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The things in my head go ’round and ’round

This is my life. You can’t have it.

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Yet another Jonas Brothers update

Published July 29th, 2008 in Jonas Bros, Life, Princess, home, kids, whining | 3 Comments »

Is it wrong for me to use the Jo Bros as a title knowing that it will rank higher in Google searches?

Knowing that some tweener in the middle of the night is going to be searching for some sniglet of information that she doesn’t already know about her one true love, and end up here? Is that wrong?

Somehow the parent in me wants to know what the heck that tweener is doing up in the middle of the night doing searches, instead of being in bed like they should be.

Moving on.

Only a scant few hours lie between me and 13 tweeners who will be coming to my house to help The Princess ransack and destroy said house. Yes, you read that correctly. 13 girls. All between the ages of 12, and 13. In my house. Overnight. And I have to work the next morning. Go to a meeting, actually, but it is a meeting that I can’t nod off in. Bummer.

The tweeners descend upon our house at 6pm Wednesday evening. We will do the obligatory present opening thing to get it out of the way first, and then we will be piling into vehicles to ferry said tweeners to The Sports Emporium.

Ominous background music inserted here.

At the Emporium of Sports we will be playing a raucous, and blood-thirsty game of laser tag. I get to play. Because I whined about it. After that, we come home. Eat cake, ice cream, and fire up the computers in the house so that dancing and merriment can commence.

I will be retreating to my back yard with a beer, ok lots of beer, a cigar, and The Roxinator. She doesn’t do well with large groups of people. She can’t focus on everything that is going on and it makes her fretful. Wimpy hound.

During all of this I just know that Google will be getting billions of hits off of my 2 computers for The Jonas Brothers. The Princess is going to their concert on Friday, while a couple of her friends saw them last week in Hershey. We were on vacation at the time, so she was unable to attend that particular show.

Much wailing, and gnashing of teeth inserted here.

So, you are now up to date on the goings on in my life. Other than the return to the soul sucking waste of time called my job that I had to return to yesterday.

But I don’t talk about work here.

Namaste.

The Jonas Brothers Update

Published July 25th, 2008 in Jonas Bros, Life, Princess | No Comments »

More commonly known around me as the Jo Bro Info.

Yesterday the Brothers Jonas were on Oprah. I was channel surfing and came across them. Notified The Princess and got out of the way because she planted herself in front of the TV. And when they sang she headed for the bedroom, shut the door, and locked it so that she could be alone with her flame Nick.

The whole fam was there. Dad Jonas, Mom Jonas, Frank “the tank” Jonas, and of course The Brothers Jonas. And they sang, and they capered, and they made the pre-pubescents in the crowd swoon.

Along with The Princess. She was happy.

But the Jo Bros have not called her as of yet to tell her that they want her to come Meet and Greet when she goes to their concert in Scranton.

That is not making life around Casa Dodd happy.

Get on the stick Jo Bro’s!!

Namaste.

The music of our lives.

Published July 23rd, 2008 in Family, Life, kids, vacation | 1 Comment »

98 degrees, partly sunny. Wind coming at you like a tornado. Water temp at about 80.

Tell that you aren’t jealous.

So there we were. Slathered sun screen on all of our exposed extremities. Gathered all of our various chairs, towels, boogie boards, drinks and headed to the shore. Like an itinerant band of gypsies. Joining with the rest of Mom’s, and Dad’s dragging their various kiddos kicking and screaming so that they COULD HAVE SOME FUN, DAMMIT.

Gotta love being a parent on a hot, muggy day. The kids would have been happy to hang in the house/motel room in the air conditioner, watching Sponge Bob. Mom, and Dad though were having none of this. They had spent GOOD MONEY to bring their kiddos to the ocean so that they could HAVE SOME FUN, DAMMIT.

Watching people on the beach is finally fun. I have gotten to the age where I know that any girl on the beach is not going to be looking at me unless I just happen to be in her line of vision. I am a bald, 50 year old man. Anyone on the beach is going to be either the age of MLW, or of one of my kids. Sometimes being/getting old is liberating. With that being said, I then get to zoom in on the kiddos. I love kids. Just can’t eat a whole one. Watching the way boys and girls are the same up until they hit around 8 or 9. When they are in that 0-6 stage they all want to get out and chase waves. And that has got to be the cutest thing in the world. Listening to their laughter mixing with the sound of the waves.

