My first video blog! wow, i need to clean my basement!

Welcome to November.....

November is here but the weather would say otherwise. We have been enjoying some warm days this week and have been outside playing. Here are some of the things that have been going on:

The election. WOW! I was pretty happy to see Barack Obama win. Even though I am a registered republican, I went the other way. It seems that having kids had made me more of a liberal. I don't know why exactly, maybe its because the last few year of "compassionate conservatism" have been an complete hoax. People need help. period. Some of them just cant help themselves so the government should. (the libertarian living inside me just had a stroke as I typed that). Anyway, back to the election. Watching the celebration all over the country and the world for that matter made me realize just how historic the election really was. I became a little more emotional than I thought I would seeing grown men with tears in their eyes. It was really unbelievable. America will never be the same. Now, lets see how Barack will do as President. Should be interesting. As one of my old friends put it in a text message Wednesday morning "Barack Obama mother f****r!!!!"
On a related note, realizing that the world is changing, sadly, it is unfortunately the same in some ways. We received a homemade flier in our mailbox a week or so before the election that was pretty racist in tone which started with the headline "Wake up white America!" and proceeded to rant about some completely false quotes from Obama. I was pretty po'ed about the whole thing. I realize that its the world we live in but I really don't need my kids growing up in a area where that kind of crap is floating around. Folks like that need to realize that our culture is becoming more and more diverse and our kids need to learn how to live ad thrive in a world that is getting smaller. Unfortunately, Ephram and Soijer are not going to get that sort of education in this district.
Speaking of warm, I made the snap decision yesterday when t was 70 degrees to get the Christmas lights up on the house. you may think me a Christmas freak, which I am, but I am also the freak who will merely flip a switch the day after thanksgiving instead of braving the cold to get my festive spirit on. Fa la la la la la la la la ........
Lastly, for some reason, there is a strange anomaly going on around my house. I don't know if it has to do with me deserving punishment for something I may have done, or some strange space/time flux, or simply that my kids think I deserve it, but lately anytime the kids throw something, swing something, or just let go of something, it hits me in the crotch. Its not fun. I am constantly protecting myself and as soon as I stop thinking about it, BAM! , hot wheels car to the crotch. Strange. I hope its just a phase.
out.

I am becoming clark griswald....

While the world falls down around me with financial catastrophe and other general economic crapification (yes, I like to make up words and that's a good one), I have noticed a change in my personality. While in my youth, as with many, I was concerned with image and being up on music and basic "I'm a cool guy" sort of thing, these days I have found something that trumps all of that and brings out the real fun loving dufus in me. What I am speaking of is the Family fun day. Its any weekend day where there is a real plan and destination to have fun with the kids and wife. I'm not just talking about a trip to the mall but and actual destination. This last weekend was the apple orchard where one utterance out of my mouth made me come to the realization that my life has changed in drastic ways since the arrival of my kids and my decision to stay home and take care of them. It was not anything midblowingly insightful about politics or art or economics (although therm "economic crapification" is pretty good). It was not about solving of the world problems or where we go when we die. It was "Wow! look at that pumpkin!!"................wow, look at that pumpkin..........It's not just the fact that I said wow look at that pumpkin, it was the fact that I really meant it. I had general excitement about this big pumpkin and really wanted Ephram to see it. I think in response he said I want a donut. anyway, it comes back to the fact that I am becoming Clark Griswald and Im not really too worried about it. I like family fun day. I like to pick apples and look at big pumpkins. Hell, I even dont mind too much that I had too haul 4 bags of apples a half mile to the car. I say too much..... Anywhoo, Im not sure when the next Hedges family fun day will occur but you can rest assured that I will be out and ready in black socks and sandals, fanny pack and all that good stuff. Actaully that last part was a lie, I only wear tshirts and cargo pants.
out

This is the end........of our elaborate plans the end....

