Team Saturdazzle: The one where I meet a FB friend for the first time and then unfriend them

 Hello and welcome once again to Team Saturdazzle.  I have 3 or 4 random things to share this Saturday.  Let's get started shall we.  

Last Saturday there was a Men's breakfast at my church. As I was waiting in line I saw a friend from a church we had both previously attended.  I went and sat with him and remembered that my friend was active in the same prison visitation ministry that the speaker was from.  At a table of 8 people most were friends of the speaker through the prison ministry.  My friend was asking me if I knew another man at our table who had also attended our previous church and was now pastoring a different church.  When I heard the name, I recognized it right away and realized that this guy was a Facebook friend of mine.

The interesting thing was I don't remember ever meeting this guy before.  He has been a FB friend for awhile, but I'm not sure I've ever seen him post about anything.  I introduced myself to him and told him we were FB friends but he gave me no impression that we had ever known each other.  Here is what I think happened, The church I used to attend had at one point 7 men at the church all named Dave,  There were 4 of us whose last name ended with er. Back in the day when FB was popular it was fairly common to get beleaguered with friend request and friend recommendations.  I wouldn't be surprised if this guy got a "You might also know ... " message and mixed me up with one of the other er Dave's from church. Then when I got the friend request  I accepted thinking we would become better acquainted.  For the past few years when I've been cleaning up my FB contacts, I have considered removing this person  but hesitated thinking maybe we had a backstory I ad forgotten and we would meet someday and he would clue me in.

Well when we met there was  he seemed as clueless as me in regards to our backstory.  So today when I was cleaning up my FB contacts I unfriended him.  Since we were basically oblivious of each other in the non digital world until last week, I think we will get over the loss rather quickly.  

Earlier this week I participated in the Weekly Writer's Workshop at The Sound of One Hand Typing.  Each week John Holton gives multiple prompts to choose from.  This weeks were: 

1. Write a post based on the word grudges. 
2. Write a post in exactly 13 lines. 
3. Write about something you learned in the month of February. 
4. List your five favorite snack foods. 
5. Tell us about the worst haircut you ever had. 
6. What are the five things you enjoyed doing the most when you were in sixth grade? Do you still enjoy doing them?

I chose to combine prompt two and six.  After which I used paragraphy at byrdseed.com to put the sentences in random order.  

Here is my original.  The number reinforces the original order.  The letter shows what order paragraphy put them in.  To see how it appeared originally in my blog click here,

1.  The prompt I chose for today is to write a post using exactly 13 lines. (L)
2.  I have adjusted that to be exactly 13 sentences.  (A)
3. I will also try to remember back almost 50 years ago when I was in the 6th grade to think about the 5 things I enjoyed most back then and evaluate if I still like them today. (K)
4.  I have been wanting for some years to put in a post using Paragraphy and will try to do that today.  (E)
5. How Paragraphy works is you write a paragraph and then the sentences are randomly reordered.  (I)
6. See if you can figure out the original order. (M)
7.  In 1975 when I started 6th grade, I was a huge White Sox fan.  (B)
8. Fifty years later I still am. (H)
9. Back then I was quite the television watcher and had the network schedule memorized. (G)
10. Even now when I hear about an old show, the first thing I think of is what network it was on and what day it aired.  (J)
11. In 6th grade I was still in the school band and I played the saxophone, I liked playing but was never very good at it, so that was my last year.  (C)
12. The other two were baseball and bicycling.  (F)
13. They are still two passions of mine. (D)

The number reinforces the original order.  The letter shows what order paragraphy put them in.  To see how it appeared originally in my blog click here

The A to Z challenge is coming up next month and I am still working on my theme reveal.  While I'm not quite ready to tell you what theme I am doing, I can tell you about one that I thought about doing and may do in the future. 

On The February 1 Team Saturdazzle post, I wrote a little about Sesame Street and shared 3 clips  from the show.  Two of the clips featured guest appearances.  This got me to toying with thee idea of an  A-Z theme with Sesame Street  guest appearances.   While it didn't make the cut for this year, I may revisit it in future challenges.  I am happy, though to share this gem of Andrew Garfield and Elmo talking about grief.

March Madness is not just for Basketball!

This is the third year that I am participating in a Wordle March Madness event.  If you reading this post because you are a FB friend of mine look you may have seen an invitation to play along thus year.  What were doing is playing wordle as usual at the NYT site each day this month and sharing our results. Like golf we are trying for low scores.  I will share  the top 10 each competitors each week here at Team Saturdazzle.  

We've had quite the Saturdazzle!  Unfrienships, mixed up memories,  grief on the street,  and a March to Wordle Madness. Thanks for visiting.  

Team Saturdazzle: The One Where Captain Abearica goes to work.

Team Saturdazzle is in the house.  I had many ideas this week for our time together.  Some of them I discarded, others I forgot what they were, still others, I discarded , forgot about them, remembered them again, bit forgot that I had previously discarded them, and then discarded them again.  This one  happened organically but took about a week to culminate, so I'll share a little of the genesis. 

