Gwen 0.5 and Kali 0.8 say Happy Halloween!!!!

Kali and her cousin, Gwen............

Just one more year added on........

October 31st is here again. Halloween for some, but in our family, it takes on a much greater focus. It's Mrs. Lime's birthday! Yes, Mrs. Lime is 29 years old again (for the 4th straight year). We're excited to have a nice quiet evening and pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters that wander by our house.

Kali 0.8 hasn't quite figured out that she's supposed to be scared of all of the Halloween decorations in our home. She laughs at the headless man screaming over the loss of his body. She giggles at the near-death butler, who's heavy breathing sends other children running in fear. She watches the spider that hangs above the doorway, fully knowing that it will drop at any second on its web to scare most others. Yes, we're obviously raising a child with a warped vision of Halloween. When she grows up, she'll be the leader of the group, dragging everyone else through the haunted houses. She'll tell them "there's nothing to be scared of" while the other children hide behind her. What do you expect from the child of a person born on Halloween?!?!?!

In an instant...........

I have a co-worker who has two kids. He has a boy who is 21 and a girl who is 17. He paints a picture of the two kids that could not be more contrasting.

His 21 year old son was never a great student. He is taking college classes here and there, but he's not going to school full-time. He does enjoy playing hockey and his parents try to support him in that endeavor. He wants to have money, but he constantly gets fired from jobs that aren't that difficult overall. He feels he is 'above them', despite the fact that he continues to not perform well due to laziness. His dad worries that he may not get out of his current rut.

His daughter is a straight-A student. She studies a lot and has some scholarships already locked up so she can go to college. She doesn't cause any major problems for her parents and is very responsible.

Today, I found out that his son was in a car accident over the weekend and is in a coma with a major head injury. His father had always said he drove wild and received speeding tickets. I just hate that his mom and dad has to go through this situation. He'd likely take back his ill-mannered, undisciplined son in a moment if it meant he would come out of this OK. I hope he has that opportunity.

Party time in the bath!!!!!

Click the link below to see just how fun a rubber duckie can be!!!!!

Bath time video!

Kali 0.8 picture blowout..........

Oh yeah! Grandparents rejoice (along with everyone else of course)! It's a Kali picture blowout.

Bathtime! The photos were taken at the proper angles to maintain the greatest level of privacy for our 8 month old friend.........







Showing off in purple...........









Playing with the lamb..........



Enough with the pictures, Mommy!!!!!!!!!!!

Everything checked out fine.........

Kali 0.8 has been growing like a weed. She's already growing out of some of her 12 month old clothing despite only being 8 months. We're lucky to get 10 uses out of a set of pajamas before she looks like a scuba diver in a skin-tight wet suit.

Last week, Mrs. Lime took Kali in for a check-up and a flu-shot. Kali reportedly took the shot like a champ, barely even flinching. The doctor did some measurements and found that Kali's weight and height remained at a steady rate, but her head size had jumped up to the 95% range. As a conservative precaution, the doctor wanted Kali to get an ultrasound of her head to make sure nothing was amiss.

I'm happy to report that nothing was amiss, other than the fact that our child is about to shoot off the top end of the children's growth chart. Hopefully her grades in school match her growth percentages.

Bath time........

Big-time bath last night for Kali 0.8. Here's the schedule......

6:37 PM - Takes off clothes and diaper (I actually did the work, not Kali).
6:38 PM - Run the bath water.
6:40 PM - Baby gets put into the bathtub with toys.
7:25 PM - Baby finally finished playing with toys and shows sleepy signs.
7:27 PM - Put soap on washcloth and give baby a scrub-down
7:29 PM - Baby is out and dry.
7:30 PM - PJ's are on and she's ready for a before-bed snack.
8:00 PM - Off to bed.

Just your average 50 minute bath before Kali goes to sleep.

The jail cell in our bedroom.........

