

We also got "mousetrap" the board game. So we all sat down last night and played. Dominic loved building the trap and got such a kick out of putting it together. Tommy got all excited when it was time to actually "catch" a mouse. In fact for about an hour or so after he kept activating the trap....He would yell YEAH.....Then clap everytime it worked right. In case the world wants to know...Dad was the first caught!

Dominic got a call from PAPA last night asking if he wanted to go up north to the cabin and sleep over. He packed his snow suit and boots and was all excited to go, so papa picked him up this morning and off he goes until tomorrow afternoon. Not sure where he gets it from but I would have no desire to sleep when it was cold in a "real" cabin...Oh well to each his own.

Tommy wanted to go outside this morning and try out his new spiderman snow boots. He lasted all of 5 minutes before he was cold...Now that is my kid.

Christmas Morning!!!

I will post pictures of the carnage that came through this house a little later.

This is the first year that Dominic really understood the magic of Santa. As I laid in bed this morning wondering how bad this cold is going to get I heard him wake up. As he slowly went down stairs it went quite.......At least I knew he wasn't opening any gifts.

I couldn't take it anymore, I had to get up and see what he was doing.....plus it was already 7:30. As I walked downstairs here sat Dominic in front of the tree, as he looked back he says "Santa Came!!!!!". Well of course we have to wait for everyone to get up, but I told him he could check his stocking. As he pulled out the little bags of M&M's and Wax Bottles he found a pack of YU-GI-OH Cards. He stopped, looked at me and says...........in a whisper......."this is unbelievable!"

See even though Tommy understand Santa and that he comes to our house....but Dominic has thought this through.....how does he get around the world, how does he get in the house? How does he......How does he......

This the magical part...when they still believe in Santa even when it doesn't make sense.....

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE........

Dad is great.....for giving us chocolate cake!!!

Our house is just full of cough's, sniffles, boogers, sneezes, and throat clearing....Hi my name is Owen!!!!. Since she she was the main one who is sick I didn't sleep well....but I feel for her.....big hugs

Speaking of Trains, Planes, and Automobiles.....has anyone seen the reports of snow in Indiana.....yep like three feet of snow. There is so much snow down there that the plows are getting stuck....Now that would so suck!

As tommy called my name this morning at 6am cause it was to dark in his room, I decided that since it was Chritmas Eve I would get up and make pancakes, sausages, and coffee (flavored no less). I thought that maybe I would get some quite morning time, but to no avail. Tommy "the pancake eating king" had like 6 pancakes...yep this 4 year old who can't even finish his supper, goes to town on pancakes. If I let him he would just keep eating. So as I looked around at the pancakes and pop tarts along with the syrup I realized that I should just give them chocolate cake....there would be less sugar.

New Years Resolutions

I know they are coming soon...yep the resolutions. I have them every year and very rarely do I accomplish...Well any of them.

This last year though I did pretty well. I think the biggest thing for me was the continuation of actually working out. I started last year on Jan. 5th and am still going. I have lost a little over 20lbs but considering the amount of weights I lift I am sure that it would have been more.

I also had the goal of completing 24 more credits of school, I actually completed 30, so I am ahead of schedule.

More on the resolutions later, cuz they will be coming.

From the "Divine" one

Apparently the "divine" one has a sense of humor....Who woulda new?

I think that what hurts the most is the underlying truth to this cartoon...

thanks for the support "divine" one, don't jump on the phone and call on some of your connections over the years........

Oh and if you can't read the cartoon, just click on it....it will make it big enough that even the divine ones eyes could read it.


From the "Divine" one!

SNOW!!!

yep er's we got snow....not a lot but enough to make it a white christmas...how cool

besides snow is kinda romantic really, I mean the clean up sucks but in the mean time everything gets all white and stuff...and really is better to look at than ugly grey.

So now all we have to do is wait for Santa to show up, and I heard he is making an appearance here at our house.

One of my best memories of christmas is actually not about me at all. It has to do with little sis, and the look in her eyes. I think she knows how it was done now, but if not I am not giving it away.