Monday or Tuesday of this week I found out that our school was having yet another pajama day.  I thought that I might participate this time.  There also had been some talk about a lot of snow coming into our are Wednesday and  some thoughts that the regular school day might be replaced by an  e-learning day.  The main difference between a weather related closure, or snow day and an e-learning day is that an e-learning day does not be made up and a snow day does.  On E-learning days teachers give assignments to students, the students check in with them over the course of the day and it counts as a day of instruction.  E-learning days had their beginnings during co-vid 19 and can be used for weather related closures and other times when meeting at the school is not possible.  I think for the most part teachers like these e-learning days but as a building sub at least in my district I do not because I don't work on those days and when I don't work, I don't get paid.  In a traditional snow day situation,, I also don't work and don't get paid, but when the school year is extended because of the closure I work and get paid making up for the day I missed.

It turns out that our school was not cancelled.  But there was still a lot of snow in the forecast for the majority of the day.  So, I wore sweat pants, a tye dye t-shirt and then put warm pajama bottoms  over the sweat pants and a thick robe on over the ensemble.  As I was leaving I decided to bring 

Captain Abearica, the Build-A-Bear Captain  America my daughter Lucy brought for me and that I've been using in various ways as a Sub since 2019. I figured what goes better with pajamas than a stuffed animal.

Pajama Day  came and went.  The 6th grade science classes that I subbed for that day that weren't too cool for school enjoyed his appearance.  On Thursday after school I decided to take advantage of the perk I have at the movie theatre where I work and watch the new Captain America movie for free.  My plan was to bring Captain Abearica  in as well, because family members also get in for free.   I remembered to bring him to work on Thursday but forgot to take him into the theatre.  

Thursday was the soft opening of the new film whose full title is Captain America Brave New World.  The hard opening was Friday, I was working and I figured the place was going to be a zoo.  I have a very logical mind, at least to me. I thought if the place is going to be a zoo, why not bring a bear, especially one who's dressed for the occasion? 

I talked to my manager, who thought it was a great idea and provided me a name tag for "Cap".

Captain Abearica AKA Steve Pawgers

The Captain was a big hit and some people even offered to buy him.  My manager is letting me bring him back for my shifts for the rest of the run of the film.  Who knows maybe he'll even let me dress up like this?

I'll probably have to wait until the next pajama day.

April Blogging from A to Z Challenge 2025 SIGN-UP March 24-April 5 a-to-zchallenge.com

The A to Z Challenge blog posted yesterday for the first time since May of last year. Besides introducing the above 2025 badge.  They posted the schedule for this years challenge: 

 

2025 #AtoZchallenge Schedule: 

 The THEME REVEAL (optional bonus hop) : March 9- 15 

 Official Challenge Sign-ups : March 24 to April 5 

 Reflections (optional bonus hop) : May 2-9 

 Road-trip (sign up to keep visiting others all year _ optional bonus) : Opens May 10

I'm not sure exactly what I might be doing for the challenge.  I've had 4 ideas and I like all of them, but unlike some of the past years I'm only going to do one of them this year

Even as a big fan of the challenge,   I still take umbrage with the way they schedule the reflection so early .  This year challenge ends on a Wednesday and you have all of Thursday to reflect on the challenge before Friday when the reflection  sign up begins.  That's not enough time to reflect!!!  Well that's my rant.  Remember if you are missing any umbrage, I took it.  

Now for a new Saturdazzle feature:

 Something I said on Facebook this week

My friend's BIL posted on FB this week that he found the Super Bowl game boring. I so did not! So I said this on FB this week:

I loved everything about this game. The Eagles delivered in every aspect of the game after being overlooked in all the talk about a 3peat. Not a KC hater nor an Eagle lover but this was a quality football game Jeff. I’m sorry you didn’t like it.

That's it for this week.  That's my Saturdazzle and I'm sticking to it.   

Team Saturdazzle: The One With a New Title?

Team Saturdazzle 

Welcome to the 1st 2024 Iteration of Team Sturdazzle, a hopefully weekly postpourri of random thoughts and regular segments.  

Occasionally I will try to curate ideas from my FB pages and share some of the comments here. Today was supposed to be one of those occasions.  On Thursday night I posted the following on both my personal FB page and the FB page for my blog:

Am approaching the 16th anniversary of my blog. On Jan 6th 2009 I published the first post there http://dave-homeschooldad.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-we-home-school.html A few years ago I changed the name from Home School Dad to Leap of Dave. I’m considering changing the name once again. Here are some ideas I have for a new name:

1. Sustainable Bedlam

2. Toaster Pastries w/o A Toaster

3. Blogging, People Still Do That?

4. A Hat, A Brooch, A Pterodactyl

Let me know which one you like, or If I should stick with Leap of Dave, or perhaps make a title suggestion of your own. I'll post results and suggestions in my next Team Saturdazzle post.

As of 11:30 Friday night I had no comments on either page.  I did ask 3 members of my family the same question over a rousing game of Catopoly, which I am winning.  The results were mixed: my wife Amy prefers Sustainable Bedlam,  my daughter Emma is a fan of Toaster Pastries w/o a Toaster, my daughter Lucy likes Blogging, people still do that?, and I am fond of A Hat, A Brooch, A Pterodactyl.  Certainly, there is no consensus on the nonsensical.  

