Dead Deer and Wedding Vows

This past Saturday (Jan 27, 2007) was the 2nd Annual Wild Game Feast thrown by everybody’s friend Chuck. Last year was the kick off of this now annual event and if you recall last year’s event, you’ll remember that Shot:30 played and it was a blast.

Chuck is a great guy. He had so much fun with Shot:30 last year that he asked us on the spot to play the 2007 feast. Of course we said yes. Then as you all know Shot:30 self-destructed before the end of 2006. Band Mom got a call from Chuck in September or October to confirm Shot:30…oops. We thought maybe at the time that the currently unnamed project #1 could maybe come up with a few sets of music in time. Well that didn’t happen as we still didn’t have a bass player.

Then we found out in December that not only was this the Wild Game Feast, Chuck was going to tie the knot at this one as well. (Long story short, his mom is real sick and didn’t think she would make it to the original October date that Chuck had set for his wedding). Chuck made sure to invite us all anyway ’cause he’s that kinda guy.

So, Saturday, Band Mom and I headed out to the Ellsworth Fire Hall around 3:30 to check out the festivities. When we got there, Rock was already there so we sat with him. Chuck got JJ to DJ the early portion of the event and booked The Rain Dogs to play starting at 8. The wedding colors were Harley black and orange. A little after 4 Chuck and the bride to be showed up on a hog that he drove right through the door of the hall while JJ spun Born To Be Wild! Chuck was dressed in a tux with tails and as only he could do, the back of the tux jacket was emblazoned with his butcher shop logo and motto in Harley orange.

They had a JOP do the ceremony, and then the food showed up. Unfortunately Band Mom and I couldn’t stay to eat since our babysitter (Pooh) was heading back to her dads between 6 and 7. So we said our good-byes and headed out a little before six. Chuck thanked us for coming and offered us a plate to go (bypassing the line of course) so we could get some grub. We declined, but congratulated Chuck and thanked him for the invite.

I haven’t talked to Rock since, but I’m betting the rest of the evening was a blast. So congrats again Chuck and Stacy!

Late Night Rearranging

Friday night the family spent the evening in. I was working on some client work. Around 11 o’clock I heard some banging and cursing from upstairs. I went up to see what was going on. There was Band Mom starting to rearrange the bedroom. She got the itch, and decided that late on a Friday night it was time to do this. So I grudgingly decided to help. A few hours later the room was flipped around. We weren’t doing anything earlier in the evening, but Band Mom always gets these urges at odd hours.

the room is closer to the way it was when I first started dating Band Mom now. It takes a little getting used to. I keep going upstairs and turning to where the bed used to be instead of where it is. I’m sure in a few days that will no longer be a problem, but for now its a little weird.

Thing 1 turns 7!

Saturday was Thing 1’s birthday. She turned 7. We threw her party at CiCi’s Pizza this year. It was pretty nice. They have a large room in the back for parties, and a small game room with video games and air hockey.

We had about 14 kids there and 11 adults and it cost us less than last year’s party. Thing 1 had a bunch of kids from school there as well as some family and family friends. She made out like a bandit. If anyone has stock in Bratz dolls and accessories, your stock probably rose 10 fold after that party.

I think she had fun. After her party we headed to another birthday party like last year. This one was at a bowling alley. The kids had a good time bowling and eating more pizza. After that party we stopped at EB Games to pick up some extra GameCube controllers so we could enjoy my and Band Mom’s big present for Thing 1, Mario Party 7.

When we got home Band Mom and Pooh ended up taking a nap so I played Mario Party 7 with Things 1 & 2. It was pretty fun and easy enough for Thing 2 to play with us. It also came with a microphone that allows some of the mini-games to be played using voice commands which Things 1 & 2 just thought was the shit.

All in all a pretty good day. I think soon we are going to need to buy a new house just to house the birthday and Christmas gifts that Things 1 & 2 get every year.

What the hell is a parathyroid?

Answer: Something my mom had removed on Wednesday.

Wednesday, my mom had surgery to remove a defective parathyroid. Apparently she had hyperparathyroidism and this “simple” surgery would correct it. I quoted the “simple” there because the surgery was supposed to be a 1 hour quickie and turned into a closer to 5 hour ordeal. When the doctor got in to remove the gland, it wasn’t where it was supposed to be. He had to dig around a bit to find it, but eventually did and while he was in there removed some other stuff too.

I left work a little early to head to the hospital to see how things were going. She was doing pretty well all things considered. They actually let her go home around 7 pm. She has a follow up appointment in a few weeks, but all in all things look pretty good.

Happy New Year! 2007

Monday was January 1 2007. Its again a new year. I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year.

It was my last day off for the holiday break so I took advantage by lazing around all day, playing some games with Things 1 & 2 and oh yeah playing some Guitar Hero II. Tuesday its back to work.

Nothing else major today, just wanted to wish all a Happy New Year.

New Year's Eve

New Year’s Eve, and for the third year in a row Band Mom is involved with the Chamber‘s Skate Night festivities. So we have to be at the Iceoplex by 3 to begin prep. We leave the house early to head out to BFE to pick up Pooh’s boyfriend. We get the the joint a little before 3 and start blowing up balloons for the balloon drop. We get the balloons filled and the net stretched across the field.