If you have turned on the tv lately, it has been announced by the media that we have finally pulled the handle on the giant toilet and we are all starting the swirly decent into chaos or whatever the bottom has in store for us. I said to E the other day when he was in front of the tv "move and pay attention, this is historic". Anyway, holy smokes! what a mess!! One of the guys in the dads playgroup today hit the nail on the head when he said " I am waiting to turn on the radio one morning and only hearing static" That about sums it up. There is some evil side to me that appreciates the chaos and cant look away. Yet ,in the midst of this enormous credit crisis, I still get at least two credit card offers at day in the mail. So here is the big idea: why not let the a-holes filling my mail box with pre approved credit offers lend the money to the a-holes who wrote the bad mortgages? By the way, I like to take out all of the junk from the envelope and put it in the return envelope and send it back. it doesn't seem to be working though, maybe I should fill it with rocks.

In other stuff, The hedges family went on the annual Hedges family fun day to Frankenmuth. MI to go to the big Christmas store. It is very Clark Griswaldy and we even listened to some Christmas music on the way over. The big score though was at the outlet mall that afternoon. I scored a new cast iron wok which was pretty sweet. This week we are stir frying up a storm!
We are also gearing up for a trip to IL next Sunday. I am looking forward to eating a Pizza Shack and Eckerts Farm. should be somewhat fun but the best part: we are leaving the kids for few extra days. I have been so excited that I cant even figure out what I am going to do for those days. Lay around? watch movies? Start smoking again? Who knows, it is all very over stimulating to think about it.
That's all for now,

Dad instinct....

A lot of the parenting books describe how new parents will be able to take care of their kids by instinct. They talk about how dads and moms will just know how to nurture their kids and help them along and after a while, parenting will be very natural. Well, the other day, my inert dad instinct failed, at least I hope it was a failure and not some sort of subconscious statement about being irritated with Soijer. We were in the bathroom hanging out in the morning, we being the whole family. Soijer was happily climbing on the step stool which normally Ephram is very adamant about not letting her do. I saw her begin to lose her balance and then watched as she began to fall. However, my paternal instincts did not kick in as they should have. Instead, my self preservation instinct engaged. I saw her heading for my feet and the split second thought was, not to save my child, but that her 90th percentile sized head was going to smash my already injured big toe so I just moved it out of the way and clunk! she hit the floor and started to cry. I looked at Azsure and she looked at me, then realizing the strangeness of me just letting her fall, we both started laughing. Soijer was not happy at all but we knew that she would live. Since then, I have been wondering about my paternal instincts. Whether or not they are there or just on vacation or have been chased away by days of fighting kids and nights of yelling babies. Oh well, we'll just have to find out.

I am still alive.....

In case you were wondering. Thats all for today.

The long weekend and other bric-a-brac

Well, the long independence day weekend is gone and so starts me back to regular weekday stuff. The parades went fairly well aside from me forgetting the words to one song over and over throughout the Dorr parade. It was a song that we sing very regularly but after I forgot them the first time, it was just repeated brain fart. I did remember it that last 2 times though at the end. We had a really big cookout that evening and had lots of friends over. Ephram, however, is not a fan of the fourth of july in general. He had to be brought home by my wife from the parade right after the fire engines went by due to the noise. That evening someone set off a big explosive in the neighborhood and he went totally crazy shaking and screaming. After a lot of hand holding and putting the biggest, loudest fan next to his head in his bedroom, I got him to sleep and he slept through the rest of the night. We had a nice weekend of lounging since all of the work that is normally to be done on the weekend was done during the week due to the party.
On to other things......
It has become apparent that some of you found my blog about sweet wasp murder to be somewhat funny. Well, I am here to report that I have found no wasp nests this year near my house. That is none, nada, zero, zilch. Apparently the wasps have recognized my strong but fair warnings and have taken the appropriate steps to ensure their survival. Nature has a way of continuing eh? I will come to your house and do the same for a small fee. ( yes, I am now an official wasp mercenary)
One of my old buddies requested that I recount a story about an unfortunate incident regarding a hot pocket and the robot dance. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the details very well. The gist of it is: at a time in my life (a couple of years ago) when I was for some reason doing the robot dance throughout my house for my own entertainment, there was and incident where a woman cut in front of me while I was trying to get a hot pocket at the local grocery store. Instead of pushing her out of the way or giving some snide comment, I robot danced at her in a threatening fashion. Maybe I had just watched "you got served" or some other movie where instead of shooting each other, the rival gangs just dance at each other. I cant remember. All I do know is that after that day, I had to reevaluate my robot dancing . I am happy to say that I have not used the robot dance as a weapon since.
That is all for now.

