tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3908543537778550702024-02-22T00:57:23.057-08:00The Minig JouralA Personal Journal, an entry way into the minds the souls the hearts the lives of the people involved in the world of the Perala familyAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-89556114224773297452014-11-03T09:10:00.000-08:002014-11-03T09:10:38.688-08:00Week of 10/26/14 to 11/1/14<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This was a week in late October! Wow!<br />
<br />
Sunday: Watched football and baseball and Hell in a Cell PPV on WWE Network<br />
<br />
Monday: Cleaned the house, including the bathroom and stuff. Deep clean, because...<br />
<br />
Tuesday: My mother-in-law Kris flew into town that night! Listened to the World Series game six on the radio, mostly.<br />
<br />
Wednesday: Went out to Lucky Ladd's farm in Eagleville, TN. Was a lot of fun. Lydia brought her new puppy to our house. We made all sorts of Oriental food. Is oriental not okay to say anymore? The Giants won the World Series!<br />
<br />
Thursday: Made homemade waffles. Trick or Treating at Lipscomb for the kids. Got MafiaoZa's pizza and carved pumpkins!<br />
<br />
Friday: Halloween!!!! Got donuts from Donut Den! Lots of exclamation points! Rainy, gloomy day. Didn't go tricker treating with the kids becasuse had to nap and go to work. Yes, I spelled tricker treating wrong.<br />
<br />
Saturday: Read a lot of Boy on Ice: the Life and Death of Derek Boogaard. A lot.<br />
<br />
So...what day would I discuss in more detail? I'll go with Wednesday!<br />
<br />
Wednesday was a cool day for the fact that we drove the 45 minutes out to Eagleville for the pumpkin patch/farm for a fun time. It's so quiet out there when you get away from the city! the silence was deafening. I ate a carmel apple. I ate a fried peach pie. I fed goats and llamas feed out of my hand. I climbed in a giant spiderweb with my kids. I went down a huge slide with Miles. Evie rode a pony and rode on tractor thing. So much fun! And later...later! Lydia brought over her impossibly small new puppy named Lola. It's a pug mix and it's way too small. Then the Giants won the World Series! What a day! <br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-32063686205063596782014-10-26T11:13:00.007-07:002014-10-26T11:13:51.182-07:00Week of 10/19/14 - 10/25/14<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hello everybody and how do you do? I'm doin' alright, I reckon. Anywho, here's a rundown off everything that happened last week!<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: red;">Sunday</span></b>: Read some of my nice book called Blood Aces The Wild Ride of Benny Binion. the Texas Gangster Who Created Vegas Poker by Doug J. Swanson. That's a lot of capitalizing of letters right there. Anyway, I did that, then watched the Titans lose and the 49ers lose and it was all just a terrible day.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: orange;">Monday</span></b>: Didn't do a whole lot. Made burritos and they continued to rule. I believe this would be about the 88th consecutive week in which I made my favorite food, homemade burritos.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: yellow;"><span style="background-color: black;">Tuesday:</span> </span></b>Bethany skipped half her work day to come hang out and watch Evie at dance class with Miles and I. We ate on campus which I hadn't done in a while. The World Series started and the Giants won.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: cyan;">Wednesday</span></b>: Finished that Benny Binion book. World Series game 2. Podcastrated interview with my dear old friend Tommy Feathernuts.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">Thursday: </span></b>Pretty standard Thursday. Workout. Eat food. Surf web. Play with kids. Predators beat the Blackhawks which is always nice. RandomMania and Caleb joined. Was fun timez.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta;"><b>Friday</b>:</span> Went Dollar Tree and Party City and Five Below...so cheap stuff stores which is fun because you can buy a lot of things for not a lot of money. I ran. I ran so far away. Not like a flock of seagulls, but I actually went for a jog. Running is the worst., Miles fell asleep in the car on the way to the grocery store so I stayed in the car with him while the ladies shopped for the food. Miles and I had sleepy time in the parking garage listening to Superchunk.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f;"><b>Saturday</b></span>: I watched Hulu my entire shift because I'm an asshole.<br />
<br />
So lets' touch on two things. One, I read that Benny Binon book and it's crazy because afterwords, my mom told me my great grandpa Roy Lee met him years and years ago, and continued to correspond with him via letters through the mail for a long time. My great grandpa corresponded with a legendary Texas gangster/racketeer-er/illegal gambling establishment runner/murderer. Yeah.<br />
<br />
Secondly, I went for a jog on Friday and it was the first time I'd gone for a run since April and like, the third time I'd ever seriously ran outside. I ran 2.62 miles in 27:37, which is 10:33 min/mi. I think that's pretty good. I didn't hate it, but I certainly didn't enjoy it. Running is boring. All I can focus on is how much it sucks and how much I'd rather stop running. I can't stop thinking about the place I'm gonna stop next, or how far away it is and how long it's gonna take me to get there. My shins are sore as hell now, but at least I know where I stand on the whole running thing. We're planning on doing a 5K in a month so I had to see if I would actually be able to do one. I think so!<br />
<br />
Okay I'm done typing now. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-27683487110079363112014-10-19T02:37:00.008-07:002014-10-19T02:37:58.388-07:00Week of 10/12/14 - 10/16/14<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Oh hey, what's up? I hated my post from May so much I decided to not write for five months. Well, I just sent email to someone and I really liked the way typing felt, so I decided to come and blog.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #7f6000;"><b>Sunday</b> </span>- I made burritos and watched the Cowboys beat the Seahawks which is hilarious.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #f6b26b;">Monday</span></b> - Got to try out my new heart rate monitor with my Inferno HR program and the HRM doesn't work all that well (it worked better every other day this week).<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #e69138;">Tuesday</span></b> - Nothing happened<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #660000;">Wednesday </span></b>- Watched the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown which the kids seemed to like. Made lentil minestrone soup and it was really good. The Royals are going to the World Series.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #e06666;">Thursday</span></b> - Watched some hockey. Pretty boring day I think.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: red;">Friday</span></b> - Killer workout with that HRM. Felt really good. Happy with it.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Saturday</span></b> - Working hard!<br />
<br />
So I guess if I was to talk about one of these days, I'd talk about Wednesday's soup. It was super good, man. I like making soup because you can take some real, whole ingredients and throw them together and eat it. It tastes good and it's got very few ingredients and the ingredients in it are vegetables. I think I just said the same thing twice. I like cooking because I like to create something out of a bunch of other things. I can't just create something, though. I couldn't just say "well, I have this that and this so I bet I could make a killer this." No, I have to have a recipe to follow, and I'm pretty good at following those directions. Finding a good recipe and making something that tastes good is super satisfying.<br />
