What's Next?

After milling around trying to think of something to write about, I decided that I would write up a list, not a list of resolutions, Per Se, more like goals.

Are those the same things?

Anyway, I thought I would list some goals of mine for the next year, and beyond. Now, hopefully some of them don't take until beyond, but you never know.

1. - Read Moby Dick, I got this inspiration from Holly the Anglophile Football Fanatic. It figures I would pick this novel, right? But I hear it's pretty good.

2. - Write everyday. In fact, I'm going to try and do the whole Blog365 thing again. Hopefully I won't get really, really sick again. Let's put it this way, all I needed was the dirt.

3. - Try to be more social network savvy. That means Twitter, and Plurk, Facebook and Stumble Upon - sorry no links, too tired, or lazy, you pick your own word.

Hey lookit that - It's 2009 on the east coast, so my time is running out - or maybe I'll have a list of three. :)

Naw.

4. - Exercise, no seriously, I need to exercise. No excuses. None. Nada. Zip.

5. - Eat better, kind of goes along with number four, don't you think.

6. - Be less critical of teen aged boys, well it's worth a shot, right.

7. - Read more, maybe even a classic a month - now that would be some fun!

Okay, it has become resolutions after all that hard work and thought to avoid it. Hmmm.

8. - Get my own dot com, just because it's the thing to do.

9. - Get myself a customized website, or at least improve upon this one.

Cool, this Doctor Who episode reminds me of Lifeboat, that classic Alfred Hitchcock film that takes a good look into humanity and how it deals with stress. If you haven't seen it, you should. In fact...

10. - Watch Lifeboat(1944), it's a classic. Or you could always watch this Doctor Who episode from Series four called Midnight. It's freaking brilliant! Trust me on this one.

Okay, twenty-eight minutes until a new year, and eight hours until Mass.

11. - Should be number one, Pray more, and go to adoration.

12. - Get Jessie's room finished, well started and then finished.

Okay, that's a start, so now I must go pop the champagne and watch Dick Clark bring in the New Year, oh wait, he already did that. I get the local people that seem to have been tipping the ole eggnog themselves, if you know what I mean.

Happy New Year everyone!! I look forward to seeing you all succeed and ave your dreams fulfilled in 2009. Okay, that might have been a bit thick, I think. :)

See ya next year!!

2008 A Remembrance

Here's a quiz that I saw at Beth's site. How well do you remember?

You Remember 90% of 2008

You were paying attention during 2008. And you remember what happened really well. You'll be able to talk about 2008 for years to come... Even when most people have forgotten what went down.

How Much Do You Remember 2008?

A Little Review

I stole this from Krissa at Halfasstic.com, because I enjoyed it so much, and I'm scrambling to say something witty and important before the end of the year, in an hour and forty-five minutes. No panic, really.

Merry Christmas!!

Welcome to my most favorite, and least favorite, day of the year.

It's my most favorite because of all the goodwill toward mankind stuff, and the whole Christmas season that never ends stuff (I mean there were Christmas decorations on sale in September for crying out loud). Then there is my favorite - watching the kids open all their stuff with wide eyes and big smiles, ever so excited that they are getting presents. It's really a great time to be alive, and to have kids.

Then...

You realize that besides college bowl season, and if you are lucky you NFL team will make it into the playoffs (GO BRONCOS!), there really is nothing, I mean NOTHING going for January or February even. Granted, if we lived in a state where we could go skiing every weekend, it might not be so bad. But we do not. In fact, we live in probably one of the flattest states in the entire country, Nope, no skiing there. I'm not complaining, really, I mean we did choose to live here and we all love it, with the exception of January and February (for me).

Then you start looking at the kids, twenty minutes or so, after they opened their gifts, and - you know what happens those of you with children old enough to express it - you hear, "I'm bored." Without fail. It must be the nature of children, I remember doing the same thing, especially if I got nothing but socks and underwear for gifts. I really didn't like Santa much that year, but still like buying socks and underwear for some reason.

