Tuesday, February 20, 2007

The Long Weekend

Moni!!! That was not intentional. If anyone else notices that I have omitted their link in my blog buddies list, please let me know. I've dropped a few, those few who haven't visited in a long time, posted in a long time, or those who just completely ignore me. My list is long enough, and I like to keep it manageable, lean and mean.

It was a tough weekend on the child rearing front. Mommy and daddy were just a little short on patience, with the younger finding his inner Pavarati. Now it is almost impossible to determine who is at fault. But both kids are at each other's throats. Noise in the house carries, and both kids run like they have cement boots. The pounding is terrible.

See, as a parent, you can never let your enthusiasm wane. Kids sense it and turn up the intensity. If you have the energy to pull out games, experiments and the like, then life is wonderful. Not in the mood? You will be punished. Unless of course you have a magic switch behind a metal shield that the kids have tried and failed to open so many times that they just know not to try. But of course, that's not us. Suckers we are, with a capital "S."

I took the kids sledding. Now they are addicted. I hate the cold, but it was a lot of fun. Jackson likes to stand in the way as me and Emmett slide towards him, then dive out of the way at the last second. Emmett loves it. Just before we got there and had to climb the hill, Emmett wanted me to carry him. After the first time down, no more problems. He scooted his little body up the hill and hurried me along.

I've decided that my football player is going to be nicknamed the Sandman, earned for the number of quarterbacks, running backs and receivers he's put to sleep. He's always the first player on the field for home games, his coming heralded by Metallica's Enter the Sandman.

Oh, and Emmett's new nickname for everyone is Butt Cheek.

Interesting Friday Night Lights coming up this Wednesday. Parents of girls should be interested in how the Taylors deal with their daughters decision to have sex with her boyfriend. I've come to respect how they think. This will certainly be a big test.

22 comments:

Toni Anderson said...

Arh--we had those winter vibes this weekend. No one was happy but no one wanted to actually do anything about it. I think it is February.

Great name--love it.

Love sledding and we are finally warming up enough to get out again. Not that I'll miss the snow when it is finally gone!!!

Kathleen said...

Everybody and their brother were out sledding this past Saturday I noticed as I drove through Hines Park. And there wasn't that much snow, I didn't think. Of course, I hate snow, cold, ice, sledding, etc., so there's no way I'd be out there.

Anonymous said...

Scott, could you email me your email. For some reason, I cannot find yours. John reformatted at Christmas and I don't even have half my children's.

Thanks, Janie

Me said...

That name and reason absolutely rocks. It's memorable. Good job.

(So, for that matter, are the names of your children. Good job on that too. :-) )

Yeah, sledding out in the cold in your forties. Oh God. I'm never going to be able to do this parent thing, am I?

Khaaaaan!

Anonymous said...

Blogroll maintenance...yeah, like spring cleaning. Never fun, but necessary. Mine is a bit nuts, but I generally will maintain a link so long as I have a link back and the blog is active.

Lean and mean is a good way to go.

Sadie Lou said...

Scott, as to the Netflix thing, you could send me your email to my email,
sadielouwho@hotmail.com

That's how I add you.
I have a question for you:
When you read Stephen King's book, On Writing did you do the writing excersice he gave?
Just curious...

Scott said...

Toni and Alan, glad you liked the name. I'll come up with a "real" name that Sandman would naturally stems from. And Toni, see, I named my own baby after all. I was just looking for inspiration.

Kat - Me hate cold too!

Janie - Done!

Jason - Yeah, I don't know how you do it. I use mine to pay my respects. I would never be able to cycle through yours.

Sadie - I never read the whole book. I found what I was looking for (dialog attribution), and read some of the introduction. What is the writing exercise? This has me curious. I sent you an invite to Netflix. Rock on!

Joely Sue Burkhart said...

I'm single-parenting it alone this week (and last week) while That Man is away for work. I totally know what you mean about the energy front and how quickly kids will take advantage!!

Moni said...

Darn I tried to post this once already...hmmm? Well, what I was trying to say is that I was picking at you Scott. You don't have to post the link. I love your blog and I love the new look. Sorry to ruffle you....huggs?...friends? ;)


Thanks for letting me know about the email I'll fix it. :)

Scott said...

Joely - Boy do I ever know what you mean by That Man. I'm him. It is a little easier doing the nine to five thing, I must say.

