Team Saturdazzle: The One Without the Kool Aid

 

Hello, those dropping by from the A to Z challenge and welcome to Team Saturdazzle! 

Team Saturdazzle is the best thing on the internet that no one has ever heard of.  It's one of those super cool, super hip things that needs no explanation.  

Okay here's a small explanation; Team Saturdazzle occurs each Saturday at Leap of Dave and is a Potpourri of randomness and merriment.  Team Saturdazzle began when I led a work group chat at a previous job on our Saturday shift.  I called the chat, wait for it, Team Saturdazzle.

This year I have titled all the Team Saturdazzle posts with titles that look like they are episodes of the T.V. Show Friends.  That's why this post is called The one Without The Kool Aid.  

So for the Saturday's of the challenge I will have my A to Z post as the first part of the Team Saturdazzle post.    

Before I start I want to share that during the A to Z challenge my  Weekly Writer's Workshop submissions will appear as a segment in Team Saturdazzle or as part of my daily A to Z challenge response.

Here are this week’s prompts: 

1.Write a post based on the word roommates. 

2. Write a post in exactly 12 sentences (lines). 

3. What’s something that makes you far angrier than it should? 

4. Write about something you’ve recently spent a lot of time wondering about.

5.  If you could change the color of one thing, what would it be and why? 

6. If you knew you could live forever, how would you spend your days differently?   

 

My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day.  Today's letter is E so let's get right to it shall we?

A was for Amateur Parodist

B was for Blogger

C was for Christian

D was for David Davidovich 

E is for Evangelical Sans The Trump Kool-Aid

As a Christian I believe that the only thing I deserve is an eternity without God as a result of my own sins. I also believe that my salvation comes from God through Christ and is taught in the Bible. Nothing else is needed. When evangelicals defend unchristian behavior because they like the politics behind it they are not showing an understanding of Christ's redemptive love to a watching world.

Dave Roller - The Politics of Christianity 7/1/2020 Random Acts of Daveness  Word Press Blog

Yes, I am quoting myself.  I will be making many of the points today that  I have made multiple times on this and other platforms.  Since it is the ABC's of me, and I am, in fact,  me.  I will be quoting myself whenever possible.  All quotes unless otherwise noted are from the post The Politics of Christianity  which there is a link for in the paragraph above this one. 

John Holton of The Sound of One Hand Typing  put out his prompt list earlier this week for his Writer's Workshop segment. I chose #4: Write about something that you recently spent a lot of time thinking about.  I've been ruminating about this topic for many many years and that includes recently.  It is one of those things that makes me go" Hmmmm?".

I consider myself an evangelical Christian. This is how Wikipedia defines Evangelicalism:

Evangelicalism (/ˌiːvænˈdʒɛlɪkəlɪzəm, ˌɛvæn-, -ən/), evangelical Christianity, or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, trans-denominational movement within Protestant Christianity that maintains the belief that the essence of the Gospel consists of the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, solely through faith in Jesus's atonement.^] Evangelicals believe in the centrality of the conversion or "born again" experience in receiving salvation, in the authority of the Bible as God's revelation to humanity, and in spreading the Christian message.

Wikipedia

 I know I wrote more experientially and anecdotally when I wrote about being a Christian on my C post.  However if I were to take an academic or explanatory approach it would match pretty close to Wikipedia's entry above.  The Wikipedia entry is very similar to the 5 Solas (Latin for alone) the tenet's of the protestant reformation.

They are Grace Alone, Faith Alone, Christ Alone, Glory of God Alone, and Scripture Alone.  Evangelicals, in a nutshell, believe in those 5 points and spreading that message as a regular practice of their faith. -

Why is the church getting engaged to the republican party when we are supposed to be the Bride of Christ? - Dave Roller TPOC

The problem of putting something in a nutshell, is that there is usually a nut or two alongside. (That is definitely a future quote from me.)  Among American evangelicals these days there seems to be many who are nutty about Making America Great Again.  It's as if there was a 6th sola, America alone (Sola America) and since 2016 a 7th Sola : Trump Alone (Sola Donalda) 

It wasn't always this way.  Back in the 1980's and 1990's  I knew  evangelical Christians who were Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and some even who were fans of the Green Bay Packers. aka Packertarians. Back then Donald Trump was not necessarily someone you would equate with evangelicalism of any stripe.  

A  letter to the editor in a suburban Chicago newspaper, The Daily Herald  regarding Muslim reaction to Trumps proposed Taj Mahal casino had this to say about Trump:

Donald Trump's very name has become synonymous with conspicuous consumption, greed and arrogance.  He is now linking himself with gambling more and more.  A Reaction To Trump, Daily Herald April 27th 1990

The author  did not identify himself as an evangelical in the letter, however, since I was the author of the letter, I can assure you that I was an evangelical at the time , and still am (sans the Trump Kool-Aid).

Billy Graham, who I will refer to for the rest of this piece, as EFE (Everybody's Favorite Evangelical) had this to say about gambling: 

“Gambling is nowhere approved in the Bible. Instead, the Bible stresses that the Christian should earn his living by honest work and effort, and this would exclude relying on chance (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12). The Bible tells us to ‘abstain from all appearance of evil’ (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Gambling has often done untold evil to people by making them lose money that could be used for good purposes or even the necessities of life. Money is given to us by God to be used for good, not evil. Anyone seeking to do God’s will should not be involved in gambling.” Billy Graham - My Answer Column quoted in Gospel Herald Article 1/26/17

Trump still profits from his previously owned  casino resorts.  The AP reported this past Tuesday that Trump has an agreement with Bally's that if they build a casino on the former Trump Links that Bally purchased in 2023 that they will pay him 115 Million dollars.  It is just one of many instances where it makes it hard for me to understand the relationship between Trump and Evangelicals.

Michael J. Kruger wrote an excellent article at his website canon fodder entitled "How the 5 solas do more than respond to Catholicism".  Kruger breaks down each sola,  saying what it fights against.    Kruger says that Soli Deo Gloria (For God's glory alone) is about "letting go of our glory, and living for God's glory." He concludes that Soli Deo Gloria fights against pride. 

If that's the case, MAGA doesn't make sense coming from the mouth of an Evangelical. Making America great again and  all our energies on being a proud American sound like what people who need Christ may be looking for Glory but not the evangelicals dedicated to sharing that Christ.  The Wikipedia definition calls evangelicalism a world wide movement.  If that's the case, wouldn't  the aims of evangelicals be more global, if not other worldly, than national? 