I will put this post on both my FB pages again and see if I can get more votes.  If you happen to be reading this, please leave a comment with which one you prefer or a suggestion of your own.  

The Mountain Dew Code Red of Trailers

On January 3rd, 2022, I published a post called The Mountain Dew Code Red of Trailers about a movie trailer for The Unbreakable Boy, which was due in theatres in March 2022. The movie, based on a book based on a true story, starred Chuck actor Zachary Levi as the father of a middle school boy who had brittle bone disease and autism.  

Days before the March 22 release date The Unbreakable Boy was pulled from its release schedule with little to no explanation.  Fast forward to yesterday, January 3, 2025 when I was working at my movie theatre 3 years from the date of my original post.  I was patrolling the theatre and ensuring all the movies started successfully when I saw this new trailer for The Unbreakable Boy:

Apparently, Lionsgate has a February 21st 2025 release date.  I'll believe it when I see it.  

Team Saturdazzle At The Movies

Powered by Box Office Mojo

Top 25 Films 2024

25. The Fall Guy 92.9 M 24. Red One 96.81 M  23. Bob Marley, One Love 96.89 M 

22. Alien Romulus 105.31 M 21. IF 111.15 M  20. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire 113.38 M 

19. Mufasa: The Lion King 128.14 M 18. A Quiet Place: Day One 138.93 M 

17. Venom: The Last Dance 137.73M 16. The Wild Robot 143.19 M 15. It Ends With Us 148.51 M

14. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 151.56M 13. Gladiator II 164.55 M 

12. Kingdom of the Planet pf the Apes 171.13 M 11. Bad Boys: Ride or Die 193.57 M 

10. Kung Fu Panda 4 193.59 M 9. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire 196.35 M 8. Twisters 267.76 M

7. Dune:  Part Two 282.14 M 6. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice  294.1 M 5. Despicable Me 4 361 M 

4. Moana 2 404.02 M 3. Wicked 432.94 M 2. Deadpool & Wolverine 636.75 M 

1. Inside Out 2 652.98 M (Movies I watched are in bold)

10 highest-grossing movies I watched this year by rank on Box Office Mojo

90. Here  70. Cabrini 68. Unsung Hero 53. The Forge 52. Reagan 51. The Boys in the Boat  27. Wonka and the aforementioned The Wild Robot (16), Twisters (8), and Wicked (3). 

Top 10 Films December 2024

10. Interstellar 2024 Re-release 

9. Kraven The Hunter

8. Red One - Down 3 from November

7. A Complete Unknown 

6. Nosefartu

5. Gladiator II - Down 2 from November

4. Mufasa: The Lion King

3. Sonic The Hedgehog 3

2. Wicked  Down 1 from November

1. Moana 2 - Up 1 from November

Top 5 Films for 2025

5. Wicked

4. Nosferatu

3. Moana 2

2. Sonic The Hedgehog 3

1. Mufasa The Lion King

That's all I have today, for your weekly dose of Saturdazzle.  Please comment especially about changing the blog's name or anything else that struck your fancy today.  

Team Saturdazzle: What Phrase Do You Hate?

 TEAM SATURDAZZLE

Today, on my Facebook page, I asked: What is a phrase you hate? Here are the answers I received. I have listed the contributors by First Name, Last Initial, and where I  first encountered them.

• Have a good one. Dave R - Mother's Womb, Illinois
• Welcome in. Amy R - Macomb, Illinois
• Behind your back Patrick G - Elk Grove Village, Illinois
• A whole nuther. Valerie T - Peoria, Illinois
• God showed up. Stephanie D - Elgin, Illinois

I will leave my question out there for a little longer if I get any more responses I'll add them here.  

B is for Bisquick, Bryce, and Bulbs.

Good morning and welcome to Day 2 of the A to Z Challenge.  This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB Sluggers in my lifetime, and A to Z Wordles.  For more information about these themes click here.  

 Part I:  A to Z Limericks

 

   

An Ode to Bisquick

                                                                  Their impossible hamburger pie

                                                                  A hyperbole meal you can try

                                                                 Course, if you can do it

                                                                 Do not misconstrue it

                                                                 I'm more an implausible guy

                                                                 Adapted from my Facebook post of 1/10/2014

Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime

Yesterday, we looked at a homerun hitter from the first 12 years of my life.  Today we look at Bryce Harper who is currently smashing the long ball for the Philadelphia Phillies.  Like Dick Allen yesterday, Harper  has won both the MVP and the Rookie of the Year award.  Harper won his Rookie of the Year in 2012 with the Nationals and has won 2 MVP awards one with Washington in 2015 and is the reighning NL MVP winning it with the Phillies in 2021.   In the period encompassing 2011 through 2021 Harper has gone yard 267 times, 184 with the Nationals and 83 more with the Phillies. At 29 there could be plenty more  homers on the horizon for the 6 time all-star.  

Part III: Wordle Starting Words from A to Z

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

My starting word for the 3/2/22 wordle was Bulbs

B U L B S

With only the s in the word but in the wrong place, I countered with spare,

S P A R E

This got me a 2nd letter but both still in the wrong place.  I tried daisy.

