I’m Not a Slacker

I can’t decide which one to post so today you get two Dumbass Parents of the Day stories!

Nobody makes mac and cheese like mom used to make and a jigger full of vodka makes the medicine go down.

This weekend should be interesting, I’m going on a 20 year Boy Scout troop camping reunion.
It will be interesting not because of the people I’ll be with, most of who I still talk to on a regular basis, but because I haven’t done any serious camping in years and its supposed to be pretty freaking cold! (Upper 20s-high 30s)

What I’ve really been thinking about is if I stay from Friday night to Sunday morning it will be BY FAR the longest time I have been away from Gavin since he was born. I do need the break and Aubrey will enjoy the time taking care of him without me looking over her shoulder, but I’m afraid I’m going to be bored without my little buddy to hang out with me. He’s become so much of a part of my day to day activities I won’t know what to do if he’s not around to talk to or play with. lol

I was doing a PC cleanup job, and when looking up the virus Downloader.Ramex.A I came across this site and it made me laugh.

For about the 10th time in 19 months I was asked, “Are you two having a guys day out?” while in the checkout line with Gavin at Costco today.

So now I have a question to any Moms (stay at home or not) who happen to read this blog. Have you ever EVER been out with your kid(s) and have someone ask if you’re having a “day out”?

We leave the house about 10:30 to get stuff done. We go to the post office, drop off the water bill and then stop by my mom’s house. Both my mom and dad were home and they wanted to play with Gavin so we stayed about 45 minutes as they (tried) to take pictures of him and the fallen tree. Finally I say we have to leave and head out to Shop and Save since it was a $10 off coupon day. To foreshadow how the trip went I’ll begin by saying that Gavin was just about asleep when I finally found a parking spot.

We go in the store and its like Thanksgiving Eve where all the amateurs are out. Carts blocking isles, people wandering about at random, stockers blocking isles with empty hand carts. It was a mess. I was wandering around too since S&S puts unrelated products in the same row. After about 15 minutes Gavin starts to get really sleepy and does his usual sleep meltdown, trying to take his coat off, screaming and fussing about. I had to make 3 laps around the store trying to find popcorn. I forgot what isle it was in exactly but I remember passing cheese and magazines in the same row.

After finally finding the popcorn I head to the checkout line and it was a disaster. Every line was backed up 9-10 carts deep. Gavin is still spazzing out and trying to find a way to take a nap in the cart. After 10-15 minutes of standing in line we finally get our stuff on the belt and either the cashier was hungover or it was his first day on the job because it seemed like it took 15 minutes to scan our stuff and they don’t even have to bag it for you!

Finally we get out of the store and I can’t put the cart by the car to unload since the spot I picked was on a hill and the cart would keep rolling away. I put Gavin in his carseat and move the cart someplace stable and carried the bags over to my car.

Gavin falls asleep rather quickly on the way home until we get to the house and the lawn guy is driving around on a huge commercial riding mower chopping up the leaves which wakes Gavin up on the way to the house but fortunately he falls right back asleep as soon as I put him in his bed.

So, how was your day?

I don’t know whats worse. Worrying about a 5 month old that sucks its thumb or trying to make her stop by using chili powder!

My money is on the chili powder.

I’m growing the opposite of a playoff beard, I’m not going to shave until they win a game. Good thing I don’t have to work with the public.

Today has been an interesting day so far. I wanted to give blood at the St. Louis Rams blood drive at The Heights today so I packed up Gavin and on the way stopped to have breakfast at Jack in the Box. While I was drinking my orange juice I noticed the side of the carton.

Click image to enlarge

That is why I eat there. The customer service.

After breakfast we head out to donate blood which just happes to be the same place Gavin goes to playgroup every week or so. As soon as we enter the parking lot he starts yelling “NARNIA, NARNIA, PLAY KIDS, PLAY PLAY NARNIA” I told him that no, we weren’t going to play today and he would have to sit in his stroller and be good for daddy.

The blood drive moved very quickly and smoothly and I was done about 30 minutes after I got there (due mostly to the fact I can fill up one of those bags in about 4 minutes) so we sat down and ate some pizza, pretzels and his new favorite snack, RAISINS! I could tell he was bored and tired so we left and as we walked to the car I found some money laying by the curb next to one of the radio station vans. I look in the van to see if anyone was there and picked up the two bucks and put it in my pocket thinking the whole time that it is a setup by one of the morning shows. Nobody punk’d me so we get in the car and he falls asleep before we leave the lot.

Sometimes I think I’m crazy for bring Gavin along to some of the stuff I do, but since nothing much bothers him and he’s such a flirt its easy to keep him occupied during those times you need to get stuff done.

Gavin decided to be social last night and throw an all night pajama party. You know the kind where everyone dresses up like they are going to sleep but instead stays up all night talking and drinking and telling stories. Boy what fun! It was a very exclusive list of invitees too, I felt really special. One he decided to get the party rolling I was invited. “DADDY DADDY” Then after I showed up it wasn’t enough so mommy was brought into it for a while. Mommy had to get up early so she was a party pooper and left early.

Gavin really knows how to throw a party! He was going non-stop from 1am to 5:30am before he finally called it quits and had to take a nap. I think I hear him again. Probably wants to go get something to eat after such a long night out.

There are a lot of things I fell I am am good at. I can take care of my son, I can keep the up with the business of running a house, I am very good at computer troubleshooting, fairly proficient at photography when the mood strikes, and I can make a mean smoked pork.

Things I am not good at: Typing, drawing, yardwork, and making things out of wood.

The reason I mention this is that I want to build Gavin a computer desk. I have the perfect design in my head as to what I want but I can’t build it myself and won’t be able to explain it to anyone by drawing a picture.

Basically I want a regular desk (Gavin sized) but have a wooden wall in front of the monitor so he can’t grab it and knock it on the floor. The wall would also hide the speakers and the computer would fit in a hole in the back.

Its probably easy as hell to make and maybe one day I might get it done, but for now its driving me crazy since I want to give Gavin his own computer but I also want it to be safe for him to use.