Random Acts of Shifeness - I Am Sore or I Am Sorry

• I got to check off another item on my bucket list as I quoted a part of a line from "The Big Lebowski" while I was interviewing someone who had applied for a job with my team.
• "This is a very complicated case, Maude. You know, a lotta ins, a lotta outs, a lotta what-have-yous. And, uh, a lotta strands to keep in my head, man. Lotta strands in old Duder's head."
• Speaking of work, I guess I should fill you in on why I was wearing a dinosaur costume and a wig last week. We were making a silly video at work that focused on a dinosaur being our talent and since it was a fun video, I got to wear the wig because I am a weirdo. 
• I will share the video with everyone as soon as I can. 
• Here's a note Hayden wrote to her brother:

• Were you able to decipher it? 
• Hayden was trying to write "I am sorry for kicking you Kyle." 
• I thought it could be interpreted another way and Hayden was saying "I am sore from kicking you Kyle." 
• Kyle was a little upset that he was bald and only had 1 arm in the picture. 
• My GIF to you: 

Have a great weekend, thanks for stopping by and I will talk to you soon.

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

Work Week

I had an interesting week at work and instead of boring you with all of the details, I will just share a few photos. Then you can fire away with your questions because I have a feeling you might have one or two. Thanks for stopping by and I'm really looking forward to your comments this week.

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

Back to Blogging

Hello there, stranger. 

I took a few days off last week so I was in vacation mode and not blogging mode. 

Sorry. 

I hope you weren't too concerned about my well-being. 

There wasn't nothing to worry about as I was off doing silly things like pitching my new chapstick flavor to the folks at "Shark Tank."

It didn't go well.

They didn't think there was a big market for clam chowder flavored lip balm.

I will show them.

In the meantime, I will show you what me and the family were up to while I was away. 

We attempted a family photo.

We attempted a Mr. Shife and the kids photo. 

Hayden discovered Instagram on my phone. 

I had a beer with Ms. Frizzle at 8:43 pm on August 23rd.
Frizzle and I are very specific about when we have a beer. 

We played at the river

We went to the fair. 

Hayden did her favorite ride. 

Kyle got trapped in a bubble.

I took a picture of twin benches.  

I bought some unsweetened ice tea. 

I got a good deal on avocados.
I think it was because they are really ripe.

Bought my friend a new shirt. 

How have you been?

Thanks for stopping by, have a good weekend and I will talk to you soon.

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

Back to School 2018

Kyle and Hayden headed back to school this week. I know it's hard to believe but we now have a 4th-grader and a 1st-grader in the house. 

The first week is always a little rough because the kids have to pay attention, follow instructions, sit still and do other things that require obedience for almost 8 hours. 

You know all the stuff that Mrs. Shife and I don't make them do in the summertime. =) 

So there have been a few meltdowns and short fuses with the kids after school, which we were expecting. But what we weren't expecting was the subject of the first phone call from their school. 

You always get a little worried when you see the caller ID flash "Your Kid's Elementary School" on your phone and it's usually followed by me saying something like "By the buck knuckle of George Constanza, what happened now?" 

This time the school was calling to let us know that Ms. Frizzle had escaped and was roaming unattended in the schoolyard. 

Yes, that Ms. Frizzle. She missed her little humans so much that went looking for them after they had left for school. Fortunately, all of the kids were in the gym for indoor recess because the air quality in Boise is pretty atrocious.

Boise is down there somewhere

I think we are at Red, which means the state song has been changed to "You Take My Breath Away" by Berlin. I linked it for you in case you were needing a new earworm. You're welcome.



Well, that's all for this week, folks. Thank you for stopping by, I will talk to you soon and have a great weekend.









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

HBD MF!

Were you able to decipher my shorthand?

A) Has Been Drinking Multiple Fireballs
B) Happy Birthday Miss Frizzle
C) Here Be Dragons Making Fiberglass
D) Hot Bus Drivers Manufacturing Footwear
E) Heavy Bioengineering Dudes Masturbating Frequently

The pictures kind of gave it away, huh?
Our not-so-little furball turned 2 yesterday.
I have added a few photos to show how much she has grown over the past 24 months.
From the day we first met her to the day I recently caught her sleeping on the job.
At the very bottom of the post is a photo of Ms. Frizzle keeping our home "safe."
She was the only one home and I guess she thought it would be a darn shame to not enjoy all of this peace and quiet. She was sprawled out on her back on the couch with not a care in the world.
To her credit, the door was locked and I came home early from work.
For her special day, Frizzy got two new chew toys, a special birthday cookie from the local pet store, two new fetching balls and lots of love.
After being owned by basset hounds for a good chunk of my life, I would have never imagined that I would love having a yellow lab so much.
And I certainly didn't I think I would own a dog named Ms. Frizzle.
Maybe I just like dogs.
Whatever the case might be, I am certainly grateful to have Ms. Frizzle in our lives.

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful weekend and I will talk to you soon.

