Had my daughter’s 2nd birthday party over the weekend, and it was a blast.  Family and friends came from far and wide, and my daughter recognized the “Happy Birthday” song I’ve been singing to her the past couple of weeks when everyone sang it to her.  On a side note, I have a hint for parents everywhere, including myself the next time I throw a kids’ birthday party:  have something ready to give the kids to occupy them before the party, otherwise excitement and anticipation will get the best of them, ruining moods of kids and parents  My 3 kids were so anxious before the birthday party last weekend that they were running around, fighting, and even tantruming.  I would advise giving the birthday child his or her present early (if they can all play with it without fighting!) or setting aside some kind of toy for all of your kids.  Better yet, line up someone who can take the kids out of the house all together and let them arrive a mere 15 minutes before the rest of the guests – now that would have been bliss.  It’s just impossible to get last minute party preps finished with 3 (or any number, for that matter) wild children running amok.  And forget about keeping the house clean while waiting for the guests to arrive.  Here we are on Saturday, trying to keep the kids sane and serve lunch all while getting things ready for the party.  Then we had to clean up the mess the kids made during lunch really quick before the guests began arriving, after making sure that they actually ate something in their excitement.  The formula added up to one hectic pre-party morning and early afternoon, with the tantrum-thrower losing her voice before the party began.

But overall, it was lots of fun; especially getting to see family who aren’t often able to make the journey to Ohio from Illinois.  I know the birthday girl appreciated it and had lots of fun too, and I want to thank everyone who was a part of her special day.  Thanks for the gifts and thanks most of all for being there to wish Disney a happy 2nd birthday.  Special thanks goes to justj and his family for the very special gifts they bestowed upon our family; as well as Carol and Megan who also were thoughtful about giving each of the girls a present.  This helped alleiviate much fighting later in the day while we were suffering birthday party comedown.  Another special thanks to the family who travelled hundreds of miles to be there for Disney on her special day.  Family and friends are the BEST!

BELOW: Disney eating her birthday cupcake

Well, we’ve now gotten a taste of two new episodes for this season, and I think I can safely say that the Office is back on track and as funny as ever!  It’s always been funny; it’s just that the few episodes that aired after the writer’s strike weren’t the best ones.  But I’m happy to see that so far, this season is a riot and will keep me looking forward to Thursday nights.

Entitled, ‘Business Ethics’, the 2nd Office episode of the season saw Michael and Holly in a major disagreement.  But no need to fret, it was resolved by the end of the show, thank goodness.  Sorry if I spoiled something for you, but you wouldn’t want to be left hanging about that, now would you?  I think I’ll copy n paste the tvguide.com episode sysopsis and comment on it.  That’s an easy way to write a review of the show and share the tvguide.com summary which I always enjoy.  Tvguide.com is in italics, my comments are in BOLD CAPS.

With the exemplary premiere behind us, in which we were treated to Jim and Pam’s engagement, Dwight and Angela’s torrid and super-secret affair, Michael and Holly’s evolving ‘friendship’ and Ryan’s return as Pam’s temporary replacement, does the second episode of the Office continue the momentum? The answer, my friends, is …

Definitely. Maybe. Ummm … Not so much.

It’s hard to follow up near-perfection.  WHILE I AGREE WITH THAT COMMENT, I WILL DISAGREE WITH THIS WRITER TO SAY THAT I THINK THE 2ND EPISODE WAS ALMOST AS GOOD AS THE FIRST – THERE’S JUST NO COMPETING BETWEEN AN HOUR OF THE OFFICE AND A HALF-HOUR OF THE OFFICE. “Weight Loss” was a one-hour gem, while “Business Ethics” had some nice moments, particularly during the beginning of the show, but it had some disappointments for me as well. I’ll list out my quibbles with this episode first, and then I’ll get to the funny:

1) The Absence of Pam
After their shocking engagement, Pam is relegated to a disembodied voice on the telephone at the beginning of the show. No doubt there will be plenty of opportunities for her to take center stage as the season develops, and I understand that sending her to school makes it difficult to include her in the office’s day-to-day, but it was jarring to all but ignore the Jim and Pam relationship right after their shocking engagement.  AGREED – I MISSED PAM TOO, BUT IT WAS ONLY ONE EPISODE, AFTER ALL.  IF SHE ISN’T THERE NEXT WEEK, I WILL HAVE A BEEF.
2) Ryan’s ethics
Reflecting back on an episode entitled “Business Ethics” I guess I was surprised that it focused primarily on Michael, Holly and Meredith, and only tangentially referred to the busted and now-humbled Ryan. I was expecting the episode to center more on Ryan somehow (don’t ask me how, I’m just a recapper).  RYAN CAN BE ANNOYING IN LARGE DOSES, SO I’M GLAD HE WAS ONLY ON THIS EPISODE FOR A LITTLE BIT.
3) Holding back the crazy
Creed didn’t say or do anything Creed-like; Andy didn’t sing a capella or punch a wall; even Michael and Holly’s “Let’s Get Ethical” intro was a schtick we’ve seen before. So even in an episode with Dwight peeing into a soda bottle, the usual absurdities of the Office family felt somehow muzzled or restrained.  CREED DID SAY AT LEAST ONE REALLY FUNNY THING – SEE BELOW.

But enough with the criticisms. Let’s get to the kudos. I thought the “personal time” subplot was the highlight of the show, and led to the episode’s two best scenes:

Jim: Hey Andy
Andy: Yo
Jim: By any chance did you see Battlestar Galactica last night?
Andy: No I did not. Is that any good?
Jim: Actually not, it’s really so-so.
Jim: I don’t like all the crazy monsters and stuff, like Klingons and Wookies and all that.
Jim (looking at Dwight): Sorry, is there something you wanted to add Dwight?
Andy: Is that like the original Battlestar Galactica?
Jim: You know what’s weird, it’s practically a shot-for-shot remake

(Dwight crumbles paper in frustration)

Jim: The story is kinda bland, it’s about this guy called “Dumbledore Calrissian” who needs to return the ring to back to Mordor
Andy: That doesn’t sound right …

2) 19:48

It’s easy for Jim to push Dwight’s buttons, and it’s easy for us to laugh at it. Jim’s pranks on Dwight have been the stuff of legend, but this was the first time that Dwight had it over on Jim – and Jim didn’t even know it.

The smugness on Jim’s face when he got Dwight to admit that he took “personal time” paled in comparison to the sidelong glance Dwight gave the camera when he admitted that “Yes, maybe I’m not” ethical. The camera panned over to Angela buttoning up her shirt, and we understood how Dwight spent that 19:48. I loved that the writers gave Dwight this moment over Jim – unexpectedly turning the tables and making Jim’s prank just seem irrelevant.  THAT WAS A NICE MOMENT.

And finally, here are my favorite one-off lines:

“The tall guy got engaged” – Creed  CLASSIC CREED, HILARIOUS!

“I’ve listened to Cookie Monster Sings Chocolate Rain 5,000 times” – Michael. (By the way, I tried like heck to find this video on You Tube, but no luck. But here’s the consolation prize)

“You’ve been cuckolded by a stronger, smarter male” – Dwight

So, what did you guys think?  LOVED IT.  Am I right that this episode – while good – did not live up to the season premiere’s lofty heights?   I THINK YOU’RE WRONG.  IT WASN’T AS GOOD AS THE PREMIERE, BUT PROBABLY ONLY BECAUSE IT WAS ONLY HALF AS LONG AND FOR THE PREMIERE EPISODE, WE WERE SO HAPPY TO HAVE THIS AWESOME SHOW BACK AFTER SUMMER HIATUS!

What an oxymoron this post title presents, doesn’t it?  Silent politicians…  is there such a thing?  The proof was sighted in NW Ohio last weekend – here it is:

That’s Obama on the left and McCain on the right – true to real life politics.  Hillary is in the middle…  the display must have been designed months ago…

