Family Christmas...

This Saturday is my family's (by family I mean my brother and sisters) Christmas gathering which we fondly call "The Laughlin Family Christmas".

We have been doing this for quite a few years now. Each year we gather up all the kids from the four of us (there are currently 11 kids), our significant other's and any pets or friends and go to one of the family residences and eat, exchange gifts, visit and play games. Last year we had the gathering at my oldest daughter's, "One," new home. This year the holiday festivities are being held at my brother's house. My youngest sister rents the basement of my brother's place, so it technically could be her house too, but she doesn't really own it and since she is the youngest sibling, we usually don't count her anyway. (Kidding "Bugga"!)

We have a "Secret Santa" gift exchange for the old people (16 and over). The names are picked sometime around Memorial day or shortly there after. Since it is a biological trait of our family to have no short term memory, by December no one recalls who they are supposed to get a gift for, which makes one think that the secret part wouldn't work very well. However it works fine because the same lack of memory cells also means no one retains any recollection of an overheard secret name! We did finally learn to assign one person the task of keeping the official list, otherwise we would be completely lost. Anyway, we are all on a tight budget (seemingly every year), so we try to keep the cost of the gifts reasonable, at the $25 range.

The kids (those under 16) however, make out really good. They each get multiple gifts. They get a gift from each of their Aunt and Uncle pairs, except that my youngest sister currently doesn't have a guy yet so there are only three uncles... and Sweetie isn't officially an Aunt yet, but she's pretty close, so there are only three aunts. Sometimes there are a few extra gifts given out if a friend or other family member decides to be generous.

The last couple of years, we started a second "gag gift" exchange for the "old folks" called a "White Elephant"... I don't know where the name came from, but we usually have a fun time with that, probably more fun with that than the regular gift exchange.

The group shares the cooking or at least the food purchases. This year, as with most years since my ham incident (oh yeah, I haven't written about that yet), I don't cook. I am pretty good at getting snack type items like pop (soda for those in the rest of the country), chips, pretzels, etc. There is usually always plenty of food, and tons of people to eat it, and not too much goes to waste.

This year is the first Christmas without our Mom. She passed away earlier this year (no I didn't write about it). I never had a close relationship with my mom, because I was raised by my grandmother, but she was a good person, with a good heart, and I will miss her unique personality this year. I will also miss the noodles, and deviled eggs she made each year... My Dad passed away many years ago, my grandparents who raised me have also passed, so I am officially an orphan. That is if you can consider a man in his 4Th decade with 4 kids a orphan.

After the food and gift exchange, and when most people are still blind from the repeated flashes from the cameras, we decide to relax and visit or play games. Almost every year someone gets a game as a gift, so we usually hang out until late in the evening gaming, and picking on our youngest sister.

Anyone have any unique holiday traditions they care to share?

Later Lou

Back to work...

The weekend is over. My nephew came over Friday night, and stayed until late Saturday night. I took him to his Flag Football game, and his Indoor Soccer game. He had a great time at both, but unfortunately neither of his teams got a win. He had the most fun with his new PlayStation 2 game: "LEGO: Star Wars" that his Dad picked up for him earlier in the day before he came to my place. It is a two player game, and he convinced me, and "Two" to play the game with him most of weekend, that is when he wasn't doing Football or Soccer.

Saturday was full of driving. I got up early to take "Two" to work, then took my nephew to his games, with a stop back at home in between to change, and then picked up "Two" from work late afternoon. After "Two" got home, we had decided to go to see the 'Bee Movie'. After about two minutes of the movie, I wanted to put in ear plugs. Jerry Seinfield's whiny voice was in every scene. I liked the TV show "Seinfeld", but this movie wasn't "Seinfeld." To be honest, the movie is very cute, but it's very, very, very much designed to appeal to a very, very young audience. I had a hard time tolerating the movie. The youngest two of the group, "Four" and my nephew loved it. Everyone else thought it was lame, and stupid. This was definitely not a movie I will be adding to the DVD library. Sunday was not as full, it was kind of a "lazy day". I did have to get up and take "Two" to work early, and pick him up late afternoon, but other than that, the day was pretty quiet. "Three" and "Four" went back to "Ex's" place when I picked up "Two" from work. So most of the evening was just him and I. As I left to go pickup "Two" from work, and I was going to the car, my tennant was going into her apartment. I stopped her and said "Hi", and asked how she was doing. She said she was ok, but that she needed to talk with me. I hoped it was in regards to her paying her rent from October, and now November. I was right, but not in the way I had hoped. She told me that they were moving out, and they would be out by this Thursday. As a matter of fact, her daughter had already found another apartment and had left, and she would be gone already if she could be. She felt unsafe in the apartment because apparently someone left her door unlocked and someonelse came into the house and took some pills and some money, and they did it all within 5 minutes. Now, I have lived in my duplex for over 3½ years now, and I have never had a single problem. I am not dismissing her, or suggesting that she didn't lose the money and pills... I am only wondering two things: 1) How did they know they could get into the house and out within 5 minutes, that there was money and pills, and exactly where they were (house wasn't trashed) 2) Why didn't the thief take anything else worth more money? I told her that I was sorry to hear about her problems, and I expressed my displeasure at not being informed, as I could have done something to help her be more secure by installing a security system or something. The real kicker to the whole conversation wasn't that she was moving out, as that will probably be a good thing... The kicker was that she said she will have to pay her back rent in "payments". My mortgages and utilities don't accept payments... oh wait... they already ARE payments! :-) I am betting that since she plans on being out by this Thursday, Nov 8th, that she will feel she doesn't owe November's rent... (sigh) I am really beginning to not like being a landlord. So to solve the immediate needs I have to advertise the apartment again, and as soon as she moves out completly, I need to clean it and get it rented out again! Hopefully it doesn't need any major repairs, because I haven't the foggiest idea where I would get the cash for that! Tonight I am going over to "Sweetie's" for dinner, and we are going to discuss a "plan of attack" for the duplex. She is already talking about skipping work on Friday and going to clean out the apartment. Got to love the practical side in her, but if I am skipping work with her, I would rather not be "working". Later Lou

Bowling update / Weekend plans

Retalix Strikers, my bowling team, didn't bowl so well this week, or last. "Sweetie" stopped in to the bowling alley tonight with her son, "Other Two" and watched our team lose two of our three games. Last week, we only won one of three games as well, so the team has moved from first place last week, to probably 4th or 5th after tonight. Our team captain is out for a few weeks with a sore elbow on his bowling arm, so we are a player short... However, that doesn't account for our recent losses, that is due to our less than stellar athletic performance. The good news is that it is still early in the season and if we can just bowl our average or better, we can easily regain our position in first place.

This weekend my brother's wife is going out of town, and because he has to work, and his oldest son wants to play in his football and soccer games on Saturday, they are staying at home. My brother will be working at Heinz Field during the Pitt and Steelers games on Saturday and Sunday, so I get to spend time with my nephew again.

My nephew is coming over Friday night after I get done with work and is going to spend the night with me, and my kids;"Two" and "Four." I think my daughter, "Three", will be coming down as well, so I will have a full house. We may go catch up on the current movie releases at the theater, rent a movie or two, or just sit in front of the wide screen TV and play video games on the PlayStation. Saturday we get to take him to his flag football and indoor soccer games. He really enjoys soccer, but football doesn't yet seem to get his enthusiasm going.

I am really looking forward to a non-work, fun filled weekend with the nephew and the kids.

Later Lou

Nephews...

My brother has three wonderful boys. His youngest was born this past March and is still a baby. My youngest is 12 years old and in middle school, so yeah, I am the older brother.

At his oldest son's birthday last party I had gotten him a duplicate gift, a DVD that someone else had already given him. So I offered to exchange it for any other movie he wanted. He asked me to exchange it for "Meet the Robinsons", which unfortunately didn't come out until this past Tuesday. His birthday was in August, so I had to hang onto the DVD for quite some time to exchange it.

I went last night directly after work to Best Buy, where I purchased the DVD to exchange it. Best Buy is one of my favorite stores. I love to just wonder around the store gawking at all of the "toys" (i.e. TVs, Computers, Stereos, Cameras, etc...) and "games" (DVDs, Software, Cd's, accessories, etc...). Coworkers and I have taken lunch hours just to go to the store and check out the large, wide screen, HD TVs.

As I entered the store I was thinking what a great Uncle I am taking care of this without anyone reminding me, because usually I forget or postpone these kind of things and I have to be reminded a bunch of times, which is a normal guy thing I think (I am pointing out my guy-ness because it was called into question lately).

I walk up to the return counter, and I am as expected immediately waited on and asked how by the man in the blue shirt can he could help me. I said, I wanted to exchange this unopened DVD for another one. He said "Sure, no problem. Can I have your receipt, please." I paused, and said I didn't have a receipt, but that I only wanted to exchange this unopened DVD, and I didn't want any money back. He told me that they could not return or exchange the DVD without the receipt, something about how their computer system wouldn't allow it. He said because he didn't know how much I paid, he couldn't give me a credit. I suggested he give me a credit for the lowest price of the DVD, and he said, "Sorry, but without a receipt I can not process your return."

