Sunday Share: Week 34

What a whirlwind of a weekend y’all.

The kids are finally in bed after 2 late nights and early mornings. That turns them into gremlins. Not the cute fury kind, either. The kind that wants to eat your face off if you get them wet.

DW got some new clothes and wicked dress that makes her look like a bombshell. Dynamite. TNT. I got 2 books – Nicholas Sparks’s Two by Two and Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena. I got the boys some books, too. Fairytale Land for Crash and two easy chapter books about puppy dogs to read to Bang. The boys used their gift cards to get two new games for the Switch – Splatoon 2 and Arms. They haven’t had the chance to play them yet because they were too busy playing with their cousins. Today we hit up Hope for Wildlife and got to meet Hope Swinimer – the one the boys love to watch on the TV of the same name. It’s a wildlife rescue and rehab center. We got to see baby raccoons and a deer hawk, red tailed hawk, broad hawk, barred owl, a kestrel, a seal, some foxes, rabbits, chinchillas, ferrets, baby emus, a crow and many others.

That’s Hope in purple.

Also, I got to see the Mayweather vs McGregor fight with my brother-in-law at his office party. I don’t like boxing. I find it a senseless sport. Hey! Lets repeatedly punch each other in the face and whoever falls and can’t get back up loses. But I found myself enjoying that fight. Mostly because Mayweather was undefeated at 49-0 and McGregor was 0-0. Technically, he too was undefeated, but it was his first ever boxing match.

Spoiler!
Mayweather is still undefeated.

What did you do this weekend? You can end it by reading and relaxing with some great blogs…

Coach Daddy
On being kind to Dipsh*ts

The Return of the Modern Philosopher
Thanks doesn’t have to wait until Thanksgiving…

I Like That Old Time Rock and Roll
A muse that Clapton used…

Millennial Millions
A millennial’s argument in favor of marriage…

Man vs Mommy
Back to school and ADHD

All In A Dad’s Work
Is it wrong of me to include my own post in these weekly shares? Nope… Here’s a post spanning my entire year being 40…

Now dance your way over and follow me Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter…

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One Year with A GoPro

Lights. Camera. Action!

I finally got another video uploaded. Since you’re here to read instead of watch a YouTube I’ll tell you about it.

Last August I received a GoPro for my birthday from my brother and his family and our parents. They went splitsies on it and surprised me. Over the past year I have, of course, been using it. I wasn’t content to simply use it to video action shots and underwater, though. I know that’s GoPro’s main attraction and it does it well.

I wanted more.

I learned that birds aren’t camera shy. I set the camera on the bird feeder stand and got great shots of the finches feeding. I set the camera on a tripod just a few feet from the bird bath that we converted to a bird feeder. Though it was for bigger birds – blue jays, crows, stupid pigeons, and the occasional grackle. We put peanuts in it.  They loved the peanuts and we loved watching them pick the nuts from the shell. The camera got them loud and clear while we were inside not scaring the birds.

I learned that I can use it to spy on my kids. I set the camera up, slightly hidden, in the bathroom. I would then wi-fi connect to it on my phone and DW and I could easily watch the boys “get ready for bed”. Here “get ready for bed” means wrestle, play in the water in the sink, scare the shit out of each other, and generally not “get ready for bed”. They never did figure out how we knew what they were doing without being up there.

I learned that it’s good for all 4 seasons. In the summer we take it pools and the beach and bike riding and roller blading and kayaking. In the fall it’s good for all that except the pool and beach, but it’s good for hiking then. Come winter it’s good for sledding and ice skating. In the spring we’re back to biking and blading and trampolining.

It’s also good if you just want to talk to your camera viewers. I still find it a bit weird to do, but if you see the video you’ll see that I do talk to it sometimes.

Anyway, the show goes from 40th birthday party to my 41st birthday party. I had to take a break after the clip of my birthday last year. DW’s dad is there and his arms are just a waving, conducting our severely out of tune, yet strongly heartfelt tune of Happy Birthday. I had to leave the video editing until the next day.

I’m still toying with the idea of a “sister sight” on YouTube to accompany my blog. Essentially, I would just be covering the same material only I would do it for others to watch instead of read. But really… where would I find the time to both blog and YouTube? Not like I have anything else to do…

A Few Pictures of Love from My Phone

The boys and I have done a few things since DW started back to work a couple weeks ago. We’ve stayed close to home, mostly. It’s the joys of having just one vehicle. I don’t mind, though. It’s cheaper and we make it work.