During these times of uncertainty I think it appropriate to mention that I have had a couple of lean days in the past week.  How so, you ask?  First of all I am not talking about my diet or any lack of jobs.  What I refer to is the lesson plans.  Twice in the last week I have walked into the classroom to a lesson plan book opened to the appropriate week.  Okay, this gave me the general outline for the day but another teacher had to come in and help me interpret them.  Seeing “10:15-10:30 Student Council Election” doesn’t tell me who is running, for what positions, and how to do the vote.  In this case I was told to skip it by the other teacher so I happily did so.  Things a lesson plan like this doesn’t include is behavior management system, details on what is to be taught, students who can help, and more.  Fortunately as I said the teacher across the hall laid it out for me and I was able to take it from there.  In addition there was a teaching assistant in the room for one of the students.  Both were very helpful.  As well, I had a good class, so all in all today was a good day.  Well, in the spirit of lean-ness this post must come to a close.  Well really because I’m tired and want to go to bed but if it fits the topic then, hey. 😛

Today, I worked from 10am-4pm… not a bad shift at all… not too early and off at a decent hour.  Everything was going well until about 11:30 when the electricity flicked on and off.  It did this three times in about a five minute interval.  THEN, it flicked and did not come back on.  GREAT!!!  How long til we get to call it a day since we could not wait on anyone and could not see very far into the store without a flashlight.  I was more concerned about the meat and frozen foods.  How long do we actually wait until we have to unload that?  At least 3 hours, I was informed.  When the boss arrived at noon, I was instructed to take a flashlight to the meat room to put some chicken in bags for sale and put them in the freezer.  After that, I decided to have a bit of fun.  I took the flashlight and a stocking cap that I found and pointed the light up under my chin, thereby giving my face that extra creepy appearance.  I then waited for the boss to come back that way.  Sure enough, she jumped like 6 feet in the air.  If you can’t have a haunted house then why not make do and create some frights where and when you can.  Unfortunately, the electricity returned at about 1 o’clock.  But, we did get to look out the window at the traffic light and see how many drivers knew what to do when the lights are not working.  There were a couple close calls because some intelligent vehicle operator did not know to stop before crossing the intersection.  Not sure what caused the town-wide outage (or at least on the north side of the railroad tracks) but it made for an interesting hour,

I sent some recipes to my sister and since I had to type them into the computer anyway, I will post them on my blog.  The first two are great for Thanksgiving, and the last one is a yummy version of lasagna that is great for moms to make because you can do the preparation while the kids are napping or eating lunch, and then it will cook all day in the crock pot.  Also, you make it with cottage cheese instead of ricotta cheese which can be expensive.  Enjoy!

Pearl Onions in Cream Sauce
1 – 10 oz pkg red or white pearl onions, peeled according to package directions
3 TBL butter or margerine
3 TBL flour
1 1/2 cups milk, heated almost to boiling point
2 TBL cream sherry (optional)
1 drop tabasco sauce
dash ground nutmeg
white pepper and salt to taste
chopped parsley for garnish
To cook pearl onions, drop peeled onions intoboiling water.  Cook for 10 mins. and drain.  To make cream sauce, melt butter or margerine over medium-high heat.  When melted, add flour, stirring constantly with wire wisk, until all butter is absorbed.  Turn heat to low and add milk slowly (make sure to continue stirring with the wire wisk).  Add sherry, tabasco sauce, nutmeg, pepper and salt.  Fold-in cooked onions and mix well.  Before serving, garnish with parsley.  Variations:  When folding cooked pearl onions into cream sauce, add 3/4 cup cooked green peas.  Makes 4-6 side dish servings.

Sweet Potatoes With Blue Cheese and Pecans
4 lbs sweet potatoes
3 TBL olive oil
6 sprigs thyme or 1/2 tsp dried
1 cup pecans
1 cup blue cheese

Combine sweet potatoes and oil in a roasting pan, sprinkle with thyme.  Roast for 30-45 min at 425 or until tender.  Transfer the sweet potatoes to a serving bowl.  Gently toss with pecans and cheese.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Garnish with remaining thyme.  Serves 6.

Crock Pot Lasagna
1 lb lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 – 28 oz can tomato sauce
1 – 6 oz can of tomato paste
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt (approx.)
12 oz uncooked lasagna noodles
12 oz cottage cheese
1 cup parmesan cheese (approx.)
16 oz shredded mozzarella cheese

In a skillet, cook ground beef, onion and garlic until beef is browned.  Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, oregano and salt.  When sauce is thoroughly warmed, spoon a layer of the meat sauce into the bottom of the crock pot.  Add a double layer of uncooked lasagna noodles, breaking to fit if necessary.  Top with a layer of each of the cheeses.  Repeat process until sauce, noodles, and cheeses are gone.  Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hrs.  NOTE:  My lasagna began to overcook a little before 4 hrs in the crock pot!

