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Crunchy Foods and Haircut Day! Before. Part sheepdog, part boy. After. That is a good looking almost 7 year old. 
We probably just shortened their lifespan,

but we named the chickens today. Figuring out perfect names may be the hardest part of having pet chickens and pet children in the same family. We have gone through several iterations of chicken names with this flock, but as of today, they are somebody.

The largest Light Brahma is Kernel (aka Colonel) - She leads the flock and seems to be the mother hen.

The smaller Light Brahma is Fillet (aka Fil-A) - Because The Talker has a sick sense of humor.

The Buff Orpington is Butterscotch - Because The Princess finally settled on Butterscotch. The fourth bird, who turned out to not be a Buff Orpington, is called Mystery Meat (aka M&M) . This was the first bird named and the name has stuck. Speaking of Mystery Meat, we are now fairly certain of her breed. She is a Red Sex Link Hen (aka Red Star). We were at the farm supply store and they had several brooders full of Red Sex Link hatchlings. They look exactly they way M&M looked back then. I am convinced that she was simply mis-sorted when the chicks were put out for sale. She should still be a good egg layer.

I screwed up and accidentally deleted the rest of the chick pics. I'll re-do them tomorrow.
Posted by Mike at 12/30/2008 04:00:00 PM 2 comments It took more than a year

but I finally replaced my boots. For the record, no, I never stopped wearing my 13 year old boots. They made two more Thanksgiving family reunions even though the hole in the sole is big enough to see me toes through.

A new pair of black Justin boots finally made the leap into my closet this afternoon. I hope I get 13 years out of these. Also, just so you know, I am still not getting rid of my boots. They are getting re-soled and I'll wear them once in a while.

More than you ever cared to know about my boots?

Posted by Mike at 12/30/2008 12:32:00 PM 2 comments 
Christmas, check.

The presents are opened and the wrapping paper and boxes recycled. All of the grandparents have now sufficiently spoiled our children. The Boss Lady is now iPod rich, after she got one from her momma and one from her favorite husband.


Next week we pack the stuff back into the attic and gear up for the rest of the school year.

C'mon summer time!

The quick highlights:

The Wifey - iPods
The Boy - Mario Kart
The Girl - Littlest Pet Shops a plenty
The Me - The world's hardest to set watch (And all of the cool kid's stuff.)

Posted by Mike at 12/28/2008 09:55:00 PM 2 comments 

We are out of here for a couple of fabulous nights to make the family christmas party rounds in North Texas.

Here's hoping you had a Merry Christmas. Now, wish us luck and stop by and feed my chickens, OK?

Posted by Mike at 12/26/2008 07:30:00 AM 0 comments 
Two days late

Let's give it up for Migraine Monday!

Sure, it is Wednesday, but I was too busy on Monday. Therefore, Migraine Monday was pushed to Wednesday.

Does that mean I get to hold off on buying The Boss Lady's Christmas gift until Black Eye Saturday?

Posted by Mike at 12/24/2008 01:40:00 PM 1 comments And a rambling blog post to you

The Boss Lady started a two week vacation on Monday. It sure is nice having her around once in a while. In the past I have tried to hustle up some work at my old job over the holidays, but this year I think all need the break. Especially since The Princess has felt like garbage until last night.

We switched medicines for overnight, based on advice from my new favoritest sister -in-law and The Princess slept like a baby for the first time since her tonsil surgery. 11 hours later and she is still sacked out. Thanks, Aunt A!

The kids are excited about Christmas. Though The Talker just yesterday swore off some of his favorite toys. "I hope I don't get any Star Wars. I have too much and I don't play with it much." Let's just say, I hope the boy can deal with a couple of disappointing gifts, then. Or he should decided to let us know before Christmas Eve when a toy is out of favor. Especially when Target had those disappointments on a 50% off sale a few weeks ago!

