Happy Birthday Whitey!

I'm a week late, but I want to wish my Dad a happy birthday. Melissa's late grandmother, Vada Wood, once confided in me that she believed Dad to be a very handsome man -- particularly his silver mane. I recall Mom once got Dad a t-shirt that said "There may be snow on the roof, but there's fire in the furnace." I've since learned that's some sort of sordid euphemism, but I thought it was a pretty cool shirt all the same.

Dad and Me

I don't dread the gray hairs that have started appearing on my own head, since it simply means I'm becoming a little more like the man I've looked up to all my life.

Fall in Skinner Butte Park (Pic Post)

Photography by April (updated link).

NEVER,

never, never, stay in bed after your husband goes to work. Nothing good will happen. EVER.

Today, I was being way lazy and just staying in bed. Travis got up, got ready and left. Karsten was up wandering around the house and brought me a book to read to him. Taegan was still asleep (that is how I was justifying remaining in bed and Shirlene read me an article about women needing more than 7 hours of sleep at night or they will die, so I decided to catch up all at once).

Anyway I eventually got out of bed, when I heard Taeg' say, "morn'n Mom, I gotta go potty". I then helped Taeg' into the bathroom when I remember that Karsten had gone (more on that later), so I sent her into our bathroom.

SIDE NOTE: Remember Karsten just going pee. Since we have lived in this house (almost 2 years) the kid's toilet has been annoying. It either doesn't fill or doesn't flush, but I just put it on the honey do list and forgot about it because I never use it and we are going to remodel 'in the near future'. Since potty training Taegan, it has come to my attention the toilet needed to be fixed now because it was acting as if it was clogged, every time. Travis tweaked with it, I swore at it and then went to the hardware store and bought toilet parts. Last night Travis tweaked some more and we determined that the inlet valve was broken and actually stuck in the closed position. So it could be used once and that was it, until I replace the valve.

Back to this morning, after Taeg' was done, I decided that she needed to soak her toe (she has an ingrown toenail, don't ask). So, I set up her little footbath and set her on the stool in the kids bathroom, I then looked at the toilet and thought I need to pull the old inlet valve off. I could do that now while waiting for Taeg....

So away I went. I removed the inlet from the toilet and bent the hose away from the bowl. This movement must have cleared whatever was clogging the valve because water began SHOOTING from the inlet hose. I tried to plug it with my finger and reattach it to the toilet, no good. I twisted the valve handle, nope. I then headed to the front door as fast as I could go, took a few steps down and then jump that last few stairs (while looking down long enough to see a dead POSSUM on our front stairs, thank you neighbor dog!). I ran to the street and pulled open the valve box. I could not get the thing to budge, WHAT THE… I was starting to think of some good swear words by now. I finally got the water turned off to the house and was running back in through the garage (to avoid the possum) and met Karsten at the door, “Mom there is a lot of water on the bathroom floor and I need your help cleaning it up”. I grabbed every towel on my way to the bathroom, opened the door to find Taeg’ having a ball, sitting on the stool (where I left her), she sees me and says “Mom, water, wow!” I threw all the towels on the floor, the water had to be at least 2 inches deep…“what the crap… what could I have done differently”.

I mopped up the mess, dried my hallway and everything else that was dripping, then I got dressed. Yes that is correct, all this happen when I was in my underwear. YES at the end of the driveway I was repeatedly thinking…”It is OK, all my neighbors are at work, they will not see you in the street in your underwear, they are at work, please make them be a work”.

The toilet is fixed the dead rodent is in the garbage and when a client called and asked how my day was going I just smiled and said, “GREAT”.

By the way, Trav, I just walked downstaris and heard dripping. Yes, the fan in the bath down stairs is leaking water from my morning adventure. We might have to start the bathroom remodel on the other bathrooms before our own. Love ya.

Otter Crest

Every year, for millions of centuries... the Stoddards have somehow managed to secure a company time share in Otter Crest, Oregon. How does Dave make this happen? I chose not to think about who he has to cage fight so we can enjoy this yearly ritual. It is fun and fun is good. While Travis and Dave tried their hardest to ignore the world and watch the Ryder Cup, the rest of us enjoyed the Coastal weather. Some pics from the weekend.

Taeggy has been practicing her finger dexterity. THUMBS UP!

A boy, his boots, his bucket, his binoculars(knockers), and his Grandma. Life is good!


A girl, her boots, her bucket, her shovel, and no one around. Sorry Taeg, but we know you too well to get that close!


Sand Castles??!@#*


Beautiful scenery that we just had to stop and enjoy.