I’ll start right off with the excuses.  I have a lot going on right now.  My October is booked solid.  I’ve adopted the philosophy to just take one thing at a time because if I try to think about it all at once, I will end up breathing into a paper bag.  Last week, my focus was on my daughter’s 2nd birthday party – inviting guests, buying supplies, getting the house ready, etc.  I decided to put this week on the back burner last week and not try to do things to plan for our trip to Florida we’re taking at the end of this week.

So this morning, I got up and when I went to check my oldest daughter’s backpack for school, she said Dad had already signed her papers that needed to be signed – which is why I missed the memo.  All was well, I thought, until the school called our cell phone.  It was RIF week at my other daughter’s school (Reading is Fundemental), which means parents can come in and read books to the class.  Normally we would just drop off our daughter and be on our way, but of course today we stayed at the school for awhile to read books, which is why my other daughter’s school called our cell phone – thank goodness we had picked up the lost cell phone at the corn maze place Friday night – see one of my previous posts if you’re curious about the adventures of the cell phone.

So anyway, they were calling to tell us that today was Columbus Day, there was no school, and could we please come pick up our daughter.  Talk about embarrassing.  I realize it happens; everyone forgets something now and then, but why did it have to involve one of the kids?  And I’m out of good excuses – I’m not pregnant anymore or recovering from surgery or anything like that…  just an average, run-of-the-mill brain fart.  It’s not a big deal; we retrieved my daughter, and both she and the people at the school were laughing about it (and probably will be for years to come).  But this really stinks because this is really bad for the way my mind works.  I’m obsessed with detail and constantly worried about forgetting things; I’m always trying to relax about these things but when something like this happens, there’s a little voice in my head that says, “See?  Look what happens when you weren’t so obsessive about details!”.  Oh, well…  the good news is today my oldest is perfectly happy spending time with her little sister, and likewise.  So without our trouble-making middle daughter around (she had school today – or did she?!?  I was at the school with her, but now I better double check!), they should get along quite well giving me some much needed catch-up time for housework and vacation packing.  So why am I sitting here blogging?!?

Here’s a footnote – it’s now later in the day, I was able to sort thru some of the acrued clutter in our house, and I found a newsletter from my daughter’s school.  Guess what?  October 13 is not listed under important dates in the newsletter for having a day off!  So there!  Not completely my fault!  I can transfer 2% of fault to the school!

Blindness is an interesting movie starring Julianne Moore.  Think Outbreak, except this time the disease that’s afflicting people at a record rate isn’t fatal, but it causes sudden blindness.  The movie was alright; I liked the ending, but there are a few scenes that are extremely disturbing to watch.  As always, I don’t want to go into much detail to avoid spoiling it for people.  Julianne Moore is a great actress, and her performance in this movie is not an exception to her reputation as such.  She plays a woman who does not contract the disease, therefore she still has her sight but she pretends like she doesn’t in order to be able to stay with her afflicted husband.  There were several large flaws with the movie (and the husband’s character), but it was entertaining and thought-provoking; never a bore.  Would I recommend it?  Probably not to the average movie-watcher, but if you like disaster films, medical dramas, or if you just want to see what a large city would look like if it were abandoned by all that could see, leaving only thousands of blind people, then check it out.  But I’m warning you, the view of the city isn’t pretty, and at times, neither was the movie.

