Breaking the Rules of Interesting Writing

Must admit, it's kinda nice to get back to the routine of school season.

Don't get me wrong, we enjoyed an awesome summer vacation. Took the old family Prairie Wagon, hooked it up to the Manly Minivan, and headed west this year. Made some new friends, met up with some old friends; saw places we'd never seen before and a revisited one or two others. In a word, Awesome!

We also headed back over the Ontario border a couple of times, to recharge our batteries in the vacation paradise of our youths - the wife and I that is. It's all still pretty new to the boys. But they love it. And they especially loved our last trip of the year, 'cause we brought some Manitoba friends.

That particular trip was almost the perfect storm of camping. Good weather, good water temperature, good campsites, great friends, no uncontrolled bleeding, relatively few bears . . . good times!

Note to working dads here: "Vacations" are a little different for you, than they are for your stay-at-home spouse. "Work" for us is putting up with . . . check that . . . taking care of the kids 24-7. So it's not exactly a break from the office during summer time. It's just a change of location, a temporary transfer.

Now, where did this start. Oh, right, routine.

So, end of summer, kids back to school. Am adjusting to having my mornings "off" as Sontoo started Kindergarten this year. Kids are signed up for winter fun, including dance and judo. It's nicely spread out during the week this year, with Monday, Tuesday and Thursday being sports nights. Last year, everything was on Wednesday. Very inconvenient and not at all relaxing.

Ever feel like you're rambling and, if this wasn't Blogtober, you'd just hit the delete button. Enough said.

Happy Hump Day.

A Day

Another day, another blank page, mocking me.

I'm into another block phase. Not inspired to write. I hate it when this happens.

So, about my day. Spent the morning prepping the ceiling in Sonwun's room for painting. Then I painted it. Exciting stuff huh? Then I cleaned up. Then I checked on the date of Neomom's next doctor's appointment. 

Can you feel the excitement building? I know you're on the edge of your seat. What next, Neodad? Tell us more.

Well, then I tried to find a dry cleaner in Portage La Prairie. Apparently there isn't one. There you go, you learned something from today's blog. 

I cleaned up the kitchen and then, wait for it, I made lunch for Sontoo. I know you're dying to ask, so I'll save you the trouble. It was a pastrami, salami, pepperoni, ham sandwich. He loved it. I just had pastrami. On rye.

After lunch, Sontoo went down for his nap. I tried to follow suit and failed. So, eventually Sontoo woke up, I loaded him into the van and we went to school to pick up Sonwun. Then we came home. Then I put a second coat of paint on Sonwun's ceiling. 

Now I'm wondering what to make for supper.

Have a great day.

Sorry

Gonna be a short one this morning, I think.

Sonwun heads back to school this morning. Back to the routine.

With a little more than two weeks off for Christmas, we've all become a little accustomed to a more relaxed way of doing things. So this morning it's a bit of a scramble to get lunches made, breakfast consumed, coats, hats and mittens rediscovered.

Have to admit, I backed off on the rules, maybe a little too much, over the break. Beds weren't made in the morning, the dog wasn't fed by Sonwun and the Wii got more than a little too much exercise. Back to crackin' the proverbial whip. And not just with the kids.

I'm proud to say I've kept my promise to blog daily now for two whole weeks. No surprise, I guess, that it coincides with Sonwun's Christmas break. I've had a little more time each morning to sit, ponder, blather. All good.

I find my best writing time is about an hour after my first coffee, when the caffeine's fully on board, I'm awake and sort of thinking.

This time has now diminished. I have to concern myself with lunch-making, child-dressing (they do it on their own after five or six reminders) and breakfasting on schedule. Blogging, therefore, falls to a back burner.

And that, my friends, is why today's post is so damn boring.

Sorry about that, will work to improve under the new schedule.

Have a great Monday.

Blocked Again

Well, Happy Thursday.

-32C here this morning in the Great White North. That's -26F for my friends in the south.

I'm a little troubled this morning. For a couple of reasons. First off, I've missed posting for the last day or two. I sit down in the morning with my big cup of coffee and find myself blocked. Nothing to write about.

I know there is always something to write about, but I just can't find it or the inspiration to make it work. I've started a blog post each day, but it sits on my computer screen all day and I just can't finish. Hmph.

And second, I am sleeping better and I don't know why. What's more, I don't know why it bothers me. I should be thrilled, right?

But I have to question it. As I must question everything.

Nothing has changed in my life. I'm not getting any more exercise, any more time out of the house. Stress levels have not been altered . . . why am I sleeping so much better?

