The Key Tool to Survival

The key tool to surviving in this evil, materialistic world appears to be humor! One of the attributes of evil and/or materialism is stupidity and what better thing to laugh about than stupidity! I always tell my sons that stupidity is a choice. Ignorance is not knowing better...stupidity is knowing better and just not doing better. Trust me, our creator has created humor for a reason...it's a tool...USE IT! The boyz get upset when I laugh at something stupid they've done. They feel as if I am making fun of them. I make it a point to let them know that this is true but they had the CHOICE and it was a bad one so now they must correct it if they hope to gain my respect instead of my laughter. It works that way in the world...you gain respect by making intelligent choices and are subject to ridicule by making the stupid ones. As in anything, there are exceptions to the rule. Some stupid choices result in harm to one's self and others. Using humor to make a point in a case like this goes back to using intelligence...in other words, it would be stupid to laugh at those choices. In situations like that I try to explain to the boyz that those result in a more serious and long term damage. I try to make them use their intelligence in the lighter situations...the result being that there will less of the more serious ones. Proper parenting is never easy and I don't profess to doing it properly. I am learning just as the boyz are. We all have work to do and we are all subject to the human nature we have been born with and that we have developed (whether conciously or not!). God has given us tools to use and in using them we find many times that the proper use of these tools is a developmental process! Humor is such a valuable tool!...to me it is the key tool to survival...Use it...God has a great sense of humor!...One need only look around at the actions of some of the humans he created! I am sure he laughs alot!...and shakes his head alot too!...Love to all -Jeff-

The Fun Depot

I had to do it...it was time for it...and it was fun! The Fun Depot...a place kids love and a place that parents are fleeced. It's a warehouse full of video games, go carts, mini bowling, and rock climbing! For a general fee they issue cards in encrements of hours so that kids can bounce from one game to the next while parents can either struggle to keep up with them or sit leisurely and watch the chaos. The catch is that the cards which kids swipe in the machines,(call it debit card training 101!), don't include all the machines! You see, some kids just like to play games but others are suckers for games that reward with something other than just a good time. Fun Depot is gracious enough...lol!... to let you add money to those cards that will give you access to other games where kids receive tickets (the amount based on luck, skill, or type of game) and these tickets can be exchanged later for prizes (most of them small and cheap...the larger ones costing many tickets). This fast paced, spending and playing frenzy is right up my children's alley! For me it is a mixed blessing....by taking them I am the coolest, most wonderful dad in the world and I do enjoy their smiles that result but it has a significant price to pay...physically, mentally, and financially! Last night I was surprised when Zak wanted to stay at home on the computer (he has his "My Space" page and friends he talks to there) and I ended up taking Lennon (he'll not let this opportunity go by for anything!). Zak stayed with his mother (Andrea) and I took Lennon. Turns out that everyone had a good time...even me!...I took my prtable dvd player and was able to catch a good old "Columbo" episode I had recorded! Turns out that everything has a price...even old TV series! Here's a couple of pictures for you!...Love to all -Jeff-

These kids!

Gotta love the things kids say sometimes! My youngest, Lennon, was on his way last night into the World Championship of Demons! He had tortured his brother endlessly, insulted his mother, and was trying to drive his father into either a Tibetan monestary or a Mexican prison! It was determined by Dad that he get into bed (which happens sometimes to habitual felons here at the rock!)...It was about 8:30 pm and his bedtime is 9:30 anyway, so it wasn't anything too far from normal.... Anyway...I was sitting at the computer as he got into bed. He was so apologetic saying "I'm so sorry Dad...it won't happen again....give me a third chance!" (it would have been his fourth actually!) I explained to him that being sorry and saying so was all well and good but that he had committed the crime now he had to do the time. There was silence for a moment and then in a small quiet voice he said "Can't I just do community service?"...Lol!....Having him in bed WAS a community service...trust me!...Both my sons come up with so many funny things that they say so seriously and I just can't help but laugh no matter how stressed the situation. One time when they were but toddlers and still in car seats I had picked them up at the babysitter's having just got off from work. It was afternoon in the late spring and, after strapping Lennon in his car seat, a yellow jacket landed on his hand and stung him as he put his other hand on top of it! When he cried out Zachary asked what was wrong. I told him,"Lennon was stung by a bee....a yellow jacket!" That seemed to satisfy his curiosity. The next day after playing outside Zak came to me holding his arm. He had this sad look on his face as I asked him what was wrong. He said,"I got stung Daddy, by a bumble bee in a yellow raincoat!"....I guess that's the way I would have interpreted the term "yellow jacket" at that age too!....Another time Lennon was upset with me and told me he was "Gonna walk away from home!"...I said,"Don't you mean "run"?"...He said,"No...I'm gonna walk!"....Lennon comes up with alot of them and he is soooo serious...He was upset at me one day when he was about 6 years old and sat down in a diningroom chair...With his arms crossed and a frown on his face he stated angrily,"I'm not gonna do my homework, I'm not gonna eat my supper...I'm gonna go live with the devilman!"...Gee!...there are times I'd have to feel sorry for that devilman!....nah!...guess not!...it would be all that he deserved!...love to all!...-Jeff-

The Beatles are driving me crazy!

