Happy Birthday To Me!

Another year has come and gone...
Suddenly I am in my late 30s and I have no idea how I got here.   It seems like just the other day I was a young whipper-snapper trying to figure out what to do with my life.  Now I'm 37 years old and still trying to figure it out.
This last year has been quite the doozy.  Starting a new job.  Starting a 2nd job to supplement the new job.  The birth of my daughter.  Parenthood!  I'm a father!  There are still days when I wake up and have to remind myself that I am a parent.  It still seems like something so foreign to my understanding.
We're making it work, though, as best we can.  Hopefully, soon I will be on track to better support this family of mine, and I will be able to focus on enjoying the 1st year of the Button's life.  That is my goal for the next 365 days.  I want to settle the job uncertainty, and give myself permission to really be present and invested in the time I spend with my family.  Right now it often feels like I'm just spending time trying to stay awake between alternating shifts at my jobs.  I know the next year will bring its own set of challenges but I hope that when I post about my birthday next year I will be able to say that the late 30s have been kind to me.

Thank You Easter Bunny!

When I was a kid my Mom would make these cookies. I loved these cookies so much. These Easy Peanut Butter Fudge Cookies were amazing.

Sara decided to use my Mom's recipe to make these Easter desserts for our family get together today.

Here you see the resulting cookies with malted milk 'Robin' eggs to make the cook look like a birds nest. I sampled one of the cookies last night when I got home from work and let me tell you it's like eating a childhood memory!


(This is a neglected post. I wrote it, saved it as a draft and then forgot to post.)

Spring Break Has Sprung!

I'm on vacation! Sort of... I'll still work my shifts at Job # 2 but I will sleep in everyday that I am able. Gonna spend some quality time with the wife and kid. We're gonna hit up the season opener at the Bowie Baysox with our family. Bert & Stephanie are in town from Chicago so we'll get to spend some time with them. Oh, and our taxes! We always seem to wait until the last minute on our taxes so we'll be trying to get those out of the way this week. This will probably not be the most exciting Spring Break ever but I will try to make the most of it.

If you look back at my Spring Break posts from last year you will see that Sara and I drove down to Asheville, NC to visit friends and enjoy the mountains. What you won't glean from those posts is that Sara and I were trying, at the time, to wrap our heads around the fact that we were soon going to be parents. We spent the whole time away wondering what life was going to be like when we came home and reality set in. It all seems like so long ago.

If you go back even further - go back to Spring Break of 2008 - you will see pictures from our adventures in Northern California. We spent our Honeymoon in San Francisco, exploring the city, and up in a cabin in Boonville, compliments of my Aunt & Uncle (Thank You Very Much!). We walked around the city, ate good food, road the ferry to Tiburon, drove into the mountains, drank good wine, and enjoyed the countryside. It was a fabulous time!

This Spring Break will be spent locally, and much of the time will be spent on little mundane tasks. There will be no great adventures. No travels. No escape from our everyday. Sometimes a vacation is just a slowing down of our chaotic existences.

What A Fool

I missed it again. Today is the 1st of April and I did not even see it coming. In fact, I was at work for several hours before I realized it was April Fools' Day. This has been a trend that's developed over that last few years. I cannot help but to be a little disappointed in myself.

Back in the day, boy, I was a funny little bugger! I would plan elaborate pranks. I would scheme. I joke around with my coworkers. I crack wise when the opportunity presents itself. I still love good practical jokes, and I believe I still have a great sense of humor I just am having a hard time being funny when society says I should. I

If You Do/If You Don't

What's the best way to resolve our current predicament? Financially, something needs to change. Our debt, and/or living expenses is almost equal to our monthly income. How can that be? Oh, and then if you factor in gas prices, food costs, and diapers we're over-extending ourselves. I work two jobs and am currently looking to replace these low-paying jobs with jobs that can pay the bills and allow us to eat.

As my father is prone to say, and Albert Einstein agrees, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

And He Wore A Bow-tie!