We got Karsten to take a pic for us. Not bad for a 4 year old. Now, I will teach him how to use photoshop so I look 50lbs lighter.


CHEESE!

Karsten, making sure his belly button is still there, after some time in the hot tub.

Taegan had some intellectual pursuits while at the coast, like digging through Grandma's purse.

The whole kit and kaboodle!

Trav's family rocks. We had fun and fun is good.

Fun Weekend

We just got back from our annual excursion to Otter Crest with my parents and siblings...and their wonderful spouses...and their adorable children. It was a lot of fun, though we are quickly outgrowing the little condo we've visited since our youth. I'm thinking we should consider finding something a little more spacious.

In any event, I need to publicly thank Eric and Tony, my sisters' golfingly-challenged husbands, for indulging our desire to watch every second of NBC's Ryder Cup coverage. You are good sports, since I know you would have preferred to watch anything with David Hasselhoff in it. As a token of my esteem, I offer them a shiny USA belt buckle just like Anthony Kim's (I recall Tony expressed a particular liking for the white belt).


Melissa's in charge of posting some photos from our trip -- stay tuned...

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UPDATE: Team Europe member Ian Poulter now claims that Anthony Kim did not respect his authori-TAY -- and body checked him on the course. Anthony Kim is officially my hero.

She Pooped!

In the toilet of course, otherwise I would not be typing! Instead I would be cleaning, sterilizing and cleaning again.

Now we are all taking naps to recuperate from all that hard work.

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Travis adds: Woo hoo! (or as Taeggy says "hoo Hoo!" -- we are talking about Taeg, right?)

Ryder Cup '08

The Ryder Cup gets underway this week at Louisville's Valhalla Golf Club without Team USA's most talented member. This puts us in a desperate situation, as we have lost the last three contests to the Euros, but I think I've come up with a way Tiger can contribute. 'Zinger can strategically place him next to Euro players on the course as they start their swing, and then...

If that doesn't work, Tiger can pull out a little bag of Nike One Platinum golf balls and throw them at the Euros while they're trying to swing.

Some may say this is really bad sportsmanship, but they would be wrong. Why? It just isn't, OK!

I'm not very optimistic, but I hope Team USA makes it competitive. Even if Tiger doesn't take my advice.

Potty training Taeg'

Last night I decided that I needed to potty train Taegan. She has been very interested in the toilet for a few months now and asks to sit on it frequently. Her favorite line to repeat from Karsten's vocabulary is "I gotta go pee" and then she will run off to the bathroom. Maybe I should be grateful that Karsten announces when he needs to powder his nose, because it has definitely inspired Taegan.

To make a long story short. Taegan is doing well for not even being 2 yrs and being introduced to 'big girl underwear' less than 12 hours ago. Her independence will start to shine through when she will announce "I gotta go pee", run into the bathroom, turn on the light, sit on the toilet and then tell me where to sit and wait. She will then clap and cheer when the deed is done, wipe, flush & wash her hands.

Don't get me wrong, it was a very long day for everyone. Taegan did forget occasionally that she is not wearing a diaper. Karsten is hoping that Taeg' continues to be 'in-training' for a while because he is loving the treats, and Taegan is probably hoping that all that talk about underwear was just a bad dream and that she will go back to using the toilet only when it is convenient.

All is right with the world... at least until tomorrow @ 7am.

59 - 0

Thanks Bruins, please come again.

Camping practice

The other day, Melis' suggested that we go camping together as a family. I should note that Melissa is way more outdoor-sy than her husband (who considers "camping" to be the free continental breakfast at a Holiday Inn). Karsten has slept in a tent before (see pic), and he seemed to enjoy it well enough. But I was skeptical that Taegan would be up to it.

I proposed a compromise -- the kids and I will have a practice camping trip in the backyard tonight. Our tent only sleeps three, so Melis' will stay at base camp...on a pillow top mattress.

The kids are excited to sleep outside; their father just hopes the raccoons don't run off with his slippers.
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Update: As I feared, Taeg' is not yet up to sleeping outside in a tent. She made it until 9pm. After repeatedly kicking and punching her fellow campers, and then blurting out something in Chinese, Taeggy was escorted out of the tent and into her bedroom. Karsten and I remained in the tent, where Karst' promptly fell into a sound sleep. I was awakened several times by raccoons, a completely deflated air mattress, and the chill early-morning air. I'm a wuss. I anticipate taking some recuperative naps on the couch this weekend.

Resume Inflation

Back in 2001, Notre Dame hired George O'Leary as head football coach. Less than a week later the university discovered that Coach O'Leary had, well, made some stuff up on his resume. He didn't actually have a masters degree in education (or in any other field), and he wasn't actually a three-time letterman on his college football team -- he only played two years, and he never actually played in a game. Consequently, he never actually coached at Notre Dame either. He was promptly fired.