Oh and one more thing, cover your eyes there southerners. It gets really COLD. I mean this past week was bad, I'll give you that. But it was only for a couple of days. Here, at least for the past seventeen years that I have lived here, it gets really really cold for one week straight, usually in January but it has been available for our enjoyment in February. We are talking the temperature never, never ever, rises above ZERO. And there is the wind, as well. Maybe I should plan my next trip to Disney for mid-January, it has low crowds (a plus), cheaper rates (a nice incentive), and I believe you need your air conditioning still, and can go swimming as well.

Oh well, that bad stuff hasn't hit yet, and I have taken my 'Happy Pills,' so I should be good.

Just so I don't look like a total jerk of a Father, my oldest turned eighteen, yes that is a one followed by an eight, two days ago. I was going to embarrass him with a really long sappy post, but figured that since he is a man now he might not appreciate it as much. Besides he doesn't even read this. :)

However, in case he does, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDY!! Keep up the good work and please don't frequent the hookah bars too much, it bothers your mother and I. Just because you can, doesn't mean that you should. We still love you though.

Okay, my eyes are getting heavy and I may soon start to write incoherently - I'm impressed that I spelled that right at three in the morning. Crap, the kids will be up soon, I better get to bed.

Merry Christmas to all, and may God Bless You!

Guess What?

Some of you have inquiring minds, and well I need to let you all know something.

I am a big fan of Dr. Who.

Yes, I know you probably figured this one out already, especially if you follow me on Twitter. Heck, if I could find the time to Plurk again, you'd probably hear about it there as well.

Funny thing though, no one has asked me about that. Can you believe it?

Michelle at My Two Army Brats asked about homeschooling, and yes we do. If you have any questions, I can point you in the right direction. :) Seriously though, if I can help I will and I know some very smart people that do home school and are quite good at it.

However, I think there was something else on your minds. Let me think about this.

Oh, I know, you want to know how our trip to Disney went. Excellent - and I think I shall talk about that later, I promise. I just have to take care of a few other things, like...

We are expecting number seven!

Yea!

Now what we have to do is figure out a name for our new blessing. There are conditions, of course, and we already kind of have an idea. You see, we have three boys and three girls, the boys names begin with the letters A, B, and D; while the girls names begin with J, K, and M. See the pattern?

Another thing we have going for the kids is that their nicknames, end in a 'y' sound; Andrew is Andy, Benjamin is Benjy, and Daniel is Danny with the girls it's Jessica is Jessie, Kaitlynn is Katie and Margaret is Maggie. Notice the other pattern? The boys nicknames all end with a 'Y,' and the girls end in 'IE.'

So new names like Roger or Rhonda will not work, I mean Roggy and Rhondie, I think not! Besides how does 'R' fit in the original pattern? So, what have we here is a minor yet still joyous problem. I mean is there a name for number seven? If it's a boy, do we go with a name that begins with an 'E' and if it's a girl do we go with the letter 'N?'

Then there are the middle names, I mean they have to flow properly right? We have also used up all the grandparents, so we are truly breaking new ground here. Okay, that's not true because some of the kids names have nothing to do with grandparents, so I just led you down a path of reading a senseless paragraph. Sorry.

We're liking Abigail for a girl and Joseph for a boy, which actually works well with all the above conditions; it fits the pattern and would set up any future children names (you never know what God has in store for you, remember?) because it resets the with either an 'A' or a 'J' and Abigail can become Abbie while Joseph would be Joey.

I guess we do have it all figured out then. :)

Too Cool For School

All you need is a little bit of time, and this is what you can get...






h/t Deacon Greg

Blago -- Really!!

Not a fan of SNL, but I thought this was pretty funny. Oh, and I am so NOT from Illinois anymore -- Really!

Working My Way Back To Reality

Bummer.

Vacation is over - well except for the drive home (currently we are between Atlanta and Chattanooga, in case you are keeping track).

Nine days of magic over in a flash.

Although some time seemed to last forever - when someone had a blow up (me, or the kids), those are never fun. You know the fatigue-driven moments of high anxiety and whatever. All I have to say is I wish those dang cups were a little more sturdy.

Other times it seemed to go by too fast - Mickey's Very Merry, and in this case Very Crowded, Christmas Party. Who knew that EVERYONE would want to go on a Tuesday night. For the record, our night was the only one that was sold out while we were there.

Then we received the sobering news about a friend of ours son getting killed in a car accident. He was seventeen. No one should have to ever bury their kids, and I can only pray for him and his family.

