Sorry to say, I have no pix. Santa didn't see fit to deliver a digital camera this year. The old one started crapping out early in the year and I have been afraid to look at it. Santa also didn't see fit to deliver the skateboard, pogo stick and scooter that Lucy requested. Santa is looking out, not for Lucy's health, but mine.
Mary and Lucy got a four dvd set of Looney Tune classics. They stayed up well past midnight on Christmas night to watch as much as they could.
I got some socks (yes!) and a meat thermometer probe with a transmitter, so I can know the internal temperature of my meat from up to 100 feet away - Just like Alton Brown (the Alton Brown of the Food Network, not the Alton Brown of the Newspaper Network of Central Ohio).
Store Scare
Lucy and I went to Meijers to buy some supplies for our buddy Mike in Iraq. I was looking at birthday cards and Lucy had the coveted position of cart pusher.
After selecting my card, I started walking towards the pharmacy section to pick up some lip balm and Q-tips. Lucy hates it when you pull the cart when she is pushing. It takes a deft hand to direct the cart so she doesn't knock someone on their kiester and still thinks she is in complete control. The key to fooling her is to not look. So, I walked down one aisle, skipped over to the next, went down that one and turned to Lucy to tell her something and she wasn't there.
It took almost a full minute for the panic to set in.
I retraced my steps and realized that I had no idea where it was that she stopped being with me.
I tried to stay in the same area of the store, while slowly increasing my search range. I was just about to stop an employee and announce my loss when Lucy came running up with a nice lady in tow. Phew! I didn't realize until I saw her, how scared I had become.
Apparently she had stopped to spin a globe.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
A story by Lucy
Lucy visited my office for about an hour yesterday.
Here is the story she wrote.
I basically took dictation:
MARION - Lucy Graser and her father Thomas have been busy making movies from still photographs they take in their back yard and house.
First the Grasers take the photos they want to put in the story. Then we put the sounds in them. Some of them don't have sounds. Then at the end we put them on a DVD and we watch them on the TV.
"My dad is a real good story maker," Lucy said. "Even, we made it a game because I am good at a making stories too."
So far, they have made a movie about playing hide and go seek, Uno and the Popcorn Festival.
"We want to make a lot of movies next summer," Thomas said. "I am especially interested in making actual moving pictures."
Lucy is five-years-old and attends Epworth Pre-School where she is in Mrs. Meyer's and Mrs. Colgrove's class.
Lucy can count to 51 before she gets tired.
Tom is the editor of The Marion Star newspaper. He likes to cook on his barbecue and tell jokes.
"He's the funniest dad ever," Lucy said.
Here is the story she wrote.
I basically took dictation:
MARION - Lucy Graser and her father Thomas have been busy making movies from still photographs they take in their back yard and house.
First the Grasers take the photos they want to put in the story. Then we put the sounds in them. Some of them don't have sounds. Then at the end we put them on a DVD and we watch them on the TV.
"My dad is a real good story maker," Lucy said. "Even, we made it a game because I am good at a making stories too."
So far, they have made a movie about playing hide and go seek, Uno and the Popcorn Festival.
"We want to make a lot of movies next summer," Thomas said. "I am especially interested in making actual moving pictures."
Lucy is five-years-old and attends Epworth Pre-School where she is in Mrs. Meyer's and Mrs. Colgrove's class.
Lucy can count to 51 before she gets tired.
Tom is the editor of The Marion Star newspaper. He likes to cook on his barbecue and tell jokes.
"He's the funniest dad ever," Lucy said.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
My buddy Ashvegas is smart enough to know how to host audio for his blog, so I hijacked this from him. It's Lucy talking, as usual.
Lucy on the Nativity
This was actually the fourth time we heard this story.
One night at dinner (yes, we eat at the dining room table every night now and have a conversation, even if the conversation consists of us asking Lucy to keep her yammering pie hole over her plate while she talk/eats) and Lucy looked at me and said, "Even, did you know that baby jeesef was real?"
Lucy starts a lot of sentences with the word, "even." She also likes "always" and "actually."
Anyway, she told the story of baby Jeesef, "They had to ride to the hospital on a donkey!"
The next night I sat her in front of a microphone and asked her to repeat the story. She said she couldn't remember it, so I asked a lot of questions to coax it out of her. When she heard it played back she asked if she could tell it again.
The second take was all Lucy narrative. We listened to that one and she asked to tell it again. That's when she really hammed it up. And that is what Ash posted.
I think there might be a way to make money off this kid yet.
Lucy on the Nativity
This was actually the fourth time we heard this story.
