Mike's Back
I want to thank all our readers for their support while I have been away. I would like to thank Vangie for filling in while I have been away. The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated and I promise that in the future I will do my best not to go absent for more than a month at a time. We will also have more posts from the lovely and talented Vangie in the future.
I want to take some time to share with you some of the news articles that people have been bringing to my attention while I have been away. The first article was sent to me in response to the recent mouse posts from a PETA person. The article is titled
"Humans Shoot Themselves in Mouse Fight", click on the link to get the whole story. Now I know my trap appears to have a bit of a redneck flavor to it, but I want to assure everyone that I would not waste bullets on these evil critters. Also the mess of cleaning up a shot up mouse would not be worth the satisfaction of shooting it.
The second interesting article which was brought to my attention is the story of
Joe Galliott, a man who was trapped under his couch for a few days. As you may or may not be aware one of my theories is that nothing bad has ever happened to me while I have been sitting on a couch. In fact most stories I have which involve me being greatly embarassed or hurt usually begin with me leaving couch. Having noticed this trend I have long been a proponet of staying on the couch. With that being said apparently our friend Joe in England does give a rather interesting account of tripping over his couch and having it flip on top of him. I have to be honest and tell you I am not buying Joe's story. First off, who keeps hard liquor near the couch? Listen let's just be honest here Joe - if you want to go off on two day bender I am just fine with that, but we don't need people making up stories about being trapped under innocent couches. I think what made me suspicious about the whole story is at the end of the article the writer states the our friend Joe now keeps a bottle of whiskey next to the couch in case this might happen again. Seriously if you thought you were in danger of being trapped for a lengthy period of time under a couch and were concerned about your survival wouldn't you first consider storing some bread and water first? It's irresponsible journalism like this that gives couches and the people who enjoy sitting upon them a bad name. Enough said.
I stumbled across this last news story myself. It is about a blind boxer and it is truly inspirational. As many of you know I am rappidly approaching forty and have begun putting together a bucket list of sorts. I want to jump out of an airplane this year, perhaps drive a race car up in the Pocconos and maybe go wild boar hunting. Anyway, I want to add this guy to the list. I know I am out of shape but I am pretty sure I can take him. Here is a link to the
video.
Cyberphobia My dear friends, today I have some deeply sad news. I hope you are sitting down. Oh wait, you’re on a computer so that’s pretty likely. But I digress…
Mike has developed cyberphobia and will no longer be posting on the blog. We are hoping that someday he is able to overcome this fear and once again contribute to the family blog but right now the therapists are not hopeful. Apparently he has some outstanding issues and this new cyberphobia is taking a back seat in treatment until he works out some more pressing issues. As part of his treatment, Mike is going to resume barrel therapy. I’ll have photos soon… but in the meantime, I’ll just be posting. Don’t be hatin’… you know you love me.
I know deep down in his heart he wishes he could be contributing at this time but I just can’t allow it until he recovers fully. Oh, and to those of you that don’t think you have accents…..you do! You know who you are.
Why I Love Accents
So I love a good accent...
My very favorite accent is the Irish followed closely by British and Australian but really I love any accent. When I moved here 15 years ago from Detroit, I noticed a distinctly Central PA accent in the locals and people here have often commented that Mike and I speak a little differently...they seem to think we ennunciate more clearly and are very "proper" in the way we speak which we find really amusing.
Yesterday morning I shared a short elevator ride with a well dressed chap who responded to my small talk of "it's a nice balmy morning" with, "right, oh, but a bit more sun and warmth would do quite well too" with the most delightful Australian accent! It really kind of made my morning. I wondered how he got here, in Central PA, and what it was like growing up in Australia. Do they really eat vegemite and wrestle crocodiles? I wished I could have asked this and a million other questions.
It got me thinking about what an impact our voices and accents have on first impressions and the assumptions that can be made based on a voice alone. Think about the harsh New York accent versus the slow smooth Southern drawl and you'll get my drift. I guess I love a different accent because it represents something completely different from the norm (my norm)...maybe that's the frustrated traveler in me who wants to visit faraway places...maybe someday. For now I'll live vicariously through the ones who have traveled far to get here and I'm lucky enough to interact with.