Some of you may remember the ’80’s song called “Parents Just Don’t Understand” performed by a musical act called DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince – the Fresh Prince is known nowadays as an actor named Will Smith.  But anyway, the song was about teen angst and how parents just don’t understand teens.  What I’m talking about is something completely different – see the below story about the woman who threatened to post naked pictures of her daughter’s ex-boyfriend (the kids are 13!) on the internet as blackmail in hopes of getting the pair back together.  Talk about parents just don’t understand!  This lady doesn’t understand values, morals, or appropriate social conduct just to name a few things.  Not to mention the fact that things don’t seem to be wired right upstairs, and that’s an understatement.  My children will not be dating at 13, and they will not have cell phones for any purpose outside of emergency or family use only at that age.  I would never try to get my daughter “back together” with a boy, especially at 13, and if I were ever unfortunate enough to come across such pictures, I, like most people I’m sure, would turn them over to authorities instead of conspiring to use a child’s mistake against him and put him in danger.  And perhaps the kicker?  The woman is a teacher.  Well, was a teacher…  There is so much wrong with this story, I’ll let you sort out the details:

Chicago Tribune – October 8, 2008
An Elgin woman is under investigation in connection with a strange—and possibly criminal—campaign to reconcile her 13-year-old daughter with a former boyfriend.

Authorities say she threatened to publish nude pictures of the boy on the Internet unless he contacted the girl.

The 42-year-old woman reportedly peppered the Sleepy Hollow boy, also 13, with phone calls, e-mails and thousands of text messages aimed at reuniting the young couple, according to a search warrant and affidavit filed late last month. The Tribune is not naming the woman because she has not been charged.

When those tactics failed, the woman threatened to publish photos online of the naked teen that he had sent to her daughter via cell phone, the records say.

“It’s odd, to say the least,” said Kane County State’s Atty. John Barsanti, who said the woman is under investigation. “It’s not a fact pattern we normally come up against.”

The woman could face charges of child pornography, intimidation and harassment, the documents say. Police seized cameras, computers, cell phones and other items from her Elgin home and the private school where she works. The boy received 12,302 text messages from the woman between January and July, according to records. The boy’s family contacted police in late August.

The girl’s brother also took part, allegedly threatening to go to the boy’s parents with the pictures unless the boy saw the girl twice a week, according to records.

On Sept. 23, the woman left a message warning the boy she would “send the pictures and video of him to his teacher and minister to show them he is not a nice person,” the search warrant stated.

Oh, and this mother’s job at the school? She’s a teacher.

I just got back from a gathering of friends. This gathering was celebrating the 2nd birthday of a wonderful little girl. Now of course the parents said that gifts were not required, so I didn’t buy any. Instead, I handed out memories to the 4 children of my friends. These were very specific memories for me and my children. It is hard to pass on memories when only one side knows what they are. So I am writing about those memories so, if the parents desire, these memories can be passed on to their children.

My wife collected three things during our marriage. One collection was pets, mostly chinchillas. Another was raccoons. When it got tough to find different raccoons, she started collecting Eeyores. Yes, that little gray (blue) donkey that Disney made so popular. The one from the Pooh Bear stories. For those who don’t know it, Eeyore was a gloomy little donkey, who had the most down to earth, sad, outlook on life. Except for the rare occasions when he found good in the bad things that happened. It is that rare gift to find the good during the bad times that captivated my wife with this character, other than the fact she though he was just soooo cute.

Our house was filled with Eeyore things. Eeyore jewelery, clothes, dishes and cups and of course the stuffed Eeyores. There was an Eeyore for winter, Christmas, Summer, Fall and spring. There is even a Halloween Eeyore. Eeyores of every shape and size. These filled the house and our lives.

After my wife died, some of the Eeyores went to family members. I gave her sister a dress Eeyore watch, since she likes Eeyore too. I gave some stuffed Eeyores to my daughters and niece, so they could have something to hold on too. I gave at least 1 Eeyore sweatshirt to each daughter, so they could have something warm to wrap up in. Most of the stuffed Eeyores I kept and I held onto them for me. The Eeyores never left the family until today.

I gave 4 small donkeys to the children of my friends. 1 was especially for babies, so their youngest could have one too. Two were identical donkeys, (not quite Eeyores) that were bought by my children (ok, it was Dad’s money) to give to their Mother for some special day. A fourth was one my wife would carry with her to give a little comfort in times of stress, this one was given to the birthday girl.

These were gifts of fond memories that we had as a family. These were not expensive, but they are gifts most rare. These were gifts of the heart. From one family to another, a shared blessing of the good things in life: Love, commitment, honor, trust and just a bit of pessimism.

Always looking for hope, and sometimes I happen to find it