The little one loves to do math. He’s adding numbers that sum up to 20. He does it with no problem. Mostly because he uses his fingers. Isn’t that why we have them, in the first place? I decided to teach him something new. Addition with carrying regrouping. I did the first problem for him. I helped him with the second problem. He did the 3rd on his own and then we went back and corrected it. The fourth (and all thereafter) he did on his own without error.

After teaching him school stuff, it was time to teach them life lessons. Their next lesson I called “How to tell if a girl loves you”. The good old pick-the-petals-off-a-daisy trick never fails. She loves me. She loves me not. This daisy told me she loves me. I’m pretty sure it was talking about DW and not that chick from Game of Thrones.

When Crash tried this trick it worked for him as well. We always knew it was true love. You know a love like this could last forever. He loves to tell everyone he loves ketchup so much that he puts ketchup on his ketchup.

The littlest hellion heathen sweet darling child loves to help. We found a couple blackish bananas in the fridge, added those to the freezer bag of bananas already frozen, and we baked them. With some flour and eggs and ten pounds of chocolate chips we made banana chocolate chip muffins. My little beater was having a blast. He wanted to taste the batter before the bananas were added. Afterwards, I’m surprised he was still willing to touch the bowl…

Lastly, our love of donuts and tea and coffee always lead us to one place – Tim Hortons. It’s usually our Sunday treat after church. Bang sits with the choir singing away. Crash sits with his dear old mom and dad not singing a word. Then there was one day our baseball games were rained out. The games had started then stopped when the Heavens open up and we found ourselves at Tims…

What picture on your phone means love to you?

Sunday Share: Week 33

There are 18 days of summer left here.

There are 72 days until Halloween. I’m going as either Captain Underpants or a ghost. DW is going to be Mrs. Underpants. Crash says he wants to be either Luigi or a cat. Bang says he wants to be Captain America. What are you going to be?

There are 127 days until Christmas. That’s just 18 more Fridays. I haven’t even started my shopping yet! Have you?

While you’re waiting for Christmas you can read these blogs that I read, too…

Robby White – Black Coffee and Bourbon
Kids need to be careful not use up their allotted word for the day…

The Salty Mama’s
When the CEO doesn’t know how much bread costs, buy diapers…

I Didn’t Have My Glasses On
Finding heroes is easy when you know where to look (especially if you’re looking for glasses)

Snoozing on the Sofa
On conquering the 3 big milestones of being a kid parent…

Green Grapes
On the day that changed them forever…

All In A Dad’s Work
A funny story on striking out to win the game…

Go Ask Your Father: Germs, Hypocrisy, Large Kites, and Preservatives

I was thinking our family needs a dog. Not a puppy, they’re too much like babies and we’re done with babies. A certain doctor saw to that. But after seeing how much my boys don’t like dogs, I’ve decided not to get one. I mean, sure, they could use some lessons in responsibilities. They’d have the thing tormented and hot-wired for insanity. Plus they’re terrified of dogs. Big dogs. Little dogs. Tiny dogs. They run away. Just look at these two terrified kids tormenting this 8 week old lab/retriever pup.

Nah… we don’t need a dog.

Do we?

1. How small are germs?

Like 6 year olds, they come in varying sizes. Our eyes can see things slightly smaller than the width of a hair. Except my hair. No one can see my hair. Thiomargarita namibiensis is large enough to see with a naked eye, but it lives on the sea floor off Namiba. Somewhere I’ll never find myself. Apparently, E. coli is kind of large for a germ (technically bacteria). If 30 of them got together for a block party we could see them without assistance. However, germs that cause colds need a gathering of 2,400 to be able to see unaided. That’s more than a party. That’s a protest. They’re so small because they get inside other cells and use them to make more germs.