The fam went to our one and only Christmas Party the other night. A low key affair at the home of our new Pastor. He has kids. half the people there had kids. There were kids everywhere. Dancing in the kitchen, playing tag upstairs and football out in the front yard. And as usual for events like this, when I don't know most of the other adults, I had a lot of fun playing with the kids. The Boss Lady got to socialize with adults and I didn't have to. It was the perfect Christmas Party.

One last note: The Wii Fit is an official butt kicker. I am sore-up, from the floor, up, after messing with that machine for a few hours over the past week. Worse than the soreness though, The Talker seems to be able to beat me at most every athletic event. A big YEAH! for competitive yoga!

Posted by Mike at 12/24/2008 07:49:00 AM 1 comments 
A question for the ages

The Talker asked at lunch today:

"Mom, is cole slaw made from real sloths? "

The Boss Lady managed to answer with a straight face.

Posted by Mike at 12/22/2008 12:07:00 PM 6 comments 
Portable sick bay

Our kids like to sit around in laundry baskets. No idea why, other than we have about a dozen plastic laundry baskets around the house. But it seems to be a pretty nice place to nap when you are recuperating from tonsil yankage. Posted by Mike at 12/19/2008 04:27:00 PM 5 comments The movie list

Since having her tonsils taken out, The Princess has felt pretty lousy. Running through the movie selections at home pretty quickly, so we stopped at the grocery store to rent up some winners (and donuts) this morning.

So far she has watched:

6 original 3 Stooges episodes
About a dozen of the 3 Stooges cartoons
Barbie and the Island Princess
Disney Princess Enchanted Tales - Follow Your Dreams
TinkerBell (twice, I think)
30 minutes of Poke-e-mon
Loads of Disney/Nick/Noggin on TV
And I bet there were one or two others...

Now we are onto the rentals: Flushed Away and later, Kit Kitteredge: An American Girl

At this point, The Princess gets whatever makes her not feel worse. 20 hours of TV a day? No problem. 3 donuts for breakfast? You bet! Because not only does she feel really lousy from the surgery, but I seem to have picked a winner day to have a brain buster of a migraine...

Now back to your feature presentation(s).

Posted by Mike at 12/19/2008 08:49:00 AM 3 comments 
Tonsil Day!

The Princess will be having her tonsils and adenoids removed in the morning. Just like dad, she seemed cool and relaxed about the whole idea until tonight. She was a nervous wreck at bed time. And I keep thinking that even though they call it "minor surgery", there really isn't any such thing when it is your kid going into the operating room.

We should be home by noon tomorrow and I'll take my place as the sole owner of HUMAN tonsils in the house. Did you know that cats and dogs have tonsils? Chickens, too.

Amazing, the useless crap you can learn via Google...

Posted by Mike at 12/16/2008 10:00:00 PM 3 comments 
Do I complain more than you?

DO you complain when you get lousy service? I used to just blow it off, though I would blow off the store/restaurant/company that had provided the lousy service, too. I can hold a grudge for a long time. Just ask the wife why I never ever buy Exxon/Mobil/Devil Co. gas. Except that one time last Saturday when I was out of town, out of gas and couldn't find a decent gas station. But I only bought $10 worth of the devil's gas. I filled the tank a couple of hours later. At Chevron.


We went out to eat after church on Sunday night. A quick bite to eat at a local chain Mexican food place. They have 5 or 6 stores around town and our least favorite location also happens to be the closest one to our house. The service is almost always sub-par. And, I suspect because of that, they are never crowded. But the food is good and the place is reasonably priced. So we put up with the lazy waiters and we eat there several times a month.


We walked in and waited at the host station for 5 minutes to be led to a dirty table. I was not happy about it, especially when there were less than 10 occupied tables (out of 50 or so) in the whole place. I wiped off our table and put the dirty leftover dish on another table.

By the time the wife and girl child returned from the bathroom, I was still waiting for a visit from a waiter to take our drink order. I had been at church and I really needed something to drink, you know... We waited another couple of minutes and then we walked out.

We went down the road and ate barbecue. Like all good Texans should do. And for the record I drank Dr Pepper.

