September 8, 2011

That one song

By Simon

Sweet

That one song 

You know what I am talking about.  That one song that no matter what you are in the middle of it makes you wish you were driving down the road with the windows down and the volume up?  For me it is Dixie Land Delight by the country group Alabama.  I am not much of a country music fan but every time I hear this song I want to take off my shoes, drag my couch onto the lawn and drink every beer in the house.  Maybe you have a more subdued reaction and I will admit that while the mood has struck me, the furniture has always stayed in its place.  What is your feel good song?

Weak 

Sock seams 

I will start with the fact that I am not a big fan of socks in general.  I think that I have only worn them 5 times in the last 5 months.  Living in the glorious south has its privileges.  There are, however, times that you can’t get around  them, especially with cooler weather around the corner.  I have managed to mitigate poor sock craftsmanship for the most part and have found the brands that do the job.  My 5-year-old daughter?  Not so much.  She takes after me in that she has a general disdain for socks but her battles with that little seam at the end of the sock are epic.  I am talking room full of tossed aside socks, tears rolling down cheeks, can’t get right kind of struggles.  I am only now wondering why we continue to take those discarded devices of foot torture and put them back in the drawer.  It is like leaving yourself a special surprise treat that you will discover one day down the road when you are already 10 minutes late and haven’t even left the house.  My daughter takes a very deliberate approach to positioning her sock just right so no part of the seam spends the rest of the day mocking her by tickling her pinky toe.  We have found some that are better and some that are worse but for her it always seems to be a game-time decision.   I guess in the same way that the little unexpected joys are often the most appreciated, it is sometimes the pet peeves that do the exact opposite.

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September 6, 2011

The Snuggle Sandwich

By Simon

Totally Sweet:

Snuggling with your fam

Snuggle sandwiches.  Yesterday was a rainy Sunday and in my house that means you crack a window and try to catch a short nap while listening to the rain drops.  I had just put the baby down and saw my wife and daughter in our bed. I laid down next to my daughter and my wife and I each gave her a good long hug.  That is until a squeaky voice from the middle piped up and said “Hey breads! This bologna is getting smushed!”  How great is that?  Every family has their fun silly moments, the ones that will be remembered years down the road during serious or sad times that the mood needs to be lifted and smiles need to sneak their way into rooms that they weren’t invited.  I am keeping that one tucked away for just one of those times when one of them need it I will look at my wife or daughter and remind them of snuggle sandwiches and smushed Bologna.

Really Weak:
Urinal Talkers
I don’t know if the women’s room has stall talkers but in the men’s room there is a certain segment of the population that deems that moment in front of the urinal as their daily social mixer.  I love friendly exchanges and greetings and asking how someone’s day is going but for this brief moment, I am kind of busy.  I need to focus just a little bit and sometimes I feel weird talking to you with my hands…..er full.  Lets all just agree right now that the sink is the place to exchange your daily greeting and get your friendliness on.  I am not trying to be rude just focusing on the task at hand.  Deal?  Deal.  Let’s also stop pretending that the person on the other end of your cell phone doesn’t know exactly what is going on.  Seriously?!? do you want to risk having the potential sounds that go on in that room providing the background music to your telephone call?  You know who you are, guy in the stall taking care of business in more ways than one.

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September 6, 2011

Vessels of Delicious

By Simon
Totally Sweet:
Food used as dishes.
I am talking delicious broccoli cheese soup in a bread bowl and fruit salad in a watermelon viking ship.  Nothing says a cleaned plate like no more plate at all.  Is there anything better than breaking off pieces of that taco salad tortilla bowl soaked in the residual awesomeness that has trickled to the base of your edible dish and infused its flavors into your once bland taco vessel?  The ice cream cone is probably the king of edible dishes and for good reason.  Sometimes I would rather scrape the towering two scoops off into a trash can and avoid the whole liking ice cream off of my elbows as it melts to enjoy the crunchy goodness of the cone.  But alas, the cone only reaches it’s apex of cuisine once the ice cream has had the time to settle and fill every nook and cranny. Food as a dish makes me happy.  Red bell peppers full of veggie dip, halved oranges full of sweet potato souffle, ground beef plates with hamburgers on top……wait.  Food as a dish gives you a subtle assurance that once you are done with the thing you are eating, you don’t have to be done eating.  That soup was good but this soup drenched bread bowl is the piece de resistance.
Weak:
Little flashing lights.
If I dream about space it is because once the last light in my house is turned out for the night my bedroom looks like mission control for a shuttle launch.  Two alarm clocks, multiple phone, ipad, camera, computer chargers, routers, monitors, etc.  The list goes on and my wife and I often are up in the middle of the night turning things to face away from us or folding squares of paper to cover the lights.  My favorite is hearing my wife ask “why did you move that chair?’  “What chair?  I ask.” The desk chair that blocks the light from that usb thingy hanging out of the computer, you moved the chair about 3 inches and now the light is flashing right in my eyes while I try to fall asleep!” I hate to complain because I love technology (like a lot) and our household enjoys lots of conveniences and entertainment that technology brings but Jeez Oh Pete tech companies, you can design something that puts everything in the entire world in my pocket but we still have to have a little blinking green light waking us up at night?

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