As a family we all went to church on christmas eve, mom, dad and sopheava an I. When we got home, santa had already arrived at our house but that was not unusual since he was so busy we got on the christmas eve list for early delivery. Now this is an exclusive list as not everyone gets on it, but after my parents pulled some strings they got bumped up. When we got home santa forgot to wipe his feet out of the fireplace and tracked his ash covered shoes to the tree and then to the cookies that were left out. In fact we didn't even leave cookies out for him he just helped himself to the cookies and grabbed some milk to wash it down with.

I remember the look on sopheava's face as she followed his prints to the presents under the tree, then to the kitchen. It was so cool, because I think it might have been the last year she really believed....In fact she might have already had suspicions but this put it off for another year or so.

I love this memory, it makes me all happy and stuff.

Santa

Dominic did a sleep over last night, so Tommy and I went over to big sis's house and got some movies. This morning we put in Rudolph the red nose reindeer, on DVD. Tommy loved it and was trying to sing along to the songs, "silver and gold" and "misfit"...Kind of cut really.

What I never realized was that in the movie, Santa is a real A-Hole. All prejudice and stuff, even though Rudolph was the obvious choice as best athlete in the reindeer games. Let alone his dad, who is donner by the way, has to say "no son of mine will have a red nose". Hey thanks for the support dad! Thanks for loving me for who I am DAD!.....No wonder he ran away.

In fact if I was Rudolph when Santa came to me to pull the sled I would be all like "no way fat man!" "you figure out a way to get that sleigh up in the air, what have you over done for me other than ruin my chances in the reindeer games where I would have mopped up on all the other pansy raindeer's"

Well then I would make him sweat it out for a while, making sure I get lots of apologizes before saying yes, cause lets face it Rudolph would never let the kids down, let alone leave all those misfit toys on misfit island.....But boy I would soooo hold a grudge and definitely move out of the parents cave with my dad, donner, there.

ok, so anyway I got to watch the brainchild of home remodeling today. Yep as I sat and drank my beer I got to watch my buddy and his dad construct a new bathroom. Now they obviously know what they are doing, well enough to get it built, but the real entertainment is the banter between them. The beer only added to the enjoyment and lets face it, I just have no desire to do something like that myself. I mean it looked cool and stuff with all the power tools around to just play with. My problem is that it would take a couple of weekends to complete and be in working order and my attention span is like.....well "ohhh look shiny things"!!!

What's in the bag?

A friend of mine sent me this.....way funny! so have to pass it on.....check out their other stuff too.

Today was a long day....very very busy....but got nothing accomplished....crap

My mission tomarrow is going to be cleaning the house, laundry and general fix up stuff that I have been putting off.....can you hear my excitement....

Dominic is at a sleep over tonight, so just me and tommy. Jen isn't home yet from work, which means either she is making money.....or spending money. I have known her too long....

One more final to go, will start the reference stuff on sunday, study on monday and take the exam on tuesday. it shouldn't be to bad, since I got a 70% on the last one which was a b+.....go figure

Awww aren't those squirrels cute?

First and foremost, I would like to give shout out! to the newest member of the blogging community. We sat down a couple of days ago, came up with names, and choose a design. She spent much of this morning just getting used to all the components of the site and wrote something....So how about a little love in the hizzouse and leave a comment so she knows we are out there.

Second, and much to my dismay, I downloaded my exam for Sociology this morning after going to the Y and generally just fucking off. As I sit down and start to read my e-mails knowing it is sitting there staring at me and thinking...Like the rest of the semester, that I have until Tuesday morning at 8am to get it in my email tells me "as a reminder all exams are due Friday morning by 8am". Talk about a oh shit moment, I had one....So consequently I am in between questions for the exam,taking a break cause I have been tirelessly working to get this shizzzit done. Oh yeah as a side note I didn't start the exam until after my "drooling all over my pillow" nap.....Hey cut me some slack I worked out this morning....."Mind and body"

Christmas Memories

As a parent, we try to give our kids the opportunity to create their own memories. The ones that we think will make the biggest impact are usually forgotten, but it is those times that we think they won't remember that create the best memories.