This afternoon I emailed the corporate office to let them know how unhappy I have become with their lousy service at this location. All the other locations we have tried have decent waitstaff.

In the past I have complained about egregiously poor service at restaurants with mixed results. Seems the managers always make with the offer of a free meal pretty quickly so that we will give them another chance.

And actually, I am hoping that they offer some sort of peace offering. Because they make a really good chicken and bean burrito. But it is maddening that now I have to drive 15 minutes further to get one.

Posted by Mike at 12/15/2008 04:26:00 PM 6 comments 35 degrees of grocery run fun!

It is cold out there.

Yes, I know I am in Central Texas, and it is colder other places. But I am not in other places and it is cold and gray HERE. 35, as of a couple of minutes ago.

And for some reason I can't seem to stay inside. Earlier it was repeated trips to the recycling bin that lives outside, next to the garage. Most recently I have been making random trips to the garage to take care of the laundry. For the record, I like having the washer and dryer in the garage. It means that much less noise inside the house. Unless I need to wear a coat and snow boots to work without suffering frostbite.

Next up, we have to hit the road. Lunch with The Talker at his school, a trip to the bank, dry cleaners, grocery store, Costco, dollar store, and pet food store, hopefully all in one run. Luckily, all of these stores are within a couple of miles of here. See there is an upside to living in the 'burbs; stores and chickens, we have both!

Speaking of chickens, I really need to clean the coop today. But that involves setting up the power washer and being outside for an hour. Want to bet the coop cleaning does not get did today?

Looks like the odds are 35 to none.

Posted by Mike at 12/15/2008 08:35:00 AM 2 comments 
Why I am tired at 9pm

A peek into my day. Granted, it is still a sweet gig, but being on my feet from 6:18AM until 4:27PM is wearing me, and my tennis shoes, out...

Midnight Remember box of Christmas present doll furniture I promised to assemble for a single mom who works with me at the preschool that I left in The Boss Lady's car.

12:01 AM Run out to car to get box of toys I promised to assemble

6:18 Awake and in the shower, several minutes after The Boss Lady finishes up in there...

6:23 Simultaneous dressing and getting kids breakfasts ready

6:45 The last child is up and moving

6:45-7:21 Repetitively mumbling about shoes, jackets, backpacks and the like

7:21 Out the door for carpool run

7:35 Arrive at school 10 minutes before the tardy bell! Little victories, people...

7:55 Back home

7:55 - 8:30 Round two of repetitively mumbling about shoes, jackets, backpacks and the like as I am assembling Christmas present doll furniture. Add in one side trip to the garage to repair a broken part that is crucial to the assembly of the baby bed.

8:30 Out the door for school run #2

8:33 Back into the house for forgotten Christmas gifts expertly assembled earlier in the morning

8:35 Off to preschool

9:05 Arrive at school, drop off the girl 5 minutes late

9:15-9:55 Clean and set up playground for 85 kids to use later in the morning

9:55 Drive to fire station to drop off toys collected by the preschoolers

9:57 Drive to different fire station to drop off toys collected by the preschoolers since the first firefighters were out on a call

10:15 Watch as a firefighter is carrying in the carefully assembled doll furniture from earlier in the morning

10:15:30 Explain to firefighter why doll furniture is staying in my car

10:16 Reload doll furniture into my car

10:45 Back at the preschool after detour by Taco Shack for morning snack

10:50 Find out that I will be in The Princess' class for the rest of the day

10:50-1:15 PM Life was just a blur with 12 4&5 year old kids making Christmas crafts

1:35 Back home, let chickens out of coop

1:40 Try to eat lunch

1:45 Watch dog eat my lunch as I come back from a potty break

1:46 Clean up left overs and feed them to the chickens. Kick dog in the big white butt

1:50-2:15 Try to get new batteries into the TV remote and reprogram remote

2:15 Sit down to watch the news

2:22 Help dress that @#(*& Polly Pockets

2:27 Watch the news

2:35 Help dress a real doll

2:38 Give up and turn off the news

3:01 Meet the The Talker's bus

3:20 Run to bank (It ain't cheap being this busy...)