In my post, The politics of Christianity I explain how I have both a passion for political involvement and also a passion to shower the world with the love of Christ. I then say:

 If I had to choose between passions I hope I’d choose the passion mandated in the Bible. Jesus states this passion very succinctly in the book of John ...

¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

John 15:12-13

Or in the words of EFE:

“I’m trying to stay out of it and just keep preaching the gospel, because there’s nothing coming out of Washington or any of those places that are going to save the world or transform men and women. It’s Christ,” Billy Graham 1987 – quoted in What Billy Graham taught us about a healthy relationship between religion and politics – Deseret News 2/21/2018 also quoted in TPOC

The point I hope I am making is that evangelicalism has nothing to do with Trump.  This doesn't mean that evangelicals should have nothing to do with him.   Evangelicals carry the good news of Jesus Christ and that message is vital and has eternal consequences.  It is a message worth sharing to presidents, felons, adulterers, poor losers, and instigators of riots.  Evangelicals can and should vote in their countries elections, but that doesn't mean they need to drink the Kool-Aid.  

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Team Saturdazzle At The Movies

Powered By Box Office Mojo

Top 10 Films 

 top 10 Films of 2025 as of 3/31/2005 

 10. Paddington In Peru   

9. A Complete Unknown Down 1 from February 

8. Nosferatu down 2 from February  

7. One of These Days  

6. Moana 2 down 1 from February 

5 Snow White  

4. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 down 1 from February 

3. Dog Man up 1 from January 

2. Mufasa The Lion King  

1. Captain America: Brave New World 

 Top 10 Films of March 2025

  10. Dog Man down 8 from Debruary 

9. A Working Man 

8. Paddington in Peru down 4 from February

7. Last Breath Up 13 from February

6. Black Bag

5. Novocaine

4. The Monkey up 2 from February

3. Mickey 17 

2. Captain America: Brave New World down 1 from February

1. Snow White

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I just love this standup routine from Nate Bargatze from the first time he hosted Saturday Night Live.  The first few minutes are pretty good but it's the last 5 to 6 that just about kill me.  So funny.  

I may have broke AI

While I was researching and writing my A to Z post for today,  I searched for how the 5 Solas would be translated in other languages.  This was for a point I decided not to make.  I looked it up in  Spanish, Russian and Greek.  Each time Googles AI gave me an overview with the 5 Solas and what they would be called in that language and then I could further search the links below that.  Being the totally Saturdazalous person that I am I decided to see how the Solas might look in Klingon.  AI went to work but after 30 seconds it was still thinking and I decided that maybe I should back out before anything really bad happened.  

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That's about all I have for Team Saturdazzle today.  Thanks for stopping by either  from The Sound of One Hand Typing or the ABC Challenge.  For More Writer's Workshop click here.  To get back to the A to Z Challenge website click here.  To go back directly to the A to Z Challenge Master List click here.  Otherwise leave a message at the tone and  I'll call you back at my earliest convenience.

Beeeeep!

 

D is for David Davidovich

My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day.  Today's letter is D so let's get right to it shall we?

A was for Amateur Parodist

B was for Blogger

C was for Christian

D is for David Davidovich

If you memorized my A to Z challenge theme reveal from March, (and really why wouldn't you?) you would have noticed that David Davidovich is not what I wrote for D.  My original D was Daring Do Gooder and  as I said in the aforememorized theme reveal I did reserve the right to to change some of my selections.  So the story of my deed of daring do-gooding will have to wait, while we explore my patronymic path. 

In  December of 1992 I went to Russia to teach English and to assist the Russian Baptist Churches in youth ministry.  I went to a section of Russia called the Russian Far.  The city is much closer to cities in China (1 hour by hydrofoil) and South Korea , and Japan (both less than 3 hours by plane) than it is to Moscow.  If you took a train it would be a 6 day 3 hour trip.  A car trip would be 108 hours (4.5 days) of driving time and an 8 1/2 hour flight.  On one of my vacations I took a 72 hour train trip west and was still  in the the continent of Asia only about 1/2 way to Moscow.  

I have written quite a bit of my two years in Russia.  One thing I discovered in Russia is that middle names are different there. Note: For best results read the next lines in your best Mater voice 

 In America, where I hail from, what we do is we get a first name, and a last name, and in the middle they give us a middle name.  I'm not 100% sure about this, but I think they call it a middle name because it's in the middle. 

We now return you to your regularly scheduled interior voice

In Russia they don't have middle names that are new different names they have patronymic naming.  This means that the second name describes who your father is.  If your a boy named Michael and your Dad's names is Michael then your name will be Michael Mikhailovich. Your brother Vadim will be Vadim Mikhailovich and your sister Nadia would be Nadia Mikhailovna.  

The dads name ends in ovich for boys and ovna for girls.  Here are 2  little known facts I  just made up.  Maury Povich's son Oliver lived in f Russia for a few years where his name was Ollie Mauryovich Povich. Ollie Mauryovich Povich, coincidentally is also how they translate  Olly Olly Oxenfree into Russian.  

I mentioned in yesterday's post that I look a lot like my Dad.  We also have the same first name.  We have different middle names.  So I am David Davidovich but my Dad is not.  My Dad was the first born in his family and his Dad and Mom, My Grandparents, chose to give him the name of David.  I am the first born son in my family and when I was born my Dad chose his name for me.  To me that has always been a great honor he bestowed on me.  It was like another line of connection we held together.  I had 4 brothers and sisters and when there are that many kids in your family, I think you look for ways that you connect to your parents differently than your siblings.  Sharing the same first name was a way we connected. 

As I grew up I always found it remarkable when my Dad called me by the wrong name.  Now I understood it when he called Keith Chris, or Bonnie Kathy.  But how could he mix up my name when we shared the same one?  

My wife who is a school psychologist and knows a lot about how the brain works told me years ago  that calling a child the wrong name is like getting information from a folder inside your brain but retrieving the wrong file from it.  This is exactly what this article in Good Housekeeping says.  

Now that I am a parent  I  sometimes get my kids names mixed up as well.  I sometimes call Lucy, Emma and vice versa.  Since I only have one Son, I sometimes call him by one of my brothers names. Also I sometimes call Lucy, who is the baby of our family my baby sister's name.  

I thought for a long time that I would give a son the name David.   I have friends whose first and middle name goes back 3-5 generations and they have in turn passed on that name to their son.  My Dad and I do not have the same middle name, so I am not the second or  jr. In that way I felt less pressure than what I imagined my friends Lawrence Joseph the third and Albert Frederick the 5th felt.  I still wanted to pass that name on to my son.  

