Why I Love ARKANSAS #4

I love ARKANSAS because I can wash my car for $.75.

When I lived in the big city, I would wash the car at home (of course when it's not freezing weather). But when it was too cold to hand wash, I'd simply take my car to one of those drive-in do-it-yourself type places. I think it costs maybe $2.5o in quarters, plus $.25 to continue.

Well down here in the A-R-K, most of them are $.50 or $.75 to start. And if you hurry, you can do it all in one shot.

I washed my car just the other day for $.50 and vacuumed it for $.50 too! Now that's a sweet lickin deal!

Happy Birthday Dr. J!

It's my bro's birthday today. He's 21!!! For those who don't know, he is number 5 of the 6 children my parents have.

I love this guy to pieces.


I think it's fun to pull some memories out of the "Memory Box" whenever birthdays or other special events come around.


So...I remember...

-A couple years before I moved out and got married, I remember a very busy season for our family. Josh stepped up to the plate and took a role of cooking and cleaning. He soon received the nickname, "The Butler." He would make us meals, and clean/vacuum/wash dishes. The house stayed pristine. I think to this day he is still sometimes called "The Butler." Haha, good times.

-Ever since we were little, Josh and I were very good buddies. We would go for 'bike rides' to the local Super America (for you Southern readers, that's like a Shell). Anyway, we would buy Snack Pack pudding, and Twix candy bars to dip in the pudding. Yum!!

-Josh and I got into the sport of golfing at the same time. More like obsessed. I bought him his first set of clubs for his B-day, and then I remember leaving work that day and we went to a local Par 3 golf course. I think we went through a couple dozen balls the first time out.

-Probably some of my best memories of this kid is golfing with him. Especially now that I don't get to see him much, whenever we're united, we hit the course. We try not to compete too much, but instead enjoy the quality time we have. Plus, he kicks my butt anyway so maybe it's just me "saying" we try to not to compete too much. :)

Happy Birthday, bud!! Hope you have the best one yet!!

Why I Love ARKANSAS #3

I love ARKANSAS because of a guy a work with named Bill. Actually, I don't work with him, just near him. Here's why I love AR because of him:

Bill is a hardcore hunter. He hunts mainly deer and turkey. And you better believe that when the season is open, he is hunting almost every weekend. I love the most that he wears button down shirts to work made of deer/hunting/camo patterns.

Learning Rate of a 6 Month Old Schlegel

I can't prove it, but I think the learning rate of this 6 month old Schlegel is about double of any other kid his age, for 2 Reasons:

1. His mother reads him books; he watches and listens
2. His father teaches him how to Google

Why I Love ARKANSAS #2

I love ARKANSAS because you can wake up at 8 o' clock on a summer Saturday morning, and pay $.50 for a bucket-load of good children's books at a local yard sale.

Score!

p.s. can you tell I made the Sheen take this pic?

Why I Love ARKANSAS #1

This is ARKANSAS:


I live here. I am called here. I love it here.

I have decided to start a series of blog posts entitled: Why I Love ARKANSAS. Basically, I cannot deny it anymore. Often I think to myself, 'I love Arkansas'. So, for those many different reasons, no matter what they are, I plan to blog them.
In no specific order.

#1
I love ARKANSAS because the cashier lady is your friend. When you go to the grocery store, don't expect to be in and out in a short amount of time. Even if you only went there to buy an item or two. Because when you get to the checkout lane, you will become friends with the cashier. Not by choice. She wants to know how old Jeremiah is, what his latest developments are, and of course she will share about how her boyfriend just caught a 50lb catfish the other night. With his bare hands.

Sow sow sow

Reap reap reap. Check it out. One of our potatoe plant stems broke so we dug it up to find these:

They're going on the grill tomorrow night dressed in
garlic and butter. Oh snap!

Text Messaging with Email

Have you ever wanted to send someone a text message for free? Perhaps you don't pay for text messaging, or if you're like me, you pay for only 200 text messages a month, so you value them like freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. You eat them all up as soon as you get them.

Well, in case you didn't know, most every cell phone number can be sent a text message with an email. If you send an email to any of the following email addresses, you will have sent a text message to that person. You just have to know the person's cell phone number, and their cell phone service provider.

Alltel: number @ message.alltel.com
AT&T: number @ txt.att.net
Sprint: number @ messaging.sprintpcs.com
Verizon: number @ vtext.com
T-Mobile: number @ tmomail.net

And on the contrary, if you want to email someone from your phone, you can also do that with a text message. That's how I get quick info to and from my two favorite sisters. I send them an email (which they receive as a text message) and when they reply to that text, it actually comes back to my email address. I am texting without texting!!

You're welcome.

Another Jeremiah Post

Lately I find myself posting a lot about Jeremiah. But I can't help it. I'm infatuated with him. And I think someday he will get on this blog and read about himself.

Two nights ago, Sheena and I were playing with him, as usual. He loves this time. He always gets so excited when we're both all up in his grill (a.k.a. in his face)!!

Then Sheena backed up about five feet on the floor, and started to encourage him to come to her. She's at his eye level laying down. His eyes were completely fixed on her and her outstretched arms. I watched very intently. Like one of those action packed movies, the ones where you're on the edge of your seat anticpating the next move. And I noticed Jeremiah wiggling around while propped up on his belly, moving his arms and legs in somewhat random movements. The more Sheena encouraged him, the more anxious he was to come to her. He was all smiles, just as mommy was. All of a sudden he shifted forward. Sheena asked if I scooted him, but I hadn't. Then we watched in amazement, scoot after scoot, he reached mommy's arms, all because of the encouragement she presented. And to see his face light up with a sense of accomplishment afterwards. Well, wow.