I woke up at around 3:00 AM last night. I heard a scratching noise on the floor. That's not all that unusual as Nova 7.7 often scratches on the floor when he stretches or adjusts his body during the night. I closed my eyes to go back to sleep when I heard it again.........more scratching noises.

It sounded like it was coming from both sides of the bed. I peeked over the edge of the bed and didn't see anything. I laid back down. More scratching noises. I peeked over a bit further and found the problem. Nova's head was sticking out from under the bed and the rest of his body was stuck beneath it. Something like this had happened before. What happens is that he can fit under the bed when he's laying on his side, but when he flips onto his tummy, he can't get out. He sleeps on his side and likely scooted under the bed while he was sleeping.

So I got out of bed to assist him. I flipped him on his side and dragged him out. He came out of the ordeal unscathed and laid back down to finish out a full night of sleep.

Piecing stuff together.......

Spent some time getting some things done around the house this weekend. We purchased a new bedroom set so that we could have additional visitors in our house. We're going to move a queen bed into the empty bedroom. Eventually, that will be Kali 0.8's bed when she's old enough.

I did a lot of work to fix things up around the house. Changed furnace filters for the winter, glued some furniture together, moved boxes around, cleaned up around the house, etc. Lots of busy work that had to be done.

Fall finally set in today. The day started sunny and in the 70's, but quickly fell into the 50's later in the day. It's supposed to be no higher than the 60's all week, so I think Summer has finally left the building. Additionally, Nova 7.7 was kept busy all day by the squirrel activity in the back yard. They've been picking up the walnuts that have been falling off our walnut tree and burying the nuts all over the place. Our back yard is a squirrel buffet right now.

We're having our Halloween party this upcoming weekend. Should be a lot of fun. I'm interested to see what kind of costumes show up. Mrs. Lime is planning on losing her head for the event. I'm not sure what I'll do yet. I've got a few costumes in a closet that I'll likely dig through the night before.

Kali 0.8 still growing like a weed........

Kali 0.8 went for a check-up and to get a flu shot the other day. She's still at the 90% level for height and 90% level for weight. We've obviously done something to cause exponential growth in the child. Was it the food or the genes? You decide.

Where am I going?

So, as is so often the case, death of a friend or family member brings on the inevitable discussion of topics related to death. Mrs. Lime and I had one of those conversations after leaving the cemetery where my great-grandmother was buried......

Mrs. Lime: So, do you want to be buried or cremated?

Me: You know I want to be cremated. I'm not all that keen on getting stuffed and put on display.

Mrs. Lime: OK, so what do you want done with your ashes?

Me: I've already told you that as well.

Mrs. Lime: Yeah, you said you wanted your ashes spread around Mizzou Arena.

Me: No, that's not what I said. I said I wanted you to spill a sugar-filled drink under my seats at Mizzou Arena and then spread my ashes around in the spilled drink. That way, when the cleaning staff comes through, they won't be able to clean me up and throw me away. I'll be stuck to the floor forever.

Mrs. Lime: OK, so what do you want done with the rest of your ashes? I can't dump all of you under a seat.

Me: I don't know......you could put me in a locket for a necklace or something.

Mrs. Lime: Yeah, but I couldn't put all of you in that. It would have to be an awfully big locket.

Me: OK, so put my arm in a locket.

Mrs. Lime: I don't think that anything more than the end of your pinky would fit into a locket.

Me: Fair enough.

Mrs. Lime: OK, so where do I put the rest of you?

Me: I'm not sure.

So, I suppose I'm still stuck with half of me not knowing where it's going to end up. I'll have to keep thinking about. If anyone knows of any good places to stick my ashes, feel free to e-mail me and let me know. I'm looking for a good place to call my eternal home.

Sounds like a good life to me........

I'm really not too sure how long 100 years is at any level. I've only been around for 1/3 of a century. My great-grandmother does know. She finally decided that 103 years and 5 months was long enough to hang around here and passed away on October 11th. It was a bit discouraging because I was planning to head down to see her this coming weekend as we finally had some free time available, but it wasn't to be. I'm still very happy for her that she had a long life with many wonderful times and is finally able to see everyone who passed on before her, including her husband who she outlived by over 30 years.

