cookouts and such

Normally, I don't do cookouts, but Jess was adament of my being welcome back in 2012, so I went. Awkward not knowing people aside from Jess while everyone else knows Jess from work or from the neighborhood, thus know a handfull of people. Jess has two daughters, one is about B's age. B has been to all three of the Schmidt's Fests I have attended because she likes playing with other girls. I treat the occassion like going to the park. It gives me a focus away from mingling with strangers.
I will never feel comfortable at other people's houses, I guess but I need to try for my children's sake. They need not grow up to be social misfits with their lack of exposure of parental social endevours as a lame excuse.

green grass and such

Whine. First world problems. Yesterday, I was saying as much about being annoyed with myself for caring about a working dishwasher and a weed free lush lawn, but the effected was nullified when the Nook refreshed. Married life makes convenience and appearance matter.
Tired. Getting up before 8am and staying up is beating me down. So much needs done, but D needs me and I'm just blah for much else. I hear her now, gotta go.

thankful

There are times as a parent when a sense of dread takes hold to the point that panic is not an option. Being  calm is hard in such times. I had a moment today that I would consider a miracle, for bad a thing happened without physical harm occurring. I am ultimately to blame, and I'm lucky to be able to forgive myself for my grievous mistake. I'm blessed with a loving family, and I will try not to take anything for granted.

weekend preview

Feeling tired. I may not dmt this post since I didn't nap before work. We went out for Dixie Dairy Dreem rather than dinner at home, so things were skewed along with the fact I slept until noon after I got off phone at 5:40 DTM. Maybe I need to sleep six or less hours to merit a nap, but my mind wanted one as I drove to work. Meh, it's my weekend now.
I think I know what's for dinner and I know Mr. Selfridge is scheduled, but the rest of Monday depends on how the stars align. Tuesday only has Agents of SHIELD as a definite maybe. All depends on how the stars align... I would hope to get up and about before the kindergarten bus motors through but I have to be on the ball at 6 DMT to consider that. Well I have coffee made in the Aladdin so I may have a go if the alignment of balls of gas in distant places dictate as much. I just don't want to be sucked into place that makes feel me like a bad parent when time comes unstuck.

rain.

Tempting to sleep. At least, it rained after all. Feeding D, leaves little to do except sit. Thawing milk cubes, she's been hungry a lot of late.

I need new work pants, or to sew up the split that is in my current pair. Crotch has issues too. Older pair have crotch issue, but the split in back is sewn well. Wore non-work but house project pants mowing. I got them before I got married as we stopped in Jefferesonville on way to my future inlaws. I was thin when I got them, only explanation they still have minor crotch issue, but they're worn through at the knee. Gap jeans are better than Old Navy jeans, I guess if you worry about crotch wearing out before everything else is broken in.

Hmmm... D is starring at me. Amazing how much expression her blue eyes can give. She's probably our last baby. She likes bass, for she stops crying if I go bbbombbbom or other such faux bass mouth sounds. I'm lucky to be able to appreciate these things. Sure being underworked/underpaid means we're effectively cash flow poor, but moments with a sleepy/hungry baby are priceless.

chess and such

when we were buying toys galore at meijer a couple weeks ago, i got a cheap chessboard to teach k how to play chess. didn't think of b wanting learn, not that k wanted to learn to play, but she wanted to learn. finally got around to showing k the pieces tuesday night and he was anxious to do other things.
before i put everything away, b got upset that i wasn't showing her how to play. let's say j wasn't happy that bedtime was disrupted by b's wanting to play. i showed her the set up, the way pieces move and such... so time was consumed quickly.
anyways, yesterday b wanted to play when we were up. i got the board out and had her set the board. she had it mostly correct, just bishops and knights reversed.
we played for a very long time a single game. i basically was playing myself for i helped her think through moves after she started getting upset by my taking pawns. i want her to have fun and to learn, so i'm not going to just let her win and i'm not going to try to beat her in minimal moves. i haven't played in years, so thinking made me have a headache. she wasn't bad.
later in the evening, she wanted to play again. her game wasn't thought out and she was just moving pawns two spaces down the line. again, i took pawns, but she left herself unguarded and lost rook and knight before she ended the game abruptly by knocking everything over.
my headache returned, so i took a nap before heading into work.
i need new hobbies. facebook bores me, and i have no other interaction with people aside from my reconnection. amazing how two people can be so different and alike, explains the seemingly love/hate relationship dynamic.
sorry for the lack of caps, shifting angers my carpal tunnel. 

