The Bean Blog

Sung to the tune of “If you’re happy and you know it”

Sep 29, 2006 Randomness

If you love a blog and want to show it,
Read it daily.

If you love a blog and want to show it,
Buy a shirt.

If you love a blog and want to show it,
Then you chest will surely know it.

If you love a blog and want to show it,
pimp his site by taking a picture of yourself wearing one of his t-shirt and post it on your own blog.*

Stacy [who really needs to update her blog] and I showed off our Dad Gone Mad shirts at work. Aren’t we hot? [Even if I was having a bad hair day....which has been going on for years. ] If you aren’t reading Dad Gone Mad then you are missing out. Seriously, some of the funniest shit I’ve ever read.

*Ok, so I never claimed to be a songwriter.

Thursday Thirteen #16 : Travel

Sep 28, 2006 Thursday Thirteen

Banner courtesy of Goofy Girl

1. Maryland: I visited all the hot spots in Washington D.C. when my mom lived in Maryland. Although I never have gone on the tour through the White House.

2. Pennsylvania: After Maryland my mom moved to Pennsylvania. This is where she bought her first house [which was actually a townhouse]. The only thing I really remember about Pennsylvania was the Hershey amusement park. Which is odd that it stands out to me since I don’t even like chocolate.

3. California: Then my mom made a cross country move to the west coast, specifically the San Francisco area. I was a little older so I remember this a lot more. I especially remember the trip we took to L.A. the summer the Olympics came through. The guy holding the torch ran right by our hotel. I thought that was so cool. Oh, and we went to Disneyland too, so that was fun.

4. Salt Lake City, Utah: On the road trip from the east coast to the west coast we stopped off in Salt Lake City and admired one of the lakes. You could smell the salt from miles away. I thought that was so cool at the time.

5. New Jersey: After just a couple of years, my mom moved back to the east coast and settled in New Jersey for quite a while. She lived in Edison for most of the time and I remember being so excited because it was so close to Jon Bon Jovi’s hometown. I felt like I could practically touch him.

6. New York: With my mom in Jersey I spent much of my summer in Manhattan. We saw a lot of plays. The very first one I ever saw was Annie and I instantly knew that I wanted to be on Broadway some day. I was around 8. My aspirations have changed since then. Mostly because I realized I can’t sing or dance. And I definitely can’t sing and dance at the same time.

7. Florida: The summer before eight grade, my mom took me to Florida on vacation. We went on a short cruise [not the Disney cruise] and then spent a week at Disney World. We also took a road trip to NASA and spent some time on the beach. It was a lot of fun.

8. North Dakota: The only real road trip I took with my dad was to go visit his brother in North Dakota. We spent a coupld of days at my aunt and uncles house, but I don’t remember much of the trip. I don’t remember seeing any sights or anything. But the drive was sure long.

9. Minnesota: Right after high school, my friend, Necole, and I took a road trip to the Mall of America. We actually went to see Necole’s boyfriend at the time, who went to school there. We hung out with him and his best friend and did a little sight seeing at the mall.

10. Las Vegas, Nevada: Lee and I went to Vegas in November 1997 to get married. Then we went back in May 1999 for my best friend’s wedding. Apparently we only go to Vegas for weddings. But we always have a good time.

11. Chicago, Illinois: My best friend from childhood moved to the Chicago area when we were in elementary school. We kept in contact with letters and later emails, but I never went to visit her until she got married. And when we went to her wedding we got lost and missed the ceremony. I’m such a good friend. But we did make it in time for the reception, so I still got to see her on her big day.

In 2003 I went to Chicago on business. And, honestly, that was the first time I had ever been in the city. It’s odd that I’ve lived in the midwest all my life and didn’t go to Chicago until I was 30 years old.

Now my mom lives in a Chicago suburb so we’ve made several trips to Chicago and most recently Six Flags Great America.

12. Cancun, Mexico: The summer before my senior year in high school, my mom took me to Cancun. We stayed at Club Med. It was awesome. The scenery was beautiful. And Club Med offered so much to do. We went scuba diving and snorkeling and hung out at the pool and on the beach. We went in to town and did some bargaining for t-shirts that were so thin they really weren’t even worth $.50. But you gotta have a t-shirt regardless. Plus I got to watch the disco burn down while I bunch of drunk people stood outside yelling, “The roof. The roof. The roof is on fire.” Because drunk people find the disco burning down to be very funny.

13. London, England: Our last big trip was in 2005. My mom treated Keaton [my now 12-year-old] to a trip to London. Mom had lived in London for many years from around 1998 to 2002 and she wanted to go back to see her friends. It was fabulous. First, London itself is a great city with so much to see and do. I took over 500 pictures. But then we went to Stonehenge which is rockin’. [Ha ha, pun intended.] And we spent a day in Bath going through the Roman Baths. It was very interesting. I can’t wait to take more trips to London and to explore more of Europe.

Preparing for the party

Sep 28, 2006 My creative self, Twice as nice

Here it is 1am and I’m still awake. And I’ve been so good about going to bed my midnight lately. This is what procrastination gets you.

But I have invites created and printed.

I got Skyler & Spencer’s wish lists updated.

I sent an email to family letting them know the when and where.

And now I’m going to bed. Who knew planning birthdays could be so tiring?

Our own amusement park attraction

Sep 27, 2006 A day in our life

Many years ago, Lee and I bought a big screen TV. When we purchased it the sales guy asked us if we also wanted the protective screen that goes over it. This things is made of plastic and keeps the kids’ fingers from ripping through the very flimsy screen underneath. Since we have children and we know that things get broken, ripped, burned, whatever, we got the protective screen.

This screen used to be attached to the TV with velcro. However, as the years wore on, the velcro wore out. So now screwed the screen in to the TV. Yes, with screws. It worked so who cares.

I don’t know if it’s because the TV is now up there [it's got to be like 40 years old in TV years if you go by how time flies on soap operas] or if it’s because the screen is screwed on to the TV, but there is a spot in the top middle part of this screen that’s a little out of whack. You don’t notice it when you’re watching TV, but you can really see it when the TV is off and the light hits it just right.

Tonight Keaton was going out the back door and I happened to be looking at the black TV [because apparently I enjoy watching television when the TV is off]. And this is what I saw.

Look at how big his head is. It’s like the mirrors at the amusement park. Only it’s a TV in our living room. That’s even better. We’re going to have to start inviting people over and charging them for this.