That is music to my ears.

Time to get back into the air conditioning so that I don’t spontaneously explode into flames.

Namaste.

What is it with me and poison ivy?

Published July 11th, 2008 in Blogging, Insanity, Life, North Carolina, vacation | No Comments »

I was looking for vacation posts from last year and came across this one that was written just before we went.

What the hell is it with me, anyway?

“I have these weird patches of poison ivy on both of my legs.

And on my left arm.

The patch that was on my head seems to be gone. Thankfully.

I have been taking benedryl the last couple of nights to keep from scratching. It is not working that well. And the real pisser is that the patches on my calves not only itch, but they hurt like a bitch also when I scratch them. And heat makes them scream at me, “SCRATCH ME, SCRATCH ME.”

And then they hurt like hell when I do.

I am not getting this. And I am not happy about it.

Luckily, vacation is coming up in 10 days. I can’t wait.

Which is a stupid statement, because unless I hit the lotto this week, all I will be doing is counting down the days. But, I over explain.

Come August 18, my Wife, The Princess, and Pierce will be getting in the van and heading south to North Carolina. And the ocean. And sand. And alcohol for me. We will be carting along 2 cases of Dodd Legacy Red Ale for my imbibing pleasure. Haven’t figured out what we will be eating that first night, but think that either pizza might be the ticket.

Will let you know.

Namaste.”

At some point in my 50 years on this planet, you would think that I would learn.

Sheesh

‘Roid Rage

Published July 5th, 2008 in Insanity, Life, home, sickness | 1 Comment »

So what ya been up to?

Me, I have been taking steroids. Yeah. ‘Roids. I am ‘roiding.

Prednisone, to be exact. Why, you might ask, am I doing this? Well, the story begins just about 10 days ago.

MLW and I decided that there were some ivy plants along the one side of our house that needed to be gotten rid of. And me, being the way that I am, got in the middle of the stuff and started ripping and tearing. Soon I was knee deep in vegetation. And it seems that some of that vegetation was poison ivy.

Not good.

I react badly to poison ivy. Really badly.

I struggled with it for a few days, doing the cortisone spray and sterile gauze pad thing, but that came to a quick end on Friday when my leg swelled up. To twice its normal size. Which is pretty big.

Anyway, MLW took me to the ER and they gave me some prednisone, but not before I had to hear that Dr. and MLW give me what for for not paying attention. Gee, thanks.

Prednisone is pretty interesting if you have never taken it before. I have, and I never look forward to it. After taking it, my head starts racing, and I have no patience for anything or anyone. Add to that the benadryl that I am taking to make sure that I don’t itch, and you have a really nice chemical cocktail. With the steroid the voices in my head are screaming “SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTTHEHELLUP!!”, and the benadryl is telling me “Dude, take a nap.”

Such fun when you work in a retail establishment.

So that is where I have been.

What have you been up to?

Namaste.

One Week Until Jubilee Day

Published June 12th, 2008 in Blogging, Life, Princess, beer, food, jubilee day | 2 Comments »

I did my last reminder about Jubilee Day on my Pennlive blog.

The first one I did drew a couple of reactions that were pretty funny to me. There I times that I do write tongue-in-cheek. And that can be misconstrued. Too bad. I still think it is funny.

Jubilee Day is a one-day street fair that has been going on in Mechanicsburg since the 1930’s. It is a really big deal around here. This year The Princess will be at the Outer Banks and unable to go with me. And this year will be the first time in about 5 years that I won’t be working on that day.

Yah!

Sausage sandwiches, fries, beer, and I forgot to mention the deep fried mushrooms. You can’t have Jubilee Day without fried mushrooms. I love fried mushrooms. Almost as much as I loved the burgers that I made last night that had cheese, and portobella mushrooms mixed in them. They were the absolute best.

I am making myself hungry with this talk.

Must stop now.

Namaste.

The Birthday Song

Published June 11th, 2008 in Life, holidays, shameless self-promotion | 2 Comments »

Ok, let’s all sing the birthday song because today is my birthday.

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear phil/sweetheart/Daddy/brother/son,
Happy birthday to you.

50 big ones today, folks.

