Hey Good Catholics.........

I hope everyone remembered to get there ashes today (Ash Wednesday). We all attended the school mass this morning. As always, this is definitely a day of penetance for me (ixnay on eating fish or cheese). I have now had 4 tuna salad sandwiches. I am certain I cut some time off of purgatory.

Oh, and THE REDS WON THE FIRST GAME OF SPRING TRAINING!!!! I know, it doesn't mean anything but man you got to love Marty and The Cowboy on the radio. The line on Homer Bailey: 1 inning, no runs, no hits 8 pitches, 2 strikeouts, one ground out. That is the Homer we are looking for. GO REDLEGS!!!

Patrick's on 19....

Tonight Patrick's tiger cub den went on a tour of WXIX Fox 19. We got to visit the set, learn about production, and see the behind the scenes working of a television station. We got to meet Dan Carroll and Steve Horstmeyer. We learned how the weatherman does his weather in front of a big green screen and has to look off to his left and right to see what it is that he is pointing to. (No Aunt Julie, we did not inform him as to how inaccurate Cincinnati weathermen tend to be. These are Tiger Cubs and we are working on polite and respectful.) We found it interesting that the Channel 19 News set is EXTREMELY small. The weather desk, news desk, green screen, and the stage where they set in the three chairs for the morning broadcast would all fit in an area slightly larger than our basement. Patrick got to shake hands with Steve Horstmeyer's skeleton, and his favorite story is about how Steve does his skeleton broadcast every Halloween. We also learned that the Big Switch fiasco (your incredibly organized, efficient federal government at work) is costing Channel 19 an additional $40,000 ($10K per month) due to keeping both the analog and digital broadcasts going. They did not like my idea of putting sports and weather in the first 10 minutes of the news. Oh, and the call letters are WXIX because XIX is 19 in Roman numerals. And they DID have problems with the audio and video syncing up when they first went Hi Def ( I knew I wasn't crazy). The problem is worked out with Dish Network, over the air, and cable. If you have DirectTV you could still see it occasionally and you are ENCOURAGED to complain to DirectTV as it is a problem with their system. Here are some pics:

Nothing says "I Love You" like.....

Yeah, turns out my sister, who has been married to Chris since August 12, 2000, DOES NOT put an "e" after the "o" in her sir name. You will not find the blog cronically my sister's family if you type www.schroedertimes.com. Follow that link and see. So, nothing says "I love you Sis" like the inability to spell your last name correctly after nearly nine years.

The Weekend...Idiots, China, and Project Office

I know, I know.....EVERYONE wants to know, "What did those zany Wagner's do this weekend?" Well, Friday night we went to Grandma and Grandpa Moes for some ham and mashed potatos. The big event of the night, Big Daddy Wags went all Grumpy Old Man on the way home. NO MOTHER, not with my own children, but with some kid on Greenwell Avenue (the first road back into our neighborhood from Mr. Alverno).



Typical Friday night, many useless little, er, uh...I mean early teenage children congregated in a driveway. When Molly drives by in the minibus, one decides to run alongside the van to see if he can run as fast. I lost it, told Molly to stop the van, and jumped out. It is SO FUN to strike fear in the hearts of those little heathens that deserve it. Like cockroaches when the light comes on, they run for the garage. I proceed to the front door and begin knocking (pounding really). Junior answers with Mom in tow. "May I help you?" I am in no mood and lay into Junior with Mom caught more than a little off guard. "I was just crossing the street," says Junior. "Your an idiot and a liar," says I. Now mom is in Mama Bear mode. Fair enough. I explain, over top of Juniors pathetic excuses, what he did and how it is a very good way to die. Mind you, it is about 8:55 at night, so young Junior is a little hard to see running down the road. Mom assures me that when Dad gets home there will be a lengthy discussion. Who knows, but I doubt Junior wants to ever see me again. And maybe he'll think twice before being a complete idiot the next time.