D A I S Y

That guess gained me 2 letters in the right place and the logic formed by previous guessess determined that the S would be in the middle of the word. That should have been it, but thanks to guessing the uncommon mashy on my 4th try it took me the full 6 to get to the  nasty answer.  Here are my last 3 guesses and what they revealed.

M A S H Y

T A S T Y

N A S T Y

Tomorrow  is a day off for the challenge.  It's a good day to look around other blogs  and see how they have began the challenge.  I'll be back on Monday with a state and a streak and , well you'll have to C about the rest.  For more A to Z challenge click here.  

How to Get Through 2021: Shoulder to Shoulder

Last month I wrote about how to get through 2021 by advocating adherence to the lyrics of  Day by Day from the musical Godspell. I've been in a bit of a musical renaissance lately.  I've been listening to music for 2 to 3 hours each day and much of it has had an encouraging effect on my outlook on life.  

On the way to work, I listen to the same playlist each morning which features a lot of music from Allen Levi.  In a live concert Allen, who lives and has his recording studio on a Georgia farm describes how he saw two purple finches at the bird feeder outside of his studio.  The first was blind in his right eye and the second blind in the left eye.  

Levi wrote a fictional conversation from one bird to the other about teaming up "to make it through this obstacle course called life. "

Levi's finch also tells his prospective traveling partner that 

"If we travel all alone the danger's plenty but side by side were perfect 20/20."

This got me thinking about the obstacle course that was the year 2020 and how that 2020 was far from perfect in seemingly every aspect. 

2021seems to be shaping up like a movie called 2020: The year that wouldn't leave.  Political turmoil, Covid, Tom Brady winning another Super Bowl.  

If the answer to getting through this year is shoulder to shoulder, a new question that emerges is how do we do that 6 feet apart? 

 

I might suggest 3 ways.

1) Stay positive with each other.

Discontentment is a more infectious virus than even Covid. When one person complains a line soon forms so everyone can get in on the act. 

To stay positive with each other, you first need to stay positive yourself so you can pass it on to others.  In the same way, walking in step with positive people will help you combat negative thoughts and behavior patterns.

Consider the ripple effects of Phillippians 4:4- 9 ...

First have a pattern of rejoicing always (vs.4). add to that gentleness (vs. 5) remove anxiety by presenting your needs to God (vs 6 )and God's peace will guard your heart (vs. 7).  Then to cap it all off think and act only in ways that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent,  and 

praiseworthy (verses 8&9)

2. Encourage each other.

The English Standard (ESV) New International (NIV) and New American Standard (NASB) version of the Bible (3 of my favorite versions) all translated the 1st word of Isaiah 35:3 as strengthen.

ESV: Strengthen the weak hands,

         and make firm the feeble knees. 

NIV: Strengthen the feeble hands,

        steady the knees that give way;

NASB: Strengthen the exhausted, and make the feeble strong. 

In 1995 the NASB went through a revision and the verse is now translated ...

Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.

When you think about it, encouragement is a kind of strengthening. And you have to admit that 2021 life is enough to make the strongest among us exhausted and feeble.  Words and acts of encouragement can provide an oasis in a barren wasteland. 

3. Find Common Ground

Acts chapter 17:16-34  is generally considered a passage that gives a blueprint on evangelism.  Paul in Athens is able to study the culture and then use the culture as a way of sharing the message of Jesus.  One ministry I know took this pattern and developed a method called ask, admire and admit as a way of presenting the gospel to others.

I believe that Paul's model can also be used beyond the scope of evangelism to promote unity.  As you may have noticed we live in an increasingly divisive society even among Christ-followers.  I sometimes think I can only use 24 letters on Facebook as I always seem to be minding my p's and q's. The thing about Facebook is that ideally our circle is composed of friends, relatives, and acquaintances with whom we once shared common bonds.  Sometimes it helps me to remember those bonds and post those memories as a way of strengthening those bonds rather than focussing on differences. 

In January I wrote that depending on God is a good way to get through 2021.  Depending on each other seems to be the next logical step as God created us to be in relationship with one another.  Working in concert through this obstacle course called life is much better than being each other's obstacles. 

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

Alzheimers: The tale of two Robertsons

As a rule, I don't pay a lot of attention to Evangelist/Talk Show Host/Politician Pat Robertson. This week, however, he got my attention when he answered this question from a viewer . . .



Robertson's comments are the beginning of a slippery slope of ethical issues that can confront a marriage. People change in marriage even when there is not a physical cause for the change. I am a much different person than I was 13 years ago and possibly not the man Amy thought I would become. When I got married, I thought I would be at the company I was working at until I retired, much like my Dad did before me. But 5 years ago I lost that job which led to the journey I am now as the primary home educator of the family.


His phrase Alzheimer's is a kind of death is a chilling one. You could replace Alzheimer's with mental illness, Lou Gehrig's disease, cancer and even joblessness if you wanted. While all of these change a marriage and often not for the better, they are not a reason for divorce.


A different perspective comes from the example of Robertson McQuilkin who was president of Columbia Bible College and Seminary (Now Columbia International University, which I attended in 1995). In 1981 his wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

His decision was to retire from public life including his president ship of CIU in order to care for his wife. Listen to his resignation speech. It is a rebuttal to Pat Robertson's response. Except it was delivered 2 decades before Robertson. It is the Godly response of a man who so obviously loved his wife.





