S.A.H.D. Guy

S.A.H.D. Guy on 4-Year-Olds Packing For Vacation

2008-08-14T22:03:00.003-04:00

I had a really good laugh yesterday over packing for vacation. We are heading out for a long weekend tomorrow. We have to go for a friends wedding so we're making it a long weekend since this will be our vacation for the summer. Yesterday I asked the kids to start packing their suitcases so we don't have that crazy scramble at the end to get it all done. I told them to get clots that is comfortable and that the place we are going to be staying has a pool. The older two went up and began packing all the things you would expect...shorts, shirts, socks, underwear, tooth brush, etc. After about 20 minutes of them doing this, the youngest, our 4-year-old, came down carrying his zipped shut suitcase. He had a huge smile on his face as he announce, "I done packing my suitcase, daddy." I asked him if I could look in his suitcase and see what he decided he should pack. He said I could, so I took a look. When I did, it was all I could do to restrain from laughing out loud. He was so proud that he had packed it by himself, with no help. He also told me as I was opening the case that he had packed everything important that he will need. In his suitcase he had packed his swimming suit, his pillow from his bed, and his 2 favorite stuffed animals. That's it. No tooth brush. No extra clothes. It was incredibly cute and funny that those are the things that he said where his most important things. It's been a great start to the trip with this little bit of humor so I'm looking forward to a relaxing, but fun time together as a family.

S.A.H.D. Guy on 2 Weeks of Crazyness

2008-08-08T09:46:00.005-04:00

It has been a couple of crazy weeks! But, it's now over. We've had the garage sale for 2 weekends, the in-laws visiting from out of town over one of the weekends, and me teaching a cooking class to kids at arts camp for 2 weeks. Crazy! It was fun, but I'm glad it's over.

S.A.H.D. Guy on Having a Garage Sale

2008-08-01T13:30:00.003-04:00

I haven't been able to do a video blog in awhile because of problems with my web cam, but I decided to do one using my digital camera, so here is the latest from me.

S.A.H.D. Guy on

2008-07-18T10:14:00.003-04:00

It's time for a new blog. I know, I know, it's been awhile. I guess it was my turn to procrastinate. But, I'm posting now. I should do this with my new web cam to see how it does on here. My old one was totally screwing up my computer so I ended up having to get a new one. I'll do that next time. This time, you'll just have to read. While I'm typing this, I have a plumber here. For awhile now our upstairs bathroom sink has had a leak inside the fixture. It was just a slow drip (no, new gaskets wouldn't take care of it). The faucet needed to be replaced so I decided to tackle this about 3 weeks ago. The new faucet said it was easy to install so I decided to do it myself. Yeah...not such a good idea. The hot water closed with no problem. But because of the slow drip that had been going for awhile, the cold wouldn't turn off. I ended up having to really crank on it to get it to go. No big deal, right? Wrong. Cranking on it did indeed make it move so I could shut it off but it also made it leak really badly when it was open. I had my dad look at it since he's built almost every house I've lived in growing up and can fix anything. He couldn't do it...said I needed a plumber. So now I have a plumber here...and it required sawing off of old pipes and soldering on of new ones. Something I would never have been able to do (no...I wouldn't...I know you can and keep saying I can do these things too, but this is one I know I would not have been able to do). The sink is now fixed and usable again (WOOHOO!!!!) and he's now changing the kitchen faucet. I figure since I have him here he might as well change that one too. The wife has always wanted one of those faucets in the kitchen that the spigot comes right out of the fixture so you can use it like a sprayer instead of that little side one. For the time being at least we are going to be all set on our plumbing needs; at least I hope we are. So there you have it...that's our plumbing saga. I could make this even longer and go into what's going on with my computers but I'll save that for another blog. Anyway...have a great day! Later!!

S.A.H.D. Guy on 4th of July

2008-07-04T15:50:00.002-04:00

Happy 4th of July to all my American friends!

S.A.H.D. Guy on Canada Day

2008-07-01T07:34:00.003-04:00

Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian friends!

S.A.H.D. Guy on a Busy Couple of Weeks

2008-06-27T21:08:00.002-04:00

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Sorry I haven't been able to post lately, but here is the latest in my life. Hopefully I'll be back on track now and will get back to posting...who knows! Anyway...enjoy!

S.A.H.D. Guy on Taking a Photo Trip

2008-06-13T21:35:00.003-04:00

Today was the day of the photo trip with my fellow S.A.H.D. We had a really great time! Hopefully we'll be able to do it again sometime. I'll put some of my best pictures on here when I'm finished editing them.