<br />
<br />
Alright, that's all! See ya next week maybe!<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-55020649306610573412014-05-18T06:13:00.000-07:002014-05-18T06:17:49.192-07:00Week of 5/11 - 5/17 Daily Burn<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the immortal words of my daughter Evelyn, "Hey, I got a nice idea!" Let's talk about last week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(I skipped a week, so what? I'm not good at this.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Sunday</b>: ...was Mother's Day, and I didn't do anything special because I am a terrible husband and son. We went an ate at this Mexican restaurant down Belmont blvd called Chago's Cantina and it was super, super good.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Monday</b>: Started cleaning up the diet by eating better food, so I was hungry all day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Tuesday</b>: Successfully cooked a fish dinner for the first time. There was a failed fish dinner about six years ago and I guess I've been scared to try again since. This was good though. Tomato-topped Sole. Really nice.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Wednesday</b>: The workout I did on Monday and Tuesday made my back extremely sore so I went to Walmart and bought Tiger Balm patches. I don't know if they worked or the stretches I did, but it got better as the day went along. Made a marinara sauce which was a fun experience.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Thursday</b>: Nothing happened</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Friday</b>: Laundry, dishes, vacuum, recycling, cleaned out the fridge...very productive day around the house. Felt nice!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Saturday</b>: Nothing happened</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now this is usually the part where I isolate a day and talk about something, but there was something that happened throughout the week that I wanted to address.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLqHCNlPTKKI01wDPLetMikK36Ir5KtBv0_GC0C0WlJGwsf6nskZ8AhlrrSNbH5HgCwPI_jyGQ5u1x0RZRCgA4bqvWGvNA8BgYrSDcjmPt2qA4EJ5k3qRNKPRhvJfNPMxYwWMKbbisu6hq/s1600/dailyburn+logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLqHCNlPTKKI01wDPLetMikK36Ir5KtBv0_GC0C0WlJGwsf6nskZ8AhlrrSNbH5HgCwPI_jyGQ5u1x0RZRCgA4bqvWGvNA8BgYrSDcjmPt2qA4EJ5k3qRNKPRhvJfNPMxYwWMKbbisu6hq/s1600/dailyburn+logo.png" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last week (the week I didn't write about) I started my 30 day free trial of Daily Burn, a fitness video subscription service that I had been meaning to check out for some time. I signed up, and they also gave me a free trial of their Ignite service, which is a nutrition program. I figured I'd give the Ignite thing a try because it was free, and I didn't expect to use it much at first, but the more I read the stuff on there, the more it got me thinking about the food I eat and how I could strive to do better. They say on the plan you do the "Ignite" phase, which is a sort of cleanse, I guess. For 21 days, you avoid the "Evil 6" which is dairy, gluten, soy, added sugar, artificial sweeteners and alcohol. I thought it sounded too extreme at first, but the more I thought about it, I decided to dive in head first and give it a shot. So I went out and bought 2 lb jug of vegan protein powder, and a whole bunch of greens. I started on Monday and am still rolling along a week later. Coupled with the workout program I enrolled into (Tactical Body weight Training) I've already lost a couple pounds after just a week. I had really hit a wall, a plateau of sorts with my fitness routine, and that's because I had been trying to out-train a bad diet for months. After seeing immediate results with this new level of diet and exercise, I've never been more motivated to shed fat and gain muscle in my life. I'm a completely different person than I was just a short 10 months ago. I had been doing well with what I was doing, which was a bunch of Jillian Michaels DVDs and stuff (30 day shred (for 9 months!), Extreme Shed and Shred) but I knew I had to find something else to take my game to the next level. Over the course of those months of working out, I had lost 20 pounds and a couple inches here and there, and had some muscle definition for the first time ever. Clothes fit on me nicely! But, I wanted to go further...And for me, Daily Burn is clearly the answer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I never talk about my fitness, my workouts, my diet, my passion for getting in the best shape of my life because I don't feel the need to share these details with the world. I'm not getting in shape to show off to people on Facebook how awesome I am. I'm doing it for myself, and to set a good example for me and my family that hard work, dedication to something can and will produce results. I want my kids to be raised in a house of healthy living. I want them to see exercise as in important part of a daily routine, and not something that should be avoided because sitting around watching TV is so much more satisfying, which is something that I've done my entire life. I want to change that road they were probably heading down, because we'll all be happier if we don't go that route. You still <i>can </i>sit around watching TV, but you should be recovering from a killer workout. I mean, my kids are just little right now, and I don't want them doing circuits of squats and push-ups or anything, but I want them so see me doing this, so that they understand that exercise is normal. I have never felt better in my life, and I've never been in better shape, and I'm not even close to where I want to be.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've also gotten a swift kick in the pants these past few weeks because my wife has started a workout program of her own. If I know my wife, she will soon surpass me in any endeavor we both undertake, because she is just all around stronger and better than me, which I love. I can't let her do that, so I must go harder and better than ever before. Physical fitness isn't a competition, but, you know, it sort of is...haha. I've never felt more proud of my wife than I have these past few weeks as she's started to change her life like I have. She's working very hard, and I can't wait to see how far she can take it. She's a kick ass woman, and I love her to pieces. Keep it up, baby.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So I didn't think this would go as long as it has, but in conclusion, let me say that I fully endorse Daily Burn. It really is worth it, from what I've experienced. They've got everything on there for any fitness level you may be at. It's a lot of fun to see what you can do with your own body. If you were thinking of maybe trying something different or something new, go get a 30 day free trial of Daily Burn and see if you like it. I do!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> (I should get paid for this shit...)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Also, enjoy this post, because don't expect me to talk about this stuff much, if ever again. I don't like it, I think it makes me sound like a douche, and I'm probably not going to share this post on social networks, because I feel weird about it. No one should feel special just because they work out. Everyone should work out. Do you feel special because you breathe oxygen? Brag abut that! If you ever see me "check in" on social media into a gym just to tell everyone how much better I think I am than everyone else, shoot me in the face. Just put your head down, get it done, and keep it to yourself. It's okay to be proud of your finished result...but there is no finish line. So what's to celebrate? (If you want to talk about a marathon or a 5K or whatever, go for it, because there actually IS a finish line. Go ahead and share that stuff, and be proud of what you've accomplished. That's totally different to me) The only person who should be sharing their activities in the gym is The Rock, because my god, look at that motherfucker. He's huge!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Okay, shit, for real that's all. Okay bye. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-77813445409048585592014-05-06T08:18:00.001-07:002014-05-18T06:17:01.205-07:00Week of 4/27 - 5/3 - What Day Is It?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This is the stuff that happened during the week of April 27th through May 3rd, 2014. The week started off with my mom already in town. Here's a brief description of each day last week.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
