So, I got a new haircut this week.  I’ve always wanted to shave my head, so here is the result.  What do you think?  Can I pull it off?

All I needed was a good excuse.  For me that excuse came in the form of the youth halloween party, for which, I was told, costumes were mandatory.

Only sad part is that none of the youth have ever heard of the Blue Man Group.  Oh well.  I guess I’m already old and out of touch.

A few months ago, I posted an interesting article I found on introverts, of which I am definitely one.  That post has had a lot of traffic and I thought I would post a follow up to it.  I just ran across this list recently, titled “How to Care for Introverts.”  So, if you have an introvert in your life, you might follow these guidelines in dealing with him/her, or, inversely, at least you will now know how to piss him/her off by doing the opposite.

HOW TO CARE FOR INTROVERTS
• Respect their need for privacy.
• Never embarrass them in public.
• Let them observe first in new situations.
• Give them time to think. Don’t demand instant answers.
• Don’t interrupt them.
• Give them advanced notice of expected changes in their lives.
• Give them 15 minute warnings to finish whatever they are doing before calling them to dinner or moving on to the next activity.
• Reprimand them privately.
• Teach them new skills privately rather than in public.
• Enable them to find one best friend who has similar interests and abilities; encourage this relationship even if the friend moves.
• Do not push them to make lots of friends.
• Respect their introversion. Don’t try to remake them into extroverts.

Well, we just got back from our trip to Utah.  I have lots to write about, as it was a great, adventure-filled trip.  But, first I wanted to post these photos that Jeremy sent me.

Porter and Walker went on their first rafting trip, while we were in Utah.  We went with Grandma and Grandpa Hurren, Jeremy & Jesse down the Green River from Nefertiti to Swazeys.  They had a great time swimming in the river and rodeo-riding the rapids in Grandpa’s raft, but the highlight of the trip was playing in the mud with uncle Jesse.

When we finally made it home, this was the result:

So, it seems Luke is learning to use the toilet at only 18 months old.  Don’t get me wrong.  He isn’t actually peeing in the toilet, but he has figured out how to flush.  Unfortunately, he’s also learned how to throw random things from around the bathroom into the toilet before flushing it.

Which leads me to how I spent my last Saturday.  The toilet was plugged up all week, and I finally had some free time to try to fix it.  So I went to the hardware store to pick up a good plunger and auger.  After an hour of trying those useless tools, I finally had to drain the toilet, take it off the floor and turn it upside down.  There I was able to spot the problem: a stick of deodorant stuck in the pipes.  Lousy little twerp.  It took me an hour to break it apart and wrench it out, but I finally got it.  I put the toilet all back together, hooked the water back up and got everything cleaned up; only to find that there was, yes, another stick of deodorant stuck in the toilet.  Freaking little punk!

So, another hour or two later, I got the second stick out and everything put back together again.  All this while Luke was busy tearing the rest of the house to pieces, but at least we can use our own bathroom again.  At least until he flushes something else.  What a crappy way to spend my Saturday.

On our recent trip to Seattle, my Mom brought along my childhood photo album and gave it to me. I was flipping through it with the boys today and noticing how much Porter and Luke look like me when I was a kid. At least I think so. Walker, not so much. Tell me what you think.

This is me about 8 months old.

Luke

This is me at 1 year

Apparently my drinking habit started early.

This is me at 2 years.

Porter

This is me at 5 years.

Walker

Don’t be sad Walker, you look more like your Mom, and she’s definitely cuter than me.  Sorry, Luke & Porter, you’re stuck with it.

Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, but I’ve been recuperating from the hectic month of blog war. Plus I’ve been a little busy with a trip to Seattle (check out the photos in the sidebar) and with a flooding basement. But, things are relatively quiet tonight, so I thought I would write a few words.

I just finished putting the boys’ bunk beds back together after they recently smashed one of them to bits by jumping out of the window sill onto it. Good times. But, a few 1×4’s from the hardware store, some Gorilla glue and a few screws later, we’re back and stronger than ever.

Mostly I wanted to record a fun experience I had with Walker the other day. Walker is almost 4 and he says some funny things. He seems to hear everything that is said (even though you think he’s not listening to anything at all), and spits it back out at the strangest moments.

It was around 4:30 on Wednesday afternoon, and I needed to head down to the bank before closing time to deposit some checks. So, I grabbed Walker to ride along with me for company and to get him out of Karli’s hair, if only for 20 minutes. We got to the bank and headed inside, but found the door locked. Crap. Apparently the bank closes at 4:00 here in Vanderhoof instead of 5:00. I was a bit peeved but I don’t think I said anything, just turned Walker around and headed back out to the truck. Along the way I heard Walker say something to himself that sounded suspiciously like “damn it!” I turned around and asked him to repeat himself. He looked at me and said, very calmly, “I said damn it, because the bank was closed.”

Obviously he must have heard that from someone else, since I have such a clean mouth and would never curse around our children, so as I helped him back into the truck I explained that sometimes grownups say that word, but little boys are not allowed to talk that way. Walker looked at me wistfully and said, “OK, but when I’m a grown up, I’m going to say it all the time!”

That’s my boy.

Here’s a little video we took of Luke playing with our still, unnamed cat.

Well, I guess the fifth and final rule of blog war should be: never get involved in a land war in Asia blog war with a stay at home Mom.  The final numbers are in, and I lost.  The total was 1956 unique visitors for the week for Karli, and 1815 for me.  Thank you to the select few of you who supported me over Karli, but we just couldn’t quite pull it off.  Hats off to Karli, her full-time PR manager and her team of rabid fans.  Well done.  Now, let’s commence with the healing and reconstruction of the tattered remains of our marriage.

Well, with the help of my friends in the Digg community, I actually pulled ahead for a brief moment in yesterday’s visitor count.  But then the mob of angry housewives caught wind of it and banded together to push Karli’s numbers up over 400, lengthening her huge lead.  With only 2 days left, I’m running out of options.  I’m not ready to throw in the towel yet, but things are looking bleak.

If you want to help, go digg my story, or put a link on your blog or in your Facebook status.  At least I’ll go down swinging.

With my birthday last week, I’m feeling a little more conscious of my age than normal, but this helped. I’m not old yet, because I can still hear this annoying high-pitched sound. Are you old? Try the test and find out. Post a comment if you can hear it, too.

Created by Train Horn