Mcquikin gave that speech in 1990 and took care of his wife from then until her death in 2003.


His phrase "it's not I have to, but I get to" is such a different thought than Pat Robertson's response. What if the Robertson from Virgina answered the viewers question by citing the response of the Robertson from South Carolina? He certainly wouldn't be the subject of ABC news reports and hundreds of comments on the 700 club FB page, but he would be much better grounded biblically. Which presumably, is what his 700 club viewers are tuning in for.


On a more personal note, about the same time Mcquilkin was dealing with his wife's Alzheimer's, my grandfather passed away of a disease that for 2 years masked itself as Alzheimer's. Before that most people in my family figured my robust grandfather would outlive my frail grandmother .


But in the 2 years that my grandmother took care of my grandpa a transformation took place in her. She was put in a situation that tore her apart but in the end made her a stronger and more vital person. My grandfather died in 1989 and this "frail" woman he left behind lived 16 more years remaining active in the lives of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. In 1989, I did not know my grandmother very well; being 1 of 30 grandchildren will do that to you. But in the last act of her life, we spent much more time together. My older two children spent much time with her. During the last few weeks of her life she would come in and out of consciousness. One night my wife overheard her having a conversation with God. She was telling Him that she could not go yet because there were still great grandchildren she had not met. One of those great grand children she was referring to was Puppy who was born a few months after Grandma died. I believe the experience of caring for her husband was at least partially instrumental in her strong finish in the last act of her life.




McQuilkin wrote an excellent book in 1998 about 20 years into Muriel's illness, about his wife and his decision to care for her. A Promise Kept is not only the name of the book, but it also defines what McQuikin, my grandmother, and so many others did through the years. Pat Robertson shrugs off those vows in the video while so many others have embraced them.

Fragments, Photos, Tweets and Rants.

Yes you can sing my title to the tune of Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes if you want to. You got to know I will! That said, I have been blogging like crazy lately. I still have a lot to say and Friday Fragments is a great place to tie up loose ends

Fragment 1: I blogged earlier about former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich this week. Maybe I didn't mention that when he ran he said he was going to clean up corruption left in the wake of the previous governor. Now that George Ryan is in jail and Blago soon to join him I really like this new license plate and slogan proposal.

Fragment 2: I also have blogged some what inadvertently about the Pioneer Woman over the past two posts. They were really peripheral blink if you miss them comments beyond the main themes of the posts. It got me to thinking though that I do have a few pictures of her I wanted to post. Amy and the bigs went to a book store in Naperville this spring to get her new book.

She signed Spider Droid's book. and posed for these pictures.

She was impressed with his profound Lego skills. If I was The Next Big Thing on the Internet, I would have probably been "Next!" She, was incredibly gracious.

Fragment 3: As you may or may not know bad or inaccurate commercials drive me crazy. Today I was listening to Pandora while weeding the garden. (If you don't believe me check out this tweet.) A commercial for Lowe's came on and they said July 4th was finally here. That really ticked me off. (If you don't believe me check out this tweet.)

You see they Didn't say July 4th weekend was finally here. They made a single day into a season and then call the season by the day. This sort of thing really irks me, because making the day something it isn't, obscures what it is. In the Little House books, especially Little Town on the Prairie and Those Happy Golden Years, the 4th of July was a special day nestled in between 2 ordinary days. This gave it special meaning.

Our town's 4th of July fireworks were June 25th! 9 days before the actual event. Now they used to always have them the Saturday before the 4th, which I could understand. I even sort of got it when the 4th of July was on a Saturday, and they held the fire works the Saturday before. But 9 days? I mean they should have called them the Father's day fireworks since they were held closer to them, then the 4th of July. Many of the local area festivals which usually coincide with the 4th of July are ending on Sunday this year. I don't get it. The date has significance!

The timer just rang which means I have to stop this ranting and move on. (If you don't believe me check out this tweet.)


Fragment 4: I stole this picture along with the picture from Fragment 1 from the same Facebook account. I could type a lot more, but I think the picture speaks for itself.

Those are all the fragments I have for the time being. Click here to head back to Half Past Kissing Time for more Friday Fragments. (If you don't believe me, check out this tweet.)

One Last Christmas

Friday Fragment time is as easys as 1-2-3, Episode 123, that is. I have decided to save the title fragment for last because if you are anything like me you will be bawling so much you won't be able to defragment any of the other sundry items.

The 2006 2007 t.v season was the last season that we were able to watch television the old fashioned way (via airwaves). Since then t.v. shows have only been seen on the television via d.v.d's on the computer via sites such as hulu.The 2006 2007 season was the first of four seasons for the show heroes. For whatever reason, I didn't see any part of the show in it's 4 year run. In the past 3 weeks I watched every episode of season 1 on dvd's borrowed from our local library.

I just borrowed season 2 today, so I must have liked Season 1. I did. But it was certainly much different than imagined. I was thinking kind of a super heroes among us light hearted romp.

Light hearted? Not so much. As I watched each episode I was reminded of one of my favorite lines from City Slickers : "Let's think back on what we've buried so far."