My daily blog bursts from Disney never happened, mostly because of crappy Internet access, and partly because of, well, fatigue. :) They'll be coming soon though, maybe even all on the same day.

Yeah right.

Okay, signal is weakening, so I must depart. Bye-bye, for now.

Any Guesses?

As to what may be wrong with this picture?

Plumb Tuckered Out

Or something like that. :)

Because I Don't Want To Forget

Me, Andy Benjy and Dominic all went to the ESPN Zone for a very late dinner tonight.

Okay, I went because I am an adult and one child wanted to see the Bears-Saints game. The other two just tagged along for fun, or something like that.

Anyway, I stood in line for over an hour and a half to get in to see two football teams, that I care nothing for, playing in a state that I really don't want to claim anymore thanks to some moronic governor.

You read that right, an hour and a half. And no, I did not vote for the moron, sorry.

To eat dinner.

At 10:30PM. At least that is what time it was when we finally got our food, maybe it was 10:15 but it really didn't matter because, well Benjy was able to shake the hand, not once but twice, of his favorite college football player - Graham Harrell (quarterback for the Texas Tech Red Raiders). The child rattles off stats for Harrell all the time and talks about how he got screwed in the Heisman voting (I agree completely with him there). So he is sitting just over there (three tables away) with his parents when I tell him. I think that he was still in a texting zone with Rene because he kind of mumbled something. After about the third time we mention it, he finally realizes what we are all talking about.

Andy goes and shakes Harrell's hand and tells him that he got screwed with the Heisman, and Benjy just sits there. To Benjy's credit though, he didn't want to bother Graham Harrell, so kudos to the kid for having some manners, right? Benjy did, eventually, finally go talk to him for a little bit - dragging me along for the ride.

To answer your question... No, I didn't have my camera. Figured I wouldn't need it at a restaurant, guessed I learned that lesson. :)

After meeting his favorite player (college), Benjy then, texts Rene. Hey the boy still has his priorities - cute blond girl versus a college football player. He is fourteen, remember.

Anyway, the Saints take the lead in the football game, and then let Chicago tie it up. I'm ready to go, since Jenni wants to be at the Magic Kingdom, when they open at 9AM, but my Bears fan, Andy, wants to stay.

UGH!

Turns out to have been a good thing though, because Benjy gets to meet Mike Leech, head coach of Texas Tech AND Jim McMahon, AND Fred Bilentikoff (he's a Raider so I don't care if his name is spelled wrong. :) ), and a few other famous, to some, football players and coaches. I guess staying for the rest of the game worked out after all.

Oh, and the Bears won; 24-21.

Best of plans...

So, I had this grand vision of posting a daily blog of our trip to Walt Disney World...

Guess what? It didn't happen. I am currently sitting in the resort watching the rain come pouring from the sky, listening to some Disney movie (Cheeteah Girls 2), watching the two youngest run around between the two rooms, Jenni sleep, Andy is frantically searching for his Cubs hat, Benjy and Dominic are playing football - at the beach, I did mention that it was pouring rain, right?

Whew. How's that for an update.

I would show you some photos, but... the USB cable that I brought along for the ride, is the WRONG USB cable. Yikes!

I am capable of uploading from the camera phone, but...

as you can see, the quality is, eh.

But it's still "magical."

More later, the rain is stopping and we have places to go. :)

Btavia, IL 5 - Orlando, FL 80

Daddy thanks for the pretzels AND the sun! Oh and the heat as well. :)



Do you think that they think we made the right choice? My three youngest enjoying a Wetzler's Pretzel in the glorious warm sunshine. :)

Okay, no more rubbing it in, just thought I would throw up a quick picture from my cell phone. More from the cameras, as soon as I find my USB cable (here cable, cable, cable).

Cruising on I-65

A new first for Roger and you all are witnessing it, first hand.

Pretty exciting, isn't it?

I am live blogging my trip to Disney World!!

Okay, that would be insanely boring, plus knowing how my head works, it would probably be pretty incriminating as well. :)

I will tell you though, at this moment we are two miles from the Kentucky/Tennessee border. Oh, and I'm not driving. :) Just thought I would make that clear.