Common cold virus

2. What’s it called when someone tells me to do something but they don’t do it?

You mean like when your brother tells you not to scare him, then he goes and scares you? Or he tells you to use just a little bit of syrup on his pancake then they recreates the Caspian Sea on his plate? That’s called being a hypocrite. It’s defined as claiming to have moral values to which behaviour doesn’t conform. Kind of like when Reagan damned some air-traffic controllers who went on strike for higher wages and shorter work weeks by firing them. However, he was once the president of the Screen Actors Guild – American Actor’s Union. Or Henry David Thoreau who wrote exhaustively about saving the environment, but accidentally burnt down half a forest with an maintained campfire. Or your bother comes to tattle tale on you and get you in trouble even though he was doing the exact same thing.

3. How big was the world’s largest kite?

If you check out the Guinness record it states that Abdulrahman Al Farsi and Faris Al Farsi built and flew the kite at the Kuwait Hala Festival in Flag Square, Kuwait City, Kuwait on 15 February 2005. However, this is misinformation on Guinness’s part. While the kite dimensions are correct. It was 137.8 feet wide, 83 feet long and had a 25 foot ceiling inside. However, it was built by Peter Lynn of New Zealand. The Al Farsi’s hired and commissioned Peter to build the kite in the fashion of the Iraqi flag. Peter considered getting it changed. However, like a trip to the DMV to get your license changed, Peter considered the nightmare it was getting the kite recognized by Guinness in the first place, he didn’t think it was wise or necessary to try.

This kite is larger than a common cold virus

4. What are preservatives?

Crash noticed that his Nanny’s homemade bread got mouldy long before the store bought stuff did. To preserve things means to keep them unspoiled, fresh, or maybe just remembered. We preserve food, jam, memories, and history. If you put things in air tight containers you can preserve food for longer. Zipper seal bags are great at this. You can make a PBJ sandwich this summer, put it in a zipper seal bag and save it for next summer. Tupperware is great at that, too. Like the two boys in Eerie, Indiana (TV show of the 90’s) who slept in Tupperware containers and thereby never aged. Calcium propanoate and propionic acid are added to breads to inhibit the growth of bacteria and extend the loaf’s shelf life. Both of these are naturally occurring chemicals in dairy products that is produced artificially. However, lecithin is a naturally occurring preservative found in soy and egg yolk and when it’s added to bread it will help keep it light, fluffy, and preserved.

Now add me like a preservative to your follow list on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

The passage of time

Four years ago two boys rode a purple dragon. They were 6 and 2 years old.

Today they are four years older, taller, smarter, saucier…
Somehow, four years slipped by us. The days are long, but the years are short. I could go on, but we all know that time passes without us even realizing it. Like a puddle drying after it rains. It’s there, then it’s gone. Like a sapling you plant as a kid becomes a tree your kids can climb like monkeys. We parents realize in small increments that our kids can ride without training wheels, they can swim without a life jacket, they no longer need a booster seat. I said we would recreate that photo. We did. We made it our mission to get this photo before we did anything else at the water park. 

Again, they rode the purple dragon. They are suddenly 10 and 6.

Now, before any more time passes, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

He Told Me Not To

A coach once told me that if a doctor ever tells you that you have only 3 hours left to live you should go to a mosquito (little league) baseball game. It’ll be the longest three hours of your life.

We were losing the whole game. We were always close, but always losing. After the 5th inning we were down 16-15. The 6th inning would be our last chance. The sun was on the horizon and once it dipped below it would get dark fast. I knew there was a chance we wouldn’t be able to finish. You can imagine my dismay when I saw their pitcher warming up. He was throwing with heat. Gordon Ramsey in Hell’s Kitchen kind of heat. Fastballs that I feared my mosquitoes wouldn’t be able to hit and we would be 3 up, 3 down and game over.

You can imagine my surprise when he loaded the bases with walks.

You can imagine my surprise again when we had suddenly scored 5 runs and found ourselves up by 4. I was watching the darkness creep up on us and knew we had to get the 6th inning over if were to win. You see, if a game is called on account of darkness the score reverts back to last inning that was finished. We were losing in that inning. We had 1 out against us and I quietly told my next batter to strike out so we could get this inning over. Unfortunately, she was hit. A bean ball that scored us a 6th run and put us up by 5. I told my next batter the same thing. He struck out, though not on purpose. 

2 outs and the sun was below the horizon now. We were playing on borrowed time. Twilight time. We had to end the inning pronto. I quietly approached my next batter and explained it to him.

