Officially Southern...

Isaiah (5): "Mommy, I can't do it!"
Haydee (7): "Bless his heart..."

A library by another name...

Haydee (7, watching Rachel Weisz's library scene in The Mummy): "What is she doing?! She's destroying the book factory!"

Miss Haydee on Tornadoes

Haydee (6): "Tornadoes are made of water and flying things. Water is made of drinks with no flavor. You don't want to get stuck in a tornado or you will get dizzy and die..."

The "Stupid" Color

Me: "James, what's your favorite color?"
James (7): "Red."
Me: "Red or maroon?"
James: "Not maroon.  Isn't maroon what you call someone that's stupid?"
Me: "No, that's 'moron.'"

Cures for Backpain?

Jesse: "I was reading that men have back pain because we sit too much and don't utilize our back muscles like we ought to. It is suggested that we get 'standing desks' to help work our back muscles more."

Me: "Standing desks? Isn't that another name for a 'bar'?"

Who Loves You?

Jesse: "Ronnie, who loves you?"
Ronnie (3): "Daddy!"
Jesse: "Very good. And who is the only one who loves you more than Daddy?"
Ronnie: "God."
Jesse: "Very good! And who loves you just as much as Daddy?"
Ronnie: "I don't know."
Jesse: "Mommy does, of course!"
Ronnie: "Yeah, 'cause my mom and dad are BRILLIANT!"

My Secret Weapon

I was making breakfast for the kids this morning & decided to make some chocolate milk.  Ronnie saw me doing it...

Ronnie (3): "Ooohhh.... I LOVE you Mommy!  You are my favorite girl."

The Evolution of the Pencil Sharpener

James found an old pencil sharpener...

James (6.5): "Hey Mom. What's this?"
Mom: "A pencil sharpener."
James: "But it doesn't go bbbzzzzzzz..."
Mom: "Nope. Just watch... You turn the pencil in it like this..." (showing him with a color pencil)
James (eyebrows scrunched...): "What?? I have to turn it with my hand?"

Night Owls

Mom: "Ok, time for bed."
James (6.5): "What?! It's not even dark. Why do we have to go to bed so freakin' early?"
Mom: "Um, where did you hear that?"
James: "Dad."

The Car Saga

So, way back in January, an old man backed into my car causing over $2ooo in damage. I had the body work fixed in March, but the insurance people "forgot" to check out why my headlights were not working right.

After I got the car back, and realized the lights still weren't working, I called my insurance contact and asked him about it. He basically told me: "Oh, yeah. We forgot. Well, now you need to take it to a dealership and have it hooked up to a computer to see if it is, in fact, accident-related before I'll pay for it. Yes, we should have done this during the 3 weeks we had the car, but too late now, so it's on your dime."

With this response, I said to him: "Do you find this to be acceptable? Would you be happy with this service?" After a long pause, he responded: "No." and proceeded to try to find a way to get it fixed. The resolution was to bring the car to his location/repair shop and have his guys look at it, but his guys never called me back (this was at the end of April).

Finally, after the headlights stopped working completely, I called him earlier this week. He remembered me (it's been a month since we last spoke) and said he would get on it. I got a rental car, his repair shop looked at it, and his mechanic said it was a multi-function switch needing replaced and it probably was not accident-related... so far $398 in repair costs.

Great. We really need that $400+ for moving expenses - not repairs.

I got a call a little bit ago... the insurance guy is planning to pay for it!

I'm not sure why they plan to cover these repairs, but hopefully it's because I didn't resort to being mean and rude. I'd like to think there are people out there who will repay kindness with kindness, and not just reward the bad behavior.

The Sweetest Note

James (6) has to be one of the sweetest kids on the planet... here is the note he left me on his Cars Magnadoodle...

Wheel of Fortune - tonight on ABC

For those who have asked, the episode of Wheel of Fortune I taped back in December is scheduled to air tonight. Here's to hoping there isn't any breaking news...

Check it out from the beginning to when I found out about my taping date... or you can check out the Multnomah blog. For those of you who are local, we are having a little viewing party on campus in the Commuter Lounge.

Jury Duty

...by Supertones... That was the song of the day... and my day started out the same, had the same general everything-that-can-go-wrong-will-go-wrong-ness... so, here's the lyrics, with my notes on how MY day went... ENJOY!


