My GIF to you

Mr. Shife and his terrible, horrible, no good very bad day.
OK. It wasn't that appalling.
But I had an altercation with a brewed drink that I would kick in the nuts if that was possible.
Pardon me.
I just Googled it.
It appears that the beverage of my disdain does not have testicles.
So the day started off great.
I was ready to kick butt and take names.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Thursday you are mine.

As the day progressed, I felt like the cat's meow.

Then it happened.
I came home and pushed my luck.
Instead of making two trips to bring in all of the stuff from the car, I decided to try it in one trip.
Big mistake.
I had one too many things in my hand.
And this became abundantly clear when I tried to walk.

Well instead of spilling milk all over myself it was coffee because I was trying to be nice and bring in Mrs. Shife's coffee mug for her.
I don't like coffee.
But I like Mrs. Shife.
The things we do for the ones we love.
Did I mention I don't like coffee?
Well I especially don't like coffee when it attacks me, and by attacks, I mean it ended up getting dumped out all over the front of my shirt and coat.
It made me sad.

Now I'm definitely not winning this day.
I smell like coffee.
So I have to take a shower.
Now I am even more sad.

How was your day?





I will persevere. I will keep moving forward. I will be the stream.

The Archives

Hi there. Mrs. Shife and I did some re-arranging in the bedroom - and no that's not code for getting it on you perverts - and I came across some journals that contained potential blog content. Well they never made it to the blog for one reason or another but now it's their time to shine so some of my previously unpublished random thoughts are down there. Yep look down. You see them? There they are. Enjoy.

Also, I received my first bad book review on Amazon and I took it amazingly well. By amazingly, I mean I created a fake account so I could give myself a positive review to balance out the negative one. I'm so mature sometimes. Anyway, I didn't go through with the fake review and just thought I would ask you - yes you - to leave me one if you have read my book. Here's the LINK to the review if you wouldn't mind helping out. Please and thank you.

From the Mr. Shife archives:

• Leave this comment on porn sites: "Why are you doing this? Please come home. Your mother and I are heartbroken."
• Like my Grandma said, "If you don't have sweat in your crack, then you aren't doing it right."
• Let's go on that camping trip that we never talked about.
• First I was dying to finish high school and start college. Then I was dying to finish college and start working. Then I was dying to marry and have children. Then I was dying for my children to grow old enough so I could go back to work. But then I was dying to retire. Now I'm just dying. And suddenly I realized I forgot to live. Appreciate your current situation and enjoy each day.
• Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight; but did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping. I think I might be camping tonight because of this picture but I found it pretty funny:

• If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.
• No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
• Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'
• You can lie to anyone else in the world, but you can’t lie to yourself.  Our lives improve only when we take chances, and the first and most difficult chance we can take is to be honest with ourselves.
• One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that’s trying to make you like everyone else.  Someone will always be prettier, someone will always be smarter, someone will always be younger, but they will never be you.  Don’t change so people will like you.  Be yourself and the right people will love the real you.
• We’re gonna have a hard time ever being happy if we aren’t thankful for what we already have.
• If you feel called to compare yourself to something, compare yourself to an earlier version of yourself.
• And some funny gifs I found in my electronic archives. Wouldn't it be great if we had no selfie zone and this is how we could enforce it if someone thought they were above the law. 

• And I hope you don't see any mean old pussycats this weekend. 

Have a good weekend.





I will persevere. I will keep moving forward. I will be the stream.

Happy Valentine's Day?

Since I view myself as a giving, thoughtful person, I thought I would share some last-minute gift ideas for Valentine's Day. And no thanks are necessary but you are welcome.

• Edible anus chocolates. Yes nothing quite says "I love you" like your butthole molded from pure Belgian chocolate. I'm not sure your lady friend will think this is a good-ass gift but maybe it's worth a shot turning your turd cutter into candy. 
• A one-way ticket to Dick City. Doesn't this sound nice? Plus you get a layover in Pound Town. Maybe when I was in my early 20s I would have thought this was funnier. All I know is if I presented this to Mrs. Shife I would be getting a one-way ticket to Divorce Village. Plus, if I took all the time and effort to make something like this I would certainly make sure the section was VIP not GA for General Admission. 