Me: This is going to make no sense right now, but in order for us to win this game I need you to strike out.
Batter: So you want me to swing at everything?
Me: Yes

And he did too. One pitch sailed over his head. He swung, not even attempting to hit the ball. Our coach down at 1st base hollered to him to not swing at pitches over his head. I laughed because coach wasn’t in on our plan. He swung and missed the second pitch, too. He swung at the 3 pitch and connected solid with it. The ball sails like a runaway kite in hurricane out into right field. The batter stands on home plate simply watching it as if he were watching a ball game instead of participating in it.

The first base coach is yelling, “RUN! YOU HIT THE BALL! RUN!”

The batter is standing on homeplate pointing toward me at third and hollering back, “HE TOLD ME NOT TO!”

The right fielder throws the ball to first and the batter is called out. 3 outs. Change sides.

Bottom of the 6th now, we’re up by 5. I’ve got a pitcher throwing who usually throws zero run innings. It’s nearing 8:30 and it would be hard for me to argue to keep playing should the other team decide it’s too dark. I’m no lawyer. I probably couldn’t argue my way out of a wet paper bag. The other team does score one run. But we also make three outs to end the game with a win.

We won because of an almost strike out, because a hitter slugged the ball but stood still,  and because a team made it happen when it counted most.

Now swing on over to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and follow me round the bases…

Sunday Share

I’ve been doing this share thing since I was inspired by A Momma’s View‘s “My Pick’s of the Week”. I think that was a long time ago, like when Yoda was just a baby. I started it because I really enjoyed finding new blogs to follow through her lists and wanted to help spread that joy like peanut butter on a PBJ. I learned quickly that other enjoyed my lists and it helps them become known.

Then I learned about the perks. Sometimes, people want to share me because I shared them and love getting those emails saying I need to approve that new pingback. It’s like having your cake and eating it, too. It’s like when the kids willingly help with chores. It’s a virtual fist bump.

Knuckle up and Happy Reading!

Forever Being Daddy
Cutting your lossing and giving in to a 1 year old’s demands…

Modern Mommy Madness
When kids notice the change…

Fitness and Others Passions of A Dad
An intro to him, his family, and a cliffhanger on how he got to where he is now…

The Salty Mamas
When all hell breaks loose at Trader Joe’s

Tracey Tobin
When you’re in a book club and your book club honestly wants to read your book…

All In A Dad’s Work
3 night camping trip summed up in 1200 laughs words…

Go forth and be helpful…

Questions I Asked Six Kids

The boys have cousins here to visit this weekend. The same ones they played with last weekend at the campground. They always have a great time together. It’s that kind of fun. We can already see the mischief they’ll create together through their teen years. I’m not sure if I should be proud or worried. 

I’ll list their answers in order of age from oldest to youngest. You know Crash (10) and Bang (6). Added to the mix will be their four cousins. Booski is 11. Crafty is 9. Whim is 7 and Beanie is 5. 

Happy reading! Oh, make sure you’re not eat or drinking. I’m not responsible for food and drink being spit on your electronic device…

1. What two animals would fun to combine?

Booski: Elephant and a cat
Crash: Cat and komodo dragon
Crafty: Panda and a pug
Whim: A squirrel and a koala bear
Bang: Panda bear and a penguin because that would make a giraffe
Beanie: A cat and a chicken

2. What is something Mom says a lot?

Booski: Stop instigating
Crash: The “f” word
Crafty: Don’t poke the angry bear (telling my sister to stop instigating)
Whim: Go to sleep!
Bang: a-s-s
Beanie: Go to bed!

3. What is something Dad says a lot?

Booski: Yes
Crash: Do math
Crafty: Sure!
Whim: I love you
Bang: Go clean your room
Beanie: He says, “You just ate!”

4. What is something you wish your parents would say more?

Booski: We can go out to dinner tonight
Crash: Yes
Crafty: That they have the time to play with me
Whim: Yes
Bang: You don’t have to clean anything… No wait. You get tablet time every day!
Beanie: I wish they would say I’m allowed all the candy that I want!

