Last Friday January 27th

Wow! What a fun day Friday was. Yes, it was my 32^nd birthday the day before, but I was really looking forward to Friday.

To begin with, this was my half Friday at work. I woke up, put on my black jeans and a black t-shirt and a twill wool jacket and slipped into my Campers and was off to work. The morning went by quickly – the sun was out.

I left about 10 ‘till noon to meet with my friends in Westport at the office I used to work at. We walked over to the Westport Flea Market to eat lunch. Did I mention it was mid-60’s outside? After catching up, we walked back to the office and I chatted a while with some others who didn’t make it to lunch, but I didn’t stay too long. I didn’t want to overstay my welcome by chatting while the others should be working on billable time.

I then drove a couple of blocks over to the Barnes and Noble on the Plaza. I had this Best Buy gift certificate and list of CD’s that I was interested in. I did my research at B&N, by sampling all the music on my list of bands to check out. Some I liked and some I didn’t. (I know it’s not fair to judge an album by 30 second clips of each song.)

I then proceeded home to pick up Vernal and the boys. I wanted to go to Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. I want the boys to be exposed to museums and galleries at an early age. We parked free on a side street and walked over to the Kansas City Art Institute to check the construction progress of a building that I worked on – The Painting Building. Goose loves all things construction, mostly the trucks at the site. On the campus of the Art Institute, students were sitting and lying out on the lawn – playing frisbee and that sort of thing. Oh, how I miss those days – but my half-Fridays afford me the opportunity to be carefree.

We then walked over to the Nelson. It is free by the way. We walked through a couple of the halls. With Goose trying to touch everything, don’t think I didn’t notice that security guard following us at a safe distance. We didn’t stay long, but it was a good taste. We proceeded to the lawn of the Nelson, ran in the grass, chased down a shuttle cock, and yes I was lying in the grass as Turkey was tackling me. I can’t wait for the new addition to the Nelson to open up. It is designed by the architect Stephen Holl and is made of tubular glass panels. The buildings are stunning at night as they glow like jewels popping out of the ground.

Our next stop was Loose Park just south of the Plaza. The boys now got their turn to have fun and play.

My parents came over later to watch the kids and put them to be. Vernal and I went to the movies – something that we don’t do that often anymore. I just finished reading Pride and Prejudice and now I wanted to see the movie. Do you think Vernal would say no? I noticed I was but one of a few guys and probably the youngest in the crowd. I could tell that the audience was intimate with the book as they were ready to laugh at all the lines they love from the book. This book has a following or is a staple to many women as Lord of the Rings is for the men. After the film ended, I enjoyed listening to the banter about the movie. “Mr. Darcy is hot” said a woman my mom’s age. All women want to fall in love with Mr. Darcy. It was a good movie – now I’ll have to watch the BBC version.

That pretty much sums up my Friday. Good Day!

reading the bible

Please don’t take this in the wrong way…but I decided that I am not going to read the Bible in 90 days or a year for that matter. Let me explain – the church that I attend is pushing for this new study that claims you can read the whole bible in 90 days. I was also presented with the opportunity to meet with a group of guys (outside of this community) who were going to read the bible in a year. We were going to meet weekly to hold each other accountable to our reading and all that stuff. I had to back out for fear of adding another night out and away from the family would burn me out.

When I was in college, my average load per semester was 18 hours. One of the classes that I loved and hated at the same time was History of Architecture. I loved the great lectures and slides, but my professor assigned tons of reading and was really proud of his ‘pop’ quizzes and very difficult test. I had this class for three semesters, and Professor Michel piled on the reading. At the beginning of every semester I had good intentions with keeping up with the reading assignments, but as soon as my studio projects kicked into gear along with Structures and all my others classes, my reading for Architectural History soon slipped. It came to the point where I realized at midterms that I had to read X amount of pages to be prepared to take the test. I would try to read, to catch up. I tried to read fast, but I soon realized that I wasn’t retaining anything and I was just reading for the sake of trying to catch up and stay on assignment. I gave up reading. It wasn’t doing me any good and it was a waste of time. I had learned that by studying class notes and bluffing my way through the essays could easily give me a ‘B.’ That is what I did. I had other classes to study for too.

I tell that story, because that is the same reason why I don’t want to read the Bible on a time-line. I don’t want reading the Bible to be something that I check off of the list. I have tried many times on the one year plan. Just like my History of Architecture class I start off strong, but then lag behind and fail miserably. I quit. I find my self reading or looking over the words quickly to catch up, but I don’t get anything out of it. I also find that my daily reading is something that I do out of duty (to check off the list) so that I can keep up with the plan and not a time of reading where I allow God to speak to me. (…besides, I can get to Heaven on a B, right!)

