The Happy Test

Time Traveller posted this test on her blog. I've always wondered if I was happy or not. I took the test and have been satisfied that I pretty much am. Who knew?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/happiness_formula/4785402.stm

Results: Satisfied

People who score in this range like their lives and feel that things are going well. Of course your life is not perfect, but you feel that things are mostly good. Furthermore, just because you are satisfied does not mean you are complacent. In fact, growth and challenge might be part of the reason you are satisfied. For most people in this high-scoring range, life is enjoyable, and the major domains of life are going well - work or school, family, friends, leisure, and personal development. You can draw motivation from those areas of your life that you are dissatisfied with.

The Green Green Grass of Home

You would think by looking at the pictures this is going to be a post about Easter and my children hunting eggs. Not so much. I just wanted to show that the grass has greened and the grass cutting has already begun. Grrrrrr!

Spring is truly here.

Happy Easter!

Men get scared too

It takes a pretty good horror movie to raise the hair on the back of my neck. Most of them anymore are just blood and guts being thrown all over the screen with a few people or things jumping out at you every few scenes, yawn. I can only recall a few movies that got under my skin in a way I didn't like.

There was that disturbing little boy from The Shining. Redrum! Redrum! That stupid puppet from Magic. Puppets themselves are just plain creepy. Get one to move on its own and you have my attention. And those four strange Teletubbies my kids watch on TV. Could you imagine waking up with one of those things next to your bed? I would honestly die.

Last Saturday night I was at home. The family was down in Florida visiting my son's best friend. I had just sat down to watch TV and this movie trailer came on.

About five minutes later the power went out. It was 10:00 at night, I was home alone in a pitch black house and I didn't know why we had lost power. I can't deny the images of the clip popped into my head a few 100 times. I guess that's one of my worse fears, people with bags over their heads in my house. Luckily the power came back on in just two hours. It seems we had a few tornadoes in the area that had knocked down a few houses and things. It wasn't baghead people cutting my power line. Whew!

So now I can't get that line out of my head from the clip.

Why are you doing this to us?

Because you were home. (So simple it's scary because, well, I'm home sometimes)

Yep, scary stuff, I can't wait to see it.

B I T C H

I hate Heather Mills. I know hate is a harsh word and that is exactly why I used it. Why in the hell does this platinum digger think she is owed Paul McCartney's fortune? Yes they have a child together and the child is certainly entitled to live at the level of her dad but from what I know about Sir Paul there is no doubt that will be taken care of. He raised four children. He has more than proved he values family and takes care of his. The question is, what does Heather Mills deserve for three years of marriage?

I say not much. She has added nothing to Paul's financial wealth or success. No sane person could argue that without Heather Mills Paul's career would have been different. He was stupid for not signing a prenuptial agreement but should his stupidity be her financial gain? Lets face it, if stupidity was always paid for in dollars, most of us would be in bankruptcy by now. I say that the fact that he didn't draw up a contract is proof that he loved her and was expecting the marriage to last. Where can I find evidence of love and long term expectations on her part? I see none.

Apparently the courts agree with me. While the millions she was awarded seems like a lot, it is but a small amount for Paul to be rid of her once and for all. I can only hope for the sake of their child Heather will not try to use their daughter as a pawn to extort more money from Paul. Sadly, I fear this is exactly what she will do. Judging by her reported character, I can foresee years and years of her dragging Paul back to court to shake a little more money from his Apple tree.

So while Paul may be too nice or too scared to say it, I am not. What a bitch. Linda must be turning in her grave. Grrrr!

Mission Accomplished

Coming home one day I noticed something being built through the trees just down the road from my house. I was almost sure I knew what it was but just in case I was wrong I asked the best Special Forces soldier in our house if he would like to go on a recon mission on Sunday.

Jacob, or Sure Shoot as he's known at camp was giddy all week and kept asking what the plan was for the mission. He picked out his best sniper rifle, the one he knew to be the surest shot. Not the cheap plastic one but the nice solid wood one. Every night I arrived home from work to find another objective added to our mission.

Unfortunately on the weekend we plan to go he came down with 104 (f) degree fever. It broke his little heart to miss the mission. Hey even the toughest soldiers get sick. He made me promise not to go and to take him the following weekend. After all, no solider likes to be left behind.

