Here’s to staring down the barrel of another week. At least it’s a short one. Let’s do this. Hello, Monday!
Blog
-
Kitchen Staples
The two foods you are guaranteed to find in our pantry are peanut butter and jelly. It’s as natural as salt and pepper or ketchup and mustard. Seldom will you see one used more than the other. From breakfast toast to lunch sandwiches and sometimes even as a side for dinner, these two condiments must remain in constant supply for those rare occasions when dad has to ‘cook’. Yes sir, to the kids in our household and the chefs that feed them, PB&J are staple ingredients.
-
Library Books
Part of our boys’ weekly routine is a visit to the school library. They’re allowed to check out two each week, which isn’t much but when you consider we borrow twenty-five or so books from the public library each month. Combined with all the books we already own, there is no shortage of reading material at our house.
With so many books to keep track of, we need to be careful where we store them. The four school library books seldom make it further than the living room coffee table whereas the public dozens have a special shelf in the boys’ room.
We’re usually really good about keeping track of all our books but one library book about Puffins went missing almost a month ago. We’ve searched high and low. Even an exhaustive room cleaning today left us empty-handed. Looks like we’re soon-to-be proud owners of an MIA Puffin book. What the heck is a Puffin anyway? Unless we find that book, no one will ever know.
-
Recycling
I wonder how long it will be before Bismarck fully embraces recycling. We’ve always recycled aluminum but have recently added plastic and tin to our stash within the past couple years. It’s amazing how little garbage actually gets hauled to the landfill when you start sorting through it. I would say our trash bin is only 25% full when we put it on the curb each week where before it was spilling over.
Unlike larger markets, this town lacks any curbside service for recyclables, so if you want to recycle you end up stockpiling it in your house. When the sight (or smell) becomes too much to bear you load it up and haul it to one of the few collection sites.
For us, recycling really wasn’t too cumbersome because the nearest collection site was within a few blocks of our house. Now they’ve moved the plastic collection bin to a site further away. If the process remains this inconvenient I don’t see the recycling effort gaining much steam. I can’t think of a bigger deterrent to those already unmotivated to even consider recycling under the current system.
-
Organization
Those that know me well would admit that I have a touch of OCD. Yes, I am particular about a few things and though I can be fussy, it applies only to certain things. If you were to look at my desk you’d never come to the conclusion that I have these tendencies. Skyscrapers of paper litter my desktop in a sloppy but ironically efficient manner. I still know where to find everything. At some point I have to purge the piles to get organized… not so much for the physical benefits of being able to see my desktop but to put my mind at ease. In so many ways my work space is like compartments of my brain. The more cluttered it is, the more I’m thinking and focusing on. Empty desk, empty head.
If you think this behavior is crazy, you’ll be surprised to know that I’ve gotten extremely lax compared to how I used to be. I could justify spending an entire Saturday washing, waxing and detailing my car (toothpicks, Q-tips and all). And before you conjure up this image of some spoiled young teenager obsessing over his convertible, candy apple red muscle car just know that I did this all for a hatchback. Now that’s crazy!
-
LEGOS
If there’s one toy my two boys play with the most, it would have to be LEGOS. And just when we think they couldn’t possibly store another brick, they want more. I swear they have enough now to erect a modest tower to the moon. Their constant wanting is not without cause, however. We caved to their requests a while ago to subscribe to LEGO Brickmaster Magazine, which is nothing more than a glorified catalog that’s being passed off as a legit publication.
Featured betwix the covers of this full color, slick bi-monthly you’ll find: a comic strip of LEGO characters interacting in the latest LEGO theme set, submitted ‘Brickmaster’ reader photos of their LEGO creations, and several full page advertisements for the next ‘must have’ theme soon to be released by LEGO.
I try to explain to the boys the impossibility of them acquiring an entire set because some collections are endless. I’ve also tried convincing them that, believe it or not, more toys will NOT satisfy their selfishness or supply their eternal happiness. The usual response is either disgusted or puzzled looks that seem to say “Dad, you don’t know what you’re talking about”.
All things considered, LEGO is still the most ‘creative’ toy you can invest in and my boys never seem to tire of them. I’m sure there will come a day when I will miss constantly having those wretched LEGOS underfoot because right now they’ve basically taken over our entire basement.
-
Joy in Mudville
The spring thaw has spawned yet another veritable paradise for boys… Mudville. Regardless of how many times we remind them to avoid the water and mud it seems to find them like iron filings to an electromagnet. Of course, I didn’t exactly make it easy for them not to get dirty.
Last fall, just before the snow flew, I managed to finish our brick paver patio (it’s been doubling lately as the neighborhood boys’ hangout for half court basketball). Unfortunately the yard surrounding the patio was not yet seeded so the recent foot traffic has dug up plenty of earthy, adobe goodness. Ahh, Spring!
-
In Search of…
It’s time to dig deep. Time to reach down inside and pull out something that wasn’t there just minutes before. Sometimes it’s easy. Other times it’s painful. The simple fact is it’s everywhere and nowhere. It is what you make it. It’s putting the pen to paper to see what happens. Once you get it you must embrace it. Run with it. Does it move? Does it speak? It’s but a moment captured. An image later to be analyzed and critiqued. Dismissed. Released. It’s gone.
-
Money Talks
It’s funny how people’s attitudes about wealth in this country have become skewed. One of the things that makes this country great is the freedom of choice. Every time you are faced with more than one option you have the ability to exercise the power of that freedom. When you make a decision to purchase you’re essentially voting with your dollar. It’s a simple concept, I know, but how many people look at it that way?
The price of goods and services is largely determined by the law of supply and demand. Why then do some Americans have a problem with businesses that have become wealthy? In most cases, their wealth is simply the spoils of working hard to develop and sell a product or service that the people have determined they want. The more demand, the higher the price. If you don’t want to line the pockets of (insert successful widget-seller here) then don’t buy their product (that is, assuming you have a choice).
It makes little sense in my mind to bellyache about the high price of something and then turn around and buy some of it. You’re perpetuating the law that makes it so. Granted, your vote won’t override the millions of others but if everyone truly looked at their money in this way I’m sure we’d all become more fiscally responsible. If only it were that simple.
-
The Talk
I knew the day was coming, but the school curriculum pretty much sealed the date. My oldest son’s class will soon be covering HIV in science and with it will come some talk about ‘changes’ they are all going through. Rather than have a bunch of squirrelly school boys educating each other, I thought I’d step in.
After having a nice lunch I thought I’d take him for a drive where we could discuss the topic with some privacy. After pulling into a parking lot and turning off the vehicle, I knew he was suspicious about why I wasn’t getting out. Nothing can prepare you for the awkwardness that this moment brings and once I started there was no turning back. I was going to have ‘the talk’ whether either of us were ready for it.
I must have gotten a little too graphic because at one point he complained of having a stomach ache and actually got out of the van to sit down in the parking lot. I thought he was going to refund his lunch. After the initial queasiness wore off I found out a little about what he knew and let him know where the boundaries were. We even shared some stories that we could both laugh about. Ultimately I wanted him to know that if he ever had questions about anything, that he could come talk to me.
Afterward he looked at me and said, “Dad, I feel more mature right now.” I told him how proud we were of the young man he was becoming but that he was still a boy and not to get carried away with his ‘maturity’. He’s a smart kid and I know he’ll learn more than what I’ve told him today, but being there to teach him the secret handshake of manhood was quite the experience. The talk with son number two will be in another three years. I should be ready.