Anyone that knows me for any length of time knows what a Beatle fan I am...Hey...my youngest son is named Lennon!...You don't get much more of a fan than that! For the last 43 years of my life I have listened to Beatle music whether it be as a group or as solo artists. I was even proud of Paul McCartney when he made an appearance on the Howard Stern Show....Don't get me wrong, I cannot stand Howard Stern and I do not watch his show...I was channel surfing one day and as I passed through I saw that Howard had Ozzy Osbourne on...I paused only because I like Ozzy's music (his show is another one that I wouldn't have given you 2 cents for though!)...Ozzy and his wife Sharon were talking and it appeared that Ozzy was on some kinda drug...he was unkempt and slurring his words...a total embarrassment!...Howard then made the statement that Paul McCartney was backstage as his next guest and wanted to know if Ozzy wanted to meet him...Of course Ozzy said yes and mentioned that he had never met McCartney before. When they went backstage there was Paul and his entourage. Paul was so neat and handsome, looking like a model for a fashion magazine! Ozzy shook his hand and hugged him. At that moment I wondered what I ever found interesting at all about Ozzy (even his music)...but I was so proud of Paul!...That little story leads me now back to...My son Lennon, knowing who he was named after has developed an intense love for the Beatles...He knows too that the song "If I Fell" was the song I used to sing both boys to sleep with. Now he listens constantly to the Beatles...and my old video tape of "A Hard Day's Night" has been played to death. He plays "If I Fell" constantly and I have to sing along. He has a John Lennon figure that I actually have had to have a few conversations with....I have had to watch all the documentaries that come on TV in spite of the fact that I have seen them all before....many times...Bless his heart!!! I know it's all new to him but from time to time I need a rest...The name Lennon, for me, doesn't bring up a picture of John first when I hear it mentioned anymore...it brings on a picture of a little boy whose interest in his favorites is so intense that it can be likened to the most major obsession you have ever encountered...I wish I could dwell on some things as intensely as that!!...But for just a while...let me have just a few Beatle moments from time to time...For everyone...there was life after Beatles!...love to all..Ringo...I mean, Jeff

What gets Daddy through!

There's talk of snow tonight and the temperature keeps dropping. This means that I am going to have to resort to extreme measures to get me through this night. Time to call on my personal panacea....Asiana's Hot Sour Soup!...Strange isn't it how some things in this world can help you get through most anything. My problem is that most of them are food!...This is partially due to heredity!...I swear it!!...My father's side of the family were big eaters often but one lone aunt...my Aunt Ethel seemed to do a majority of the cooking (and she was a good one!)...She told me one time that she loved for me to come there and eat because I enjoyed eating so much!...Bless her heart!...Thrill for her...Kill for me...lol...Then there was my mother's side of the family...They always had an excuse to eat...and they had many wonderful cooks! I will never forget going to my Aunt Hazel's house one time and she asked me" Gary and Alan are having a cheese sandwich...please may I make you one Jeff?"...I was used to a cheese sandwich being a slice of cheese between 2 slices of bread (of course I always added mayonnaise to it...and anything else I ate too!)...When she handed it to me I swear the cheese was at least 5 slices thick!...Don't think I ever tasted the bread!...lol...Anyway, we always used to have Christmas parties and all the good cooks in the family produced an endless amount of goodies...then there were the Sandlin family reunions every year and here came the food again!..When we gathered at my grandparent's house (my Pap and Mama Pinky) if it was a Sunday especially...the family cooks fixed, we ate, and all of us left way too full!...I watched many times, listened as they exchanged recipes, and sorted through what I really loved of it all and this peaked my interest in cooking which I became fair at and fatter because of. I think back often of what my sons are going to miss out on as they grow up.....the good cooks and the togetherness of family gatherings...if only I could put them there in my memories. Anyway...they have to get used to what gets Daddy through!...and tonight that's Sweet and Sour Soup...by Asiana...some other family's good cooks!...Take care and love to all-Jeff-