pain and other odd things

Something about getting six or more hours of rest seems to be the difference between today and yesterday. Sure my hands hurt and typing isn't smooth, but I don't have the burning between my shoulder blades, nor the void autopilot feeling in my head.

Having friends is a struggle for me. Being a social misfit/ social retard has amplified my idiosyncrasies into quirkiness that I am mostly oblivious. K has a lot of my traits, hence he's in Cub Scouts.

Scouting has been good for my interactions as well. Odd thing happened at the Pack Meeting last night in that a dad I speak to most often commented a) I was tan and b) I am "cut"

Felt awkward.

See, I don't get out much and I don't work out what-so-ever, hence the above is odd. Only explanation: a) On Sunday, I dug up and planted arborvitae while it was warm and sunny. b) I have a physically demanding job and I usually have layers on since we don't meet much during late spring and summer.

Though I seem to have a lot of free time, I don't allot it well to be doing fun stuff with the kids. It's been a long winter, hopefully I get into a better frame of mind and seize more days than let pass by, as the weather gets better and such.

12 weeks go fast.

J heads back to work. Not sure how things will go. She's been home so long that I forget what it's like to not have her around in some capacity.
Thankfully, the kids will be home this week so I don't have to be up and ready for them to be off to school, yet. Unfortunately, having a baby means nothing can be predictable until we get a routine. J and D have their routine, but D and I do not.
K and B survived J's going back to work, so D should be fine too. I just need to be better than I was with them.

Death of a blog?

April 8th is coming.
APRIL EIGHTH IS COMING!

Well, Windows XP will cease to have support from Microsoft in THREE WEEKS, which means that my PC, HAL II, will either need to be tossed, upgraded, converted, or taken offline.

I'm leaning towards the last option. I am an internet junky and could use the break from the distractions of being online 24/7 due to broadband.

Since I have other options to get my online fix via my son's laptop and the family tablet, I am not about to conform to what ever is the MS CEO's expectations with regard to my XP PC.

HAL Sr. was Windows 98 and died sometime after HAL II's arrival. In the end, I only loved HAL for his Rat Poker that I never found elsewhere. I just realized that my pinky healed!

HAL II is getting to be rather slow. I get plugin fails all the time I have multiple tabs open. I moved everything file-wise off of the hard drive on to an external drive just in case HAL II decided to die like he almost did when I was doing the Search Engine Evaluating for Leapforce. He hasn't been the same since January 2012.

I'd been thinking about building a a new PC back when I came across a book at Half Price Books, but the process wasn't free, so I put the matter on hold.

I don't want a new 'puter, for I really only use it for Internet and budget analysis. So I shall probably just take out my wi-fi adapter and use HAL II as a wordprocessor that can do spreadsheets. I have a few programs on HAL II that could be utilized since I'll have all the free time.

One day I imagine J and I will get smart phones, so I'll be able to Tweet and such then, but until then I'll probably go cold turkey.

Meanwhile, I won't be following sports or hunting for non-existent jobs as much.

I may become a better father in the process.

I definitely will be less confused by how asinine one of my senator's endeavors are. Dude tweets stuff he's supporting in the senate, and I find he must think he's pandering to idiots when I read the details. First he was about raising minimum wage while ignoring his own state's minimum wage is higher than that he was slamming, thus making a dubious argument that doesn't represent his actual constitutes. Now he wants to expand EITC to include more adults without children, saying it helps children.