<b>Sunday</b>: We celebrated Evelyn's third birthday (even though it was the next day) because it worked out schedule-wise so her auntie could celebrate with us. We had cookout food that was cooked inside. Burgers, veggie burgers, corn on the cob, that sort of thing. Sean and Aurda even came over!<br />
<br />
<b>Monday</b>: This was Evelyn's actual third birthday. It barely stopped raining long enough to enjoy anything, but we still had a good time. We went to the Discovery Center in Murfreesboro and the kids got to run around there. Lots of discovering and whatnot.<br />
<br />
<b>Tuesday</b>: Miles decided to wake up at like, quarter to six, which isn't completely unusual, but it sucks no matter how you slice it. I was pretty tired all day because of this, which isn't completely unusual either. We ate dinner at Tequila's, which is basically my favorite restaurant at this point. Camarones a la Diabla and a margarita or three. <br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday</b>: It was a very nice day, so the kids played outside for hours. We went and ate Jim & Nicks, which is a BBQ place down on Charlotte. I ordered the Taco Tuesday special, only to realize after I was done eating that it was totally Wednesday. No wonder the waitress seemed confused when I was ordering that. Anyway, why would you have a thing on the table/insert in the menu advertising Taco Tuesday on a Wednesday? One side had Tuesdays specials and the other had Wednesday's special, but that doesn't seem like a good idea. I got the food, and it was super good, but I just thought it was the wrong day, which is hilarious.<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday</b>: Mom left to go back to Michigan, which is always a sad time for everyone. But before that, Evie had her 3 year checkup at the doctors office. She is average height and weight and everything is fine with her.<br />
<br />
<b>Friday</b>: Nothing happened.<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday</b>: Talked to Tim Gould on the phone for like an hour. Work and sleep.<br />
<br />
So that's it. Saturday was the third so that's the end of this wrap up. I would usually elaborate on one of these things, but I sort of did that on Wednesday's entry, so I'm not going to stick around here any longer than I have to. I think I gotta go now because I'm fairly sure Evie just pushed Miles down (again.)<br />
<br />
See you guys later!<br />
Brad</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-87391271820660475152014-04-27T04:54:00.000-07:002014-05-18T06:17:25.638-07:00Week of 4/20 - 4/26: Easter <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So here's the rundown on what went down the week of Sunday, April 20th through Saturday April 26th. </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Sunday</b>: It was Easter, but since I was at work in the morning we held off finding eggs until Monday morning. Our neighbors had a fire in their fire pit, so we went over there and met the nice people.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Monday</b>: The kids hunted for Easter Eggs (inside, we're not barbarians who hide eggs outside) and I ate a bunch of jelly belly's and gummies. I ate all their Easter candy because I'm a monster. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Tuesday</b>: Nothing happened on Tuesday </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Wednesday</b>: I decided to listen to every record I own, and almost got though them all. I need more records. Bethany had her work party at Alegria Mexican Restaurant. Recorded a podcast with Caleb.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Thursday</b>: Mom flew into town and boy were her arms tired. Was asked to go into work and cover a shift and I did because I could use the extra money. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Friday</b>: Mom watched the kids while Bethany and I got lunch, shopped for records, and hit up Target and stimulated the economy. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Saturday</b>: I worked and slept all day, as usual. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Let's talk about...Wednesday and/or Thursday.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On Wednesday, Bethany and I and the kids went with her student callers to Alegria Mexican restaurant and tequila bar for her end of the year party. I don't know her employees/student callers all that well, but I know them enough that it was nice to see some of them. This was probably my least social I've been with the callers at any event I've attended because I was wrangling Miles most time. That, or filling my face with queso dip and guacamole. I ordered some sort of fish dish (pescatarian, not vegetarian. I guess I should change my bio to reflect this, though who really cares?) called something something Veracruzano. I was surprised to find it tasted like Indian food, which wasn't good. Bethany and I had gone to this restaurant back in early March on a date night, and the thing I had ordered that night was delicious, but this was just okay. I ate it all, but was disappointed. Oh well, wanted to try something new. Miles was running a mile a minute in there because he's Miles. Evie was being adorable because that's what she is. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When we got home I recorded the latest episode of Podcastrated with Caleb. I was happy with the result because I didn't get drunk during the recording, so my thoughts were clear. Also, my voice was clear because I finally decided to not sit in the kitchen. When I record in the kitchen, I end up with a real echo because the acoustics suck. I won't be sitting in there to record anymore. <a href="http://podcastratedblog.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/episode-5-the-next-nirvana/">I'll leave that link to the podcast here again, in case you live under a rock and haven't seen the link on other social networks yet. (or forgot) (or didn't care)</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thursday my mommy flew into town, and that is always a treat. You should have seen Evie's face when her grandma came walking up the front steps! She lit up like a Christmas tree! Nothing in the world makes me happier than the way my kids make my mom happy. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So that's all. Looking forward to the week ahead, I hope some cool things happen, and there is a very good chance that this will be an excellent week. Evelyn turns THREE tomorrow. I am a father of a three-year-old. WHAT. THE. HELL. Okay, that's all. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">-Brad</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxh-_qlAhfg7aj9bSAfaaWeki8VyFBWxHXF8RSsJSK7byntQYOI81nye1afyk1aQvq87TfohxfuB5iX5a0x2G09Gz9YAPcUMKwVbHyYz3CPKP3jpFKRbw-13ihX5Mxp1-TMeiAVNFQqtUz/s1600/IMG_1100.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxh-_qlAhfg7aj9bSAfaaWeki8VyFBWxHXF8RSsJSK7byntQYOI81nye1afyk1aQvq87TfohxfuB5iX5a0x2G09Gz9YAPcUMKwVbHyYz3CPKP3jpFKRbw-13ihX5Mxp1-TMeiAVNFQqtUz/s1600/IMG_1100.