Who wants to have some fun!!? Guitbox Daddy on P90X

In an effort to improve my fitness, I am starting the P90X home workout program on Monday November 30. Just for kicks, and to help with my own motivation and accountability, I started another blog to post about my experiences on p90x. This could be an entertaining read for my other 2 readers as I don't care too much for exercise pain and I like to complain a lot. Mix that with my fascination with swearing and we may have something. Now, I am not planning on posting any before or after pictures at this point because nobody needs to see me with my shirt off but who knows, I may sometime down the road If i feel so inclined. So, if you dare, I will post the link to the blog at the bottom of this one and you can make your own choice to check it out or not. wish me luck!

At-Home-GuitBox-Daddy on P90X

Here comes winter. where was fall?

Fall kinda came and went, but mostly we had only a handful of fall-like days. We may get a couple more this weekend and it looks like I will do my best to get the Christmas lights up. Once November arrives, I wait for that one last fairly warm day and up go the lights. If I waited until after Thanksgiving, I could be out in the snow on my ladder and that is no good.
The other day, the greeter at the grocery store advised the kids and I to "take our time so mommy could sleep in". Being an At-Home-Dad, I have come to expect that, especially in West Michigan which is ultra conservative. However, it kinda irks the father in me, and this is the fault of men everywhere. The assumption is that fathers are secondary. Like we are doing a great favor to our wives to do something with our kids even if it is grocery shopping. Men are becoming more involved but not to the extent they should. I still hear of dads who have never changed a diaper, or put there kids to bed. To be fair, I know of moms who wont let dads do some of those things and that is as much of a problem as dads who wont. Anyway, the disjointed point is that its time to move forward and throw out the 50's era parenting attitudes and embrace the fact that dads need to get more hands on and moms need to let that happen too.
Another minor irritation is this: The GR At home dads group was at the mall the other day for playgroup. Some moms who were there we obviously surprised to see so many men at the play area. (granted, the moms are normally a little nervous when we show up in force to a playground. They look like the pedophile convention just came to town.) Anyway, one mom said to the other "wow I've never seen so may guys here before" to which the other said "yeah, my husband is getting laid off too". More assumptions. See above.
Speaking of kids, mine are crazy. They fight all the time. My patience is gone.
Ephram is liking preschool. I was hoping for a little more challenge for him. We thought that there would be more one on one time which was our understanding when we asked what they would do with a kid who knows his colors and letters and reads already. They go over one letter a week and one color. He has fun and is happy that they get lots of snacks that he doesn't get at home like goldfish crackers and fake cheese and crackers and all that other crap that proves that food companies and tobacco companies have the same corporate vision.
Speaking of things that are good for your body and not good for your body. The swine flu craziness is driving me crazy. The news leads every day with more stuff and the internet is full of misinformation. Parents dont know what the hell to do. I am taking our pediatricians advice and will have them vaccinated if we can. There are a lot of parents that are not because the read on some discussion board that the vaccine has antifreeze in it.( coincidentally, the same chemical that these folks are worried about, not really antifreeze, is in your store bought cookie dough. Thanks mom.....or dad!) I saw one recommendation that said," see my page for some good information on why not to get your child vaccinated". When I went there it was a discussion board. Note to parents: discussion boards are full of liars. People say things like "i work in the medical field" That person may be the janitor or worse. point being, don't get your medical info from discussion board people. Thy probably just came from another discussion board after giving some other completely unreliable advice. I'm just saying get the info from a reliable source and make an informed decision.
out

So are the days of our lives.......

