I hugged the neighbor.....

As many of you know our little angels go to two different daycares. Both are in our neighborhood...one is across the street, where Katelyn and Ashley are her only kids. One is two houses down and she has somewhere around 7 to 10 kids. My wife could tell you exactly how many there are..but I have never been a stickler for details.

I give you this background, because an amazing thing happened. Rhonda (the daycare two houses down) told us that she would be having a sleepover for all the girls in the daycare. It was going to be Saturday night, and both Katleyn and Ashley were invited to stay the night.

The ENTIRE night.

The invite to the sleepover said it would start around 5:00.

At 4:58 we took this picture:

At exactly 5PM, we met every other parent at the sleepover, as apparently everyone wanted every minute they could get. We confirmed with Rhonda that Ashley could stay the night. On the way out, we asked her husband Phil if he knew what he was getting into.

Knowing that I was dropping my two girls off at 5PM, not being expected to pick them up until the following morning at 9AM, and that I did not have to pay for it....I hugged him.

My wife and I had a quiet night alone, enjoying the scenery on Lake Waconia from Lola's patio. I spent the night staring into Kelly's eyes and confessing my love.... It was either confessing my love or eating Calamari....

The next morning, we picked up the kids. They had a GREAT time and Katelyn asked when the next party was.

The next "party" is with Grandma and Grandpa this weekend as my mom and dad offered to watch them for the night on my birthday.

Yes, I plan on hugging my parents as well on Friday when we drop them off.

I will encourage them to enjoy sleepovers, but because I think they will still like sleeping here better, I love my girls....

How I lost 5 pounds with a "desk job"....

I am a recruiter. Typically, this means I spend the majority of my day talking to potential new employees for my company. I am oversimplifying what I do....but the details aren't necessary. All you need to understand is that I sit behind a desk with a phone a computer for 8+ hours a day. I still lost weight on Tuesday of this week, and the following story details how:


I had to leave early today to pick up my kids from daycare. This meant I had to leave the office at 4PM. Because I am a multi-tasker I had scheduled a phone screen at 4:15. I figured I could be in my car, and receive the call, and walk through the phone screen, etc..

I got into my car at 4:13, and started it up. I drive a Ford Explorer. I tell you this because if any of you own a Ford Explorer you know that the air conditioning is not the fastest to cool down, and while it is trying to cool down, the fan blows at mach 3 and is loud.

I started the truck, and looked at the temperature gauge, it said 92 degrees Fahrenheit. For those of you in Canada, I have no idea what this is in Celsius….but no matter where you are this is hot. No problem, as remember I am a multi-tasker. I can deal with the fan blowing while conducting a phone screen and should only be uncomfortable for a few minutes.

The candidate, true to the plan, called me at exactly 4:15. Not sticking to the plan, I quickly learned that communication skills were not his forte. In fact, on a scale of 1-10, 10 being good…I would put him at a 2… only because I understood “Hello”.

I looked down, the gauge now read 94. Unfortunately, because I did not want the candidate to think I was not giving him a fair interview, I decided that I would strain to understand what he was saying….but this meant that I had to turn off the air conditioning as I simply could not hear him well enough.

I could not role down the windows, as the wind was too noisy for me to strain and understand his answers to my questions.

So….94 degrees is hot for an average person. Although I am not morbidly obese…I could stand to lose a few pounds….and because of this 94 degrees is really hot.

But as they say in recruiting “the phone screen must go on”…

So I turned off the air conditioning and rolled up the windows, thereby creating a moving sauna…. And started in with my questions.

Hoping this phone screen could be short, I went with the abridged version….but 6 minutes in I was sweating more then I have in a long time.

To close the interview, I graciously asked if he had any questions for me. When I asked this question, I was praying that he would respond “No, I will save them for the interview”….instead…I think he said “I have a few”….

29 minutes later I had answered all his questions. Because I struggled to understand him, I will admit that I answered two questions, not even really sure what he asked.

One time he either said "Do you have growth opportunities" or "can I work in China?". So, of course I answered "we have growth opportunities in China...."

So, the phone screen lasted a total of 42 minutes. Conducted in a rolling sauna with a temp of 94 degrees. I believe I lost 5 pounds. There is a chance I fainted twice as it got really hard to breathe about halfway through.

When I got home, I took off my shirt, and literally could ring it out as it was drenched.

So, for those of you who think we can’t lose weight with a “desk job” I will give you a phone number of someone you can phone screen and you too can lose some weight while working…..

Because they will love me even when I sweat....I love my girls...

"Mommy, this is what princesses have to wear....."

When mom went to put clothes on her for the day, Katelyn picked this outfit and wore it all day because...well, that is what princesses do.

Because they sometimes carry magical wands......I love my girls.

Would the Grinch really steal Christmas from her.....

Seriously....don't you think my kid looks like one of those Who's down in WhoVille.......and no....I don't know why the glass of milk looks bigger then her head in the picture...

Please stop the search....I found my watch...or I should at least say that Kelly did...let me break it down for you:

I could not find m watch for the last two weeks. I looked and looked and nothing. Every day if not twice a day I asked my wife if she had seen it. Yesterday, when I got home from work, I asked my wife for the 79th time if she had seen my watch. She responds, "(sigh) Do you want me to find it for you?"

I was stunned. Literally, that was her question. I have been looking for this watch for two weeks, have asked her every hour on the hour if she knew where it was and she had to ask if I wanted her to find it. I was this close to telling her "no, I think it is fun to just keep asking you if you have seen it.'

Because I enjoy making out with my wife, I went with "yes honey, if you think you can"

Twelve minutes later, she gave me my watch. I was happy it was found....I was mad that she did in twelve minutes what I could not do in two weeks. Although, part of me thinks she is the one that hid it just to play this mean trick on me.