This, my friend, was one of THE most beautiful things I have witnessed so far in my role as Dad.

6 Months Old

Jeremiah is technically 6 months old today. Can you believe it? It seems like sooooo long ago that we had him, yet it seems like we haven’t had him very long. Weird how that works.

I am so blessed to be the father of this little guy. He brings so much joy into our home. Seriously. Sheena called me while I was at work this morning. I can’t remember everything she called about, but she began to tell me that Jeremiah had an “explosion” this morning. That is code for “your son let it all loose to prove that not even Huggies can keep him from having a good manly BM.” We laughed a little bit, and that prompted me to tell her the story: “well on Sunday when I was getting his bath ready, he was buck-naked sitting on my leg. While I was testing the water temperature, I felt something hitting against my pant leg. I look down, and there is a clear stream of liquid shooting at me like a laser.” Funny little man.



He’s constantly developing. Every day he learns something new. Every day I get to see him smile and play. And that makes every day that much more exciting to live. That makes every 5:00pm weekday that much more exciting to come home.

My Son Wants a Motorcycle

You know that saying, 'like father, like son'? Well, as you can see, Jeremiah wants a motorcycle just like his dad.


Actually, his uncle Cody rides motocross. He gave him this shirt. Pretty sweet.

Daddy's Boy

Chicken Fingers: Episode 2

The jokester is at it again. She invited myself and a bunch of others to her b-day lunch. Here's the latest from today.

Jokester:
Jake can go - they have a kid's menu
David invite Rosemary but not sassy - too much hair
Jennifer - you are still WAY older than me
Renea - you may get charged for two
Audry - they serve cat not lab
Linda - it taste better than Rolandos
Barbie - they have chocolate cake
Russell - just because you aren't a complete man anymore you can still go

My Reply:
I'm honored to be invited.
I hope they have cat on the Kid's menu too. Sounds delicious.
Question though, are sure you don't want to go somewhere special? After all, it's the big 75.

Jeremiah was Dedicated

A little over a month ago Jeremiah was dedicated at our church. But in reality, Sheena and I did the dedication. We dedicated ourselves to raise Jeremiah according to Biblical standards. To train him up on the Word of God, and to practice the Word. After all, isn't that the best way to lead; by example?

A few photos of the little chugger...

WWDC 08'

Apple started selling it's iPhone a year ago this June. And now, their annual event coming up this June has sold out for the first time ever. It's the WWDC. And everyone is expecting big announcements from the innovatively brilliant technology giant, as usual.

I'm 99% certain that they have a newer model coming out. One that has everything their current model doesn't.

PLUS, they're going to be releasing the SDK that I raved about a few months ago. Very exciting.

Chicken Fingers

My department was treated to lunch today. We went to Rolando's; I think it's Cuban food. It was myself and 8 others including only one other male. If you were to take a glance at our table, you would wonder what I was doing there. They were all old enough to be my parents.

The jokester of the group turns to me and says,

Jokester: [pointing at the back of the menu] so Jake, are you going to order from the kids menu?
Me: [purely joking] I was thinking about it, but didn't see chicken fingers. Are you going to order from the Senior's menu?

The Reacher

Look at this little dude. I made some BIG bacon cheeseburgers tonight and J-Man was reaching. But who can blame him? Clearly I'm Food Network quality. I hope Bobby Flay comes my way for a throwdown.

Money Quotes

Came accross a few money quotes today.

“Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.” ~ Will Rogers

“Do not value money for any more nor any less than its worth; it is a good servant but a bad master.” ~ Alexandre Dumas

“It comes down to this: either you control money, or it controls you.” ~ T. Harv Eker

He's Hibernating

It's nap time. He gets his best sleep with his head burried.
Side note: look how tan that boy is (thanks to his momma)


Instead of getting him out of his crib yesterday when he woke up, I decided to climb in and snuggle with him. I felt like a puppy in a shoebox.

Tomato and Cheese

The fridge is proving a little bare at the Schlegel household. We're definitely overdue for a trip to Wally's World.


When I opened the fridge this morning, I began to hunt for what would be my lunch... and guess what I found?


Some end slices of bread
Some cheese
And a tomato

When I was little my mom would make us tomato and cheese sandwiches often. They're so good.

Until today, I haven't had one in years. I can see more in my future though. Especially once our tomato plants start blooming.

Side note: I remember when I was a little kid. My mother would be preparing dinner, and my siblings and I would crowd the kitchen like a pack of wolves over an animal carcass (bad analogy, I know).

Well, one time I remember my brother Nate was so hungry while waiting for dinner to be ready, he literally took some bread, half of an onion, and made a sandwich. And then ate it. I wonder if he's done that since...

Sunday is Family Day

We finally finished our garden yesterday. The rain wiped out our first couple of plantings, but I think it's solid now. Not too much rain in the forecast. We have:

Carrots
Radishes
Potatoes (2 different kinds)
Onions
Peas (pea pods)
Yellow beans (like green beans)
Bell Peppers (green, yellow, red)
Another pepper (I think banana pepper?)
Tomatoes (3 different types)
Cucumbers
Zucchini
Summer Squash
Watermelon

Nate and Evan have inspired us to do a garden. They also gifted us with most of our seeds and everything. So a special shout out to you guys! Thank you so much!

We also just got a riding mower. So for part of the day, Sheena planted a bunch of seeds, and Jeremiah rode on the mower with me. Sure makes cutting this 1 acre yard easier. Twas a good weekend.

Mapple

I saw this on another blog and figured I'd pass it on. Especially since I've converted to be an Apple fan myself.

A picture is worth a thousand words.