Heading Back

I've been smoking pipes with the Pennsylvanians.
Soon to be sleeping in the midnight midst of Massachusetts.

No matter where I may roam,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and finally Massachusetts
lead me home, sweet home.

Ho. Ho. Ho.

Here's a pic from last year when I was more or less a sack of baby flesh that could only cry, salivate, and smile. . . I've come a long way.
And yes kids, that's the real Santa Claus. I was his helper last year. I'm laid off this year (you know, the recession has really trickled into all areas of life).

Merry Christmas Family and Friends!

SNOW STORM!

Truckin'

So sorry for the delay

I am sorry for the delay in writing blogs this week. I've been skiing at Mt. Snow, Vermont and drinking hot chocolate with the T. A. S. P. I. T. group ( a.k.a. Toddlers for the Advancement of Ski Programs for Infants and Toddlers).

My ski instructor said that I'm ready for the black diamond slopes this week so I have my new goggles and threads for the challenge. Mom and Dad said they never saw infants with such dexterity as they saw at out last meeting on the slopes. We've had some setbacks with injuries this year, but it looks like Bobby's vision won't be impaired after the surgery and that Susy's earmuffs just need to be cut out of her hair.

The lodge serves great corn dogs, sushi, and sweet potato pie. I like to mix the three together.

Happy Skiing.
Merry Christmas.

some tears for you

here's a smile for ya

The art of humour

My parents continue to educate me in the art of being so ridiculous, you get someone to laugh. Here's me, making my eyes bulge. Mom taught me this one, but dad got it on the camera.

Stress Baking

Ever stress baked?
Mom does.
We're okay, but things have been a bit more stressful than normal. Since Mom was home today as Dad took the car to get checked out, she has made chocolate chip cookies, a steak roast, blueberry oat bread, and a blackberry pie....and it's only 3:00pm.
I'll be eating good tonight!
-Sim

Some of my Schamley

Here's me with my Great Mom Mom, cousin Sara, cousin Paul, and cousin Timothy. They rock my face off.

My X Wing

Beethoven and the Vet

Today Mom drove our old car (“Goldie” which was short for “The Golden Girl”) to be traded in because the cost to repair the car is far beyond the car’s worth in its old age. Goldie is getting taken to the junk yard.

Know that sinking sad feeling of letting something go?

Mom said that she drove the car in a quiet solemness, not quite sure how to let go of this rather inanimate object that she somehow felt connected with.

Mom isn’t one for classical music, but she found herself listening to a live performance of one of Beethoven’s sonatas as she drove. It seemed appropriate that the moment be coupled with a strong, beautiful sound.

My mom had a childhood dog (“Ezzy” which was short for “Esmeralda”) and her dad had to put the dog to sleep when she was in fourth grade. Her dad told her when she was older that he yelled (the dog was now deaf) “good dog” as loud as he could, over and over again, as he drove the very faithful dog to the vet.

And that dog was much more than a car could ever be.

And mom remembers when she was at her great-grandmother’s funeral (Her name was “Mame Mame”, which was short for “Helen”). She watched her great-grandfather stand at the open casket for what seemed like a very great deal of time just staring at the body of the lovely woman he had been married to for over 60 years. He just stood there, trying to let her go.

How can any human let go of something like that?

Mame Mame’s love and commitment to her husband makes a dog’s love look like junk.

May you live today in such a way that you notice the people around you. Who’s casket would you just stare at, waiting and hoping for them to come back and be beside you again?

May you appreciate what it means to say hello to those people, and not just goodbye.

May you encourage them and love them very well.

And for those of you who have never known what it means to be loved by God, (which is far deeper and stunning on all accounts than mom’s great grandparent’s love), may you come face to face with your Creator. May you fall before Him in humility and begin to trust His strong arms. He is offering a love that does not fade or leave you.

Good night.

Signing off for Thanksgiving

Here's some pics to hold you over the next few days as I take a break from blogging and take the Relaxi Taxi to the Thanksgiving Gravy Train.

Oh so tasty Fridge

My mom gave me the basting brush from the drawer and with rather proud eyes watched me as I went over to our refrigerator and began painting away. Then I went and got my new (used) gallon ice cream bucket to use as a paint can.

But actually I was celebrating upcoming turkey day by basting the fridge.

Good eating.

As the Rooster Crows

It ain't rural, but we have a rooster.
Mom took this video as she left for work at 6:30 am (she works for the North Shore branch of the C.I.A.).