Just in case you were wondering, I did end up driving into Baltimore for Jury Duty but on the 13th, that Tuesday, not on my day off. It was a small group of Jurors. We were chosen for a civil case, asked questions to determine our potential as fair and impartial jurors and then the majority were dismissed. I was not asked to sit on the jury. I was happy.
The best part of the day - besides getting out early enough to rush home and enjoy a beautiful afternoon with Sara and Evie Sue - would have to have been the attitudes of the court employees. The Jury clerk was bright and friendly. The Court Officer was warm, and constantly making little jokes here and there, mispronouncing names, and reassigning names for the jurors whom he could not pronounce. Then there was the Judge. At first glimpse he seemed like rather a severe sort of character with glasses, a bald head, and an apparent scowl. I soon noticed that he was wearing a bow-tie. When have you ever seen a Judge sporting a bow-tie? The scowl quickly faded to a puckish sneer. This guy, His Honor, was funny, too. He cracked jokes about Jurors obviously preferring to be elsewhere! He got it! He understood. He was happy to expedite the process and send us home.
The worse part of the day was the $25 parking lot fee, which, hopefully, the court will be reimbursing me for. Keep your fingers crossed.

Relax

As it turns out I don't have to drive into Baltimore for jury duty; not today anyway. Tomorrow? Maybe I'll have to drive in tomorrow. I'm supposed to call this evening and check on my status again.
But for today I am off! No school! No grocery store!
I slept in, and was only slightly disturbed by the utility workers digging up my neighbors' driveway. I walked the dog - beautiful morning - had a cup of coffee, and now I'm just relaxing as the baby naps. I plan on doing some reading today, some cleaning, laundry, and some relaxing. Maybe we'll take the family unit out on a long walk with the doggie and enjoy the sunshine. We've got the whole day ahead of us.

"Cosmic Joke".

One of my co-workers used the above term to describe the fact that I may have to drive into Baltimore and go through jury selection/serve jury duty this coming Monday. The reason it's funny is because Monday is my DAY OFF! I get one day off a month, when I don't work either job, and it looks like I might be performing my civic duty on that one day! Yay! Life is funny that way!

Then & Now

Then when I didn't update my blog I felt a little guilty. I used to write all the time. Sometimes it was interesting, I think, and sometimes it was just to write.

Now when I don't update my blog I'm OK with it. I'm busy balancing 2 jobs and being a 1st time daddy. I'm sitting around playing with my baby, changing diapers or trying to quiet the baby.

Peaks & Valleys!

Tuesday I took a personal day from work to stay home with the wife and kid. Sara had a doctor's appointment and I decided it was time for a mental health day. So I slept in a bit, cuddled with the wife and kid and enjoyed the unusually mild weather.
Then the capper on a great day was that, while Sara was at her appointment, I took the daughter on our 1st ever Daddy Daughter Date! Liverpool FC was having a soccer match and a local Irish pub always shows the games. This past season I've tried to pay attention more to the English Premiere League Soccer season. So I packed up the baby, a diaper bag, change of baby clothes, and a bottle of freshly pumped breast milk and headed off to the pub. My plan was that Evie Sue would sleep for most of the game and I would be free to enjoy a pint or two, and some Guinness BBQ Wings! Unfortunately, the bartender, an Irishman who roots for a rival team, came over to talk smack about my Team Jacket and his boisterous Irish Brogue woke the baby. Her eyes popped open, she looked around and started to whine. So I scooped her up in my arms, started pacing back and forth while cooing in her ear as the game started.
She was great!
Evie Sue was quiet, amicable and actually seemed to watch some of the action. She wasn't, of course, but I pretended. Then I finally got her to fall back asleep right before the 2nd half of the game started. She nearly awoke at each goal Liverpool scored because her daddy would stand up and cheer loudly before remembering her sleeping nearby. Sara showed up after the appointment, all clear, and watched the rest of the game with us.
The weather was beautiful. The game was a victory. Evie Sue and I enjoyed our day and I dreaded going back to work the next day.
Then came the next day!
A Double Shift! I went to school, and then the evening job! UGH! Working with the students, some of whom are ungrateful and disrespectful, when all I can think about is my family back home is difficult. Then to move on to my 2nd job and work another 7 to 8 hours is brutal. I was exhausted.
I was complaining to a coworker - a rather peaceful-minded fellow - when he said, "Hey man, it could always be worse. This weekend a friend of mine died. He was camping and a tree fell on him. He's dead."
Yes, he was right. I guess it could always be worse.
Later on, as I was talking to the same coworker. We were talking about work, paychecks, travels, and careers when this grocery-stocking Confucius said, "They've got it right over there in Spain, man. When I was there they told me, 'Americans Live To Work but we Work To Live!' And they do, man. They do."
Then he said, "Your job is what you do not who you are."
It was a very interesting conversation. Made me think about spending the day before with Evie Sue, about how I'm working two jobs, exhausting myself and wishing I was home more. It made me wish, yet again, for a way to find an answer... to every little question that plagues me; every single one.
Wouldn't that be nice?