It has obviously been a long time since I have written anything. That is how I start a lot of blogs apparently. Oh well, My 2 readers haven't really complained. A few things are going on these days.
I am in the middle of my own personal Renaissance. The creative side of me has been rearing its head and I have not only been working on writing music but generally thinking and feeling artistic lately. I have been devouring music like in the days of my youth. Consuming it like a ravenous hyena then scouring itunes and other sources for my next meal. Wilco, Son Volt, Pete Yorn, Mark Olsen, all kinds. I am even approaching the music I am listening to for new church songs with almost the same vigor. It is good. Even the kids are getting into it. I turn on the new Wilco album and they dance like little wild hippies throughout the kitchen and living room.
Speaking of Wilco, Azsure and I are going to see them in Ann Arbor in October. Yay!
I took the kids to the toy store to get some bike helmets the other day. They were quite happy about it. Soijer picked out a Barbie helmet that came with knee and elbow pads. She looks terribly cute and after the first fall with them on, she realized that the protection offered her a whole new carelessness about her safety. She has already fallen so many times that she has rubbed the Barbi stickers off of the knee pads.
I am actually running out of time so I'll leave it at that. a quick update. Back soon
out.

One more small thing......

I forgot to mention something in the last blog that is definitely blog worthy. Last week the kids were playing and I was making lunch. Soijer and Ephram were arguing over a book. I called them to lunch and as we were sitting at the table Ephram says "Soijer, I am going to eat faster than you and get down and take that book and put it in my room and close the door." to which Soijer replies: "Ephram, if you take that book into your room, I am going to get down and go and open the door to your room, get that book, bring it back in the living room, open it up and break it over your head!!". Quite a specific threat from a 2 year old. I was speechless.

whew!!

The holiday weekend is finally over! It was very busy with all the parades and concerts and stuff but was pretty fun. The weather was good and by good, I mean not hot. The parades went well and nobody fell off the trailer as it was rolling down the street ad we got rid of like 10,000 freeze pops. The cookout that evening was fun but the fireworks sent the kids into a complete meltdown. they freaked out completely and had a hard time sleeping even with their white noise cd's blasting at full volume. It doesn't help that the "fireworks" in the neighborhood, (and when I say fireworks, I mean farmer made IED's that surpass military grade high explosive), kept rattling the windows in the house and waking the kids. It finally stopped around 11:00 or so and they got to sleep. The service and concert on Sunday both went well. All that is left is to get up to the church tonight and hook up the sound system and the July 4th 2009 extravaganza will be history.
The new Wilco album is good, really good. Each time I listen to it, it gets better and I hear things that I didn't before. The kids even like it with their favorite song being "I'll Fight". How fitting.
I may have to get off the caffeine. I have been noticing lately that during my morning and afternoon and whenever else coffee, I am getting pain in my neck and shoulders. I am not happy about it. Coffee is one of my pleasures in life. I spend a lot of time and money on it. I am heading to the local roaster to get some decaf this weekend to see if it is indeed the caffeine that is making me tense in the back. Lets hope its just the kids. :)
Azsure and Ephram are going to Springfield this weekend so Soijer and I will have Saturday and most of Sunday to ourselves. I think we are going to do some birthday shopping for Ephram as well as Spend my gift certificates to Williams-Sonoma. Should be fun.
Thats all for now.....

Random update....

A few things going on lately, we are gearing up for the July 4th festivities here in Dorr. The band loads up on a trailer and we blast at full volume as we drive down the road in the parade. Its fun. We do 2 parades on the 4th then have the 4th annual Hedges family cookout for everybody that participated in the parade at our house. We have an outdoor service on the morning of the 5th and then the band is playing at the carnival thing on the evening of the 5th. I am just hoping that my voice will hold out for the weekend.
Azsure and I got a babysitter yesterday and she took the day off and we went to Saugatuck for the day. saugatuck is a very cool artist town on lake michigan. We spent the day wandering the stores, eating great food, tasting wine and otherwise just enjoying ourselves without the kids yelling and complaining. We cam home with four bottles of wine from the Fenn Valley winery. I have felt very refreshed after the trip.
Fathers day was good. I recieved a cookbook from our local tapas bar "San Chez" which I have wanted for a while. I am eager to try some of the tapas recipes especially the Blue Cheese Fritters which we our favorite last time we went out to eat there. I then got the day off while the kids and Azsure played outside. I laid around and didnt have to deal with any fatherly things.
We are having playgroup at the house tomorrow. Lots of kids running wild in the yard. I am also cooking out so it should be fun. Hopefully, it wont be too hot. I have to make cookies today as well as make up the marinade for the jerk pork tenderloin for the dads.
I'm on the facebook now. We'll see if that is going to be a blessing or a curse. I'll report later.
got my ship notification for the new Wilco album. Yes! It should be here in a couple of days. A little over a week later, the new Son Volt album will be out. Then in August, the Bottle Rockets have a new one coming. It is officially my best music summer in years! yay for me! and Soijer, who loves Wilco! and Ephram who loves Son Volt!
out for now!