As I have mentioned many times in this space, my wife and I were friends for 7 years before things developed in a Sitting in the Tree kind of way.  We both grew up about 20 minutes from each other.  So during breaks from college we spent lots of time together in our parents houses.  During that time Amy was learning through observation what life is like when there are 2 people living in the house with the same first name.

The phone would ring, someone would answer it.  Dave you have a phone call, they would shout down the stairs.  Two David's would go for the phone, and then more shouting.  Not you, your Dad. No not you Dave, David! So Amy decided that if she ever did get married that her husband would not be recycling names with their son.  That was for me, she thought but not her husband. Years later when the part of her  husband was cast and I landed the role, one of our desires had to be modified.

It was really no problem.  Probably because I wasn't David Fred the 5th, or even David Fred Jr.  I was  just  plain David  Charles.  I realized that not giving my first name to a theoretical son was in no way, shape or form, a deal breaker. When Amy was pregnant for the first time we had names picked out for a boy and for a girl.  Emma Kayrene for a girl and Anderson David for a boy.  Kayrene was Amy's mothers name a conglomeration of Kathryn and Irene.  Anderson is my wife's maiden name.  We would have called him Andy.  I thought that there was not much difference in honoring my Dad through middle name or through first name.  

Our first child was a girl, so we did call her Emma Kayrene.  Two years later we were expecting again.   We had a name picked out for both a boy and a girl.  Off hand I don't remember what the girls name was we had picked out.  The baby inside of Amy didn't feel like an Anderson David, so we had a different boys name ready, Charles.  Charles is my middle name so naming a boy Charles David had a good ring to it.  However that's not what we went with.  Two years before Emma was born my Sister named her third child, Calvin David and 9 months before my son was born, my brother named his son Robert David.  I thought that's a lot of blank Davids.  So, when our son was born we named him Charles Friedrichs.  My middle names nd my grandfather's last name.  Also Friedrichs was similar to my Dad's middle name of Fred.  

Now, I have no Russian ancestors.  However, I still feel I have a bit of a Russian heritage as I lived there for 2 years of my life.  I was immersed in the Russian culture and I partnered with many Russian believers in spreading the gospel in their country.

I didn't have much culture shock when I was in Russia and I rarely missed home.  But there was one day in particular when I did feel lonely  and isolated.  It was Easter Sunday in the U.S. but generally Russia celebrates Easter on a different Sunday.  My friend Vladimir told me in Church that Sunday there were two Americans in town who were in Russia for a few weeks and that we would visit them after Church. I was looking forward to speaking English with some of my country men and getting news from America and perhaps sending some letters to my family and friends  off with them.   It was  a bit of  a misadventure .  We travelled on several tram and trolley bus lines to a couple of places and did not find them.  We  ended u going even further out and going to Vladimir's house.  His dad was a kindly man who spoke no English and while my Russian was okay 4 months in, we really couldn't communicate unless Vladimir translated.  

We were sharing a meal together with Vladimir's family when his Dad said in Russian, something along the lines that because of Christ I was like another son to him, a member of his family.  It was an observation,  spoken aboyt me not directly to me but it had more impact than his Dad probably every realized.  From that moment I felt Russian.  I felt as if I belonged in the country.  I felt much that way from the beginning of my time in Russia.  But after Vladimir Vladimirovich's father said that I never had one moment of culture shock or loneliness.  I belonged.  

I think for this reason, not only do I consider myself David Davidovich,  I  consider my son Charlie Davidovich. and my daughters Emma and Lucy Davidovna.  My grandparents choice of the name David was passed on to me and I feel that it's been passed on to my children as well.  

So that's it for D post today.

To get back to the A to Z blog click here.  If you want to get back to A to Z master list click here.  If you want to get back to ways of Christopher Robin and  Pooh click here.  

Coming  Up on Team Saturdazzle: The One Without The Koolaid

C is for Christian

 My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day.  Today's letter is C so let's get right to it shall we?

A was for Amateur Parodist

B was for Blogger

C is for Christian

Note: Since these posts are about aspects of me it stands to reason that I have written about these aspects before.  I will be using some of those writings directly and indirectly in the challenge.  Last week I came across a paper I wrote in college back in the early 90's.  I have decided to use it in it's entirety including a note to my professor and my  professor's comments as today's submission.  

Tama - I wrote this for another class in the Fall.  I will submit fresh Thursday work as well.  I include this because I am interested to see if you can respond to this.  If you can I hope to expand on it as my third form.

Growing out of Old Clothes

          Once when I was growing up I came up with the notion that I was adopted.  I didn't know why I felt this way because I look exactly like my Dad.  I was driving everyone crazy until my Dad came up with irrefutable evidence that I was his. He said, "David, when you adopt you get a choice in who you get."

     It is true that you can not choose your children.  Children have no more choice in who they will get as parents. Parents influence their children heavily in their early years.  Children are not even aware of their influence.  They accept what their parents say and do as right without questioning it.

One such area that this occurred in my family was religion.  I was born and raised in a Catholic family. We went oft church every Sunday and I went to Parochial school for nine years. I regularly received the sacraments of Communion and Confession and was confirmed in the seventh grade.

I never minded being Catholic growing up.  We got holidays off that the public kids didn't.  In my early years we learned a lot about the Bible.  I enjoyed that. At home we never really looked at it, only at school. Still and all, I thought Catholicism was cool and even thought about the priesthood.

As I grew older I became less satisfied with Catholicism.  In the eight grade our priest came in to clear up the Bible for us.  He told us that many of the stories we had been learning to be true were just allegory.  This really bothered me.  Was belief something just for children? If it was, I was not ready to outgrow it.

Disillusion grew as I entered high school.  While religion was a staple in our family, it had no everyday significance. At dinner Dad would lead us in the same memorized prayer we'd been saying for years.  It was sometimes difficult for Dad to get control of 5 rowdy children and one talkative wife so he could lead us,  On one of these hectic occasions I remember him bellowing, "God Damn it! We are going to pray!" It is a funny and sad memory for me because it indicates the dichotomy of religion and practice in our home.  

In junior high and high school I was always growing. I was constantly growing out of old clothes and in need of new ones.  My Mom and I would go to the store and she would ask me what I wanted and proceed to buy what she wanted.  I knew that someday I would be able to choose my own clothes.