I dont blog...

I don't blog enough to keep it interesting. I apparently don't have the discipline or the memory to keep it up daily so instead there are these wonderful synopsi (right? plural of synopsis?) to catch up on what i've been doing in the last few weeks or months. So, here it comes, quickly before the kids find out that I'm downstairs and start unrolling all of the toilet paper rolls through the house. The church praise band played the west michigan conference service and it was really great. The band was loud and rowdy and the crowd responded. It was like having 700 of the best worshipers all in one place. It was a great experience. A fellow at home dad and I spent part of a day driving around taking pictures which was fun. We had Soijer with us but all the other kids were not so we had a decent non screaming morning. (on a humorous note, we found out later that we ended up at the local beach which is widely known as the gay nude beach. We both got a laugh when he told me but I had already assumed we were branded as a gay couple anyway. 2 guys wandering the beach with a baby in a backpack? yep. branded) Ephram went to Illinois for a visit and I had a very relaxed week with Soijer. We laid around, played on the floor and did some fun stuff. She was very sweet and barely cried all week. We were both happy when E got back home even though he immediately started taking all of her toys away. We are gearing up for the fourth of July. The praise band will load all of our gear onto a trailer and ride in the parade through door blasting music(at about 4000 watts mind you) in the faces of little kids and there parents then give them freeze pops. ( word to tom Jefferson, we're still keeping it real in the USA yo) Finally, Azsure's temporary job position is coming to a close and we are gearing up for the next step. It will most likely mean a move somewhere so I am looking for a good place to go that has a state farm office and a lower cost of living that west Michigan. Believe it or not Grand rapids is higher than a lot of places. It must be all the union labor. So far the options for a move are Bloomington, IL and Lincoln, NE. Bring on the corn, I say. As long as I don't have to learn a new phrase for pop, or soda, or coke or whatever, I'll be alright. I'll try to be a little more consistent with the blogging in the future.
out

ahh spring....and sweet wasp murder.

Spring is here and so are the gentle urgings to update my blog. So here I am filled with wisdom and whatnot to pass on to the small handful of people who read my blog.
Spring has arrived and with it my nemesis. The wasp. As long as I have been a homeowner, I have despised the arrival of the wasps and wasp nests. I really despise them. Especially the little yellow jacket kind. If they would just stay out of my face, and grill for that matter, we could peacefully coexist. but they don't. I walk out the door and I get a facial buzzing flyby and it drives me nuts. Therefore, back about 8 years ago, I began a Hedges family tradition: The Hedges Family Annual wasp cleansing. At the first sign of a wasp, I wander the perimeter of the house and issue a stern eviction notice to all of the wasps that are in earshot. I then wait a few days to give them a chance to find other accommodations (I am tough but fair) After that, my property becomes a wasp and hornet spray free-fire zone. I wander the yard with the foam 20ft spray (it never reaches 20 ft by the way) and systematically murder every wasp and wasp nest I see with extreme prejudice. I will chase them if they are in free flight if I have to. I offer no quarter because I know none would be offered to me should I stumble into a nest. Now, most people will knock down the nests after all of the wasps are dead. Not me. A nest covered in dead wasps serves as the perfect deterrent for other wasps thinking about moving into the neighborhood. I still have a dead carcass of a wasp on our wind chimes from 2 summers ago and have no intention of removing it. It will forever stand as a warning and a symbol of my commitment to driving the wasp out of my subdivision and therefore out of my life.

music revolution and increasing skepticism...