Stuck in Illinois with the "Ephram's got the barf blues" blues......

So the kids and I traveled down to IL for a week with the grandparents. I needed a break from both full time parenting as well as part time church work. I also wanted some new surroundings to just kinda kick start some creative thought and play some guitar. I made a vow to not think of any church music for the whole week. Not that I don't like church music, but, it is something that is a job to me. I don't sit around and listen to church music unless I am working on finding new songs to play at church. I don't attempt to consume it like I would say, the new Wilco album coming out at the end of the month. Also, while here, I scored some music recommendations from my buddies so I should be good to go for a few months with more albums.

Wal-Mart customer service sucks. ....

The Wal-Martization of Benton IL is complete. You can barely get anything unless you drive to the walmart. I don't know if it is just the Benton walmart or all walmarts but its like the dementors from Harry Potter. If you get to close, you start to get the feeling that you will never know happiness again. It is a soul sucking chasm for which there is no escape and I had to go there just about every day to get something. The greeters might have well have been saying "welcome to wal mart, guns are that way, please bring one back and kill me". They really need the guy from the Grandville Meijer store to spruce up the attitude. With this in mind, I determined to stop whining about the greeting and take a proactive approach. I would give the walmart greeter a warm greeting myself and hopefully brighten their spirits amidst the downtrodden throng of humanity that passes through there everyday. So with my spirits high, I headed out for some road snacks for the trip back to Michigan. I cruised through the door ready to spring my joy on the greeter. Problem, no greeter. Hmmm.....oh well, there has to be someone around in a blue smock that needs a lift. Finally I went to the speedy checkout with my stuff. I waited for the lady in front of me to finish then I sprung. "hi" said the checkout girl. "GOOD AFTERNOON!! HOW ARE YOU TODAY!!" I shouted. She was a little taken aback. "OK I guess" she replied. "FANTASTIC!!" I assume at this point she pushed a button somewhere that alerted the manager or Sam Walton himself that they had a live one. Any way I paid for my stuff then happily yelled "HAVE A GGGGRRRREAT DAY!!!!". She looked a little scared". as I was walking towards the door I spotted my initial target, the Wal Mart Greeter. "yes" I thought to myself. As she looked up from digging some sort of filth out of a cart I yelled with all of my joyous gusto "HAVE A FANTASTIC DAY!!!!!" She smiled. Sweet Victory. Take that soul sucker!
We had planned to leave the wonderful land of Lincoln on Monday morning but Sunday night, Ephram got a really high fever and said his head was hurting from "staying at the circus too long". (welcome to my world boy, I live at the circus) I decided to give him some of the new children s Tylenol I had picked up (wal mart again!) for Soijer earlier in the week. I gave him the suggested dose of strawberry flavored goo , which smelled a lot like strawberry schnapps by the way, and about 2 minutes later, he refunded it all over the carpet at my folks house. Later, I tried again and got the same result but in the toilet this time. Thanks Tylenol, your attempt to make medicine taste just like super sugar candy has burned me for the last time! We switched to the melty tab things the next day and they stayed down. So after an extra day in IL we made the trip back to Michigan without incident. On a side note, Ephram loves to stop in Gary Indiana. Every time we go to IL, I try to time it so we don't have to stop there but he must see the abandoned buildings and crack houses from I-80 and it triggers his urge to pee immediately.
I woke up in sweet cool Michigan this morning, ran a couple of miles and the kids and I set of to play at the park with the guys and kids from the dad's group. Fun was had by all. I am, however, going to most likely have to work the rest of the week to pull the kids back into the fold after being with grandparents all week. I guess that is the price paid for a little respite.