Merry Christmas everyone.

Groupon

I have put a new banner ad at the top of the page.  Groupon.com is something I stumbled upon about a week ago.  It does one deal a day for each large city.  When enough people (usually 20) have purchased the deal, it gets tipped and it is good to go from then on.  Its group buying power basically.  Refer friends, and if they purchase something within 72 hours, you receive $10 in your Groupon account.  Thought I would pass this along.  They have had a few good deals in Cleveland and Akron the last week.

Where there's smoke, there's fire

I thought I would throw up some pictures taken the day after our fire.  We are now just over a month since it happened.

Here is the dehumidifier in question.  This was the aftermath.  Directly above it is our son, G's room.  So we were very fortunate.

You can see the smoke and broken window.

You can see smoke and soot on the laundry room floor. 

We are extremely fortunate that ther was no structure damage.  Everyone made it out ok, and we did not end up losing a lot. 

What does Christmas actually mean to your family

What does Christmas actually mean to you?

I mean do you have rituals, meals, annual get togethers?

I know that Christmas is a religious holiday.  Set that aside and think about things.  When I first got married and we had A, my father in law and I hit a brick wall about Christmas.  The first ritual I set for my family is:  We do not go anywhere Christmas day.  Our family members are more than welcome to come to our home.  Christmas day may be one of the last days truly left that you can bond with your children.  It's the one day that their attention can be truly directed to you. 

We have started another tradition of having a big dinner on Christmas eve.  Just us 4. 

And what about incorporating our childhood traditions into married life.  Our biggest issue was gifts from Santa.  Mine were never wrapped, so you knew immediately what was from Santa.  B's were wrapped and said from Santa.  Eventually I won that battle.  There is just something about Christmas that makes me a big sap.  I spend more money than I should.  I spoil our kids.  B gripes at me for both those things.  But every year I do it over and over again.  And I love it.  And normally after she sees the enjoyment on Christmas morning she feels a little better about the money spent. 

Enough of my ramblings.  What this post was really about was the traditions hat you can pass along to your kids.  For all the new and veteran parents reading this, if you don't have one, start one.  And if you have one, please keep it up.  These traditions are some of my favorite days of the year.  And the traditions can be simple.  Even if it is every 23rd you load up and drive around and look at lights.  Just enjoy the time with your kids before you are too lame to be seen with them.  Take care.  Merry Christmas.  Happy Hanukkah. 

We are back in, but not settled.

Well we are back in our home.  Although we are living out of boxes, and all of our belongings are basically shoved into the center of each room, there is still no place like home.  The painters have said they will be finished on Thursday, but they will have to come back the following week to do touch ups.  So hopefully we will be sitting up our Christmas tree next weekend.

So I tackled a huge project this weekend, and reaffirmed a lesson I learned long ago.  If it looks easy and simple, it will never work for me.  I replaced our cast iron and galvanized stack that ran from our kitchen sink.  I had read that they make a rubber gasket donut to put in the cast iron hub, then thread your pvc pipe into it.  Well I bought all my items.  Got to work on the project.  45 minutes later I head the old lead packing chiseled out, and took the cast iron pipe out.  Cleaned the hub and grabbed the donut.  Low and behold, the donut did not fit.  We had an odd sized hub on our cast iron pipe.  No donut would fit it.  So I had to find a supply place, and buy oakum and plastic lead and actually set the pipe like the old style.  Well a nice and simple project turned into a day and a half project.  But eventually I got it replaced, tied our washing machine drain line into it, and no leaks!

Moving Day is Tomorrow

So we are finally getting back into our home tomorrow.  We will be stuck on the second floor, but it is atleast home.  G walked around the house yesterday, realizing it was home, but not understanding why everything is boxed up and the house is not normal.  He and A have been great through all this.  Hopefully Santa treats them well this year and makes everything a little brighter.

Winter Wonderland

We got our first taste of Lake Effect Snow this weekend, and it's still going strong.

G thought it was the greatest thing in the world.  This is the first year he can truly enjoy winter and Christmas. 

A down day...

So A was a champ.  I explained what was going on with me.  The foster mom of the dog is actually going to take her back and keep her.  She was pretty upset the night we adopted her.  So I have to give big props to A for understanding and accepting what is going on. 

We are now at day 6 in the hotel from the fire.  Everything is still good.  A has gone back to school.  G is starting to go a little stir crazy with no toys around him.  B has been able to go back to work and catch up.  Speaking of which, have to give her some credit; she was announced employee of the month.  I am very proud of her.  And not just saying that because I know she reads this. 

With this being said, Monday I will get back to my first post.  Documenting our transition from everyday average family to 800 mile separated parents.

A down day as a dad.

So as I commented earlier we adopted a dog for A after she got out of the hospital.  Tomorrow will mark her one week mark with us.  Unfortunately it will be the last day with us.  I have found out that apparently G and I are allergic to her.  G had a small rash that broke out on Sunday.  And I have had mysterious itching since Sunday, that has only grown worse.  We tried to trouble shoot every possible thing that could be wrong.  Hard water at the hotel, the smoke from the house, but alast I think it can only be one thing.  So I go from hero to zero in a week.  I am hoping she will understand.  And I am sure she will, but again it might take awhile to get over it.  So I will update after we tell her...

Ok so back to it...

I see I have been getting a little traffic here.  That is great.  So let me apologize to all of you for only having the one post on here.  As most of you probably know, I have had one hell of a month.  With the daughter being in the hospital for 11 days, we adopted a dog for her Saturday the day after she got out, and low and behold Sunday morning 2 am we had a small house fire.  Our dehumidifier caught fire and create a lot of smoke and soot damage.  Structure is just fine.  But we do have a lot of clean up.  Thankfully we have excellent insurance.  I will recommend MetLife to anyone.

I have started a new group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEO_Dads/.  I was having trouble finding active groups in my area, so I took it upon myself to get something going.  This group is mainly for us SAHDs, but I am not limiting it to that.  Stay at home moms, grandparents, or aunts and uncles are all welcome to join the group. 

So for those of you that are stopping by, thank you.  If you have any suggestions on the blog, let me know.  This is my attempt at anything like this.  The blog, the group, and yes I am even going to sign up for facebook to help promote the group.  So any help from you vets out there is greatly appreciated.

Tomorrow I will try and get back to my story from the first post and catch up. 

Just an introduction

Hello all!  I am new to this world of blogging.  I think I am catching it on the end, which is about where my technology lies.  Now do not get me wrong, I love the gadgets and the new equipment, but do not go along with most of the social networking.  Anyways this blog will be about me, a SAHD (Stay At Home Dad), and my family. 

This will include my experiences since I am a freshman.  Been on the job for a wee 5 months.

So to start a little background.  I was in sales for 10 years.  The last seven being a sales manager.  My lovely and intelligent wife B in the time, managed to amass 3 BS degrees and a Masters.  She accepted a new position 800 miles away from home, and was gone in two weeks.  This left me in my current position, SAHD.  While we had discussed this as an option, we did not have preparation ready for a quick two week lead in.  I remember driving her the 800 miles, helping her settle in to her extended stay hotel, and then flying home the next day.  We had been married for 12 years and had never spent more than two nights awayfrom each other.  Here I am alone, taking care of A - 11 and G- 9 mos.

Our game plan:
1. Quickly complete the finish of our walk out basement
2. Sell our existing home
3.  Find our new home
4.  Be reunited as a family by the July 1st.

I will let you know how this game plan worked out tomorrow...