What is the 411 on 420 anyway?

March 31, 2012

CJ left town yesterday headed to Centerville, Ohio.  He is on spring break this week and really knows all the best spring break destinations.

Actually, CJ runs the light board for the high school's theater department.  In the fall, they performed a play called, "Piece of my Heart".  It is the story of 6 women who went off to the Vietnam War as nurses, USO performers, Red Cross nurses, or Army nurses. 

The play went off so well that they were invited to Centerville this weekend to have their play adjudicated.  They are one of only five schools selected to have their whole play judged.  Impressive.  I have seen it once and it was very well done, though not as much fun to watch as their spring production, Footloose.

So the only contact we have had with our baby since he left at 1:00 yesterday afternoon, was a text at 10:00 last night saying the play had gone off perfectly.  Therefore, I know he is alive.  I guess he did not think I was serious when I said I wanted a text or email every 15 minutes. 

That leaves Beth and myself with some free time today.  We have some shopping to do, but it is only 8:07 and I don't want the stores to find me too eager.

I thought about playing some video games this morning, but Beth is watching television and it is probably better if I don't play anyway.  I am not that good, but I still want to win.  Sometimes I do okay depending on who else is on line playing some Modern Warfare 3 at that time.

I find there are 3 groups of players that are really good-teens, Mexicans, and pot smokers.  I can identify which class they are in from their voices, their background music, or their call sign.  With the teens, it is usually their voices as they actually sound like 8 year-olds over the headset.  The Mexicans speak Spanish, have Latin music playing, and usually have "MEX" in their call sign.  The pot heads are usually yelling up the stairs to their mom what they want to eat next, or they are talking to their buddies about why they are missing work, or they have "420" in their call sign.

The other night I was doing especially bad at the game, but I figured out the problem.  The game waves were full of players who were pot smoking teenage Mexicans.  I did not stand a chance.

Beth is done with the television so I may go play some.  Since it is 8:15 in the morning on a Saturday, chances are the three main high performing groups are still asleep, sleeping it off, or telling mom they will be up in a couple minutes.  We'll see.

I also give him Jack Daniels for his cough

March 13, 2012

Hopefully we have escaped the ill winds of the past few weeks here at Casa Steve.  The tornadoes that blew through the area missed our community and my brother's house down in Louisville too.  There were lost lives not too far from either one of us, so we were truly blessed on that one.  It never got close enough to my house for electricity to be lost or a trip to the basement, but my brother and his family did have to go to their basement.  My nephew was the last one to arrive downstairs since he had to secure his valuable possessions-XBox, IPod, and underwear.  Smart kid.

I have nearly survived the remodel process at my store and we have our grand opening with the new PFresh area on March 25th.  I can then think about taking a vacation after Easter which seems far away right now, but will be here before I know it.

And finally, we have all three survived illness at Steve's hacienda.  I had a sinus infection followed by rather serious allergy symptoms.  It usually goes in reverse order, but my body decided to shake things up this time.  Thank goodness for Allegra D and its healing properties.

Then my son had his turn with allergies and an antibiotic-also for a sinus infection.  Genetics are awesome.  Thank God we are not females or we both would have gotten yeast infections.   That's the equivalent, right?

Then the worst of all possibilities happened, MOM GOT SICK!!!!  Things were thrown off kilter here at Sanctuario de Esteban. 

How will CJ and Dad survive?  Should I go buy new underwear and clothes now?  How long do you plan on milking this?  Good, God, milk?  How does this arrive in our refrigerator?  Do we have cows outside?  Do squirrels provide milk?  Are my hands too big to procure the milk from the squirrels? 

Beth does not get allergies.  She hangs around sniffling sneezing school kids for fun.  She gets sick.  The congestion was messing her up the most once she solved the runny nose problem.  You may think it's funny, but it's snot.

When CJ was three, he had been bothered by a stuffy nose for several days and was miserable.  I decided to go to the store and solve the problem.  I bought a kid's version of Afrin for stuffy noses.  It worked like a charm, but is apparently not considered the best nose alternative for children.  However, when Beth went to squirt CJ's nose the next night before bedtime with regular old saline spray, CJ cried and said, "Daddy gives me the flat bottle so I can breathe."  He had chosen breathing over the possible side effects of nose bleeds.  He lost his argument that day.

So what did Beth come home with Saturday night after a couple days not being able to breathe?  THE FLAT BOTTLE!  She had decided that a three year old knowing the difference was good enough for her.  She can breathe now, but can she handle any further brain damage?

I guess we will soon find out.