Chupaqueso

I enjoy the writings of Howard Tayler, whether it be his livejournal or his comic strip. He somewhat recently started yet another blog about a fried cheese dish called a chupaqueso. (Jay Maynard, aka Tron Guy, is his cohost on the new blog.)

I recently decided to try to make one. However, I was somewhat short of ingredients around the house. So, I made one with some improvised ingredients.

A chupaqueso is basically a shell made of fried cheese wrapped around other ingredients, usually involving melted cheese. I decided to wrap mine around some scrambled egg, for an inverted omelet. Since the only regular cheese I had was mozzarella, I used that for my shell. I had read somthing about using cottage cheese as a filling, so I decided to try that. I also added some diced jalapeño, to give it a bit more bite.






In all, it wasn’t too bad. The shell was a bit overdone. It's hard not to overcook food when you are trying to take care of kids at the same time. The cottage cheese tasted a tad weird with the egg. If I have the right ingredients next time, I would use cheddar instead. Also, I would probably use less egg and add in some crumbled bacon.

But for the most part, I think I should stay farther away from chupaquesos and eat more cholesterol-reducing oatmeal instead.

PS: Howard, if you find this, you are welcome to post it on chupaqueso.com, as long as there is a link back to here.

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Investment Help Wanted

Having read all of my books on finances, I have put a little bit of money aside. I would like to invest it.

The biggest question is where to invest. I have numerous stocks in my retirement accounts, but I would like to invest some money somewhere else. Diversification means more than just buying ten different mutual funds. Real estate seems like an obvious investment choice, but I’m having trouble getting started with my limited budget.

The option that keeps looking good to me is to buy a fixer-upper, fix it up, and then sell it. The big problem is time. With work, homeschooling, and foster care, I have very little time to invest into fixing up a house. I can barely keep up with the house I already own.

There was a period when I had the time. I was between jobs, and anxiously searching for a new one. However, then I did not have the money to risk.

What I would most like is a partner I could trust, who currently had more time than money. With my excellent credit and some cash, we could buy a fixer-upper together, and fix it up quickly. I’d even be willing to take a small loss on our first house, just for the experience.

I’ve got a couple of people in mind as partners. The hardest part is going to be bringing up the topic. Second hardest part will be convincing The Wifey that this is a good idea at this time. Since I’m not quite sure myself, that might actually be the hardest part.

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Political Leanings

I grew up in California, and there my political views were considered quite conservative. I then moved to Ohio, and found that my views were considered quite liberal, without having changed at all. Where you stand in the spectrum depends a lot on where the people around you stand.

My views have grown and changed a lot since then. I now consider myself to be rather conservative, with a streak of libertarianism. That streak is mostly tempered by the fact that most of the people in the Libertarian party seem to just want to legalize pot, which I am against.

I came to the realization that most people want the government to make things fair. Without government, life would be extremely unfair. The question is, what is fair?

It seems to me that most conservatives want the government to dispense justice. What an individual earns should be theirs to keep. When a person commits a crime, they should be punished.

Most liberals want the government to dispense mercy. If an individual cannot earn enough, the government should provide for them, by taking it away from those who have more. When a person commits a crime, the government should be lenient and forgiving.

I tend more towards justice in my government, with just a smattering of mercy. I think that mercy is better dispensed by individuals than by legislation and government bureaucracy.

But that’s just my opinion. You are welcome to your own.

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Naming Names

As we prepare to adopt Munchkin and Kidling, the subject of names has come up. We are considering changing the girls’ names. Their real names, not the code names I use here.

Kidling’s name would be changed very little, along the lines of changing to Kidleena. Munckin’s name would be changed a lot more, like changing to Kentucky, with an intermediate phase of calling her Munchkentucky to get her used to the sound of it.

We haven’t made up our minds completely yet. We don’t want to introduce any additional emotional problems into our girls’ lives. But if we can, we would like to change the names to ones that we like better. I wish I could find someone whose name was changed before the age of three, and how that affected them.