And, as I sit here right now, at 6:38 a.m., I am once again blocked.

Fight it.

Talked this morning on skype to an old high school friend. He was at the airport in the Cayman Islands, heading for Alberta for a family wedding. He wouldn't tell me the temperature there. I am grateful.

Steve was one of my best friends from about Grade 8 through Grade 12. He's now got a 17-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old son. Time flies.

The first time I got drunk it was at Steve's house with our other buddies, Chris and Doug. We'd purchased, and I forget exactly how, as we were all underage, a bottle of Peppermint Schnapps. The other three had a shot or two and decided they didn't like it. I finished the bottle and, a short time later, had a worship session at the porcelain altar.

But, as is so often the case, we all drifted apart after high school. I've never met Steve's kids, or Chris's or Doug's for that matter. Nor have they met mine. Steve is the only one I've been in touch with, sporadically, over the years. Never face-to-face, just over the Internet on facebook or skype, or msn messenger.

As far as I know, Doug is the only one who stayed in the Niagara area. Chris moved out to BC and Steve, as I mentioned, is in the Caymans.

See? This is what I mean by writer's block. I'm babbling on about irrelevant crap with no purpose, no real humour, no point. When I have a decent post, something to write about, it usually will start with an interesting, or catchy, opening line. At the end of my writing, I usually look back to the opening line and try to tie it to the closing line. That's decent writing, that's entertaining.

This is not. Sorry.

It's cold, I'm in Thompson, I have writer's block.

Happy Thursday.

Random Thoughts

Well Happy Friday.

Unfortunately, today is more like Monday for me. After one day off, Neomom starts a seven-day stretch at work today. Ugh.

On the plus side, it would appear Sonwun, Sontoo and I are all just about fully recovered from the sinus festivities that have plagued the house for the last week. A humidifier seems to have been the straw that broke the camel's back. We put it in Sontoo's room Wednesday night and have kept it going full bore since. And, in that time, Sontoo has not had a 3 a.m. wake-up call, I have not had a sore throat in the morning and Sonwun is coughing less.

Blah, blah, blah . . . boooring.

Truth is, nothing is pissing me off this morning and nothing particularly amusing happened yesterday. I'm a little stuck for a topic. As such, I offer the following random thoughts and information.

1. In Thompson, Manitoba today, right now, (6 a.m.) the temperature is -3C (26.6F) and we're headed for a high of +3C (37.4F). It's probably a good day to tackle the outdoor Christmas lights, before it gets too cold. I write this to make all of you "down south" feel better about your weather.

2. Sontoo, at just over 21 months of age, is starting to put together two-word sentences. He came up with the first one I recognized on Wednesday. "Kowa peas."

To those not familiar with his language skills, this means "Dear Father, provider of meatloaf and changer of dirty diapers, I am feeling artistic and would appreciate it if you would be so kind as to place me in my high chair and provide me with paper and a marker so that I may express myself."

The short version, of course, is "Colour please."

3. The children's television network Nickelodeon was recently added to the Bell channel lineup. It's kind of like Treehouse, but it has commercials. Not a fan. When Sonwun watches Dora, Diego or Magic School bus, he is bombarded with Christmas toy commercials and, every five minutes or so, I have to hear "Daddy, you have to see this. It's soooo cool! I need that."

Back to Treehouse for us. Or better still, time to turn off the boob tube. It's on too much anyway.

4. Neomom and I watched the new Star Trek movie last night. I'm no movie critic, so I'll just say we both enjoyed it. She wanted to see Zachary Quinto in the role of Spock, as she's a big fan of the television show Heroes. To be honest, I thought he was a little "mushy" in comparison to the actors that played Bones, Scotty and Kirk. They were excellent. Overall though, I loved the movie and recommend it, even if you're not a Trekky.

5. Next week should be interesting as Sonwun's full winter schedule kicks in. Monday is swimming lessons, Tuesday is preschool, Wednesday is playgroup and swimming lessons, Thursday is preschool and Friday is playgroup. Sontoo just likes to get out of the house and ride around in the van, so it's all good.

6. And finally, as I am offering up a rather boring post today, I'll redirect you to something more interesting. This site is written by a guy who answers internet classified ads and then messes with the advertiser's mind. I thought it was kinda funny and kinda twisted. Great way to start the weekend. Anyway, you can find the site by clicking here. Enjoy and have yourselves a great weekend!

Oh, and here is a picture of Sontoo, playing with Mr. Potato Head's glasses: