W's turn at the Blog

Ok it is time I voiced my concern and opinion. Quick before she comes and won’t let me articulate the fondness I have for all that is WLEN in this humble abode. What does all that mean? It means I got into trouble this evening for not writing in this thing can you imagine?

That seems very much to me like Doctor Frankenstein being chewed out by the monster for not inviting it to the movies. Ok that might not be quite right. But after all why should I be compelled to write in this thing. * Don’t get your shorts all bunched up, I am not trying to say LeAnn is a monster. It is the blog I am talking about.

I feel the best course of action for any husband to take is, be quiet, don’t make any sudden moves, and always answer yes. Yes dear, I would be glad to, yes dear how soon do you want that done?

The other day I didn’t take my own advice and believe me it was a mistake. I was about to go to town, in preparation I went on line to check the bank account. You guessed it, late in the month, there were a few things that needed to be done. Remember, no quick moves, just say yes dear, that sort of thing. Oh no, I’ve got to voice an opinion, and as you might expect she starts to move. She is not moving toward me, she is not really moving away from me she is, oh my, she is going to the front door to greet company. Yes as I was just beginning to hit my stride in, ‘the we should pay more attention with the money’ speech I notice once again I am speaking to an audience.

Would it have been better if at that moment she had 12 Girl Scouts in the living room? I think it might have been better. At least the Girl Scouts would not have known me, and might with a little luck thought I was visiting from some other culture where it is ok to make a loud noise and no sense. Such is my fate.
Why can’t I make a loud noise, and be caught doing something good? Never make a loud noise, that is my policy. I didn’t used to have a policy now I have that one. I hope that when I violate that policy, I am alone.

Speaking about being alone. I love my wife and I love most of my children. Ok, I love all my children but sometimes I don’t appreciate them like I should. I even love that one with the lip ring thing. The one that plays all those instruments and the one that leaves all the computer parts on the floor for me to step on. But we can always tell when it is time for me to go into my hermit phase. I have trouble with my policy, I sometimes, don’t leave people with the impression I like people. Well those that know me understand. Those that don’t cant get far enough away from me fast enough. Yes it is time for me to go off alone.

Last week at work was one of those weeks that drove the point home. Every thing was less than it should have been. I was less able to be right. I was less able to be cheerful. I was less able to be right. I was less able to understand why I wasn’t right. This week has a good start, I am not right any more often, but people aren’t noticing as much. I think the sooner the Sheriff gets back into town the better. I never wanted to be the top guy, and that hasn’t changed. This Undersheriff job is something they dream up to get a guy to think more about retirement. Every time I turn around it is time to go off to another meeting.

Well enough from me, it is time to get another Sudoku puzzle and zone out. Just between you and I, LeAnn is excited by my cognitive prowess. She won’t admit it, but I think she wants to do one of the puzzles with me sometime. If you don’t know what Sudoku is all about, check out this URL. http://www.dailysudoku.co.uk/sudoku/index.shtml remember, if you are married and feel the need to voice an opinion about anything, my policy is ******, well I think it is best you get your own policy.

Next time I sit down to write in this thing I should talk about the night all the boys were gone and we didn’t spend any time talking about the boys. Very nice.

The Perfect Saturday Evening

Eric and Molly planned, shopped and cooked dinner for us. The menu: Baked Parmesan Salmon, green bean casserole, mixed veggies (broc/caul/zucc), and a boxed wild rice mix. The salmon was dipped in egg, then rolled in grated parmesan. They bought a little block and grated it here so it was a coarser size and it baked up deliciously crunchy. They had to roll Will's in cracker crumbs because he hates Parmesan. He grumbled a bit that he could smell it in the living room. It was a wonderful meal, even more delightful because Craig was here to share it.

Then we thought it would be fun to get a movie. By the time we drove to town, rented a movie, bought snacks, it was getting late. We are finally ready to put the movie in when the trouble begins. Our dvd player quit working awhile back, so we've been using the Playstation 2. But where is it? In Nick's room. Nick, of course, is not at home. Eric had to go find it and hook it up. He can't find the right connector. He finally finds it. It still doesn't work. After much muttering about how much he loves Nick and why does Nick always have to mess with things, he finally has to call the boy and ask what's going on. Nick tells him what to do and we get comfortable and start the movie. But the screen keeps turning completely blue for a few seconds at a time. We clean the disc and try again. Still problems. We turn it over to watch the wide screen side. Still problems. Through it all, Will is unfazed because he is focused on his Sudoku puzzle. That's his latest hobby. We finally give up and find a movie on TV. Within 15 minutes, everyone who isn't working on Sudoku is sound asleep. I woke up at 11:30, awakened Eric and Molly and told him to take her home! We were so lucky to turn our clocks back that night!

So Sunday, Will gets Nick to work on the PS2 problem. He discovers that the wrong connector is hooking it up. The dvd works just fine. The problem is, the movie (Melinda-Melinda) was so boring it was a total waste of time! But the point was, life is either a tragedy or a comedy, depending on your point of view. It showed basically the same story from those two perspectives. It was a promising premise, just not very well done. I didn't laugh until the final moment and didn't cry at all so obviously it wasn't successful as either a comedy or a tragedy!