5 am (yep) on tuesday (yep)
Why am I up so early (because Ronnie got up and wanted juice)
Drive out to santa ana (Clackamas) ’cause I’ve got jury duty (Haydee's Pictures)
No breakfast (yep) short tempered (yep)
And I cut my head shaving (had to take Ronnie to the doctor again for his ear infection)
Ten miles out I hit traffic (the kids fell asleep in the car for 15 minutes, so wouldn't take naps)
Some days just aren’t worth saving (but, it wasn't pathetic enough for us, so we kept going)

You know I haven’t had the best of days (Haydee's milk bottle exploded all over Jesse & I & our kitchen which was already neck-high in dirty cake pans)
But I want to stop and thank you anyway

At the courthouse (kitchen) I waited (for the cake to turn out)
And waited then I waited (3 times, until we used a boxed cake)
At lunchtime my car stalled out (I frosted the wrong cake so...)
I couldn’t get it started (...we didn't have frosting for the boxed cake)
Had a book by c.s. lewis
I finished the last page and (when both kids had filled theirs, we discovered we were out of diapers)
Slept on my desk for three hours
Just like my high school days

Cuz every single moment whether sleeping or awake
Is your creation
And what you’ve made is good (at least the ice cream and spaghetti turned out)
I don’t always thank you for the rough days and
The hard times in my life
Even though I should (I am so thankful our friends & family came to celebrate so it wasn't such a bad day after all)

Got home and decided I’d be in a bad mood
My shy and quiet wife said she didn’t like my attitude
Got a call from my mother
Forgot my sister’s birthday(Happy Birthday, Jesse & Haydee)
I’m a lousy older brother (wife & mother)
safe to say I’ve had a bad day (only got 2 hours of work in for the day)

Here's the music video...

The Investigator

James (6): "You know how my tooth fell out a while ago? Do you know where it is?"
Daddy: "I think so. Why?"
James: "I've been hearing things about putting it under my pillow and it changes. I gotta check this out."
Mommy: "Hmm... what does it turn into?"
James: "Well... I heard it can turn into a lollipop, candy, a dollar bill, or a toy."

So, the tooth went under the pillow tonight. We'll see what happens in the morning... :o)

Growing Up

I was looking at James and realized just how tall he has gotten and how grown up he is.

Mommy: "James, you are getting so big. Stop growing!"
James (6): "I can't help it. It's just part of nature."

Wheel of Fortune - air date changed to March 11th

Hey all! I got a call from one of the Wheel contestant crew letting me know my air date has been changed to Thursday, March 11th. So, Yay!... one day less of anxiety for all of you. ;op

Wheel of Fortune Air Date

For those interested, the taping I did last week is scheduled to air on March 12th.

I had a lot of fun, but it was also a very exhausting experience. I know many of you are interested in how things turned out, but as I said, I'm not allowed to tell anyone so DON'T ASK! You'll just have to wait until it airs. :o)

Wheel of Fortune taping!

So, I got a call on Monday from Wheel, and they want me to fly to L.A. for the taping next Thursday, December 10th! They will be taping 6 shows that day ("America's Game Week" and "Taste of Europe Week"). Depending on which show I get drawn to do, the tapings will air on March 5th (America's Game) or March 8th-12th (Europe Week).

Thanks to the Fox's, I am working on securing some discounted flights so hopefully my friends Erin & Laura will be able to come with me. I am planning to leave on Wednesday, and hopefully come back Thursday night. Please be praying for a smooth process for this, as the flights are still not a done-deal.

So, for those who will be aching to find out how the show went, DON'T ASK ME (or Erin 0r Laura) because I can't tell you anything until it airs. Our lips are sealed.

So stay tuned... and tune in to watch Wheel in early March. :o)

Hello Pat!

Yep. I got the letter today letting me know I was selected to appear on Wheel of Fortune sometime within the next 18 months. They will contact me to set up my appearance time and place soon! Woohoo!

Wheel of Fortune audition

Hey all!

So, for those of you that didn't know, I went to a Wheelmobile event with a friend about a month ago at the beach. I didn't get my name drawn to participate there, but they said they take all the leftover applications and put them in for a drawing for final auditions. I kinda figured: well, I have horrible luck, I didn't get drawn in a room of 200, definitely not in a drawing with 20,000.

So, my name was drawn... and I got an email last week telling me my audition was on the 29th. Yay!

There were about 70 people at the audition last night. First, they made a seating chart and called people's names and did really quick (and intense) puzzles as fast as possible by calling out names of people in the room. If you didn't have a letter ready, they buzzed you out. During that time, I solved one puzzle and won a shirt. :o)

From there, we were given a written test where there were incomplete words with categories, and we had 5 minutes to write as many answers in as we could. I started trucking through it, and solved 13 of the 16 puzzles (I think) before time ran out. We got a break while they corrected our tests, and the crew announcement the finalists - and I was one of the 14 finalists.

So, they took polaroids of each of us and for the final round, we went up front in groups of 5 and pretended to spin the wheel and solve puzzles as if it were the actual game. In my group, I strategically took the 3rd spot in line, and it was a good thing because I had the opportunity to solve 2 of the 3 puzzles for my group. Then they did the little interview that Pat usually does at the beginning of the show to get a good idea about what our personalities were like, and told us we would get a letter in 2 weeks if selected.

If I get a letter, I will get to be on the show within the year somewhere here in the northwest, or I will fly down to L.A. for a taping.

So that's it. Just watching the mail. :o)