Prayer

From all meetings that drag on and go in circles, Good Lord Deliver Us.

From staff who waste time and attention imagining fantasy obstacles to tasks, Good Lord Deliver Us.

From my bosses who demand massive amounts of detail for irrelevant issues and ignore the relevant ones, Good Lord Deliver Us.

From my complete lack of time to get anything holiday related done, Good Lord Deliver Us.

From my terrifying work backlog, Good Lord Deliver Us.

From my piles of laundry and unfinished housework, Good Lord Deliver Us.

From my mounting list of renovation and home repairs, Good Lord Deliver Us.

From all the things my kids need that are falling through the cracks, Good Lord Deliver Us.

Christmas

Ah yes, Tuesday was the annual "I hate this season" evening.  I managed to survive.

I just need to figure out how to do all my Christmas shopping... and to decide what to buy... and to try to remember who I need to buy for.

Like The Boy :$

Peanuts!

We've had three perfect days in a row with the little peanuts.

They've been behaved, they've eaten, they've slept well... it's very nice! It's tempting to say something sarcastic or wry, but it's just been nice.

Peanut #2 definitely does not talk as much as Peanut#1 did at her age, but she has the BEST expressions, and is starting to roll out little proto-sentences, like "Sisi-hat?" when she has a hat that she thinks is her sisters, etc.

I wish I could record everything she says, because it's all hilarious.

A glimpse of the future

"We can't make it this weekend because CHILD has hockey and band"

Hello note from Adam in the Future.

Adaptive hobbies:  That's the thing we need today.  Hobbies that can be taken up and dropped as we go along, so that we can focus on what our kids need.

And yes, blahblahblah we're not supposed to be focused on our kids, but it's not like they can drive themselves anywhere.  So that kinda means focussing on their needs.

Ooh, maybe joint hobbies that could be done by parents sitting in bleachers and or waiting rooms. Like a folding crib board.

A Gift that I will never forget

I was given a gift when I was born, an heirloom.

It was given to me by my parents, they were given it by my grandfathers, and I will make sure my children get it, too.

It is this:
That an entire generation of young people will never again be called away to foreign lands to be wholesale slaughtered to ransom the failures of their governments.

This gift has been cracked & repaired; torn & patched; dropped, lost, picked up and found many times in my life, but it has never shattered. Someone else has always been there to fix it.

This gift requires constant vigilance, care, and repair, and there are people I know and see every day, people I work with, people I worship with, people I argue with, people that I love, who have sworn that when this gift cracks, tears, falls, or is lost, that they will lay down their lives to repair it.

They have promised to give their lives to protect my heirloom gift.

And I promise never to forget that.

Listen you...

You left a piece of _vital_ office equipment..

.... in the Wrong Place...

... unlabelled....

.. and failed to notice when the Wrong Place ceased to exist 6 weeks ago....

....and this is somehow MY fault?

Oh no you di'nt.

What's my deal these days?

I dunno!

I'm getting caught up on stuff, and getting some stuff done!

I think I might build a boardwalk beside the house instead of a sidewalk.

http://www.familyhandyman.com/garden-structures/garden-paths/how-to-build-a-wooden-boardwalk/view-all

But how to dig the holes so close to the older foundations?  I could dig down in the middle, put across the beams,, then put a longer beam over them?

2x4s, then 2x4s over it?  That would be a lift of 7" , with a board on top, about 9" which is still too high...

Ok, so lateral 2x6s with extensions on the sides like eaves on a house, to hold the overhangs, with a central stringer to hold the wright of a loaded wheelbarrow: maybe even two.