I recently started work at a federal agency. The hiring process included a lot of paperwork, including the SF-85 Questionnaire for Non-Sensitive Positions -- which may as well be titled "Everything About Yourself That You Have Since Forgotten." The feds don't let you get away with just remembering the address of the run-down apartment you lived in 3 years ago, you have to put the name of someone who can confirm you lived there. Oh, and don't even think of putting someone like a spouse, or relative, or anyone else who actually likes you.

I've since discovered that the people I listed got letters from the feds asking them if Travis really did live in that run-down apartment 3 years ago. "Hey Travis! What is this?!" Oh, well, you know, sorry I didn't tell you I gave the feds your name and address. I guess I didn't think they would actually check. Oh yeah, they check.

I'm just glad I didn't engage in any resume inflation, because the sky's really the limit when you can just make stuff up. I would have included the fact that I was a member of Duran Duran during the 80's. Don't believe me? BAM! Indisputable photographic evidence. I should probably also include a few bullet points in the "Skills" section about my gold medal in badminton (Bob Costas called me the greatest non-Chinese badminton player ever!), and don't forget my signature line of adorable feline apparel and accessories. Why is the webpage in Japanese? Oh, because I'm fluent in Japanese. Domo arigato Mr. Roboto!

Yup, no resume inflation for me. Now excuse me while I try to smooth things over with my former neighbors.

Huskies lose, but learn a valuable lesson

Husky fans are indignant that the officials penalized Jake Locker (who was really impressive) for throwing the ball high up into the air after reaching the endzone in the closing seconds against BYU. The resulting 15-yard penalty made U-Dub's crucial PAT more difficult -- and, in fact, the Coug's blocked it. BYU wins by a point!!! (phew!)

NCAA Football Rule 9-2, Article 1, part 2:

After a score or any other play, the player in possession immediately must return the ball to an official or leave it near the dead-ball spot.
This prohibits:
(a) Kicking, throwing, spinning or carrying (including off of the field) the ball any distance that requires an official to retrieve it.
(b) Spiking the ball to the ground [Exception: A forward pass to conserve time (Rule 7-3-2-d)].
(c) Throwing the ball high into the air.
(d) Any other unsportsmanlike act or actions that delay the game.

(Emphasis added). It's not even a judgment call, the officials must call the penalty. In any event, it wasn't the officials who blocked an otherwise makeable 35-yard kick. You played tough Huskies, but you got beat by a better team.

Next time just hand the ball to the officials, so we can hand you a more satisfying defeat in overtime.

P.S. -- Here in Eugene, my Tivo cut off the end of the Ducks 66-24 victory over Utah State. It was only 59-17 when my recording cut out -- looks like I missed a barn-burner!

I suck.

Has anyone ever started something thinking that they were above average, but then once it is started you realize...YOU SUCK? This weekend I realized my picture taking skills are not so good. Oh sure, I know you are thinking that the kids are always moving, cameras are so small now, pictures have always been hard to take, blah, blah. I would love to blame the camera, but Travis bought us this very cool and very easy to use camera. But check this photo out, can it get any worse.


I believe that if it could, I could have made it so. Oh sure, just turn the ISO down, and the lights up, hold it still. What the crap, this isn't rocket science. Just take a good picture Melissa. I may need to send myself to photography 101, maybe I will start with reading the manual.

Domestication??!!!

Peaches come in a can, they are put there by a MOM.... Millions of peaches, peaches for me.

We went to Pendleton over Labor Day and I learned or re-learned (I will never admit to knowing before) about canning. My sister, Leslie, brought about a gazillion peaches over and Etta (sister in-law) and I remembered why we just go to Costco and buy them. It was a learning experience. They all didn't ripen so I brought mine home with me, purchased a canner, a puller outta the scalding hot water thingy, some sugar and I was ready to go this morning. Well except they are still not ripe enough but I got started with 6 quarts...

YES, I did wipe the mouth, Leslie, like 5 billion times!!!

They are so pretty my sister, my mother, maybe even my grandmother would be proud.

The End

Swim lesson have come to an end.
On the last day they talked about water safety, which made me laugh... shouldn't the kids know about water safety before they get in the water?!! Whatever, I am not the pro. They had all the kids put on a life vest and then go jump in the deep end. Karsten had no idea that they were putting him in water that was over his head until he jumped in and gave me this look like..."Uuhhhmm, Mom a little help over here. This lady is trying to drown me."