One night at dinner (yes, we eat at the dining room table every night now and have a conversation, even if the conversation consists of us asking Lucy to keep her yammering pie hole over her plate while she talk/eats) and Lucy looked at me and said, "Even, did you know that baby jeesef was real?"
Lucy starts a lot of sentences with the word, "even." She also likes "always" and "actually."
Anyway, she told the story of baby Jeesef, "They had to ride to the hospital on a donkey!"
The next night I sat her in front of a microphone and asked her to repeat the story. She said she couldn't remember it, so I asked a lot of questions to coax it out of her. When she heard it played back she asked if she could tell it again.
The second take was all Lucy narrative. We listened to that one and she asked to tell it again. That's when she really hammed it up. And that is what Ash posted.
I think there might be a way to make money off this kid yet.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Monday, December 05, 2005
found this in a New family member
Peter James Reynolds arrived recently. Mary and Lucy were immediately dispatched to Chateaugay to check him out and take some photos. Here are some:
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Spelling Lucy
Lucy can spell, "cat" and "dog" and "Lucy" and "I want a skateboard for Christmas."
Mary made this chalkboard. It's magnetic.
Mary made this chalkboard. It's magnetic.
The Kittens
Here are the two kittens that thrust themselves into our lives this year. Shandy, on the left, came first in August. Scaredy, who lives under Lucy's bed, came second at the end of September.
I think they might be sisters. I am convinced that if I had not found Scaredy when I did, she would have died soon. She was very skinny and scared and about half the size of Shandy who we had been feeding for a month.
Now we have three cats.
Three cats are a lot more than two cats.
New dining room and Christmas
Mary's mom and dad helped us put down a new floor in our dining room and helped us acquire our first dining room table. We have been slowly putting up Christmas decorations.
I took this photo. That's why it sucks.
When I say that Mary's mom and dad helped us, I mean that Mary's dad did most of the work. I held the light a lot. Mary's mom watched Lucy and cooked. Mary did the sanding and painting that was necessary.
And when I say that we have been slowly putting up Christmas decorations, I mean that Mary has been slowly putting up Christmas decorations.
And when I say that this picture sucks, I mean that I don't know what I am doing.
I took this photo. That's why it sucks.
When I say that Mary's mom and dad helped us, I mean that Mary's dad did most of the work. I held the light a lot. Mary's mom watched Lucy and cooked. Mary did the sanding and painting that was necessary.
And when I say that we have been slowly putting up Christmas decorations, I mean that Mary has been slowly putting up Christmas decorations.
And when I say that this picture sucks, I mean that I don't know what I am doing.
Everyone loves leaves or loves then leaves
There is about an inch of snow on the ground this morning but we just got the fall leaf raking photos back. Ah for the halcyon days of leaf raking.
As I snapped this photo I was guessing that she was about to jam her knees up into her chin. In my mind, I was mapping out the route to the emergency room.
Fortunately, she landed safely. We have been seeing a lot of that grin lately. She looks like her cousin Marley, I think.
Leaf angels are a good idea, in theory only.
As I snapped this photo I was guessing that she was about to jam her knees up into her chin. In my mind, I was mapping out the route to the emergency room.
Fortunately, she landed safely. We have been seeing a lot of that grin lately. She looks like her cousin Marley, I think.
Leaf angels are a good idea, in theory only.
Lucy's Room
Still don't have a working digital camera so we are limited to when we get photos.
Let's start out with a look at Lucy's newly decorated room.
Here is how it looks as you walk in the room. The whole room is sort of built around the Gary the Snail table.
Here you are a few steps into the room. If it looks a little busy, it's because Lucy is a busy little girl.
Here is a shot of Lucy's bed. Under the bed is Scardey the cat. The floor was, until recently, covered up with a very old carpet. We didn't to do anything but pull it up and mop a little.
This is a shot looking back at the closet. Notice the magnetic chalkboard on the wall. I think Lucy is a pretty lucky kid.
Let's start out with a look at Lucy's newly decorated room.
Here is how it looks as you walk in the room. The whole room is sort of built around the Gary the Snail table.
Here you are a few steps into the room. If it looks a little busy, it's because Lucy is a busy little girl.
Here is a shot of Lucy's bed. Under the bed is Scardey the cat. The floor was, until recently, covered up with a very old carpet. We didn't to do anything but pull it up and mop a little.
This is a shot looking back at the closet. Notice the magnetic chalkboard on the wall. I think Lucy is a pretty lucky kid.
Saturday, November 26, 2005
I created a slide show
This is our trip to Notre Dame in a slide show. Not a lot of new photos, but a fun way to view them.