As I grew up my family's Catholicism seemed not to fit.  I needed a God who was stable. One that was not going to change. One that was the same on Sunday as He was at the supper table.  I spent my high school years looking for something that would fit.  

I made a discovery two days after Christmas my Senior year.  I found something that fit.  I discovered a Jesus that wasn't distant. A Jesus that was the same yesterday, today, and forever.  A Jesus who was interested in all areas of my life.  I never met that Jesus in the church I grew up in, and I gradually stopped attending there.  I discovered Him in the Bible and in the lives of those who followed Him.  I decided that day I would follow Him.

Often when I tell friends I once was Catholic, they ask what I am now,  Some days I just respond by whatever denominational dog tag I happen to be answering by. On my good days, I answer by saying what I became that day in late December 1982: A follower of Jesus. Being a follower of Jesus is not something I was born into.  It was clothing that I chose to put on, and I have never outgrown it.

Professor's comment: Yes - This is much more accessible.  I find this by far & away the least alienating.  In fact, it's engaging. All people, no matter what their faith, are fascinated by the spiritual quest of others. It's such a private matter such a crucial matter, we care.  And when you simply share, you've an audience.

 Well that's all of me to C today.  For more of the A to Z challenge click here.  

Coming Up: Son of a David.

 

B is For Blogger

My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day.  Today's letter is B so let's get right to it shall we?

A was for Amateur Parodist

B is for Blogger

When I was your age, television was called books. William Goldman - The Princess Bride

When I was in my twenties, blogs were called newsletters.  I wrote one, a semi-whenever publication called Those Living On The Cutting Edge  printed on a dot matrix printer and mailed out when postage stamps cost 22 cents.  

It was written to like minded friends and contained interviews, reviews, rants and even a feature called "If I Could Draw This Would Be A Cartoon, in which I described a scene and then said what the caption would be.  

Another early pre-blog was when I would write prayer letters when I was a short term missionary in Russia.  It's title was The Siberian Sentinel.  Each month I would write a few snippets of what was going on and send it back home to be distributed.

One summer my brother visited me there and I tasked him to write that months letter.  So, I guess he was the first guest blogger.  I  don't remember everything he wrote, but I remember when he said that he could make a lot of money by selling the Russians the recipe for ice.

Geo-Cities was a dream come true for me.  It was my pre-blog blog.  My family had multiple pages including my ultimate Comic Strip Page where I put my 30 favorite comic strips as if I published a newspaper.  I had another page where I listed the last 5 sporting events we attended.  At Geo Cities I also posted editorials/ essays some like An Open Letter to the Car Behind Me eventually made their way to this blog.  

An Open Letter to the Car Behinf Me

Dear Car Behind me 7:30 p.m September 1st 2001 exiting Elk Grove Bowl Parking lot onto Southbound Arlington Heights Road, 

 Yesterday as my wife, daughter and I were heading home from dinner at the Rose Garden restaurant in Elk Grove we were making a left out of the parking lot of The Grove Shopping Center on the corner of Arlington Heights Road and Higgins. We were joined by you on our tail. My wife, who is probably the worlds best and safest driver, was waiting for traffic on both sides to subside before making our turn. 

 This is when you, in your 2nd row mentality, decided that you could see the traffic better behind our minivan than we could ahead of you. So you blared on your horn, indicating that we really should be turning at that exact moment and make you wait no longer. Well, Superman, (A reference to your x-ray vision; being able to see past our car to the ongoing traffic) not 3 seconds after you honked, a northbound car barreled past us. 

 This means that if we took your horn blowing advice, and stuck our cars nose out in traffic, that most likely my wife, myself, and my daughter and our unborn child would be dead right now. My daughter would not have turned two today. The house in Carpentersville we moved into yesterday would have never been lived in by us, nor paid off by us, saddling our parents with grief and debt. 

 Fortunately, as disconcerting as your second row salute was, my wife did not go until the coast was actually clear. You, then had the audacity to catch up with us and give my wife a glare! Don't you realize, that if we did take your advice and got smashed up, you would have most likely been even further delayed than you were. When we both stopped at the light at Landmeier it was all I could do to not roll my window down and give you an earful. 

 This has happened to me so many times before. We live in an area of congested traffic, driving in front of people who honk the horn at us before the light turns green. If you guys are so quick on the draw, how come you generally are behind me ? 

 So car behind me, next time you are second in line behind somebody else: try to remember that it's not just a car you are behind, it is people!

 Love, 

 Dave

At some point I started reading blogs, at first I didn't know they were blog.  One time I was reading an excellent review  of a movie I never heard of called Once, . I got the movie from our library and it is now one of my top 100 films of all time.  My wife and I have also seen the musical version of the film.  That blog was one of the first blogs I put on my first blog roll. Because of that blog and many others over the years, I have read things, experiences things, and even written things like a progressive poem that I wouldn't have without blogging.  My wife's siblings and other relatives started a family blog in 2006 or so,  A lot of seminal pictures of our growing family made their way  to that blog.

 

This blog was originally started in 2009 with the title Home School Dad.  To many the moniker Home School Dad connotates a Dad whose family home schools.  The picture you get in your mind is of a Dad who works outside the home with a wife who teaches the children.  In that scenario I was a Home School Dad since 2002 or so when my wife started doing school at the kitchen table with our 3 year old daughter as our 1 year old son toddled by. 

What I meant by Home School Dad was a Dad who was the stay at home primary educator of the children.  Starting in the Fall of 2008, I was that Dad.  After an introductory semester of teaching the kids, taking them to the library, and putting my toe in the water of Home School co-operatives, I was ready to dive in to full home schooling mode.  At that time this usually included, a home school blog.  So I made the transition from blog reader to blog doer and became Home School Dad.   I participated in lots of blog hops, carnivals,  and memes (which I pronounced  as me mes) . I built  a pretty good following in the home schooling community.

The mid to late 2000's are generally considered the height of blogging.  I think the late 2000's early 2010's were the height of home school blogging.  By 2010 I had 3 active blogs.  Home School Dad started in January 2009, Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Page began in December of that year.  These were both on blogger.  I started a vlog called Dave Out Loud on Word Press and like Arthur Dent, who could never get the Hang of Thursdays, I could never get the hang of Word Press.  So in January 2012, I brought Dave Out Loud to Word Press.  2012 was also the first year I participated in the A to Z challenge at HSD.  

