Getting involved

I have always wanted to be a part of the community I live in. That is the great thing about working for the radio. We are really involved in all kinds of great community involvement. Like the humane society, Cancer services and many more. Actually my next blog will be about one of the events that I am proud to be a part of!






Back in July, I moved back to the town I grew up in. It was really exciting to remember all the things I did when I was a kid, like climbing the grain towers at the feed mill, climbing on the airplane in the park and hiding from the cops so we didn't get in trouble.









You were not suppose to get up there! It is funny. My best friend growing up lived right down the alley from the Airplane park. Now, I live right on the same alley. I guess it was meant to be.

Anyway, our town has a festival every labor day! It is a great event with kids rides, carnival games, elephant ears and cotton candy. Plus each year they have a great musical act. In the past it has been Bad Company, Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Kentucky Headhunters, and Firehouse. This year, I am really excited. It is Little Texas.

Wanting to be involved, I called up the commitee president to see what I can do. I will be at the next meeting to get involved.

I guess the point of my post today...get involved in your community. Volunteer at your local humane society, spend time with people in the nursing homes, or see how you can do other great things for the your neighbors!

Food delivery

As a part of my job, I have to take Subway subs to listeners. It actually is pretty neat to see the different places people work. I have been to motorcycle accessory distribution center, to law offices, doctors offices and even funeral homes. It really brings me closer to my listeners to know what they do everyday. Well this week was a lot of fun. A couple of years ago an ethanol plant opened just outside of town. I really wanted to go to the open house, but that was an invite deal only. Well this week they were our winner of the "Bunch for Lunch." So needless to say I took the camera along!

I have no idea what all this does. All I know is that it was really cool to drive through the center. I did notice one building that did say "fermentation"...I immediately thought of "Moon Shine" They said I was not allowed in that area...I guess they wanted to keep it for themselves! Anyway. I think the camera might be a requirement for the bunch for lunch!

Ring in Spring!

So last week was the first day of spring. Birds were singing, trees were budding, and I was dragging out the Hawaiian Shirt Collection. If any of you know me very well, I love my Hawaiian shirts. I think I could go two and a half weeks and not repeat a shirt. It is kind of an obsession. Well....Sunday as we got ready for church I remembered I had a new Hawaiian shirt that had never been wore. For church it would be perfect. Ohhhh, did I mention that my shirt was made by my mother-in-law for Christmas. And she also made a shirt out of the same material for Eli. Needless to say we were a big hit. Everyone thought we both were cute!

So the quote of the day had to go to Sarah. As we were getting ready for church, Eli was crying in the big chair, and she looked at him and said..."No Cryin' when you are wearin' Hawaiian!" It that not a classic quote for all time!

So we have one set of matching shirts. I think I am going to have to talk to my mother-in-law (even if I don't want to)(j/k) about making Eli and I a few more shirts. What do you think?

Eli's first walk.

OK...so he is not walking. But he did go for his first walk Monday Afternoon. The weather was wonderful. About 68 degrees and sunny. What a great day for a walk

Now, last summer after we moved in, we got a dog.

Alli is so cute! Well, she was very hyper every night when we would get home. So when it was nice out, I would take her for long walks. We are talking a mile to a mile and a half every night. As you can see, it did a good job of settling her down! Not only did it calm her down a little, it was also good for me. Well, after a long winter, I thought it would be a good idea to start walking again.

So Monday was wonderful weather wise. Sarah gets home and says that she is thinking about going for a walk. I say I will join her. She was all excited since we really haven't been able to show Eli off to the neighbors. So she gets out the stroller and loads him up! If you look close you can see the tears in his eyes. He was not real happy about the jacket, or the stroller. We had to put a jacket on him since he has had a cold for about a week. But once we got outside......

HE HATED IT!!!

We made it a short walk, only a couple of blocks. He cried and cried. Alli was super excited since it was her first walk of the spring. She had to sniff out every piece of dog poop along those few blocks. She had to pee eighteen times, and sniff every mailbox, tree limb and car tire we passed. That will wear off in a few days of walking.

So the next night we put Eli in his car seat attached to the stroller...much better! Not too much crying until about 7 blocks from home. So we turned around and headed back home.

Ohhh, I almost forgot. Eli is growing up fast. He just turned 3 months old! He loves to stand up. So I thought I would test out his little legs. He is getting pretty good!

Lately I have been leaning him up against the new ottoman that he likes to lay on. He will just stand there and look around for a while. You have to watch close. Sometimes he will push himself backwards, and you have to be ready to catch him. But I think he looks so cute like he is trying to climb up there himself. Like in this one!

Anyway, be looking for the four of us out walking the streets this spring and summer! You never know, I might just have my "Headphones" on!

An all american weekend.

OK...so I don't like stereotypes. But this weekend, I felt like the "All American" dad. We didn't play baseball and eat apple pie. But it was close. I guess it was probably closer to "Small Town" than All american



Kinda slept in on Saturday. Got up, got the boy out of bed, and fixed him a bottle. He was extra smiley! That was good, because after we got showered up, we head out to get his 3 month pictures taken. He was extra cute. I can't wait to post them! They are so good. After the pictures we did a little shopping at the Meijer. I can't wait until the one here in Marion opens! Well, after spending too much money (how american in that) we headed to the house. I grabbed a quick lunch, and headed out to the driveway. Had to get the blazer up on the ramps to change the oil.