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-67446583237885345662014-04-20T06:19:00.000-07:002014-04-20T06:19:48.592-07:00Week of 4/13/14 - 4/19/14<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Right so I'm probably not going to update this daily or even every other day, so I might as well do a weekly wrap up thing, right? Seems easy enough. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Sunday</b> we watched Monsters University and we all enjoyed it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Monday </b>I was hanging out with the kids but had to run to CVS and get TP in the rain before Raw started.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Tuesday </b>I went to Bridgestone Arena and watched a WWE Smackdown taping. Pretty awesome day!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Wednesday</b> I made the floor really sweaty. We went and got pictures with the Easter Bunny.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Thursday </b>I listened to Braves on the radio, made burritos and gave kids baths...the worst day of the week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Friday </b>we dyed eggs with Lydia and Jesse. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I don't know if I need to only summarize each day with one line, but I did. Perhaps I will now choose one of these events/days to write about? Yes, yes I will do that, I think.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKADfKzxCCTVa7zduuSMSWYr0r3jl6lxSBYsWk0KXIRm-fOEjKK2uXdwyzdofoVfi7tCpCIoZ0IKDE6vuF7JxuVWDTEvIQLE7gfUUUQLrgC9Q6JBrmDBLgVjN5m37Dw7JP0Q_PXEgjKnkf/s1600/IMG_1056.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKADfKzxCCTVa7zduuSMSWYr0r3jl6lxSBYsWk0KXIRm-fOEjKK2uXdwyzdofoVfi7tCpCIoZ0IKDE6vuF7JxuVWDTEvIQLE7gfUUUQLrgC9Q6JBrmDBLgVjN5m37Dw7JP0Q_PXEgjKnkf/s1600/IMG_1056.JPG" height="320" width="297" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Let's talk about Wednesday. Every year, Bass Pro Shop/Outdoor World at the Opry Mills mall has free pictures with the Easter bunny at rather inconvenient times like 6-8 on a Wednesday or like, 2-6 on a Friday or whatever. So we went down there Wednesday night to get that done. If you get you picture with the Easter bunny at like, the regular mall Easter bunny they charge you a ridiculous fee, I guess. I don't know, we've only done the free one at the BPS/OW. Anyway we got the kids all dressed up in their cutest clothes to go to Bass Pro Shop which I thought felt funny. Not funny awkward, but funny haha. Anyway, they have a huge fish tank there with huge fish (naturally) in it, and Miles loved seeing them swim around. There was also a huge dead bear, which Miles liked to roar at, and that was super cute of him. The Easter bunny was on break when we got back to where he/she sits, which is odd because it's only a two hour shift, for cripes sake. You didn't use the little bunny pisser beforehand? C'mon Easter bunny, get it together. Anyway, I wasn't that upset about having to wait five minutes (the bunny is only human, man. Shit happens) but there was a supermom that came in behind us that was very vocal about the missing Easter bunny. I tend to believe that there was probably a perfectly good explanation for where the Easter bunny hopped off to, but supermom would not accept anything except this Easter bunny be there no matter what for her free picture that is free, at no cost to her. I don't see a reason to complain about free stuff,,,ever. They are doing you a favor. After the kids were super cute with the bunny and they printed us off our pics, we left the store. I felt that we should buy something as a thank you for providing this Easter bunny for free. Bethany wasn't feeling as thankful, and we left quickly without making a purchase, which is fine, that's their choice for having a free Easter bunny. Heck, we even cropped out the Bass Pro Shop logo off the picture after scanning it and before posting it. We're real bastards lol. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Anyway, that's what happened this week. I'll do this weekly because that's easy enough to handle. Thanks for reading!!!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">-Brad</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-80605871056236045262014-03-13T11:15:00.003-07:002014-03-13T11:15:58.681-07:00Miles' First Birthday!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtUyInZEL1oZm9YSJb32aDOXnvaio1XTfvrmV_BjEFQnAbsOvLnA0C3COXgeT5UUST9S0MkZGRQ5Ze8Z9w95DdobtIk8yi0Y6RGAZtZZrxKRuJgld1fserawmEr-s1MTZDiD3g8sG7MwDb/s1600/IMG_0673.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtUyInZEL1oZm9YSJb32aDOXnvaio1XTfvrmV_BjEFQnAbsOvLnA0C3COXgeT5UUST9S0MkZGRQ5Ze8Z9w95DdobtIk8yi0Y6RGAZtZZrxKRuJgld1fserawmEr-s1MTZDiD3g8sG7MwDb/s1600/IMG_0673.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a>It's Miles' first birthday! Wow, that went by fast. Seems like it was just a short 12 months or so have passed since he was born! Oh wait...<br />
<br />
Anyway, my parents are in town so Bethany and I got to take a date night last night. We went a real nice Mexican restaurant and ate amazing food. It was pricey, but we charged it, because it's not like we go out and do that all that often. We took advantage. After that we took our date night over to the Dollar Tree and Party City for stuff to decorate for Miles' birthday. Even when we get away from the kids for a couple hours, we still do stuff for the kids. You can't take the parents out of us that easy. We went and got a couple drinks at a bar we'd been meaning to go check out for quite a while and then came home and decorated.<br />
<br />
I didn't really want to decorate the house because it was really late and I was tired, but once we started, it was kinda fun to do. I got to blow up a pack of balloons which was more fun than I even imagined it would be. It was oddly gratifying. We hung up streamers and stuff, and it started to look real nice in here.<br />
<br />
This morning when Miles woke up, he was already in a super good mood, and when he came into the living room, his face lit up. He loved all the balloons and streamers and dangly things from the ceiling. I picked out a toy monster truck thing for him at the dollar store, and when he caught sight of it, he ran and excitedly started playing with is. So cute!<br />
<br />
Anyway, it's been a fun birthday for Miles. He's the best and I'm happy when he seems happy. I think he can tell it's a special day. Too bad he won't remember it.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-69672414089155636212014-02-17T07:11:00.001-08:002014-02-17T07:11:34.794-08:00Nice Monday<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I haven't written anything in a while, so let me change that. Right now, at this moment, it's 9:00 am on a Monday. Bethany is sleeping in because she needs it. Miles woke up this morning at like, 6:30, so I got up with him and we watched some USA Women's olympic hockey, as the team was thrashing Sweden. Got his butt changed, made coffee and gave him his waffle. He devoured that sucker like a champ. We came back in here and he was clearly getting tired again, so I got him back to sleep, and now I'm sitting here with two sleepy kids, a sleepy wife and a quiet house, except for the washer, of course.<br />
<br />
I'm taking this moment to not do anything. I'm just going to sit here and mindlessly play around on the internet and my phone and enjoy the sunshine in my living room while it lasts. Supposed to get warm this week, and do some raining. I hope it doesn't rain too much so I can take my children outside and play, because we all could use some fresh air.<br />
<br />
Speaking of fresh air, I can't wait to be able to open some windows in this place. We moved in at the end of October, so we didn't have that many nice days yet in the new house. I haven't tried to open many windows here, but I certainly hope they open up, because I love the feeling of the fresh breeze flowing through my home. Perhaps this week when it gets warm enough I'll test them out. There's 14 windows and two doors that could be opened throughout the house, which should create a nice cross-breeze.<br />
