Children Are Miracles

I don't normally post things about my personal life (that may be changing soon), but I can't help but share this with the few of you who actually read this blog.

My daughters and I go to story time at our local bookstore, every week....without fail....we're "regulars." They sing songs and read stories, it's about ½ an hour to 40 minutes at night.

Sometimes there's a theme (colors or characters, such as Clifford the Big Red Dog) and other times a guest reader.

Recently we had 2 guest readers. Both of these guest readers were kids, but they were mentally disabled. The boy who read for us was about 13 or 14 and he did a great job. Next, was a girl who was 10 or so, had her Mom sit with her and she also did a great job.

After they read, we sang some songs, read a couple more books and then we were finished....as I was getting up from sitting on the floor, my oldest daughter came up to me and asked me, "Daddy, can I go and tell that girl that she did a good job reading?"

"Sure!" I said.

As she started over to the girl, who was with her parents and some others surrounding her, my daughter said out loud that she did a good job reading.

My daughter came back over to me a little frustrated, saying "I don't think she heard me."

I told her that it was OK, and asked if she was ready to move on with our evening....but this was something that was important to her. She looked at me and said, "No, Daddy, I want to tell her."

So, I said, "OK, sweetie, go ahead"

I watched her the whole way....her little body standing there amongst these tall adults, all to get the attention of one girl, who she was proud of (and wanted to let her know.)

"Excuse me," she said....all of the attention was now fully on her...."You did a really good job reading." She received a thank you and then she turned around and ran back to me.

I was so proud of her. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but I wished that the other girls parents knew it was her idea and not mine.

Are moments like this needed to validate parenting? I don't know about that, but when things like this happen, you can't help but feel good about your children and who you hope they become.

That's What I Was Thinking

Jack in the Box has some of the funniest commercials out there!

I LOVE U

Happy Valentine's Day Sweetie!

Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol

We'll do it all
Everything
On our own

We don't need
Anything
Or anyone

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel

Those three words
Are said too much
They're not enough

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

Let's waste time
Chasing cars
Around our heads

I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes, they're all I can see

I don't know where
Confused about how as well
Just know that these things will never change for us at all

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Super Bowl - the Commercials

WARNING!
This is going to be a BIG POST

So it's been a week since the SuperBowl.

Here's my TOP 10 for the Super Bowl Commecials....

Let's start off with some Honorable Mentions

Honorable Mention #1 - GM - Robot Bad Dream


HM #2 - Foot Locker - Autograph


HM #3 - Budweiser Select - Jay Z vs Don Shula


OK....so here's my TOP 10

#10 - Budweiser - Spot Wink
I really thought this one was cute....but that's about it. The part that won me over and moved it from Honorable Mention to #10 was the very end of the commercial with the dog and the parade princess.


#9 - Chevy - HHR Car Wash
"Tell me when it's over!"


#8 - Doritos - Live the Flavor
I like this one, I really do...it's funny....but I saw the commercial BEFORE the Super Bowl, so that ruined it for me.


#7 - Bud Light - Rock/Paper/Scissors
Nothing like a classic game to settle a grievance.


#6 - Sprint - Connectile Dysfunction
FREAKING HILARIOUS....If they would have added a disclaimer about the side effects, this would have easily been top 3 for me!!


#5 - Bud Light - Class Mencia
"Bood Light"


#4 - Budweiser - King Crab
Just plain funny


#3 - Doritos - Check Out Girl
I liked this one, EXCEPT for the final remark....I could have done without the "Clean up on Register 6" - YUCK!


#2 - Nationwide - Rollin' VIP
You've seen it here on my blog before....I loved watching on the big screen on Sunday! (What??)


#1 - Bud Light - Auctioneer
How awesome would that be??? Even as a joke, that would be funny!


All in all, I thought it was a pretty weak year for Super Bowl ads....I think there was a total of 51. I hate when they show movie trailers for commercials during the Super Bowl too....even if it was a new movie, like with that Wild Hogs movie. If you're gonna show a movie trailer, ESPECIALLY for a movie that has already been running ads, like with Hannibal Rising and Meet the Robinsons....give me something new, something I haven't seen yet! Come on guys!

Also, as much as I hated Career Builders monkey ads from last years Super Bowl, I hate their commercials this year just as much! They weren't even funny to me.

Super Bowl Sunday - the FOOD

This past Sunday I made a dish for a Super Bowl Party that I saw on Emeril Live....

It was "Brown Sugar-Crusted Baked Bologna"....here's a picture from Emeril's website:


The recipe is pretty simple.....you can find it here. We couldn't afford to get a 6½ pound chunk of bologna, so we bought a 3 pound one instead....who knew that bologna was that expensive!! Not me, that's for sure....$4.99 a pound!

We cooked it for about 3 - 3½ hours.

Here's a picture of the one that I made

BAM!

Not bad huh??

Honestly....it's really good too! A little white bread and some mustard!

Magic is Cool!!

It's only February....

The groundhog said that spring would come early, but since February 2nd, the temperatures have been 70+ here in Southern California!!

Check out the 10-day forecast (from weather.com)

Kevin Federline - Nationwide Commercial

As much as I've ragged on him in this blog....(maybe one or two posts)....I've got to toast that guy for doing this commercial!

Scary Mary

Another YouTube gem!

Groundhog Day

Whooo hoooo!

Spring comes early this year!!

Thanks Phil....It was getting cold!

New Phone & Bluetooth Headset

I upgraded my phone a couple weeks back....I got a Motorola L6 for free from Cingular.


The phone has bluetooth so I got a bluetooth headset on eBay for $25. (It retails for $80)