THE BEST SHIRT EVER!

And just for you young’ns that have never seen one of the greatest trilogies of ALL TIME (right up there with Star Wars & LOTR)

I give you THIS:

I wasn’t able to watch the show, but I listened to some of the results while driving home from San Diego.

Let me just say that I saw Slumdog Millionaire on Saturday (and Gran Turino), and Slumdog was a fantastic movie. It was brilliantly made, and deserves to be recognized as a great film…

But it was NOT–repeat–NOT the Best Picture of the year.

Nor did it deserve to win Best Score.  I paid attention to the music, it was fine…but it was not worthy of that award.

So if Daniel was on the Academy of voters, what would he have voted for?
Best Picture: Dark Knight (by a miiiiiile)
Best Score: Wall-E (even though I didn’t really like the film).

How about you?
Oscar thoughts?

I know you are all dying to know how our little parenting experiment went yesterday.

And in the LONG run, so am I…

But nonetheless, here’s what we know so far:

(Nathaniel will now be referred to as “N” for the sake of time)

N really liked the idea of being in charge for a day, and as we explained all of the responsibility he would carry for that time, his eyes became bright with excitement. (hmmmm…note to self…)

He woke up early to get himself and Noah dressed, made a lunch for the both of them, and was responsible for “driving” himself to school. Since he couldn’t drive, he walked with mom. He did not enjoy the looong walk to school. This all went fairly smoothly except for the fact that Noah was not too keen on taking direction from N. He never is…they ARE brothers…(if you don’t have a brother close to your age, you probably don’t understand).

Even though things were going well so far, it was after school that the responsibility of being a parent really got to him.

Christy and N walked home…and N immediately got to work doing “parent” chores. He cleaned out the car, did laundry, washed dishes, scrubbed the floors (ahhhh…we are such mean parents!) AND scrubbed the toilets…and more. He also was in charge of making dinner (Christy helped with the fire-type things…you know…cooking) and he had yet to do his homework. I think he also cleaned up the back yard and took out the trash.

I mean, he worked HARD, from 3pm until about 7:30pm. At this point everyone relaxed to watch a little bit of American Idol from the previous night. FINALLY N got a chance to “play”.

During all of these chores he was also responsible for tending to the needs of his brother, Noah. So when N sat down to do his homework, Noah came in to ask him for some water…and if he could have a snack…and so on and so forth.

I THINK N got the point.

Being a mom and dad is hard work. It’s more than just making the decisions or getting to have your way all the time.  Being an adult carries a lot of responsibility to it, and is something that is not the job for a seven year-old. Little boys like to play, and have fun…and they don’t need to whine and complain when they don’t get their way. Of course, no one is perfect, and kids are going to be kids…but I think this was a good lesson in “Let the mom be the mom and the kid be the kid”. And please N, please don’t complain and argue when you don’t get your way…

OK

So HERE’S the interesting part:

He didn’t necessarily like all of the work, (or let’s just say he hated it-punishment successful), but we learned that he LOVES structure. He thouroughly enjoyed the fact that Christy gave him a detailed list of the things he needed to accomplish, and could refer to the list and work until they were done. Which is totally weird since that is pretty much exactly the way I am. (Refer to strengthsquestfinderthingy about my top strength being “achiever”). He loved, loved, loved, loved, LOVED the list.

So in order to give him some more solid structure, we are going to set up a weekly calendar for after-school activities including homework, play time, special events, etc…so that he can rely on the calendar and hopefully avoid the feeling a loss of control in his life (which may be the reason for his behavior of late).

So all in all, I think this was a success. Lesson learned.

And it wasn’t just N that learned a lesson…so did we.

It is interesting that the more you learn, the more you know you don’t know anything.

And you can take that one to the BANK.

Peace out.

Any of you out there that think parenting is easy, you’re an idiot.

Parenting is HARD.

Not just the state of being a parent, but actually parenting–raising your child with purpose and direction–is very, very, very difficult.

Can I get a what-what?

So lately our elder son has had somewhat of an attitude and is lashing out in a control-freak sort of way. I can’t blame him since his only two models for living are avid horn-locking control-freaks. It’s natural for him to have those tendencies.  But recently it has been out of control and disrespectful to others in an embarrassing way.

I mean, come on…shouldn’t a seven year-old know that the world does not revolve around him/her?

Apparently not.

So Christy and I had a little meeting last night to discuss what we would do to have an attitude adjustment. She came up with this idea that is quite brilliant, if I say so myself. Since Nathaniel so badly wants to be the boss of everybody in the universe, for one day, he will be.

