A Strange Family Trait

Have you ever been to a restaurant and been forgotten? I'm not talking about your whole table. I'm talking about just you. Unless you are my Aunt, I'm guessing the answer is most likely that it doesn't happen to you that often. I would say that at least 70% of the time that I go out to eat, I am in some way forgotten.

Here are examples I'm talking about:
1) Everyone Orders, They Pass Me Over, Or Forget Me At the End
2) Everyone Gets a Refill Except Me
3) Drinks are Served, and Somehow I'm the Only One Without One
4) When They Bring Food to Everyone Else I'm Asked "What did you get?"

Now this seems like something that you would say "Oh you are just complaining, this happens to everyone once in a while." Well- you would think, but Mr. Magoo has said on numerous occasions that he would have to agree. It happens more than would seem to be by chance. He has never seen anyone get skipped as much as I am.

I thought this WAS just me, but after bringing it up over breakfast one morning while in Evansville, I find out that my Aunt Mary also has a huge chance of not getting any food when she orders either. My Dad said that on one particular trip to Florida she didn't get food about 80% of the time. Now, I'm not sure when this trait got passed on to me, but I'm here to tell my Aunt she can have it back! LOL!

Cookies

Here are some pictures of the girls making their cookies. We made chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and of course sugar cookies. I think there was plenty more sugar than their were cookies. The girls wouldn't hear of sprinkling on the sugar, instead they poured on the sugar with spoons. One cookie was piled about an inch and a half high. Check out the cookie closest to Chicky Magoo 1. It looks like a green blob, but she LOVED it!

After cookies, we had a good meal on the grill. Since it was 70 degrees we sat outside in the warmth. It was a little strange to make Christmas cookies and then go outside and not have to have hot chocolate afterwards. Great Grandpa came over to sample the cookies too. I think he approved!

The Christmas Season is Here

While we were at my parent's house we decorated trees and made Christmas cookies. We had a lot of fun getting their house ready for the holidays. I think the kids LOVED making cookies. Chicky Magoo 1 took some to school for her teachers yesterday.

While we were putting up the Christmas tree, Chicky Magoo 2 decided that the best place to put all of the ornaments she had was in the same cluster on the left of the tree. Since my brother also did this at her age, we had to take a picture to show him her design. Enjoy Uncle Magoo 2!

Patti's

This weekend we went to Kentucky to a place called Patti's, in Grand Rivers. It is a terrific lunch/dinner place, with 2" thick pork chops! The whole place is decorated for Christmas, and is just fun to walk around! The weather was beautiful, so we were outside for most of the time. I think we were into the 70s, which is strange since it is the end of November, but we will take it!!

This is a dry county, so you can't buy any alcohol at Patti's or anywhere else for that matter. BUT- you can bring it into the restaurant and drink it...ONLY if you make it discrete, and it can't be in coolers. So basically, you can only put your beverages in brown paper bags. There is something about this that just makes me laugh.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving! Tons of food, lots of family, and of course Christmas Vacation. For those of you who don't know of our tradition, we watch Christmas Vacation on Thanksgiving evening each year. It is our family's favorite movie, and one that we quote almost daily throughout the year! If for some crazy reason you haven't seen this movie, go right now to Blockbuster and rent it. It is my favorite comedy of all time!

Here is a picture of another family favorite...Potatoes! I think between my cousin Nate, Mr. Magoo, and me, we could polish off almost any amount of potatoes. So- my Dad is always sure to make a ton, so that we don't run out. Check out that pot! Yes- it is almost completely full of mashed potatoes. His arm was about ready to fall off after all of that mashing, but it was worth it! YUM!! Thanks Dad!

The kids got to do the wishbone. We thought it was going well, and then Chicky Magoo 1 won the break. She got very upset that now Chicky Magoo 2's wish wasn't going to come true. After some convincing that a wishing star that night could take care of that problem, she was better. Chicky Magoo 2 didn't seem to mind at all though, and was quite happy that it broke at all, and that because it broke we were all cheering. I don't think she understood what was going on. This picture was right before she realized that Chicky Magoo 2's wish wouldn't come true.

Poll

I've got another poll up on the right side of the blog. I'm not sure about the colors of it though. I wish they had poll skins for holidays. It seems to be harder to see than the last one I did.

Chicky Magoo 1's New Do

Chicky Magoo 1 has been talking about getting her haircut for about a month now. She has had her eye on this style, and always talks about how she likes it. I was thinking we were going to just get her hair trimmed, and that surely she wouldn't cut her hair this short. We discussed all of the princess things, such as no more braids, no more ponytails, no more much of anything with hair this short. I couldn't seem to convince her though. She REALLY wanted this haircut. So- while she started getting almost 8-9 inches cut off Anne told her that "I think Mommy might need a paper bag. She seems to be hyperventilating!" I was watching it fall to the floor and thinking of how she loves long hair, and how she looked a lot older now. So- maybe I did need a paper bag. But- of course, I should know to listen to Chicky Magoo 1 when it comes to style and fashion. She looks so cute, and she is so proud to have her hair short now. She got about 10 compliments on her hair just in the salon. One lady said "She looks like she just stepped out of Vogue for Kids!" Once we explained what that was to her, Chicky Magoo 1 was beaming! :) I LOVE it too, even if she does look like she is 7 years old!