Events that happened the year she was born (1904)........

-The U.S. bought the Panama Canal Zone for $10 million.

-The first tunnel was completed under the Hudson River.

-Longacre Square in New York City was renamed Times Square in honor of the New York Times newspaper.

-6 days before my grandmother was born, Cy Young threw the first ever perfect game in the modern era of baseball.

-The ice cream cone was invented at the World's Fair in St. Louis.

-The first line of the New York City subway was opened.

-Theodore Roosevelt beat Alton B. Parker to become the President of the United States.

-'Madame Butterfly' and 'Peter Pan' both premiered, with both of them receiving lukewarm reviews. Both eventually became successful and are still popular today.


Some things I remember about my grandmother........

-Wonderful cook. We always got to have great meals when we headed down to her house

-The pool table in her basement. They actually put the table in before they built the rest of the house as it was too big to fit down the stairs. Someone will have to bust it into pieces to get it out of there. The grand kids would go down and beat up that pool table at every family gathering.

-The storm shelter in her house. The home she lived in was actually built with a storm shelter that was actually underground in-between her home and the neighbor home. You could actually go into the neighbor's basement through the storm shelter. Needless to say, homes aren't built that way anymore.

-Very good Pitch player. For those that don't know, that's a card game that the family played.

-Her old car. She had it for years and never put many miles on it. The one car garage was barely big enough to hold it. It was a monstrous vehicle.

-Afghan blankets which she crocheted herself. Later, when she was older (late 90's), she scaled back and made pot-holders instead of blankets. We still use those pot-holders all the time. They're mismatched and sometimes are split into multiple colors because she ran out of one color halfway through the process. She'd just switch to a different color and keep on going.

-Costume jewelry Christmas trees. She had tons of cheap jewelry that she would mount on a board and them in a frame and create Christmas trees out of old jewelry. They were gaudy and beautiful all at the same time.

-Candy dishes. They were everywhere in the house and always full of candy. She had one dish in the living room that always had candy that I didn't like. Thankfully, the other dishes had more than enough candy to keep me busy.

-The eye-glasses. She wore the same style of glasses for as long as I can remember. She would upgrade the prescription, but the frames would always be the same style. Her twin sister wore the same style of glasses as well.

-She loved lots of flowers and bushes. Always lots of both in her yard.

-The appetite. Even when she was 100+, she still ate pretty well and loved it when we showed up with some food from outside the nursing home. If we showed up with a pizza, she'd say that she only needed one piece and then proceed to eat half the pizza. If we showed up with a milkshake, she'd say she only wanted a taste of it and then finish off the whole milkshake.

-She's always called Wal-Mart "Wal-Marks". I'm not sure why or how that started. But I'd correct her and she'd always note it and then proceed to say "Wal-Marks" again. So I eventually didn't even bother with the correction.

-Sequins on her shoes. She'd always have some crazy shoes that she'd wear that would glitter and shine with bright colors. They were the kind of shoes that only certain people can get away with wearing.

-Her daughter's death. My grandma and great-grandma occasionally were at odds and wouldn't talk to each other at times for various reasons. My grandma died a few years ago and my great-grandma attended her funeral. When she saw her daughter in the casket, I remember her saying 'Oh baby, sweet baby!' while crying. You could tell that it was a great loss for her to lose one of her children. They obviously loved each other, but all I could think about was how much time they spent being upset at each other for small things that really aren't that important. I have no idea why that hangs with me so much, but it does for some reason. It's a good, but tough lesson. Life is too short to sweat the minor stuff in life, even when you live 103 years.

-"WOO-HOO!!!" When we went to her house, we'd always walk right in as she would have the front door unlocked. She'd never been in the front room. So we'd always yell "WOO-HOO!!!" as soon as we came in the front door. You wouldn't have to wait long to hear a "WOO-HOO!!!" reply from somewhere to let you know where she was at in the house.