Monday, November 21, 2005
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Notre Dame Vs. Syracuse
We knew it wasn't going to be much of a game. Syracuse made it interesting by scoring first, but then they didn't score again until the Notre Dame second team defense took the field in the 4th quarter.
Still, we had fun.
Here we are posing at half-time. The Notre Dame marching band played a selection of journey and Def Leppard songs for some reason.
I took this photo so I couldn't tell that the little Irish fan in the background was sneaking into my view finder. The Notre Dame fans were all civil. I think it might be because we posed no threat.
We were sitting up pretty high.
It all started out with a tailgate party. We got there at about 10 a.m. and the game did not start until 2:30. We really had some time to kill.
These guys were actual Irishmen, who now live in Chicago and root for the Irish.
Go figure. They were two cars down from us in the parking lot.
We didn't want to pose before the Touchdown Jesus, but we felt we had to. You can click on these photos for some enlargement goodness. The detail is incredible.
If you were wondering were you sit with a $56 ticket at Notre Dame - this is it. You would think they would have a better scoreboard.
I have no idea what it takes to get a seat over in the enclosed area. It looked like they might have been warm. We were in the shade for the entire game and got pretty cold when the sun went down.
It was bright and sunny when the Notre Dame Marching Band took the field before the game.
The shade moved in pretty early in the game.
It got dark before it was over.
Mike got the tickets and did all the driving. What a guy.
Dad and I were just along for the ride.
We tried not to draw any attention, but Mike couldn't help himself.
Still, we had fun.
Here we are posing at half-time. The Notre Dame marching band played a selection of journey and Def Leppard songs for some reason.
I took this photo so I couldn't tell that the little Irish fan in the background was sneaking into my view finder. The Notre Dame fans were all civil. I think it might be because we posed no threat.
We were sitting up pretty high.
It all started out with a tailgate party. We got there at about 10 a.m. and the game did not start until 2:30. We really had some time to kill.
These guys were actual Irishmen, who now live in Chicago and root for the Irish.
Go figure. They were two cars down from us in the parking lot.
We didn't want to pose before the Touchdown Jesus, but we felt we had to. You can click on these photos for some enlargement goodness. The detail is incredible.
If you were wondering were you sit with a $56 ticket at Notre Dame - this is it. You would think they would have a better scoreboard.
I have no idea what it takes to get a seat over in the enclosed area. It looked like they might have been warm. We were in the shade for the entire game and got pretty cold when the sun went down.
It was bright and sunny when the Notre Dame Marching Band took the field before the game.
The shade moved in pretty early in the game.
It got dark before it was over.
Mike got the tickets and did all the driving. What a guy.
Dad and I were just along for the ride.
We tried not to draw any attention, but Mike couldn't help himself.
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Friday, November 11, 2005
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Insulation
I spent much of the day Saturday and part of Sunday installing insulation in my attic crawl space off our spare bedroom.
I am now waiting for someone to say, "R-19? You might as well piss in your pants to stay warm this winter."
I am now waiting for someone to say, "R-19? You might as well piss in your pants to stay warm this winter."
Saturday, November 05, 2005
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Friday, October 28, 2005
all-time Non-gender-specific first name baseball team
I was inspired to put this on the blog after watching the introduction of the Latino Legends baseball team before the last game of the World Series the other night.
I have been thinking about this for a long time.
All of these guys qualify because they have names that are just as suitable for girls as they are for boys and they are hall of famers.
Being in the hall of fame was the only playing requirement. After that it was the non-gender-specific quality of their names that got them on the list.
Please let me know if you have any suggestions.
Catcher
Gabby Hartnett
Connie Mack
Connie Mack is in the hall of fame as a manager and all-around baseball legend. When he played he was a catcher.
First Base
Lou Gehrig
Second Base
Nellie Fox
Third base
Brooks Robinson
short stop
Robin Yount
Outfield
Babe Ruth
Kiki Cuyler
Chick Hafey
Pitchers
Christy Mathewson
Jesse Haines
Sandy Koufax
I have been thinking about this for a long time.
All of these guys qualify because they have names that are just as suitable for girls as they are for boys and they are hall of famers.
Being in the hall of fame was the only playing requirement. After that it was the non-gender-specific quality of their names that got them on the list.
Please let me know if you have any suggestions.
Catcher
Gabby Hartnett
Connie Mack
Connie Mack is in the hall of fame as a manager and all-around baseball legend. When he played he was a catcher.
First Base
Lou Gehrig
Second Base
Nellie Fox
Third base
Brooks Robinson
short stop
Robin Yount
Outfield
Babe Ruth
Kiki Cuyler
Chick Hafey
Pitchers
Christy Mathewson
Jesse Haines
Sandy Koufax
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)