Its whats for Dinner

So tonight as we are all recovering from poultry fatigue, I have opted to roast a slab of meat with thyme, chili powder, salt pepper and adobo, yes my roots are showing again. On the side I have a pot of black beans with Italian sausage, the mild stuff this time and not hot stuff inhabiting my deep freezer in the basement below. steamed spinach, fresh tossed salad and something ricey or starchy to help make small bodies go. No helpers, they all fell behind on their reading for the weekend or at least forgot to log it all, (darn paperwork, gee that's just like some one else I know)

I might throw in some kind of fresh fruit for good measure. As tomorrow I get to ride out to the weapons station someplace and work for a short period 0f time chasing trons.

News from the box

There is no way I can possibly provide an update in a single post, nor will I even try. But here goes some finer points. All of my short children are on television lock down..... meaning their television is strictly and formally curtailed. Nooooooooo Television at all except when there is something on that warrants a temporary release of the no television thing. This to force them to read at least an hour a day, and I know there is some lefty well meaning social misfit that will state that television is good for children. Nonsense, we have almost 1000 channels on cable here and the fare is no different now than when I was their age, 88 % garbage and much of the rest of that is for someone with the brain cell count of a drunken fruit fly.

I will have some more pictures shortly, just need to find my way to a computer with direct access to my photo library, can't get there from everywhere, even I have some limitations. Actually there are some new pictures in here after all.

Keep posted and we will try and update you on this reading thing.

So far the reading thing has cut down on the number of hours that the television. And if you want to find out what I am reading these days, stay tuned. I think I am on the 6th or 8th book in almost as many weeks.

These are Daddy's Girls

In each life some rain must fall,

and some of us have children,

here are a few of mine. There are

those that would rather have

boys than girls, and those that would

rather have girls than boys. Since I am

blessed with few of each, I could not be

happier. And yes they are kind of spoiled

and take a look at these faces, who could resist.

On this Day in this House

On the twentieth eighth day of August, all of these wonderful children became our children, until.... well I don't know, how about forever.

We want to thank my father and stepmother for coming down and spending time with us and joining us at the ceremony, my uncles and aunts, the ones that children have met and the ones the children have not met, for their love and support. Our friends near and far for their love and support and eating our cooking from time to time. Yes I really can cook, and of course so can Antoinette.

I want to thank Antoinette's parents, here and there as they have provided support and some useful feedback on child rearing and an alternate sounding board.

Here are a couple of pictures from the show, I mean ceremony.

Mommy, Mommy Please come home

Sunday was just another Sunday, and every one got to bed on time, following a shower and a meal, I kind of gummed this one up a wee bit, I have rice that had not been seasoned as strongly so I battled with Russell, he would not accept ketchup, mustard, or barbeque sauce in order to make it more tasty. He wanted hot sauce, .......
A child after my own heart,
you know that hot sauce fix everything, I mean everything.

please note that daddy does not eat simple wimpy hot sauce, he subscribes to the odd number child configuration in his fathers family, the odd children like spicy, the even ones do not.

Sooo Russell got daddy's XXXXtra hot sauce with the black label on the bottle and cheerfully ate about 20 bites before the wall collapsed.
And for some reason, he could not drink enough water.
He did manage to finish his dinner and run off to bed.

Boy do I miss my wife.

So I got up at four am and slipped out of the house and collected my spouse from the train station at five something and then quickly came home.

I took the bus, because of where it was parked.
Got home in just enough time to commence waking children up and her oldest son could not remember that he had seen his mother that morning and asked when she came home.

Sleep walking children

Mommy's Home........ I think

This past weekend, Antoinette left me alone with the children................... All of the children all ten, I mean twenty, I mean fifty, oh wait there is just six, why did it seem like more on Saturday afternoon.
The journey commenced on Thursday night, I skipped out of class a few minutes early, raced home ahead of the winds and all to jump into the microbus and race off to the train station in Richmond.
Of course our children went nuts when they saw signs for Richmond, poor,poor souls, I can go on forever, but Richmond is a very small town in my book. Train was on time so we loaded mama on the train ( loaded on, not throw from ... like the movie). Then let the adventure begin, drove home, oops got to stop off and get some petrol, there was a voice behind me complaining about having to push again. Bus still running good, no fumes yet. Got ourselves home, then I directed folks to get upstairs and get in bed, ho hum. Let the dog out real quick and then let him settle in where he seems to be most comfortable. On the floor, (Yes dear he slept on the floor) Antoinette also had the presence of mind to inform the little girls that if I had to comb hair extensively that I was going to use my special comb, you know the one that plugs in, makes a buzzing noise. Boys like it, little girls well ah not so much.