 I was the main home educator in our family for 5 school years between 2008 and 2013.  When I went back to working full time, I was still able to teach once a week at our home school co-op.  I also was able to continue to blog. In 2015 I came back to the A to Z challenge at this blog and also on my sports blog.  In 2016 I actually did the challenge on 3 different blogs.  That was the only year I didn't complete the challenge.

2017 and 2018 were dry years for me as far as blogging we concerned.  I participated in the 2019 A to Z challenge on a Word Press blog, dropped out for about a year and then resurfaced again in 2020 during Co-vid.  I have been back ever since.  From 2019 until now I have participated in the A to Z challenge each year.  In that time, I have consolidated my 3 blogs into one and changed the name of Home School Dad to Leap of Dave.

I still read quite a few blogs and use my blog rolls to keep up with them,  I know this is a bit of a rambling history of my life in the blogoverse. There are probably more things I could have said and some things I could have left out.  There used to be a Weekly Blog Meme called Works for Me Wednesday at the blog We Are That Family.  It was one of those mr. linky blogs and the basic idea is you would give some sort of tip that was helping you and your family.   What I'm trying to say amid the rambling, is that blogging works for me.

A to Z challenge wise, you can get back to the blog by clicking here and get to the spreadsheet by standing up, spinning around 3 times while chanting spreadsheet.  I'll wait.  Actually, it's April Fool's day as I'm writing this, so that may not work,  but still try it.  Clicking here  won't be as entertaining to those around you as my method, but it will get you to the spreadsheet.

Coming Up: C is for Christian.

  

A is for Amateur Parodist

 

My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day.  Today's letter is A so let's get right to it shall we?

A is for Amateur Parodist

I love parodies and I came by it honestly.  My family listened to a lot of Allan Sherman  records when we were growing up.  Allan's most famous song A Letter From Camp (Hello Madda Hello Fadda) but I grew up hearing so many more of them.  Here is one I just discovered today to the tune of Moon River it's called Chopped Liver. 

In addition to being exposed to one of the worlds greatest parodists at an early age.  My folks also wrote and published their own song parodies.  Each year they would write their annual Christmas letter to the tune of a different Christmas song.

They produces such classic lines as

Good old Wenceslaus looked out from his Window Sill (Ledge)

Then he looked all about and saw Elk Grove Village

The parodies would tell the story of my parents year and what happened to all of us during the course of it.  These parodies went on for at least 40 years and began including grandkids and Christmas songs that no one ever hear of.

My sister Kathy was the first of two girls born to my parents over the course pf 11 years. I was the first of 3 boys born to my parents over the course of 6 years.  The boys of course came in between the girls setting up this parody of Hark The Hearald Angels Sing in 1974.

Then we were not six but seven

January 27th 

On that day in early morn

Bonnie Eileen at last was born

She is Kathy's pride and joy

Specially because she's not a boy.

These influences and being exposed to Weird Al Yankovic singing gems like He's still Billy Joel to me on Dr, Demento put me on the  prestigious path to parody.  (Not the annoying, alley of alliteration.  That's all me.)

  

 

The first parody I remember writing down was a parody to the Steve Miller Band 1982 song Abra Cadabra about a guy who worked at  a morgue called average cadaver .  I kept the lyrics for awhile but soon lost them.  A few years later I saw Svengoolie singing a parody of  Abra Cadabra also about a cadaver,  That's the problem with parodies, if you can put new lyrics on somebody else's song you can't complain when someone else does.  While looking for the Svengoolie parody on you tube I found an obligatory co-vid parody of Abracadbra that has to do with pasta rather than cadavers.

.

Over the years I have had occasion to write multiple parodies.  Some I've written for people moving away.  Some just for fun.  The 3 that follow all were written for ir previously published in this blog.

When I returned to the A to Z  challenge in 2019 my first theme was the music of the Sherman Brothers.  Their music has a special place in my heart.  It's no surprise that I've tweaked their lyrics from time to time.  Like when I wrote this paean to t-shirts.  

 The most wonderful thing about t-shirts 

 Is t-shirts are quite fun to wear 

They're great to roll up your sleeves in 

They help you let down your hair 

They're cool, they're stylish, some think they're childish and while I will not bicker 

the most wonderful thing about t-shirts is they're frontwards bumper stickers! 

 

There are a few go-to songs  that I like to parody.  Hakuna Matata from Lion King and Desperado by the Eagles top that list.  If the syllables of your name scan with Hakuna Matata there is a reasonable 

I just made one up now:

Olympia Dukakis

What a wonderful dame

Olympia Dukakis

Has a star on the  Walk of Fame

She was all the rage

From her great work on stage

Olympia Dukakis

For scanning purposes O-limp-eee-ah is shortened to O-limp-ya

 2 years ago in the A to Z challenge when I spent a Month at the Movies, I wrote about my my favorite western in S is for Silverado

While posting it on my FB page I did a quick Desperado parody:

Silverado, you are in my top eleven. 

You star two great Kevin’s 

Plus one Glenn, and one Glover 

You’re a western 

But so much more than your genre 

Which is why I’m so fond a 

This joy I’ve discovered. 

In 2011 when celebrating my 500th post on this blog.  I wrote a parody to the tune of the Proclaimers I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles).  

I Just Blogged (500 Times) 

 When I wake up, yeah, you know I'm gonna blog 

I'm gonna blog about playin' puppy on the floor. 

When I go out, well you know I'm gonna blog 

I'm gonna blog about a field trip to the store. 

 If it's Christmas, yes you know I'm gonna blog

 I'm gonna blog about how much we like to bowl. 

And if it's Easter, yes you know I'm gonna blog. 

That it's not a little rabbit that makes us whole. 

 I just blogged 500 times 

And I might blog 500 more 

To blog and ask what you guys do 

With children screaming on your floor. 

 When I'm teaching, yes you know I'm gonna blog 

About something good that Bunny or Spider did. 

And when puppysims come 

I'm gonna post 'em here. She's really quite a kid. 

 When we travel. yeah, you know I'm gonna blog 

Whether close to home or Washington D.C. 

And when we get back you know 

I'm gonna blog with words, pics and videos for all to see. 

 I just blogged 500 times 

And I might post 500 more 

Just to be the guy whose 1000 posts 

Will make you laugh but never snore. 

 When I'm fed up, yeah you know 

I'm gonna blog I'm gonna blog 'bout how my family drives me mad

 But when I think straight yeah you know I'm gonna blog

 I'm gonna blog about the super times  we've had. 

 I just blogged 500 times 

And I might tweet 500 more 

Just to be the guy whose posts and tweets 

reveal the passion at his core.