S.A.H.D. Guy on a Photo Trip

2008-06-10T22:24:00.004-04:00

I can't wait until Friday! A buddy and I are going on a photo trip for the day. We're heading out to the lake shore and to some of the back roads to see what cool things we can find to take pictures of. He has a new camera and mine is still fairly new so we're going to see what we can find. I have someone coming to stay with my kids here and he only has one of his kids right now (the oldest is visiting Grandma and Grandpa). He's picking me up at 8:00 Friday morning and we're heading out. I'm hoping for some really cool pictures. I promise I'll post some if I come up with any. We are just going to drive and see what we come up with. Sometime around noon we'll stop for lunch somewhere and then out again to take more pics. I really am excited about doing this. The guy I'm going with is a fellow S.A.H.D. and I've really been enjoying getting to know him and his kids. Conversation always seems to flow pretty easily when we're together and we seem to have a bunch in common. Add all this with us both enjoying taking pictures and I think we're in for a fun day. Hopefully it will be a nice one...rain could suck! Anyway...I can't wait until Friday! Did I already mention that? LOL!

S.A.H.D. Guy on Graduation Trip

2008-05-31T15:52:00.004-04:00

Hey! I've been gone for about a week on a trip to Iowa (NW corner) for the high school graduation of our oldest niece. Did you miss me? Today's blog is actually only about that a little bit. What it's mostly about is the flights to and from there and all of the adventures we had while on those flights.

S.A.H.D. Guy on My Youngest Son

2008-05-20T09:21:00.005-04:00

I was hoping to do this as a video blog but can't because my webcam and mic are packed away for a trip to visit the in-laws. Our oldest niece is graduating high school this week. I really wanted to do a video blog too...I have a new webcam that is really clear, and I mean REALLY clear when I chat with it on-line. I'm hoping it's just as good when I use it to video blog. Anyway, since I had to get everything packed and ready for our flight...I can't use it right now. Maybe I'll try to use it from my laptop while I'm out there. Hmmmmmmm..... I just wanted to share this picture of my youngest son. My wife and I don't really drink alcohol that much and never beer. I really don't like beer so we just don't have any other than for friends who come over that like it. I'm also not a big fan of Mexican food but since my wife loves it, I will do it for her every once in awhile. Now, what do these 2 things have to do with this picture? I'll tell you. We have found a local Mexican restaurant that we all love, including me. I have a couple of things on the menu that I really like so we go there a lot. In going there so often, we have really gotten to know some of the staff, in particular one of the waiters. We always ask for his section when we go there. He's a great waiter and a nice guy. He even is getting our youngest a pair of cowboy boots from Mexico (he's originally from Mexico and still has family living there). When we went in recently they had all these plastic beer bottle blow up things around because of Cinco de Mayo. The boy saw them and wanted one. The last couple times we went in he asked our waiter friend if he could have one. Believe it or not, our friend actually gave the boy one the last time we were in. My son was in his glory. He's been walking around the house with it all week. He even wanted to sleep with it the first night! LOL! I snapped this picture of him with it yesterday. He's a great kid and I love the innocence of that age. Anyway...just thought I'd share it with you.

S.A.H.D. Guy on Windows Movie Maker

2008-05-14T08:40:00.004-04:00

AAAARRRGGGHHHHHHH!! See? Added a big chunk of frozen video at the end that I had to edit out. This program is driving me nuts lately! Suggestions anyone?

S.A.H.D. Guy on Taking a Photo Trip

2008-05-10T08:47:00.003-04:00

Sometimes it really stinks when you're friends live so far away you can't just run over and hang out. I've really been feeling that lately because I'd love to take a photo taking trip with one of my friends who is an awesome photographer but lives way to far away to do that. The 2 of us actually had a conversation on yahoo chat last night about that. Sigh.....oh well, maybe someday we'll be able to do that.

S.A.H.D. Guy Quicky

2008-05-06T20:15:00.003-04:00

Hehehehehehehehe! Doesn't he look great? Thanks again guy. You are awesome! I can't wait to work on the computer stuff soon. And hopefully I'll have another bigger blog soon, but just wanted to get this in tonight.

S.A.H.D. Guy "Thank You"

2008-05-02T23:03:00.004-04:00

This is a great song and I hope you all enjoy it, but that's not actually why it's here. I just want to say "Thank you" to someone for everything that this person does for me. I know that this person doesn't think it's a big deal at all, but from my point of view I can't say "Thank you" enough. You are always there for me even when I get into the bad moods and when I'm just depressed about life. You are always trying to build me up. Just like the song says, when I'm down, when I'm weary, when I'm troubled, and when my heart is burdened I know you will come and just sit with me and help make it all better. I wish there was a better way for me to say it because this just isn't enough. But I just need to say "Thank you" again. You are so awesome!

