The Wonders of Coca Cola

This is Ryan's philosophy on child development.

In Honor of Jack Handey and Sarah Cosper

Is there anything more beautiful than a beautiful, beautiful flamingo, flying across in front of a beautiful sunset? And he's carrying a beautiful rose in his beak, and also he's carrying a very beautiful painting with his feet. And also, you're drunk.

It's too bad cowboys didn't eat much pizza back in the Old West, because I think a good painting would be a cowboy giving his last slice to his horse.

When Gary told me he had found Jesus, I thought, Yahoo! We're rich! But it turned out to be something different.

Enjoy more of these wonderful thoughts by Jack Handey.

Picture of the Month - December 2007

Happy Holidays!

Discipline Strategy

Lessons from the Bible:
II Kings 2:23-24
23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" 24 He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.

If I could get away with it, this would be posted in my classroom. Bwahaha!

Digg article

Just a little funny cartoon

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Overfunded Public School

Overfunded Public School Forced To Add Jazz Band

Thanks Bret for sending me this article.

Check out Catalog Choice

If you get unwanted catalogs at home, then sign up with Catalog Choice. I have already registered and requested 4 different catalogs to be canceled. It's worth a shot to get rid of excessive mail.

Picture of the Month - November 2007

Yes, this should've been October's picture of the month, but I forgot and still wanted to put it up. So, here it is, a Halloween picture for November's picture of the month.

Daylight Savings Time

Don't forget to set your clocks back!

Arbor Day

Become a contributor to the Arbor Day foundation. There are multiple ways to give:
1. Directly to the Arbor Day
2. To the Rain Forest Rescue
3. Purchasing rain forest shade-grown coffee

Please give. This is a society that when donated to helps everyone.

Farewell Nickel Creek

This is from Nickel Creek's Farewell (for now) Tour on Saturday night. This is the third time we have seen them and, as usual, another fabulous concert! They are true musicians. Maybe we'll have to drive down to Nashville in November for their last performance of their farewell tour.



Here's me and Rynee after the concert. Yes, there's a little sparkle of tear in my eye after they finish their final piece.

Carve Your Own Pumpkin

If you don't like the slimy job of carving a real pumpkin, why not try carving a virtual pumpkin.

It's Always Sunny

Oh boy! What a great show!! You've got to check out It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on FX, Thursdays at 10. It's hilarious!!!

UofL Student

This is such a moving story, particularly the commitment of the dad.

Lights Out America

On March 29, 2008 from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. America is turning out its lights. Will you pledge to participate?

Picture of the Month - October 2007

Lazy October Day.

Solar

This is awesome! Solar is growing!

Homemade Drip Irrigation System

Save your plants! This idea is kinda cool particularly since we are in a drought.

Say It With M&Ms

Order M&Ms with personalized messages.

Happy 28th Birthday Ryan!

Now you're Peter old. :-)
I love you!

Picture of the Month - September 2007

Happy Birthday Ryan! The picture of the month is in honor of his birthday getting his new big ass grill!

How to Procrastinate More Productively

Ryan found the article below on DIGG and he realized that it is me. The sad thing is I have fooled myself to believe that this is truly ok and I'm actually accomplishing things through this "structured procrastination". Who am I kidding? Yes, I know...me.

How to Procrastinate More Productively
Sep 5 John Wesley

Everyone experiences the desire to procrastinate. For one reason or another, nothing is harder than doing the one task that needs to get done. People go to great lengths — create excuses, find other work, or even hide — to avoid a dreaded task. Usually time spent procrastinating is simply wasted, but it doesn’t have to be.

When managed effectively, the desire to avoid one job can be used to get other things done. This strategy is called structured procrastination. Rather than doing nothing at all, take care of business that normally gets forgotten. This is a great way to deal with mundane chores. Use your desire to avoid real work to force yourself to work harder at something else!

My favorite structured procrastination activities include:

* Organizing my work area
* Networking
* Scheduling
* Tying up loose ends
* Meetings
* Running errands
* Clearing out my inbox
* Helping others
* Getting up to date

Of course, structured procrastination doesn’t always work. There will be times when you can’t stand to do anything work related. Usually this is a sign that you need to take a break and recharge.

Rather than forcing yourself to work when you aren’t up for it, embrace procrastination completely. These activities cure procrastination by rejuvenating energy and creative mojo:

* Go to lunch
* Exercise
* Take a walk
* Cat nap
* Creative thinking
* Read a good book

Of course, there are many other excellent alternatives for both structured and unstructured procrastination. The key is experimenting until you find what works for you. Hopefully these suggestions will help you think of new ways to get things done even when you don’t feel like it.