That about does it for my adventures as an amateur parodist.  

I just have one more thing to add.   Allan Sherman and Al Yankovic were both at one point my favorite parodists and I was a distant third.  My daughter Lucy FKA Puppy FKA Wolfina has not only surpassed me as a parodist but I believe she could surpass  Sherman and Yankovic   in a tussle for the the top spot.  My favorite of hers is when she does the preamble to the constitution to the tune of Momma Mia. 

We do a lot of collaborating and were having fun last week when she was home on Spring Break just making parodies of songs based on my maintenance medications.  They were just a line here, a line there like singing Triamtene to hail to the Chief.  

When we were done, I kept on reimagining one until I was telling the story of a man who was singing the praises of his blood pressure medicine but kept on obsessing instead about the Trump Presidency.

Ladies and gentlemen I present to you

Amlodipine 

sung to the tune of Yesterday

Amlodipine, My BP's as low as it's ever been

Trump's not nice, He's kind of mean

Oh I digress Amlodipine

My BP fluctuates by White House residency

And Now a new Trump Presidency 

Amlodipine I'm needing thee

Why'd he run again

That is not what felons do

Then he won again

I cannot believe it's true ooh ooh ooh

Amlodipine

There's more pressure than I've ever seen

So until he gets impeached again

I will need Amlodipine

Amlodipine

I don't want to start a scene

I'm as blue as Elon's cars are green

I'm going to need amlodipine

Can't even read a MAGAzine

I will need amlodipine. 

 

To get back tot he A to Z challenge click here.

Comping Up: B is for Blogger

Team Saturdazzle: The One Where We Talk About Bruno

Team Saturdazzle time again and the last Team Saturdazzle post that won't be a A to Z Challenge post in disguise until the beginning of May. More about that later ...

I had a great week at work .  I was at 3 schools in advance of Spring Break and then a 6 week Long Term Assignment that will end out the school year fs or me.  Then the weekend began and I started having some 21st century problems that could have put a wrench on the beginning of Spring Break.  

Spent more time trying to resolve these issues  than I would want to and while they are no where near resolved they are in a nice holding pattern that will let me move on with my Spring Break with only a modicum of inconvenience.  

If that seems a  tad vague it is because the aforementioned problems are a tad Brunoesque in the we don't talk about Bruno sense of the word.  But as you can see by today's title we will talk about Bruno, so let's get to it shall we .  

As mentioned in my last post, I subbed the past 2 days in an elementary music classroom.  19 classess in 2 days!  It was amazing!  The students had choices as to what to watch on the smart board.  The most popular selection was Baby Yoda, but videos from Encanto were a close 2nd.  Pressure got played 3 or 4 times,  and we don't talk about Bruno at least twice that.  

     

I kept on meaning to ask the students what the hidden joke in We Don't Talk About Bruno is, but each time the video ended, between my ADHD and their eagerness to pick the next song, I never got to it. I'll have to settle for telling you now.  We don't talk about Bruno is a song dedicated to talking about Bruno!!  That joke may be a little too sophisticated for  the average audience of Encanto, but I love it!

***********************************************************************************

My 3 Anniversaries Part I

My wife and I were married on April 11th 1998.  In order to go on a honeymoon we scheduled the wedding for the Saturday after her school took off for Spring Break.  This was also the Saturday before Easter that year.  So since 27 years later she still works at a school, and Easter is still a thing, we actually have as many as 3 days a year that we can celebrate our wedding anniversary. Today was the first of those this year.

We went out for breakfast at a place we hadn't gone too before and had a really nice conversation.  We spent some of the day doing the Brunoesque things I didn't talk about earlier and then we went to a matinee of a play that a friend's daughter was directing.  We found out when we got there that a former home school co-op student of mine was also in the play.  This was the 2nd time in less than 4 years that we went to see someone else in a play and this young man was in it as well.

The name of the play is  Radium Girls and is very similar in nature to a play that my daughter acted in as a radio play during her Freshman year in high-school because of Co-vid restrictions and directed part of in her Senior One Act presentation last year.

Both plays tell the true stories of women from Orange , New Jersey and Ottawa Illinois who painted watch dials and died  of the exposure to the radium in the paint.  

***********************************************************************************

Well there's more I could say but it's 11:45 p.m. and I'm running out of Satur to dazzle you with so I'll call it a night!

Baby Yoda and The Music Sub

 Midweek Music Break

I said that I would try to get in one more midweek music break before the A - Z challenge starts next month.  This is not what I thought I'd be writing about but I'll have to get to those after the challenge.

Today I started my last regular sub-assignment for the school year.  The reason why is that I begin a long term assignment the Monday I get back from Spring Break that goes through the end of the year.  I popped into Amy's first school in the district today for a 2 day music teacher position.  Music classes on our elementary level are part of specials and the student gets 2 30 minute music classes each week.  Today I am teach 10 1/2 hour classes and tomorrow I teach 9.  At leaast 1/2 of each class the students were given a choice board.  which means that on the class smart board are 10-12 choices of short music videos.  Each class so far that has had a choice board has chosen this song as one of their selections:

All the grades K-5 love this song. I absolutely love this song but had forgotten all about it.  Once I heard it I knew what the Mid Week Music Break would  be. I have more students coming in in ten minutes so I should probably go.  

Equal Groups Multiplication Song | Repeated Addition Using Arrays

Not counting the charter school there are 27 schools in the district where I substitute teach. I have subbed in 26 of them. However in the past 11 quarters I have only subbed at 2 of them This is because In the last 9 quarters I have been a building sub, meaning I go to the same school each day and sub at whatever opening is available.

Prior to that I did long term subbing for a semester at one of the schools where I would eventually become a building sub.  This quarter is going to be different.  I am taking a long term position at the first school I ever did long term from when school starts  after Spring Break until the end of the year.

For the next few weeks I'm just going from school to school in the district and working in whatever building needs a sub that day.  My last building  was a middle school and I am going to be in elementary schools for the rest of the year.  In the few days I've been back in elementary I've been getting used to short educational videos that are so prevalent in elementary classrooms especially in the special ed classes that I prefer to work at. 

On Monday we showed this video to our students at the beginning of math.  I decided to share it here. 

 

It's not exactly School House Rock but I liked it.  

