I Cry A Lot

It's true. I'm a bawler. Especially when I watch t.v. or a movie, I always cry at the climactic scene. Even when the moment for tears is so painfully obvious that I have called it ten minutes before hand, and have been mocking it since. It's still tearduct city.

For example, Friday night I cried at the conclusion of Super Sleuth's Christmas, and the only part of Christmas programming lamer than that show, was Tiny Tim and he was really lame.

Yesterday we were watching about the only current t.v. show we watch as an entire family. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. We really like watching how special families are given a special house. We really liked this week's episode about a family with 3 precious boys, 2 who have autism.

This is usually where most people would say something about the show and preface it with spoiler alert. If you are familiar with this blog, you know I am not most people. I mean I'm hardly even me. Instead I'll give you this . . .

SPOILER PREVENTION

If you have not yet watched the program, you can watch it right now, on hulu, like we did. But don't go anywhere. I have brought Hulu to You (hoo). It will take less than 2 hours and I'll wait for you.

Part I

Part II


Welcome back. How did you like the program?


I liked so much of it, I'm not quite sure where to start. I was really psyched at the beginning of the show to find out that Temple Grandin was going to be on. We really enjoy the biopic of her starring Clair Danes. Watching the real Grandin in action not only highlighted what autistic people can achieve, it also showed what a spot-on portrayal Danes turned in in the film.


I also liked the fact that the mom on the show blogs. Yesterday she wrote a cool post some features of the not talked about on the show.


I also loved all 3 of her children. I thought EMHE did a great job giving us glimpses of all 3 kids not just the ones w/ autism.

As wonderful as the house was, as great as the kids were, as fantastic as it was to see Temple in action the real star of the show in my mind was the organization C.J. works for, The Sparrow Clubs.

Sparrow Clubs work with schools to have them adopt families in their communities with extreme medical needs. The schools then adopt those families and raise money and awareness in the community. Almost all of my multiple crying moments of the show were Sparrow Club moments. It was especially poignant when they revealed that the families oldest child had become adopted by a Sparrow Club .


It wasn't until after the show when I was researching Sparrow Clubs that I did my most serious bawling. It was when I was reading about how the Sparrow Clubs FKA Sparrow Project was born. I double dog dare anyone to read this without crying.

Well, I have to run out to the store and get more tissue. This probably won't be the last time I talk about Sparrow Clubs. It's also not going to be the last Home Makeover recap, as next week they are going to Joplin.


Next Time: The Best of Chuck, The Worst of Chuck

Free Circus Tickets is No Trick

I am part of a group of bloggers that promotes certain family events in Chicago for a national marketing company.

One of those events is the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus.

There is a really good promotion happening October 31st which for some people is Halloween. Even though my family doesn't participate in Haloween, I thought I would pass this cool trick or treat give-a-way on to my readers in the Chicago area. I will also have it on my twitter feed and facebook page.

Here it is . . .

Halloween Trick or Ringling Treat!

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® presents Fully Charged is taking Halloween to a whole new level! This year you can Trick or Treat for a FREE Ticket to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey presents Fully Charged! Simply visit one of the 5 Halloween Ringling Treat Houses during their Ringling Treat hour:

House 1 – Roseland, 11350 S. Calumet Avenue – 3pm – 4pm
House 2 – Oak Lawn, 9643 Melvina Avenue – 4pm – 5pm
House 3 – Barrington, 9149 Jasmine Way – 4pm – 5pm
House 4 – Oak Park, 300 Forest Avenue – 5pm – 6pm
House 5 – Naperville, 4711 Snapjack Circle – 5pm – 6pm

Parents who visit a Ringling Treat House with children between the ages of 2 and 12 will receive one voucher for a FREE Kid’s Ticket for each child present. Voucher is redeemable for a ticket to any Monday – Friday performance of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey presents Fully Charged at Allstate Arena and United Center. Voucher must be redeemed for Kid’s Ticket at the arena box office. Additional tickets and adjoining seats may be purchased at that time. Trick-or-Ringling Treating is available on Oct. 31 until the end of the hour noted or until 100 FREE Kids’ Vouchers are distributed at each house, whichever occurs first.