SPRIG

Check out Sprig, the Washington Post Interactive’s new green website. It's food and garden editor lives in Midway, Kentucky and runs an organic farm. She has opened a farmer's market in downtown Midway. I just found this out on Saturday, but it has been open since July. Ugh...and I've been driving to Lexington every Saturday instead. Oh well.

Miss Teen South Carolina

What tha?!!! And she came in 4th place????!!!

Iraq Summer

On August 28th, many states will be rallying taking a stand to end the war. Please join to persuade our congressmen to vote against this war.

Picture of the Month - August 2007

This picture of the month actually is to take you to multiple pictures.
What does 120 calories look like? Ryan sent me this article. Kind of makes for interesting perspective.

Mini What???!!

Yes, I am a Mini fan, but what is this??!! No way Mini, this isn't right.

Soda drinkers beware!

Nothing beats the health benefits of water.

The Pinocchio Theory

"If you fake the funk, your nose will grow." -Bootsy Collins

AHHH!!

Only 16 days left until school starts again.

CNN spanked

CNN gets blitzed by Michael Moore.

SiCKO

Everyone MUST go see Michael Moore's SiCKO. He shows the corrupt ways of our government, insurance companies, and drug companies, but does not focus on one single political party.
It will make you mad, sad, and want to move to Canada, France, England, or even Cuba!

Grand Canyon

My first time at the Grand Canyon. Completely amazed yet a bit nervous being way out there on the edge!

Be a Teacher!

True teaching spirit!

Get Your Kicks...

...on Route 66.

Picture of the Month - July 2007

This is the picture of the month for June and July since I forgot last month.

Inspiration

Ok, so I lied in my last post that I was going to post something last week. It just didn't happen. Anyway, I was inspired by both Rose's latest rambling post and my neglect. So, here it goes...

Last week we had Ryan's vocal camp at Lafayette. Glad it's over. This week we are trying to get things together for our trip. We are heading out west; I'm soooo excited! I'll give details when we get back. Tonight we attended the Cardinal Singers send-off concert. They are heading to Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuanian. I am EXTREMELY jealous! Ya know, I still get those sentimental feelings when I go to UofL. I miss college. It really was a GREAT time in life. Alas, time moves on.
Finally, my poor Kat has a urinary tract infection (what a lovely topic change, huh?). I hope he is doing better. Mom and Dad are having to give him medicine which is a chore. He not very cooperative, but I love him!
That's it for now.

Late

I'm very behind on posting. I'll get something out this week.

Isn't this the truth?!

Picture of the Month - May 2007

This picture of the month is dedicated to Kirsten Day and her theatrical success in "Go, Diego, Go". We are all so proud!

Lewis Black on Earth Day

Where Have All the Leaders Gone?

--Excerpted from Where Have All the Leaders Gone? by Lee Iacocca.

Had Enough?

Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is
our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos
steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us
blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But
instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians
say, "Stay the course."

Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give
you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!

You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But
someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the
United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us
to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut
for the wealthy (thanks, but I don't need it). The most famous business leaders are not the
innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning
and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of
asking hard questions. That's not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled
across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?

I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm
ready and willing to have.

My friends tell me to calm down. They say, "Lee, you're eighty-two years old. Leave the rage
to the young people." I'd love to—as soon as I can pry them away from their iPods for five
seconds and get them to pay attention. I'm going to speak up because it's my patriotic duty.
I think people will listen to me. They say I have a reputation as a straight shooter. So I'll tell you
how I see it, and it's not pretty, but at least it's real. I'm hoping to strike a nerve in those young
folks who say they don't vote because they don't trust politicians to represent their interests.
Hey, America, wake up. These guys work for us.

Who Are These Guys, Anyway?

Why are we in this mess? How did we end up with this crowd in Washington? Well, we voted for
them—or at least some of us did. But I'll tell you what we didn't do. We didn't agree to suspend
the Constitution. We didn't agree to stop asking questions or demanding answers. Some of us
are sick and tired of people who call free speech treason. Where I come from that's a
dictatorship, not a democracy.

And don't tell me it's all the fault of right-wing Republicans or liberal Democrats. That's an
intellectually lazy argument, and it's part of the reason we're in this stew. We're not just a nation
of factions. We're a people. We share common principles and ideals. And we rise and fall together.

Where are the voices of leaders who can inspire us to action and make us stand taller? What
happened to the strong and resolute party of Lincoln? What happened to the courageous,
populist party of FDR and Truman? There was a time in this country when the voices of great
leaders lifted us up and made us want to do better. Where have all the leaders gone?

