Help...My daddy is a weirdo!!!

Hey guys...This is Goobs. My daddy has a little nuts these days. He started dancing in the hallway with no music on. My sister and I at least listen to the Wiggles when we dance. He just looks like he's got strange music going on in his head. Daddy sometimes talks to himself too... He's just a little strange. I wonder what the people on his bus and his bus driver think when they see him getting on the bus..."Here comes the goofy guy singing with his headphones..."

I think he needs a night out with mommy where they can go out, eat some yummy food, and just relax. Maybe grandma will come over and babysit and then they can have a nice time...and daddy won't be soooo weird.

Somebody... anybody...help my goofy daddy.

Sitting and Spinning

So, here they are on their sit and spins. They love them. They can sit in one place and go round and round for long periods of time. Sounds like me at the office... oh well... that's the way life goes.

Stirring the pot

Every so often a guy has to do something a little different to make life exciting. I had been thinking about that for a while...how can I make life just a little more exciting. These days it's been get up, go to the gym, get ready, go to job one...work...take the bus to job 2 on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday...then go home...run into the kids' rooms, hug them, and fall into a heap, only to do it all over again the next day. It's a real grind, but that's what life seems to be these days.

We do have fun on the weekends. Last weekend we went to an apple orchard that had camel and poney rides and other fun stuff. We took a lot of pictures with the kids and I got some rhubarb crisp-I had to be different, since everybody else was getting apple pie and apple crisp. The neighbor girl had a birthday party last Saturday evening. We did the thing we usually do...all of us go to their garage-cleaned out with tables and other birthday crap in it, sit with our lawn chairs, eat like pigs and watch our kids run around like maniacs. Hey...it's what we do...so...suburban.

So anyway...even though we have fun on a regular basis, I'm kind of feeling as if I'm in a rut with fun. The other morning I got an idea...spawned from an early morning workout at Gold's gym. Gold's has this nifty thing called the Cardio Cinema. They've got all these cardio machines set up in a darkened room set up like a movie theater. So there I was in the morning...on the eliptical. I was watching "Anger Management" with Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson. I saw a scene that got me thinking...Nicholson (the therapist) had Sandler (the patient/rage guy) stop on a New York bridge and sing "I feel Pretty" from South Pacific. So...my mind started working...I ride to work on this completely sedate commuter bus from the burbs to downtown here in Minneapolis. Nobody, I mean Nobody says boo to anyone on the bus. They sit in silence, reading, sleeping, or listening to their IPODs. I am tempted to stand up in the bus and belt out "I feel Pretty" at the top of my lungs. I wonder how people would take it if a 200 lb guy stands up in the middle of the bus and lets out a broadway tune? Would they think he's a closeted fool, who wants to let it out on a bus...No...no no, I'm straight...but maybe I'm a little crazy. Maybe they'd arrest me for disturbing the peace...cuff me and take me to the police station in Eden Prairie. I don't know...but, I'm just bored and wondering what I can do to stir up the pot. Any ideas?

Adobo Man...

Okay...so, it's been a really long time since I've posted. Work has been insane and I've picked up working part-time three evenings a week, teaching ESL. Damn, I'm tired...and it'll be crazier soon. I'll start my grad school class, "The Adult Learner" on Saturday, November 3rd. Am I a glutton for punishment, or what. I will say that I'm tired on a regular basis now. I can hardly wait to see how I'll be doing in November. Okay...enough whining. On to life as we know it in the Samok home.

J was gone last Saturday, so I was home with the kids. That's not a bad thing because we had fun-a dad and kid rough house day...and bonus...they took extra long naps-which allowed dear old dad to watch a little football on cable (who can complain about that???) Because she was gone until 6:00 that evening, Daddy was responsible for the dining fare for supper. I chuckled to myself at that time because...I thought...no sweat because Dad's on top of things. We had a giant frozen container of chicken drumsticks and a full container of rice. I figured that I had hung around the kitchen long enough when J had been preparing adobo, so it would be "no sweat." My brain told me that I was a filipino cook through osmosis-I had been married to a filipina long enough to produce pinoy dishes...or so it seemed to me.

