My Frakkin Blog!

Well, we just got done watching that Christmas Classic - Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. I have watched this show every year since I was a kid and when my older kids were just kids. Maybe I’ve changed, but, wow - I certainly saw this show completely different this year than any other year before.

Is it me or is this actually kind of a sad story?  It sorta makes all those reindeer, elves, and Santa Claus look like hypocrites doesn’t it?

First - the head elf completely disses Hermes because he wants to be a dentist instead of an elf - so - he sings this song about being a misfit and a nitwit - then runs away. Personally, I think he was discriminated against because he’s Greek?

Next - Santa and the reindeer make fun of Rudolph for being different. This kid can jump higher and further than any of those other reindeer, but, he is discriminated against just because he has a red nose?  And -Clarise’s dad says “No doe of mine will ever be seen around a red-nosed reindeer”  RACIST! So, Rudolph sings that same song about being a misfit and a nitwit - then runs away (editors note:  just how the heck is it that both Rudolph and Hermes knew the same song?)

Then, Hermes and Rudolph meet next to a Christmas tree.  Hermes announces that he is “independent” and Rudolph exclaims the same.  I never really noticed this next line - but - it’s a classic- Hermes then says - ‘Hey, let’s be independent together’ - I actually laughed at that line. Then they run away together.

Hermes and Rudolph run in to Yukon Cornelius after they both run away and Cornelius kinda looks over them while at the same time trying to hunt down that bumble!  First - I don’t know if we should really trust this bearded old man who’s been out in the wilderness on his own for a really long time - with kids!  Seriously, what’s up with that?  Rather than help them find their way back home to the adults - he takes them with him.  Wouldn’t that be like kidnapping or something?

On their journey - they come across misfit island where all the unwanted toys live.  How the heck did all those broken toys get there anyway?

Well - I think we all know the rest of the story.  Rudolph’s mom and Clarise go searching for Rudolph and get caught by the bumble - Rudolph, Cornelius and Hermes come to the rescue - Hermes goes all Dentist like on the bumble and then Cornelius goes all suicidal attack and they both go over the cliff.  Well, after that the survivors all go back to the North Pole where Rudolph and Hermes are suddenly accepted!  What hypocrites!!!

Additionally, Santa makes a special trip to misfit island and picks up all those so-called unwanted toys.  First - if Santa is supposed to be omnipotent and know everything - why didn’t he know about these toys?  If they really are unwanted toys - how the heck is he going to unload them?  Is he going to drop them off with all the poor kids and cheat them out of the new unbroken toys?  Sure - what the heck - they won’t know any differently, right?

Oh well..maybe I’m gettin to be an old fuddy duddy or something.  In any case, I still think it’s a great show.  As a kid, I know I really enjoyed it for what it was - a great Christmas story about some misfits who overcome adversity and help to save Christmas.

Happy December everyone!  Welcome to the last month of 2008!  This is my favorite month and my favorite time of the year.  From this point forward I will be waiting in anticipation for Christmas day to arrive.  There are three reasons why I get excited waiting for Christmas:

Being a Christian - I can’t wait for the day to come to help celebrate the birth of our Savior and Lord.  I know it probably isn’t his ACTUAL birthday - but - even symbolically - it’s a great day

I love seeing the anticipation in my own kids’ eyes and the build up leading up to the day that Santa Claus arrives.  I remember the anticipation myself as a kid.  Believe it or not, I was 9 years old before I found out the “truth.”  However, as an adult, I still believe because there is a Santa in all of us!

I especially love the festive feel in the air around this time of year.  All the brightly lit homes, the frost nipping at your nose, toes, and fingers (yes, even in Florida it gits a bit chilly this time of year); the smell of pine trees all around; fires in the fireplaces; and there seems to be more cheer all around.

This month always brings more optimism for me as it seems more people are helping others and trying to be good.  It is a feeling of hope that there just may be a chance we could all get along everywhere around this world.

I don’t know, maybe it’s just me - but - I’m just really happy we finally made it to December!

Well, of course, what is the next thing that happens all around this country after Black Friday?  Yup - the Christmas decorations start going up.  Well, I always do mine in two phases (mostly because I only have one day a weekend to do it.) - Phase I is all the outside ground ornamentals and decorations and Phase II is Outside lighting and inside.  Mary always does the inside work and decorates the interior.

So, like I said, I completed Phase I today.  I will put the lights up around the house next Saturday.  So, rather than post pictures of a half-complete decorated house - I will take all the pictures next weekend after I’m done.  I’ll take some pictures of what it looks like during daylight - and a set of what it looks like at night all lit up.

So - if I actually have any readers who follow this blog - you can expect to see some pictures next weekend!  Now that there are some decorations up - Ryan is getting extremely excited.  Kylie likes the decorations - but - she still doesn’t have an understanding of it yet.

Can you believe it’s less than one month from Christmas already?  Holy Frakkin’ Cow!

Well - better late than never!

