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Thursday Updates

Hi, been running like crazy. To NOLA on Tuesday in the a.m. and back by 430. All day events today. Big event in Houston Tuesday and Wednesday, and a possible trip back to OKC Friday. Go. Go. And Go.

The kids are doing well. TAKS is next week and obviously there is concern here in the house that people are going to still be well.

We’ve battled flu in one of the kids this week and have been doing all possible to keep the others from getting sick. Knock on wood, it’s worked so far.

Okay, back to work. Rearranged the den this past weekend and have a good place to toil into the night. So much to do.

Catching Up

Wow. It’s been a week or two since I’ve stopped and had the chance to even think about writing. Much has been happening. Work, for the most part, has kept me on the go, go, go. First a two-day trip to Houston, then a day back, then to San Antonio for two days, then a day back, then a day-trip back to HOU. Go, stop, go, stop, go….

Have spent the weekend working on things around the house. Need to clean the filter on the pool.

Have to get back to it.

Saturday a.m. Review

Trying something new today. Still quiet in the house at 7 a.m. but I’m writing from upstairs. Still too chilly outside these days to try from the back patio, but that day seems to be coming fast. It’s almost mid-February now and no sign of any cold weather heading our way. Which is concerning from the standpoint that that can usually mean lots of flies and mosquitoes come spring and summer.

Two of the kids had a fun PTA program on Thursday p.m. Good songs, good times. They both did a good job.

Work has been extra busy this week, but that’s good, too. I’ve done a lot of writing there, which has really drained me from writing here. Still at the end of the day I found I had a different part of my brain that still could do Soduko, even the hard ones.

During my FCE class at the Apple Store this week we came to the simple conclusion that the green we were using wasn’t green enough. Kari and I went to a fabric store Wednesday night and tried again. We bought felt this time. Lots of it and it has worked much better. The thing I need to work on now is how to not get my subjects to lean into the more intense light and then lean back into the more subtle. This changes the color of the screen and aperture of the camera. My guess is that I need to push the camera back a little further, but I’m running out of depth in the room and I don’t see Kari letting me set this stuff up anywhere else. Have to give that some thought.

Editing the video though really was much easier with the brighter, more solid green. We also bought some matted gray felt that will make an excellent background for still portraits.

I have lots to do around the house today. My car is absolutely filthy inside and out which has been driving me nuts.

And I begin a special video project tomorrow. Can’t wait to get going. Going to be very poignant and moving.

Okay, got to get going. I’ve heard Ash up. She came to our door, opened it, saw I was up and then tried to sneak back to her room. LOL. Oh, and I’ve got to put a password on this machine on screensaver. She’s taken a strong liking to this machine and has reset it a couple of times to where it talks with every move I make. How she gets into the Universal Settings and reconfigures this setting is beyond me, but it’s happened twice now. Shame on her, now shame on me. It’s great that she wants to use a superior Mac computer, not great that she’s making config changes that are driving me nuts when it happens.

Thoughts about the week

You’d have to have been under a rock to miss the wonderment of the Super Bowl this past Sunday. Not just because it was a great game, but more because of the brotherly love and support between big brother Peyton and little brother Eli. And how proud Mr. and Mrs. Manning must have been to have had sons with back-to-back wins of the MVP of one of the world’s most popular sports. We all were treated with a special insight. The sights of the game were almost as special as seeing big brother, established in his on right, up in the box cheering for his little brother. The one we see him kicking in the butt on ESPN.

Saving a marriage, blended family style

Here is a good piece from our friends at Blended Families.

Saturday morning

Well, the fewer details I mention, probably the better. There was no date last night. No show for reasons not understood. Let’s leave it at that.

Leaving work last night, I listened to the advice of an office-mate and stopped by the flower fokes in the lobby. Jack pot. Two dozen roses for Kari and they are splendid. And for an unbelievable price. I’m a hero. For the moment at least!

I’ve got One-to-One in an hour and a half. Have imported some wmv files this week and got the Flip4Mac converter so they will do more than look like a bunch of letters when I open the file. Problem has been with iDVD. When I’ve burned the disc, the audio hasn’t come with it. It all looks good now. Video very crisp. Can’t hear anything though. Good thing I have One-to-One at 8 a.m.

All is quiet in the house. Molly and I are continuing our weekend morning ritual. I type, she sits here on the couch with me. Can’t wait to get her weighed again. When we got her last year, the couple said her mother weighed about 100 lbs. Molly has truly been digging the past month, and it’s starting to tick me off. So last weekend, she’d dug near the pool and was brown. Very little white. All the mud had tracked across the patio so I pressure washed the patio and then disconnected it and rinsed her down. All wet, she’s much smaller.

I need to go start a brisket before I leave, but as I think and type, that might be better to save for tomorrow’s game time meal. That big game–not allowed to advertise SP IXII, don’t you know.

Many projects to get done today. Some honey do, some for the betterment of the family, some for me. I’ve got to get the green screen in the den done and shoot. It’s really starting to bug me we have all the TV lights and this big screen deal in the den. I’m ready to have the den back. Like I get to go in there and do much with the kids running hither and yawn.

Going to attempt to put the older six in a circle today and start trying to have them learn how to better talk to each other. Yes, they all are just being kids, but I think they can do a better job of talking nice to each other. Manners. Kindness. Respect for each other as human. Naw….

So such is my game plan. And we shall see how it goes.

Big Night in Big M

And so it begins.  One of the boys is going to the movies tonight.  With a, wait for it, with a girl.

I instilled fatherly advice on Tuesday p.m. saying, “Just be confident and act like you got it going on, and things will happen from there.”  Well, he did.  And it worked.  Now Kari wants to sit in on more Dad and son conversations.  She’s the driver for tonight’s trip to the movies.  Ah, the good ole days.  I remember being driven to events by my parents and a girl’s mom.  We used to sit in the back seat signing to each other so she wouldn’t hear us.  How tender.

So, tonight, the first of many suitor and suitee events commences.  Only six more kids to go through this first night with.  It’s all the other nights that follow that are making me feel old.

On another note, the oldest boy came to work with me today and really did a great job.  How much fun it was.  I was quite proud of him.  When we came walking in, the greeter named Marshall called my name, hello, and then Ricky’s.  Ricky didn’t ask the natural question of “how did he know my name.”  Instead, the conversation quickly progressed to his Green Bay jacket.  And then we were on to breakfast.  A sausage biscuit, a large Dr. Pepper, and jelly and he was in heaven.

It feels good to have made some really positive improvements in the lives of these two this week.  Now onto the other five.  Much to be done.

And I have to keep Kari from hiding out in the back of the theater…. 

Tick Tock, The Countdown Clock

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