5. What superpower would you like to have?

Booski: Invisiblity
Crash: The ability to hypnotize people
Crafty: Being able to fly because that would be really cool to see from a birds eye view and touching the clouds would be pretty awesome
Whim: Flying
Bang: Flying
Beanie: To eat alot of candy

6. What is your favorite thing to do in school?

Booski: Art
Crash: Art class 
Crafty: Math
Whim: Math
Bang: Go to the playroom
Beanie: Play outside

7. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Booski: Teacher
Crash: Racecar driver
Crafty: A stay at home mom
Whim: Hockey player for the Pittsburg Penguins even though that’s not my favorite team but they have a really good franchise right now (Boston is my favorite)
Bang: A builder and a maid
Beanie: A vet

8. If you could have animal skin, which animal’s skin would you want to have?

Booski: Elephant
Crash: Cat
Crafty: A panda’s
Whim: A huskey dog’s fur
Bang: Frog with green skin and red eyes 
Beanie: Cat fur so I could act like a cat and I would have a tail

9. What was your favorite part about your PEI trip?

Booski: I liked going to Cow’s Ice Cream and spending time with family
Crash: Shining waters and Sandspit
Crafty: Probably going to Sandspit and spending time with you guys
Whim: Sandspit – The Cyclone rollercoaster was my favorite ride there
Bang: The rollercoaster! I liked it a teeny bit which is why I screamed so loud
Beanie: Going to Cow’s Ice Cream

10. Did you have any dreams?

Booski: I don’t really dream or I never remember them 
Crash: Yes. Oh boy. I had a dream we were on a boat and this eagle lands on the front of the boat and he talks to me. I forget what it said, but I was like “got it”. Then he flew away and dove into the water and didn’t come back up. Then I got splashed with water then I woke up.
Crafty: Mostly I don’t remember them. One Time I dreamt that Voldemort came to my house to kill me. But I hid under my bed even though in real life I don’t fit under my bed.
Whim: Nope…But sometime I dream I hear my brother snoring, but that’s really real.
Bang: No. They’re all secret dreams because I sleep in.
Beanie: I had a dream about flying cats and they were flying to New York to walk around

Month in Review: July

It was a good month. I sort of took a break from all the posting. Like MLB takes a break for the All Star games. Except with blogging. And no all stars. With the boys in baseball, bonfires in the evenings, and going places, I didn’t keep up too well.  Not that I lost interest, but my muse was on vacation, too. Not sure where she went, but it must have been far away. Like Timbuktu. I continued to respond to comments. I didn’t, however, read  or comment on many others. Now that our short trip is over I’m getting back into the swing things (there’s that baseball reference again). Rejoining the world of blogging again. So what did July look like?

I posted just 17 times. Down from 21 in June. The second month in a row that had a drop in the number of times I pushed publish.

Those 17 posts (and a few older ones) brought me 1,063 views. Again, another decline. I’m certainly not losing any sleep over it, though.

There were 549 visitors. This means that almost everyone who stopped by read two posts. That’s pretty cool. Now I need to get all y’all to read 3 before yas leave.

I wrote just well enough to garner a few likes. 355 of them, to be exact. Again, another drop, but this one was more of a wheel chair ramp than roller coaster hill.

What keeps me going though is this next stat. The comments. The discussion. I love it. 288 comments were left for me last month. Thank you thank you thank you. I know I haven’t been writing my best, yet you continue to find your way here and leave me a little sign that you passed through. Lets talk more.

Besides my home page, Losing My Independence and Sunday Share: Week 29 were my top viewed posts tied at 54 apiece.

Only one search term was known. “Dad Bath” was searched. I sure hope they weren’t expecting see/read about this dad in the bath. Ew. I did write once or twice about bathing the “otters”. I hope they found what they were looking for.

I was visited by 56 countries. I wish I could visit 56 countries. The US, Canada, and Netherlands were the top three with the UK and France trailing close.

August ended with 1,013 followers! I broke the 1,000 follower mark. I think that’s pretty cool. The real trick will be to get all 1,029 of you to read, like, and comment.

I uploaded a video to YouTube, too. It’s a video of all our screaming and laughing and excitement on our trip to PEI. Roller coasters and water slides! And a ferry.

Lastly, to those of you who come back regularly, who let me know you’re reading, here’s your shout out. I love giving shout outs. That’s why I do Sunday Shares. Speaking of which, you can leave me a link to read on last Monday’s Share because it was my birthday…

This is for the 5 who left the most comments…

Grubbs n Critters
Dorky Mom Doodles
Dewy
Welcome to the Nursery
A Momma’s View