Saturday I got to have some great time with Patrick in the morning. We made run to Lowes to get a board for a new shelf. We had a blast looking at tools, parts for a playset, new grills, and generally clowning around. It was during our time looking at the pre-packaged playsets that my avid little reader noticed MADE IN CHINA on the box. "Made in China, that stinks. It's probably junk," says Patrick. Gotta love him. So later we are looking at some shovels, because what 6 year old boy doesn't like shovels. MADE IN CHINA, right on the neck of the shovel. "Is EVERYTHING made in China?" asks Patrick. From the mouths of babes. So, we looked hard and were able to find on shovel that was Made in USA. He gave me his blessing to buy that kind should we need a shovel. Patrick is a big fan of protectionism at this point in his socio-economic viewpoint development. From what I read he would be bad for the global economy. I still bought him some gum and a candybar (both made in the US) for the ride home (in our Chevy Silverado, manufactured at Fort Wayne Assembly in Ft. Wayne, IN).


This brings us to the Office Project. Here is our office before:


And actually, this is after some of the work had been started. This began at approximately 1:00 pm. Files were emptied, garbage bags were filled, and furniture was moved, sometimes more than once. On a good note, I got the chance to use the table saw Dad gave me (Thanks Pop) to cut out the new shelve in the recessed bookcase so any day you spend time in the shed with a saw is a good one. At 8:30 I was mentally drained so I completed my portion today. Here is what it looks like now:





It is actually very hard to represent in a picture the full extent of this purging and reorganization, but the most telling fact is Molly's comment today: "I actually like to be in this room now." Oh, and if any of my Briarpatch brethren are checking in, the club trophy is on the wall, in MY OFFICE, where it was naturally meant to be!!!












Other than that, pretty low key weekend. Kurtis did a science experiment where he looked at micrometeorites in rain water under his microscope, which was pretty cool. Here is the mad scientist at work:


The Katelyn quote for the weekend (and there were plenty to choose from) came Saturday afternoon. She is on the couch, still in PJs, into what is likely her 4th hour of toonies. I walk in and say, "What's that smell? I think I smell your brain cooking into mush." Without missing a beat she says, "Nope. Mom's cooking spaghetti."

I'm Learning.......

Things I am learning now that I have started a blog:

1) Video is only to be uploaded in small quantities (that lesson was learned last night)

2) People actually expect you to update it

3) You start to go through the day wandering if the thing that just happened is "blog worthy"

4) If it was "blog worthy", how can I make the posting funny and witty

5) 10 year old boys REALLY want to be involved in blogging

6) 37 year old men are slow on the uptake when it comes to technology


Now, a quick update on our life....

Patrick woke up and promptly threw up. He then sat in front of the toilet for about and hour crying about his aching stomach. The line of the day (in very pitiful 6 year old) "I just want to throw up, I know I'll feel better." But alas, to no avail. Nurse Katelyn Nightingale then administered to his every whim all day. He didn't even have to reach for his crackers; she was right there to hand them to him. By the time I returned from the frozen tundra that is Columbus, Ohio he was feeling well enough to eat a sloppy joe sandwich, play MarioKart, and do some bizarre celebration dance at the table. I think school will be attended tomorrow.

Kurtis is asking that everyone note he has finished the Pirates book and has moved on to Inkheart. He is also working on a journal. He recently got the book "The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones" at 1/2 priced books (thanks Grandma Kathy). He is chronicling the sickness of Patrick as we speak.

Patrick's Valentine's Day

Here is a little video of Patrick taking yet another step toward manhood.......the losing of the first tooth. The tooth fairy was right on schedule with a note, a dollar, and a pack of Star Wars Clay Action figures (this is gold in our house). Ventriss and Count Dooku for those of you scoring at home. What would have been even better video was Dad squirming as he got the heeby-jeebies from watching the whole thing. I DO NOT like teeth, the care of, the extraction of, or especially the wiggling back and forth of when the tooth is being held on by one or two roots.



Oh and yes, Kurtis is quickly becoming the family photographer. This is a good thing as Molly and I usually remember to take a picture about 3 days after an event takes place.

First Post.....

Well, I've spent time checking out everyone else's so I thought I would take a crack at making one for our family, especially since half of my in-laws are out of the country. Not sure how often I will update it, but hopefully it will at least force me to occasionally take stock in the wonderful life that sometimes I feel is flashing past me. Maybe it will even make me take a few more pictures of our everday life (we'll see). Probably the best thing I can do is get some input from my lovely wife, without whom this wonderful life would not be possible. Please comment as you like (yes Mom, you too!!).