Being trained to be a librarian is a mixed bag. Jobs are few and far between (and don't pay great considering the master's degree needed), while I have research and critical thinking skills that allow me to pursue details of stories beyond the candy coating fluff and get to the poison core to avoid the pitfall of utter surprise when the excrement hits the air conditioning.

four weeks have passed

My baby is four weeks old. Seems like she's still a little thing but now her NB sized clothes are getting to fit snugly.
It will be months before she begins to crawl, but she will be doing such soon enough as the days and nights blur.
Not sure why J ever agreed to marry me, for I'm not quite sure why I even asked her so quickly. I didn't settle for her by any stretch of my thinking for I actually envisioned her being the mother to our children that could erase my negative emotional shortcomings.

Watched Salinger tonight, and something about his detachment is was what I recalled desiring before I met J.

I read his work while in high school when I was 15. I didn't let anyone see me reading it for I knew they all thought I was disturbed and people who read his work have been known to gun down people they consider to be "phony." Not sure if I thought my classmates were phonies or not, but I know I had a hard time relating with most of them. The internet wasn't around, so my solitude was realtime and otherworldly. The only private thoughts I knew were my own.

In hindsight, I wish I never bought stuff as a kid

Not sure if I mentioned it, but I used to collect comic books at one point. I didn't go nuts or anything seriously devoted. I got sucked into the fad and bought a series that I liked. I had the first 8 issues of the comic, and was broached by a classmate who was much more serious about a swap. I got 16 comics for my  8. The ones I got had a central theme to them as being The Punisher, Wolverine, or New Warriors. I subsequently bought a random comic regarding Wolverine, Punisher, or Venom, but I soon forgot about my comics once I moved out of my parents' house and went to college.

I got married while in college, so I never had the complete removal of personal stuff from my technical permanent residence. I basically just abandoned my stuff thinking my folks would leave my room as is and I'd get around to it when I felt like it. I was wrong. My mom isn't sentimental and tossed my treasured things or let her animals pee on them for some in-explicit reason. My baseball cards and coin collection were salvaged from the demise, but my drawings and comics didn't.

Though I was angry when I learned of the above unfortunate events, I forgot about them much like they were the recollections of a stranger until reading an article about adult nerds being upset their retirement savings(comic collection) were being sold at pennies on the FACE value of the comics. I got angry about the loss then remembered that they were probably worthless anyways.

Getting mad about money spent on disposed items is not as silly as regretting paying for things that intended to be disposable. I bought a lot of toys that gave me many hours of joy, if I hadn't bought them, then I wouldn't have the memories and would have spent the money elsewhere.

Today, I had a couple errands which I figured K and B could tag along and give J some rest as D was napping between feedings. They both wanted to go to Target. K had a giftcard while B had toothfairy  money, while I had to see if they carried newborn diapers in the quantity boxes advertised.

My mission was a wash, so we ventured to the toy section. K wanted Lego Minifigs to the Lego Movie. he had enough to buy three, while B didn't have enough to buy one(but I would spot her the difference). K quickly picked three mystery packets and was content, while B wanted specific characters, a mermaid or girl with a stripe in her hair. I started feeling the packets for telltale signs of ones to discard. K assisted in the search until we came to a packet that didn't have moveable legs much like the girl with a stripe in her hair would have. B was content with the finding so we left with those four.

K would soon be crying when we got home, for he picked two minifigs he already had from our trip to the Lego Store on New Year's Day. Sad that B was patient to get a figue she wanted while the older K was haphazard with his decision. Maybe one day he'll be better with his money. Just last week he wanted to spend $4 on a digital edition of a 25 page Star Wars Comic, which I am glad I talked him out of purchasing.

Neither kid wanted to go get Pizza Pizza, but they wanted Crazy Bread. they didn't eat the Crazy Bread the last time I got it, so I didn't get it. Sure it's $1.99 if you bother to go to their website and print the $2.00 off coupon that is always there, but $1.99 is better saved than wasted in my book. Ironically, I bought two pizzas for $5 since I got my pizza card filled last time I was there.