3:45 Run to Sonic for a late lunch

4:00 Back home

4:05-4:35 Wash my car with help from The Princess

4:35-4:40 Re wash my car, solo

4:41 Sit down to eat lunch

4:42 Lunch is cold, give up and feed it to the dog

4:43 The Boss Lady gets home. Day is almost done, now...

5:00 Leaving now for 6:00 meeting. At least they are serving dinner!

Posted by Mike at 12/11/2008 04:27:00 PM 4 comments 
Snow jump!

It snowed a dusting last night. If it had been falling earlier, I would have gotten the kids up to see the snow coming down. But at midnight, when it was coming down the hardest, I was not brave enough to wake anyone up.

So what do you do in Texas with the most snow you have seen in years? Run outside and jump on the mini trampoline, of course. Posted by Mike at 12/10/2008 07:29:00 AM 1 comments 
From one holiday to another Posted by Mike at 12/07/2008 09:37:00 PM 5 comments The lights are on. And The Boss Lady is home.

The wife was smart enough to get revenge this morning. I was sick and skipped church last week. So she pretended to be sick and skipped church this morning. Taking the kids to church solo is always an exercise in religious persecution. Keeping two kids from wiggling out of their seats is always fun. Much more when you can't yell at them to get the job done.

After church I went and hid in the one place kids aren't allowed at our house. The roof.

It took me many extra trips and lots of extra cussing to get the lights and Christmas decorations hung this year. But the job is finished. Lighted wreath, check. Polar bear inflatable, check. Tigger and Winnie the Pooh inflatable, check. Six strands of lights, got 'em.

But the best part of my set up? The remote control on/of switch that controls everything at once. I bought the system a few years ago and it rules! I have a little key fob remote that controls all of the Christmas lights at our house. No more running outside in pajamas to unplug lights when it starts to rain.

After I finished up with the decorations, the kids and I loaded up and took Marge for a cruise around the neighborhood. The weather is perfect and we wanted to make good use of a perfect December afternoon.

Pictures to follow tonight, once it gets dark enough to capture the full spectacle that is our yard.

Posted by Mike at 12/07/2008 04:27:00 PM 2 comments 
News from the coop

I keep getting emails asking if I want to check out their pics of chicks, so I thought I would share a few more pics of my flock.

Don't be worried. Still have all four, but the little Buff Orpington has gone camera shy. She splits the second the camera comes out. I am not entirely convinced that the big girl in the front is actually a girl. There maybe a rooster hiding inside all those feathers. The Light Brahma on the left in the above picture has her tail feathers coming in nicely. Posted by Mike at 12/03/2008 04:06:00 PM 2 comments Tonsils, Take Two

Like her big brother did, back in the summer of 2005, The Princess is about to lose her tonsils.

Right before Christmas!

Well, that part pretty much sucks, but it is also right before the year's paid-up health insurance deductibles run out. And that part pretty much rules. Of course, I am not a 4 1/2 year old girl who is about to endure Christmas eating only popsicles and ice cream. OK, is that TRULY a downside?

She asked me yesterday, "Daddy, does that mean I can't eat Chex Mix or Goldfish crackers ever again? Because I really like them."

I assured her that all of her faves would be waiting in the pantry for her AND that unlike her brother, we would keep the lemonade away until long after the surgery. Evidently that stuff really burns right after throat surgery.

Yeah. Sorry about that one boy. I didn't know. Because I still have my tonsils.

Posted by Mike at 12/03/2008 08:29:00 AM 2 comments 
The real boss lady?

I was just scolded for being too loud. By a 4 year old. While I was loading the dishwasher for the first of two runs this morning (and at least the 6th load this weekend.) Good grief my family eats. A LOT.

"Hey, canya be quiet in dere? I'm watching The Backyardigans?!?!"

Here is hoping she survives to open her Christmas gifts.

Posted by Mike at 12/01/2008 08:21:00 AM 6 comments