• A twosie. For the couple that likes to shit each other's pants or perhaps they like to cuddle during the middle of a home invasion. If you ever see me even mention the fact that I would like to wear twosie, then I have been abducted by aliens and my mind is under their influence or I have simply drank myself stupid. 

• A heart-shaped steak. Get her this and some crabs and you might have a layover in Pound Town. No not those crabs. The crabs you can be happy about like a surf and turf kind of deal. Actually I think steak and crabs would be a pretty good idea but a heart-shaped steak just doesn't look that appetizing to me. 

• A Sophia the First Valentine's Day card. If you're are not familiar with Sophia then get your butt in gear. You're missing out one of Disney's most-popular cartoons. Your brain will thank me later and never forget the importance of grammar. It's the difference between knowing your shit and knowing you're the shit. 

Kyle actually got this card at school today. It was made by Disney. I was just surprised that nobody caught the error. First kids think Kanye West discovered Paul McCartney and know multi-billion corporations can even make grammatically correct Valentine's Day cards. And the sentence is only 4 words long. 

Hope you and yours have a lovely Valentine's Day and a nice weekend as well. Talk to you later.

I will persevere. I will keep moving forward. I will be the stream. 

P.S. I just wanted to let Brandon know that I have written a screenplay but it's been buried in a pile of papers out in the garage since I graduated college about 15 years ago. Some day I will get back to it, and I do appreciate you asking about it. 

Random Acts of Shifeness

• I knew having kids would mean sacrificing some stuff but I am a little surprised at what it turned out to be for me. Watching sports and following my teams was a pretty big part of my life before Thing 1 and Thing 2 entered the picture but now it's just not possible to devote 6-8 hours a week watching sports. I don't mind it but again I'm just a little amazed because I was a pretty big sports junkie. 
• Another sacrifice has been hanging out with my friends. It's just hard finding the time right now. The day gets going about 6:30 am and it's about 8 pm before I can think about having a little quiet time.
• I don't know if I shared this or not but Tank isn't a rocket scientist. I always say he's like a stereotypical supermodel: lots of beauty but no brains. The other day he reminded me of his mental shortcomings when he was begging for some cheese, and as I tossed him a piece, he didn't even bat an eyelash as the cheese hit him right in the middle of his furry face. He didn't even open his mouth to try and catch it. This went on for about 5 days in a row. Maybe he is intelligent and is playing the dumb card to get as much cheese from me as possible and I'm the jackass. Anyway, I'm going with the dumb dog storyline because then I can say that my dog is Derek Zoolander (If you are not familiar with Zoolander, then go here) as he is really, really, ridiculously good looking but not so bright.

 Here's Tank Tank striking his Zoolander pose, and yes that's a pacifier in his mouth.

•  We are making a painful transition in the Shifley household as Hayden has decided naps are stupid and is no longer interested in them. I think I'm taking it the hardest because there were days when she would take her afternoon nap and I could catch a few winks too as Kyle was being entertained by cartoons.
• At least Hayden used words to tell us she was done napping. Kyle told us he no longer wants to nap by ripping off his pull-ups and peeing all over his blankets, pillows and stuffed animals. Not once but two afternoons in a row. 
• That is all. Enjoy your weekend. Talk to you soon.

I will persevere. I will keep moving forward. I will be the stream. 

Screenshots 2015

Screenshots or screen grabs? Do you have a preference? I was leaning towards screen grabs but then I drifted back to screenshots. I spend way too much time focusing on mundane shit like this. Well let's move on to something a little less unremarkable. I was trying to come up with a topic for this week when I stumbled across a folder full of goodies that I wanted to share and based on the title and introduction I bet you know what it is: You are correct if you guessed enchilida recipes. =)

I was watching one of my favorite bands - The Gaslight Anthem - perform live on TV and tweeted about it. Well they re-tweeted it and it made me pretty happy. 