Today

Today I said my sixth word:

Supercalifragil-

isticexpialido-

cious

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b-Z0SSyUcw

Sorting things

You may have some things in your life that need to be sorted out at the moment.
Go at it. Go at it.

story hour

The emails went like this:

Mom's friend to Mom:
"So we go to story hour at the library once in a while. They have a group of one year olds and last week we went. It usually consists of moms and tots sitting in a circle, singing songs, and listening to stories. In my head I pictured all the kids running around, and not paying attention. Apparently that is the case for only my child. Seriously ALL the other kids are sitting quietly and Asher is throwing his sippy cup at the other moms and running around pulling books off of the shelf. I was the only one there with a wild child. I feel like you would understand this."

Mom to Mom's friend:
"Thanks for the laughter. When I applied for our library card this summer I was told about the story hour they have and I laughed out loud. Until now I thought that no children could handle a gathering like this. Apparently I am wrong! Saturday night we had some friends over and Simeon threw huge handfuls of chicken Alfredo onto our guest's shirt. There was nothing to do but apologize and start cleaning up...."

the expanse of an empty living room

New words, old memories

I've now learned the word "ball" and with this amazing developmental milestone, I'd like to take a moment to remember when I was just a wee little thing. This picture was taken when I was rather hairless and less than a month old (you can tell from my mother's protruding belly). Now I'm a bulky 80 pounder with a goatee.

Ruth Sager, one of my fabulous great-grandmothers

We received a letter from my great grandmother Ruth Sager today:

Dear Abby & Steve,
It was Saturday morning when word arrived that Indians were now in Jennerstown and headed our way. Knowing that they would be here in 30 minutes and that a runner was now on the way spreading the word in a 30-mile circle to alert other people, we knew that we had to prepare for the worst, which was that the Indians would burn down the house and we had to flee to the west.

We decided that we would have a sale of some of our possessions to at least get some money for our survival, so we sent out invitations to all the neighbors to come to our house immediately for the sale. I went to the cellar to find items for the sale, but all I could find was a bag of things I had intended to give to the Salvation Army.

Returning from the cellar, I flew up the stairs just as I heard the door open and a neighbor came in. They were the only ones to come to our sale: a man that looked like a younger version of Mr. Shaffer (our neighbor at the farm), his rather plump wife, and a 4-5 year old son.

Immediately Glenn gathered us around the table and passed little slips of paper out to the people. "Tickets" he called them and set the box of sale items on the table. Then he excused himself to go to the bathroom and I stewed because of the waste of time because I could already hear the Indian’s whooping it up in the distance. The little boy was also going around the room, getting into everything and adding to my worries.

When Glenn returned, he took each item from the box and the man wrote an amount on a slip of paper indicating that he would buy everything offered. Among them were a spanglely red silk dress that looked like a perfect fit for the wife, a black candle holder and candle, a box of dirt in which potatoes already sprouted were buried, a brown cotton housecoat, and a lot of little knick knacks. The only thing rejected was an old toy truck that they little boy rejected.

With the sale almost completed, I felt that I should offer some kind of treat to the family, but had no sweets on hand. As it was already almost lunch time, I thought of some wieners in the refrigerator and some bread that could be wrapped around them. And then I woke up.

Love,

Grandma

The Doc

So the Doc said on Monday that I need to up my word count.
Ever done a word count on a Microsoft Word Document? Mine would of been 1.

So I've upped my count to four:

I now can say Hi (over and over and over again), Oh, No, and Wow.
My fifth and most commonly used word is "dee" which can stand for all nouns, pro-nouns, adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions, superlatives, and prepositions.

Mom and Pops at first wondered why I only am saying exclamation words until the realized that that is all they say to me. For instance, a typical sentence out of either parent's mouth may be: "Wow! Hi Simeon! Ooo la-la! Your poop smells! Oh! Oi Vey! No! Wait! Hold on! Stop! Climb down! Watch out! Danger! Careful!!!

Here's some recent pics:

Ah, the democratic process

Did you see the riots that broke out today during the voting? murders? bombings? You haven't heard about them because they didn't happen. Praise God that we are not going to bed tonight nervous that our houses will be attacked because of who we voted for, or even because we dared to vote at all. Praise God that our nation has a relatively safe election process.

..................................................................................