So this past weekend we did it. We met Saturday night to plan our attack. We picked out our clothes, gear and hand signals. Only those with top secret clearance were allowed to hear the plans (sorry mom). We poured over intel on the best way to reach the base without being detected and we set a meeting time to start the mission.

Fully dressed in our camouflage we set out on our quest. We made it all the way to the secret base without being detected. We killed all the enemy we encountered, we laid all the C4 we had and we called in a perfect air strike that demolished the secret base. We even stopped a counter strike that wasn't part of the original plan.

When we arrived back at our home base the head intel officer began to debrief us. She wanted to know what we did and how it went. My son was over the moon with excitement. He recounted the whole experience right down to me sinking up to my knees in mud. Then he ran to tell his brother all about it. The wife looked at me and ask if it was worth all the trouble we went through just to see a hole in the ground. I looked in the next room and saw my son recounting his adventure again. I thought, "mission accomplished."

Loose lips whisper "self-destruction"

After the trip to Mexico the wife brought me some more pieces to the puzzle that has become my sister. The wife told me that after a few drinks my sister pulled out a pair of uncharacteristically loose lips. She spilled the beans about some big secret and continued to tell all (at least I hope it's all) for the rest of the vacation.

Taking the new information and combining it with the stuff she's been saying to me I've reached a conclusion. My sister is losing touch with reality. I keep telling myself it's her life, not to judge. I keep reminding myself that she is an adult fully capable of taking care of herself. I keep forcing myself to stay out of her business. It's not easy.

She divorced her husband last year because he deserved better and she wanted to focus on her career. The big secret she let slip to the wife is that she has been involved with her old high school boyfriend for the past six months. They are totally in love , and meant to be together. So much so that she felt compelled to give him an ultimatum at Christmas. Either he leaves his wife, with whom he has three children, or she moves on. She told my wife that they are soul mates and have actually been together longer than us. Well, other than the ten to twelve years they didn't talk and had separate lives. wtf?

The wife told me my sister spent most of the vacation text messaging him and checking her phone for replies. She never called her children once to talk or check on them. wtf?


All of this gives me concern but apparently to justify her actions she has started revising history. Sometimes in ways that I understand but other ways are quite odd. I knew the husband going from saint to bastard was coming. I get that. What I never expected was a revision of our family history. It seems that no one loved her growing up. She had a terrible childhood, she was abused, both mentally and physically. She resents us all for the treatment she received and since she moved away in 1992 none of us even know who she is anymore.

None of it is true, but just to make sure I'm not the one revising things I asked my brother, his memory matches mine, as does both my parents. I can't even begin to express my disappointment with these recent revelations not to mention my confusion about her childhood memories.

I won't tell my family what's going on because it was told to me in confidence. I would rather not start WWIII. Plus if she feels comfortable talking to the wife I don't want to cut off one of the few avenues she has to discuss her situation. She has mentioned a few things to me lately about our childhood but any attempt I made to point out I remembered it differently was met with a ferocious defense of her position.

She needs help. Maybe even professional help but is unwilling to listen to anyone. I feel like all I can do is sit back and watch her self-destruct. It's not easy.

Show me the money!

CBS News recently reported a story about parents being paid cash incentives to send their children to school. My immediate reaction was this is wrong, wrong, wrong. After more information and a little thought I'm not sure how I feel.

Here are a few of the things that qualify for compensation.

• $50.00 to get your child a library card


• $25.00 to attend a parents teachers conference


• $600.00 if your kid passes a standard test


• $200.00 if your child gets a physical
  

If a family takes advantage of every incentive they could collect $6,000.00 a year for what they should be doing anyway.

So here's where I'm torn. I absolutely believe that parents are responsible for getting their children involved in obtaining an education. Especially when it's provided FREE of charge. Well except for that tax thing they take from us each year. BUT (you knew it was coming didn't ya?) should the child suffer because a parent is too lazy or sorry to care if their child gets an education? Is it the child's fault the parent sees no or little value in being educated?

Also, I don't know how the numbers work out but I would bet that the money paid out today will save ten times that amount in the future. I think an educated child, with a chance at a better life, is less likely to commit crime and be a productive part of society. Thus saving the tax payer money in the form of public defenders, court cost, police work and detention facilities.

