Allison's Weekend Recap

So, hello again. Remember me? I feel like I have been blog hijacked. But, it's fun to have another point of view around here - I guess I can get quite boring.

We had a fun weekend around here. My sister Amanda came in for a few days. She picked the coldest weekend of the season. We have been in the teens and single digits for the past few days - and that's not including the windchill - which brings it down below zero. Usually, it's no big deal, we just don't go out....but we did. We went to the new OUTDOOR mall on Saturday. For those of you who are concerned - Paige and Emily stayed home with Daddy, just us grown-up girls went. Of course, Amanda and my Mom complained about how cold it was the whole time - those wimps. It was refreshing. Then, just because apparently we could not have enough cold, we went to see "27 Dresses" later that night. Yes, it was indoors, but when we came out of the theater it was FREEZING!!!!! We ran all the way to the car - even my teeth were cold. The temperature gauge in the car said the outside temperature was 5 degrees. A little chilly.

Eric had his 37th birthday on Saturday. He got some really nice gifts, including the Nintendo DS from me - see earlier post. Now we don't have to fight over mine. The only reason he got this was because when I went out on Friday to pick up his birthday gift, I told him I was going to Target to get some shampoo - I wasn't, I was going to the mall to get him some new shoes. He asked me to pick up some Rice Krispies from Target for him - dang!! So, I thought I would just check one more time to see if they had any DS's - they have been out of them forever - and they did. So, Eric got one. All because he wanted some Rice Krispies.


We went to Buca di Beppo for dinner - and ate way too much. It was so yummy. On Sunday, we had my family over so they could see Amanda. Eric, Amanda, Clara and Hayley all played together with the DS's. They had a great time. It was funny to see their heads buried in the videos games for at least an hour.


So, on this Martin Luther King day, we are home, resting from our fun and busy weekend. Amanda left for the airport about an hour ago. There's a little snow on the ground this morning, and our current temperature is 19 degrees. We are supposed to have a little more snow this evening. It's quiet. It makes me a little sad. Here's some more photos from this weekend. Have a great Monday!!

I made yummy salsa for our Mexican fiesta on Thursday. Is was go-od.

Poor Paige, she kept making yummy sounds every time I took a bite of my cake. She did get a fistful when I wasn't looking. She is definitely my child. No question about that.

Our piano prodigy in training.

Emily's dog Brownie apparently was very sick on Friday - he was on the toilet with diarrhea. Where does she come up with this stuff?

The Nintendo Phenomenon

There is a new phenomenon starting...Nintendo DS! This is a portable game system from our Japanese friends (now made in China of course) at Nintendo. I got Allison one for Christmas and she got me one for my birthday, so now we have his-and-hers Nintendos. The cool thing is that they are equipped with a Wi-Fi connection so you can play wirelessly with nearby opponents. Yesterday we had several guests over for my birthday and several of us had our faces buried behind their diminutive screens, fingers fidgeting wildly at the controls. Ah, sweet victory! I think there were about five of those things in our house at once. Last night before turning out the lights Allison and I had a little go-kart championship race going on. I think my fingers may be sore today, especially my "gas pedal" finger.

Just wanted to let you know....

That the views expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of the blog creator.

By saying that, I would just like to let all of you know, that I am in TOTAL disagreement with my dear and darling husband about yesterdays windshield wipers post. While I do think that it can be a public safety hazard to have a bunch of people honking their horns to show their support of a street corner protester - I do not think that it is a waste of time to protest something which many people think is so inherently wrong. I think a better alternative would be to roll down the window and shout out a "Right On", or "You Rock", or anything else like that. Or how about one better - join him. Is the president going to stop the war because of this protest - um, I think not. But, I think as an American, it's vitally important to exercise one's right to free speech and public protest as much as possible. If you believe in something, or you are completely against something, show it. It's the American thing to do. It's patriotic. And, let's hope that never changes.

Anyway - that's the last of the political blog entries for awhile. I have some pictures to post later - I just wanted to get my opinion out there. Have a GREAT Friday...and hey, go protest something...it's your right, and it's NOT a waste of time.

I'm all black and blue!

I'll freely admit that I am a typical clueless male when it comes to clothing. Frequently I will get dressed in the morning and Allison will take one look at me and say, "What in the world are you wearing? That doesn't match." And I think to myself, "Really? I thought I had a good outfit going on here. What part exactly doesn't match? What do you mean by everything?" This morning while getting dressed I ran into a frequent problem for me, and I suspect men all over are similarly afflicted: I cannot see the difference between black and dark navy blue. Evidently women can tell them apart just as if they were black and canary yellow but to me they look exactly the same. So of course I probably did look foolish trying to wear black shoes with a blue shirt, but men don't look at the shoes people wear in any case. Good Lord! How did I dress before I met Allison? It's a wonder I ever got a second date!

Wipers for Peace

Hi all. This is Eric (Allison's husband for those who don't know) and I will be contributing my thoughts and images to the family blog occasionally. Today's thought comes from a local war protest. Every Monday on Woodward Avenue and 9 Mile Road there is a war protestor urging people to honk their horn as they drive by if they are opposed to the war. Now once or twice is one thing but this guy has been doing it every week since December of 2002, and the local people are starting to get a wee bit tired of all the honking. The city has initiated a ban on honking and the police say that traffic code only permits honking for a vehicular emergency and that violators will be ticketed. The protestors are all up in arms saying this is a violation of their 1st amendment rights. So I propose a peaceful solution - windshield wipers for peace. If you oppose the war turn on the wipers. They are quiet and exactly as effective at ending the war. It's not as if President Bush is going to say, "We can't have all those people honking on Woodward - better pull all the troops out immediately!" I say that the protestor should realize that since his weekly devotion has basically amounted to a fruitless usage of over 250 days of his life maybe he should get a hobby or a TV show or something. You don't get those days back, man!

Today's word of the day: BOONDOGGLE Guys, we just dont use boondoggle enough in our daily talking. Try to fit it into a conversation soon!

Tracks in the snow

Was Billy from the "Family Circus" in my backyard?

This is the view of the backyard from my bedroom window. I noticed the tracks last night when I was doing my most favorite thing - folding clothes. They are from Max. It's funny to see what path he takes. Have a great Wednesday!!

I was going to be so patriotic

And it was all foiled. I had such a great idea of taking a picture of my "I Voted" sticker for this blog. It would have looked so cool - but no. No stickers today. Yes, I voted in our ridiculous, not by the rules, primary today. I was already upset because my candidate was not on the ballot, therefore rendering me to vote uncommitted - but not even an "I Voted" sticker? A sad day really. But I digress.

So, it is so sad for all of you as well - you'll have to deal with some really cute pictures of my kids. Sorry about that.




If you look really closely at the one of Paige in the bathtub, you can see her little teeth starting to stick out - she's got two coming in now. Have a great Tuesday everyone!