<br />
Okay, that's all for now. Time to go off and do nothing.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-65036468577042409442014-02-06T15:42:00.003-08:002014-02-06T15:42:58.003-08:00#DaddyProblems<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The kitchen is a mess. The toys are a mess. If I cook anything for dinner, Evie won't want to eat it, then complain to me an hour later that she's hungry. I can't cook anything because the counter is a mess. Miles probably needs a nap but right now isn't a good time to put him down for one. Miles pulls everything off of every table. He pulls the diapers off the drying rack. He goes into the bathroom and gets into everything he's not supposed to get into. The dog probably needs to go pee. What do I feed Miles? When do I have time to feed him something? I bought a bag of flour and I need to put it into the flour thing but I can't do that, Evie is hungry, but she's not gonna eat whatever I make for her, and it's probably not going to be all that healthy for either of us. Miles spilled his water on the floor and Evie stepped in it and she needs new socks because her feet are wet.<br />
<br />
The water is boiling.<br />
<br />
The kids need baths tonight, especially after the poop Miles had earlier. All up his back because he got it on his shirt. They needed baths anyway.<br />
<br />
And I can't complain about it because Bethany has it worse on the weekends when I'm at work and she's all alone.<br />
<br />
All I want to do is drink a beer and watch a hockey game. Instead, I have to chase Miles around and put out Evelyn's temper fires.<br />
<br />
I'll miss this one day, but today isn't' that day. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-82322247306244930102014-02-04T14:07:00.004-08:002014-02-04T14:07:44.761-08:00Rainy Day and Diamond Youth<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Well, it's a rainy, cold, gloomy day in the capitol city of Tennessee, both kids are napping and I've gotten my copy of the Diamond Youth EP downloaded to my iTunes. So the weather is crap but the music is good.<br />
<br />
Miles has been having poop problems lately so we're gonna try and cut out wheat and/or dairy from his diet and see if that helps him out. He ate an entire banana earlier, which was a sight to see. I'm still amazed sometimes at his ability to eat solids. He's just a baby! And as far as that point, of him just being a baby, it's still so weird to see him walking around. He's so good at it, and he's so little. It's hilarious.<br />
<br />
So it never really got bright enough today to not have lamps on in the house. To further my original point here, it's such a shitty day, weatherwise, I don't really feel like doing anything else except what I'm doing at this very moment.<br />
<br />
I think I'll make burritos for dinner tonight.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://topshelfrecords.bandcamp.com/album/shake">Here is a link to this album</a>. It's really good, but I see there are two songs not available on the Bandcamp page as what I got from my preorder. Weird. Doesn't matter, it's till good. I highly recommend this band.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-59561688281177470612014-01-28T21:42:00.002-08:002014-01-28T21:42:25.949-08:00Why Are We Up? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Tomorrow is my brothers birthday, and that's awesome. it's weird because he's three years older than me, and his old age always seems like such a far off time for me, but it's really not. Pretty soon I'll be old and wrinkly like him, too. <br />
<br />
For some reason we're still awake and Bethany is watching Dexter on her phone and I'm blogging. We're sleep deprived parents, what the hell are we thinking? I'll be kicking myself when I'm up with the kids at 6:45 again. Because now that I think of it, that's what happened this morning, but I seem to have blocked that from my memory. It's too horrible to dwell upon.<br />
<br />
I'm getting really good at giving the kids baths by myself lately. That's all. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-82590763090502300022014-01-27T12:34:00.000-08:002014-01-27T12:34:35.734-08:00The Nap War<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It's a battle every day to get Evelyn to take a nap. I imagine this is something other parents of 2 1/2 year olds have to deal with, making this not a truly remarkable revelation, but still, it's frustrating and confusing. I understand that she likes to play with her toys, as I do this same sort of thing, albeit in a much more adult way, when it's time for me to go to bed. I like to play with my phone at night before bed, and sometimes I need to be told to put it down and go to sleep. Evie is that way, but deals with it like a two year old would deal with almost everything, and that's crying and screaming. And not to mention, she's a bear when it's time to wake up. I guess she just doesn't have the ability to see what going for a nap is all about. On every other aspect of being two and half, she's a dream to me. She's funny, she listens (mostly) and she's considerate. When it comes to nap time, forget all that. You'd think I was asking her to go do something awful. It's a nap, kid. You're going to be begging for them when you're older.<br />
<br />
That being said, I just laid both kids down for their naps and now I have a decision to make. I could lay on the couch like a lazy bones. I could go do a chore of some sort. There's always something to be done around here. Or I could play video games. I haven't played any games in weeks. I could watch a TV show or movie, which I guess is part of laying on the couch like a lazy bones. I don't know. I feel sort of lazy today. It's Monday which is sort of like my Saturday.<br />
<br />
Ah, screw it. I'm playing PS3. See ya later, dudes. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-71077027790409403132014-01-25T23:15:00.002-08:002014-01-25T23:15:49.970-08:00Weekend Update<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I guess I should do a weekend update. This week, Miles really started walking a lot, so that's a new wrinkle. He was able to crawl really fast and climb up stuff and pull everything off of tables already, so it's not that different I guess. But now he can fall in different ways, I guess. Pretty cool to see him walking at 10 months. Evie didn't walk until she was 17 months. In the grand scheme of life, that's not that big of a difference but at this stage that's a huge difference.<br />
<br />
As I write this, it's one in the morning on Sunday, the 26th. Earlier "today" on Saturday afternoon, I got home from work and there's no better feeling than when your kids are excited to see you. Evie was eager to show me the clothes basket of diapers. My work schedule makes it so I go to sleep on Saturday afternoon so I can go back to work at night. I asked Evie if she would take me to bed for my nap, so she led me by the finger to my room and made me get into the bed. I asked her to turn on the fan so she went over and tried to figure it out. I helped her use the remote (yes, a remote controlled fan which is awesome and also 14 years old). She then wanted to climb into bed with me and snuggle and take a nap with me. It was so nice. It's the best thing. I love her so much. Miles came in there and was climbing all over me, too. He was chasing the cat around the bed and I was just trying keep him from falling off. Then he tackled Evie's head. I dunno, I'm rambling now, but it was nice to see my kids for five minutes earlier. Made my day.<br />
<br />