So is this the answer? Pay parents to do what's best for their children for the sake of the children. Ah but this is a slippery slope. What about the millions of low-income families that put education as a top priority without getting paid to do so. How would a program like this affect them? Will they start saying "Show me the money"?

Just doing my duty

It's that time of year again. The time of year when I find green boxes of cookies strategical placed everywhere I'm at. Not just any cookie either, delicious Thin Mints. These are those crispy thin wafer cookies, covered in a thin layer of creamy chocolate with just the right hint of mint. They're not messy and just the right size. Even the way they're packaged attracts me to them. All rolled up nice and neat in sleeves of chocolate delight. Damn they're good!

To say I love them might be going a little too far. After all there are laws against that sort of thing in most states. I know they are bad for me, still I can't resist them. Even if I did have the will power to deny myself their sweet tooth killing satisfaction, where I come from you have to eat them. I'm serious, you have to.

They are sold by Girl Scouts which is enough to guilt you into buying them by the truck load. Worse than that I grew up in and still live near Savannah, Georgia. Which, for those who don't know, is the birth place of the Girl Scouts. So you see, I really have no choice but to eat as many as I can, as often as I can. It's the least I can do. It is my civic duty, I shall do it well, for the Scouts of course.

It MUST be me

The wife went to Mexico and I kept the kids for five days. I worked two half days while they were in school and all day Monday, when I picked the wife up from the airport.

Since I'm not normally home during the day and all weekend I couldn't help seeing the situation as a two fold opportunity. The first and most important, watch the kids, provide for their needs and enjoy the extra time I was spending with them. The second and less important opportunity was accomplishing some projects that I was in the middle of or needed to start.

It all went better than I expected. Besides the great quality bonding time I spent with the kids which included camping out in the new playroom. I got a lot done. I all but finished the new playroom, I did some overdue work in the yard and cleaned the house from top to bottom. Between dropping off, picking up, feeding them, packing lunches, changing diapers, washing clothes, and the extra projects. I was one tired Daddy. Did I have a new appreciation of what the wife does? No, I always knew it was a tough job and admired her for doing it.

Monday morning when I left the house for work I wanted it to be in order. I didn't want the wife to come home to a dirty house and a bunch of chores. There was no laundry, no dishes, no beds to be made, nothing. All she had to do was come home, pick up the kids and know that everything had been handled. She would also be surprised at all the projects I finished.

She was happy at the airport. She had a good time despite some issues that happened with my sister. That's another post. She drove me back to work and headed home. There was no call of surprise when she got home. She did thank me for cleaning up when I called her on my way home from work.

When I got home she informed me she was going to make the kids grilled cheese sandwiches and I could fend for myself for dinner. Not a problem, as I was the one who had not taken anything out. Then I reminded her that our oldest doesn't like grilled cheese anymore but he would be happy with cereal. Then she asked if I would cook the grilled cheese sandwiches? Um, ok I suppose. And she wanted me to make her one too. I started making them but it didn't feel right. She just stayed in the kitchen not really doing anything. As I cooked them she asked when was the last time the kids had a bath. I had bathed them Saturday night. She then asked me if I would jump in the shower and bath them? WTF is going on here?

She just had a five day vacation, came home with more done than she could have ever expected and now she doesn't want to lift a finger. Helloooo vacation is over lady. I didn't say anything other than I would pass on the shower with them and I was shocked that she asked. Again no reaction. I was mighty disappointed. We put the kids to bed, no bath just a wipe down and she went to bed.

I didn't expect a pat on the back for watching MY kids and cleaning MY house. I did expect some acknowledgement of all the extra projects I took on and completed. Her having almost zero reaction is just odd. I'm baffled. I wanted her to go and have a good time. I wanted her to relax and not worry about the kids and the house. I thought that by having everything in order when she came home she would realize I was sincere about wanting her to have a complete break from her life. I could have easily let things pile up so that she would have had to do double duty when she came home. I didn't.

I could have lived with her reaction up until she asked me to cook her dinner and bath the kids. She's not normally like that so I'm thinking I missed something. It's either that or it's just me. It must be me.