My Job

So.... my son thinks that I "work at the gym" since I telecommute and he only sees me leave the house to go to the gym. This morning he asked if we could go somewhere today and I told him that I had to work and he said "Mannnnnn - you go to the gym every day". It's funny how they see the world.

Let the cooking begin!

I woke up early today and made the cornbread for my cornbread stuffing.... it's starting to feel cozy around here. I also boiled the pasta for my mac & cheese - yum!

Anyone else making something yummy or new?

Ahhhh... Saturday

Life at work has been pretty stressful lately, but today is Saturday and this is my hardest decision. What signature style cocktail should I make to greet my guests on Thanksgiving? A sleek and festive cranberry or pomegranate cosmo or perhaps a bubbly champagne cocktail?

How to play Tickle The Children

For the benefit of my wife, on those nights I cannot be home early, I would like to describe how to play Tickle the Children.

First, announce the game is about to be played. This typically induces a great deal of screaming and running.

Next, raise one or both arms. No groaning; you're not a zombie. Wiggle your fingers in a tickling fashion. Slowly, calmly walk in the direction the children have fled.

When you have located the children, tickle them without mercy. Start with our son, then switch to our daughter. Our son will gallantly come to her aid by either jumping on you or smacking you on the butt. (Limited butt-smacking is perfectly legal, provided it contacts you on the fleshy part of your butt.)

When our son tries to rescue his sister, you are required to curl up into a ball and pretend you have been stunned. This will give your victims the opportunity to run away again.

The children will be hiding in one of the following places:

• Behind a couch.
• Inside the cushions of a couch. This is a terrible hiding place because their arms and legs poke out everywhere.
• In the coat closet.
• Under the dining room table. This is actually quite an effective hiding place because it's hard to reach them in there with all the table legs and chairs.
• Under our son's bed. This is a little tricky because they tend to kick each other when they attempt to flee.
• Behind our daughter's crib. This is my favorite spot because I can just move it out of the way and get them.
• Under the bed in the guest bedroom.
• Under the covers of our bed in the master bedroom. This is by far their favorite hiding spot.
• Inside our closet, hiding behind all my crummy weekend shirts that hang close to the floor.

Time outs are allowed for bathroom breaks and such. Our son will run up and smack you on the butt without declaring the game has begun again. That can be a little disturbing at first.

While they run away, in order to taunt you into a tickling rage, our son will yell funny things at you. This is normal. The things he yells, however, are only really funny to a five-year-old, so expect to be told you're a poopy head and something else about your underwear I can't follow.

The game can last a dozen turns or more, and usually ends with our daughter declaring she wants you to dance with her. Our son will shout some more things at you about your underwear for a while, before he gives up and wanders into the kitchen to find a snack.

I did it... I did it.. I did it - Hooray!

Yesterday was the last day of the weight loss challenge I started 12 weeks ago with a lot of great folks from a local church. It helped so much to have a team to work with a share ideas over the past 3 months. I'm excited to report back from my earlier post that I lost 15.8 pounds and was the Biggest Looser. The cool thing is that I set out to loose 15 pounds during the challenge and I was going to reward myself if I met this first goal with a new haircut from a nice salon. Well, I received a gift certificate from a nice salon for a haircut, blow dry and style - it was fate!

“Children and drunks always speak the truth.”

It's nice to see that our son views our family in such a great way.

P.S. We'll ignore the fact that Bella is nowhere to be found !

So wise

Today my son and I were standing at the bus stop and he turned around and looked at me with those bright blue eyes and said "Mommy it's a brand new day". He couldn't be more right and that was just what I needed to hear at this time.