Six Word Rewind

This week I showed my face in the blogosphere after a month long absence. What better place to get back in the swing of things than participating in Six Word Saturday @ShowMYfaceDOTcom?

My Six Words:

They (Still) Drive Me Crazy Sometimes
About a month into my blog, I started sharing poems I wrote here. The first time out I was all ready to put out a poem I had written 10 years prior. I decided at the last minute to write an new one instead. Here is what happened . .

Original Air date February 2009

I, like many people, am a closet poet. That is where my poems remain, in a drawer, next to the closet. From time to time I am going to pull one out of that drawer and share it here. This time to show I am not merely a former poet, I will present one I wrote only hours ago.

They Drive me Crazy Sometimes

She drives me crazy sometimes
Who can win an argument with an amnesiac?
But, no one gets me like she does
She makes our house a haven
And, only laughs when my jokes are funny.

She drives me crazy sometimes
Who made her the third parent, anyways?
But, beneath that bossy boiler
Lies an artist's soul
Skipping and humming. Playful and loving.

He drives me crazy sometimes.
Who can have that many questions about Star Wars?!?
But, he is as adventurous as a pirate.
As giving as Robin Hood.
And as resourceful as Macgyver.

She drives me crazy sometimes
Who wants to be a puppy every single day?
But, she makes cuteness an art form
She's a three year old thesaurus
And she loves to ask God to help people.

They drive me crazy sometimes
But, isn't it worth the trip?

Meanwhile back in 2011. The family still drives me crazy on a somewhat frequentamente basis. Puppy has branched off and is now imagining herself as other animals. Today she was part wolf part tiger. In almost 2 years time they still have the same strengths and weaknesses. Being part and parcel of their family is still worth any craziness endured.

In the past 2 years more of my poetry has surfaced. You can check them all out by clicking here.

Speaking of clicking, click here to return to Six Word Saturday.

Next Time: Don't Know Much About History - A Review

Fragments From a Waiting Room

It is Friday and I am in a waiting room. What am I doing in a waiting room? Waiting, of course. These puppies are perfectly name.



Spider Droid has an appointment so Puppy and I are waiting. Since I have a few minutes I thought I'd participate in Friday Fragments at Half Past Kissing Time.

Fragment 1

I stole this picture from Facebook. My wife and I love the alphabet game. We play it all the time, and have talked about how such a sign would come in very handy. Technically this sign is inefficient. Instead of a Y they should have put a J. There is already a Y in You're Welcome.

Fragment II


I have spent the past few days tweaking the look of this blog. The biggest change is one I made about a month ago when I added a slide show. I figures since I would not be posting much for a while that at least people could get a glimpse of us if they visited. I might make a few more changes in the weeks to come.









Fragment III




One of my new look items is a return to having a quote on my masthead. To see some of the quotes that were there previously just click on my quotable quotes page. Today's quote I heard on K-Love while en route to said appointment. You can hear the quote by watching the devotional below.


Fragment IV

I am collecting state quarters again for the sole purpose of giving them away on my blog. My last State Quarter Give-A-Way was a pretty big deal, and I want to do it again. I have been bringing home a role of quarters each week and am now up to 43 state quarters. When I hit 50, Crazy Dave will make a long overdue appearance.

Well That's all the waiting I have to do today. You won't have to wait long for another post because I have my Six Word Saturday all ready to go. For more Friday Fragments click here.

Next Time: 6 Word HSD Rewind

Sports Fragments

After I began this blog I found out that managing two blogs is a little much for me. I basically have been lying low recently and not posting much of anything here. I have decided that from now to the end of the year I am going to try to post more regularly here.

Today I will start by participating in a meme called Friday Fragments.

It is basically where you just share bits and pieces that would normally not make it into your blog. Since this is a sports blog mine will all be sports related.

Fragment 1 I was mistaken for a Cubs fan today. I received a book today from paperback swap about the 1906 world series between the Cubs and the White Sox. There was a yellow stick from the previous owner that said go Cubs! Now, I am a follower of the Cubs and can speak intelligibly on them, but when it comes to the Sox and Cubs I am much more a fan of the White Sox.