So today, Nathaniel is the parent. And with all of the fun that comes along with being in charge of other people will also come the responsibility. MUAHAHA.

Today when he gets home from school he will do his homework and then proceed to do all of the mommy chores (times TEN). So he’s going to clean the kitchen, scrub the bathrooms, clean up the house, clean out the car, make dinner, do the dishes and put them away, and so on, and so forth…

HA

WE’LL SEE WHO STILL WANTS TO BE IN CHARGE AFTER TODAY!

And who knows. It may not work. I don’t know…every step in this crazy life of being a parent is trial and error for me. I wish I knew what I was doing, or at least FELT like I knew what I was doing.

Any thoughts?

Today a few accidents happened in my studio…I’ll attempt to make this incredibly long story as brief as possible (because it is just SO riveting).

1) I have a wish list of items that I plan on investing for my studio to make it more and more professional. At the top of that list was a 2nd display (computer monitor), and preferably one that matched my current Apple 23″ HD Cinema Display. Several months ago I bought one on ebay. It broke after a week, and I got depressed about the whole thing…this incident became known by me as “That Time I Flushed $350.00 Down the Toilet.” I finally saved up enough dough to buy another one, and it began suffering the same fate as the previous one–it had a horrible pink hue. Well…I was going to just sit and cry all day, but I started to jimmy with the plugs and connectors…and after a few days of trying, today something went right. And it worked…finally…and it is BEAUTIFUL. Yahooooooo!!!!
Normally I would not accept that something just “up and worked” without figuring out exaclty what went wrong and how to avoid it in the future, etc…but today…I just accepted it.

That is accident/miracle #1

2) I went to Guitar Center with the little bit of cash I had left in my pocket in order to by a simple $9.99 sustain pedal for my keyboard. I walked out with a new M-Audio Axiom 88 key workstation for myself and an Axiom 66 for church (plus two sustain pedals). They were having a sale…and a full-size 88-key keyboard was 2nd on my studio wish list.
Yes. I accidentally bought a brand new keyboard today. I did NOT plan on doing this, but it just worked out perfectly.

I walked out of there with such a great feeling of accomplishment…

It took my a few minutes, but I fixed up my work space and starting living in my new environment. It was a complete overhaul of my desk and work space.

And it was awesome.

Don’t worry honey, I got a Guitar Center card…and it’s 12 months 0% interest. Or maybe I don’t have to pay anything for twelve months…I can’t remember…but regardless…I didn’t break the bank. Promise.

Here is a picture of my new workstation. I’m still working out the kinks. But it is a great improvement upon what I had before today.

I am not a big cake person. I don’t know why…and given my propensity for desserts in general, this is a quandary. But alas, it is true. I am not a big cake person.

So much so, that we actually had mounds of cookies at our wedding reception in lieu of cake–and only a small round cake for us to cut as a bride and groom traditionally would. But no cake for the other 600 people that came, only cookies.
Piles and piles of cookies.

BUT

that said…

For all of my life, my favorite chocolate cake has been my mom’s family recipe “May’s Chocolate Cake”. She made it several times growing up and it was delicious and unique.

And moist.

Mmmmmmm it was soooooooo moist.

But I’m sorry mom, I’m afraid there is a new cake in town. AND IT IS KILLER.

It is Cracker Barrel’s Coca-Cola Chocolate Cake…and it is both heavenly and devilish. When I’m eating it, I can’t decide if I’m tasting a bit of heaven, or committing one of the seven deadly sins.

YES.

IT’S THAT GOOD.

And if you like cakes, or love someone who likes cakes, you are going to try this recipe.

It will change your life.

Many thanks to Angela Cottrell for this recipe. She gave it to my by memory over the phone while driving. Needless to say…I was impressed.

CAKE:
1 cup (2 sticks) Butter (THE REAL STUFF-margarine not allowed)
1 1/2 cups mini-marshmallows
3 Tbl. Hershey’s Cocoa (mix half of regular and half of Hershey’s Dark if you can)
1 cup Cola
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup Buttermilk
2 eggs

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Melt butter, marshmallows, and cola together in a small saucepan over heat–stirring until all mixed together and everything is completely melted. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, and cocoa. Pour melted concoction over the dry ingredients and stir until completely mixed. Add 1/2 cup buttermilk and stir until mixed in. Add 2 eggs, baking soda, and vanilla and mix well.  Pour into a 9×13 metal cake pan and cook for 30 minutes. Middle of the cake should look a liiiiiitle under done (but not too much…if it’s soupy, put it back in the over for another 5-10 minutes).