This year I got the joy of manning the downstairs concessions for the evening. The good part about this is I didn’t have to run around too much and I didn’t have to monitor the soccer field activities to keep kids out of trouble.

My folks showed up with Things 1 & 2 around 6 for the fun. My dad was going to take them skating, but Thing 1 chickened out because a few weeks ago she and a friend were playing on ice in the street and she took a spill and got a bloody nose. Now she’s afraid to go out on the ice because she might fall and get another bloody nose.

I think everyone had fun. There was the skating of course, the soccer field, pottery throwing, and a story room thanks to BPW and their president who works at Borders.

We got out of there a little later than last year, but still made it home in time to watch the ball drop. This year we didn’t go anywhere for a New Year’s Eve party, it was just me, Band Mom, and Things 1 & 2 watching the ball on TV.

Oh and guess what after the kids went to bed (and so did Band Mom) I stayed up for a while and played Guitar Hero II some more…

Happy Birthday Bim

New Year’s Eve Eve…Band Mom’s Mom wanted to take us and my folks out to lunch/dinner today as a payback for my Mom hosting Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner. So we all loaded up and went to a Chinese buffet in West Mifflin. After dinner Things 1 & 2 went home with my folks to spend the night. Band Mom, Pooh and I took Band Mom’s Mom home then headed back to the buffet.

We weren’t eating again. We were meeting Bim and Bo so we could all head out to Dave & Busters to celebrate Bim’s birthday. We got there and had a ball. Pooh plays the tickets game like a blue hair on the slots in AC. Just keeps dropping tokens in for hours. I ended up hitting some big jackpots on the ticket games and in just a few games got like 2500 tickets. Bim, Bo, Band Mom and I played some of the linked racing games. Note: never let Band Mom drive a real Harley…

After about 4 hours or so at D & B’s we took Bim and Bo back to their car and headed home ourselves. It was a pretty fun evening and again…Happy Birthday Bim.

The week after Christmas…

I had some vacation days I had to use or lose so I took the week between Christmas and New Year’s off. The kids were also out of school that week so we got to all stay home and play with our new goodies from Christmas. I also did some work since I’m working on a pretty big project for a long time customer. However, I did spend most of my time staying up too late playing Guitar Hero II.

Tuesday night we were back at my folks’ house to have Christmas with my Aunt, Uncle and 2 cousins. We did the gift exchange thing and had some dinner. They got Guess Who? for Thing 1 and my cousins ended up playing that with Things 1 & 2 for over an hour. It was a pretty good time. Of course after that we headed home and I had to play moreGuitar Hero II.

I was able to beat the Medium level. I used the cash I won to “buy” all of the bonus songs and most of the guitars. I also got 5 stars on all of the Easy songs (including 2 perfects). I’m now working on getting all 5 stars on the Medium songs. As of now Hard is kicking my ass.

Band Mom just kept laughing at me and saying it was a silly game. Thursday night I got her to give it a try and she ended up playing for over 3 hours. Friday, she had to pick up Pooh after rifle practice and Pooh and her boyfriend were going to spend the day at our house. On the way home Band Mom stopped at Wal Mart to pick up some supplies. While she was there she picked up a wireless guitar controller so we could play 2 player. Which we did for hours. Its pretty cool you can play cooperative or head to head. Of course both being competition junkies we had to play head to head. Good Times…

Also during the week we watched 2 of Band Mom’s DVDs, The DaVinci Code and X-Men The Last Stand. Both pretty good…Except X-Men deviated from the comic/classic 90’s cartoon story line a bit.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Day! Thing 1 & I were up first and it didn’t take much to get Thing 2 up. Then Band Mom got up so we headed downstairs to see what goodies Santa brought. I think the kids were happy this year. Santa brought them each some dolls and accessories while Mom and Dad got them an I Can Play Piano and a Nintendo Gamecube. Band Mom got 2 charms from the girls for her charm bracelet, a book from Pooh, a coffee maker and STTNG: The Picard Collection from me. I got Lost Season 2 and Star Wars Battlefront II from Things 1 & 2 and some cologne from Pooh. Also Thing 1 got me a #1 Dad screw driver set from her school’s Santa’s workshop. The biggie though was Band Mom got me Guitar Hero II bundle pack with a guitar controller.

We all took a few hours to laze around and try out some of our new toys. Around 3 we headed up to pick up Band Mom’s Mom and then we headed over to my folks for dinner. Pooh got there around the same time as us after spending the early part of the day with her dad. We got and gave even more goodies with my folks, my sister and Band Mom’s Mom. The kids were thrilled since my sisters present was a new bike for Thing 1 (hers got stolen this summer) and a razor scooter for Thing 2. We hung out till 11 o’clock or so. Then we dropped the kids at home and took Band Mom’s Mom home.

Back home and guess what. I played GHII till some ungodly hour. (completed Easy mode…time to move to Medium tommorrow)

I hope everyone had a good Christmas!