Moni - You didn't ruffle me at all. I felt bad that I left you out and was sincerely apologizing.

Anthony Rapino said...

Woo hoo! I made the cut.

I've been doing a lot of lurking and no posting lately, but I still visit around.

Glad to hear you're working on a novel. I can't wait to start one back up.

Sadie Lou said...

Scott--
Thanks for the invite--we should be able to see each other's Q now. Heh heh.
Okay, King said that he's not big on planned writing assignments but he did ask for his readers to send him their work--that's what piqued my interest.
It's a pretty lengthy assignment.
King said he usually starts writing a situation in which his characters respond to and then it blossoms into a story.
He basically gave his audience a situation that asked us to write 4-5 pages on. It was about an estranged hubby that beats up or murders his ex-wife but the twist, which he wanted us to write about, is that the ex is the woman and the victim is the man. There was a lot of back story that he included in the assignment though so if you still have the book, you should look for it. In my paperback version, it's on page 168-69.

Jaye Wells said...

I think "Butt Cheek" should be the name of another football player in your story. Butt Cheek McGee as a ring to it.

Sadie Lou said...

I just went to King's website and read this...
Sorry, but we are no longer accepting submissions for the writing exercise given in On Writing. We have asked that the offer to make submissions through the web site be deleted from future printings. When he came up with that idea, I don't think Stephen was thinking about the fact that someone would months or years later read his offer and want to participate.

Poo to that. I think I'm going to do the exercise anyways; for fun. Sorry to hijack your blog post with all this stuff...

Ultra Toast Mosha God said...

That's a good footballer nickname.

How about this for an player on defence with a high interception rate?

'The Patriot' - after the missile of the same name used to bring doen SCUD's in Gulf War I.

I don't know what I would use as his entrance music though...

Bernita said...

Parents learn to turn off their sense of smell when kids are babies; then they learn selective hearing when the kids grow.
It's only when they are quiet that you worry.

mr. schprock said...

What kind of snow do you have where you live? Here in Boston, it's the worst imaginable. It's so hard and encrusted, it's completely unfit for sledding or nearly anything else. If stopping bullets is a desirable trait for snow to have, then there would be its only application.

Scott said...

Oni - Yeah, we haven't visited in a while, but I have a soft spot for working writers!

Sadie - It's funny, but I was thinking about that very thing: how many writers have submitted for that assignment. It's no wonder they are begging them off now. Thanks for the heads up. I was really considering it. And hijacking is allowed here, by the way.

Jaye - Hmmm. You might be onto something there -- not!

Toast - Now that is a great nickname for a corner. I might have to use that.

Bernita - Good one, and spoken like a true mother. The silence is frightening, isn't it.

Mr. Schprock - Yeah, some guys at work here couldn't drive to work because their cars were frozen in. Out here there are what are called "fields" with "hills." Too bad your girls are too old for that sort of thing.

Jada's Gigi said...

Love your Sandman name and the reasoning behind it...cool!
ahhh cabin fever?? I don't like the cold but when you're sledding...who's cold?? :) yes, kids can really try you when you aren't in the mood....I think maybe that magic switch could sometime be just that...a switch...used on little butt cheeks...lol..I know you don;t ascribe to it but it can be an instrument of magic when necessary...

Beth said...

Isn't it funny when you mention downsizing the blog buddy list, you get slathered with comments? I love when you write about the kids. I think parenting is all about doing a lot of stuff you just don't feel like doing -- when you're a good parent, anyhow. =)

jenbeauty said...

good lord my girl is 9....dealing with that start of mean girl issues....don't want to think about the sex!!

We did a lot of sledding last weekend and my boy ended up becoming very brave and had a great time!!

Tee/Tracy said...

Happy to see I'm still on the VIP list ;) ... If I could make one little tiny suggestion? LOL. You have me as Split Milk instead of Spilt Milk. Minor typo. Just thought you'd like to know. LOL.

As for the sledding - my boys are bugging me right now to go out. I miss summertime when I can just turn them loose in the backyard. Front yard requires me to supervise (not fenced in but that's where the sledding hill is.)

My kids also like to do the jumping out of the way thing - but they also do one where they jump on and crash into each other.

Love the nickname for the football player. I used to love Metallica.