Lots of death, lots of blood, lots of gore. I always had to watch it away from my children. It is strangely compelling and does use excellent storytelling. But come on guys, tone it down on the crazy watchmaker dude!
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There are some things I can't tell you, but there be some exciting in our home school lives in the coming future. Some of the stuff will probably not pan out, but I will tell you all about it when I am more free to talk about it. One thing I can say now, that I will be posting far less this month as Amy and I are going to be working on some book ideas.
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This week I discovered the most amazing teaching tool of all time, The Dry Erase Board.

It's amazing! It's revolutionary. If it only sliced and diced vegetables, I'd hawk it on late night television.

Seriously, it rocks. I use the 1 pictured above on the wall. I use a smaller one at the table. All the kids love using them. I am going to buy 2 or 3 more tomorrow. I was telling the kids the night before I bought them, about the concept of the parking lot. You know, where you put ideas and questions that you are going to get too later. When I brought the boards home the first thing Spider Droid wanted to do was start a parking lot.
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I was on facebook today when I saw a link for the video below. I usually don't watch videos on facebook as I am usually too busy playing Farkle and Tetris. I made an exception for this one and was moved to tears.

The video and the song are a tribute to the Locke family from Washington, Il. whose son Dax died from Leukemia Dec 30, 2010.



To find out more about this family click here. The Family is trying to raise 1.6 million dollars to donate to the hospital that treated for their son. The money would run the hospital for 1 day. To donate go to Matthew Wests site.

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That's all I have for today, fragmentally speaking for more Friday Fragments head over to Half Past Kissing Time.

Next Time: Six Word Saturday, The Video

You don't have to be Einstein.

To be 1 step ahead of the Holidays Half Past Kissing Time has started Friday Fragments early here are mine . . .

Our home school co-op ended this week. One of the teachers was teaching a physics class for 1st-3rd Graders. Earlier in the semester she asked me to speak the last week of the class as Albert Einstein.

So I donned a wig (cotton balls taped to a stocking cap) and my best German scientist accent and had a lot of fun with it.

It turns out you don't have to be Einstein to play Einstein. I was able to perform an experiment that illustrated what Einstein discovered about light having gravity.

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My parents came to the closing festivities for the co-op for the first time this year. I think it was the first time they ever got to see my kids in action in a true home school setting. I shared the emceeing duties with two of the speech classes. The presenters went up in pairs and they were very polished, so it had a real awards show feel to it. At the end of the evening I handed the microphone to puppy and she told this joke . . .

Who was the most important knight at the round table?Sir Cumference

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As I posted Sunday, Christmas shopping has seemed to begun in earnest all around us. If you make it out to the malls and big box stores take the sales advice with a grain of salt. I have noticed that some sales people through ignorance, poor listening skills, or just to sell more product don't always give correct product information.

For example, I wanted to buy Amy something she could listen to radio programs with when she is out and about. On several occasions we looked at ipods and we asked several associates if those ipods would play pod casts. Each time we were told no. Sometimes we were told that only a Zune would play pod casts, sometimes we were told that only an ipod touch would play them. Both those pieces of equipment cost more than what I had to spend on her birthday present. We then decided to just buy an old fashioned Walkman type radio and were told by an associate that the store no longer sold radios like that.

I walked back to where they "used to be" located anyway. They were still there and we bought out. We found out later that day through the miracle that is Facebook. That ipods do indeed play pod casts. (I mean they are called "pod" casts for a reason.)

I marched (figuratively) back to the store returned the Walkman radio, and proceeded to buy Amy an ipod; at a different store.

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Those are all the fragments I have. I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving. For More Friday Fragments click here.

The Bunderground railroad or Why it took 8 hours to vacuum the play room.

I mentioned in a recent post how active my BIL is in the care of my FIL. What I did not mention is that my wife, since she has some time off this summer has volunteered to give Mike a week off and work with her Dad this week.

This morning Amy and the girls took off for Grandpaville (that's not the real name of the town) at about 6:30 a.m. leaving a small list of things for Charlie and I to accomplish while they were gone. Again this was a relatively small list. Charlie's room was painted this Saturday with the help of a H.S. graduate from our home school co-op who is earning money for a nearly 1/2 year trip to England come September. As a result, all of Charlies room, save his bunk bed is in one of our main rooms.

This morning I gave Charlie a half hour of computer time and went to read in my room before starting on the jobs. Charlie let Smoky, our bunny out into the play room which is a very common occurrence. A half hour later Charlie and I started on the list. The first thing was vacuum the play room. So I went to get Smoky and move him out of the way (He doesn't like the sound of the vacuum cleaner). Smoky was nowhere to be found. Now he's gone missing before, but we have a small house and we've never had to look more than 5 minutes.

There were no doors open and while there is a small hole next to the dryer that leads to the outside it is much too small for Smoky to get through. We spent hours looking for that bunny and praying. Like I said we live in a small house, so we kept looking in the same places over and over again. What was really odd and scary was that we couldn't hear him. Most of the time when he is out of the cage we know what room he is in from the scratching noises emanating from that room. We couldn't hear anything. I even turned off the fish tank filter, refrigerator and fans but still nothing. As the hours passed by this lack of noise was bringing me to the opinion that he was either dead or out of the house.