It would be nice if I used the computer during the week to write more blog posts, but I kind of keep it hooked up with the HDMI cable and the TV for streaming purposes. I think I would really like to change that. I say that often, but maybe I'll try harder this week. Thanks! </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-65680869333126837992014-01-19T03:41:00.001-08:002014-01-19T03:41:13.197-08:00Championship Birthday Spectacular!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Alright so this week was a bit of weird week. The kids got sick, so I naturally assumed I would get sick as well, but I didn't. I don't know know where they got the illness from, because we didn't really go anywhere. Miles' was exceptionally bad because it settled in his chest. His breathing became quite labored and wheezy by Wednesday afternoon, so we decided to take him to the doctors. They gave him a treatment of Albuterol, and sent us off with the machine to give him more treatments at home over the next few days. Most of the time he did just fine having the mask up to his face for a few minutes, minus a few squirms here and there.<br />
<br />
Evie got a little sick, too. Her's wasn't as bad, just a runny nose, bit of a cough, couple sneezes. She hasn't seemed to minded too much. It's hard because she doesn't' really tell us if she's feeling sick, we just have to read the symptoms ourselves and react. Like the other night when Bethany was home with her at night alone while I was at work, she gave her chest rub, ibuprofen and all that and got her back to sleep. Read and react!<br />
<br />
Today is a particular predicament for me. Today is my lovely wife Bethany's birthday. The predicament is today is also the NFC Championship game which involves my beloved 49ers against the hated Seahawks. I want to make my wife's birthday the best it can be, but I also want to give 100% to my favorite teams quest to get back to the Super Bowl. I feel bad about it, but I suppose I'll have to make it work. I told Bethany that if there was a baby-wearing/cloth diaper/crunchy mom convention on my birthday that I would go to it with her. I hope that is some sort of consolation.<br />
<br />
So that's the update for right now. Go Niners and sorry Bethany. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-75930354558617422382014-01-08T17:28:00.001-08:002014-01-08T17:28:44.357-08:00Kids Do the Darnedest Things<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So I just took my Jeopardy online test and man...not too good. I mean, I think I did better than last year, but I'm sure it wasn't better than most/I ain't getting on the show. It was fun to try, and if I make it, it'll be surprised and happy, but I don't think it's going to happen. I've been watching Jeopardy! for years and I do pretty well when yelling answers to the screen. I think I would do really good at regular Jeopardy, but when double Jeopardy! hits I tend to do a little worse. The point here is I tried, and probably failed, and that's okay. I had fun reading the answers to Bethany, who answered a few. Whether they were correct or not is a different story. Anyway, I took the test, and if I end up on the show, I'll let you know.<br />
<br />
I should mention that I cursed us by writing a blog about how great Evie sleeps at night. After that post went up, all she has done is wake up in the middle of the night two nights in a row. She's been waking up and just crying and wanting to be held. It's the saddest thing, but it's also super annoying. It's annoying because as a parent, you have to have a reasonable expectation that things are going to go one way or another. I expect Miles to get up multiple times a night, so I don't get upset about it. I don't expect Evie to do it, so I get mad at her for doing these things. What I need to do is let go of my expectations of what's going to happen on a night to night basis and understand that it's completely possible that Evie will wake up and want to stay awake every night I go to sleep, because it's a possibility. That's a hard bit of info to adjust to, though. <br />
<br />
Anyway, we gotta give the kids a bath tonight. Here's to hoping that this helps the kids pass out and STAY PASSED OUT.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQYxgQDNCPOxZsNAuUGNX2A0Jp7C_e6X2AsrWuboJv7qIMLE5wlUryi2aENRbt5ZkLvxk1ETqaRN7Ks4bsYzZ0WSwNSBL0vNgwf8NUO_RyB1nvx5bn13EyryaQqjnUV5ddsi0F6iLtAaUG/s1600/Jan+8,+2014+7:27:43+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQYxgQDNCPOxZsNAuUGNX2A0Jp7C_e6X2AsrWuboJv7qIMLE5wlUryi2aENRbt5ZkLvxk1ETqaRN7Ks4bsYzZ0WSwNSBL0vNgwf8NUO_RyB1nvx5bn13EyryaQqjnUV5ddsi0F6iLtAaUG/s1600/Jan+8,+2014+7:27:43+PM.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-86745906984625323982014-01-06T08:30:00.000-08:002014-01-06T08:30:03.268-08:00The Night Time<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I was talking with Bethany the other day about Miles and his inability to sleep though the night. Evie was such a different baby in this regard. Miles is a nursing baby and Evie was a formula baby. We would fill up Evie's belly with formula and wrap her up in the swaddle (until she was 8 months old) and she would almost always sleep through the night. Her sleeping though the night continued after we ditched the swaddle, and after we ditched the bottles. It was real nice, I have to say. We didn't know how good we had it. I said it before and I'll say it again, if there were more babies like Evie was, there would be a lot more babies. Miles on the other hand was rolling over in his swaddle from like, one month on, and has never slept for longer than six hours at night...and he only did that like, once or twice. He usually wakes up every couple hours, anywhere between every two to four. We haven't had a full, unbroken night of sleep in months. We're not cracking. We're not fed up with this world. We deal okay, but we're tired a lot. It's become normal now, but it's never cool to get up two or three times a night and get the kid so he can nurse. Boohoo, poor us. Not cool, Miles. Miles, you are the opposite of cool, okay?<br />
<br />
Like I said, someday, hopefully soon, all these shenanigans will stop. Someday he will be a big kid and sleep through the night. Honestly that day can't come soon enough. I wish where was a switch I could flip that would get him to sleep like his sister always has, but that's just now how it works. I mean, there's nothing I can really do about it except bitch about it on a blog, so I just deal with it. I'm not upset, per se. I just can't frickin' wait to sleep through the night again someday. Oh well. Until that day comes, I'll be getting up and bumping into shit on the dark, groggy walk to their room to get him. I do this as a team player. She's the one that has to nurse him, why should she have to do all the work? I can help somehow, and that somehow is bringing him in and taking him back. He's cute, so that helps make it okay, too. <br />
<br />
Another difference between the kids waking up is that Evie would wake up, but she would just lose her pacifier somewhere in her crib, so I would stumble over there, pop the paci back in her mouth and she would just fall back asleep. This does not work at all with Miles. I haven't tried all that often, because the few times I've tried, it didn't work. So I just pick him up and bring him to his mama. He usually falls back asleep after hittin' the boob for a little bit and then we do the cycle again in a couple hours. This is our life.<br />
<br />
If you need me, I'll be over here not sleeping very well.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-79326127182139606942014-01-05T07:56:00.001-08:002014-01-05T07:56:24.170-08:00Leaving the House is the Worst<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Leaving the house just seems like so much more of an ordeal than it used to be. It's gotten progressively more and more difficult as the kids have grown bigger and the outside temperature has fallen. In the summer, we lived in the old apartment, which meant leaving the house didn't involve stairs. Evie isn't good at stairs because she's sort of new to the concept. So leaving the new house has the added element of Evie getting upset about the stairs. She'll go down them, but it's like she's stepping into a cold pool or something, she has to go slow and hang on the rail for dear life. I'm happy she's cautious, because she's less likely to fall and hurt herself, but c'mon kid, just go down the stairs. In the summer/fall, when it was warmer out, I didn't have to put coats on the kids. That is a chore, just putting coats on the kids. And if it's exceptionally cold out, I don't want Evie or Miles in a bulky coat in their car seat. It's not safe. So then I have to rush Evie out to the car and get her in and cover her up with the outer part of her coat so she's not cold. She's really good at telling me how cold she is.<br />