I stormed out towards the front door, only to be stopped by their "doorman" and told that he was sorry I wasn't happy, but that was store policy. I told him the policy was stupid and continued my rampage out the door.

Right now Best Buy is not my favorite store.

On a lighter note, I got to take my brother's middle son to his soccer game/practice on Saturday. He is only 4, and hasn't gotten the gist of the game yet, but he seemed to enjoy running after the ball and try to kick it in the correct direction. When we arrived at the practice field there were about 2 dozen or so teams of kids playing. It was the first time I had taken my nephew to soccer practice, and I hadn't met his coach or any of the other parents before. So I figured I would just find other kids with the same color shirt. So I looked out onto the field, and they ALL had on the same color shirt, with the same symbol on the front... no help!

We walked around the area about 10 minutes until eventually my nephew started walking onto the field. I was surprised, because he seemed hesitant to walk onto the field everywhere else we had been. I asked him if this was his team, and he nodded his head. I looked up to the coach, and asked "Do you know this little guy?" and he responded "Yeah, that's your brother's middle son." (OK, he didn't actually say "your brother's middle son", instead he said his name, but this blog is public, and I haven't asked permission to give out his name, so I took a little literary license)

They practiced a little and then had a three on three game with another team. My nephew didn't score any goals, but he had a great time, and so did I. I should have gotten my kids more involved with sports when they were young... too late now.

Later Lou

Loss...

My great aunt, Mary Carnegie Thompson passed away yesterday after a lengthy illness. She had been staying in a local nursing home since January. She was a "constant" at the farm where I grew up. She grew up on the same farm and lived in the same house her entire life. When I was young her and my grandfather shared an office in her home, where they ran an insurance agency. The agency still named after my grandfather, is now being run by my cousin in his home. I enjoyed going to visit Aunt Mary when I was young because her house was always nice, cool, and full of cool "old" things. She also had an old upright piano that was out of tune, but we still loved to sit in front of and poke at the keys. She had a ton of old photos on the shelves and walls and as you walked by the eyes followed... I found an interest in postage stamps from hanging out at the office at my aunt's place, and looking at all of the mail that went in and out of the office. I used to save the old envelopes from the trash can, and I learned how to remove the stamps without damaging them. And as my interest in stamps moved beyond the occassional new stamp that came in the office mail, Aunt Mary invited me upstairs to her attic to look through some old letters and postcards she had kept. She let me have the stamps from her "memories".

Aunt Mary was my typist before I learned to type. When I was just starting high school, she would help me create a newsletter for my church youth group. I remember she got quite a kick out of typing something other than work correspondence, especially when my newsletter contained the words "zip", "zap", "zoom", "zowie", and other words she didn't get to type often! :-) Her electric typewriter had the ability to type in either red or black ink at the shift of a key. She used to make little rows "army" men by combining letters, and symbols on top of one another, and shifted slightly... Before there were ASCII drawings, she was doing art with her typewriter. I never did learn how she did that . When we worked on the farm during the hot summer days bailing the hay, she would always show up with her large red and white jug full of delicious ice cold water. Drinking from the little metal spout from the thermos was the highlight of the day when we were hot and tired. Her yard had a large pear tree, and a decent sized grape vine of which I snuck fruit off of every year. The grapes were sour, and the pears a little hard, but we always thought it was delicious because we were sneaking the forbidden fruit! ;-) We used to throw the really hard pears at an old "spring house", trying to get the pears through the window. When I graduated from high school I moved away from home, and I didn't come back very often, and when I did, I didn't stop and visit my aunt. We saw each other only once or twice a year when our family would get together for a holiday such as Memorial day and we would go to the farm, and have a cookout, or a hayride. My last visit with her was at the nursing home. Before I left, I told her I loved her, and I kissed her on her cheek. Even though she was very ill and drifting in and out of sleep, when I kissed, her eyes cleared, and she looked right at me with recognition and smiled... Peace Aunt Mary... Peace and Rest... You will be missed.

Memorial Day Weekend

So it's a three day weekend. I went to a skating party for my girlfriend's son. He just became a teenager. I am going to watch the movie X3 tonight. Tomorrow I am going to Hookstown to watch the Memorial Day Parade and gather with lots of fellow Laughlins at my uncle's home. I think I may be able to squeeze in a nap, but it will have to be a short one... Maybe they should make Memorial day a four day weekend, so there is time for rest and relaxation! :-) Thanks to all the soldiers and vets who have put their lives at risk to help our country and this world be free!

Fossil Hunt

I thought I would post a few pictures of our Fossil Hunt last weekend. (Click on pictures for a better view)

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Here's the location of the limestone or sandstone fossils on the top of the hill

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The hike up the hill

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The rocks...