 About this time last year I had to "retire" from indoor soccer. The games were on Sunday and it was just cutting into our family time because with me and Mrs. Shife working again, I couldn't justify being away for a little bit during the weekends as well. The family comes first. So I went out on top.

Back in 2011, I got banned from Wikipedia but I didn't share the reason why I was prohibited. Well I made some idiotic comments that were fueled by Miller High Life about another soccer team that I didn't like and after given a few warnings I finally got the red card from Wikipedia administrators. I personally don't think they were too terrible but then again I'm just a dumb, white guy. I haven't tried to get re-instated and I don't think I ever will because you know I am such a rebel.

 And this last one just made me laugh so I thought I would share it because I hear laughter is the best medicine.

I will persevere. I will keep moving forward. I will be the stream.

382 Words Mostly About Hayden

Hayden had a week so this update will mostly be about her.

• She graduated from a toddler bed to a big girl bed and was pretty excited about it. She keeps telling us how awesome her big girl bed is every time we tuck her in at night.
 


• She also might be the only 3-year-old girl that sleeps with a crocodile, a green guy with purple pants and anger management issues, a purple snake, a purple horse and a teddy bear.  Any guesses on her favorite color?

• We have been recommending to her for a little bit now that since she's a big girl it might be time to ditch the pacifiers a.k.a binkys but she hasn't really bought into the idea. Well the big girl bed sealed the deal and she put all of her binkys into a Ziploc bag then gave them to friends of ours who are having a baby this spring. Mrs. Shife and I about started blubbering everywhere when she did it. Of course we told our friends to please hang onto to that bag for a few days just in case and then toss them.
• Hayden also picked up a nasty cough this week and while we were driving around town she informed Kyle that didn't want to talk because she was sick which made her "super crabby." She also let Kyle know that she was "super angry" when he picked the wrong cartoon for them to watch. I think she's "super awesome." 
• Hayden and I also had a conversation about private parts because she walked into the bathroom while I was going pee. She asked why I went "pee-pee" standing up. I told her that boys have a penis so we can stand up. She then asked if she had a penis, and I told her that she had a vagina. It turns out vagina is a tough one for 3-year-olds as she has been letting me know that I have a penis and she has a giant. It was really hard not laughing out loud the first time she told me that.
• Here's a picture of Little Miss Hayden at her gymnastics class. I think the class makes her pretty happy.

I will persevere. I will keep moving forward. I will be the stream.

Random Acts of Shifeness

So how's 2015 treating you so far? Not too shabby for the Shifes but man oh man I need to quit eating like an asshole. I just had 2 donuts before I started working on updating the blog and I think I had about 10 cookies this afternoon. I guess that's why I work out so I can eat like shit every now and then. It's more like now and now this year so I need to get a handle on this soon before I'm wearing sweat pants all the time. 

Speaking of 2015, it's now January 16 and do you want to take a guess at how many days of sunshine we have had in Boise so far? If you said a number that rhymes with chicken cordon bleu then you are big winner. Two days is all we have got in the new year. It's really depressing and it happens every winter as we have to deal with a horrible inversion. Hopefully it ends soon.

Writing about being stupid in college last week reminded me of another dumb thing I did and that was living off of my credit card during a summer break. I lost my job about halfway through and instead of finding another one I decided it would be a wise financial decision to max out the cash advance option on my card. It took me a few years to pay off that blunder. I'm not a smart man but I do learn from my mistakes.

Hayden is taking a gymnastics class at a local place here in town and it makes me so happy seeing my baby girl do her thing. Being the oldest, Kyle has got to do a lot more activities than Little Miss Hayden so this is the first time she has been the center of attention as I get to watch her do her jumps, rolls and tucks. She just smiles and says "Hi Daddy" while she's out there having a great time. It's pretty awesome.

Finally here's a picture of Hayden after she woke up from a nap. She was not happy and she really wasn't happy when I put some mousse in her hair to make it stand up:

So I asked Kyle to make her laugh and he did just that which you can kinda see if you look closely at Hayden's mouth in the next picture but he also did an awesome photo bomb:

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your weekend.



I will persevere. I will keep moving forward. I will be the stream.