I am going to try a different approach.

My dad was teaching a class last Wednesday. (I always enjoy his classes. He makes things seem so simple.) He told a story of how he meets with a group of students and they study the Bible or something. One of the guys exclaimed that he feels that he doesn’t get anything out of the Bible when reading it. (I love that honesty.) My dad then went on to explain an easy way to study the Bible and he also shared those ideas with us. This is what he explained as best that I can remember:

How to Study the Bible

1. Understand that it requires discipline. Discipline is work - it takes work.
2. Read the same book of the Bible (or section or chapters) once a day for a week (or for a month.) This will allow you to become very familiar with the text, its location, etc.
3. Make a list of key verses in each chapter.
4. Make a list of key words from each chapter.
5. Make a list of key verses to memorize – then do it. These might be the same verses from number 3.

(This, I believe is a way to study and not the only way and is just advice and not a formula on how to change your life. After reading Searching for God Knows What by Don Miller, I am very cautious of the appearance of a formula.)

Anyway, I think I’ll try this or at least number 2 to begin with. I like the part about reading the same passage over and over until you are pretty intimate with its text. I think I could get something out of reading this way rather than the duty of keeping up with the plan. My dad went on to claim that “your whole attitude and understanding of scripture will change.”

[P.S.]

Here is some good advice from Dust who left the following in the comments:

1. The historical portions go better when you read large chunks at a time and don't get too bogged down in details. All the begats should just be skimmed.
2. Proverbs should be read in small pieces.
3. Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes should be read in one sitting initially at least.
4. The purpose and audience of each Gospel writer should be understood before reading them (using a study Bible).
5. Acts should be read quickly.
6. The Epistles need to be read multiple times first for context then for concepts.
7. Revelation should only be read by mature Christians who aren't going to be susceptible to loony theories about what Babylon is or who the horns on the dragon represent.

32 on 26

Vernal was out and about doing some pre-school interviewing for Goose next fall. I can’t believe he is getting old enough to start getting ready for school. Anyway, she had a chance to come downtown and join me for lunch at Planet Sub. They just opened up a new location at 11^th and Main. Yummy! Good food; good conversation.

I have just listened to 32 songs randomly chosen by my little white music box. It is always exciting to see what will play next.

1. Slowdive – Souvlaki – Alison
2. Viva Voce – Lovers, Lead the Way – brightest part of everyone
3. Daniel Amos (DA) – Doppleganger – memory lane
4. Boom Bip – third stream (Four Tet remix)
5. Don Chaffer – What You Don’t Know – against the window pane
6. Starflyer 59 – Everybody Makes Mistakes – just try
7. Sufjan Stevens – (from NPR radio special) - great god bird
8. My Bloody Valentine – Loveless – when you sleep
9. Over the Rhine – Ohio – bothered
10. Sufjan Stevens – Illinois – the man of metropolis
11. Daniel Amos (DA) – Vox Humana – she’s all heart
12. Viva Voce – The Heat Can Melt Your Brain – they never really wake up
13. Run Lola Run – Movie Soundtrack – casino
14. Sufjan Stevens – the star spangled banner (live)
15. Starflyer 59 – The Fashion Focus – I drive a lot
16. Over the Rhine – Ohio – professional daydreamer
17. Coldplay – X&Y – what if
18. REM – In Time – what’s the frequency Kenneth
19. The Triplets of Belleville – Movie Soundtrack – jazzy bach
20. Moby – Hotel – I like it
21. Hope Sandoval – Bavarian Fruit Bread – lose me on the way
22. Slowdive – Souvlaki – sing
23. M83 – Before the Dawn Heals Us – moon child
24. Adam Again – Worldwide Favorites – bad news on the radio
25. Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus – The Gift of Tears – the dream
26. Michael Pritzl – Hollow Songs – perfect day
27. Moby – Hotel – spiders
28. Over the Rhine – ‘Till We Have Faces – like a radio
29. Bill Mallonee – Friendly Fire – of future patridge families (back of the bus)
30. The Beta Band – Music – broke
31. Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man – Out of Season – drake
32. The Innocence Mission – Now the Day is Over – moon river

January 24

I had to get out today during lunch. Today is January 24 – the so called most depressing day of the year. I guess I had a little cabin fever. The sun is out and the temperature is fair. I walked around and made my way to the public library. I feel much better now even though I am now sitting at my desk.