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A fossil in this rock. Look closely at the "bump" on the top of the rock at the bottom of the picture. Notice the ridges on the "bump".

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Fossil imprint...

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The sunset on the drive home after a full day of fossil hunting!

No excuses

Well I don't have any really good excuses this time for going almost a whole week without posting. For the last 2 days I was in bed sick, and I didn't even turn on my computer. The 2 days before that I was so wrapped up in a project at work that I didn't think of anything else The weekend before that, I was tromping around at a farm in Hookstown, PA where I grew up. My nephew, his father, and a few others decided to go on a fossil hunt. Not the kind of fossils you see at the local museum that stand 50-100 feet tall, although that would have been an impressive find. We were searching for old seashell fossils in limestone. On the top of a hill on the farm we grew up there is a bunch of limestone there with very easy to spot shells in them. Growing up on the farm it was always a mystery how those seashells got all the way on top of the hill... Apparently way back in prehistoric times that entire area was covered in water, and that particular hilltop was a shallow shelf in the water (i.e. higher up than the surrounding area), so it was perfect place for small shelled creatures to live. Of course now, there is no ocean nearby, and it's the top of the hill, but there is no mistaking the fossils. Anyway no real excuse for not posting, except I was busy doing other things. What have you been up to?

Critical

Are you a critical person? Are you a person that finds fault in a lot of things, or can't resist pointing out something that could be done better? I am, and I wonder if I am passing it along to my offspring. I was talking with one of my kids the other day about how they seem to "complain" a lot. I asked if they complain as much with other people, or just me. To their credit they said they do it the same with everyone. Of course, being critical myself, I probably noticed the complaining more than other people, but that's a side track. I read in some article in a magazine, or newspaper a long time ago, before the Internet that President Abraham Lincoln had a philosophy of not speaking or expressing criticism with those that worked for him, or with him. He would remain silent if he could not say something uplifting or positive. Of course, I am not sure if this is a truthful story, as I can't cite a source, but non-the-less it gave me an idea. I suggested to the younger Laughlin that they spend a 24 hour period of no criticism, negative comments or expressions. No rolling of the eyes, no put downs, no correcting another person, and no complaining. They accepted the challenge starting at 8AM the next day and going for 24 hours. Of course, I didn't take the challenge myself, because I am a parent, and as parents say "Do as I say, not as I do." :-) This of course is a way of justifying our hypocrisy! After the challenge period had been completed I decided to do a little followup and see how well they did. They said it was very, very hard, especially at school, but they thought they did a pretty good job. I asked if it made them smile more or if they enjoyed the day. The response was they spent most of the day quieter than normal, and attempted to be expressionless. Which of course was not what I wanted... I was hoping to remove the negative, and allow the positive to shine through... Instead I got no negative and no positive... So now it's my turn to take the challenge... Today is Friday the 3rd of March. To be fair, I am going to do it on a regular day of work, rather than a fun filled weekend. So starting this coming Monday the 6th for 24 hours starting at 8AM, I will not be critical, or at least not express it. Think I can do it? Think you can?

Out of it...

To the few readers of this Blog, I must apologize for the lack of anything new since Feb. 22nd. I got a few new toys, and I was way too wrapped up in playing with them than just about anything else. As you know I got the new 30" Widescreen HDTV and the DVR to go with it. Well I also got a new DVD burner, and a new DVD player. I have been spending all my free time burning DVD's. I have already used just about 1/3 of the blanks I bought, and they came in a tube of 100 blanks! I am spending so much time creating the DVD's I don't have time to use them, so I decided I need to slow down a little bit. :-) Well believe it or not, but I did do a few other things this past week. My mom was in the hospital for a "near heart attack". She went in Saturday and got out on Thursday. She has had a kidney problem most of her life, so this heart thing was pretty serious. The good news is she appears to be doing much better. When she got out on Thursday I stopped over to her place, and helped her get her groceries. I haven't been shopping with my mom in years. I also visited my great-aunt Mary Thompson, who is in a local nursing home. She isn't doing as well as my mom, but she is keeping her spirits up. I was supposed to go see her again with my brother this past weekend, but I was out on a date with my girlfriend. I hope she is still hanging in there. My girlfriend took me out to see the show "Wicked". I don't get to go to the theater very often, so I was really looking forward to the show. We got there, and our seats were at the very back of the theater, but we could still see everything pretty good. The show was very, very good. I highly recommend it! It creates a whole new way to look at the classic movie "Wizard of Oz." Hopefully I brought you up to speed of the things going on in my world... Maybe the next post I will update you on the rest of western PA! :-)