I remember going to Pranges dept. store as a kid...I can still see the reindeer stalls, the talking spruce tree (Bruce spruce, if I remember correctly) and of course Santa. But I remember the mechanical elves, and the scene they created. I am assuming that when the building burnt down they had saved some of the mechanical items and over the years and the buyout by Yonkers they have added to it. So in the basement of Yonkers is the most wonderful display of mechanical elves, deer, squirrels, and even polar bears. As we went down the stairs Tommy stepped into the winter wonderland display and took off running down the hall toward Santa!....yep he didn't care he wanted Santa...And he found him....So below are some great shots of the evening....Enjoy!



santa's workshop


wow this present is heavy!


I'll give you a boost!!


Grand Finale!!!


Wow am I tired!

Sing, Sing!!!!

Yes folks...it is that time of year again. The annual christmas program, given this year by the 1st graders at washington school. So being that I am partcial to my boy...here are some shots of the day, enjoy cause he rocked.

Line up:
"santa clause is coming to town"
"up on the rooftop"
"jingle Bells"
"we wish you a merry x-mas"

As tommy sat next to me he couldn't help but smile and wave at his brother in front of the room, he clapped, and laughed at the sight of Dominic in the spot light.....Until he looked at me and said "this is going to take forever".....so I said "yep, deal with it"......I got "dddaaaaaadddddd"......very nice.


oh the fun


Yea!!!!


Everyone sing!

One more week

Focus..............Focus.................Focus................

School is almost.......look!!! shinny things

this is the last week of school, two finals that need to be done by friday. it has been a good start so far. Just need to focus on the week....

Cuteness.........Ass kicking

It all started yesterday on the way home from Big Sis' house. We were goofing in the car cause Tommy couldn't use his "inside" voice........So I decided that I couldn't use my "inside" voice either.....Then Dominic joined.....At first I was trying to prove a point but it became a joke and we were all laughing........Ok here is the part that started it all. Now Dominic is 6 yrs old.....And he actually used the phrase "sizzle my wizzle" in a sentence with correct context........WTF....When did my kid become cooler than me "I suppose it doesn't take a huge mental leap there, but still"

Being we were staying in last night, we had a movie nite. Popcorn, staying up late (well 9:00 is late for the kids), and spiderman 2......are you kidding me, it doesn't get any better. Well lets just say Dominic had some....well......he had more gas than Exxon!.........Tommy, just to top the "sizzle my wizzle" comment, looked at me and then Jen and actually said "Dominic has flatulence"......yep he used that HUGE word, pronounced right and knew what it meant!.....he is four people.......whatever.

so now, we have decided that they are soooo cute (well at least to us anyway...lol) we just want to kick their ass!

Fair is Fair.

Dominic was giving me some crap this morning cause he noticed the pics of tommy and non of his. So here we are...the boys together....aren't they cute??????

Hold on a sec...I need to tell them to shut up!!!!


Fair is fair. 

Gayness of childhood

Let me first preface this entry by saying that if you are gay....More power to ya, I could care less...cause I am not......so

As I am sitting her drinking my coffee, Dominic and Tommy grab an apple and sit down to watch cartoons....as I switch through the 25 stations of cartoons, They wanted the Superfriends. Not the new superfriends, but the old one that was on 25 years ago. I realized how "gay" this show really was. Superman, aquaman, batman and robin, even wonder woman "lesbian". Then I realized that I used to watch "He-man", which might have been the gayest of them all......Remember "ram-man"....enough said..ummmmkay.

To top it all off, if you were into the metal scene in the 80's you were exposed to gayness. Yep between the makeup, big hair, spandex, and ear rings.....then to top it off every video showed the band doing sexual dance moves...with women.....miles away. Yep gayness...lots of it......everywhere.

All I can say is YEA!!!! for grunge....this was our ass kicking, anti-hair and makeup savior. I know it has died down over the years but you can't deny it's monumental impact on the music scene. Almost makes you want to live in Seattle.

Pickles....friend or foe

I am sitting here trying to think of what to blog about......just for fun...haven't had one of those in a while. So I find a topic on my quest for something new. topic is "pickles:friend or foe" Talk amongst your selves.....

Well in retrospect I would have to say friend...I mean really, the pickle has done nothing to me. It keeps its place well, and only works when needed. And since pickles really are versatile, sweet, dill, short, spears, slices.........They are a food of unmeasured dignity, silently making it's way into our culture. Slowly disappearing into our everyday lives, only showing it's head when really needed.