26 songs from the afternoon as shuffled from my music box:

1. Erin Mckeown - Grand – Vera
2. Hope Sandaval - Bavarian Fruit Bread – Drop
3. Catherine Wheel – Chrome – The Nude
4. Over the Rhine - ‘Till We Have Faces – Iron Curtain
5. Daniel Amos (DA) – Vox Humana – Dance Stop
6. Stars – Set Yourself On Fire – One More Night
7. Pedro the Lion – Achilles Heel – The Fleecing
8. DC Talk – Intermission - I wish we’d all been ready
9. Starflyer 59 – Old – the Lights On
10. Sufjan Stevens – Illinois – the Seer’s Tower
11. Sigur Ros – Von – Leit Ad Lifi
12. Starflyer 59 – Gold – When You Feel Miserable
13. Slowdive – Pygmalian – Rutti
14. Michael Pritzl – Hollow Songs – Halo
15. Don Chaffer – What You Don’t Know – up before the sun
16. Viva Voce – The Heat Can Melt Your Heart – Daylight
17. U2 – ATYCLB b-sides – last night on earth (live from Mexico City)
18. My Bloody Valentine – Isn’t Anything – loose my breath
19. Over the Rhine – ‘Till We Have Faces – sea and sky
20. New Order – (the best of) – Bizarre Love Triangle
21. Kevin Max – The Imposter – stay
22. The Innocence Mission – Birds of My Neighborhood – follow me
23. Bjork – Medulla – who is it
24. U2 – Boy – out of control
25. U2 – ATYCLB b-sides – don’t take your guns to town
26. Sigur Ros – ( ) – track 6

Pride and Prejudice

I am dragging today. (A bad case of the Mondays, some may say.) I’ve got a headache and I just want to go home and relax. It is my fault. I stayed up too late last night, on a work night.

My problem was that I was reading Pride and Prejudice and I was close to the end. And when you get close to the end, you can’t stop reading and let the suspense linger for a day. I had to finish and I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Vernal and I plan to see the movie this week.

I now understand what Vernal means by a character development in books. She prefers books with more focus on character development and has criticized books that I try to recommend for their lack of character development and focus on plot and action.

In Pride and Prejudice it is all about the conversations and the meaning behind them, the formalities of the culture, and genuine human emotions and longing for love and all the misunderstandings and miscommunications that follow. In this book the above takes place in a dinning room, a reading room, a walk through the gardens, a ball, several balls, a neighbors dinning room, a neighbors reading room, another ball, a dinning room at a friends house in the next town, a reading room at a friends house in the next town, and a walk through their gardens, etc.

I point that out to say that this book is quite different from most of the stories I read. A good story is a good story. I really did enjoy it and would not be opposed to reading more in the future. It is no surprise to me, because with film I enjoy the dramas just as much as the action/adventure/sci-fi/comedy.

So, I stayed up late to finish a book not to see if the main character was going to save the world from a deadly virus, but to see if she could fall in love “with a most disagreeable man.”

doodles from the pew

A few weeks ago at church, I sat close to the front, right behind the highschool and junior high kids. It was refreshing to watch a bunch of restless kids passing notes and doodling on the bulletin. Not just one or two, but most of them had a pen in their hand with their head lowered as the drew pictures on the back of a hymnal.

This reminded me of the days that I used to sit in that exact same spot with my friends as we drew pictures all through the sermon. It started at a very young age. My dad was a pastor at a small church and we were at every service. As a 4 or 5 year old, I had crayons and coloring books. I would get my knees on the floor and use the seat of the pew as a table for my creations. As adults, we use that same position to pray, but as a kid drawing in church were my prayers to God.

Watching these young kids drawing in church encouraged me or reminded me that I should also be drawing as I listen to the sermon. Some people take notes with words; I like to take notes with pictures. Drawing keeps my mind active, it keeps me awake, and I usually have a better retention of what was said. (sometimes gum does the same trick.)

Here's a picture of a guy sitting in the pew in front of me. I bet he wishes he had a girl inside his arm.

girls

It's funny! Two girls in a conversation and I don't pay attention or notice. Suddenly, their talk softens to a slight whisper and I am curious.

radio commercials

Here are some thoughts on a couple of radio commercials that I heard recently on a talk radio station.

