Dad's point of view

I saw this today. I like hearing from the men in stepmoms' lives.

Modern Family

Have you seen this show on ABC? It's about three families who are all related and a bit untraditional. From the website:

Jay recently married Gloria. Now Jay is trying hard to keep up with his much younger and hotter Colombian wife, along with her passionate pre-teen son, Manny. Claire is having a hard time raising her own family. Her husband Phil is great, except that he thinks he's "down" with their three kids, much to all their embarrassment. And, Mitchell and his enthusiastic partner Cameron have just made a major life change by adopting a Vietnamese baby named Lily.

I have a modern family too, and it's nice to watch something I can relate to.

One of my favorite quotes from the show comes from Manny, Gloria's son and Jay's stepson, "My mother says we are never to use the word 'step' because it means not real, and we are a real family".

Word.

Cub Scout

With Casey as his den leader, Caelen joined Cub Scouts this year. I'm not sure what the expression here is, but he seems to be enjoying scouting so far. I'm really proud of him for trying new things.

I'm also proud of Casey for taking an active role in Caelen's extracurricular activities. Caelen may not appreciate it now, but I do. And Caelen will too. Someday.

Duh (Or, Don't Use Connett Services)

We had Connett Services (chosen by our home warranty company) come out to fix a leak in our kitchen yesterday. Today as I was washing up after baking bread, I noticed I was standing in water. And the water ended up in our basement. (Thankfully, the unfinished part.) I called Connet to get them to come back today to fix their mistake and they were neither accommodating nor apologetic.

Enter Des Moines Sewer and Drain who came promptly and quickly fixed Connett's error (um, yeah, they installed the new trap upside down and didn't bother to tighten it at all - duh). Paul also ran a line to confirm the leak came from the trap, flushed the lines for possible clogs and was friendly and efficient and sort of my hero today.

Political Calculus

Doesn't just reading that phrase make your brain hurt?

Anyway, I thought this was interesting enough to share today.

Celeb stepmom Sandra Bullock

Reading this almost makes me giddy for our family dynamic. I'm all for trying to forge a some kind of relationship with biomom, but I'm not sure it's possible to be Miss Congeniality with a biomom who is an ex-con, ex drug addict, adult film actress.



Also, Sandra Bullock is 45? She looks amazing!

3.4

Down today. I've been sick since last Saturday and haven't felt like eating much aside from soup and hot tea. The only day I worked out was Saturday, before I started feeling ill. The fever and lion's share of the body aches are gone now, I just have lingering congestion and an annoying cough. I suppose tomorrow I should try and get some kind of activity in, although I doubt it will be a run.

Since I'm still not feeling great, Casey is going to take the boy around for Beggars' Night while I hand out candy and wait to go through the loot they bring home.

I'm mostly kidding. Honestly, I'm a bit worried since Halloween is the unofficial start of the holiday eating season (that seems to run until after New Year's) and I find myself quite a bit heavier than I'd like to be. I remain hopeful that I can come out on the other side lighter than I am today, but it's going to be a lot of work. Geez, where is the post half marathon joi de vivre from a week ago? Oh, right, mercilessly crushed by the flu and it's brutal reminder of my inherent physical weakness. Thanks.