My baby girl turned 2 last Monday! She is growing up so fast and learning new words every day… but just only this past weekend she put together the words love and you and told her mommy “love you!”

Emma has been consistently using a hundred plus words now for a while and even strings small sentences together… her favorite being “I do.” Now her use of the words “love you” has been hindered by the gesture we tought her when she first started communicating… which resembled blowing a kiss with her hand. She would also reply with “you” if you asked her to say “love.”

I have to admit that both the hand gesture and her “you” to my “love” was a very warm and fuzzy to the heart worthy… but nothing beat the first time she used her words to tell me “love you.”

It came with a tool!

I finally broke down and ordered my new phone… our 2 years were up a while back but I had gotten a new phone about half way through because Jenn washed my phone and killed it… I had quite a few choices to pick from and since we only order the free ones and only use it as a phone… I ended up going with the G’z One Boulder, a  rugged, dust, shock and water resistant phone with push to talk… and it looks like Batman’s phone.

After ordering it on Tuesday and it being shipped out that night, I had it the next day… free phone, free shipping and delivered the next day… sweet… a new toy to play with (and not like I had anything better to do… like make a cake for the next day). After unpacking the box and inspecting the contents… two batteries… charger… what this? It has interchangeable decorative rings, one red and one silver and what’s that? You know it… it comes with a tool. A small, plastic, three headed tool that one side you use to extract the decorative ring, another to lock and unlock the battery into place and yet another side to help you extract the microSD card… oh and did I mention it has a compass… bad ass I know.

But not to worry… my old phone has found a new owner:

Ready to head out.

My entry in the contest. Click on image to see detailed images.

I entered my first cake decorating contest this past weekend… and I didn’t win.

The contest was held in conjunction with the celebration of the 40th birthday of the Special Olympics’ involvement in Indiana. My sister Valerie volunteers for the Special Olympics and suggested I enter the contest… which sounded like a great idea… and a great way to promote myself a little. After a long couple of days, prepping, baking… more prepping… decorating… which I might add that I have a strong love/hate relationship with right now. If it is going well, I LOVE IT! If it isn’t’ going well… I HATE IT! But in the end I made a really awesome cake… and I’m really pleased with myself for sticking with it and getting it finished.

So… I set my cake with the other entries, which there were about 10 total… and at this time I’m feeling really confident in my chances of winning the contest. After a trip to Walmart to kill some time and find a jacket… it was warmer outside than it was in this building… and eating some pulled pork… they had the judging… which consisted of the Mayor of Warsaw and some of his cabinet members and a lady affiliated with Special Olympics… which by her body language really liked my cake… I was so winning… for some reason I was really nervous…

And the winner is?!

Not mine! But wait... there's plastic balls and cut out paper on it!

WHAT?! The cake that was picked was different then the others… and not chosen for quality of work… I actually mentioned that it would win because the other entries, including mine, were more based on the logo…. Men… what do the know about cakes… pfff… the only woman on the judging panel LOVED my cake… more about her later.

They auctioned off the winning cake and the top bid was $110. The original plan was to auction off the winner and we’d eat the others… but there was such an interest in mine that they decided to auction it off also… much to the disappointment of the winning bidder of the first cake, she said she would rather have had my cake.. so mine goes up for auction and I was thinking ‘Oh, please let it go for more’ … almost, it went for $100.

During all this the woman that was on the judging panel comes over to me and tells me that she put my cake first and that she really liked it… and she goes on and tells me that she is getting married and wanted to know if I made wedding cakes… Really? So I give her my info and she tells me she’ll get a hold of me… sweet.

So at the end of the day… I didn’t win my first cake decorating contest… but I did make the Special Olympics an extra $100 and scored a possible job… oh, and we won a free oil change from where I actually take the car in… nice…

…but I really wanted to win.

"Stimulating Myself"

Jenn and I have done our part to stimulate the local economy… by purchasing a camper:  A 2008 23′ Flagstaff 23FBS a.k.a. “Stimulating Myself!”

Jenn, Emma and I went to the Fort Wayne RV show this past February with the serious intent on purchasing an RV… but they didn’t have any we were happy with! The RV Center, located here in Columbia City, had one on their lot that looked really good on paper… so we handed over our $20 to lock in the show price and left with the hope that it was all that we wanted it to be… and it was!

After the customary walk-through and getting a trailer brake controller installed in the truck… at which time we found out that what I thought was just a burnt out brake light was actually a melted electrical fire waiting to happen… so… after numerous trips to the parts store… getting the part ordered, picking it up… returning to buy bulbs… we were ready to roll… we just needed to receive the paper work and get the license plates… paper work comes in and we go to the license branch… get stuck with Miss Hungover:  Looking at our paperwork she ask “What kind of plate do you want?” Us: “Umm… you work here you tell us… it’s an RV… a travel trailer…” Miss Hungover: “Is it a pop-up?”… “No”… “Does it have a toilet?”… “Yes”… “So you need an RV plate.” Thank you master of the obvious!

We are storing it a the RV Center because we can’t store it on our property… and driving to my Mom and Dad’s to pick it up would cost just as much as storing it here in town. This past weekend happened to be open, so we decided to bring it home and get our old camping gear down from the attic and find new homes for it in the RV… we  head out on Saturday to pick it up… I go into their office and tell them I’m here to pick up our RV, and I get informed that they usually want us to call ahead the day before or at least a couple of hours before pick-up… that would have been some handy information when we signed up for their storage… so we had to wait… and wait… and wait… finally we get it hooked up and start home… where I learn all about trailer brakes… luckily I’m traveling on a back road and get them figured out before giving my daughter whiplash too bad.