1. In this character driven commercial, a “voice actor” portrayed a grandma voice. Grandma voices kinda freak me out. It is a cartoony voice with the stereotypes of an elderly woman – old, fragile, yet cheerful. But still, it sounds freakishly weird. The grandma voice ranks right up there with the 35 year-old doing the little kid voice. I can handle it when it is a cartoon and I believe the cartoon character sounds like that, but in radio these voice actors are portraying real people.

2. I heard this line on a commercial against satellite radio: “Radio, you shouldn’t have to pay for it. Brought to you by 13,000 stations across the country who believe that some things were meant to be free.” I might be sympathetic to their cause if I believed that they actually believe that some things were meant to be free. But I bet a majority of the employees, who work for these 13,000 stations across the country, subscribe to cable or satellite television. The argument seems the same to me. Satellite radio offers services that AM/FM does not and if one wants to pay for it that is their choice.

New Paintings by Forrest and Goose

I painted this as a Christmas gift for my mom. The Beagle and the Bunny. I did one similar for a pet art auctions and she liked it and said that she would like one for her class room.
Goose painted this one as a Christmas gift for his grandma. She has a wall collecting his art work. I provided restraint.

I finished up this Beagle painting during my time off from work.

Goose painted this one during my time off from work. I provided restraint. I think I like his paintings better than mine.

10 of my (these are a few of my favorite things) from this Christmas season 2005

1. Christmas Movies
These are movies that I saw during this holiday season. First off we got the DVD Christmas with the Kranks. Nothing but bad reviews for this one, but I am a sucker for Christmas movies. It wasn't bad and we watched it with family on two occassions and it was a hit. Large groups of people laughing will make any movie funny. Vernal and I took Goose to see Polar Express in 3-D. Very cool and it was a good movie. Vernal and I also got the chance to go to the theater and see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

2. U2 in St. Louis
What a fun trip with my sister and BB to see the best band in the world. It was also a nice treat stopping off in St. Charles to walk their historic mainstreet. I was all done up for Christmas. Very Nice!

3. Christmas Party at the Demerreeeeee's House
Vernal did a good job coming up with white elephant gifts.


One lucky person received a collection of Christian inspiration.

And another lucky person got a pair of Teva's and tube socks. Too bad Dash wasn't there.

4. Christmas in Bella Vista, Arkansas
We went down to have Christmas with my granparents a few days before the 25th. My parents and sister and her husband along with my Aunt and Uncle and there two boys were also there. We ate lots of food and took a couple of hikes at one of our favorite trails.

5. Office Christmas Party
Our office Christmas party this year was on the plaza at one of the office buildings with a nice balcony that over looked the lights. Very festive!
6. Looking at Christmas Light with the Family
Goose loves to point out Christmas lights. We would make long detours in the car to seek out good lights as we listened to Christmas music. The best was after the snowstorm when all was white.

7. The Twelve Days of Christmas
Twelve days - that is how many days I spent with the family away from work. From December 23rd to January 2 was my time off. I did absolutely nothing but spend time with family, extended family and work on ways to spend my Christmas money. I drank to much coke and ate way to unhealthy.

8. Christmas Eve
A tradition over at my parents house. We were joined by the whole WagJerCoe clan. Food and gifts and a lot of craziness. Goose and I went over early before everyone else showed up. I had a mug of egg nog and read Christmas books to Goose from my mom's collection over the years.

9. Christmas Day
Having the boys open their presents and then Vernal's family coming over later that morning. I think I napped on the sofa at some point in the afternoon. Later that evening we went over to the Jerbil's for another Christmas party.

10. Union Station and Crown Center
We made several trips down to Union Station/Crown Center over the Christmas season. It is one of my boys favorite places to go and they do Christmas right. It all started with meeting the Jer-Coe's at Union Station for the holiday sing-a-long. A conductor, orchestra, and choir led all who showed up in singing traditional Christmas carols. My boys loved the huge model train village set up on the east end and the free train ride around the huge Christmas tree on the north end. Each trip to Union Station involves a walk across the skywalk over to Crown Center. Santa also made a stop by Union Station on Rudy the Holiday Express train. We got to walk through several box cars that were decorated on the inside and out and see St. Nick at the same time. It was snowing that day!

my apologies

I am sorry! Many times after typing up a post, I think, "what was that?" My posts tend to go places not originally intended, and I have no idea what I just wrote.

Most of the time, I update my site with a new posting during my lunch hour at work. Usually the latter half of that hour.

Usually, I have a sketch of an idea and then I start typing. A lot of times, I don't even hit on what I wanted to say until half way throught the post. So what you get is a lot of rambling and probably a litttle bit of confusion, with an abrupt ending due to time constraints.

