Lego for Me

We have begun our move into the new house. All the furniture is tentatively set up. H is getting onto the kids to unpack their boxes and me...well I'm blogging. I have actually been doing some work, but much more of that will come this weekend.

Last night, I spent the evening going through all of my wires (they were crossed). But...I got the TV set up in time to record Grey's for H and Smallville for me. Then I got to go upstairs and worked on the other TV until about midnight. L was very excited this morning to wake up to see that he could play Star Wars Lego. "Mama....look....Daddy set up my Legos for me". Of course, H countered with, "Honey...I think Daddy set that up so he could play football." Which L replied, "Uh-huh...and legos for me."

A New Day!

I know and I apologize for not updating this thing as I should. I wish I had something to blame it on other than myself, but I don't! :)

Well H, the kids and I are in Ohio now. Most of you know this already, but I have taken a new job...again. I know it was only a few short months ago I told all of you about my other new job opportunity, but just a short time after accepting this position, I had a call that I had to listen to and eventually accepted.

The software company has been WONDERFUL! I was actually in desperate need of making a decision just a few short days ago. We had sold the house in Florida, but by that weekend I was having some serious sellers remorse and thinking I should stay with the company. I think I freaked H and the folks out with this as everything was moving so quickly down the tracks.

Maybe it was just leaving Florida, the family, friends...etc. It was SO difficult leaving! But we're here now. H was so funny the other night in Wal-Mart. We were looking at snow gear for the kids and she was shocked when she saw the snow pants for the kids. M started crying, "Daddy...I don't like those...they're U..G..L..Y!!" They were pink, but she did not want to put them on.

E has been really attached to me. H has been asking her why she's turned into such a Daddy's girl since leaving...but I'm enjoying it. They are truthfully all mama's. They connect with her so well. I'm just the disciplinarian. The MEAN one! That's okay. I have my role.

Well...tomorrow is not only my birthday, but also the day we move into the house. I'll catch you up after that! Until then...

Recent Events

First and foremost, I apologize that I have not updated this in quite some time. I have had a lot to say, but I know both family and work friends read this blog. I have been working on some different career opportunities the last few months and with that going on...I wasn't so sure this was the right place to voice all of this.

So...as some of you know already, I am leaving my current employer. I had an opportunity a few months ago to go to another company in Atlanta. I passed on that opportunity in the hopes that the current may at some point in the future work itself out. However, the timing for it to seemed in question.

Now the stars have aligned and have given way for me to pursue a new career path. I'll actually be starting a sales position with an international software company. They're actually a vendor for my current company. I have submitted my resignation, received my passport, and have a week to go until I start the next (hopefully GREAT) phase of my life.

It's scary to say the least, but I hope I will have some success in this arena. Quite unbelievably, I will be going to Scotland within the next month. So stay tuned...I'll be adding pictures...etc in the future.

Tag...am I it?

Okay...I know that it has been a long time since I have posted. What can I say? I'm sure one of the things below will cover the reasons. Anyway, I was driving to work this morning and my wife asked me when the last time was I read my sil blog. It had been a couple weeks. Anyway, she proceeds to tell me that I've been tagged. Normally, I don't play along, but I thought this one was informative...so I'm deciding to play along. :)

By the way, in case you didn't pick it up...my sil tagged me.

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

Off and away...

1. I was the fourth generation of my family to be born in WV. Sadly...my kids weren't the fifth.

2. Recently, I discovered I no longer have any hobbies. I am either working or hanging out with the family.

3. Growing up I wanted to be a church minister.

4. I have never tried any unprescribed drug or cigarette and haven't had a drink of alcohol since I turned 21.

5. I play the lotto twice a week every week.

6. I love to read and watch true crime stories...especially about the mafia.

7. If I can beat you at something, I cannot LET you win. Sorry kids!

8. My mother says after my second date (in high school) I knew I wanted to marry my wife...it was actually the first. I've been giving thanks everyday since.

Tagged your it...if you read this...start typing.

Oh Captain my Captain

I know most of you know L. He is the cutest three year old there is. He is also the worlds youngest pirate. Everday when I come home from work, I get to have a sword fight. Not just for fun either, because the boy is really swinging. Last week, he got my hand so well that I thought he broke a bone.

Yesterday, B & D gave him a toy hook and I got to fight against a swinging sword and a hook slashing at me. I wonder what's next?

The Soccer Game

Yesterday, my little Ms. M had her first soccer game. Well...it was supposed to be a soccer game except the other team's coach deciding running in the local marathon was more important, so it was simply an intra squad scrimmage.

Now today, little Ms. M wakes up and tells H and I that her little legs hurt. No wonder! She ran like crazy out there!! Except when she was twirling her pigtails and watching the soccer ball roll past her. But that was all toward the end when she was worn out.