<br />
"I cold I cold I cold."<br />
"Yes, Evie, just a minute."<br />
<br />
Not to mention putting Miles' coat on. Squirmy little baby arms are hard to put in the coat. And he doesn't want a hat or his hood on so he tries to rip it off to no end. And I have to carry him to the car, and of course, Evie doesn't like the stairs or whatever so she insists on being carried (sometimes) so I have to pick up both kids, open and close the door, lock the door and try not to drop anything...like a kid. I can only put one kid in the car at a time, so Evie has to go second because Miles can't stand around waiting like that because he's just a baby. So she has to stand out in the cold while I strap Miles in. I get her in and I'm finally ready to go. I like to take the kids to the grocery store because I look like superdad, and I think the kids enjoy riding in the carts and stuff. Like at Kroger, they have those carts with the plastic cars attached. The kids seem to get a kick out of riding in there, which is nice. Plus they look cute. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw-iEPW_mfBh5gV0j2gS3vKFd9nZDfoshlLSo8K8vOyee_lIlzyDSsKE1JgSr19MpJItVJYYRMGPFs_aQ2VXSqLetsitZGHE1cdatppYEI9YU63Kantb8u6HmP2Vwvqvvxue-AjmFgQo2l/s1600/029.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw-iEPW_mfBh5gV0j2gS3vKFd9nZDfoshlLSo8K8vOyee_lIlzyDSsKE1JgSr19MpJItVJYYRMGPFs_aQ2VXSqLetsitZGHE1cdatppYEI9YU63Kantb8u6HmP2Vwvqvvxue-AjmFgQo2l/s320/029.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
What's the worst is when I can't find a parking spot close to the door, like for example this past Friday when I took the kids to Trader Joe's. The parking lot is too damn small, so there's no good spots on a busy Friday morning. Sometimes Evie is good and walks while holding my hand. Sometimes I have to carry her if she's cold...Like this past Friday. Then when I'm done, I can usually take the cart out to the car with the groceries in it, but when I get home, I don't have a cart to haul it inside. So what I've been doing lately is bring the kids in first, set them up with toys and run out, grab everything quick and run back inside. It used to be a lot easier when Miles was smaller and he rode in the car seat that came out of the car. But now that he's in a convertible seat, it's just so much more complicated. I can't wait for winter to be over so I can leave the house and skip a few of these stupid steps. Or maybe I should just strap a handle to Miles' back or something so I can carry him at my side with one hand, ya know? </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
A lot of the times it's just feels like it's not worth taking the kids out. But I enjoy it all, I really do. Even though I just wrote a whole post about how much it sucks to take the kids out because it's a lot of work, I really do cherish the moments. Enough people have told me to cherish these moments because before you know it, they're 30 and you will wish you could go back. So I don't take it for granted. I try not to, at least. But I wish I could just say "get in, kids" and they would just hop in the car and buckle up and off we'd go. I know that day is coming, but not really anytime soon. Until then, I'll suffer haha. </div>
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-52759812571043359342013-12-31T22:49:00.001-08:002013-12-31T22:49:39.472-08:00Happy new yearSo right now Ive had a few. So? It's 3014 now and I don't know what's gonna happen this year. If I knew that would me me a rich man, I suppose. <div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdgm2d4Y0JG3uKri48-iB-Jl5G_QC2IbO4WJhQk0vdEY0810y9tY0FNdX8DF5BCw6e2MBUDGT9P9l4lfhFR_niHgn-phVn7IJKdsBchXhfLArY_PdRMtAVmDNymytvZiBQsEBWbsbA5w5d/s640/blogger-image--1825445488.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdgm2d4Y0JG3uKri48-iB-Jl5G_QC2IbO4WJhQk0vdEY0810y9tY0FNdX8DF5BCw6e2MBUDGT9P9l4lfhFR_niHgn-phVn7IJKdsBchXhfLArY_PdRMtAVmDNymytvZiBQsEBWbsbA5w5d/s640/blogger-image--1825445488.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>Happy new year. </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-67565803794202724462013-12-29T09:19:00.000-08:002013-12-29T09:19:15.172-08:00Christmas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Right, so many, many things happened since I last wrote here. Like, you know, Christmas. That was a good one. We did the traditional way of opening presents while family from far away lands (Like Michigan) got to watch on video. I had my parents on FaceTime and Bethany had her mom on Skype. I didn't get to take many pictures because of this, and that's okay, I remember it pretty clearly. Santa was good to the kids this year, and rough on Santa's bank account. It's been a tough go financially but it's the holidays, and I'm not going to discuss that shit because that's not what this is about. <div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Evie was really excited about the whole thing, and perhaps a little overwhelmed. Not too bad, but she had a hard time napping for the next couple days because of all the amazing new toys. I loved the fact that when a present was clothes, she didn't care like a real kid! I laughed. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A lot of last week was just playing with the new toys. She got a doll house and a farm thing and she just loves them so much. She seems sort of unimpressed by her new balance bike but I think that might change once we take her outside to play with it. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Coming up this week is New Years, and I love New Years eve because I can probably drink bubbly. I love bubbly. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Okay, well I don't know what else to write about. Here's some pics</div>
<div>
<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvbUFMhFXyttYGw_DLKdcBi1EO7oKDLxO0PdSxNuIIsrp1rpjWxIFzqqPlXEzki_vjQR9C2fNAp4jrBCq_Gin-DGzSoqgslQATLdytYOq2goDbVEBaRUrPq-_xFjNegOvJMGvIsTCcnEq3/s1600/076.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvbUFMhFXyttYGw_DLKdcBi1EO7oKDLxO0PdSxNuIIsrp1rpjWxIFzqqPlXEzki_vjQR9C2fNAp4jrBCq_Gin-DGzSoqgslQATLdytYOq2goDbVEBaRUrPq-_xFjNegOvJMGvIsTCcnEq3/s320/076.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9MTPNP9UP5f613VFdf2n-Jmcn4uEDYu8XWre7GS4ixP4Vy7aP0hznbgOFu2TQnu5nMiWoQccQUQLtTumLNU91_W3vJlrnDhAKb-6BMiXsEpb4UOk2gtGqPBVunIjyeyybnZNCt0yBGDlV/s1600/078.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9MTPNP9UP5f613VFdf2n-Jmcn4uEDYu8XWre7GS4ixP4Vy7aP0hznbgOFu2TQnu5nMiWoQccQUQLtTumLNU91_W3vJlrnDhAKb-6BMiXsEpb4UOk2gtGqPBVunIjyeyybnZNCt0yBGDlV/s320/078.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1c33L6YMOWMiysjEU1OiOzhOPE0g-rex9wU3W7F85dgOYvOJXTzlX_aojeNU2emxvRxSbAJ868oRU-nJ_JEU4i6CKeshpq-9hbFr1VFfL6nzZn35rqydNwpMzc3TtZJlUBOIbyutq4GoA/s1600/079.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1c33L6YMOWMiysjEU1OiOzhOPE0g-rex9wU3W7F85dgOYvOJXTzlX_aojeNU2emxvRxSbAJ868oRU-nJ_JEU4i6CKeshpq-9hbFr1VFfL6nzZn35rqydNwpMzc3TtZJlUBOIbyutq4GoA/s320/079.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6coqiKP9wtYotjEt-bXOUXm3Zp8t2oMe5BFOve59Z8TMjkB-dpJb7x__-lQxrW05SYcLtDIfB4HBdnymxnvRa1UcVdgeJSqz_SLuh5-OcwnHqakmSfqW1P32ZiwsMLvw0HrF2y081pfvW/s1600/083.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6coqiKP9wtYotjEt-bXOUXm3Zp8t2oMe5BFOve59Z8TMjkB-dpJb7x__-lQxrW05SYcLtDIfB4HBdnymxnvRa1UcVdgeJSqz_SLuh5-OcwnHqakmSfqW1P32ZiwsMLvw0HrF2y081pfvW/s320/083.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-19425563335752398922013-12-22T06:50:00.000-08:002013-12-22T06:50:49.576-08:00Preds Game/Tornado Warning!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So a couple of weeks ago, I answered a Preds Pride trivia question from the Nashville Predators email blast, because the prize was either a "Preds prize pack" or tickets to a game. <br />