Anyway, got everyone off to school, walk to the bus stop, walk from the bus stop
cooked pizza, watched movies, everyone outside to play.

Took a vote on Saturday where do you want to go today, no this is not a windows commercial. Funland or Bowling or Golf,

The answer is golf, located a putt putt in the next county on the highway and set off to play.
Tried to keep score, yeah right, I can't count that high, I really can't count that high. So tossed the score cards back in the pocket and proceeded to herd cats..... I mean children.
The following points came to light during this outing.

Anthony is good, fun loving and patient
Linda has pretty good aim,
Jenelle is going to be the next Arnold Palmer
Jenette is going to be the next Tiger Woods, she was the only one to put a golf ball over a fence taller than I am in to the bush. (I'm not going back there for the ball, you go back there)
Just get another ball.
Kala, well she is six, leave it at that.
Russell, well he really wanted to play baseball and is still working on his swing.

Got home, out to play
Fed them Mexican fast food for dinner( note my idea of fast food is Qudoba or Chilpotle or one of them places. Feed a family of 8 for less than fifty and still respect your colon.

Everyone to bed, tomorrow is another day

The Weekend This Weekend

The weekend ended, well pretty well with three of my four girls diving into much hot water with mommy and me, for some reason, unknown to the two of us, Kala, Jenette and Jenelle decided to store some of the clean clothes that mommy had washed for them over the weekend, under the bed.
Under the bed,
I ask myself,

under the bed.

Between that and the very, very long lecture they all received about Daddy being the real hard *** , after all he did spend 20 years in the Navy, can sleep on anything, including concrete, can live for weeks off of peanut butter and jelly ( not sure you want to tell a kid that, besides there are only two or three flavors of jelly that I will eat) , actually that's not military training, its don't really want to be bothered with anything bachelor living. (little difference, one prepares you for the other. Take your pick)
So in mommy's absence, the only snax that will be consumed is going to be fruits and vegetables.
*** Can you say, you have made me so very happy !!!!!!!

Anyway, on to the rest of the weekend.

The roasted chicken came out pretty good, I do have some tuning up to do for the next time.
what I managed to do is marinate the chicken in pear and pineapple juice for about twenty four hours, and tossed a token amount of salt and pepper at it.
Pretty good, only problem was the rotisserie had some problems turning so that I won't have charred spots on the bird next time, well skin is actually meant to sacrifice to the fire anyway, also helps you know that it is done !!!
with that we served fresh strawberries, we always seem to have them, no I don't like strawberries, have not liked them since I began attending school......... in the 1960's, taste alright, don't deal well with the seeds. Kids love them, well all but one does. Wife loves them, I love making a show of chopping them up, hey watch those fingers .............. they do come off you know (hee,hee, hee !)
I reused some rice, because I got lazy at the last minute and did not go to the grocer's for the veggies for the risotto, well maybe another day.
I am going to try something else for this weekend, for my wife-free house this week. Its not going to be pizza and burgers, because I don't eat too much of that stuff these days, something about high blood pressure and cholesterol and all that eating healthy business.

Cooking Weekends

Hi,
For those of you that may or may not be following this blog this closely, I am planning on cooking this weekend. I am cooking real food, not packaged or adulterated in any shape or form. I like to cook, mainly because I like to eat, I have about ten or so extra pounds to attest to that. There are lots of children in the house, they like to eat, they like to help daddy and mommy in the kitchen, well maybe daddy, because he is so much a clown and a show off. Anyway, here is the quandary that I face, it is a holiday weekend and the only thing that I have ready in my mind to make sometime this weekend is fowl (yes bird, that beast of all beasts that struts around the barnyard like he is king of all that is around.) I have a method to prepare it that I have not tried in its entirety. But I need something else to accompany this, please. The six little ones, well four little ones and two not so little ones need some variety. I am thinking about a sweet bread
So that sort of takes care of desert, so what else.
I could do a vegetable risotto, I should do a salad or some other green leafy vegetable concoction, ideas, ideas, ideas. I am also planning on doing burgers sometime this weekend also, that could be interesting as well.
And for the record, the doggie picture is the only one that I have on my work computer right now that does not belong to someone else.

A Verse

Free verse and cliches
take from the written
to give to the worthy
There is no line drawn
no line driven
no line on the horizon
just blue and black
sparkling eyes
and dashing smiles
and still no lines
for smiles
Tremors in hand
Flowers are wilted and
in the morning
When the morning comes
There are a
thousand splendid suns
and the light of
a mid morning moon
Shush, be peaceful
my babies are sleeping.