She kept running over to me and asking if she was doing well...which of course she was. Then I'd get a, "Daddy...(heavy breathing)....I'm thirsty." So, I'd give her a little water and then she'd go sit with her team on the bench. No goals scored by her, but her goal is to get one more than E did when she played. That will be a tall tall order since E got a grand total of zero. I'll keep you updated.

I have returned

I know, it's been over a month since my last post. And I want to thank those of you that stopped me in my daily life to ask me where I have been. For those of you that don't know...I've been working...and working...and working. Mostly at my nine to five gig, but also at being Daddy.

I had forgotten over the last several months of trying to do two jobs at my nine to five job, what it is like to just have one of those responsibilities. I have a new direct report who took over my old position and it has been a real blessing. I still do work from home, but it is back to normal. I can go sign on after H has gone to work or everyone has gone sleep. I don't have to walk right in the door and hop back on the pc.

So...for the last few weeks, I've just been working on myself a little. Getting back to what I have been calling Justin organized. Not so dishelved that I felt like the world was spinning on a new axis. It's just been nice.

The Divine Ms. M

Yes, I have one of my own too. Mine is precocious, and sweet, a handful, a bundle of laughs, and a pleaser. The last part is what worries me as she gets older.

Earlier this week, Idol was on and I went into the living room to watch with the kids. E asked me a couple of times what I thought about a particular singer. I noticed that every opinion I gave M agreed. So then a few minutes later I asked her if she like the person...she said, "Daddy, what do you think?". I said, "I'm not sure. What do you think?" "Hmm...I don't like it.", she says. "Oh...I do like it M.". "Yeah...me too!"

I try to explain to her that she can have her own opinion. That she doesn't have to agree just because I tell her I like it. I tell her the only person she has to make happy is herself.

I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that she will realize this before puberty!!

I've run out of time

There just is not enough time in the day. If you have not already heard it through the grapevine, I was promoted a few weeks ago. It has been a long time in coming, but it is finally here.

Since that time, I have traveled to Tallahassee two times...next week will be the third. H and I have been like ships passing in the night, because she's been working quite a bit herself.

It's one of those things where I don't feel like I'm really giving anyone the time they need. I was sitting staring at H yesterday at dinner. I didn't really realize that I was doing that, but when she looked at me, she asked, "What". "I just miss you!", I said. The other night when she was at work I was on the computer doing work stuff and L comes up to me and says, "Daddy...I miss you when you in Tallahassee. You not going to Tallahassee tomorrow". "No Buddy, but next week I will". "Oh...Well I miss you next week when you in Tallahassee".

Here he is now..."Daddy...can I help you" He's helping me write this blog, by sitting over my shoulder.

Same thing at work...I don't feel like my staff is getting much...if any of my time. If I'm not in Tallahassee, then I'm in my office with the door shut on a call or in a meeting, or trying to set up interviews, or I'm breezing through the department off to another meeting.

And lastly, I haven't exercised in a week. I know...but I do it virtually everyday. So, what happened yesterday? Migraine. The worst one in the last two years...and the first one in six months. I still have affects from it today.

The bottom line of it is this. Every once in a while, I forget what it means to take time for myself and enjoy my time with the kids, with the staff, with my blogger, with my exercising and with the wife. Then my body in the way it likes to do, says....STOP!!

Today will be spent recuperating from yesterday. Building block towers with L. Playing catch and dodge ball with M. And spending some good quality H time...perhaps doing adult things, but you never know. :)

H liked that...you never know....she repeats. She says adult things like doing a cross word puzzle? We might become crossed, but it won't be on words. That one got me hit.

So...with that...I bid you a farewell until I return again.

It never goes away

I have finally come to the conclusion that the loss of a loved one never goes away. A few years ago, when my grandfather died; I was there by his side when he took his last breath. Moments before, he started to have tears run down his face as he gasped for air...then he was gone.

I still remember it vividly. I was shaken tremendously after he died. It took me the better part of two years to get to the point of when I was alone that I did not think about his last moments or wonder how death will be for my parents and other loved ones. Tonight though I was watching Grey's Anatomy on Tivo. Late in the show, George's father is taken off of his vent and is about to take his last gasps of air. As the music begins to play, I fast forward through the scene and H asks what I'm doing. I tell her I don't want to watch someone die. She reminds me that they are just actors and that its not real, but as I sit there thinking how familiar it all is to me and I start to get a strange feeling inside as I start to have tears go down my face and I realize as much as people say the pain will go away....it never does.

You do think about it less frequently, but it never really goes away!

Just a proud Daddy

Yesterday E comes home from school and tells Heather that they have given her first in a series of tests for gifted. E tells H that she thought she did well.

