Return of the Cone Heads!

Does this look like a familiar picture to anyone? The annual ritual of making our children happy by making them look like cone heads.

It was CG's special day today and we had a small party at Grandma's house. YIPPEE !! it wasn't at my house. Don't get me wrong I love my kids and all, but I don't like having all the kids (that are not mine) mess up my house. I used to look at people that would spend a fortune at a place the sells pizza and has a mouse come out and say hi to the kids (can't say the name I now hate this place, but I bet you know what place I am talking about) like they were nuts. After three kids I now understand, your not paying for the pizza and the mouse, you are paying to keep everyone out of your house and the stress that goes with it. Well CG had a great day, it was a Dora the Explorer birthday.


Her brother had some fun as well. As you can see he decided that he would be the triple cone head, or punk rocker can you see the resemblance? If he decides to go this route as a teenager he is going to look like me by force.

I Can't Drive 55 !!!!!

This is one one of my favorite rock songs, "I Can't Drive 55" by Sammy Hagar. However sometimes living by that philosophy, can get me in trouble. As it did the other day. I was visiting my mother-in-law and was traveling down the road that heads to her house and I got busted.

The speed limit / recommendation, was 35 MPH. Now usually I try not to be 10 MPH over the recommendation, this time my foot was a little heavier than usual (I should have a license plate that reads "Pb Foot", go back to chemistry class to figure it out) and I was not paying attention. As I was traveling (flying) down the road, out of the corner of my eye I see one of Pennsylvania's finest.Now why is it that no matter when you see one of these beautiful cars sitting on the side of the road you hit the breaks and slow down. Why don't we look at the speedometer and say hey I am driving the speed limit and all is good. I would guess it it because most of us don't drive the speed limit. So we assume that we are driving to fast and need to slow down.For me however at that point it was too late. I was busted! I slowed down as soon as I saw him and I knew he was going to pull out and test his lights to make sure that they were working, right behind me! So I pulled into the nearest neighborhood and started the routine of digging through all the other trash in the glove box looking for my registration, insurance, and thank goodness I had my license. My wife knows all to well that there are times that I leave my licences at home by accident. v>

So I gave the nice trooper my info and he tells me why he pulled me over. "Sir, you were going 53 in a 35 zone". Ouch! 18 MPH over the limit. This is going to hurt. Mr. Trooper takes the info that I have provided and walks back to his car to write me a note (or ticket). Whatever you call it we all know that we don't ever want to get one. As the officer is in his car my wife and I are already discussing

What Were They Thinking!

Well you see all sorts of things in NYC, and this was one of them. This was hanging inside a building on Lexington Ave. in NYC. This is a very high class building.

Now, what is the first thing that comes to mind when you see these. If you mind works like mine, the first thing I thought was boy some big urinals. Notice the door on the right, these things are about 8' tall.

Now as Paul Harvey would say "now for the rest of the story". The person that was responsible for buying and having this .....interesting art work installed was on site as they were being put in. Preface that with the fact that the building was still under construction and there were construction workers in the building. Now we all know how subtle construction workers can be. So one of them said "looks like and elephant urinal". The art purchaser heard this comment and left the building in tears. I guess she should have taken a guy along when she was looking at buying this art work. Or at least walked into a men's room. Two pictures look alike don't they?

Stuck in a Closet

So I have been going to NYC on a weekly basis for about the last 3 weeks now. Quite and interesting experience.

Now I have been to NYC before as a tourist however not in the capacity of a business traveler that has to stay over night. So the last few times that I have had to stay in a hotel, the price and the SIZE or lack there of has been surprising.

I have stayed at two hotels in the Manhattan area. One was the Hotel Pennsylvania, supposedly a famous hotel in Manhattan. Two hundred bucks for the night and the AC did not work. I was very hot and uncomfortable for the whole night. The next morning I find that the shower head was placed at a level for say ................. my son who is a whopping 4 feet tall. However for me at 6'1" my chest gets quite the blast of water, and for those of you that know me and the condition of my head, soaking my head before shaving makes me look like a cripple that can't stand up straight in the shower (Sorry to give you all that image, I know it is burned in your mind now). So I decided that I would not be returning to this hotel.

Hotel two Econo Lodge, the name is quite deceiving for a hotel in NYC, nothing Econ about it. Cost $206.00 per night. I think the room was smaller than the last one. I could shimmy around the bed but walking like a normal human was kind of out of the question. As you can see from the picture, if someone was sitting at the desk you can forget getting to the bed. Now on to the pluses. The shower head was actually above my head, and the AC in the room did work and I was quite comfortable. So I think I have found the place that I will be staying for the times I have to go up to NYC. The "NOT ECONO LODGE" on 47th st.

Tales From the Dark Side

Well it was Halloween yesterday and the kids could not wait to walk around the neighborhood and collect all the tooth rotting candy they could from every possible person that they could. So around 5:30 I started to get them ready to go. KZ decided to go as the evil Lord Vader, SM was a fish in the sea, Princess Ariel, and CG was a butterfly.

Now CG thought she was Luke Skywalker. Before we left for the night she says to me "KZ is Darth Vader" yup that is right I said. Then to show that she has seen the movie and knows it a bit well she says "Darth Vader is my father!" I got a good laugh out of that.

So off we go candy collecting, and did we make out. We have about 5 pounds of candy that mostly I will eat. I must sacrifice my body for the well being of my children, or in the famous words of Spock "The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few!" So next time you see me and my teeth look rotten and falling out and I weigh 20 more pounds (yes that's right I said 5 pounds of candy, however once eaten it multiplies by 4. So my recommendation don't eat 20 pounds of candy) you will know that it was because I love my kids so much that I did this.

To Puke or Not to Puke That is the Question......

So have you ever gotten up in the morning and known that you are going to have a crummy day? Well that is what happened to SM and CG the other day. They both got up and lasted about one hour before the fun began. CG was laying in mom and dad's bed when it started. You know what I mean that feeling that starts in you toes and works it's way up through your legs, into your stomach (key location) and up to you head. Specifically your mouth and then if you are lucky into your throne of choice.

CG however did not make it to her throne of choice, I don't even think that she knew that she was supposed to go to the throne. She doesn't use it for anything else why would she go there? After her first experience with the urge to regurg, CG decided that it was best to just put her hands over her mouth and keep it in that way. Not totally successful however. So KZ and Mrs. Clean we on constant vigil to throw something in front of CG to catch the deposit.

SM was not far behind in the regurg department, however she is a great sprinter and does make it to the throne quite often. About every half hour to be precise, for most of the day. As you can see from the picture, she wised up and just decided to park herself in front of the alter, making it much easier to deposit the sacrifice.

Well after a morning of playing catch the puke and praying to the porcelain convenience, the fun ended. AMEN! and they were both fine by dinner time. Hopefully that won't happen again anytime soon. If it does I hope it doesn't start in my bed.