Tonight, I watched the Playoff game in hopes of seeing Tom Brady cry, but the game was a blowout in his favor. I could have used that time spent elsewhere besides the tv screen.

Father of Three

Got home from the hospital today. J started having labor pain Tuesday evening, so we rushed to the hospital.

Our baby was breech and we had an appointment for a version Wednesday at 8:30. Baby was originally to be induced the 14th, but got moved up due to the breech factor. If the version failed then a C Section would have be undertaken, while if the version was successful the delivery would have been induced that evening.

J called her doctor's after hours number, but we left before they replied once we had J's mother over to watch K and B.

I knew it was serious once we got halfway to the hospital and J hadn't yelled at me during the entire drive.

We went straight to Labor and Delivery. Learned long ago that having a baby isn't a mater for the Emergency Department. We we got to L and D, J let them know she was in labor and our baby was breech. They quickly took us to a triage room. They quickly assessed that our baby was breech and that J was dilated 9cm. The doctor on call was not a regular with J's doctor's group, but seemed to be calm and sure of the course of action. They wheeled J off for an emergency C-Section and left me in a hallway with a cart containing our stuff.

A few minutes later, I heard my newest daughter's cries. A nurse came out and asked if I had a camera so she could take pictures for me. Shortly, the camera was in my hands with 20 pictures of my little bundle. I called and texted various family and friends as I waited in the hallway outside the operating room doors.

It was surreal to hold her. The nurse who took pictures for me brought her out in a bassinet. At 6lbs 7oz, D was so tiny compared to K and B who both tipped the scale at 8lbs.  The nurse then had me follow her and the bassinet back to triage room 3, where I wheeled our stuff. I waited with my baby, seemingly alone. She didn't cry. She just looked around and did a little purr as she adjusted to breathing air.

I soon saw my father inlaw arrive at the front desk that was near triage, and he was so joyed. He asked about J, so I told him J was knocked out and they were sewing her up. I knew she was fine for the medical staff was looking at me and in a good mood. Though I had the lingering fear of A Farewell to Arms and was unprepared for a three night stay in the hospital starting Tuesday, I had read the What to Expect When You Are Expecting section regarding breech, version, C-sections and Emergency C-sections at J urging a few days earlier.

I was prepared for the being left behind moment. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to have our baby born within a half hour of entering the hospital, but she was and I have the blurred memory of a half hour that seemed like an eternity which gives me pause at the wonder of all I take for granted.

Cold, Blue Monday

I don't recall the last time I didn't go outside during a 24 hour period, but that was the case today. Watching the news tonight, they said it was Blue Monday for a number of factors. When I hear that term, I think of Slapstick, by Kurt Vonnegut. I don't need an artificial family, for my wife and kids keep me from feeling lonesome. They were all home today.

K and B didn't have school, so I didn't have to wait at the bus stop. Though it was my day off, I would have gone in if they needed me. Work closed early, so no need for me.

It's to be colder Tuesday, and school is already canceled, but I have to venture out tomorrow. Baby is coming Wednesday, and I need to have stuff set for our trip to the hospital.

One would think with this being our 3rd child, everything would be encore time, but neither previous pregnancy concluded in this manner, and a lot is forgotten after years. I remember when J called me to take her to the hospital when she started labor with K. I remember driving J to the scheduled inducement for B five years later. Some memories are fuzzy and blur between the two, but they were distinctly different deliveries. Neither was breech.

Ohio weather is funny. I think it was cold when K was born. I know it was unseasonably cool when B was born in mid-May for I had long sleeve shirts packed. Should warm up a little by the time #3 comes, but it will still be cold. Hopefully, the kids don't destroy the house while we're gone, for my mother in-law is on the mend though up to keeping them in line a few days. She doesn't need to overexert herself.