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Balancing the Checkbook

Every Sunday, I balance the checkbooks and check how we are doing on our budget. Our budget is strict, and we don’t follow it perfectly, but we try, and the budget can be adjusted as needed from week to week.

We’ve worked on a lot of different budgets and theories. The basic sound principle of finances is, “Spend less than you earn.” Simple, but difficult. What happens when there is an emergency, and you have to spend all of your savings plus a bit more? What happens when those emergencies keep happening?

I know that in our family, those emergencies do happen. We plan on them. We try to set a bit aside every month for car repairs, house repairs, and medical expenses. When there is an emergency, we usually have enough set aside to cover it.

I’ve read numerous financial books, and still have several within reach. I’ve got Marvin J. Ashton’s One for the Money, George S.Clason’s The Richest Man in Babylon, Janene Baadsgaard’s Family Finances for the Flabbergasted and Mary Hunt’s The Complete Cheapskate. I would also have The Wealthy Barber, but I’ve been able to borrow that from the library whenever I wanted to read through it. I’ve also enjoyed Rich Dad, Poor Dad and others.

Some of the basic principles that seem to be repeated most often:
1. Spend less than you earn. Put aside at least 10 percent of your income for long-term savings.
2. Avoid debt. If you are currently in debt, don’t get in deeper. Move things to a lower interest loan, if you can, and then pay it down. Cut up your credit cards if you need to, in order to keep from going back in to debt.
3. Pay 10 percent of your income to a charity. The financial books written by LDS people recommend paying tithing to the LDS church. Other financial books simply recommend giving generously to charities, and some recommend specifically giving one tenth of what you earn. This does not seem to make a lot of sense in the short term, but numerous financial experts claim that it works in the long run.
4. Prepare adequately for the future. Insurance, wills, food storage, emergency preparedness, retirement plans, educational IRAs, and other areas, help us to prepare now for our future needs.

I know that in our family, there are two things that throw us off track the fastest. First, we get busy, so we buy convenience. We are running around to visits with the parents of the foster children, or their therapy appointments, or homeschooling play groups, or any of a dozen other things, and so we eat at a restaurant, instead of eating at home. Or we buy pre-made freezer meals instead of the raw ingredients.

The second problem is that when I feel unloved or unappreciated, I sometimes will go out and buy myself a gift. I usually don’t even realize why I am doing it. I just suddenly feel that I was going to buy that grill sometime anyway, and it’s on sale right now, so I should buy it now and save the money, even though it throws our budget off completely. I then feel guilty, and I don’t want to admit anything to The Wifey until the bill arrives and I can’t avoid the subject any longer.

When it is a battle between emotions and logic, emotions will usually win, and we will twist our logic around to match. However, since I have learned this about myself, I can do things differently. I can buy myself something much smaller, such as a candy bar. Then later I can look at the underlying reason of why I feel unloved or unappreciated, and I can do something to change it.

And that is the real key to taking charge of our financial lives. We need to find our own weak spots, and learn how to overcome them.

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Becoming a Foster Family

When The Wifey and I got married, we decided to start having kids basically right away. Our plans did not work out. We went to doctors, ran various tests, took medications, went to support groups, and tried to move on with life.

One step that we took was to become foster parents. We took lots of classes, went through all kinds of background checks and home visits, and then waited and waited for DCFS. Eventually, we got a call, although we had almost given up. We hadn’t even notified DCFS of our last change of address.

There was a little girl who needed a home. We got WendyGirl just six days after her first birthday, and we loved her. There was a very strong possibility that she would be adopted, and we wanted to be the ones to adopt her.

Her parents did not do the things that they should. The judge would say that they needed to meet certain minimums, or else. They would do half of it. The judge would give them an extension and cut back the requirements, and say they had to do it or else. They would do half of that. Eventually, the judge said that WendyGirl would return home, but if the parents lost employment or housing within two weeks, WendyGirl would be taken away for good. They lost both in about three weeks. As far as I am aware, WendyGirl is still with them today.