Haircuts and other Thanksgiving Traditions

The whole family has haircuts scheduled this week. I think most of the time for us, it takes a major holiday for us to realize that we need to get our haircut! ha ha! Here are a few pictures of Chicky Magoo 2 getting her "hair did" yesterday. She was so proud of herself for sitting still. I was proud, but more in shock than anything else. She just got a trim, for all of you worried Grandparents who think I might have chopped off her hair.

I however got a decent amount cut off and my hair is now above shoulder length.

Chicky Magoo 1 is scheduled to go in today, so I'll post up pictures of her tomorrow.

Moving Days are Always Exciting

Here are some shots of us moving all of this stuff in the house. I thought this one was particularly funny, since it looks like this guy has bionic arms and is able to hold the cabinet with one hand.

Below is the picture of the two guys who made it all work! Dale (the one with the vacuum) is the one with the decorating eye. He does amazing things! Check out his new website! Dale says he "doesn't have the patience to hang pictures or the strength to lift a thing", so he brings Terry along! They are both crack-ups. If you want to decorate your house, and have a fun time doing it, I would definitely recommend these guys. I can't tell you the number of times we were all rolling during this project. Mostly because Dale (who has a southern accent) likes to say "Lord Jesus, Help Me!" I wish I had a sound clip. I just can't do this justice in writing.

Good For A Laugh...

Aren't the outfits just super flattering? Behind me is my fencing coach, Tim. He helped me line up for the first picture, so that it looked like "the classic fencing pose"!

Furniture...Finally

Okay, Okay, so we have had a barrage of calls and emails about getting these pictures up. After some network delays....here they are!!

Great Room:



Basement:


Mr. Magoo's Office:



My Office:

Trying Out A Poll

Mr. Magoo's buddy came up with this blog polling app. I thought I'd try it out. On the right should be the poll...

Furniture Update

Things are going pretty smoothly so far. I'm sure something will happen, but at this point all is well. The first set of windows are up, and they are bringing in all of the furniture. Dale and Terry are getting all of the odds and ends together. It is interesting to see "HGTV" from the other end. ha ha! Ok, ok, we don't have HGTV here, but it does have that feel to it. Lots of action!! I'm hoping to get some pictures up later today. We shall see, since the network computer I use to download pictures is in the storage area now. Hopefully Mr. Magoo can get it up and running.

Furniture and other things...

Most of our furniture is going to be delivered tomorrow morning. Yea! This sounds like a great thing, except for one small detail. This means that the dreaded project of moving Mr. Magoo's office out to get the furniture in, is here. Oh no! For those of you who are familiar with what a "Magoo office" can look like, you know what I'm talking about. For those of you who don't, think Clean Sweep projects!

I will be glad to get the furniture project into it's final stages though. It will be nice to have a place to sit downstairs and look at the fish-tank, and relax. The upstairs will be done enough that we don't have to touch it for a while! Mr. Magoo I'm sure will be happy to finally have his office in some sort of working order. He has been good to be able to work off of Walmart tables and consider it an "office" for as long as he did. I guess he felt like he was in a start-up once again. It does give you that feel....believe me!

Today is going to be a day of "moving" of sorts. Tomorrow Dale is coming with a crew I think. We are getting the furniture so those guys will be here, he and his partner are going to be here arranging the decorating, and we are getting new windows too. It should be quite a photo op! I'll be sure to post up pictures! Okay- that is if Mr. Magoo can get the network up and running again after this move! I can only hope.....

Not Much To Report

Not much going on here. I've got a ton of errands to run today, so today will be spent mostly in the car. I'm hoping to get in my workout this afternoon, so that my legs don't feel like they did last weekend. Sorry I haven't given a real update in a few days!

Fencing- Part 2

Yesterday was my 2nd lesson in fencing. We started out with some warm ups, and then got into the exercise portion of the lesson. That stuff was pretty tough, and basically a variation of the squat, with some jumping, for about 20 minutes. OUCH! After that we got to suit up, which was amusing in itself. He promised that next time it wouldn't be nearly as hard. I sure hope so, because trying to figure out which things fit, and then exactly how to put them on took a decent amount of time.