S.A.H.D. Guy On Daddy/Daughter Dance

2008-04-26T15:51:00.002-04:00

Every year the school my kids attend do a Mother/Son event (a carnival, go to a baseball game, a dance...something like that) and a Daddy/Daughter dance. Last night was the Daddy/Daughter dance. It always has a theme to go with it that usually you dress in character for. For instance, last year was a rodeo so everyone was dressed cowboyish. The year before was a tropical paradise so everyone was in Hawaiian garb. This year's theme was "Over the Rainbow" (a Wizard of Oz theme). The two of us had planned out exactly what we were going to be going as (ok, my daughter had it planned out). She was going to be Glenda the good witch and I was going to be the scarecrow. We even had her dress completely ready except for the crown. Then we got the note from school saying this year was a no costume year...come dressed in casual wear. My daughter was heart broken after we (ok, really I) had spent so much time finding and getting her costume ready. Well, any of you who are daddy's out there understand how much you hate to see your kids upset like that so I decided she could just go ahead and wear the dress anyway (and she was absolutely beautiful in it). Of course, since it was so fancy, I had to put on the suit; I couldn't just go in my casual clothes (I clean up pretty well, don't I?). Anyway...we went to the dance and my daughter had the time of her life. She looked beautiful. She felt like a princess. It really was a very special night. We ate all the snacks and munchies they had there. We took pictures with all of the Wizard of Oz characters that were on hand. We danced when we had time (and she spent the whole time wanting me to spin her and trying to take the lead in the dance -- some guy someday is never going to lead when it comes to dancing with her -- LOL). It was a really fun, really awesome, and for her, really magical evening. The hard part of the night were those slow dances with the songs about daddy's little girl growing up. I just hate to see her growing up. She's supposed to always be my little princess.

S.A.H.D. Guy On a Beautiful Spring Day

2008-04-20T13:57:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was absolutely a beautiful day. Finally Spring is here (sorry about the snow you guys in Western Canada)! Of course that means we start all the business that goes with it. Soccer has started back up...deck furniture to get out and clean...lawn to start working on...all that stuff. But in the middle of that, things happen that just make you laugh. This was one of those things. :)

S.A.H.D. Guy on Racket Ball

2008-04-18T08:58:00.003-04:00

My plans for today...nothing big, but still should be fun!

S.A.H.D. Guy on Being Unforgettable

2008-04-06T21:57:00.005-04:00

This is one of my favorite songs of all times. Isn't this exactly what we all want to be to somebody? I know I do. Let the people you love know that this is what you think of them. It will absolutely make someone's day.

S.A.H.D. Guy on Spring Break

2008-04-04T15:39:00.003-04:00

It's the first day of Spring Break and they are already driving me nuts! Don't get me wrong, I love them dearly, but they are driving me nuts. The 3 year old is competing for attention all the time. Usually he's home with just Dad, but not for the next week. He's punching, yelling, and just being obnoxious. The 7 year old is little miss drama queen and everything has been a big huge production and she is always the victim in this production. She is convinced that her brothers are both out to get her (which, who knows, they might be) and that dad and mom are always so unfair to her in everything we do. The 10 year old thinks it is his job to be the parent to the other 2, which, of course, doesn't go over well with either of them. We keep reminding him that he is NOT the parent. He also gets great joy out of antagonizing his sister and seeing just how far he can push her before she goes all drama queenish (and that isn't far at all!). Thankfully, right now I am actually getting a break from them all. Mom has to be out of her office everyday by 2:00 because of Spring Break so we had lunch together and then both went to run separate errands. They all wanted to go with Mom! She wanted some to go with me, of course, but they all threw fits when she asked who wanted to go with Dad. I'm good with them all being with her right now. Anyway...hopefully Spring Break will be fairly uneventful. Talk to you later!

S.A.H.D. Guy on Dad's Night Out

2008-03-28T22:04:00.004-04:00

I had such a great night last night that I wanted to tell you about it and a few other things that are going on around here.

S.A.H.D. Guy on Just So Stories

2008-03-19T08:36:00.003-04:00

This past weekend was crazy busy. It was a pretty good weekend, but I'm glad it's over. Now things can return to normal until the next time.