Team Saturdazzle: The One Where I pull something from my draft status and then go from there

I have been trying to clean out my draft staus which is where posts I start but don't finish end up or where I put you tube videos just in case I may want to put them on the blog someday. So today when my first Idea for Team Saturdazzle seemed a little too cumbersome to finish on time. I decided to look through some of the videos that I had in draft status. When my son was in F.L.L. FIRST Lego League he participted in a scrimmage table where different robotics teams would get together to practice together at the same facility. One of the tenets of FIRST Robotics is gracious professionalism, so even though these teams would soon compete against each other in competition. This was an opportunity for them to practice and learn from each other. I took some footage of the event and put some of it on my vlog probably 10 years ago or more. I don't think this particular video made the cut but I'm glad to show it today.

 

One thing I specifically remember from the event that it was in a building that my Orthodontist had been in years before and that the building had one of those old fashioned elevators complete with an elevator operator. Watching that video reminded me of a movie that is currently playing at the theatre I work at. It is called rule breakers based on a true story of Afghanistan girls competing in a FIRST Robotics competition.  

 I like to consider myself the king of the segue but even I wasn't sure how to go from two segments on robotics to talking about Bob Bennet Weekly Live but I'm going to try:

From FIRST to First Things First

The 5 years anniversary of Co-Vid 19 shutting down life as we knew it at least for a time kind of came and went, in my opinion, without much to do.  5 years ago on  Friday, March 13th was my last day working as a substitute teacher until September of 2022, and Saturday March 14th 2020 was my last day working at the movie theatre until a year later.  Two weeks later I was stocking shelves overnight at a grocery store, which I did for a year.  People in many lines of work had to be flexible at this time.

Bob Bennett, one of my favorite singers began on his 65th birthday March 21st of 2020  a series of weekly on-line interactive concerts called originally enough Bob Bennett Weekly Live.  Tonight he finished his 5th year of such concerts.  He streams these concerts replete with a virtual tip jar each week and on both You-Tube and Facebook.  

My wife and I listened in while we were playing cribbage, and gin rummy and Bob even gave Amy a shout out during the concert.  Tonight's concert featured many songs mostly made by request from Bennett's first album First Things First (1979) I also made a Spotify playlist that features the songs Bennett played tonight including multiple renditions of a few of the songs.  

 Finally tonight I'd like to end with a clip from Saturday Night Live from 1979 with Jimmy Fallon and Jerry Seinfelld both performing as Jerry Seinfeld

 

Capping Off Poetry Friday

 I am an old school blogger and as such I still list many blogs on multiple blogrolls at my site.  There are many different types of blogs, sports blogs, music blogs, poetry blogs just to name a few.  tonight as I was looking over some of the recent posts on my blog roll I noticed one that said 30 poems.  So I assumed it was a poetry blog this being just a few hours from Poetry Friday.  Boy was I wrong it was a blog called Fan Graphs which is a very insightful baseball blog that I understand only about a third of.  

Well I clicked and there were 30 poems all right, but they were poems about baseball caps and not just any baseball caps but 30 poems dedicated to a new line of caps called overlap caps by the company New Era. 

Davy Andrews wrote a poem for each of the 30 MLB teams caps.  They are called overlap caps because each cap overlaps two of the baseball teams names or designs.  Since I am a Chicago baseball fan I am including a picture of both Chicago teams caps  and the first few lines of the poem to demonstrate the effect.

 

                    Chicago White Sox

Pay close attention, kids. 

This is the danger of the limited color palette. 

Life’s not black and white. 

Or rather, it’s not all black and white. 

 

There’s still right and wrong. 

There’s right, and then there’s wrong. 

So much wrong we’re drowning in it,

                        Chicago Cubs 

 “Nothing to see here,” said the huge, rotund C 

 That swallowed its skinny sibling whole. 

 “Nothing to see. Hop aboard the El.” 

 It looks like it’s about to throw the skinny C back up.

To see the pictures of the rest of the caps and read these poems in their entirety along with other teams of your choosing click here. 

Poetry Friday is hosted this week by Janet at Salt City Verse.  You can click here to see what she has going on. I have not been writing much poetry lately which is one of the reasons why I have not been participating in Poetry Fridays for a while, but as my old school blog role indicates I am still actively pursuing poetry in my blog reading.

F O G .... E L Berg

 My Daughter Lucy formerly known on this blog as both Puppy and Wolfina  is now a  19 year old adult in her first year at college at the University of Illinois.  She is a double major in Creative Writing and English.  She continues to sing in a choir and is rehearsing for her 3rd and 4th plays of the school year.  Same old busy dynamo.  Lucy is one of those students who seem to excel in everything she does.  When she was applying at colleges this made it difficult for her to choose a major on her applications.  I think she had a different major chosen for each  school got applied at.   At  heart though she's a theatre/music/writer/artist type of person.  

I'm sorry, this post is not supposed to be about Lucy, but about Dan Fogelberg.  Earlier this week a new  Fogelberg song was released posthumously.  Fogelberg died at the age of 56 in 1997.  The song, I know a Thief, was released on streaming services like Spotify as part of the celebration surrounding the 50th anniversary reissuing of Souvenirs.

   

So, what does that have to do with Lucy you ask, Is she a thief?  Well she did steal my heart, but that's not quite what the connection is.  Fogelberg matriculaed at the University of Illinois and while there studied Theatre and Art as well as writing, performing and beginning to record  his future hits.  

I visited Lucy quite a bit during her first semester at school.  I went so often mainly to watch football games but we hung out as well.  (Mostly kidding I hope.). Speaking of football games, If you didn't understand the title of this  post, (and let's face it who did?),  it is an allusion to the cheer they make at home football games for every first down, touch down , field goal and extra point U of I makes. The announcer says ILL and The crowd responds INI.  Still don't get it? Now you know how my family feels.

On my way around campus especially on game days I've passed by a place called the Red Herring Cafe.  I've always been interested to know a little of it's history.  Well that turns out to be precisely where Dan Fogelberg performed and recorded many of his early works. 

Dan Fogelberg  at The Red Herring 2003
From Dan Fogelberg Facebook page

Red Herring Coffee House Poster 1972

Folk Festival @ Red Herring 1969
Both Posters from Smile Politely Article

My two favorite all time songs frim Fogelberg are Same Auld Lang Syne and Leader of the Band. The latter was also my only attempt at solo karaoke.  I found out today through an article in the Champaign Urbana News Gazette written shortly after Fogelberg's death that both songs have U of I roots, The meeting of the old girlfriend on New Years Eve in Same Old Lang Syne was a Champaign girl friend, the grocery store was on the corner of Green and Neil in Champaign, and at the end of the song when he talks about  feeling like he was back at school he was referring to being on campus.  