My heart still aches for WendyGirl. I don’t think about her every day anymore, but I still do think about her often. She would be eight years old now. Whenever I think about her, I pray that she is doing all right. WendyGirl, where ever you are, we still love you.

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All You Need is Love

Today I took the day off of work and went to the wedding of my second-oldest nephew. It made me think about some things that I have learned since I was married.

When I married The Wifey, we were both deeply in love, and we thought that we could keep that feeling alive forever. I remember that I wanted to show her how much she was loved, so I gave her a wedding present, and a one-week anniversary present, and a one-month anniversary present, and a birthday present, and a Mother’s Day present, all within the first couple of months.

The Wifey praised me and told me how wonderful I was for thinking of such things. But she didn’t reciprocate with the gift giving. Finally for Father’s Day she gave me a present that we had spoken of her getting for me for a wedding gift. One gift, months later, did not seem to make up for all of the missed opportunities.

I did not feel very loved from all of that, and neither did The Wifey. I was giving gifts, because well-chosen gifts make me feel loved. The Wifey was praising me, because praise makes her feel loved. Because we didn’t understand each other’s needs, we were failing. “A” for effort, “F” for effectiveness.

But we stuck with it. We talked. We studied. Eventually, we worked some things out and learned some new ideas.

In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families, Steven Covey talks about an “emotional bank account.” The idea is that in any relationship, there is a virtual bank account, and any actions we do in that relationship either make deposits or withdrawals. One of the most important things we can do is to learn what the other person in the relationship considers a deposit.

In The Five Love Languages, Gary Chapman talks about an “emotional love tank.” He states that there are five main ways that people express and understand love. There are words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch.

When I first heard about this, I made the mistake of assuming that physical touch was my primary love language, because I liked what went on in the bedroom. Gary states that many men make the same mistake. However, I didn’t care as much for the holding hands, cuddling, hugging, and such. That was all nice, but it didn’t really make me feel loved.

I can now see that I used the giving of gifts to show my love and to try to make deposits in my wife’s emotional bank account. The Wifey used words of affirmation. Giving praise does not come easily to me, but I am making efforts to remember more often. The Wifey is wonderful, and she deserves to know it. As I strive to praise my wife, I can tell that she feels more loved.

The Wifey is also learning to give more gifts, despite our constantly-restricted budget. A gift does not have to be big or expensive to be meaningful. I know that one thing that stood out from early in our courtship was when she gave me a rose on the first night of a stage production I was involved in. I didn’t particularly care for roses, but that gift stood out to me, and made me feel truly loved.

After we got married, the “in-love” feeling we had experienced during courtship faded. But we have since replaced it with a love that is truer, deeper, and much longer lasting. I hope that my nephew will be able to do the same.

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Party Review

We used to have very poor turnout at our birthday parties. At one party, nobody had arrived thirty minutes after the party was supposed to have started. We called around, and everyone had forgotten about it.

The last two birthday parties for our kids have been very well attended, and everyone who went talked about it for quite a while afterward.

First, we chose a theme. SpiderBoy had a pirate theme, and TikiPrincess had a royalty theme.

Next, we made interesting invitations that would instantly attract attention. Any child who saw one of these invitations really wanted to attend.

For the pirate theme, we printed out a picture of a pirate over a pirate map, and wrote our invitation on the map. We then cut it out, and yellowed the paper in the oven. We rolled the invitation and tied it with a bit of yarn.

For the princess party, we printed out individualized invitations, written in the form of a royal proclamation. “Hear ye, hear ye, by royal decree, Princess Girlnextdoor is hereby invited to the birthday celebrations of her royal highness, Princess TikiPrincess.” We rolled the invitation and tied it with a ribbon.

We strove to find appropriate party favors. The pirates took home a pirate eye patch, as well as a bag full of pirate booty, consisting of plastic coins, chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil, and Jujubes jewels.