My first task was to get this okayed by the chairman of the board (the filipina herself). I gave her a buzz and I got the affirmative to move forward on my cooking expidition (here's the ironic thing. I'm the academic advisor for a culinary program at a a college...how twisted is that??? I can get them in the right classes and point them in the correct direction in school, but I burn water!!!) She suggested that I go online and find the best recipe. This I did...I found one and thought it would be easy...another of my mistakes. I needed soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, onions, and crushed peppercorns (I didn't have a bay leaf, so I blew that off). So, I was off to the kitchen.

The chicken was thawed out, so I was off to a good start. I grabbed what I thought was the bottle of soy sauce. I was a little quick on the trigger finger for dumping the stuff into the pot...the bottle I grabbed was the terriyaki bottle (Hey, they look the same to me!). I had dumped in half of the bottle before I noticed it smelled a little off compared to what I thought was soy sauce and it had a somewhat different consistency. I saw that there was a new bottle of soy sauce in the cupboard too, so I thought to myself (okay, thinking to myself has gotten me into trouble so far) just grab the soy sauce bottle and dump some of that in there too. It can't be too much different! Okay...I dumped in a buttload of soy sauce. I went looking for the vinegar bottle-I'd seen a fairly full one in the cupboard about a week or so ago, so I knew we had some. Okay...now I realized the bottle of white vinegar was gone (we don't always keep a bottle of Datu Puti handy). The only vinegar left in the cupboard was a bottle of Heinz malt salad vinegar. Oh well, I'd already begun the process, so I decided to dump it in and see what happened. Again my ignorance was shining through, but it smelled pretty good so far, so I wasn't about to quit.

Okay...so far...so good. Now I went looking for the onions and garlic. I did find a decent onion, cut it up and threw it in the pot. I scoured the pantry for garlic. I had seen J prepare food with garlic just a few days before, so I was sure I would be able to find some garlic, smash it up with a knife handle and put it into the pot. There was no garlic to be found. Hey, but Samok Daddy was not a quitter...He would find something that would work to give it the garlicy (is that a word?) essence it needed. I dug through the spice cupboard and I found garlic salt. I sprinkled a healthy amount of garlic salt into the pot. I was confident that my adobo would be awesome, despite it's augmentations. My goal now was to let it simmer and simmer...

Okay... I overcooked it. I didn't know that at the time. When J came in the door at 6:00, her first words were welcomed by my ears. She said, "MMMMMM, Honey that smells so good." I stuck out my chest a little and felt proud. Of course, she then looked in pot with the adobo in it. I had let it simmer without looking at it-I was following that adage about the watched pot and all... I guess I overcooked it a little. The meat had completely fallen away from all the legbones. It looked a little mushy in the adobo sauce. J did sip the sauce and said it tasted pretty good, but it was a little too salty. She grabbed the bottle of vinegar, tossed some more in, grabbed a can of Sierra Mist, dumped that into the mix and had me taste it again. Oh my... that little bit changed it completely.

We dished it up with Jasmine Rice...and it was okay. It was my first attempt at adobo and I know it won't be my last. I'll keep trying, but don't expect any dinaguan or pinakbet from me in the near future!!!

Gone Fishin'

Just wanted to say that I caught the Bun with her hands in the toilet again. I just have to remember close the lid. Why is it that kids find the most disgusting things to occupy their time?

The family that reads together...

Okay...so you're probably thinking to yourself that a four year old and two year old can't read trashy legal thriller or international intrigue paperbacks. Your're right, but this makes a heck of a picture.

I was wondering how kids would turn out if you read something from either Richard North Patterson or Vince Flynn to them at bedtime every night instead of Green Eggs and Ham or The Cat in the Hat. Probably not so good. Better stick with the tried and true kiddie's lit. I can see all sorts of things coming out of their mouths during story time in preschool. Child protective services might be giving the Samoks a call...