Have any good questions on your ballot?
They let me vote since I'll be a candidate for next term.

We had some good ones here in Massachusetts:
1. Yes or No to lowering the consequences for offenders with a relatively small amount of marijuana in their possession.
2. Yes or No to betting on dog races.
3. Yes or No to income taxes.
4. Yes or No to allowing five-year-olds run for the next presidency.

Did you have any good ones?

Grandma's Attic

You may be aware of the fact that mom works full time for an eBay business. She was working for a larger one, but lately she has been in charge of a smaller off-shoot of the larger one. One thing is for sure, there's a lot of stuff out there. Here's a chance to browse some old stuff. Here's a link to Mom's eBay store (just click on this).

In the Bowels

Remember the tan couch from the King? We were moving it into the foyer (I am ripped, by the way) and what we thought could have been a mouse nest was actually two Pro wrestlers!
I do not know who they are, perhaps you do.

RAVEN, TRIPPLE H, EDGE, THE ROCK, DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE, LEX LUTHER, HULK HOGAN (NWO) HULK HOGAN (HULKAMANIA) HARDCORE HOLLY, CHUCK PULOMBO, CHRIS JERICO, X PAC, BRETT HART, BUFF, X PAC, THE CRIPPLER, BILL GOLDBURG, D.VON DUDDLY, KURT ANGLE, THE ROAD DOG - JESSIE JAMES, BILLY GUN, GOLDDUST, RICK STEINER, KEN SHAMROCK, BRETT THE HITMAN HART, THE MACHO MAN RANDY SAVAGE, STING, HALL, X POC, CHRISTIAN, NASH, CONAN, MANKIND, KIDMAN, JEFF JERRIT, BILLY GUN, DOGG, SCOTT STEINER, THE GIANT - AKA.. BIG SHOW, CRASH HOLLY, JEFF HARDY, CACTUS JACK, RIKISHI, RATH, BILLY GUNN, WILLIAM REGAL

Oh the evils of being a one year old.

They put a lock on the outside of the bathroom door.

What timing!

Toliet paper now out of reach, my foiled plans spurred an evening of crying.
My mischief took on a new face.


Note of random interest: Apparently the night before the dreaded Halloween is not "Mischief Night" in all fifty states as I assumed! I have confirmation now that it is not Mischief night in Massachusetts or Michigan. Since there are quite a few states represented in the followers of this blog, please feel free to leave a comment below letting us know if your state has what is called "Mischief Night" the night before Halloween. Anyone can leave a comment, just select "Name" and it will allow you to type your name.

mischief night

Ah . . . mischief night.

The toilet paper is ready.
My parents are unsuspecting.

I am ready.

a note

Running of the Bulls

The Brassicaceae family

I've been busy getting to know what is commonly referred to as the "brussel sprout."

My papa on film

If you have never seen the Pete and Douglas flicks, then you're in for a treat. One of Dad's friends, Chris, is a film genius and they toyed with a camera in their college days. If you click on this, it should take you to the site where you can watch them (they are short films around 10 minutes each). If the link doesn't work, then go to: http://vimeo.com/1725631

My Aunt Mindy is a very serious person. seriously.

Sick at Manderach

So um... what does a sick kid do at Manderach Park? Here's a vid for you and some pics of the awesome park in Limerick, Pennsylvania.

I kept digging

I kept on digging and I found these three. Mom is in two of them as a kiddo. (My great-grandmother and my mom's cousin Damien are in the grass). And the very first one is of my grandparent's Zel and Boom Boom.

Stolen

I stole these pics of my grandfather's hard drive.

Shout Out to Compassion

Here's a shout out to Compassion International who just published the below statement in their most recent annual report:

"In the last fiscal year, 154,122 children from our Child Sponsorship Program made commitments to Jesus Christ! And child sponsorships reached 902,172 globally — a 13 percent increase."

If you're interested in learning more:
http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/waystosponsor/default.htm

Thanks,
Sim

Most boring blog post ever

Blah bla blah.........................blah. mmmmmnnmm.

Vegetable Man

Hot Stuff

Pops and rocks

I went into the great outdoors today with my parents. Here are some amazingly cute pictures of dad and I.
I pretty much have hiking down now. Oh, and believe it or not, this is actually an urban environment. It is called "Lynn Woods" and is only about a mile from our house. It's a huge reservation. I am told that the average human can make reservations at restaurants in less than a minute or two, but that seems unlikely - this place was huge and more of a God thing than a human thing....