The Test of a Leader

I've never been Commander in Chief, but I've been a CEO. I understand a few things about
leadership at the top. I've figured out nine points—not ten (I don't want people accusing me of
thinking I'm Moses). I call them the "Nine Cs of Leadership." They're not fancy or complicated.
Just clear, obvious qualities that every true leader should have. We should look at how the
current administration stacks up. Like it or not, this crew is going to be around until January
2009. Maybe we can learn something before we go to the polls in 2008. Then let's be sure we
use the leadership test to screen the candidates who say they want to run the country. It's up
to us to choose wisely.

So, here's my C list:

A leader has to show CURIOSITY. He has to listen to people outside of the "Yes, sir" crowd in
his inner circle. He has to read voraciously, because the world is a big, complicated place.
George W. Bush brags about never reading a newspaper. "I just scan the headlines," he says.
Am I hearing this right? He's the President of the United States and he never reads a newspaper?
Thomas Jefferson once said, "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government
without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate for a moment
to prefer the latter." Bush disagrees. As long as he gets his daily hour in the gym, with Fox
News piped through the sound system, he's ready to go.

If a leader never steps outside his comfort zone to hear different ideas, he grows stale. If he
doesn't put his beliefs to the test, how does he know he's right? The inability to listen is a
form of arrogance. It means either you think you already know it all, or you just don't care.
Before the 2006 election, George Bush made a big point of saying he didn't listen to the polls.
Yeah, that's what they all say when the polls stink. But maybe he should have listened, because
70 percent of the people were saying he was on the wrong track. It took a "thumping" on
election day to wake him up, but even then you got the feeling he wasn't listening so much
as he was calculating how to do a better job of convincing everyone he was right.

A leader has to be CREATIVE, go out on a limb, be willing to try something different. You know,
think outside the box. George Bush prides himself on never changing, even as the world
around him is spinning out of control. God forbid someone should accuse him of flip-flopping.
There's a disturbingly messianic fervor to his certainty. Senator Joe Biden recalled a conversation
he had with Bush a few months after our troops marched into Baghdad. Joe was in the Oval Office outlining his concerns to the President—the explosive mix of Shiite and Sunni, the disbanded
Iraqi army, the problems securing the oil fields. "The President was serene," Joe recalled. "He
told me he was sure that we were on the right course and that all would be well. 'Mr. President,'
I finally said, 'how can you be so sure when you don't yet know all the facts?'" Bush then reached
over and put a steadying hand on Joe's shoulder. "My instincts," he said. "My instincts." Joe was flabbergasted. He told Bush, "Mr. President, your instincts aren't good enough." Joe Biden sure
didn't think the matter was settled. And, as we all know now, it wasn't.

Leadership is all about managing change—whether you're leading a company or leading a country. Things change, and you get creative. You adapt. Maybe Bush was absent the day they covered
that at Harvard Business School.

A leader has to COMMUNICATE. I'm not talking about running off at the mouth or spouting
sound bites. I'm talking about facing reality and telling the truth. Nobody in the current
administration seems to know how to talk straight anymore. Instead, they spend most of their
time trying to convince us that things are not really as bad as they seem. I don't know if it's
denial or dishonesty, but it can start to drive you crazy after a while. Communication has to
start with telling the truth, even when it's painful. The war in Iraq has been, among other things,
a grand failure of communication. Bush is like the boy who didn't cry wolf when the wolf was
at the door. After years of being told that all is well, even as the casualties and chaos mount,
we've stopped listening to him.

A leader has to be a person of CHARACTER. That means knowing the difference between right
and wrong and having the guts to do the right thing. Abraham Lincoln once said, "If you want
to test a man's character, give him power." George Bush has a lot of power. What does it say
about his character? Bush has shown a willingness to take bold action on the world stage
because he has the power, but he shows little regard for the grievous consequences. He has
sent our troops (not to mention hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens) to their
deaths—for what? To build our oil reserves? To avenge his daddy because Saddam Hussein
once tried to have him killed? To show his daddy he's tougher? The motivations behind the
war in Iraq are questionable, and the execution of the war has been a disaster. A man of
character does not ask a single soldier to die for a failed policy.

A leader must have COURAGE. I'm talking about balls. (That even goes for female leaders.)
Swagger isn't courage. Tough talk isn't courage. George Bush comes from a blue-blooded
Connecticut family, but he likes to talk like a cowboy. You know, My gun is bigger than your
gun. Courage in the twenty-first century doesn't mean posturing and bravado. Courage is
a commitment to sit down at the negotiating table and talk.