-She met my wife and daughter. It's unbelievable that my wife didn't meet her until she was 90 and still was able part of our relationship and marriage for 14 years after that. My daughter was able to meet her great-great-grandmother. Usually, I would take center stage when I visited her in the nursing home. She would tell everyone that would listen that I was her grandson. But when we visited with Kali, I played second fiddle. To everyone that would listen, she would tell them that Kali was her grand-baby. It was only for a couple hours, but she couldn't have been more proud. Link to visit

A tale of two guards..........

I work in a federal building in the Kansas City area. Naturally, the building is pretty heavily guarded and fortified on the perimeter because of the 9/11/2001 terror attack. There are large cement pillars surrounding the building and there are 8-10 guards guarding the 3 main entrances.

When I walk into the building each morning around 6:00 AM, there's always the same two guards at the door. I find their demeanors to be pretty interesting and contrasting in how they present themselves. The first guard has a rough look to him. He's a chain smoker who is often guarding the building from the designated smoking area outside the doors. When he is inside the doors, he's often complaining to the other guard about something, often using curse words to describe the situation. I've also seen him in the cafeteria, bemoaning the lack of quality food and complaining that the one thing he likes isn't being offered that day. I just really can't think of a time when he's ever been pleasant to anyone.

The other guard is the exact opposite. He's a very clean-cut guy. Always has a smile on his face. He also says hello to everyone as they come in. Some people might think that his job isn't to say hi to everyone, but rather to guard the building. I'd argue that he's quickly learning faces by saying hi to everyone and it allows him to quickly identify new people coming into the building who he hasn't seen before who might be a threat to people in the facility. I also feel sorry for the guy because he watches the same door as the first guard, meaning he has to listen to all of the first guard's complaints on an everyday basis. But he doesn't seem to mind from what I've seen. Kudos to him because it would drive me nuts.

Either way, I'm sure that both of these guys are helping to keep the facility safe. I'm just amazed at the stark contrasts between the two guards.

Sandwich dissection............

I went to the Subway shop to get some sandwiches a couple of nights ago. I already had ordered my sandwiches and was letting the girl at the counter know which veggies I wanted on each sandwich. To my right was a man who had just finished that process. The girl working for Subway was cutting the sandwiches and was getting ready to wrap it........

Man: Could I get that foot-long sandwich cut into fourths?

Subway girl: Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I already cut it in half.

Pure comedy gold.

Just so you understand................

The Mizzou Tigers football team is now ranked #11 in the country. That's the highest they've been ranked since I was in 1st grade (that's 1981 for you all keeping score at home). That's a LONG time ago. They're now 5-0 and face Oklahoma in Norman this weekend.

If Mizzou can manage to win in Norman for the first time since 1966 (which was 8 years before my birth), they will be in excellent position to push for a Big 12 North championship and have their first shot at a Big 12 football title. Also, they would jump into the middle of the top 10 in the nation and would be one of only a few teams mentioned as a national championship contender.

Let me put this to you bluntly.......

If MU does not win this weekend, they're still in a great position to win the Big 12 North.

If MU beats OU in Norman this weekend, I will openly weep like a little schoolgirl. Consider yourself warned.

Could you kick their dog too??????

One of my friends had to drive up to Nebraska Sunday afternoon on I-29. Of course, many Nebraska fans were headed back to their home state on that same road after being in Columbia, Missouri late Saturday night for the Mizzou/Nebraska football game.

I was told that an industrious group of Mizzou fans made the trip home for Nebraska fans one to remember. On several bridges going over the highway, people had hung large Mizzou banners complete with Tiger Tails attached to the banner. Better yet, they only hung the banners from bridges that didn't have any exits (i.e. there was no way Nebraska fans could take the exit and remove the signs from the bridges). So in case the whipping that Mizzou gave Nebraska on Saturday wasn't enough, the Nebraska fans had to relive the whole episode all the way home as they passed bridge after bridge covered with Mizzou banners.