Either way, I did hike like professional. When I was done tackling the bear's playland of leaves and green, my parents took a photo of my face since it has been slightly altered since the hike began. Hopefully the scars won't be so noticeable that people try to wipe then off like some stray dried food item.

Lastly, I have a video here for you that highlights my "drunken stupor" walk (which I only bust out in predatory situations). Bears don't like beer, nor do they like to eat people who have just drank some. So I fake. And I live to write this blog.

The King of Henry Ave.

Perhaps you've seen the king on your street.
All streets have one.
Ours is John.
Greek, tall, and a cigar smoker; he gallantly strides the neighborhood, cane in hand.

John is also a very kind man.
He plays cards on his porch with his older sons.
In fact, the king gave us a loveseat a while ago that is very comfortable.
He has two peach trees by his porch.

Several weeks ago, John gave Dad a few peaches.
Oh man. They were tasty.
They hit the spot like John Kruk on a good day.
We ate them all.

To our surprise, the king then gave us Greek Sausage one day as we climbed out of our car after parking.
It was intense, but good. (I didn't get that much... something about my intestines and gas..)

But to really get to the kicker, I have to tell you that mom decided to say thank you for the sausage by giving the king some cookies.
They were Chocolate crinkle cookies.

And this is when I tell you the most amazing thing:
Dad and I went over one day when John was on his porch to give him the cookies. At first he said he shouldn't take them, but Dad insisted. (We think Mrs. King may have an opinion on Mr. King's sugar intake). But John DID take the cookies and then the most amazing thing happened: John said "Hold on!" and went inside his house. A moment later he came out of the house holding a pack of three new boxers (underwear for older boys). He gave them to Dad. They have stripes and spots and elastic linings.

So now we sit on our in boxer shorts, eating peaches and Greek sausages, on our tan loveseat.

May you find your neighborhood king and may you enjoy the richness of friendship with that person to the extent that they give you underwear.

killing flies in the bathroom

Dad and Paul giggling in the bathroom as they, BARE-HANDED, killed flies.

Rye and the V: Jamming like it's 1999

Zoos and Libraries sport the signs

The Pig
by Roald Dahl

In England once there lived a big
And wonderfully clever pig.
To everybody it was plain
That Piggy had a massive brain.

He worked out sums inside his head,
There was no book he hadn't read.
He knew what made an airplane fly,
He knew how engines worked and why.

He knew all this, but in the end
One question drove him round the bend:
He simply couldn't puzzle out
What LIFE was really all about.

What was the reason for his birth?
Why was he placed upon this earth?
His giant brain went round and round.
Alas, no answer could be found.

Till suddenly one wondrous night.
All in a flash he saw the light.
He jumped up like a ballet dancer
And yelled, "By gum, I've got the answer!"

"They want my bacon slice by slice
"To sell at a tremendous price!
"They want my tender juicy chops
"To put in all the butcher's shops!

"They want my pork to make a roast
"And that's the part'll cost the most!
"They want my sausages in strings!
"They even want my chitterlings!

"The butcher's shop! The carving knife!
"That is the reason for my life!"
Such thoughts as these are not designed
To give a pig great piece of mind.

Next morning, in comes Farmer Bland,
A pail of pigswill in his hand,
And piggy with a mighty roar,
Bashes the farmer to the floor…

Now comes the rather grizzly bit
So let's not make too much of it,
Except that you must understand
That Piggy did eat Farmer Bland,

He ate him up from head to toe,
Chewing the pieces nice and slow.
It took an hour to reach the feet,
Because there was so much to eat.

And when he finished, Pig, of course,
Felt absolutely no remorse.
Slowly he scratched his brainy head
And with a little smile he said,

"I had a fairly powerful hunch
"That he might have me for his lunch.
"And so, because I feared the worst,
"I thought I'd better eat him first."

The old "Pull my finger" routine.

Like a Pirate

Happy National Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Matey.

Porcupine Meatballs

Click here for the recipe

The amazingness of "IN"

I've been busting out the old "IN" lately. I don't say, just do.
Mom thought it'd be humorous to take an hour of the day and take a photograph of things she caught me putting IN that didn't necessarily belong. Of course they belong! By the way....they still haven't found their remote.

For your head: the red basket in these photos is a bin we use in the kitchen for towels, napkins, etc. for a later date with the washer.