Here two guests show off their eye patches.


The princes and princesses took home a princess hat or crown, a wand or sword, and a bag full of the dragon’s hoard.

Here two guests show off their wands and princess hats.


We worked hard on making the cakes.



Everyone loved our treasure hunts, whether we wrote out instructions or used maps.


At the end of one treasure hunt, we found a treasure chest stuffed with pirate booty. At the end of the other, we found a dragon, stuffed with its hoard.

We played the same party games as we had before, but with different names. Musical chairs became “Walk the Plank.” Simon says became “The Princess says.” For some reason, it seems to be more fun when it’s called by a different name.

All of this took a lot of work on our part. But we had a very high rate of people RSVPing, and everyone who could, showed up and had a great time.

Some things I’ve learned:

• Frosting a cake with little cut bits, like the pyramid shapes on the castle, is very difficult. I wanted a frosting I could spray on like spray-paint. Since I didn’t have that, I used a pastry bag with a flat tip to cover it with ribbons, then smoothed it together with a basting brush dipped in water.



• Drilling holes in the pointy end of a heart is very difficult, no matter how you do it. I might have done it differently by drilling a hole in from the top and going clear through.



• Invitations printed on a laser printer survive being yellowed in the oven better than invitations printed on an inkjet.



• If I can imagine how a thing could be made, I can usually make it.



• Putting on an elaborate party can be expensive and time-consuming, but a good time is had by all.

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In Court Today

On Valentines Day, we received a call from our social worker. A remediation was scheduled for the following day, and we might be going to court immediately afterwards. We were asked to be present at 3:30.

The timing was awful. Valentines Day is TikiPrincess’s birthday, but she was having her party two days later, and there was still a lot to get ready. Plus, on the 17th, The Wifey’s nephew is getting married, so The Wifey’s parents were showing up at our house on the 15th, and would arrive while we were out. And finally, I work from 4 pm to 1 am.

But we went anyway. We were frantic in the morning, trying to get ready for the party and for our houseguests. Our babysitter arrived, and only after that were we able to get in touch with The Wifey’s parents to let them know that we would not be there when they arrived. It was snowing heavily, so we had a difficult time driving to the courthouse. Eventually, we made it.

There was some awkward small talk, while waiting to make sure everyone was there who needed to be there, and then we started entering a conference room. Our foster daughters, Munchkin and Kidling, have the same mother, but different fathers, so there were three parents present, plus two grandparents and assorted attorneys.

Some of the parents started fighting with each other, so the decision was made to meet with one parent at a time. In addition, we met with a couple of grandparents. Basically, everyone wanted some assurance that after they gave up their parental rights, they would get one last visit to say goodbye, and that we would allow them to know what was going on in the girls’ lives. All of the parents got a goodbye visit set up, and we stated our intention to send out letters and pictures.

Then we entered the courtoom. Due to the fighting that had happened earlier, one father came in at first, did his part, and then left. Then the other father and mother came in and did their parts.

The attorneys explained to the judge that the parents were choosing to voluntarily relinquish their parental rights. They then asked specific questions of the parents, and had them sign a paper to that effect, which was given to the judge. The judge then terminated their rights.

Then, suddenly, it was done. Munchkin and Kidling have been with us for over a year. We have loved them as if they were our own. Now they are.

Technically, the state still has custody, and there are several more hoops to jump through before we can officially adopt them, and add them to our family permanently. But all that is just a formality. Right now, no one has a claim on these girls but the state and us, and the state intends to give them to us.

I cannot describe how I feel. I half feel like laughing, and half like crying. I am so thrilled, so relieved, so overcome with gratitude. I said a prayer, and all I could say was, “Thank you,” over and over again.

Months ago, I received a priesthood blessing for an illness that I had, similar to the blessings that the apostles gave in the New Testament. During that blessing, I suddenly silently prayed that the person giving the blessing would be inspired to give me a blessing about our foster daughters, who we wanted to keep. The next words of that blessing were, “God will grant your righteous desires.” I felt that I had received my desired blessing.