Mary had to work today - so - it was just me and the kids all day.  We’re actually going to celebrate our Thanksgiving feast tomorrow.  The day is going to be quite busy.

Anyway - Mary tells me that working on Thanksgiving day in a hospital turns out to be the same as any other day - extremely busy.  I can attest that hanging out with the kids on Turkey day isn’t any different than any other day I have them when she’s at work - extremely busy!

We had a good time today.  However, I realized that this is actually the very first Thanksgiving where I did not watch any football games!  And..you know what?  I hate to say it, but I didn’t miss it like I thought I would.

Considering how busy tomorrow is going to be, I’m not entirely sure I’ll get back out here - but - we’ll see.

Hope everyone had a great  Thanksgiving.

Well - like I said, I took tons of pictures at Saturday’s concert.  I figured I would share a few more of them here tonight.  I have so many to share - but - I promise, I will spare you all!  I don’t want to be known as that guy that shows the vacation pictures every time you visit the blog!  LOL - kinda reminiscent of the old slide projector vacation pictures thing, eh?

Here’s the first one - this is Murray saying hi to the audience

And..this one is Anthony.  I’m not entirely sure exactly what he’s doing there.

This one is Sam.  They were doing Rock-a-bye Your Bear.  If you don’t know the history - this is the guy that took Greg’s place.  Sam was one of the Wiggly Dancers and Sir Singalotta before they passed the yellow shirt on to him.  Apparently, Greg became too ill to continue performing.  That’s too bad.  I really liked that guy.  He had a great voice.

And..this one is Jeff.  Ryan really likes him…especially when he gets to wake him up!

This one is Henry The Octopus.  He’s kinda creepy if you ask me.

And, finally, here’s Dorothy the Dinosaur

Well..that’s it.  Between yesterday and today - that is all of the Wiggles and The Wiggles Friends!  We really had a great time there!

Hi All - as promised - here are a few of the pictures I took at The Wiggles Concert this past Saturday. I’ll only post a few up here tonight - I’ll post more up over the week - I got a lot!

First up - We got one really happy and excited boy here!

And..if you recall from yesterday’s post - I mentioned that Kylie started coming down with something just as we were leaving…here she is at the start of the concert - she laid in my lap the whole concert

And…here’s The Wiggles coming out in The Big Red Car

And..then I got a really great shot of Wags The Dog

And - this last one here is of Captain Feathersword. He slid down these silk …whatever? As you can see - by the time he got to the bottom - he ended up head first…that guy is a nut!

You can also get a good look at just how close we were to the stage! Way to go Mary! She bought the tickets. Anyway - that’s it for today. I don’t want to fill up the whole page today with pictures.

Like I said, I have many many more - but - I’ll go easy! LOL. I’ll just post up some of the really good ones. And..as I said yesterday, if you have young ones and haven’t experienced it yet - I highly recommend catching a Wiggles concert when they come to or near your town. These guys are great and the kids just love them!

I promise to have the pictures up tomorrow and Wednesday.  This past Saturday we took the kids to see the Wiggles in concert.  Both of them were absolutely excited the week leading up to it.

First - I have to admit - we’re Wiggles Groupies!  This is the 7th concert we’ve been to over the last 2 years.  In fact, the very first concert we went to was over in Orlando.  Kylie was only 6 weeks old and Ryan was 2.  One year, we went up to Carlisle, PA for my 25th reunion - yup - we planned the trip so that we stopped in Richmond to catch a Wiggles concert on the way up.  We’ve actually seen them in 3 states! LOL.

The very first concert we went to - we were up in the nosebleed section.  We’ve actually become insiders now and we get early release tickets.  We’ve been down on the floor every time since then.  This time, we were in the 3d row from the stage.  Wait until you see these pictures!

Ryan had a really great time.  Unfortunately, for Kylie - she wasn’t able to enjoy it.  She was fine on Friday.  When it was time for us to leave, she was just laying on the couch.  We knew she was starting to come down with something.  During the whole concert, she just laid her head in my lap.  By Saturday night - we ended up taking her to the ER at around 10:00pm with a 104.7 temp.  Poor thing - they had to catheterize her to get a UA sample.

Apparently, she caught some kind of virus.  She was fine on Sunday - and - apparently, she was able to get more of that concert than we realized.  All she could talk about was The Wiggles and Wags and Dorothy and Anthony!  Mary took her to the Pediatrician today for the follow-up.  She was talking up a storm with the Doc about seeing the Wiggles.  So - while it appeared she was out of it - she did in fact see and remember a lot more than we thought.

We don’t have any pictures of the kids because they didn’t get out in the aisles and dance this time - but - I will put up some of the pix over the next couple days.  If you’ve never been to a concert and you have little ones - I highly recommend it!

This goes back to that age old problem between men and women, husbands and wives, regarding leaving the toilet seat up or down!

Only, now it’s getting really interesting!  It happened again this weekend! This isn’t the first time he’s done this to me!