Speaking of Kiddie's lit... "The Mothership" that's Target here in Minneapolis, is sponsoring a Children's Book Festival. It's in Bloomington, at Hyland Lake Park, off of Bush Lake Road . The thing will be going on all day tomorrow. We accidentally showed up last year-just wanted to hang out in a nice park with an awesome playground (Chutes and Ladders). There are all sorts of booths with authors, books, and activities. There is a stage with a whole day's worth of performers. Bob the Builder and Johnny and the Sprites will be there, so the kids will be happy. They even have all sorts of concessions there, so I can get all sorts of not good for you crap on a stick there.

So...if all goes well and the weather holds out tomorrow, Samok Daddy will run in the Dave Huffman memorial 5K at 9:00 (with my fans-all three of them cheering me on) and then we'll all toodle off to Hyland Lake Park to enjoy a day of fun. Wish me luck on the 5K.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

What's happening to the little girl???

Hey, I know it's been a while again, but things have a way of getting busy in the Samok abode. I've been chasing my tail and I don't think it's going to stop any time soon, so I'd just better get used to it.

We had a fun labor day. a decent portion of our neighborhood gathered together, combined grills, and put together a feast. We sat out on our driveways with lawnchairs, ate, laughed, and watched our kids run around. We live on a dead end in our subdivision, so there is no real traffic other than residents coming and going. It's really convenient with all of those urchins racing back and forth on tricycles, various scooting types of things, and roller blades. Those kids really have a lot of energy...tons more than their parents have. It showed on that day. We sat and ate, talked and ate, and watched and ate. They ate little, but ran around like mini tornados, only stopping to squabble about who was going to ride the cool bike with the training wheels. It was tiring just watching them.

I will have to say that J and I didn't get to sit and rest as much as some of our neighbors. What was the reason? The Bun, of course... At two years and only twenty pounds, the girl is truly a happening to be reckoned with. She is definitely a force of nature on a grander scale than we ever imagined. She has no fear and she is tough. We've seen a lot of the kids wipe out, fall down, take dives, and do face plants in our driveways. Most of the times those falls result in howls and rivers of tears...not with our little girl. If she flops on the concrete, she picks herself up, dusts herself off, shakes her head a little, and moves out. Her older brother would be wailing for a band-aid if that type of thing happened to him. She also takes it upon herself to roam without fear when mom or dad's heads are turned for the briefest of moments. If caught doing this and either picked up or ushered back, she screams bloody murder. So, you can see what we are up against- a toddler with a tough streak and an iron will.

On labor day, J and I had to repeatedly get her out of the neighbor's garage. She also tried walking down toward the dead end until mom or dad had to run over and corral her. When not trying to get away, she spent time low crawling across the front of the driveway and licking the concrete. That's another problem...the girl attempts to lick everything-the floor, chairs, the t.v., lower kitchen cupboards...you name it. She did have fun playing in the kiddie pool, but we did have to stop her from drinking the pool water a few times. So you see...we were tired at the end of the day. I love my daughter and by gosh she is more fun than a barrel of monkeys, but that little monkey is wearing us out!!!

Preschool previews

It's such a beautiful day and I'm home with the kids. J is working this weekend, so daddy is at home with both of them. The weather is still warm, but the sun is lower in the sky than in mid-summer. I can feel that autumn is stepping around the corner and it gives me more energy. This is a good thing with two kids like Goobs and the Bun.

We've been to the park already this morning and they will take their naps soon. Thank God for DVDs of the Wiggles. I've snuck in the other room to post. I'm feeling like the bad boy for doing this, but hey... Daddy's gotta have a little fun.

Goobs is starting his preschool and J is fired up for it. She took him to the building last week and they snooped around. They reported back to dad afterward and told me about it. Goobs told me that it was okay and he wasn't afraid. I'll be interested how J deals on that first day. She's going to be a bit weepy as well as excited. I know that I shouldn't call her up and ask how she's doing on that first day...that'll get her thinking, which will bring some tears. It's just best if I leave J alone.

I know that she will also be taking a crapload of pictures that day. My goal that day is to be supportive and just stay out of the way. We'll see how it goes. I have to get back into the livingroom...