PARENTAL GUIDANCE

Tonight Debra and I went to the movies.  We even brought our own personal photographer along, a young lady named Ashley.

 

We got there about ten minutes early to insure getting good seats.  We got good seats.  In fact, we were the only ones there.  I counted approximately 150 to 200 seats and only three were occupied.  Our three.  Since nobody else was there, I asked Ashley to take a picture both from the front and from the back of the theater.

 

By the time the commercials and the previews were done, four others entered the theater.  The movie was good:  Parental Guidance, starring Billy Crystal and Bette Midler. 

 

In addition to ample seating, another feature of this particular theater was that you could hear not only the movie you were watching, but you could also hear the movie playing in the adjacent theater.  But not enough to be a major distraction.  I laughed and I dripped a few tears through Parental Guidance and then we went home.

 

 

 

Two movie-goers in one theater.

Watching a commercial while waiting for the movie.

DOCUMENTARY MAKING (PART 1 OF 2)

For the past couple of years, I have celebrated my brother's and my sister's birthdays by creating music videos for them.  Mockery is the love language that bonds the three of us together, and we're all pretty good at it.

When Dean turned sixty last July, I used Mungo Jerry's hit, In The Summertime, tweaked it a bit, and made it personal for Dean.  Dean's birthday video was called In The Month of July and it ran for only two minutes and fifteen seconds.  Even though it lasted for just barely over two minutes, I probably spent 60 to 80 hours making it.

First, I had to find a song with guitar chords easy enough for me to play, rewrite the lyrics, practice singing and playing the song, and record the audio.  Once the audio was recorded, I added the video. 

I wanted Dean to know all that went into making a short video just for him.  So, for Christmas, I sent him a DVD called The Making of The Video - In The Month of July.  I classified it as a documentary and rated it PG-13 for brief underwear exposure.

The original two minute birthday video can be viewed here:

 

 

 

The Documentary about how it was made can be viewed here:

 

 



 

CHRISTMAS CONTRASTS

This Christmas was different from all other Christmases we have celebrated in the past.  And it was different in more ways than one. 

 

Yet, even though there were some stark contrasts between this Christmas and Christmases long, long ago, it was still very merry and holly jolly and the most wonderful time of the year.  

 

 

This Christmas we were able to look out our front door toward snow capped mountain peaks.  We were also able to look at Ashley's car slightly hidden behind a street lamp adorned with a red Christmas bow.  This has never happened before in Christmases past. 

.

This Christmas we received a grand total of four Christmas cards which, amazingly, is four more than we sent ourselves.

Last Christmas we had twenty people in our home, including eleven grandchildren.  This Christmas we had only three humans under our roof.  Also, last Christmas I wore shoes.

This Christmas Ashley got Debra a beautiful red jacket which Debra had righteously coveted a few months ago.

I'm not sure exactly what I said before taking this picture, but it resulted in a hand on a hip and a whole lot of attitude.

To Bruce from Debra.

I have been wanting to read "Killing Lincoln" by Bill O'Reilly for a long time.  Now, because of my sensitive, loving wife, I can.

Coincidentally, we had already purchased, packed and shipped this very same book to Belinda for her Christmas gift this year.  We also got another book, "Killing Kennedy," for Josh.  There's just something about assassinated presidents that makes for wonderful Christmas gifts.

Because she loves me, and because we like to laugh, and possibly because she wanted to make the Weathersby children jealous, Debra also got me a "Rock Show Comedy Tour" DVD set featuring Tim Hawkins, Bob Smiley and John Branyan.

Debra watches Ashley open her gift from us: Some girly stuff.

Debra also got some girly smell good stuff from Ashley, and she tries it out on the back of her left hand.

Ever since I learned how to read books a couple of years ago, I have made repeated trips to Barnes and Noble.  This year Ashley got me a generous gift card to this very store.

Debra watches Ashley open another gift.

Debra opens her gift from me.  She had violated her own convictions this Christmas by feeling and shaking and checking out the wrapped gift, trying to figure out what could possibly be wrapped in a round package.  Ultimately, she had not a clue.

According to her face, she was delighted to find a gift card to a jewelry store.  I opted for a gift card because why buy a gift that she would have to return anyway because I have no sense of what to buy in a jewelry store?

Debra's face continues to show pleasure with the gift she received from her husband.

I even got a kiss out of the deal.