If I cared, I would draft my posts and proof read and edit out superfluous content to make it a nice, tight read. But it is fun to ramble on and meander around different corners and see if you can find your way back home.

Maybe, I'll put a label at the end of my post that reads:

"Sorry, this one got away from me."

my weekend

I don't have myself figured out yet.

Ideally, I would like to be neat and clean. I think I have perfectionist tendencies. Realistically, I don't let the little things bother me...the toys on the floor, dirty dishes, my messy corner of the room...until it builds up and gets to be too much. I usually let things go until I get annoyed.

I want to fulfill my perfectionist tendencies: to organize my closet, file my CD collection, do the dishes after dinner, hang up my jackets. But I don't have time for that. I also have relationship/quality time impulses and creative impulses that take precedent over my orderly and organized perfectionist impulses.

After dinner, I am much more inclined to say "Do we have time to walk to the park," than "let's do the dishes."

But this weekend, while Vernal was vacationing in New York, I was responsible for running the house and I got to see first hand the organic nature of how things happen in the home. It all started Friday afternoon, when I came home form work. Vernal was gone and I relieved her mom for her sitting duties. The kitchen was clean, however the family room was covered in pieces of wooden puzzles sets that I didn't know we had. Somehow, grandma knows were we hide them. Also, other toy sets where out too. We have nice boxes that we keep the toys in and they are organized according to set or likeness. We try not to open too many of these boxes at one time without picking up another, but this was not the case. We cleaned up and I felt much calmer.

The kitchen was clean, but I learned first hand how quickly a kitchen can get messy. (1 meal) The kids are in bed and I am about to have a hot fudge sundae, but the kitchen is messy. But what I learned was that it looks worse than it actually is. With an empty dishwasher, I was able to clear the dishes and cups and silverware in two minutes. I kept that up with each meal and was able to maintain a clean kitchen all weekend.

By the time Vernal came home, the kitchen was clean, but toys were still on the family room floor and I still had jackets that needed to be hung up.

In a nutshell, Forrest:

1. quality time/relationships
2. creativity
3. perfectionism/organization/cleanliness
   
4. laziness/relaxing/TV

These 4 groups are fighting for my time and often number 3 comes in last.

When Mom is Away the Boys Will Play

Vernal left today to take a little weekend trip to New York City. She is meeting up with her sisters to take on the Big Apple.

I am glad she is going - to get away from me, the kids, and home life for a while and just have fun with her sisters.

I have taken trips and left Vernal home with the kids several times: Business related, ski trips, U2 in St. Louis. But this is the first time it is just me and the boys for the weekend. I am not to worried though and hopefully they can part with their mom. If they do wake up in the middle of the night, it is mom that they want, so hopefully they'll be content with me...(now where are those sleeping pills.)

New Year's Eve and Day

I am not sure what to think of New Year's Eve parties. I think I don't like them. I think they are overrated. I'm not sure. We used to have some fun parties, but now I just want to stay home and spend and evening with Vernal.

Maybe it is the fact that almost everybody else will be at a party that makes it fun to stay home and do your own thing.

We both feel that there is this added pressure that something magical is suppose to happen when you count down into the New Year. It is a bit anti-climatic:

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! (Shout , scream, kiss, blow things up - then what?)

Maybe, for me, it is the realization that the Christmas holiday season is over and it's back to work the next day.

So this year, we had some friends over New Year's eve at 5:30. Will grilled, we ate, we let the boys play, and the adults played games. They left, and we put our boys in bed by 9pm. That left the rest of the evening for us- we watched a movie, ate some ice cream, and made some predictions.

_____________________________________

Since New Year's Day falls on a Sunday this year, the predictions we were making was about the sermon the next day in Church. You know that is too good an opportunity for pastors to pass up. How can they resist; it's ideal. We made predictions on the cliches - the new you, starting over, changes, resolutions. Would we see list and bullet points? And Vernal called out that we would have to make our own list of spiritual betterments (not to be turned in but hidden in a secret place in our bibles.) All of this came true and we spent most of the service elbowing each other in the side as to say "see, I told you so." Good times.

Blokus - Wednesday Part 2

My mom is great at giving good and thoughtful gifts. She latches on to something that you might have said half a year ago or a particular interest or enjoyment you might have and will use that knowledge when it comes to gifts.