If you don't know what Sudoku is, you'll have to request Will to get his nose out of it and do a write-up on this latest fascination!

Funkle Ted

It is with great relief I can announce that Funkle Ted's first concert actually happened on Thursday night at the Riverside Community Hall with all band members participating and no major malfunctions. Funkle Ted consists of Eric and three friends. They perform many original songs, mostly rock, but there's one rap, a waltz, a death metal (that one actually is mocking a popular song but wow Eric is good at that screaming "singing") and cover their favorite old and current songs. My favorite was their guitar duet waltz which Eric and Tyler composed while camping at the Metolius and first performed for us around the campfire. My favorite cover song was "Mellow Yellow". I especially enjoyed it when Eric played the trumpet on one verse. Eric played the oboe on one song, but skipped the song with the violin part. It's challenging to sing, play the guitar, and then switch back and forth with other instruments as well.

One band member's father had concerns about liability...if someone got hurt, they could sue the parents (since the boys are all under 18)and we would all end up in the poor house. So the day before the concert, he decided his son (guitar player) couldn't play. Eric was determined that the show would go on and spent a half hour talking to him that night. He can be pretty convincing (although he failed to convince me just now that he and Molly should go to a movie after he gets off work at 8:00 tonight). The next day the dad talked to his insurance agent and 4 hours before the concert, gave his son permission. Rather stressful for all.

So at the beginning of the show, Eric says, "I have some important things to tell you. The most important thing is, whatever you do, don't sue us. No matter what happens, please don't sue us or we'll never be able to do this again..." and so on. I looked at the kid's dad and he was sitting there shaking his head which was buried in his hands. I laughed so hard!

They are going to perform next Friday after the "Civil War" (South-West Albany) football game in our youth center.

The Prodigal Visits

The eldest son stopped by yesterday. If he was hoping for shocked outrage when his parents got their first look at the ring on his lip, too bad. Both parents reacted with mild revulsion and curious questions. Nick wanted to know if he would be able to "gleek" out the hole if he took it out. It could be much worse. A few years back, Craig announced his plan to grow his hair into long dreadlocks as soon as he moved out. Back then his mother still reacted in disgusted horror and proclaimed, "God never intended for hair to look like that." His quick reply was, "And God never intended for your hair to be that color!"

Craig was so happy to see the new Reader's Digest with the cover story about the Beatles. He remarked that he had noticed it in the store and was looking forward to coming home and reading it in the bathroom!

A friend shared this verse with me this week, from Hosea 14:4, "I will heal their waywardness and love them freely..." I hadn't read Hosea for a long time, so I read it the next day and will be re-reading it. Wow. Chapter 11 - "When Israel was a child, I loved him....It was I who taught Ephraim to walk...I lifted the yoke from their neck..." Such a beautiful description of God's love for his children and then the call for repentance. My prayer for Craig is that he will realize the greatness of God's love and find the joy that true repentance will bring.

Petty Irritations

Some days I'm easily irritated by the people I love. I'm irritated with Will because he set up this blog but hasn't written in it since that weekend. I was irritated with Eric this morning. I went to church early for worship team and when I saw Eric after church he had greasy hair and was wearing a "Foo Fighters" t-shirt. He overslept and had no time to shower. Nick really irritated me because I interupted what I was doing to pick him up at 4:00 and discovered plans had changed and I was supposed to pick him up at 5:00 but he had failed to notify me. But nothing was as bad as last weekend's problem. A bright teal crayon in a pocket, undiscovered until the load of pants finished drying. Do I expect crayons in the wash with teenage boys clothing? Apparently when Eric spotted this crayon it brought happy memories so he stuck it in his pocket. Of course, the pants that were the worst were brand new khaki pants belonging to Nick. The dryer was a mess also. Eric was on a late shift at McDonalds so I couldn't make him clean it up. Will flung open all the doors and windows while accusing me of trying to kill everyone in the house with the fumes of the first cleaner I tried to use. I tried boiling water, an iron with a paper bag, baking soda, vinegar, Oxy Magic spray, Spray and Wash Solid. After the third treatment with Spray and Wash it was acceptably faded.

But flowers always soothe my troubled soul! I was cleaning out flower beds today and had to save all the good ones so I made a few bouquets with dahlias, cosmos and roses when I came in. I'll take a bunch to work tomorrow.