That night, I was discussing it with The Wifey, and she said that it could just be a coincidence. The next morning, I played a recording of sermons given at the last General Conference of the LDS church. As it happened, the first sermon I heard that morning was about so-called coincidences and the "tender mercies of the Lord." To quote:

“Some may count this experience as simply a nice coincidence, but I testify that the tender mercies of the Lord are real and that they do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Often, the Lord’s timing of His tender mercies helps us to both discern and acknowledge them.” Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

After confirmation such as that, I could no longer dismiss it as coincidence. It took months, and at times I have doubted that I understood correctly, but now at last, the promises made in that blessing have been kept. God has granted my righteous desires.

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Revamping the Homeschooling Plans

When we originally decided to homeschool this year, we had big plans. Last year we had done some kindergarten for SpiderBoy, primarily just to keep him busy and out of trouble, since he was not old enough for public school. This year we were going to homeschool SpiderBoy officially. We also were starting TikiPrincess in homeschool kindergarten, although she is not old enough for public school yet.

We chose some A Beka books to get a basic foundation of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Adding to that, we bought a bunch of reading books, a children's illustrated encyclopedia, a history book from the people who wrote “The Well-Trained Mind,” and membership in a library with more books than our local library. We also had plans to do play groups, roller skating, and gymnastics.

With the extensive amount of time taken for foster parenting, most of that fell by the wayside. Workbooks are easy to use, so both of our kids have made huge progress through their A Beka books, which have laid a great ground work. Both children have math and English skills beyond their peers, even if we ignore age and just focus on grade level. TikiPrincess has finished her kindergarten books and has now started on her first grade books. SpiderBoy is nearing the end of all of his first grade books.

The science, history and geography have been extremely spotty. Our biggest progress has been that SpiderBoy knows how to look up a topic in the table of contents or index, and can then turn to the appropriate page to find what he is looking for.

We dropped the library membership because we rarely made it out there. Our local library was used quite a bit, but they are now closed due to computer problems. They have been closed for weeks, and may take several more weeks to reopen. However, our home library is fairly decently sized, and SpiderBoy often reads those books to his sisters.

We have kept up with some of the play groups, roller skating and gymnastics, but scheduling and childhood illnesses have made us miss a decent amount of that.

Now The Wifey has started reading a book called, "A Thomas Jefferson Education." The central theme seems to be studying the classics with a mentor. The Wifey wants to drop our workbooks in favor of this approach. I look at the progress we have made using the workbooks, and I want to stay with it. I am willing to add this method to the repertoire.

What we have chosen to do is to cease insisting on workbooks being done. There are rewards for doing workbooks, but no punishments, per se. Admittedly, some of the rewards, such as being able to watch TV or play on the computer, seem like a punishment when they are withheld, but it is their choice whether to do the necessary work to get that reward or not.

We the parents are focusing our time and efforts on the science, history, geography, and now literature. For our first classic, The Wifey has been reading one of the "Little House on the Prairie" books with our children. SpiderBoy will sometimes read aloud from it for up to fifteen minutes at a time. The Wifey also wants to spend more time with TikiPrincess, just having her read from simple books such as Dr. Seuss.

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Dragon Piñata Sketch

The other day, SpiderBoy decided to draw a picture of everyone hitting the dragon piñata at TikiPrincess’s birthday party. This is a close-up of a window in a large house that he drew. Both TikiPrincess and SpiderBoy are very excited about the upcoming party.

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Here there be dragons

TikiPrincess has a birthday tomorrow. We’re planning a prince-and-princess-themed birthday party for two days later. We’re doing a castle-shaped cake, crowns and princess hats for the guests, swords and scepters, and a dragon-shaped piñata. I’ve had some interest in the home-made piñata, so I’m putting some pictures up here.