ICING:
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
6 Tbl. Cola
2 Tbl. Cocoa
4 cups Powdered Sugar
1 cup pecans (optional)

Mix together the butter, cola, and cocoa until melted and well mixed (stirring a lot). Stir in powdered sugar, 2 cups at a time, until dissolved in the mix.
When the cake comes out of the oven, put pecans on top and slowly pour on the icing.
Let it set for 30 minutes.

And if you do it well…it should look a little like this:

and YOU WILL LOVE IT.

Money back guarantee.

This evening I found out that my 8 year-old nephew is in the hospital with a growth on his brain. Please pray for him!

I’ll post updates as soon as I get any news. That way you are all in the loop…

To a game of Othello on facebook.

I’m so addicted right now…and I’m not THAT great.

But I’m getting better…and I could probably kick your butt.

So there.

The gauntlet is cast!

…to Pepsuber.

HAHAHA

OK, if you’re an enthusiast, you’ll know I’m a week behind here, but I just can’t resist. It turns out (at least according to Mike–and because I’m just too darn lazy to go look for myself) that Pepsi sponsored the kids over at SNL to make 3 MacGruber commercials, one to be aired during the Superbowl.

Awesome.

Way to be creative, for real.

So, just in case you’re wondering, MacGruber is a spoof of the mid-80′s TV Character MacGyver (who happened to cameo in these commercials). Here’s a clip, if you’re curious like I was…(the real MacGyver theme song)

But what makes these spoofs SO stinkin’ funny? Oh, oh, oh…it’s gotta be the timing!!
Not to mention the utter ridiculousness of it all…
It’s TOTALLY worth the watch.
My favorite is probably the third one…especially right at the end…but they are ALL hilarious.

Thank you, Pepsi, for this. And thank you, MacGruber.

My brother and I are 3.5 years apart.

My other siblings are significantly older than my little brother and I, so John and I pretty much had each other while growing up…especially in the latter years of our childhood.  We were just close enough in age to be able to play together, but just far enough apart to drive the other absolutely NUTS. We fought a lot. No big deal…we’re brothers.

Brothers fight. We just do…errrrr…did.

Some rather famous memories of our youth include:
-The time we were fighting over a book of “Silly Answers to Stupid Questions” (published by those MAD Magazine folks) and we argued so much that my dad ripped the book in half and threw it in the fireplace…fantastically punishing us BOTH equally with the ultimate, irreversible consequence: complete destruction by FIRE.

and

-The time we were fighting in the RV while on vacation, and I threw John’s most prized possession at the time–a little bag of collectible coins he had been gathering at each of our vacation stops–right out onto the highway somewhere along the Oregon Trail (a.k.a Highway 5-ish) while we were driving.  Of course, my brother begged my parents to stop, but they did not–aptly punishing us both for arguing…but mostly him that time…hahahaha

…but the meanest, most despicable thing I ever did to anyone, I did to my brother while I was in high school.

He had been on a big Raisin Nut Bran kick for a while. You know that stuff, right?

Tastier than regular Raisin Bran because of those almond covered raisins, but still just as healthy and juicy. We both used to try and pour it juuuuust right so we would get the most of those raisins. I mean, they were (and ARE) the best part of the whole stinkin’ breakfast experience. Nothing matched the awesomeness of that flavor. YUM. We’d watch the flow of cereal while it came out of the box, looking for the best possible raisin-to-bran-flake ratio, squeezing every last tasty raisin that we could out of the box while still being respecatble about it.

Well…needless to say…we both loved it…but it was HIS favorite.

Especially the raisins.

Soooooo…one day, for some reason that seems to escape me know…I decided that the best possible justice for whatever wrong my brother had incurred that day towards me was for me to:

find a GIANT, huge, gargantuan bowl,

open the FRESH, brand new box of Raisin Nut Bran (that my brother was undoubtedly looking forward to opening in the morning)

pour the WHOLE box out into the oversized bowl,

and fish through the thing until I found and devoured EVERY. LAST. RAISIN.

and I did.

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

And I watched the next morning while my dear, sweet brother John poured his bowl of cereal (he was probably 13 or 14 at the time).

“Hmmm…this is weird. Where are all the raisins?”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA

MUAHAHAHAHAA

and I laughed and laughed at him on the inside.

(I think this is when the devil horns started growing…)

And he just kept sifting through the cereal, looking and looking and looking for a single raisin where there was none to be found.

I KNOW!!!

I’M SO MEAN!!!

I don’t think I ever told my brother that I did that to him…but he’ll never know, since he doesn’t read this thing…

So what is the meanest thing you’ve ever done to a sibling? Or GOSH, I guess it could just be the meanest thing you’ve ever done to anyone…