Two things have been growing these past few weeks and months. First, I have navigated away from talk radio an have been diving back into my music library and it has been a real joy. Revisiting the Beatles has been especially fun because it brings back a time when I was discovering music in a new way. Not as a background or entertainment, but really diving in to a song or album experience and letting it wash over me. It also brought some chuckles. ( i have a buddy, you know who you are, who told me one morning that the night before he was sure that "Across the Universe" had just appeared on his "Let it Be"album and was delivered to him directly from John Lennon). If you knew me in those days you wouldn't be surprised and, If memory serves me, we went out that very night and I'm pretty sure I had the same experience. Anywho, the whole experience has brought me back to an appreciation of good music (and obviously brought back my music snobbery, not that it ever really left). Which happens to be a good tie in to my next point.
It has recently occurred to me that i give everybody too much credit. And I dont just mean that i thought everybody should recognize a great album (Michael Jackson's Thriller) or a crappy one ( Justin Timberlake's new one). Please recognize that for arguments sake, I picked out a great album in a genre that I don't normally associate myself with to illustrate the fact that I am not showing any bias. I mean in all categories of life. i am now skeptical of all leadership which is not a big deal but now I am feeling a lack of confidence in professionals like doctors and business leaders because it appears that an enormous veil has been lifted from my eyes and has revealed that everyone is human and their opinions are not any better or more informed in mine. No kidding you say, but yep. I think that a lot of it has to do with the Michigan leadership. ( i will try not to rant here). I am baffled by some of the decisions made by our leadership. Really, its like: when did the patients start running the asylum? Apparently they always have been. another thing. The UAW is going to strike? I realize that they have a powerful union but I don't care who you are, why do you risk your job in an economy that is failing anyway. It all leads me to a fundamental lack of faith in people's judgment and reason. It is all kinda sad actually. I guess I have finally reached adulthood and see the sad state of real life. The only thing I guess I can do is hold on to what I have and try to improve the situation of those in my general vicinity.
On that note, I'll start making the world a better place one person at a time: here are some recommendations for great albums everyone should hear:
Sea Change by Beck
Revolver by The Beatles
Normal for Bridgewater by Peter Bruntnell
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road by Lucinda Williams

Maybe I'll list some more as they come to me and one day everybody will be enlightened and people like Miley Cirus and Mariah Carey will be out of a job.

until then.....

I am still alive. Here are a few things....

quick one today....

New Kathleen Edwards album.  Really good.  "and I sure a shit do love you, and I cuss because I mean it and for that in my heart I am hopeful.  And in the words that I chose I was so careful".  Nice. my new favorite Canadian. Sorry Neil, your yesterdays news.

Spring is still not quite here. I have been out for a few runs pushing the kids in the jogger which is nice. 

The new grill is good.  Made some really good crabcakes the other evening for a small group dinner.  Yum.  found the hotspot on the grill and burned a few though.  

Winter storm warning today???? Are you kidding me????? Allow me to reiterate my sentiments from an earlier blog: You still suck snow come back next year.  I'm moving to Miami.

bring on the spring for crying out loud!!

In effort to usher in springtime, I am looking for a new grill. We decided on our cruise that it is time for a meat renaissance in this family. mmmm......meat. It should nicely coincide with the fruit renaissance that I am personally experiencing having eaten an apple, a pear and four bananas yesterday. (that could also be called a fiber renaissance as well). Thats five servings by the way, take that food pyramid! Anywho, its pretty hard to find a grill these days because there are too many options and apparently, I need them all. While I would like to have a 10 foot grill with a marble counter top, fridge, bottle opener, and all the other crap you can get today, I dont need a second mortgage to pay for it. So, I think I have finally decided on the one that is one sale a Sears. That, by the way, is my recommendation: "The one that is one sale at sears" I would also recommend "the one that is on sale at lowe's or home depot" maybe even " the one that is on sale at the gas station"either way you slice it, i am still going to have to dig a foot of snow off of my deck to fire that puppy up. Bon appetit!!
p.s. you suck snow, come back next year.

Well, back to the local farms for Beef....

Yep, that's right, back to Sisters Natural food to get beef from happy, pasture fed cows that are not harassed and tortured before they become my steak. After seeing the footage on the news of the dude pushing the cow around with the fork lift, I was haunted by it every time I passed a fast food joint. I don't exactly know why it matters if my hamburger is tortured before it is killed and chopped up but it does. I wonder if I would have the same reaction if I saw footage of somebody drop-kicking an eggplant? what an ethical dilemma!!

Super Tuesday!!!!!!!

Its almost like my own super bowl sunday without the funny commercials. too bad I cant stay up late enough to hear the California results start to trickle in.
Viva la democracia!!!!!