When H gets home the phone is ringing and it's E teacher...Ms. S. Ms. S tells H that E was given an IQ test. An average score is 90 - 109 and that she needs to score above 130 to move onto the next test. Ms. S is very excited...E got 149!!!

Now...H says to tell you all that does not mean she will get into gifted. And truthfully, I am probably giving her bad luck in telling this, but I'm just a proud Daddy!!

The Spelling Test

Tonight H was getting E ready for her spelling test tomorrow. E does well enough, but there is always several practice test given to be sure she knows her words.

E is completing the test on a piece of green construction paper. So when the first test is over, H asks her to turn over the paper to take it again. E turns over the paper and says, "I can't". H asks why and takes the piece of paper and this is the reason why the other side couldn't be used...on it is written:

Plan A. Try to scare L
Plan B. Put scary things on his wall
Plan C. Put plastic spiders on him
Done with the plans.

I can only imagine what they do to him when we're not watching!

The Tooth Fairy

As luck would have it, this past Wednesday my oldest daughter lost another tooth. Good for her, but not so good for Daddy. See, on this particular day, my kind and loving wife was going to work. Now, I've been the Tooth Fairy two other times, but this time E got me good.

At about 2:30 a.m. I wake up and realize that I had not made the swap yet. As I enter the room, M is in bed with E. I slide my hand under the pillow only to hear...crunch...scrunch. I feel paper. Not only had my daughter put her tooth under her pillow, but she also wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy.

In my head I'm thinking...child...why would you do this to your Daddy when your mother is not home? Oh boy!

Bleary eyed I carry the note and tooth into the kitchen. On the note are questions...how do you know when I lose a tooth? How do you know where I live? How do I know where she put her tooth? All I can do is shake my head and think...next time...we wait til Mama is home to help.

I write her back as neatly as I can...E...God tells me everything I need to know....TF.

So the next morning, she comes into the bedroom and tells me that she has gotten her money and about the note she wrote. I ask her what the Tooth Fairy's answers were and she said, "I just got one." "Well what is it", I ask. E puts her hands on her hips, looks disheveled and says, "God tells her everything she needs to know, signed TF." Turns in exasperation to walk out of the room and I say, "Well E, I don't know, but that sounds like a pretty good answer to me."

Ten Years Later

My wife H and I recently celebrated our ten year anniversary. At the end of this month, we will have actually been "in a relationship" for fourteen years. My mother would tell you the story that I came home from that date in my senior year of high school and told her that was going to be the girl I was going to marry.

While I don't quite remember it that way, I do know that from that first date and until now there is no one I rather spend my time with each day. There is not a person I feel more comfortable being around and there is no one else that totally gets and understands all of my quirks...and trust me...there are many of them.

I know that of the two of us, I was the much luckier one. I couldn't have asked for a better mother of our children or a better person to have lived the rest of my life with. Thank goodness for miracles!!

Oh...Virginia

I was at the folks house yesterday talking with my father yesterday and he was telling me of a conversation he had with a friend about global warming and more so...the movie An Inconvenient Truth.

Basically, this was the bottom line. She didn't like Al Gore. The movie is not about Al Gore or all of his political views. It's about the enviornment...yes...one of his political views, but it's not like it's a partisan movie like Fahrenheit 9/11. It's a movie to snap people to into action.

If you haven't seen it you should! I wish it would have come out 25 years ago, so we would have more time to act. We know the ice is melting and the water is rising. People will say...oh that's 50 years away...or 100 years away. I guess what that means is I don't give a crap, because I'll be dead and I'll just leave that problem for someone else to fix. I'm sure the future generations of this planet really appreciate that perspective.

2008 is Coming...Get Active

If you are not already sick of hearing about the election in 2008...you soon will be, because the banter has started earlier than ever.

I find it odd that both parties are already naming their front runners before most of the people know much if anything about the candidates. Think about it...they haven't even started on the campaign trail. At this point, the polls only show people's limited view and knowledge on the candidate. At this point in 1991, Clinton was no where on the radar...much less a front runner.

Today I want to encourage everyone to GET ACTIVE. Don't sit by and let others tell you what the candidates believe in. Don't let them put their thoughts about a candidate in your mind when they haven't done any reading or put any thought into it themselves.

I encourage you, no matter your party affiliation, to get active. Go online and read..and view video excerpts. There is so much information out there on every candidate. The nightly news newspapers, and the talk shows won't do it alone. Pull speech transcripts, pull video, and get to know these candidates.

Once you have decided who you feel is best for this country get the word out. Put the sign in your hard or window of your apartment. Put the bumper sticker on your car...and talk about the candidate to others until you are blue in the face.

Rest assure...as soon as I know this blog will be consumed with me pointing you in my direction!