We get everything moved down from the attic and find new homes for it in the RV… while a list of needs and wants start to grow and grow… and grow… so a late night run to Walmart in sues… $250 later we’re back… so Sunday consisted of finding homes for all the new gear and getting it to the point that besides the food and our clothes it’s hook up and go ready. All that needs done is for it to get de-winterized… which will happen in a couple of weeks… and than… camping time. I’m so ready!

Anna, my niece, had a two hour delay this morning… which happened to turn into the school closing for the day… I’ll get back to that… so… she’s not feeling the best, has a sore throat and stuffy head… and when she has a sore throat it is really hard to get her to eat ANYTHING… her mom brought her some Jimmy Dean Pancake and Sausage Minis (which Emma and I rather enjoy) and a Mandarin oranges single pack… I warmed up the minis and… drained… the… oranges… oops! I didn’t know I was not suppose to drain her oranges… Jenn, my wife, always drains her fruit… the funny thing is I always eat mine with the juice… so I was informed that I should ALWAYS ask before draining the juice… she doesn’t eat the minis but eats the oranges… I ask her if she would like some oatmeal, at which her response is: “Oatmeal is real? I didn’t know that… I heard it once on Elmo… I didn’t know it was real.” Of coarse she didn’t like it… so I had oatmeal for breakfast.

So… Anna has been the Student of the Week this week and has already missed a day because of snow… and today is Pajama Day at school (which she was REALLY looking forward to) so thinking there is a two hour delay I get the girls ready and head out to drop Anna off at school… turning on to the road to the school I don’t see the typical traffic that is coming and going in the morning after a delay… then I notice there is NO traffic entering or exiting the school… and there is only 3 cars in the parking lot… I quickly call Melissa (Anna’s mom) and get her voice mail… so I call Jenn… and ask if she can check something for me… she confirmed what I already knew… snow day.

I have a complete meltdown in the backseat of the truck… she is totally bummed. I get her home and she just sits in the truck… it takes some convincing but I get her in the house. Knowing that she has only had a serving of fruit to eat… and that there is a couple of hours until lunch.. I offer to make her a jelly sandwich… with the saddest face imaginable she gestures at her lunch box and sobbingly tells me she packed her lunch today… failing miserably to convince her it wouldn’t be for lunch but a kind of half breakfast… so… I unpack her lunch and put it on a plate for her. Being the sensitive uncle that I am, and knowing that she enjoys her chocolate milk, I make her up some using some of the Hershey’s syrup we have… she doesn’t like it… it… doesn’t… taste… like… McDonald’s. I trade it out with some orange soda, which is always a hit, and turn on some cartoons for her to watch… we’re all good.

As of right now she’s in good spirits… I’ll see if I can get some chicken noodle soup down her later… I have my doubts.

Jenn and I decided  that the new year would bring a belt tightening on our financial expenditures and calorie consumption… as to date no new toys… we’ll have to see if that holds true after this weekend’s RV show… So… Jenn and I have challenged ourselves to lose the weight that has been gained since Emma was born. If by chance we lose the weight (and keep our expenditures in check) by the first of June we will indulge ourselves in the purchase of a Wii game system.

This isn’t my first rodeo involving a weight loss challenge… in January 2006, two really good friends and I did the now infamous “South Fatkins Beach Paradise Challenge 2006″ which in 15 months I lost a total of 100 pounds… now sadly I have gained exactly half of that back and now very ready to remove it again!

Me in December 2006 and July 2007

The first two weeks of the year were not so productive… but these last couple of weeks, I have buckled down and started taking things serious… I have officially lost 5 pounds and by the end of the month hopefully a little more… and I’ll hit February running and drop some good weight and hopefully by June I’ll find my skinny self again… I can’t wait.

We purchased our 3.5 hp. Yard Machines snow thrower four seasons ago… year one it paid for its self, after the first use it never snowed enough to need it again. Year two I got some good use out of it because it didn’t snow over 4 inches at one time… now, last year we got dumped on… and the thing was worthless… I shoveled a lot of snow last year.

We received our first major snow this past week… it was a perfect snow, nice and soft… about 4 inches… shouldn’t be a problem for my snow blower. After exhausting myself getting it started I dive in for my first swipe and the auger clogs up with snow… it can’t handle it. I apply some of the techniques I’ve adapted to help make the snow blower more efficient… like raising it up and shaving the snow in layers, going forward and backwards to help the auger keep up… after a half hour of freezing and fighting the snow and the machine and not really getting anywhere I gave up on it… and finished by shoveling my wife’s side of the drive so she could leave easier in the morning.

Why don’t I upgrade you ask… well there is always the cost to factor in… and the fear that after purchasing a new snow blower it doesn’t snow again for the season… which again might be a good investment…

What I have.

What I want.

so… finally… here’s a small snippet into my Christmas morning…

So without further ado, I present Emma in “Walking… er… Cruising in a Winter Wonderland”

After accumulating 6 UPCs from the 25th Anniversary G.I. Joe comic packs… which in actuality I bought off of e-bay because I didn’t want to open my comic packs (I’m a dork like that)… and sending in my order form and $4.95 check for shipping on March 29th… in which they cashed and forgot to order my figure… and then exchanging 5 different e-mails with Hasbro’s customer service to prove that they had cleared my check… and supposedly getting a figure personally mailed to me by my customer service rep Veronica on September 12th, that I never received…

And so after waiting 8 months and 16 days after sending in my order form and check I have received my Operation: Rescue Doc exclusive mail-in figure!