First, I took one large balloon and one small balloon, and coated them in papier-mâché, which is strips of newspaper dipped into a mixture of flour and water.


Then, I cut out other parts from cardboard scraps.


I created a face on the smaller balloon using Play-Doh.


I built feet from cardboard cutouts, twisty-straws, and some Play-Doh to hold it together, then wrapped the whole thing in papier-mâché.


I also wrapped the other parts in papier-mâché.


I assembled the parts using a combination of popsicle sticks, wire, tape, hot glue, and papier-mâché.


Add some paint, and we have a dragon.



The hardest part has been keeping the kids from breaking it before it was finished.

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Honesty update

I mentioned earlier that SpiderBoy was paying off his debt, one quarter at a time. He has kept it up for four days now. I’ve left him a note every night, letting him know how proud I am of him.

I’ve also tried to reinforce SpiderBoy’s self-image as an honest person. I praise him for every act of honesty that I see. I also shared with The Wifey in front of SpiderBoy some specific times during the day when he acted with honesty. I could tell that it meant a lot to him.

Finally, I’ve spent a lot of time with SpiderBoy, one-on-one. I’ve talked with him, I’ve played games with him, I’ve listened to him.

So far, it seems to be doing some good.

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Religion is not easy

The LDS religion is not easy to follow.

I give up 10% of my income directly to the church, plus more to charities, some church-related and some not. My income would be stretched even without paying that. (For information on the purpose and disbursement of this tithing, click here.)

I attend church services for three hours every Sunday. I’m usually so tired from working the night before that I struggle to stay awake, and my four kids make sure to interrupt anything interesting in the main portion of the services. Most of my religious education comes from reading the scriptures and other books at home.

The LDS church does not have professional clergy. Instead, leaders and teachers are called from the congregation, and they perform unpaid in addition to their regular jobs. I have a calling as an assistant ward financial clerk. It means that every Sunday, I spend hours entering financial data into a computer.

And at the Sunday services, you never know what someone is going to say. Testimony meetings, held monthly, are sort of an “open-mike” experience. I’ve seen a guy stand up and talk about the alien that nearly abducted him when he was using drugs with his live-in girlfriend. It very rarely gets that weird, but people do preach things that do not fit in with my understanding of the gospel.

I find that I can’t just sit back and agree with what I hear. I feel a need to actively sort what I am hearing into doctrinal fact and personal opinions, and then to make up my own mind about what to believe. It never helps that so many people present their personal opinions as doctrinal fact.

So why do I do it? It’s not easy, but it is worth it.

I have a close, personal relationship with God. Someone trying to debate the existence of God with me might as well be debating the existence of my dad. Maybe I can’t prove it to you, but I talked with him just this morning, and I know I can speak with him again anytime.

I have seen miracles. I have participated in miracles. I have performed miracles. Rather, God has performed miracles through me. These have been far too personal to share in an open blog such as this, but they have been real, and to me undeniable.

And even on a day like today, when I was tired, had a headache, had four children to wrestle with to keep them from disturbing everyone, I can still feel the influence of the Holy Ghost. During our closing hymn, I was struck by the words we were singing:
“How blessed the day when the lamb and the lion
Shall lie down together without any ire…”

The song continues with further images from Revelations, but I was inspired by that image of peace. The world once fought in a war that was called “the war to end all wars.” Then they fought World War II. We’ve had numerous wars since then. I don’t believe that the world will ever find peace until Jesus Christ returns. I look forward to the day, whenever it may be.

Until that day, I’ll be a practicing member of the LDS church. I invite you to join me.

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Dealing with Dishonesty

Over the past few months, we've been noticing that SpiderBoy has been having a problem with honesty. He has started to take things that don't belong to him, and he has lied about it.

The Wifey and I have talked extensively about what to do. We've tried many things that have not seemed to have much effect.