Charlie in the mean while was very upset with himself as He was the one who let the bunny out of the cage. Charlie did nothing wrong! A bunny cannot be cooped up in a cage all the time and we had all let Him out before for longer than the half an hour Charlie did. We were both dreading telling Emma that her bunny was missing. Charlie was afraid that she would be mad at Him. I was afraid that it would break her heart. We had just celebrated his first birthday over the weekend and now he was gone. I called Amy at her folks and let her know what was happening. She wisely kept the girls in the dark. She also alerted her facebook friends to pray.

We walked around the block a couple of times asking neighbors of they had seen him. Poor Charlie would hear the sound of trucks backing up and convince himself it was a bird of prey attacking. I did my best to calm him down. I asked Him if he would blame me if I was the one who let Smoky out of His cage and he said no. So I said why would you blame yourself?

Instead of cleaning the house we pretty much destroyed it looking for Smoky. We dumped out all the buckets of shoes, toys, clothes that Smoky could possibly be at the bottom of. We basically ransacked the house in search of our precious commodity.

The aforementioned student came by at 2 to help us hang new curtains in Charlie's room. He also helped me check in places Smoky might have gotten into. At 3:40 Amy who had been checking in all day texted us that she and the girls would be home in 20 minutes. I texted back that there was still no sign or sound of Smoky. At that point I was pretty sure that I would soon be explaining to my 10 year old daughter that Her bunny was either dead or gone.

Charlie and I went into my room and I prayed that if Smoky wasn't dead but just sleeping or hiding somewhere that God would wake him up or lead him back to us. 5 minutes later I heard a sound. Now I had heard sounds before that but it was usually Charlie in the next room. One time it was literally Charlie turning the page of the book he was reading. It was that quiet in the house with the fan, refrigerator and fish tank off. This was a bunny like sound. A scratching behind the wall of my bedroom. The room behind my bedroom is the bathroom. The sound I heard was coming from the bathtub area. Well we had checked the bathtub a dozen times. He wasn't in the bath tub. The sound was coming from underneath the bath tub.

Our dryer is in our kitchen behind the dryer there is an access panel to the back of the bath tub. I checked there at least 4 times but I was always concentrating with a big hole under the bath tub. I noticed there was a small area on the side of the bath tub that maybe a bunny could crawl into. I called Smoky's name for like the thousandth time (I'm crying even as I type this) and got a carrot we had left over from his birthday party and held it out over the opening. 30 second later, he stuck his face in the opening. For a second I thought I was imagining it since I so much wanted him to be alive. But he was really there! For a scary second I thought he was going to turn around and go back where I couldn't follow Him. But I was able to get him out of the hole.
5 minutes later Emma was home and wasn't surprised at all to see Smoky right in the cage where she left him in the morning. Amy on the other hand was shocked. Like me she had not counted on seeing that bunny again.

For 6 hours, Smoky was underground and is acting like he was never gone. I may contact a vet in the morning just to be on the safe side. A minute before the girls came home I joked with Charlie that this was one way to get out of doing our jobs. I am so thankful to God that it turned out to be a day where there could be laughter instead of tears. Alright laughter and tears instead of just tears.

Next Time: A Good Book

Six Word Saturday - Lyrics By Dave

Yes it's Six Word Saturday again and my top 25 label celebration is continuing.

These are not my six words: LABEL # 20 (7 way tie) Lyrics by Dave.

I have been writing songs for most of my life. I can carry a tune, but only in a bucket. As you know, buckets are hard to come by in this economy. Often when I sing, the only one who recognizes the tune, is me. This can be difficult, since I also wrote the music.

I occasionally write parodies so anyone I can con into listening will at least recognize the tune. I was trying to think of what parody lyrics to share in this post, when I saw this video on a friend's facebook page.

That video reminded me of today's six words:

Some people say I Monkey around.

I love the Monkees, they and the Beatles more or less created the music video along with the folks at School House Rock. Last Train to Clarksville is one of my favorite Monkee's songs. Let's face it any Monkee's song I happen to be listening to, has the tendency to be my favorite. My all time favorite has got be, I'm a believer. So sometime in 1987 while singing it to the top of my lungs alone in my van I came up with these alternate lyrics (All but the last verse those I made up as I typed. Hey it's a gift. But after you read it, you might want to send the gift back.) ...

I thought God was only true for little ones
Like Santa Claus, you find He isn't real
But God was out to save me, I just couldn't see
When I was at lowest, He died for me

That's when I felt his grace (bomp Ba da da da)
Now I'm a believer (bomp ba da da da)
And there's now a place (bomp ba da da da)
In Heaven that's mine
And He's my Lord (Ohohohohohhhh)
Now I'm a believer
Now I'm a receiver
And I'm glorifyin!
(Bomp Ba da da da Bomp ba da da da)

I could never think of a second verse
I racked my head
I tried and tried and tried
Then a few years later
I heard a Christian version
And my chance for CCM* fame died

But I still feel His grace (bomp ba da da da)
I'm still a believer. (bomp ba da da da) )
There's still a place (bomp ba da da da)
in Heaven that's mine
He's still God. (Ohohohohohhhh)
I'm still a believer
still a receiver
And still glorifyin!
(Bomp ba da da da bomp ba da da da da bomp ba da da da daaaaaaaa)

* CCM = Contemporary Christian Music

So that's all we have for Dave's top 40 today. I'll keep writing em down and you keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars. (Sorry, had to be said.) For more Six Word Saturday, head on over to show my face dot com.