People...embrace the pickle...yes the pickle is here to stay! Hooray pickle!

Was it a dream where you see yourself in, sort of, Sun God robes, on a pyramid, with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you?.......Why am I the only one who has that dream?

"real genius"



Pickles, Pickles everywhere 

NFL and NBA

ESPN used to run a program called "Playmakers". It depicted story lines from the NFL during the season. Some of the storylines consisted of drug use, lockerroom fights, home violence, and money problems....yep I said money problems. The NFL came to ESPN and told them basically to stop production of the show. Their reasoning was that it did not depict the NFL in reality....and since ESPN and ABC had monday and sunday night football, they backed off and stopped production. In ESPN's words, there just were not enough story lines.......

"flash too"

Everyone remember Andre Rison...one of the best NFL receivers...in fact caught a TD pass for the packers in their superbowl win in '97. Well he disappeared after that season....Haven't heard from him since...Didn't make sense....well we come to find out that after his "TLC" (hip hop group..for you not in the know) girlfriend burnt down his mansion, he was ordered by the courts in Georgia to pay another Ex-girlfriend $127K in back child support for his 2 kids he had with her. So what does he do?....This multi-millionaire football player flea's to Canada so as not to have to pay and go to jail. WTF is this? Hey rich boy....pay up...it is the law. It turns out that after a couple of years up there he decides to head back to Atlanta to visit relatives during this "holiday" season and who is waiting when he arrives....yep you guessed it....the law. Now in jail, he cannot get out until the child support is paid in full....but of course he doesn't have the money........And Playmakers ran out of story lines....yea right

Now on to the NBA. Lets recap a little on the NBA this season shall we? Lets start with Latrell Spreewell for Minnesota T-wolves, who at the beginning of the season said he can barely feed his family on the 10M money he is getting. Then we have Carmelo Anthony getting busted for having "Mary Jane" smoke on him. Then we have "the fight", players suspended and fans getting the crap beat out of them. Now we are back to Spreewell again, who yells to a female fan "hey suck my di*k". And lets not forget about ol' Koby out in Colorado either. Nice job guys, lets alienate all of your fans.

Christmas spirit

Ok this is the real reason why I wanted to learn how to post pics to my blog. As I am sitting down here watching my sportscenter, eating some bacon, and having coffee....."This" is what comes streaking by me. How could I not take a pic....And yes he is wearing only the Santa hat.....Too bad I had only my camera phone...Not the digital camera.


christmas tommy 

Tommy Red Cheeks

So this is the first time trying to upload a photo, using the blogs picture feature...so since tommy is right next to me and he would like see himself...here we go.


Tommy Tommy red Cheeks 

x-mas lights

so I put up the christmas lights outside today....I hate doing that job....in fact I don't even try very hard to make them look good anymore cuz no matter how hard I try....Jen will change them. So what is the point.....there out there...she can fix em'

job search update

today's search came up with 20 entry's......15 were sales jobs and a couple of engineer jobs......FUCK!!!

Jen and I sat up last night and downloaded christmas songs and burnt them to disk so she could take them to work. My favorite songs all remind me of being a kid, but there is one that stands out from the rest...although we didn't find it until just a couple of years ago......"Dominick the christmas donkey"......Makes Dominic laugh everytime

Jen asked last night if I am getting in the christmas mood yet.......

Can't say that I am as of yet.

First Name Basis

Apparently Tommy and St. Nick are a first name basis. Favorite thing he got from his friend "Nick"? That would be the monkey beeny baby he got, has to take him everywhere....his reaction when he saw it? "IT'S ME!!!"

Tommy keeps asking "what's his name?" so I tell St. Nick....."ya Nick"...see first name basis.

We have nothing but crappy weather here...rain, rain, rain.........it is one of those days where you wake up and it still looks like it is 5 in the morning, but actually it is 7:30......wow talk about depressing

we really need to go a christmas tree...this is the first time,,,maybe ever,,,,that I am not all that excited about christmas coming.....I don't need the pressure.....ANYONE WANT TO GIVE ME A JOB?....JUST GIVE ME A SHOT!!!!

yep the job search has not produced anything as of yet.....I guess reality is that after 2 weeks of looking what can you expect? I just wish I could get in front of somebody, I am ok once in the door and able to express my witty personality to impress the decision maker, and lets face it here folk, after my years selling crap I better be able to sell myself...maybe the most import product ever......