This is where the lesson became tons of fun. We got to actually fence with another person in the class. At first we practiced just the lunge. It was hard to stand there when someone came at you with a sword, but once it happened a few times, it was easier. The poor guy who was my practice-mate I could tell was awkward about piercing a girl in the chest. This became a huge advantage once we were fencing. He felt his target area was limited I think, and this gave me a good laugh throughout the practice. I got a few good points in there. With the headgear on, it really felt like a video game. Strange. As the coach told us, and as I'm sure you can imagine, it looked awful, but was fun. We were pretty much all over the place, and it was obvious we had no idea what we were doing. We did learn one parry, which we all tried to use during the actual one on one fencing, but in the heat of the battle, that stuff is hard to remember. We fenced with the epee, which I have to say felt a lot better this week. It didn't have the pistol grip, which was nice. I don't think I'm a big fan of that. It feels awkard to hold.

Anyway- to sum up. I survived, and am taking advil today, as you might expect. More squats are on hand for this week, so I don't feel so sore after practice next week!

Running Low..

I'm usually pretty good about getting gas in my car. At the very least, I get it in there when the light comes on. For some reason I decided to ignore that light last night, and keep on driving. I hit a new record this morning as I pulled into the gas station. The range on the car was 2 miles, and it has been on 2 for a while! At least I made it to the gas station, and Chicky Magoo 2 and I didn't have to walk somewhere to get gas! Whoops!

What is Wrong With People??

I have had several incidents in the last few days that just makes me ask the question, WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE???
Here are a few examples:
1- We bought about 6 lights from this lighting company here. One is a ceiling light, and has to be installed. We paid about $65 or $70 bucks for installation. We asked what they do, and at the time they said "Everything but electrical wiring" So- the guys came out and told us that they couldn't put up the light because our box was plastic and we needed metal. Okay- so the box didn't SEEM like electrical wiring, so of course I assumed they would fix that and we would pay for the metal box. NO- they had to reschedule after Mr. Magoo got the box in. Mr. Magoo gets the box in, but didn't secure it to the joist (long story, but to shorten it, Home Depot wasn't opened when he got to that point!). Today they come back and say "oh we can even touch that. We have a limited license and he should have secured it." Nice.... So what did we pay for again?

2- I was checking out at the grocery store, when the assistant manager came over. The manager interrupted the sale to tell the guy that he couldn't ask for days off, only 3 days in advance, even if it was his birthday. This conversation went on for...not kidding...about 4 minutes while I stood there. I gave the manager a glare, and he got the kid working again. Then he stands around and the bagger is talking about who knows what while I bag my own stuff?!? I think the manager shouldn't wonder any more why his employees SUCK! It is probably because HE hired them!

I'll get off my soapbox now. It just ticks me off!

En Garde!

I took my first fencing class this morning. It was a lot of fun! We mostly learned about the history of fencing, and did a little foot-work. It seems like it is going to be pretty challenging, both mentally and physically, which is good. Next week we will get our weapons, so that will I'm sure make things more interesting! The class consisted of me and 2 other guys. (one being about 13 years old!) I am leaning towards the sabre, but they will let us figure out which one we like and go from there. I think this week I need to do some major practicing....and squats! He said next week will be tough! Yikes!

Bob Barker Says Take That!

I was sad to learn that after 35 years on The Price is Right that Bob Barker is retiring. I mean- I guess at 83 it is about time you start doing stuff for yourself! I feel sorry for whoever replaces him. Since it has become the Hollywood thing to take a washed-up actor and make him a hit game show host I have a few people that I think are in line for that gig. It is either going to be; Mr. T, Alf or Melissa Gilbert.

Halloween

We had a great time this year. The kids really got into it, and were both able to say "Trick or Treat."Chicky Magoo 1 went as Dora and Chicky Magoo 2 was Boots. Chicky Magoo 1 really wanted to be a princess (I know, you are all just shocked by this news!) but she said she would be Dora to complete the Dora theme. They got a lot of compliments on their outfits as they went from house to house. The picture on the right is one of my favorites...Chicky Magoo 1 has the Dora pose down (no-we didn't tell her to do that!) and Chicky Magoo 2 is yelling "Ooo ooo Ahh ahh!" like a monkey!

It was a little chilly once the sun was down.Chicky Magoo 2 wanted to go from house to house to house, but Chicky Magoo 1 was ready to head home after we went around the block. I'm sure it mostly had to do with the fact that Chicky Magoo 2 outfit was SUPER warm, and Chicky Magoo 1's wasn't. By the end we had to cover the outfit up with a coat, which she wasn't too fond of, but it was warmer.

Bucia and Papa dressed up as ghosts. They had planned on wearing these outfits for the entire evening. Their first mistake though was to use plastic instead of cloth for the main part of the costume. After 2 minutes both of them said "OH wait- there is a reason they tell you not to play in plastic bags! YOU CAN'T BREATH!" lol So- they took off the costumes and went as a cowboy and princess.

Glad to finally get some pictures up for you! (Chicky Magoo 1 took the picture of Mr. Magoo and me!)