On a different note, our fence gets built tomorrow. Jimmy has told me no short of 37 times that if he hits a sprinkler head or hose, it is not his fault... Please cross your fingers.

Because they will never hide my possessions, I love my girls...

So much to talk about

So, first to catch you up, we went on a family vacation for Memorial Day Weekend. This meant that we headed up to Brainerd. For those of you who don't know, Brainerd is up north and it is where everyone goes for memorial day weekend. We went up on Saturday deciding to stay at a waterpark. I was a little hesitant...but my wife said to have faith.

To her credit.....it was awesome. Huge water slides, lazy river, 33 fountains, dinosaur spray and hoses galore. Sadly, Katelyn only liked the hoses....so dad didn't get to try any of the big water slides. I did convince her to try the lazy river...she hated it and asked if we could go back to the hoses. Ashley loved it all.

As a side note, my wife is hot in a bikini.

Next, I cleaned out the garage. My parents have a slip on the lake they live on. Yes....they live the good life. They were kind enough though to not buy a boat, meaning that we could put ours on their slip. If anyone from their builder is a reader of my blog though, I swear it is their boat and we are lucky to use it once in a while.

We took the kids out on "my parents" boat. I'll show you pictures in a bite...needless to say Katelyn was awesome, loving every minute.... and true to form, Ashley was a handful....although still loved it.

Last update, many of you know that I am the neighborhood watch patrol for Hunter's Crest. I have the non-emergency police number memorized. Sad to say, I had to put the number into action last night.

Somehow, 7 teenagers thought it was cool to play basketball in our park at 11PM. I decided it was not. Congrats to the Minnestrista police department, as the non-emergency response time was 6 minutes.

They kicked the kids out of the park....and I went to sleep feeling good about myself because as my mother taught me at a young age; no sense in staying out late because "what can you do after 10 PM that you can't do before 10 PM".

Because they will never be able to stay out past 8:30PM...I love my girls....

We're even

So, for those of you following, I had a bout with Gout that left my wife taking care of the fam for a couple of days. For those of you who felt bad for her.....no worries....her and I are even.

My wife has had a flu/cold/asthma/allergies/anything else you can put here for the past 6 days. SIX DAYS. Before you read the next sentence, you need to understand that on any old average day, I honestly think my wife is hot....and I mean that in the sexy sort of way. Three days ago though, with her hair everywhere, her nose three times bigger then normal, one eye drooping, and a continuous line of snot coming out of her nose....well....let's just say that kid number three was not conceived this week.

I have been daddy day care for the past few days, although tonight she was back in shape in helping out. But, now you understand my lack of posts.

A few quick updates:

1) My kids rock. Even without mom around, they minded their manners, and went to bed on time. Thank you Katelyn and Ashley.

2) My parents closed on their house. Congrats mom and dad, I can't think of anyone who deserves their dream home more than you.

3) We are building a fence, scheduled to be built in two weeks. Jimmy Pass of Pass fence is building it. Yes.....his name is Jimmy.

4) I start implementation of a new recruiting system at work next week. This is boring for most people to read, but a cool thing to say I held a major part in.

5) For our 6 year anniversary, my wife and I are hiring a cleaning lady to come on Friday in the day. Our kids will be sleeping at Grandma and Grandpa's house for the weekend. I cannot tell you how excited my wife and I are to just live in a clean house for two days....it is our gift to each other.

6) I took my kids to work today. Gotta be honest....I was pretty proud of them.

Because they behaved at daddy's work, and for so many other reasons....I love my girls....

Gout....

After 6 days of pain, and watching my ankle swell to the size of a small beach ball, I went to the doctor today.  For those of you who don't know, I have gout.  Gout is a concentration of uric acid that forms crystals on your joints that are like shards of glass.  You think I am making that up, but I swear to you that is how the doctor described it to me when I was first diagnosed two years ago.

It is painful.

For those of you who have read previously blogs of mine, let me put it into perspective:  even my dad would be in pain if he had gout.

Gout is a hereditary disease.  No one else in my family has ever had it.  Crohn's is a hereditary disease.  No one else in my family has ever had it.  Mom, Dad....do you need to tell me something?

The short version of my visit to the doctor is this;  After looking at my foot and ankle, the doctor exclaims...that looks like it hurts.  I am not sure if it was his Harvard education, or the fact that I was sweating profusely, had an ankle that was swollen to the size of Mount Rushmore, or if it was the little whimpering noises I was uncontrollably making that helped him form this conclusion...but I was impressed.  

Regardless, he gave me oodles of drugs including starting with prednizone to act as an anti inflammatory, something that starts with a C and sounds like and Italian mob boss Cicatone or something like that that sucks the uric acid out of a body and most importantly, vicotin for the pain.  Because I literally have slept 6 hours in the past three days without pain medicine...I quickly asked him to become my family doctor of record.

I went to the doctor because I have watched my wife take care of my kids for the last 5 days without my help.  I literally could not stand, I did nothing to help get them fed, get them in bed, get them dressed, well...anything.  My wife took care of it, and not once did she bitch about it.  I know she wasn't happy about it....but if I  were a single parent to a one and three year old while my other half was sitting on the couch I would have complained.

So, I had to get in to try and get this fixed.

Happy to say that after taking 7 of the ten pills prescribed to take, I am on the upswing.  I even bathed the kids tonight.  

For so many reasons, I am most likely not going to win father of the year this year.. but I still think my wife might have a shot in her category.

Because they still smile and give me hugs even when I can't walk.....I love my girls.