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

Random Acts of Shifeness - Weird

• How does that expression go? When the kids are away, the parents stay up way too late, drink too much and do other things that I can't mention on a kind of family-friendly blog that updates mostly every Friday.
• Yes, I am pretty sure that's how it goes.

• It has been a weird week because Kyle and Hayden have been spending the week with Grandma and Grandpa on the farm, which is almost 400 miles north of us. But it looks like they are doing OK without me and Mrs. Shife. 

• I am not sure what my children are doing while the rest of their cousins are doing a good job posing for the camera. 
• It almost became an insanely weirder week because Mrs. Shife and I were going to look at a basset hound puppy because we need a little more chaos in my life. Fortunately, the universe intervened and the basset puppy was sold before we made it over there. 

• It looks like I am going with weird as my theme for this update. How about this? Last week we had the great goat invasion in Boise and now we have the great anecdote invasion as there was a naked, knife-wielding woman running around downtown.
• Keep it weird, people.

• Have a great weekend, thanks for stopping and I will talk to you soon.

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

Random Acts of Shifeness - You've Goat to be Kidding Me

• You just can't make this stuff up. More than 100 goats escaped and went on a snacking tour in a Boise neighborhood. Such a funny way to start the day to see the news about a bunch of goats invading people's yards in the place you live. Another reason why I love living in Boise, Idaho. People were cool about it even though their lawn was under siege from the goats. 

• More goat puns because we heard (or should I say herd) them all today:
  --> It just goat serious.
  --> Ain't nobody goat time for that
  --> I've goat this
  --> I've goat your back
  --> Totes ma goats
  --> I don't even know how I goat here
  --> Here we goat again
  --> Have a goat a second?
  --> You goat owned
  --> These puns have goat out of hand

• Hayden told me today that if I didn't bring home batteries for her toy that she would eye roll me. She gave me an example of her eye roll. I will not forget the batteries.

• Speaking of Hayden, she had a good accomplishment this week. She passed the swim test at the city pool and was able to go off the diving boards by herself. She had to swim two laps in the pool and tread water for 30 seconds. Not too bad for a 6-year-old.

• Kyle and Hayden also got to float the Boise River for the first time. We went with our neighbors and had a good time. If you ever come to visit the capital of Idaho, you have to float the river. 

• Well, that's all I got for this week. Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend and talk to you soon. 

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

Random Acts of Shifeness - Dog Days

• Look what Facebook shared with me? Look at all of that knowledge I used to drop on my family and friends. Interesting that it was posted at 1:30 in the morning. Kyle was only a few months old back then so it would make sense that I wasn't getting much shut-eye. I certainly don't miss the sleep deprivation at all. Sleep is awesome. I definitely recommend it. 

• My book is almost 4-years-old so I don't expect to get that many reviews anymore but one rolled in earlier this month and it certainly made my day. Always nice to hear that I made someone laugh and I really appreciate the man's persistence.  

• Ms. Frizzle had herself a good morning. She got to play fetch for about 30 minutes before it got hotter than billy goat's ball sack in a jalapeno pepper patch. She then helped herself to an entire plate of glorious, greasy cooked bacon. 
• Frizzle is bacon me crazy. Ha. I couldn't resist. 
• No GIFs this week, but I ran across two dog videos that made me laugh so you lucky you. But not as fortunate as the lucky duck in the first video of the week. Wait for it. 

• Another video of the week: Nothing to see here. I'm not suspicious. You're suspicious.

Well, that's all, folks. Have a great weekend, thanks for stopping by and I will talk to you soon.

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

Random Acts of Shifeness - Updates

• I needed a break from all of the "good" news I have been seeing lately on Twitter and Facebook so I checked out Instagram. I also had to do some research for work to see how my employer can possibly use it to help with recruiting efforts. 
• There's still a lot of pollution on Instagram but it's definitely a lot nicer than the other two social media networks. You can pay me a visit if you want and say hello. And I bet you will never guess what kind of pictures I have shared? There might be one or two that you haven't seen. 🙃
• Kyle's adventures into the nerdom empire continue as he wrapped up coding camp this week. He loved it and he built his own website. Because of obvious reasons, the site was never published but he shared it with me at the open house today. Lots of pictures of puppies and penguins. Next up for the big guy is robotics camp.

• I love being able to let Kyle do the things that interest him and nurturing those passions. It's just completely different for me because I spent my summers playing sports. But I have come to accept the fact that my son is more interested in coding or engineering than playing catch with his old man. And that's OK.
• Kyle and Hayden's school is getting some upgrades this summer. One of them is a new playground. And it's going in right behind our house so they just have to open the gate and there's a fancy schmancy playground. You are welcome, children.

• Another photo of Frizzle with her eyes closed. 

• A better photo of Ms. Frizzle

• The SSSSS is back. I shaved it off and I missed it. It's still a little baby but once it has blossomed then I will share the 'stache. 

• Well, that's all for this week, folks. Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful weekend and talk to you soon.

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

Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.