These last few years, my family has really been into the brain puzzle sort of games like Rush Hour. (Above) You play these solo, but are great when you are in a room full of people and you need a little break.

So, seeing that I enjoy these puzzle games, she gets me Blokus out of the blue. I didn't ask for it, but what a perfect gift. The game itself is really fun. It combines all the elements of the brain puzzles into a friendly competition of 2-4 players. It reminds me a lot of one of those Survivor Games fighting for immunity. You have 21 different shaped pieces and the goal is to get rid of them all or have the least amount of units per piece when you have no more moves left. You can only add a piece to one of your existing pieces on the board and you can only touch at the corners of your piece. (see picture below) This is my spead - no screaming, no being quick - just playing some tricky offense and some nasty defense.

new music - wednesday part 1

One of my favorite activities of Christmas or maybe is should say the days following Christmas is trying to spend the little bit of cash or gift cards that I have on music. Many times my first attempt is one of faliure, I'll go to the record store and come home empty handed. But that is part of the fun and what turns it into a week long process. I can't recall how many times I made it over to Borders, Barnes and Noble, and Best Buy to look at music and to sample albums on the computer. The fun is not over yet. I still have a gift card to borders - I am waiting for this weekend to use a 30% off coupon and I still have some money for iTunes - a first for me.

Joy Electric - Montgolfier and the Romatic Balloons

This E.P. is not a result of Christmas, but is something I ordered online a month earlier. After their last album The Ministry of Archers being very experimental this 9 song e.p. (6 new songs and 3 remixes) is a return to the classic Joy Electric sound built off of the experimentation of the last album. Very Good!

Portishead - Dummy

This came in my stocking from Santa. One of the best and defining albums of the mid-ninties trip-hop bands. We used to listen to this album a lot late at night in my architectural studios at KU.

Viva Voce - The Heat Can Melt Your Brain

Husband and wife indie-rock that is delicious! Also, a gift from Santa in my stocking.

Delirious? - The Mission Bell

The Beta Band - the best of...

Embrace - Out of Nothing

U2 - Vertigo 05 Live from Chicago

This was a gift from Magrelo via Seminole.

Christmas Vacation

Christmas vaction is now over and here I am again sitting at my desk at work looking into a flat screen. The 21st of December was my last day of work for the year. I was able to spend 12 full days with my family.

Vacation started Wednesday the 21st after work , I came home and we packed the car and drove south on 71 highway to Bella Vista, Arkansas. Christmas with my Grandparents...the rest of the family was arriving later on Thursdays, so I decided to beat the crowd and be the first ones there the night before.

Soon, on Thursday, my parents arrived along with my sister and her husband. And then a little bit later my Mom's sister, my aunt and uncle arrived with there two teenage boys. There boys were really gentle and sweet with our little guys.

We did all the fun stuff down there: went on hikes, ate lots of food, and lots of my grandma's swedish christmas cookies and the world's best penut butter balls, opened christmas presents, and made lots of trips to wal-mart.

Friday afternoon we left to come back home. This would give us a good night of sleep for our boys to take on the craziness of our traditional christmas eve celebration.

We went over to my parent's house for Christmas Eve. I was anxious for the day to begin, so Goose and I went over early so that I could sip some egg nog with my dad and read some christmas books out of my mom's collection to Ewan. We just enjoyed the calm before the storm. At the right time everybody showed up. All of my family in Kansas City. The events are something like a large dinner and then sometime later we open presents. Between dinner and presents my sister did something really cool that I didn't know she was doing and I'll have to let her explain it sometime. (I hope she'll tell the story on her site.)

Christmas morning, we woke up and found that Santa visited our house last night and left us stockings filled with goodies. Later that morning Vernal's family came over for breakfast and lunch. Vernal made some yummy quiches and for lunch we had Smoke House BBQ. Again we exchanged gifts and all that stuff.

The rest of the week was spent playing with presents, finding ways to spend christmas cash, and going places around town. I got to stay up late and sleep in a little. I got to watch a few movies and finally saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I also had a chance to work on a few paintings and listen to lots of music.

We had our friends, my college roommate, Dan and his wife Christie and their son over for New Years Eve dinner and games. We grilled some burges and Polish sausages and had lots of good food. New Years Day was a warm and sunny 69 degrees. I have had enough winter and now I am ready for spring so bring it on!

My next few post will probably be commenting on certain events over the last month as they pop in my head. A lot events happened and I don't want to forget about them. I guess it will make up for my absense the last couple of weeks.

I am glad everybody is back and look forward to seeing you soon!