The official half-century mark. And I seem to share my natal day with good company. First and foremost is my Aunt Marge. Marge is my Fathers sister. The only living sibling on my Fathers side. Marge and I are the crazy ones in the family. Love her madly.

Happy Birthday, Aunt Marge.

Everyone needs, and deserves and Aunt Marge.

And then there are all of the folks who are found on Famous Birthdays. Marge and I are every bit as famous as all of those folks.

MLW just informed me that one of her cousins also shares this day with Marge and myself. I always knew that I liked her cousin for a good reason.

Anyway. Send cards, gifts, money, and well wishes all day today. I promise that I will do the same on your birthday.

namaste.

Graduated graduations

Published June 9th, 2008 in Family, Life, kids | 2 Comments »

That time of year again.

But then isn’t every time of year, THAT time of year in one way or another? I think so.

But the time of year I am talking about now is graduation time.

Kids graduating from High School. Freedom! Blessed freedom from the horrors of having to get up EVERY DAY and go to school where they MAKE YOU DO STUFF THAT MEANS NOTHING!!

One day our kids will understand that they lived in a dream world for the first 18 years of their lives.

I was talking to a woman I work with on Sunday about her son’s graduation. I asked her when she started crying. She said that she didn’t. She is a liar, and I told her so. No one goes to their childs graduation and doesn’t cry. No one. I did, and I have the published proof.

I have 4 kids. Three of them didn’t have a choice of me as their Father, and one chose me. When I went to my eldest daughters graduation, it was in Phoenix, Arizona, with her mother and her step-father. I had to seperate myself from them so that I could sob my Dad tears in private. When my eldest son graduated, it was in Hartland, Michigan and I pretty much sobbed throughout the entire proceedings. When they released the graduates I was this 6′, 300 lb, sobbing juggernaut pushing my way through the crowd so that I could be the first to hug that boy.

And this is the child who thinks that he is not my “favorite”. Kids, sheesh.

After I finally put him back down on the floor, and pouring tears down his neck, I got this tap on my shoulder from a guy with a camera asking if I would be ok to have a picture published. What did I care? I had just seen my first born son graduate. A couple of days later the boy calls and says we made it on the front page of his local paper. Cool.

The youngest son’s graduation was a tad bit different. He graduated from the same school as his older brother, but there were no photogs around to record the event. Just me, my tears, and a lot of hugging. And some drama having to do with seats, the boys girlfriend, and his Mother. Who should learn how to make plans prior to an event happening, THEN she would have seats where she wanted them.

Now we have 5 years until The Princess graduates. I will be a mess, without a doubt. We chuckle about it, but it is something that my kids expect from me and I won’t let them down.

So don’t tell me that you didn’t cry when your son/daughter walked across that stage. I know that you did. And you know that you should. Because now is the time for those kids to start really flexing those wing muscles that you have been helping them build up. They are going to fall, and they are going to get bruised up. But they have to keep at it. That is their job.

And ours is to keep wiping away those tears.

Namaste.

The Things in My Head - Friday

Published June 6th, 2008 in Family, Life, Michigan, the boys | 2 Comments »

The things in my head are clamoring about all of the graduations that are going on this week, and next. Thousands of kids getting their diplomas, and jumping out into the real world.

Right.

First they have to go to the Bahamas, Mexico, the ocean. Get drunk, dance like maniacs, and hopefully not land in a foreign country. THEN, and only then will they have to get their shaggy butts out of bed at a reasonable time and GET TO WORK ON TIME.

MLW and I don’t have any kids that are graduating this year. But the youngest son has a girlfriend (imagine that!) who will be graduating in a couple of weeks.

Congratulations BallerinaGirl!!

We have had the pleasure of meeting said-girlfriend, and she is a doll. But she needs to get a tighter leash on that son of mine. Especially this fall when they both start college.

Namaste.

The Things in My Head - Monday

Published June 2nd, 2008 in Family, Life, whining | No Comments »

The Things in My Head today are:

Fresh mulch stinks worse than pig shit. Believe me. Ok. Maybe not worse, but the smell of fresh mulch really gets on my nerves.

I have had the last 3 days off, and I have been one dish washing machine. Who do the people who live in this house think that they are? And how can 3 people go through so many freaking dishes?

I have lawn mowing to do today, along with turning the compost. Sounds like wild, and crazy times doesn’t it?

namaste.

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