Recently, SpiderBoy stole some ice cream out of the freezer and hid it downstairs. This was ice cream that we were planning on having for my birthday the next day. The following morning, we found out about the missing ice cream when Kidling came upstairs, smeared with melted ice cream from head to toe.

We talked with SpiderBoy about all of the problems that he had caused. We didn't have ice cream for my birthday. There was a huge mess to clean up. But worst of all, SpiderBoy had stolen. We talked about what happens when a grownup steals and is caught. We talked about how much waste occurs due to stealing. Then we bought some more ice cream, and said we didn't want to ruin my birthday, so we would not talk about it until the next day.

Mostly, I was stalling. SpiderBoy obviously was unhappy, but he just wanted the lectures to stop. He didn’t want to change. We needed to do something else to make the dishonest behavior stop.

I decided to give SpiderBoy a choice of punishments. He could either clean behind the refrigerator, or he could miss out on having ice cream at TikiPrincess's birthday, which is coming up next week.

SpiderBoy chose to miss out on having ice cream. I did not think that this alone would be enough to change his behavior much.

We decided from the start that SpiderBoy would need to pay for the ice cream we had to purchase. However, SpiderBoy has no money, as he spends it all the first chance he gets. Now SpiderBoy was in debt.

I had a long talk with SpiderBoy. He needs to pay back the loan at a rate of one quarter every day. It is his responsibility to remember to earn the money, and to remember to make the payment. If he does not, when I get home from work at two in the morning, I foreclose on the loan. We agreed that his bed would be his collateral for the loan.

If SpiderBoy has not left a quarter for me when I get home, I go into his room, dump him on the floor, and take the mattress. He doesn't get it back until he pays two quarters. He also doesn't get to be mean to me or the Wifey because of it. It's his responsibility, so if he forgets, it's his fault.

Last night there was a quarter waiting for me when I got home. Tonight I see another one. I hope this means that this is working. I don’t care about the money, or the ice cream. I do care a great deal about my son, and about helping him to learn the right lesson from all of this.

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Who am I?

I tend to define myself in terms of my relationships with others.

I am a son of my Heavenly Father. In practice, I am a “Mormon,” a member of the LDS Church. I hope no one is so blind as to stop reading based on that fact alone.

I am a husband of a wonderful woman, who has put up with my many quirks and shortcomings, and has loved me regardless.

I am a father of some wonderful children. I have a biological son and daughter who mean the world to me. I am also a foster father. I have had several foster children whom I have loved deeply. I currently have two foster daughters that I hope to be able to add to our family permanently.

I am a member of a large extended family, with an extensive family tree and more reunions per year than I could possibly attend.

I am an employee of a good company. I’ve tried running my own business, and the paychecks were far too small to be worth it. I may try again someday, but not any time soon. I currently work a swing shift, Tuesday to Saturday, which greatly affects the rest of my life.

Allow me to introduce you to the members of my family:

The Wifey – a wonderful woman, with whom I usually agree.
SpiderBoy – a rambunctious six-year-old boy. Could be in kindergarten this year, if we weren’t homeschooling. Almost done with first grade.
TikiPrincess – a precocious girl who turns five this week. Just finished kindergarten and started first grade.
Munchkin – a mischevious two-year-old girl. While aware of her birth parents, she seems to have quite happily settled into our family.
Kidling – a rapidly growing eighteen-month-old girl. She is mostly unaware of her birth parents, having lived with us for most of her life.

Why am I writing a blog?

I really enjoy reading. I also really enjoy writing. I would love to be a writer professionally. First, though, I need to get a lot more practice.

I also enjoy a good dialogue. I enjoy getting a different perspective on things, even if I don’t agree with that perspective. I would love to get feedback on some of my ideas, and find different ways of dealing with things.

Finally, I enjoy positive attention. I’m interested in having a blog that people want to read because they enjoy reading it.

The most popular blogs seem to focus on one particular topic. I’m not ready for that yet. This blog will probably jump from topic to topic. If you don’t like the topic, skip the post.

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