If you're a politician, courage means taking a position even when you know it will cost you
votes. Bush can't even make a public appearance unless the audience has been handpicked
and sanitized. He did a series of so-called town hall meetings last year, in auditoriums packed
with his most devoted fans. The questions were all softballs.

To be a leader you've got to have CONVICTION—a fire in your belly. You've got to have passion.
You've got to really want to get something done. How do you measure fire in the belly? Bush
has set the all-time record for number of vacation days taken by a U.S. President—four
hundred and counting. He'd rather clear brush on his ranch than immerse himself in the
business of governing. He even told an interviewer that the high point of his presidency so
far was catching a seven-and-a-half-pound perch in his hand-stocked lake.

It's no better on Capitol Hill. Congress was in session only ninety-seven days in 2006. That's
eleven days less than the record set in 1948, when President Harry Truman coined the term
do-nothing Congress. Most people would expect to be fired if they worked so little and had
nothing to show for it. But Congress managed to find the time to vote itself a raise. Now,
that's not leadership.

A leader should have CHARISMA. I'm not talking about being flashy. Charisma is the quality
that makes people want to follow you. It's the ability to inspire. People follow a leader
because they trust him. That's my definition of charisma. Maybe George Bush is a great guy
to hang out with at a barbecue or a ball game. But put him at a global summit where the
future of our planet is at stake, and he doesn't look very presidential. Those frat-boy pranks
and the kidding around he enjoys so much don't go over that well with world leaders. Just
ask German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who received an unwelcome shoulder massage from
our President at a G-8 Summit. When he came up behind her and started squeezing, I thought
she was going to go right through the roof.

A leader has to be COMPETENT. That seems obvious, doesn't it? You've got to know what
you're doing. More important than that, you've got to surround yourself with people who
know what they're doing. Bush brags about being our first MBA President. Does that make him competent? Well, let's see. Thanks to our first MBA President, we've got the largest deficit in
history, Social Security is on life support, and we've run up a half-a-trillion-dollar price tag
(so far) in Iraq. And that's just for starters. A leader has to be a problem solver, and the biggest
problems we face as a nation seem to be on the back burner.

You can't be a leader if you don't have COMMON SENSE. I call this Charlie Beacham's rule.
When I was a young guy just starting out in the car business, one of my first jobs was as Ford's
zone manager in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. My boss was a guy named Charlie Beacham,
who was the East Coast regional manager. Charlie was a big Southerner, with a warm drawl,
a huge smile, and a core of steel. Charlie used to tell me, "Remember, Lee, the only thing
you've got going for you as a human being is your ability to reason and your common sense.
If you don't know a dip of horseshit from a dip of vanilla ice cream, you'll never make it."
George Bush doesn't have common sense. He just has a lot of sound bites. You know—Mr.they'll-welcome-us-as-liberators-no-child-left-behind-heck-of-a-job-Brownie-
mission-accomplished Bush.

Former President Bill Clinton once said, "I grew up in an alcoholic home. I spent half my
childhood trying to get into the reality-based world—and I like it here."

I think our current President should visit the real world once in a while.

The Biggest C is Crisis

Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with
your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've
never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling
down.

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history.
We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. Where was George Bush? He was
reading a story about a pet goat to kids in Florida when he heard about the attacks. He kept
sitting there for twenty minutes with a baffled look on his face. It's all on tape. You can see
it for yourself. Then, instead of taking the quickest route back to Washington and immediately
going on the air to reassure the panicked people of this country, he decided it wasn't safe
to return to the White House. He basically went into hiding for the day—and he told
Vice President Dick Cheney to stay put in his bunker. We were all frozen in front of our TVs,
scared out of our wits, waiting for our leaders to tell us that we were going to be okay,
and there was nobody home. It took Bush a couple of days to get his bearings and devise
the right photo op at Ground Zero.

That was George Bush's moment of truth, and he was paralyzed. And what did he do when
he'd regained his composure? He led us down the road to Iraq—a road his own father
had considered disastrous when he was President. But Bush didn't listen to Daddy. He
listened to a higher father. He prides himself on being faith based, not reality based. If that
doesn't scare the crap out of you, I don't know what will.

A Hell of a Mess

So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no
plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing
the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by
health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy
policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being
squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership.

But when you look around, you've got to ask: "Where have all the leaders gone?" Where are
the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, competence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our
shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a
huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.

Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to
spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability
for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm. Everyone's hunkering
down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen.
Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our
competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a
time when "the Big Three" referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen—
and more important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or
solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening.
But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing
and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced
with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bobblehead on Fox News will call
them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough?

Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm
speaking out because I have hope. I believe in America. In my lifetime I've had the privilege
of living through some of America's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our
worst crises—the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the Kennedy assassination,
the Vietnam War, the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11.
If I've learned one thing, it's this: You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines
waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a
better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this
book. It's a call to action for people who, like me, believe in America. It's not too late, but
it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the horseshit and go to work. Let's tell 'em all
we've had enough.

What is this world coming to?

Latest climate report on CNN. This is really scary stuff. How could we let our planet get to this stage?

Picture of the Month - April 2007

Happy Easter!

The Real Mini

Here is a picture of my real Mini to replace the picture of the month. Aren't we a cute pair? :)

Happy 1000 Days!

Happy 1000 days of marriage, Ryan!
My "Days of Bliss" counter has started over. I guess Bret didn't think we'd make it through 1000 days in our marriage since he didn't make a large enough counter. :)

Picture of the Month - March 2007

The end of last month I got a little anniversary letter from Cincinnati Mini wishing me and my Cooper a happy six month anniversary. That made me think to recognize my car in this picture of the month. But in the process of trying to put a picture of quickly I realized that Ryan has all of the Cooper pictures on his computer, not mine. So instead of a picture of my car I found a picture of my remote controlled Mini Cooper I got for Christmas from Ryan's aunt Vicki. Almost the same. When I get around to it I'll add some more pictures of the real Cooper.

Orlando or Bust

This Wednesday is my mini-vacation with Ryan's choir to Orlando. I'm taking two personal days to go. It'll be nice to get away for a while and it looks like pretty good weather with highs in the 80's!!! It's feels strange to me to just take off work without an "excuse" such as conference or sickness, plus I haven't missed work for anything but conferences, so, as I said, it's strange. But at the same time I'm really looking forward to it.

Spamalot

If you are a Monty Python fan you should check out the Spamalot game.

Happy Valentine's Day!

A picture of me and my Valentine!

Grow, Stem Cells, Grow

Wow, check out the latest developments with stem cells! Use me, I'll be a test subject.

Back to School

Finally I am returning to school tomorrow after being off for 7 days. The last day I worked was Wednesday, January 31st. This was due to a number of pointless snow days. Ugh. The situation was very strange because on one hand it was so nice to be off from work. I was able to stay at home and get things done here. On the other hand it's frustrating because I missed rehearsing my students; I had to cancel taking our chamber choir to the UofL Competition due to missed rehearsals. I've also completely omitted an entire unit for Arts and Humanities because of lost time. Tomorrow could be an interesting/strange day.

Snow Dog

Pictures of Ellie enjoying a snow day. Isn't she so cute?!

Picture of the Month - February 2007

I told Jennie I would put the other picture up for "Picture of the Month", but I realized that Sarah sent a few more. So, here is another from our reunion.

What a Wonderful Evening!!

Wow! Yesterday evening was absolutely wonderful! Sarah, Jennie, Rose, Hayley, Carrie, and I all met at Ramsi's for dinner and then met Kirsten at 4th Street. It was unbelievably good to see everybody. (And it has been WAY TOO LONG since the last time.) It's so strange how people can not see each other for a while and then practically pick up where we left off filling in a few details along the way.
I hope this isn't going to sound bad, but I truly didn't realize how much I missed all of them (or "you", if you guys are reading this). You go through each ordinary day and don't realize how life is zooming by and then it is suddenly years later since you've seen people that were such a big part of your life. I love you guys!!!

Go, Kirsten, Go!

Kirsten, we all are so proud of you!!! Check our the courier journal article about the opening of "Go, Diego, Go".

Become An M&M

This is kinda fun! Like the "create your own South Park character" M&M now has their own. Create your own M&M character.

Wow! What a husband!

I have to brag on Ryan a bit.

I went out with Jennie and Jill today for lunch at Chili's on Hurstbourne, so I got some of the house cleaning finished prior to leaving, but knew that I still had to vacuum when I got home. But no...on the way home I called Ryan to let him know I was heading back and to my wonderous surprise he informs me that he not only vacuumed, but also mopped, and cleaned the bathrooms while I was gone!!! Wow! What a husband!!
That made my day. Thanks Ry!

Elfamorphosis

The boy's got moves!

Christmas Card Recycling

Here is a great idea I got from Ryan's mom that made me feel a little less wasteful:
Use your old Christmas cards as next year's Christmas gift labels. Just cut the card at the fold. Discard the signed inside and keep the front picture as the label. Kinda neat!

Also, if you purchase a real tree for Christmas take advantage of Christmas tree recycling centers.

Picture of the Month - January 2007

Happy New Year!! Mine was spent with Ryan, Rosie, and Bret at the Harbors. It was a great time and we had an excellent meal impressively prepared by Walker!