Tip of the cap to Columbus.......

Thanks to Christopher Columbus, I had the day off today. Mrs. Lime had done some late night work, so the baby duty was on me for the morning. We took some time to play, ate some squash and turkey, took a nap, and changed a couple of diapers. All in a morning's work.

Kali 0.7 has learned a couple of new tricks. She's now waiving and anything and everything. She sees a painting.....and waves at it. She sees a witch decoration in the house.......and waves at it. A clock on the wall.......deserves a wave. She's greeted the entire house at this point.

She's also pretty good at standing on her own against the coffee table. She can set her arms on top of the table and stand on her own. She is also to the point where she can pull herself to her knees from a sitting position by grabbing on to the coffee table.

She's improving by leaps and bounds with her mobility as well. I set her down 8 feet from the coffee table and went in to get a bottle. I came back in the room a couple of minutes later and she had scooted over to the table on her own. Going to have to start hancuffing her to furniture when I leave the room.

Poker, birthdays, football, and baptisms.......

Mrs. Lime and I finally got a will written and signed. It's always nice to sign some documents about your death. Hopefully I live forever and no one has to bother trying to translate it. Kali 0.7 played and giggled on the table the entire time while we were signing the wills. She saw the terms of the will, so she was likely already counting my money in her head. I'll assume the next time a bottle comes flying at my head that she's trying to take me out.

Today is my birthday as well. I'm now sitting at the very interesting age of 33. Why is it interesting you say? Well, I suppose it's more interesting than 32, but I'll get back to you on that after a few days of being 33.

I went with Rudy to the poker tables last night to try my birthday luck. Managed to win about $40 and Rudy broke even, so all is well in that regard. We had some pretty bad players sit down at our table through the night and about half the table was poker room regulars. I made some pretty good reads all night long. There was a few hands where I had absolutely nothing, but it was as if the other person had turned over their hands and I knew exactly what they had. Makes poker awfully easy when you can play it knowing what your opponent has in his hand.

I also managed to put a regular player 'on tilt'. Putting a player 'on tilt' means you push them to a point where they are playing emotionally rather than playing logically. If you can get a player to do that, they're going to give away some chips in a big hurry. I had played with this guy before and put him on tilt, so I knew it could be done. I won a hand off him and then told him that I was convinced that he didn't have anything. This sent him on a pretty quick downward spiral. Over the next 1 1/2 hours after that hand, this guy dumped $200 into the table. That's a best-case scenario as a player, especially when you know they're likely playing some bad hands and making unwise decisions. During that same time, I went from $70 down to $60 up. That 1 1/2 hours made for a profitable night.

We have a busy weekend coming up. My birthday is today, tomorrow is the huge Nebraska-Mizzou football game (which will likely decide the Big 12 North winner), and Sunday is Kali's baptism. Just another weekend at the Lime household I suppose.

New sign needed..........

I was driving back with Kali 0.7 on Sunday when I noticed a sign at the border that was posted by the Missouri Dept. of Transportation. It read:

Hit a worker?
$10,000 fine
Lose your license

Maybe it's me, but that seems like an awfully lenient punishment for whacking a construction worker with your vehicle. I'm guessing that worker that is hit would likely feel the same. I propose a sign to portray a much more accurate situation of what may occur.

Hit or kill a worker?
Felony conviction
Spend your entire life in a cell with a guy named Bubba

Now that's a sign that would get my attention.

Kali 0.7 and Mr. Mom survive the weekend........

Kali 0.7 and I survived the weekend with flying colors. She only woke up once the first night and slept the whole night on Friday and Saturday night. She was pretty well behaved other than a few hours Friday where she would fuss every time I set her down. For some reason, she wanted to be held all the time. She woke up suddenly while my dad and I were out to eat and was frightened. I'm guessing that is what caused her to act like that.

For the record, the final staggering totals for the weekend were......

25 dirty diapers
90 ounces of formula
24 ounces of meat
40 ounces of vegetables

......and a whole lot of love and play time.