Personal Sun

This new flashlight I just bought is fairly close to mind-blowing. In my field of work, a good flashlight usually cost around the century mark. For the last few years, I have been using 2 very expensive, highly touted rechargeable lights that I had bought for a so-called "steal." I dropped the bigger one of the duo after only a couple of months on the job and it never worked again. The smaller one has been my little dull workhorse ever since, but now the battery will no longer hold a charge and the replacement battery is about $50... no I'm not joking. So, I did some looking around for a cheaper good replacement. I discovered the Nu-Flare. I don't know how this tiny little flashlight does it, but it is like having my own personal Sun in my pocket for just thirty bucks. It is literally the brightest flashlight I have ever seen. Now the real test is battery life. It is not rechargeable. Even though it was way cheaper than anything comparable, I am going to have to keep spending more dough on batteries. I guess time will tell if it was worth it.

I was showing off the new sunshine maker to some equally impressed colleagues, and one asked did it come with a case for my belt. "No," I replied, "My wife will probably help me make one."

You would have thought I just said I was going to go home to build my own cannon. My coworkers' snobby snarls where coupled with confusion as to why I don't just go down to the store and buy one. I tried to explain the need for more of us to be producers instead of consumers. Talk about a topic falling on deaf ears. It was more than deaf ears it was insulting superiority complex ears. What the hell is the matter with everybody?

Mmmm Grilled Pork

Actually we ate grilled cheese burgers tonight but when the charcoal is hot you might as well slap all the meat on.

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Spring Feelings

All the stores are busting out all their springy wares, those dirt bags. I love the idea of bright fun outdoor spring, but what a naughty tease with these last few blast of winter.

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Now He is Ready for Work

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A Little Ikea Shopping

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Goodness, Gracious, Great Jars of Fire

Today was one of the precious few days in a lifetime that you know in the moment you are going to look back on it with fond memories. I'm not real sure about everybody else, but for me, the most memorable segments of my life have been outdoors...watching meteor-showers, first kisses with the girl who is still my girl, camping in the boiling hot summer, camping in the freezing winter, picking peas for hours discussing life and theology with family, sleeping in a cardboard house with my closest friends, baseball, football, miles upon miles of running, fishing with my dad on the quiet pond, shooting bait stealing turtles on the quiet pond, zipping on the zip line, swimming in hazardous glowstick water, and just lying on a blanket under hanging candles in jars next to a blazing fire pit and the funniest mermaid-loving two year old in the world. Thank you today.

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Cereal Box Books

A while back I saw a similar version of what I call my Cereal Box Books. They are extraordinarily easy to make and my kids really enjoy the personalized stories. Plus you have the added bonus of being able to tailor the content to teach whatever new concept you want (note the title Izzy helps Mommy, which is about daughter helping mother clean up the house, etc.).

The books are very easy to create. First, eat a box of cereal (my favorite step in the process). Second, cut the front or back cover of the box off so that you have a rectangular piece of cardboard. Next, grab a few* sheets of card stock paper** and cut your cereal box cover to match the dimensions of the paper. Then, line them all up and fold in half. Now, unfold the stack and place it on top of a cutting board or just a piece of scrap wood. Then, punch at least three holes along the center seam using a nail and hammer. After that, take some embroidery thread and a needle and sew all the papers and cover together.

Last, just write a story and draw some pictures.

*The number of pieces of paper is dependent upon the length you choose for your book. (Number of Sheets) X 2 = Total # of Pages.
**You can use regular printer paper but the writing and drawings show through on the backside of each sheet.

The Perfectly Tattooed Pizza Valentine's Day

Clear...

A while ago I believe I mentioned these two crappy junk chairs I discovered, half-buried in ancient dirt, at the back of the property where we live. Despite the odds, I decided to call a Code Blue and roll in the crash cart for an emergency last ditch revival effort. The condition was grim, but the first patient pulled through. The second goes in for surgery tomorrow. Here is your visual guide to restoring your own junker chair you might find somewhere:

Play Birthday

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I Wish I Could Take Naps

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A Big Bunch of Nothing

Finally, a terrible winter snowy day with a -2 degree windchill and ice covered roads in which I don't have to go to work. In fact, I don't have to do anything. What a fantastic notion! Sitting around all day in my warm casa never changing out of my sweatpants after two straight weeks of massive overtime including 16 hour days and almost no days off. My plans for the day: type this, watch the weather guy talk about how cold and treacherous it is outside, drink some more coffee, eat another biscuit, sit on the couch and finally get to finish reading my Clive Cussler book which has taken way too long to finish, make some oatmeal cookies, workout, negate the workout by eating too many oatmeal cookies, play with the kids, watch some dumb something on Netflix while the kids take a nap, sit on the couch some more reading, eat some more cookies, make and eat some dinner, talk to my doped up sister to see how her surgery went, and then go to bed early for the first time in a month.

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Aaah We Missed You!

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Pizza

This homemade crust and pizza only took a handful of ingredients and just over 30 minutes to make. Its real ugly but trust me, its survival time was significantly less than its creation time. Thank you cookbook app.

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We Might Be In Serious Trouble

"From all that I had read of History of Government, of human life, and manners, I [have] drawn this conclusion, that the manners of women [are] the most infallible Barometer, to ascertain the degree of Morality and Virtue in a Nation. All that I have since read and all the observation I have made in different Nations, have confirmed me in this opinion. The Manners of Women, are the surest Criterion by which to determine whether a Republican Government is practicable, in a Nation or not. The Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, the Swiss, the Dutch, all lost their public Spirit, their Republican principles and habits, and their Republican Forms of Government when they lost the Modesty and Domestic Virtues of their women....
The foundations of national Morality must be laid in private Families. In vain are Schools, Academies and universities instituted if loose Principles and licentious habits are impressed upon Children in their earliest years. The Mothers are the earliest and most important Instructors of youth."

- John Adams
John Adams and Charles Francis Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States (Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1865), 171.

Bitter

Exactly 2 days ago it was 76 degrees outside and we doned our shorts and talked pleasantly about the possibility of sun tans. Now it is 18 degrees and dropping. We are diving head first into two or three days of single digit lows and I get to go to work. It is too cold to exist right now. I wish I was a bear.

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