<a name='more'></a>Last Tuesday, I got a phone call from the Preds ticket office saying I was randomly selected to win four lower bowl tickets to the Saturday night game against the Montreal Canadiens. I had to switch a shift with the nice lady at work, and this allowed me to take my family to the game. Since Miles doesn't need his own seat yet, we had an extra ticket, so we took Lydia to the game. It was both Miles' and Lydia's first hockey game. I got home for work at around 2:15 yesterday and took a quick nap. Woke up at like, 4:30, took a shower. Lydia came by around that time and we actually left the house about the time we wanted to leave, around five. Now before we got a new car seat for Evie and Miles was just in the car seat that snaps into the base, Lydia could fit in our backseat. But now that we have two convertible seats in the back, it was a much tighter fit for anybody back there. So she sat awkwardly between the two kids and I drove carefully to the game. <br />
<br />
The weather was supposed to be nasty on this night, and it wasn't yet when we got to the game, but that changed. More on that in a minute. First off, the game. Our seats were incredible. Probably some of the best seats in the house. Here's a pic...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIaHW19wNZmL-24eV6wF-Gd1ioMejxieus8OQrTZRbOYQ-EQ17ttwzti4WwRzVsgyt6t4FdrPFyBZ6BFBPysh4CGEvRSVzPCdMPnFgbt_hJMqm1fn5gzfZt9EnA_qzMSgPUhd6cdrvbFH7/s1600/IMG_9623.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIaHW19wNZmL-24eV6wF-Gd1ioMejxieus8OQrTZRbOYQ-EQ17ttwzti4WwRzVsgyt6t4FdrPFyBZ6BFBPysh4CGEvRSVzPCdMPnFgbt_hJMqm1fn5gzfZt9EnA_qzMSgPUhd6cdrvbFH7/s320/IMG_9623.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The game wasn't going so well at first with Montreal scoring three goals on five shots in the first period. Then Matt Hendricks fought Travis Moen in an attempt to wake up the Preds bench, and it seemed to work as they shut out the Habs for the remainder of regulation. The Preds clawed back to tie the game, and there was much rejoicing. Miles was doing okay during the game, except when they Preds scored that first goal. He was like "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!?!" But after that, even on the other goals, he was pretty okay with the game and the ridiculous volume of an NHL arena. Montreal scored the game winner in overtime and everyone left feeling sort of "uuuggghhh." </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Shortly before the game winning goal, every one sitting around us got a message sent to our phone that we were under a tornado warning. It was pretty funny watching just about everyone around me pull our their phone and see what their phone was yelling at them about. As we exited Bridgestone arena, the tornado sirens were going off, and I gotta say it was a pretty surreal feeling walking up Demonbreun st with these sort of air raid sirens blaring all around us. Bethany didn't want to go out in the elements because she was afraid we were going to die in a tornado. I was not so scared. We got to the car and it wasn't raining yet, but about five minutes into our 15 minute journey home, it started to absolutely downpour. This was probably top three worst rain I've ever driven in. I didn't take any highway home because I don't have to, but I was driving up Music Row, past Belmont University and I could hardly see the street. With the high winds, it was like we were being splashed. It was really weird and kinda scary. We finally made it home and rushed the kids inside. I had to go back out there because I left my lights on, and by the time I had done that, I was dripping wet. We got inside and turned on the local weather coverage to see if we were in imminent danger, which it turns out we weren't anymore. Jesse drove up from Antioch to pick up Lydia and they went home after letting the storm pass for a little bit. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Overall it was an interesting night. Certainly beat sleeping and going to work, that's for sure. It's a night I wont' forget. Oh yeah, did I mention all this tornado action was happening because it was 79 degrees when we left the game at 9 o'clock at night? Yeah, that's a good recipe for severe weather. Fun night. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-390854353777855070.post-89532174988198268882013-12-21T07:08:00.001-08:002013-12-21T07:08:39.907-08:00Introduction <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Welcome to the Minig Joural. Many of you may be confused on many levels as to what the hell is going on right now. Basically, Bloggerated sort of died. I let it die, not because I wanted to, I definitely didn't want it to die. I sort of accidentally let the custom URL expire and I can't seen to get it back easily, and now I don't care. So now I'm going a different route. I'm starting a new blog, but a different format. I'm doing this as a personal journal that is open to the public. Would you like to read my personal journal? Now you can. <br />
<br />
Here in this new space, I'm going to actually talk about the goings on in my life. Stuff like what I did with the kids, where we went, what we experienced. What life is like as a 30 year old father of two and husband of a wonderful, hard-working woman I call my lovely wife. We have a decent life, a quiet, broke-ass life, where nothing much happens, but we try to make each day special in some way. I know there are a lot of memories that are made each day, and I want to chronicle them. That's what this space is for. I might not try to be a funny blogger like before. One post might just be a series of pictures or maybe a video or two? A post may just be a quick wrap-up of some of the highlights of the past few days. I don't know how detailed I'll get, but this is more for me than anything. I invite you to follow along and enjoy. I struggle with sharing my life in detail with others because I feel like "who cares?" Oversharing is a real problem in today's society, so why contribute to the problem? But you know what, I don't care who cares. I care. It's my life and I want to write it down. So that's what I'm going to do, damn it. <br />
<br />
Now, onto the question of the blog name. When I was a kid, I used to deliver newspapers for the Mining Journal when I was growing up in the U.P. Every month, I had to go to each house on my route and collect everybody's payment for their subscription. I got to keep a chunk and had to give the rest to my route manager guy. I remember this transaction with the route manager guy always being sort of a weird thing where I would keep the cash and give him the checks...it all seems really shady in retrospect. Anyway, I remember very clearly this one time, I was collecting and I came to this one guys house and he paid me by check. He made out the check to "the Minig Joural." Pretty sure he was drunk. He looked like a drunk guy. Anyway, that event always stuck with me, and I often refer to the Mining Journal as the Minig Joural as a sort of an inside joke to myself. When I thought about starting a blog in journal form, the words Minig Joural just popped in there, and I went with it. Pretty stupid, I know. I'm also hoping to get hits from people who make that man's spelling mistake, looking for the mining journal website and end up here. All one person, maybe one time. But probably not.<br />
<br />
So that's the deal, my dear. I'm doing this now, I guess. Enjoy reading! Or don't! Either way, I'm going to do this. Have a happy holidays. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03863356796138368523noreply@blogger.com0