The Black Crowes...

I revisited and old cd the other day. Southern Harmony and Musical Companion by The Black Crowes. Man, talk about one of the best albums of the 90's. The Crowes know how to do it. They know how to present rock and roll the way it should be and the way that made our parents and grand parents think rock and roll came straight from the devil. It just feels decadent.
Whatcha got buried in your back yard? what secret do you sleep with when the black moon comes?
yep. that's it.

a couple of firsts today....

today has been interesting already. I have had a couple of fun occurrences. First, I got up bright and early and fired up the snow blower to blow off the driveway so my wife could get her little tiny car out and go to work. of course at the end of the driveway, as usual, the plow had piled snow so I figured I would dig a trail to the mailbox so that the mail lady could get the car up close enough so she wouldn't have to get out of the car (a collective awww please..). Well, as I happily plowed through throwing huge tubes of wet snow onto the sidewalk, the snow blower seized with a thunk. Hmmm out of gas? nope, further inspection revealed that I had run over the Sunday copy of the Pennasee Globe newspaper and it was all jammed up in the 2nd stage. After yanking for about 20 minutes, it came out but I was almost ready to give up and call the snow blower repair man which is Sears and you know how that would have gone.
Next, Ephram was playing in his room before lunch and I asked him to come in for lunch and to specifically not pull all of the books off his bookshelf again. You can guess what he did. I was quite po'ed and pretty much yelled at him. not one of my better moments. so a few minutes later on the changing table he said he was sorry he made a mess. i told him that it was ok and that I shouldn't have raised my voice at him. he corrected me and said "you yelled at me daddy". I said "you're right and I shouldn't have done that, I'm sorry". He then said "i guess you get to go to the corner and have a time out" I thought for a second and figured, "you know what, he's right" and went and had my first daddy time out. I did not stay there for minutes to age like some books recommend but did it none the less. interesting fun.
I have been stuck in the house going on the second day. Today i rearranged all of the kitchen cabinets and packed up a bunch of glasses that we dint use. please stop snowing.
out.

Taxes yippee!!

unlike a lot of people, i like tax time. once the new year turns, I anxiously await all of the stuff, which reminds me, i need to make my list of w2's, 1098's and other forms that I need before i can do the taxes. it is quite a strange thing because i hate math and have never been very organized. oh well, maybe its my subconscious wanting to stick it to the irs by reporting things that cause me to keep more of our money. it will also be nice because we had another baby this year so we get to keep more of our own money. take that uncle sam!! the more money you want the more babies we'll have to keep your grubby paws off of it!! yehaww!!! uh oh! my tax credit just woke up!!
out

on whining and complaining

I am getting rid of some of my blogs because i realized that they are of no use to anyone. My main resolution this year is to grow spiritually and the bitching about government or news is not helping anybody. I will still blog about this sort of thing but make an effort to keep my soapbox packed away.

Merry Christmas Happy New Year

I haven't written anything in a while because this is the busy time of year. now that it is over, hopefully, I will be a little better about writing. Christmas was good. my folks came up for the week from Illinois and helped a lot with the kids while Azsure and I were working on Christmas eve stuff at church. The Christmas Eve service went well and the live nativity that Azsure organized went better than we though it would. Apparently any time you have a live baby donkey somewhere, so shall the crowds come to see. Christmas morning was good. Ephram got tons of toys then spent the rest of the day playing with Soijers 1 toy. Our new years eve was fairly tame with our church small group coming over for food and Texas Hold em poker. I did not win.
Now, to the new year. my election excitement has increased ten fold. I normally really pay attention come election time but this year, I stayed away from it until the turn of the new year. XM radio has a new channel called POTUS '08 which brought me up to speed in about 20 minutes on the election goings on.
I'm still working on my resolutions for the year. They have to do with some spiritual growth amongst other things. I actually kept mine from last year and exercised, dropped 15-20 pounds and got my first physical since high school. We will see how the cholesterol levels came out this year when I get another exam.
We are looking forwrd to our 10 year anniversary in march and are taking acruise in feb to celebrate. yeah!! no kids for 6 days!! I should come back fat and tan!
thats all for now.
out