Next Time: All good trips must come to an end.

Men's Monday Meme

I am participating in Families Again's Men's Monday Meme again this week. The questions arise this week to criticism the author received to posting about helping poor people in foreign countries. Here is a link to his comments in full. Here are the questions that I am going to address:

1. Should we only help those here at home and forget those abroad? 2. Have those abroad "gotten themselves into their own mess", and we need to clean up our own "messes"? 3. Is it anyone's business what we do with our time and money?

1. Ethnocentricity, the belief in the inherent superiority of one's own ethnic group or culture, may not be an American invention, but we certainly have perfected it. I find the notion that we should help only those at home and forget those abroad ironic when most Americans can trace their lineage to lands other than here.

Ethnocentricity may stem from a false sense of value. In a recent post, I talked about the possible false belief that the U.S. is the best nation on the earth. I say the possible false belief, because for all I know, the U.S. might be the best. Even if that is the case, does it make any sense for me to feel better about myself for being an American? I didn't do anything to become an American. I just happened to be born here.

In my opinion, God has chosen the nationality and ethnicity of everyone on earth. Does He really love me more than the child being born this minute in extreme poverty 1/2 way across the globe? I think it is very easy for those who are blessed materially to not realize what they have to be thankful for, until they are given a glimpse of how those not so blessed live.

2. It is important to teach people who we are responsible for how to bail themselves out of their own messes from time to time. So as a parent, teacher, coach, or church worker, I may have the opportunity to teach someone the consequences of their actions. When dealing with strangers in need, I have no such obligations to mold their behavior, I only have the Biblical mandate to treat them as Jesus would.

3. It is not really anyone's business what we do with our time and money. However, if we blog or write on facebook what we do with our time and money, we make it other people's business. This blog automatically updates to my facebook page. That means that everything I write here is available for friends and family who may never take a look at my blog (you know who you are.) So if I blog about how much I love the White Sox, it may open myself up to a few nasty comments from my Cub Loving familial compatriots. Is it any of their business that I love the White Sox? No. But when I tell them I do, I invite their comments. Which is one of the reasons why my sports blog doesn't automatically update to my facebook page, so there!

So, that's my Men's Monday Meme for the week. To participate yourself click here.

Next Time: DC Trip Day 9

Cycling Update

On Saturday, I participated in International Teams ride for refugees. I wrote last week about my preparations here. Riding 30 miles was actually much easier than I had anticipated. Easy and worthwhile as I raised a total of $325.00 towards refugee work around the globe. I rode past many beautiful sights of Lake County, IL, including seeing some gorgeous horses. Incidentally I biked past a llama farm without noticing (we drove by them on Sunday, when I did notice.)

I was hoping to post some pictures of my trip, but in my hurry to bring my family, my bike, my helmet and my pledges to the starting point in time for registration at 8:00 am, I neglected to bring my camera.

On the way there I was reading to Charlie and the rest of the family a story about an inquisitive boy who constantly peppered his parents with loads of questions. This boy so reminded me of Charlie that I am interested to hear whatever became of him. The boy's name was Thomas Edison.

I was reading about how Thomas Edison had a job selling newspapers on a train. Since we were on the way to a bike ride, the story reminded me of my first bike trip almost 30 years ago.

It was Memorial Day Weekend 1980. My youth group along with several other local youth groups boarded a train headed for Wisconsin. Our bikes were packed in special boxes and handled as luggage. I think it may have actually been my first time ever riding a train. Once we arrived we stayed at a local church and biked 60 miles each day until we arrived back in the NW suburbs of Chicago on Monday.

I realized while I was riding that I was biking on some of the same roads as I had back in 1980. Some of the area has changed in 30 years but much of the countryside remained the same. Biking next to a teenager for some of my early miles, I realized the same could not be said of me.

I was glad that my family accompanied me on the ride. They're cheered really pumped me up as I embarked upon my journey. At the post ride lunch I saw several kids, my kids age who participated in the ride. While I feel I could have easily completed the 60 mile course this year and would like to do so next year, I think we will instead ride the 5 mile trek as a family.

After we got home I was not at all tired. Emma and I decided to go cycling on the bike trail before it started storming. We biked about 6 miles through Dundee and parts of Elgin. This is my favorite section of the trail as there is an underground bridge over the fox river as well as a castle. This time I remembered my camera and snapped some good shots of Emma.

The only disappointing part of the day was when I read on facebook shortly after returning home with Emma that a friend from my high school bike trip days who I haven't seen since Reagan was president had stopped by at the ride location at noon to see me. By noon we were already on our way back home. So, Joel and any more of my old bike riding buddies: let's all get together same next year and do the ride for refugees next year. We can even train together. I know this great spot with a bridge and a castle.

Next Time: Penny Winners