S.A.H.D. Guy Thank You

2008-03-03T09:45:00.005-05:00

I got a package in the mail the other day, an awesome package! What was so awesome about it? Sure, part of it was the cool stuff that was in it, but really what made it so awesome was that it was from a good friend. This blog is really about the awesome stuff that was in it, but, like I said, that wasn't the part I liked best. It really was cool to get a package from someone who just wanted to make your day a little better. Oh, by the way, it worked! LOL! So now...what was in the package? The first was some coffee supplies. There was a great coffee scoop which I actually needed since I've been using a cheap plastic one (this one is metal and very sturdy). There were 2 separte packages of coffee beans from Starbucks. A package of their Christmas blend (which I just opened this morning -- yes, it's good!) and a package of my favorite, the Ethiopia Sadamo. I'm set for coffee for quite awhile since I'm the only one who actually drinks coffee in my house. The second thing in it was a bunch of snack size packages of sunflower seeds. These, of course, are delicious (although I still haven't figured out how my friend can put the whole package in his mouth and then shell the things in his mouth)! There was a package of pumpkin seeds (which I like better than the sunflower seeds). And then some really cool things. He sent me a Dell Pocket PC. This thing is great! It has games on it, e-books, a schedule keeper that reminds you of appointments, and just a ton of other stuff. I've already been using it all the time. He had 2 and thought I would like one since he didn't need 2 (for the record, he was right -- I love it!). He also sent me a copy of one of his favorite books. We've been sharing books that we like back and forth so it was nice to get a book that he likes. It's called The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander. I can't wait to finish the one I'm reading and read this one! And the final thing, which made my day and made me laugh was this Snoopy toy. I love Snoopy, always have, probably always will, and he knows this. So it really meant a lot to me that he went out and found this Snoopy thing for me to add to my collection of Snoopy stuff. Dude, you are awesome! So that's what it all was. I loved all of it! Thank you so much for all of it, guy. You're a terrific friend! Like I said at the beginning, all of the stuff in the package was great, but the best part was just getting a package from a good friend. When I send someone a package, it's my way of telling them I like them; that I think they are awesome. That's how I take a package that I get too.

S.A.H.D. Guy on Acting

2008-02-26T21:39:00.008-05:00

I love acting. I have always loved acting. Funny thing is, I did very little acting when I was young because I was too embarrassed to get up in front of people to do the acting. Now, however, it's a different story. I LOVE being on the stage. I especially love doing musicals because it involves both acting and singing, two things I am very passionate about. It also involves dance, which I'm not so good at but have begun to also enjoy. So, here are the musicals I have acted in over the past few years.

This was the musical Rock Nativity. It is the musical version of the Christmas story. This was my first role on the stage with the drama team I am involved with. I played the Preacher (this was actually a narrator kind of role). It was a small role and a great way to get my feet wet after not doing drama much.

This was my second role. I ended up with the lead in the musical All On A Christmas Day. This musical is the story of Ruffus Miller's life and his discovery of how important love and family are. In this musical I played Ruffus Miller from age 21 to senior citizen (other's played him as a boy). It was a HUGE challenge to play that many ages. This picture is part of my elder years, meeting my first grandchild as I begin to figure out how important my family actually is.

From playing a senior citizen I moved on to playing a 10 year old boy in the musical How To Eat Like a Child. I spent my time teasing my sister, playing, and just having a good time remembering what it was like to be young. This picture is when I teased my sister with a jelly dough nut in the song "How To Torture Your Sister."

This was one of my favorite roles in one of my favorite musicals. In Scrooge (the musical version of A Christmas Carol) I played Bob Cratchit. Although the costuming was quite hot (dressing like it was bitter cold winter when you are actually on stage under bright, hot lights) I really loved this role. The songs in this one were also a lot of fun. This picture is Bob Cratchit shopping for Christmas dinner with one of his daughter's and Tiny Tim (not in the picture) on Christmas Eve.

This was the last role I had. We did the musical Guys and Dolls. This is the story about a bunch of gamblers trying to find the perfect place for their biggest crap game. I played Benny Southstreet one of the gamblers. I sang the song "Guys and Dolls" with the man that played Nicely Nicely Johnson and at the end of the song he had to jump into my arms. It was pretty humorous. I hope to actually post a couple of the songs from that one on here soon. Anyway, there you have it, my roles on the stage. What made me decide to post this? I'm currently getting ready to play one of the animals in Just So Stories and I've been looking through the pictures from the others and just decided to share it. What will be after this? Who knows, but it will be fun to find out!

S.A.H.D. Guy on My Laptop Computer

2008-02-20T16:18:00.003-05:00

I have a new laptop computer...at least it's new to me. It's pretty exciting to me so I just wanted to share how I got it, which is also pretty exciting to me.