One last Christmas contrast:  This is the very first Christmas in the history of mankind that Bethany and I have not been together on Christmas day.  This is not true of any of my other children or grandchildren. But we got together just two weekends ago, so I think the six-month-old shown here will be just fine.

CHRISTMAS EVE EVE

With Christmas only two days away, and with me working both the day before and the day after Christmas, we've had to do Christmas gatherings a little differently this year.  Last weekend was the Weathersbys.  This weekend was the Vallos. 

 

We spent the afternoon with Gordon and Josie, with their four daughters, and with Gordon's parents.  Both sets of grandparents got a chance to celebrate Christmas a bit early with the granddaughters.

 



 

Guests included (back row) Ashley, Debra, Josie, Alexia, Gordon, Baylee, Ruth, and (front row) Tom, Rylie, Makiah and me.  The angel on top of the Christmas tree resembles a Shriner's fez on top of Gordon's head, but it's not.

Debra holds a sign given to us by Gordon and Josie.  The ribbon on the hanging wire attached to the sign resembles a mustache, but it's not.

Papa and Nana's gift to Baylee is a Taylor Swift guitar songbook, which pleases Baylee much.

Ashley and Rylie pause for a picture.

Rylie shows her new fashion design kit to Makiah.

Alexia shows off her gifts to Tom and Ruth.

Makiah is happy with her new purse.

Alexia gravitated toward my lap for much of the afternoon, except when she was busy making noise and trying to open other people's gifts.

Gordon functioned as the referee and child-behavior-controller, and he did a fine job in that role.

Baylee provided entertainment with both a guitar and a viola.  I had no idea before today that Baylee knew how to play a viola.

Baylee plays a viola solo, with a little help from Alexia.  I recognized the tune as "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee", which was appropriate for the season.  The video of this brief performance is shown by clicking the play tab  below:

 

 

INVENTING STUFF TO FIX STUFF THAT BUGS ME

Something has been bugging me ever since we moved into our new house two weeks ago.

 

After hooking up the television and all its accessories, there has still been a plethora of wires visible while watching TV.  I've hidden all the wires as well as I could, but there are simply too many wires to hide.

 

Solution:  Invent a wire hiding panel.

 

That's what I did today.

 

 

This is what I've been looking at for the past two weeks.

A complex collection of cables behind the TV is incapable of being adequately concealed.

Getting measurements for my new invention.  Forty inches wide.

Nine inches high.

Off to The Home Depot to purchase invention supplies.

Supplies purchased.

Supplies included a 9"x40" piece of particle board, a quart of primer, four fastening brackets, two machine screws with wing nuts, and six wood screws.

The two bottom brackets are secured with three wood screws each.  The two top brackets are each secured with one screw and a wing nut for pivoting each bracket before tightening.

From the other side, two screw heads are shown on the top and two secured brackets are shown on the bottom.  At this point, the board was covered with a coat of primer, then painted with the same color as the wall in the living room.

Once the paint dried, I put the wire hiding panel in place, starting with the bottom brackets positioned behind the lower shelf.

Then I rotated the top brackets against the middle shelf and tightened the wing nuts.

Now I am no longer bugged by the wires behind the television.

HOUSING CONSTRUCTION ISSUES

Some houses have issues that can't be discovered until after you move into them.

 

When we first saw our new house, we made an offer.  A month later, we moved.  After all our belongings were in our new house, we hooked up the washer and dryer. 

 

That's when we discovered that we had an issue.  Even with the dryer pushed as far back as possible, the front of it extended a couple of inches into the path of the laundry room door.  The door was constructed so that it swung into the laundry room.

 

The problem:  It wouldn't close because the dryer was in the way.

 

So, I stopped by an appliance store to see if they sold dryers with differing depths.  They were all the same.  We were potentially doomed to watching television with a noisy washing machine only about ten feet from our ears. 

 

Unacceptable.

 

Then I thought, maybe the door could be replaced with one opening into the living room instead of into the laundry room.  I pointed out our issue to our realtor and asked if she knew of any contractors she could recommend.  It just so happened that her son-in-law was a contractor, so she recommended him.

 

Chad came over, introduced himself, and in no time at all he resolved our issue.

 

The laundry room was built with the door swinging into it.  The dryer, unfortunately, extended into the path of the door.

This was the best we could do in closing off the laundry room to the rest of the house.

Our realtor referred us to Chad.

Chad replaced the original door with one that swings into the living room.  He also replaced the original hollow-core door with a solid-core door to provide better sound insulation from the washer and dryer.

Issue resolved.