Monday- a day to ponder weekend events

*When I got work on Saturday, the shift manager told me that our assistant manager had given his two weeks. I was shocked. Sure, the guy was a horrible person in that he treated people poorly and couldn't fix anything, but he was the sort of guy that seemed to have plans to move up.
Since I started in January, ALL of my four supervisors have resigned. This latest dude was the one I'd have figured to have left first until the other three left allowing him to move up the pecking order.

Weirdest thing is that it's rumored that he doesn't have another job lined up.

*Saturday was a long day. It started earlier than normal with my be up and on the go with K to the camping grounds. I'm glad we didn't spend the night. Their breakfast was burnt and they only had instant coffee. 

After being there 6 hours, I was bored and tired. K was wanting to leave before we arrived so just putting forth the effort was something to be considered positive.

*I think I napped when I got back from Cub Scouts, but I don't remember.

*B spent the night with her grandparents since J was at work and I didn't feel B would be fun to bring camping.

I really missed B. Thankfully she came back before I left for work.

*Sunday, I slept until noon and got moving around 12:30. didn't feel up to doing anything but I forced myself to mow the grass and to get some necessities from Kroger. 

J baked an apple pie. I love her. Pie is something that reminds me of how lucky I am, but I count my blessings regularly.

*I did other things, but I don't recall. I do know that I didn't watch any football or baseball.

Pictures

I was looking through pictures to see if I had an idea of when I got the Pumas that were recently replaced. I looked through a lot of pictures and there are few which show my feet. Earliest I can pinpoint was during a trip to Pittsburgh in July '10. My shoes were at least three years old when they were retired to lawnmowing duties.

It's odd looking at pictures of things that change over time. K and B have grown so much and have grown through so many shirts and dresses. Hard to think of time passing quickly, but my clothes that got holes live in those pictures. I am actually smiling in a bit of those pics. Usually I'm holding a little K or B. Hard not to be happy when with them, for they are always busy.

B wasn't happy with me Tuesday when we left the park. She wanted to stay. She fought me as I carried her. She's big enough to put up a fight. Hard to think that I'm going to be a father again. Something about babies makes me feel hopeful. Babies are full of love in the simplest form, at least the ones I have been around.

The Big C

I remember the first time I heard her speak. I remember the first time I spoke with her. I remember what she was wearing.
Was it love at first sight? Hardly, it was the first day of grad school, and things stick out when you start a new chapter in your life. J was probably the only person in that class that was remotely my age and with the same undergrad degree. She wasn't much of a talker, and she didn't linger to talk.
Not sure what I expected of grad school, but at 21, I figured I would be much younger than most "peers" would be. Not wanting to be obviously the youngest, I grew a beard. 
I never approached her again until a month or so later when she was talking to a couple of our classmates about not needing help home. She had sprained her ankle and was on crutches, and each had offered to drive her home. I spoke up that I could walk her home. 
I remember the hill from school to her apartment. I think we later dubbed it "death hill." I think I carried some things for her, I don't recall, but I know we talked the way the there. I think I did most of the talking and that I talked a while after we got to her place. She gave me a stare at one point which indicated that I probably talked too long.
I had lived in a 12 by 12 room alone and hadn't had a conversation in a few months that I think I unloaded a lot about nothing. I vaguely remember being conscious of not starting any subsequent conversation with her, so there may have been a mild awkwardness on my part given the stare she had given. 
Not sure if I walked her home again while she was on crutches, but I know that we talked enough that she talked me into seeing Little Nicky with her since she didn't want to see it alone. 
It was a Friday and the theater was busy with kids running around, when we were in line. We decided to see the later showing that ended after midnight, and the cashier assumed we were together and gave me two tickets when I bought mine. It wasn't a date, so I figured J would pay me back by buying me beer which we got before we returned for our showing. I was rather buzzed during the movie, and when she dropped me off at my apartment I was surprised by her asking me if our evening together was a "date." 
Up until that moment, I hadn't thought of it as such, but I figured WTH, and leaned into the car to kiss her.

Nothing I had done to that point was planned. I just followed the lead of others and found myself later over thinking things. We were on a break when we'd be up all night IMing, then circumstances brought us together upon the next term that an epiphany struck me that I wanted to have a family with J. Not sure why she agreed to marry me, but she had picked out a ring which I promptly bought before either of our parents knew their child was in a relationship.

I know why I never told my parents about J until I had to tell them. I didn't want their opinion. 
I've had a pretty detached relationship with my parents. My dad has been "dying" from CIDP since being diagnosed in 2001. The fact that he has been beyond the stage capable of full recovery has made my feeling sympathy for his pain muted. He should have been diagnosed with CIDP sooner, but he stuck with his doctors' opinion that his knee giving out was due to needing a meniscus transplant, which was a procedure his insurance didn't cover. By the time he saw the specialist, he could tell my dad wasn't a candidate due to muscular atrophy from a disease like MS or ALS.
My dad has been saying for months that he thinks he may have cancer because of spots that showed up on something, probably an x-ray, of his kidney. Today he tells me that they say it's actually cancer.
Of course my dad is scared of cancer, but after the progressive destruction done by his CIDP and the drugs used to treat his condition, I feel that cancer isn't the worst thing. Cancer can be treated with an outcome that is improved or death rather than the status quo or death.
If he needs a kidney and it would make everything better, I have one to lend him, but he's not a candidate for any transplants given his declining health from an AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE.
I hope that my children have a better opinion of me when I'm elderly than that I have of my father.

My boy loves me.

Surprise, surprise, I was in a sleepy mood this Thursday morning. I like to think it was due to the fact I knew that I'd have to be adding an extra stop during my day that I wasn't thrilled to undertake.
Last week J got an email from a mom in K's class about volunteering to help for their Valentine's Day party(they get two "parties" a year, so it's sort of a big deal unlike when I was a kid). J couldn't but ventured to volunteer me since I am free during the day aside from B's pre-school drop-off/pick-up. I didn't exactly want to go for I didn't want K to be embarrassed( I would have been if my folks went to my school functions), but K said he didn't mind. Without going into drama that occurred in K's math class on Monday, I can say that I had reason to not want to draw attention to K. Regardless, he leaped from his desk, ran to greet me while gleefully saying "daddy" until he wrapped his arms around me.
I wasn't expecting a reaction from K, so I am a bit surprised by his hugging me. Don't get me wrong, I love my boy, but I wonder about him at times. It's not like I'd been away or anything, and the two of us tend to butt heads.
On another matter, B decided to cut a prize K got from his party so that she could give an orange piece of it to a friend of hers at school since his favorite color is orange. She didn't ask. She didn't say a word. She just used her scissors and destroyed K's toy. B is very sneaky, and she doesn't feel guilt so much as she dislikes getting caught. She eventually said she was sorry to K, but she threw a tantrum before she was ready to do so.