Here are some photos of my very favorite people in the whole wide world who I want to visit all those faraway places with someday...perhaps Mexico will be first. Ole!
Stitches, Birthdays and Yoga...Oh My!
Happy belated Valentine's Day! Mike and I celebrated this year with a couples yoga and Thai massage class at The Movement Center in Harrisburg. I'm pretty sure Mike was dreading this, but was pleasantly surprised at how fun it was. Here we are in one of our "poses". We learned a little something too...a Thai massage, a real one, takes something like 3 hours. We just had a little intro but I can tell you there is a lot of concentration on the feet so if you like a foot massage, I would highly recommend a Thai massage. Afterwards, there was champagne and dinner along with some decadent desserts. That was the best part of course...adding back those calories we had just worked off.
Believe it or not we had our first experience with stitches this month when Jake walked into a stone pillar. How did he walk into a stone pillar you ask? Well, he pulled his hood down over his eyes to add a little "excitement" to the tedious task of walking (after all it's much more fun when you can't see where you're going) and crashed right into the corner of a pillar outside of our grocery store. Two little stitches in his forehead and lots of blood later, he was all fixed up and picking out a new toy at Target for being brave during the stitches. Something tells me this won't be our last visit to the Emergency Room...
We celebrated Max's 10th birthday yesterday at the Climbnasium. 7 little boys, and a few big kids including Mike and my Dad, got to climb their little hearts out! I thought it was really cool that they could climb someone else's walls for a change instead of mine. Max's goal was to get to the highest peak and sign the special book they have at the top reserved for only the climbers who make it up there. He and Jake both make it up and signed their names. I climbed a little myself, although my jeans and riding boots made it tricky. It's really a rush being up there on the wall and I definitely want to go back in the right clothes and have at it.
Tomorrow is Max's actual birthday and we'll be taking him to El Rodeo for a Mexican feast at his request. Happy Birthday to Patti as well!
Dinner Conversations...
and Snow Babies
Hi everyone! Vangie here with my very first blog post...figured I might as well try to get a word in edgewise in this family. Can't say I have anything grand to discuss just yet (stay tuned) but I did find tonight's dinner conversation fairly entertaining:
Max: "Dad, what's the craziest thing you ever did in college?"
Mike: "Tied myself to a couch naked and hung out of a window."
Vangie: "Really-what about lighting yourself on fire?"
Mike: "Oh yeah, and I lit myself on fire...several times."
Max: wide eyed, "Whoa...can you teach me how?"
Mike: "No, I won't teach you my secrets. You gotta get your own."
Max: "Aw, you are such a fun-sucker!"
Vangie: Rolls eyes.
Jake: Hides under table to avoid trying bite of dirty rice. New foods are very SCARY.
In other news, we discovered last week that Max is missing 4 adult teeth. Yeah, weird huh? He was at a routine cleaning and they brought the x-rays out and showed us the hard evidence. Ain't no disputing it...there in black and white we saw the beautiful skeletal system of our first born, sans 4 adult teeth. I was bewildered, baffled, befuddled...and considered if we could bedazzle some makeshift teethies for our boy - a grill of sorts? But no no, the responsible parents that we are, we are taking him to the orthodontist tomorrow to discuss this little dilemma...can you say cha-ching? Looks like momma might be going back to work full time. Anyway, as in all things genetically bizarre, weird, wacky or just plain unexplainable...I blame Mike's side!
Other fun stuff...Jake and I made a "snow baby" which Jake promptly destroyed...he's not ready for fatherhood just yet.
I had the winter "blahs" and painted my nails black. that felt surprisingly great.
Enjoyed an amazing dinner party with some old and new friends and discovered that heavenly goat cheese and good salmon on a cracker can cure just about any bad mood...thanks Toole's!