I’m sitting on the couch, minding my own business, studying for my finals.  My son, Ryan (4 years old) is sitting in the office playing his games on the computer.  There is a bathroom off the office.  Mary comes walking by and says:

Honey.  You left the toilet seat up again.  Could you please make sure you put it down when you’re done!

To which I replied:

What?  It wasn’t me!  I wasn’t even in there.  It had to be Ryan.

Ryan doesn’t even look up from his game or the computer - cool as a cucumber:

It wasn’t me.

WHAT?  Now my 4 year old is lying so as not to incur the wrath of the DOWN TOILET SEAT rant?  Since when did it become MY fault ALL the time?  I know I taught him he had to put that toilet seat down when he’s done.

Okay - back up a second.  I still don’t even understand why it’s ALWAYS the guys’ job to put it back down.  I’ve heard the following excuses:

Well.  When I go to the bathroom at night - if the toilet seat is up, I fall in the toilet. To which my response is - so turn on the light!

or

It’s a courtesy for the guy to do that for the girl.  To which I reply - so, in that case, isn’t it also a courtesy then for the girl to put it back up for the guy?

and, my all time favorite

You would do it for me if you loved me!  WHAT?!?!?!  Couldn’t the same thing be said for you?  Since you won’t put it back up for me…does that mean you don’t really love me?

Anyway - back to the issue at hand.  I know darned well that Ryan was the last one in that bathroom and that HE left that seat up!  So, I marched right in that office - swung that swivel chair around, knelt down beside him so that he was looking at me eye-to-eye and asked him:

Okay - look - you and I BOTH know you were the last one in there.  You left that seat up didn’t you? 

He just smiled at me.  That rat!

So, I asked him:  Why did you tell your mom that it wasn’t you?

He said:  Because you always get in trouble for it.

Okay - he KNOWS already!  I immediately swept him up from that chair, put him over my shoulder, brought him in the bedroom, put him on the bed and tickled the snot out of him!  Go ahead - tell your mom who left that seat up - tell her!

I guess he had a hard time spilling the beans considering he was being tickled.

In the end - all is well.  But, hindsight is 20/20.  I don’t think I taught him a lesson there at all.  If anything, what he got out of it is that he can continue to blame me and all I’m going to do is tickle him again.

There is a mall here near where I live that has a bungee jump.  It’s a contraption that has a trampoline and swing arms with bungees.  I put Ryan on this thing a couple months ago and he absolutely loved it!  This is the third time he’s done this.  Each time - he says he’s being spiderman.

Well - each time - I also keep forgetting to bring my camera.  Well - I improvised and used my camera phone.  These pictures are a bit grainy - but - I think you will get the idea.  He gets to jumping so high on these things he’s pretty close to 20 feet or so off the floor - he gets real close to the ceiling of this mall.

Look how high up he is on that one!

Here he is coming back down and hitting the tramp.  Sorry it’s not real clear - but - he’s moving - and it’s a camera phone!

And..here he is on his way back up again!

Usually, they have him facing out towards the mall.  I’m not entirely sure why they faced him inside this time.  In fact - there are a total of four trampolines and four bungee arms - all the kids were facing to the inside.

He pretends he’s spiderman - and - when he gets to the top - he’ll put his hands out like he’s shooting a web and he’ll do the leg pose and everything - then yell down - “Hey, Dad! Look - I’m spiderman!”

Well - it just wasn’t the same this time with him facing inside. It hadn’t occurred to me at the time to ask them why everyone was facing inside - I think the next time I take him there I’ll ask him - and I’ll remember to bring my camera.

First - had to make sure I put something up today - guess that picture from Wednesday was just a little too creepy!  LOL.

So, as some of you may remember from this post I mentioned that we had a solar water heater installed.  I also mentioned in that post that once we had a full month under solar I would report back on it’s efficiency - etc.

Well - proof is in the pictures right?  Here is a chart that I downloaded from my energy company’s website regarding my usage from the past year:

You will notice the decrease in my Kwh beginning October. Doesn’t look so different from this past March. However, that was with only 1/2 month with the new solar panels. Now - Check out November’s numbers! You’ll see that our usage was cut almost in half compared to last year at this time - and throughout most of this year.  Also, you’ll notice that usage goes up and down with the average temperature.  That’s because the air conditioning is on more during the summer months.  When the temps are down, we don’t need the A/C - and it only gets cold enough to turn on the heat for about 2 - 3 weeks out of the entire year.

Just what does that mean? We used 1,000 less Kwh this year than last. Last year’s bill for November was $290. This month’s bill - $180. That’s the lowest it’s been since the energy company raised the rates per Kwh because of the increased price of oil.

Hopefully, the energy company will lower those per Kwh rates given the cost of oil has significantly decreased. If that happens, I could potentially see my monthly electric bill down to under $100/month. Not bad considering before I installed these panels, my electric bill was consistently above $300/month.

So, if anyone is interested - I highly recommend you get a solar powered hot water heater. It literally pays for itself!