Highlights so far:

Andy drove for 42 miles and then quit under the pressure of two crazy parental units. Sorry, but I was getting seasick in my car.

Interesting - my air card just crapped out. How is this going to work?

Oh and we're in Tennessee now.

Things overheard in the car,

"Why can't I lick your face, Dominick?"

Apparently the boys were playing a game that involved face-licking, on the Nintendo DS. Don't ask, as I have NO idea!

"I got a go Mom" and "I got a go Dad" So far Danny is doing EXCELLENT!! No accidents, and aside from the time when he refused to go number two again and again, all is good. Did I mention no accidents?

Wow! It is freaking dark out here - really dark, and I still don't have any service. I better save this work of art or, there will be nothing, because I can't repeat myself, don't ya know.

I have reconnected, but we'll see if it... Yes! We're back and cooking with gas!

So far the weather has been great as have the kids, and Jenni even just gave me a hard time about "rambling on my blog" she probably wants me to rest for my shift, or something.

Oh well, that's the update and now I must lay my computer to sleep, or at least plug it in.

See you from Disney, or the road again - who knows.

Holy Backup, Batman!

Why?

Why did I give this post a title like that? I mean, I'm not even a fan. Yet there it is, in my title no less. Now I have to have something about vigilante-ism, or whatever. Although I do look slimmer in black.

Oh well, as you can see and may have seen in the past - especially any long time readers, my mind like to do this to me and then I have to follow up with some fabulous words and knowledge and well I really don't know.

All I do know id that this post will have nothing to do with any sort of toilet backups. I promise.

Some of you may be aware that I am heading out on a trip, so now is your chance to stop by and pickup some snow from my driveway. Bet you thought I was going somewhere else with that, didn't you? I am serious though, especially since it is supposed to snow about every other day that we are gone. (no I do not have some crazy looking smirk on my face right now - I'm outwardly giggling)

Okay, it's like 18 degrees outside, I think it is time to head south.

Now.


P.S. - The backup refers to my Google Reader and all of your wonderful posts that will be unread, by me, until I am no longer mobile - unless I get a signal while Jenni is driving, of course. :)

Tootles.

What Time Is It?

Summertime!

How is that possible in December, you ask?

High School Musical 2, that's how.

Let me explain.

This is the latest fascination by one of my children, even though they call it "Musical 3!"

Yesterday, my first day of my official work stoppage (figures that I didn't post anything, right?), and that is what I had the 'pleasure' of viewing.

I had the pleasure of viewing this Disney masterpiece not once.

Not twice.

Nope, not even three times.

We are talking FIVE times! Yes five, the number after four and before six! Almost one time per child. I think that if Andy wasn't working, it would have been on for number six.

Okay, that's probably not true, because while Andy does enjoy the movie (I think), even he wouldn't sit down and watch it FIVE times!

I should also mention that I did not actually sit through this all five times, I mean I have a Dr. Who marathon that is keeping me up late, and two little monsters (Danny and Maggie) that are getting me up early. They must not have received the memo about my work stoppage.

Back to the latest and greatest fascination with High School Musical 2, extended version by the way. Which means it has an extra song, yea!

Now Roger you are babbling and not saying much... How has HSM2 fascinated one of your children?

I will elaborate ...

In my house, if you walk into a room and say "What time is it?" you will not get a simple "It's Nine o'clock Dad." No, that would be too easy. Instead you get "It's summertime!" Which is, you guessed it, a line in the movie.

Cute, isn't it?

Yeah, it is. Then you get more like this, I can say "I want more," and my child will start to sing the song "Fabulous," or "Get out of the pool," will get the response, "don't get a third."

If you want this child to sit quietly for an hour and a half - good luck! But you can start by putting on HSM2, and get scared by the intensity that this child shows when these images are being broadcast from the DVD player to the television. I mean I hope this child pays this close attention to something really important, like a Daddy lecture for instance.

Okay, that IS a pipe dream, I imagine, but I can dream right?

So which child is so taken by HSM2, you ask?

Why Danny, of course! Yes, the two-year old. He cracks us up when he starts reciting lines from the movie, or better yet, breaks into singing one of the songs. It's so cute.

So cute, that I can hardly wait for the twenty hour drive to Disney World.

I mean it is only ten times I have to hear it, right?