I was hoping to get something before x-mas, but as little sis pointed out new budgets are being approved for after the 1st of the year.

HEAVY SIGH

Bribery!

This is the best time of year.....snow should be here soon, Christmas lights...and trees.....smell of pine.....it is al so wonderful and romantic....you want to know the best part???

I can get the kids to do whatever I want...because the fear of Santa not coming to our house is way to overwhelming for a 4 and 6 yr old. Now I don't use it on every occasion cause otherwise it loses it effectiveness.....but I totally forgot about St. Nick coming last night until jen took out the bag of nick nacks for the stockings.

I was actually depressed.....the stuff they would have done yesterday with that hanging over their head.....we would have had a clean playroom, bedrooms, and they would have been better behaved (oh yea the yelling thing is still in effect...)

On a side note, cause it is still fresh in my mind..........let all hope that the packers got it out of their system.....they found out what speed real football is played at. lets hope for a rematch in the playoffs.......if we tried we could not have played worse.....the good news is that Nall looked pretty good...had some zip on the ball.......

Well to being one game over 500.

Fillers

How come everytime I start a blog entry I start it with well. Big sis pointed this out a while back so I have been trying not to write well......Every entry since has started out with well.....Then I back track and take it out....Habits are hard to break.

Yesterday was not a very good day....Not a bad day, just not good either.

some friends made me kinda sad yesterday, no biggie really, just......."well" sad. it is ok, and maybe sad isn't the right word....Disappointed maybe better.....all the hugs and kisses to them.

Dominic and Tommy were super tired last night....so tired that Dominic kept getting up...over and over...and over.....maybe 5-6 times. "I forgot to check the radar" was the first one...."I have to pee" was the second one...."my eyes hurt when I close them", "can I have some sour vitamins" (vit C's), "I am thirsty"......

This went on for a while and I was getting frustrated with him.....he then finally asked when mom was going to be home...it was 7:30 and jen worked until 9, which meant she was not going to get home until 9:30. I told him 2 hours...."I will send mom up and make sure she gives you a hug and kiss when she gets home"..."ok" he said...then got up 2 more times after that.

Jen got home, went up stairs and give him a hug and kiss....but he was sleeping...this must have woke him up....she came down stairs, sat down....then down comes Dominic....

Ever have one of those moments where as you are saying something you can almost see the words as they come out of your mouth....wanting to grab them and pull them back before they get to the receiver..."GET BACK IN BED!!!" was my response.........I could see it in his eyes...Almost immediately......I had to back track...And in a hurry.

before the tears came, I had him in my arms. I felt like such an ogre.....Nope more like a real A-Hole.....Then I find out why he got up in the first place....Even though jenny gave him a hug...He didn't give one back...And wanted too......

don't I feel sheepish yep I had to deal with that last night....Great.

So here is the deal.....Today I sat both boys down....Today is a non-yelling day....But I needed their help....No counting....No yelling. I had them both repeat back to me that they would help me today, they would open up those listening ears, and in turn I will not yell or count.......Oh boy this should be rich....Will let you know how it turns out.

The job search turns ugly

I have done the job search long enough to know that when a company that is suppose to have a website and it doesn't work....Let alone not come up in any search.....Let alone not really tell you what the position is for.....(there was a list of about 20 different positions)....You know you are in trouble.

Well not really trouble...But more just not a good feeling anyway. Well I was right...Traveled down to Brookfield today for an interview...In fact it was 30 secs from some new friends home, but that is another story all together. As I walked in to this make shift office I new this was going to be a sales pitch...And I was right. After explaining that it was not a 9-5 job in a cubicle I had to let them down gently.....I WANT A 9-5 JOB. The look on his face was like...."How can you want a 9-5 job?" ummmm let me see...cause I don't want to go back to working 60-70 hours a week and on call 24 hrs a day.....I want to decorate my cubicle....All psychedelic and stuff.

Well there was 2 and 1/2 hours wasted...Didn't even ask me any good questions to build off of.

NEXT!!!