It is kind of unusual for a White Sox fan to not hate the Cubs. I like the Cubs, they are my second favorite team. I grew up a Cubs fan and used to make the annual pilgrimage to Wrigley each year with my family. My 10 year old switched to the Cubs a few years ago. I indulge him this betrayal, as my father indulged me by taking me to about a White Sox game a year in my youth.

Fragment 2 Speaking of the Cubs, I think the move to get Theo Epstein from the Red Sox and have him serve in some capacity in the Front Office is a wonderful one. When that announcement is finalized, I will be interested to see what kind of moves they make. I am a big Ryne Sandberg fan and hope that one of Epstein's moves is to hire Sandberg to manage the team. We shall see.

Fragment 3 My son's soccer team went 7-0-1 last spring. This year most of his teammates and the coach moved up to the next age level. My son did not. He and the new coaches son are the only players that remain from last year's team. This year after 6 games the team is 3-2-1. I am assisting the coach on the sidelines during the games an even had to coach 2 of the games while our coach was out of town. We are 2-0 in those games, not that I'm keeping track :)

I am kind of glad that my son is on one of those win 1 week lose the next teams this year. I was afraid that going undefeated last season and only 1 defeat the season before that would give him the idea that such success is common. This year he is playing the best soccer he ever has and is enjoying himself and learning good life lessons win or lose.

Fragment 4 Now that the Rangers and the Cardinals are tied 1 game all in the 2011 World Series, it might be a good idea to share who I am rooting for.

This is a complex question for me. Normally, I cheer for the American League team as a victory bodes well for the White Sox. I also like to cheer for the team that hasn't won the World Series before or in a while. These two factors put me in the Texas Rangers camp. The Cardinals won it all in 2006 and while the Rangers finally made it to the World Series for the first time last year, thwy did not win.

On the other side of the coin, I like the Cardinals. They are like the Minnesota Twins of the N.L., they always seem to end up in the mix each year even when they are not expected to. Tony LaRussa who led the White Sox to their first playoff appearance is now the long time manager of the Cards. Also when I coached T-Ball for 2 years our team was the Cardinals. Also, John Rooney one of the announcers for the 2005 White Sox, and quite possibly the best play by play man in the business is now an announcer for the Cardinals.

So basically I am torn. My tradition based rooting system says Rangers and my root for the people I like mentality says Cardinals. I am hoping for a 7 game series and don't really mind which way it goes.

That's all the fragments I have for now. Check out the rest of Friday Fragments at Half Past Kissing Time by clicking here.

HSBA Award Nomination Time

I don't blog for a month. Now twice in a day? I am not trying to make up for lost time. It's just when I started reading some blogs I realized we are right in the midst of one of my favorite times of year, HSBA Season. This is the 7th annual Home School Blog Awards at the Home School Post. I became aware of the awards 2 years ago when I found out I was nominated for Best Home School Dad award. Last year I was nominated in that category as well as funniest homeschool blog. (I know funny, I'm a clown fish). While I have not won an award yet, I enjoy finding out about other great homeschooling resources and being part of awarding excellence.

Because of my sabbatical I missed most of the nomination period. They end this Friday October 21st. You can nominate posts by clicking here. So if there are any good home school blogs you want to share with the home school community go ahead and nominate them.

Next Time: Don't Know Much About History- A Review

I am back!

It's been over a month since I posted here. In addition to my homeschooling, I had been working a 40 hour a week temp job. Alas the assignment ended early and my financial loss is your entertainment gain. Hopefully such a lag in posting won't kill this blog altogether. I am gratified that my last post during my self imposed exile from the blogosphere was one of my 10 most popular posts of all time.

I have had many great post ideas during my sabbatical and will be getting to those in the next few weeks. For now I am just going to try to get back into the swing of things. I haven't even read anyone elses blogs in the last 2 weeks and am looking forward to seeing what you have been up to.

I am writing this while the kids are watching an educational video, so I need to get back to them pretty soon.

Next Time: Whatever Strikes My Fancy.