I am no ASE certified mechanic, but I can do a few things to a car. One is change the oil. So I get her up on the ramps, get my cardboard to lay on. And trust me, I got cardboard. After moving this summer, we have all the boxes from unpacking. Plus boxes from a new fridge, stove, dishwasher, baby stuff...the list could go on and on...so if ya need some cardboard boxes let me know. Anyway, back to the oil change. Things went fine. No real problems. Got it all back together, and cleaned up. Now we have to get the house cleaned up. We have company on the way!



A Saturday afternoon and evening, perfect for a cook out. Our friends, Farmboy and Farm girl just happen to work for a dairy farm. And if a cow dries up, or doesn't produce milk...guess what....Steaks! And they are good steaks. They bring them over and let me cook them up. Now...I don't like to brag, but I am pretty good on the grill. And not any "gas" grill. Charcoal is the only way to grill out. Maybe I will have to write a blog on the proper way to prepare steaks on the grill. I pull the steaks off the grill, and we all sit down for a great meal.



Now our Farmboy and Farmgirl have two kids. A two year old, and an eight month old. So it was a lot of fun. Farmboy had never played a Wii. And I didn't think he was going to. Farmgirl, Sarah and I all start a game of bowling. Ofcourse I won the first one. After that, the scores didn't reflect my skill...in other words...I lost. Well, the women went to change the diapers on their respective children. We are sitting talking, and Farmboy says...Maybe I should try to bowl a game. He love it! After about an hour of the Wii, their oldest got a little tired, so they headed home. And I was ready for bed too after a long day!



Sunday we get up for Church. A great service at Hanfield UMC. As you walked into the church you could smell the garlic bread. I record the announcements for them. So I knew that they were having a spagetti dinner after service. I love spagetti, so we had a great lunch with all of our church family. We head home and get started on laundry. I know what you are thinking. Me, do laundry. And yes, I help....a little. Mostly I fold. I hate to fold laundry.



After a few loads, we head to my mom and dad's house for dinner. But we went early so I could go play with my new "toy." My new 9mm handgun. Target shooting with my Dad and brother was a great time. We went through some brass! A ton of fun. The weekend ended with Sarah and I watching a little TV before going to bed to get back to my "Life in Headphones"

Eli would like to show you the new furniture!

So Tuesday, I rush home. I pick up Eli, and we head home. While Eli naps in his swing...

Dad moves the old couch and love seat to the other side of the living room. The reason why...new furniture. Now, the old furniture was a pain in the butt. The love seat was a rocking reclining love seat. So it had all the hardware for two recliners underneath. Kinda heavy! And then the couch also had recliners on both ends! Really heavy. But since Sarah was at work, and the new furniture was going to be here before she got home.

So we get it all moved in, and Eli thought he would like to show it to you. So I turn things over to the little guy!


So this is my Daddy's new recliner! It is great. I love for him to feed me in this chair. Plus you can't see it, but on the other side, it has a holster for the remote, because, even at only three months old, I know the remote belongs to the man of the house. As soon as I can figure out how to use it, it will be mine! Lets move on to Mom's new chair...

It is called a "Pod Chair." It is big as you can tell. It also spins. I can't wait until I am bigger and get to spin and spin and spin. I am sure my dad will make it lots of fun!

Well, my daddy loves to take a nap, if I let him! So we needed a good nap couch! The one that matches the pod chair was great...so here is it!



It is so big and comfy! I love it. But I saved my favorite for the end! The ottoman! You can see it a little bit above, but here is what I love it for!



It is great just to lay on! Love it for that. Even sometimes my daddy lays beside me and tells me about his day! So I hope you like my mommy and daddy's new furniture. I am glad you got a chance to see it before I spit up all over it! Keep listening to my daddy's Life in Headphones....


Eli......out!

Our home improvement shopping spree!

OK...so we got our tax check, and I think if my wife had her way, the money would already be gone. She has a laundry list of things that she wants done to our new house. A couple of weeks ago, we painted our kitchen. I forgot the camera this morning, so no pics yet...I will try to add some later. Anyway...how we went through the money.

When we bought our house, it had a dishwasher that didn't work. Our realtor fought for us, and the seller had to replace it. Well, as you can imagine, they bought the cheapest piece of junk they could find. We have been fighting is since July. But considering before this house we washed them by hand, I was thankful even for a junky dishwasher. Also, our house didn't have a fridge....So we picked out one that looks like this. It is not quite stainless, so I think since the dishwasher is right next to the fridge we had to go black. And so we got a really good deal on a dishwasher that has what they call the "sani-rinse" I guess is suppose to heat the water up on the final rinse sanitize everything. With a newborn, I thought this would be a good idea. So here is our dishwasher!

Now the only other appliance in the kitchen is the stove. It is white. No, that just won't work...at least that is what the Mrs. said. So I guess and new stove was in our future. Again, shopping. Thank goodness for our new Lowes Card! So we picked out a stove to match!

So with the stove the range hood didn't match since it was white too. So we got that, and got it all installed on Saturday. After all the work was done, I was ready for a break. Luckily I also got something new!

Yes, Big John got a brand new recliner. Ohhhh my gosh is it heaven to lay back in. And I think my favorite feature you can't see. On the other side is the holster for the remote control! So I got this to go with our new furniture that gets delivered Tuesday. I will have to post some pics of that when we get it all put it.

The Shopping Spree continues I guess.

So after installing all this stuff, and moving out old furniture, you can bet I was glad to get back to my "Life in Headphones"