Fogelberg did not graduate from the U of I, he ended up dropping out to pursue his music. His Dad reluctantly agreed saying "to take a year of and see how it went".  That is where the line "Thank you for the freedom  when it came my time to go" in Leader of the Band comes from,  which precede the lines I bawled at during my karaoke rendition -

"I thank you for the kindness and the times when you got tough 

And papa, I don't think I said I love you near enough"

That about it does it for my midweek music break talking about Peoria Native Dan Fogelberg, his posthumous release, and his time at the University of Illinois at the Red Herring.

Speaking of red herrings, people stopping by from my link at Weekly Writer's Workshop must feel like I attached the wrong link.  The truth is, I have had such fun researching and writing this post I absolutely wanted to force it into the workshop and so I have. 

 This weeks prompt's were

1. Write a post based on the word positivity. 
2. Write a post in exactly 9 lines (sentences). 
3. Got any big plans for spring (Easter) vacation? Tell us about them! 
4. Tell us about the most disastrous date you’ve ever been on.
5.  List some (1-5) podcasts you listen to.
6.  Daylight Saving Time — love it or hate it?

There are several  I could do and I may come back and do a few more but today, I will focus on #4 as their is a Champaign/Urbana U of I connection.

Tell us about the most disastrous date you've ever been on?

It was November 1st 1985.   I was in a long distance relationship with a girl who lived near Springfield IL.  We at met at a college conference in 1984 when I was in a long term relationship with my high school sweet heart,  The girl from the conference and I maintained a correspondence and talked on the phone occasionally.  After a mutual break up with my high school girlfriend that lasted 2 years after graduation, we went on a few dates together,  This girl was way out of my league but she did not know it.  We bonded over our love for CCM Contemporary Christian Music and humor.  I was working my first full time job and taking some time off college that year, I was still living at home so the full time job gave me funds for travelling back and forth between Chicago and Springfield.  

As I recall, I was kind of playing the field for the first and only time in my life that summer  and had gone out on dates with 2 or three other girls since the spring.  Those dates  were mainly platonic and similar to what we would have done as friends.  Somewhere along the line things were getting more serious with the girl from Springfield, at least for me, and I stopped going on other dates. 

She and I were both huge Amy Grant fans and we decided to go to Champaign and see Amy play at what was then called Alumni Hall on the U of I Campus. The concert was on a Friday and I think I spent Halloween visiting  with friends at Eastern Illinois University. 

 I think we spent most of Friday together and at some point she told me she just wanted to be friends again.  Most of our relationship  before and during our dating period was via correspondence.  She had decided that I was not the guy for her.  I was at the point where I was thinking maybe I was.  She seemed to think that we could just enjoy the concert as friends because of course I had 4-8 hours to process it.  When I was a young man going to a concert with a girlfriend was all about holding hands during the love songs, and Amy Grant  is all about the love songs. 

 The opening act was Bob Bennett who did a great set.  He wasn't then but he now is one of my five favorite musical artists.  His brand of   adult contemporary  kind of Fogelbergesque  CCM does not give you too much to worry about on the love song angle.  Amy Grant was her Unguarded self. She brought the dancing, the cuteness, and the love songs.  We supplied the awkward. What was supposed to be a night to remember was quickly becoming one to forget.  

  

This is a ticket from the concert I went to but not my ticket.

This is what big named Christian Concerts cost back in the 80's.

   After the concert, we went our separate ways  (although later we did resume our friendship by correspondence).  I drove back to EIU and some of the awkward continued, because one of the girls I had gone on a few dates with earlier that year was the ex-girlfriend of the friend I was staying with. He seemed to think that I did it behind his back, which I don't know which way his back was pointed when we went out, but I never told him about it.  He had found out that summer, and this was the first time we had spent any time together since.  So it was kind of a bad night all around.  

For a short time Champaign and Assembly Hall and even Amy Grant were all reminders of that horrible date.  Long before Lucy got accepted there the place  came to mean much more than failed romance.

I went to two mission conferences  at U of I  in 1987 and 1990.  Both of these conferences were pivotal on the road God was leading me to missions work in my first few years after college.  At the 2nd of those mission conferences I went with a group form my college and in that group was a young woman who was quickly becoming my best friend and rather slowly (7 1/2) years becoming my wife.  Her name is Amy and I try to take her for Granted.  (Sorry had to work it in, I'm contractually obligated to make a certain number of groaner puns). Also at that 2nd conference Amy and I and the other 20,000 delegates were treated to a conference ending year ending concert at Assembly Hall by another one of my top 5 performers of all time Randy Stonehill.  (Yes, it would be a better ending to my post  if it was Dan Fogelberg singing Same  Auld Lang syne at the Assembly hall as he did twice in his career, especially singing it on New Years Eve.) Even the date of the Amy Grant concert, if it ever lived in infamy, has been redeemed as one of our 3 precious children was born on Nov 1st.

Thus ends my story about the influences of Champaign. I'll try to do one more midweek music break before the A to Z challenge begins next month, To at long last get back to The Weekly Writer's Workshop hosted by John Holton at the Sound of One Hand Clapping click here.  

Breakfast Serials Marty Television Program (1953) Part II

Dr. Miriam Grossman Destroys Gender Ideology in 5 Minutes

Team Saturdazzle: The One With The Return of Bisquick Man

Welcome to Saturdazzle. Today we have Some Superheroes that begin with B, baseball for the blind, and The best selling movies of February.

   

This video has been sitting in my draft status for some time now.  I thought with baseball being in spring training, this would be a great time to show it.

Team Saturdazzle At The Movie

Powered by Box Office Mojo

Top 10 Films  

 top 10 Films of 2025 as of 2/28/2005

10. Den of Thieves: Pantera Down 3 from January

9.  Wicked Down 4 from January

8.  A Complete Unknown  Down 2 from January

7  One of These Days Up1 from January

6. Nosferatu down 2 from January

5  Moana 2 Down 3 from January

4. Dog Man up 8 from January

3. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 down 1 from January

2. Mufasa The Lion King Down 1 from January

1. Captain America: Brave New World 

Top 10 Films of February 2025

10. Love Hurts

9.   Companion up 9 from January

8.   Ne Zha 2

7.   One of Them Days up 1 from January

6.   The Monkey

5.   Mufasa: The Lion King down 4 from January

4.   Paddington In Peru

3.   Heart Eyes

2.   Dogman up 10 from January

1.   Captain America: Brave New World