Summer is almost here

We are again at the precipice of the school year, once again. Much glory and joy to behold. We are pleased and delighted at the successes of all of our lovely children.
Jenelle and Russell are doing their respective sports Football (Soccer as us wimpy Americans call it) and Baseball.
Kala and Jenette are enjoying Karate and Gymnastics with an eye towards more success.
Linda and Anthony, while Linda has demonstrated that she is a stellar student, with several iterations on the Honor Roll, way to go little one, and my son Anthony, has proven that he is far smarter and quite a bit more settled than anyone ever imagined. (Please don't remind him too loudly, that he is going to be and probably much smarter than anyone ever thought, and for heavens sake don't tell his older sister. She still needs to hold something over his head as she is the oldest.)

Anthony is doing very well on the track team at the local middle school, where he attends and Linda is finishing up a very good year, amid many complaints( I think she gets that from me) with the choir in school and we attended a concert the other night and two things actually happened. I recognized and liked most of the songs in the show and more important than that, I actually enjoyed it. Especially the rendition of Bird land by the jazz band and the second to last number when they shoe horned the entire singing cast on stage for a joyful rendition of some song that does have a level 0f forget ability, yet was pleasant none the less.

All of the children are doing well in school, especially those that I mentioned previously as being a standout. And one day soon, I'll even get the rest of my work done, I have two more classes, again before my undergraduate work is done, and then I can't make any more snide remarks about those that went to four years of college.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day,
Always, always a day to stop, take stock, and take heed in the knowledge, the journey, the turmoil and the pain that your mother and mine endured in an effort to bring you to the fine upstanding individual that you are today.
So on this Mom's day, we skipped church mainly because there was no way on earth that I was going to get three heads done, four very short people dressed and shoehorned into a microbus along with two teenagers that may or may not be enthusiastic about attending an overfull church. If you can recall from your own childhood, this is one of the three big days that some folks come to the Lord's house without being dragged or threatened.
Sooooooooooooooooo...........
the first order of business, feed mama......

I purchased flowers and cards the night before and while all of my children were a panicking about cards. I had replied that I had some and proceeded to distribute them, each with a card and a pen, and a message that seemed to fit them each and all.

As some of you may realize that I do not spend a lot of time picking out cards, for me it takes a glance inside and out to determine suitability. I leave all that in the Lords' hands and I know he is a busy man with two or three wars, several dozen skirmishes, a couple of famines and countless other stuff going on, I appreciated him dropping by to give me a hand with choices, so I feel compelled to not consume all of his time, other folks need his guidance too.


All of my very short children, and one not very short child proceeded to help me in the kitchen.
Linda did the rolls and the bacon, (I threatened to cook it in the microwave again)
Jenette took care of the eggs, after I had broken them and started to stir them.
Russell and Jenelle helped with the table and getting the liquid stuff that everyone liked to drink on the table, Kala helped me with something, some how I can't remember what that was. Everyone ran to the kitchen to put on some cute little apron. I don't do aprons for breakfast.

Toooo much trouble.

Mom was liberated from her room and brought down the stairs, and so was my son Anthony, who helped out by playing his video game in his room. ( his gift was cooperating with his ma and letting her help him clean his slum, i mean room) Honestly, I had enough people in my kitchen.

After clean up and a few errands, and some landscaping duties, I managed to migrate back to the kitchen in an attempt to put dinner together.
Somebody announced that there was some cabbage in the basement and my mean child stated that I should not attempt to cook it, I did not season it right, her mother said that she could cook it, I told her no, either her child can cook the cabbage or I will cook something else.



Well I cooked something else..............


All in all, it was a nice mothers' day, all moms were greeted or at least a message on an answering machine.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone.

Daddy's Home

Like I said, Daddy's home, this past Friday evening after 17 days of gnashing of teeth in the California high desert, a small jet landed at one of the Washington area airports and from within, spilled its passengers, one better known as Daaaaaaaaaaaddddd, can I go outside and play, Daaaaaaaaaaaddddd, Jenette is hitting me, Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaddd, Kala is being, well Kala.

Inaguration of Barack Obama

Hi
Mom and three of our four girls, Jenette, Jenelle, and Linda, my niece Alayna and my brother Kevin just got back from the ceremony today, a good, cold time was had by all. I spent the morning in Denver and I got to watch from afar, I managed to catch the speech later this afternoon after I landed in the desert.