Reflecting upon the final day of January

Where is time going? I must be doing something right for I'm feeling more accomplished than I did at the start of the year.
Resolutions aren't set in stone, but they are being met.
"Seize the day" has yet to become a daily thing, but I've moments that are better than others.
Today started blah, but ended well. As soon as I string some days together, then I feel the chance to be more capable of being happy without reason.beyond the knowledge that my family is well.
My dad may never be well, but I suppose some of that is mental. Sure he's in pain, but once pain becomes the norm, then don't you get used to it? Maybe I'm reading Dale Carnegie too closely? I'm currently in pain from having "worked" for the first time in a long time doing a motion that's tightened my shoulders and back, but it's a good pain of a day well done. To a certain extent I think my dad wants pity, and to another extent, I think he's stuck in his thinking that he can get better. He needs to appreciate the things he has, but he's got jacked up priorities.
As I was saying earlier, I started the day a little blah. I got up and got K ready for school and took out the trash, but once he left B awoke and was upset that J and K were gone. I felt tired and I got her to go back to sleep. Definitely not a "seize the day" sort of thing, but I was in a funk until I drove B to preschool.
After dropping her off, I went to K-Mart to buy some shirts to wear to work. I'll be working with chemicals, so I wanted some long sleeves to protect my arms. Buying long sleeved shirts in January isn't easy, but I found a few on clearance.
I also looked around for a floor lamp to replace one we got as a wedding gift that died recently. Floor lamps aren't easy to find, and K-Mart doesn't seem to carry them. If they do, then they aren't anywhere near table lamps or light bulbs.
With my mission only half complete, I suffered through the longest three person deep check-out line.
K-Mart has WAY TOO MANY FREAKING PROMPTS when you buy stuff.
When I got home, I washed my new shirts and did things around the house until I had to pick up B.
We were meeting J in an hour so I could drop off a car to have its odd ball problems fixed. I told B to keep her shoes on when we got home, but she didn't. She decided to barricade the front door to lock out K when he got off his bus. After a few moments of failure, K came in through the carhole. He listened to me about getting ready, and even helped B get her socks and shoes on. 
I didn't want to get at the mechanic too early. It was way too cold to be waiting with kids, so I timed myself to get there at 5. People were driving SLOW, and J called me that she arrived when I was a BLOCK away.
So, the plan was met, and we proceeded to the next agreed upon step of going to Steak'n Shake. We got free teas and sodas, as our normal waitress was serving us and it wasn't happy hour, nor kids eat free weekend. It's a nice perk of being a regular.
We got shakes before leaving for home. Once home, I got ready for work/training. I left early because it started to snow and people don't know how to drive in snow (even Ohio, mind you!). Sure enough, I was forced to drive well below the speed limit.I got there about ten minutes early.
Work was slow, so I had a chance to get training without chaos going on. I did a lot of watching, but I did a lot doing. I should be able to do my job in an hour and a half alone, but tonight I did half the work in 2 hour plus hours as I learned the process.
As I said, the day was a mixed bag in terms of productive seizing of the day, but it's a step in the right direction.

Spending the night in a museum.

One of the things that I must say about Cub Scouts is that I have been able to regain contact with the outside world. We had a number of Den meetings this month in addition to the Pack meeting. Last night the Pack stayed at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History.
Being homebodies, we don't get out much. Spending the night with your child with others in similar circumstances allows for a lot of time where you're casually watching them run about the place while you get to know each other.
It's interesting to see what different families prioritize, and discussing common interests leads to opportunities for new endeavors to enrich the time spent together as a family.

Reflecting upon the second Thursday of '13

It's been roughly forty degrees the last couple days or so. Snow on our side of the street has mostly melted away. Supposedly it will hit 60 tomorrow or the weekend.
The sun wasn't out today. Just a drab winter day without snowfall.
The day is a blur in that it's uneventful.
Awoke to get K ready for school as I normally did. B was sleeping on my arm in a ball purring.I think she got up around 6, but was back down until after nine-thirty. I had an hour plus of quiet time, so I read a little and planned a little. cut coupons. Did dishes. Drank coffee and showered. Can't really account for the time between ten and eleven-thirty, but I cut B an apple and made her a bowl of Life Cereal. She mostly played with Legos, but she did watch a princess video.
Started getting chicken and gravy ready for the crock pot before noon. Dropped B off at one-fifteen and had my tires rotated on the Journey. Read Tom Jones as a waited. Applied for a job or two when I got home. I saw an email from my dad saying he was being cheap about taking care of his pain. I called him and told him he's nuts to be cheap when he has money to spend. Read some more of my book before going and getting B. The was a voice mail on the home phone when I got back. I checked and called back for it was for a job interview. Checked my email then I went back to working on dinner.
Dinner was nice. Lost an hour or two cleaning up blog entries. Watched Big Bang. Lost more time online.
Not much happened, so I figure I need to go about my day better. I want things to be different so I got to change the way I do things.