Orchestrated Chaos

Pushing my own buttons.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Off on a trip.

To all my friends, I'll be away until December 31st. Bringing the kids to visit the folks in Poughkeepsie.

To all my enemies. The extremely vicious guard dog will be here, salivating profusely, waiting for arms or legs to bite through.

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Merry Christmas to All!

Merry Christmas everyone, the wrapping paper is beginning to settle here, and the kids are still smiling, so it must have been a good one. I had a few pearls of Christmas wisdom from this past week I wanted to share.

1) When cleaning the mint-flavored vomit out of a child's bed at 11:30 pm, and you don't feel any disgust or anger, just a peaceful sense of duty, you know that there is true and unconditional love.

2) Each of the kids got a big gift, which were a little difficult to wrap. So when they got up this morning Ryan was standing behind the couch, peering over the top staying "Santa gave me a new shopping cart! Santa gave me a new shopping cart!" And Holly hasn't put down her giant Nemo stuffed fish yet!

3) The Ryan-sized mop actually works and he has been asking to use it all morning.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Some observations:

1) Every child is a con-man. The really good ones use tears. The bad ones probably grow out of it.

2) With as difficult as some of the times are now (we are learning more about sharing) the future hold great things. As they get older I will have help shoveling! I can't wait, right now they are more of a hindrance, putting the snow back on the driveway.

3) I have caught Ryan, for some reason, talking to the vacuum. Something to keep an eye out for, cute, but weird.

4) I wish to reiterate the great and fantastic thing that is: Our Electric Blanket. Seriously, getting into a nice toasty warm bed, as opposed to a chilly and cold bed is great! As usual the main problem is leaving it on full power, tends to leave a feeling of being a little baked in the morning.

5) Our coffee maker is great, but suddenly the "take a cup while the coffee-maker is still brewing" is a bit on the blink. Unfortunately the only way to find out this was the other morning when I went to get a coffee before it was finished, and got to admire the lovely stream of coffee pouring down onto the warming surface.

6) Yesterday while discussing the general problem of Santa coming down a chimneys, and the fact that we don't have a chimney. Believe me this was something that was quite confusing to the kids, so we used the standard answer "Santa comes in through the dryer vent. We leave the dryer open so he can get in." So Holly thinks for a few minutes, and turns to us older folks and says "You know, Santa could use the door if he wanted. We could leave it open for him."

7) I have come to the conclusion that the Peppermint Mocha flavor of those coffee-mate's creamers is certainly more addictive then crack. The major problem is that the stores are always sold out of them. Argh, not really a little secret. To many people know!

Saturday, December 10, 2005

Observations

The family was at McDonald's for lunch today, and as I was waiting them to put our food on the trays I was doing one of the things I like the best: Observing. I was tickled to see a row of slots the first of which was labeled "A Bag". The corresponding slot was indeed filled with bags. Some of my mirth dissipated though, when I read the next tag "B Bags", filled with bigger bags, and then finally "C Bags". I'm pleased though, my brain is able to casually edit out the other parts, and focus on the first humorous bit.

Monday, December 05, 2005


Holly and my gingerbread house, complete with a frozen pond! And a few groves of trees. Posted by Picasa

Emma and Rick's gingerbread house has a trampline! And they have lots of wreaths. Posted by Picasa

I really like Emma and Rick's candy cane tree. Posted by Picasa

A picture of the back of Ryan and Michelle's gingerbread house. Of particular note is the river running along the back of the property. Posted by Picasa

This is a great front door view of Ryan and Michelle's gingerbread house. Posted by Picasa

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Happy Holidays.

Well, the holiday season is flying by and we are hurrying around with so many preparations. This past Monday Holly, Ryan and I assembled the tree. It was pretty funny because there was a big pile of branches and the were bringing them over to me at the tree one-at-a-time. It was so much easier when halfway through we found the directions. Then Wednesday we put on the lights, and then Friday everyone helped with ornaments. Now it looks awesome!
I think I prefer doing a little each day rather then doing it all in one day and everyone getting frazzled and using raised-voices.



Today we were invited over to Michelle's parent's (Sally and Deane) house for a gingerbread house party. It was so fun, and the kids had a great time. And being the super nuclear family of the new millennium everyone had a parent to help them. I helped Holly: I really like the pond complete with diving board (not much use on the frozen pond, but it looks neat) that we put on our sprawling estate. Michelle and Ryan were a team: Their house looks really nice, and she had a better idea to use some crushed blue fruit loops for a lake on their property. And Rick (Emma's Dad) helped her: Their specialties were their wreaths they made three or four that looked awesome, and then Emma added the doorknob to the door that looked so cool.
We brought our camera, but found out once we got there that the batteries were dead. So we are going to get some from Sally about the construction. And after the batteries charge up I'll snap a few of the finished houses to post.



Because I keep forgetting to tell Kyle, I wanted to put it here so he could see it: Anthony Bourdain has another book out. It isn't really new, but I don't know if you were aware of it. It isn't as much a travel/food diary like Cook's Tour and Kitchen Confidential are. Les Halles Cookbook seems to be more of a "traditional" cookbook seasoned with Bourdain's anger, and temperament. The review from Publisher's Weekly which quotes Bourdain as saying that if anyone was nervous about the recipes they were a "dipshit", and something about pearl onions being called "little fuckers", well that is certain pure Bourdain, and worth a look at.



On the subject of books, I have seen the name but it wasn't until last night at work that I actually researched and made sure of the connection about Nick Sagan. He is indeed the son of Carl Sagan, famous astronomer, lecturer and author. Nick Sagan is about to release his third Science Fiction book. Anyone that is called "hyperimaginative" by Publisher's Weekly could range from just plain good, all the way to Tolkien-esque detail insane! I might have to try them out.



We are almost all done Christmas Shopping (preparing early is borderline compulsion to Michelle) and it feels pretty good to only have the need to pick-up a few stocking stuffers here and there. We always feel that we wish we could get more for everyone locally and down the Thruway, but it is a matter of money. So we try to really put some thought and effort into what we do purchase or make for people. It wouldn't be very smart to spend three times what we can afford, and still be paying off the credit card bill next November.