A Sweet Laptop

Nick talked me into going to Goodwill after school/work today. He hadn't checked out the computers for awhile and was going through withdrawal. As I was browsing through some ugly sweaters, he called my cell phone and said, "Come back here quick!" When I reached computer land in the back of the store, I saw why he couldn't leave. For the first time ever since he's been haunting Goodwill, there was a LAPTOP! An IBM Think Pad. People were hovering everywhere waiting for a chance to snatch it away from him! He was a little short of the funds needed to purchase it. Conscientious parent that I am, I had been pondering how to affirm him for the honor he received this week at school as one of the "Students of the Term". So as a reward for his diligent efforts and good character at school, I agreed to supply the needed funds. As we pulled into our driveway he remarked, "This will be flippin' sweet if it works!" More than three hours later, he is still working on trying to install whatever on it and things are not going well. But his attitude is good; he says you have to have patience with computers. I just asked if he still has hope for it. "Yes, I always have hope." However, he did make sure we put the receipt in a safe place in my purse and left the tags on it so we can return it if he has to admit bitter defeat.

Next Time I'll Bring my Camera

It was a beautiful evening. Will called and said he was delayed at work soI took a walk at my favorite time just before sunset. As I walked along the road with fields of sheep on both sides, in the west a flurry of clouds radiating golden light and the eastern sky glowing pale pink, I wished for my camera to preserve the sights forever. On my way back, the beauty of nature was rudely interupted by an old car turning the corner and coming my way. Dijon-mustard colored with a splotch of white primer on one door,the ancient tiny Mazda hatchback was crammed with two young men in the front, both well over 6 feet and 200 pounds. Is that my son Eric and his friend Tyler, with poor Molly scrunched in the back with Eric's guitar? Sure enough, they wave and smile as they head for Tyler's house. I looked at the high locked gate at the front entrance to the Lake Creek Estates into which they are heading through the back entrance. I'm not very graceful at climbing and it was very high (and very red as well), but I managed to climb over it without falling and met them at Tyler's house. I learned it's Molly's dad's car. He seems to have a small collection of old relics from the past. I didn't ask why they were driving it, I just assumed because it contained free gas. Once again, I wished for my camera. A picture of the three of them at age 17 smiling happily as they sat packed in that unique little car would have been priceless!

A Blustery Rainy Saturday

It's time for the wife and mother to express some views about the perfect family life. Perfectly normal. Doesn't every 14 year old set up a tent on one of the windiest nights so far this fall and spend the night out there with a friend, loving the sound of the rain pounding down. And like all perfect kids, they both leave their shoes out in the rain. Today those kids removed all the junk from the storage area under the eaves in Nick's room, changing mom's plans for her day because now she has to sort and decide what to toss, give away or keep. It was finally time to give away those tiny clothes she could wear after the Prism phase and stored away just in case they ever fit again. Obviously they shrank during storage.
So Nick is making the storage area into a computer storage/workroom. He has already tacked up some peg board and attached containers for all the little pieces and hooks for tools. Since word is out about his computer hobby, he is the recipient of people's unwanted computers along with several he has bought at Goodwill. Seven computers have been taken apart and are in various stages of re-assembly. One is up and running at his desk. So he a storage area has become a necessity. After his no-school day yesterday when he spent hours with the computer parts, I came home to find that yes he had cleaned up after himself, there were three boxes of computer parts and various housing units in my living room. Before his father left on his shopping trip this morning, he left firm orders that they must find a new home out of sight somewhere.
Will had to go to Salem to find some Docker-type pants of a size suitable for him. He just called in a modified panic because the Big and Tall store wasn't open so I did a web search and found another store to try. Then someone came to open the store so hopefully he will find success. Just stay out of the Men's Warehouse, those guys are too good at selling things.
Eric is cleaning his room, actually under the bed which is not a part of his normal chore routine. He brought me a fascinating petrified brown apple that he discovered and informed me that the carpet under the apple was actually cleaner than the rest of the carpet. Then he tells me that he located a missing dvd that we paid for at the video store a month ago. Now he came into the computer room and discovers the monitor to their computer is missing and everthing is unplugged and disconnected. Why does Nick always have to mess with things? Where is he? Back out in the tent. Now the fighting and cross words would start in a normal family, but in this perfect family I can't imagine that scenario.
Well I have put off tackling all the messes that are waiting for me long enough. Can't have this house looking anything less than perfect when the husband returns home with the new pants.

It is time for a walk

I have done enough this weekend to feel the time was not lost. I learned about blogs, made one, and cleaned the computer of all unwanted dust. Some dust is always wanted in this house. I might even have discovered why the keyboard was sticking, every so often. Might have had something to do with a paper clip I found in the plastic housing. I don't even know how that might have gotten in there. Well it is time to go for a walk. See you after a while.

This is home

This is home, the picture is just out of focus enough to allow the reader some feeling that the front yard is acceptable. Most of us in the house know it is a little substandard but we are all striving for a well manacured look. It will come some day.

Welcome to the Wlen Posting and Blog Place

With some help from Eric just before he left to go see his Girlfriend, this Blog is here by conceved. It will be a place for you to review my misspelling and amuse your self at the odd family that is here. L tells me that her brother often times entertains her with his blog. I hope never to compete with that master but if it were to become a place to share information and ideas between persons of interest and those less interesting then perhaps it might be okey dokie. Good luck to use one and all.