Lost and almost forgotten

I had given this blog up for lost. Our website was destroyed and I thought that access to this blog had gone with it. I went back, looked into all of my old passwords and usernames and found the answer.
I feel relieved, I spent a lot of time on this blog and in recent weeks have been missing the outlet that it provides. I have recently been associated with a group of people that are urging me to do the work necessary to resurrect The Tutu Boutique.
Sitting here thinking about the resurrection is overwhelming. We were rolling along pulling close to 2,000 visitors a day and selling more tutus than we could keep up with when the company that hosted The Tutu Boutique disappeared. Our site was moved to a new company and it hasn't been the same since.
I know what needs to be done to start the ball rolling again, finding the time and the energy to make it happen without Heidi on board seems futile.
We shall see!

Cramer and Stewart

Jim Cramer unedited video 1
Jim Cramer unedited video 2
A friend sent me these links and stated "I just watched Cramer go on the Daily Show and basically just grab his ankles. Check the link on my wall when you have some time - it's destined to be a classic."
I do not think that Cramer bent over and grabbed his ankle's. I think he stood up straight and put his b@lls on the table. He took heat that isn't his to take. It was a very gutsy performance. In the clips I have been hearing on the radio I thought that Stewart ambushed him. After watching it I feel it was well thought out and that Cramer knew what was coming. He has been talking about reform at the SEC for years, I have heard him. He is not a reporter, Cramer is a gambler, who wins. Why is he sitting there taking Jon Stewarts crap? He has millions and millions of dollars. He is there because he wants to help and I appreciate that. It is harder to say your sorry than to throw stones. Especially when you do not really have anything to be sorry about.

Success

Tuesday night Merry and David had a great time at ski lessons and both declared that they loved to ski. Which is music to my ears. The only words that sound better are "Yes Daddy.'
The trip to Sunday River was a huge triumph, even Thomas got in on the action, riding up the magic carpet and skiing down between mom's legs. The entire trip down yelling "Look at me Daddy, I skiing FAST!"
David talked me into bringing him up the chair lift. I connected my poles at the handles, put him in between and off we went. Flying down the mountain, we only had one wipe out of consequence, Davids little ski's could not handle the speed and he face planted, I dropped the support poles, spread my legs and avoided the collision. When I stopped, ten feet down the hill, David looked up, blood dripping from his nose and declared, "I am alright Daddy!" I wiped the blood from his upper lip, near tears with joy and pride.
Everyone is looking forward to lessons on Tuesday night and we are going to bring Thomas along for the adventure as well.

Why?

Thomas has finally arrived at "Why?" It took him longer to get here than it did his brother and sister, but now that he is here he is taking full advantage.

With Merry, I made up a reason every time she asked "why?" David got an answer 80% of the time. Poor Thomas is not so lucky, I find myself sticking to the facts of the "why" and if I am not in the mood "Because I am your father and I said so" is the response he gets probably 30-40% of the time . He is not easily deterred and as expected the "Why's" continue.

I love the "why's" and I am happy that Thomas has finally arrived. Making up answers really tests a dad's imagination.

Sunshine

Heidi has been wearing these kids out. The weather went from winter directly to summer and Merry, David and Thomas have been outside all day long everyday since last Saturday. Playing outside makes for happy, tired and mostly agreeable children.

This is the time of year I feel regret that I can't be there playing along. I much rather be swinging on the swings or sliding down the slide than talking ants with missus Jones.

I was doing some keyword research for The Tutu Boutique and I realized that we were no where when it came to the phrase "Ballerina Tutu". I went in and changed the title and meta description two weeks ago and today we are number one in Yahoo and number nine on Google, first page baby!

Friends are asking me my SEO secrets and I don't have any. I am going to help a friend of Heidi's, tell her what I did and give suggestions as to what she should do and we will see where it gets her. If my method produces results for her I may be able to make the association that I know a little something about organic SEO.

Handling Loss

We sat down for dinner Monday night, after grace I told Merry and David that tonight is the last night Jackson will be with us because tomorrow morning he is going to doggie Heaven.

David immediately stated that it was OK because Jackson would come home after that. I informed him that he would not be coming back from Dog Heaven and David began to weep. He said he would miss him and that he loved him. At this point Heidi and I were weeping as well.

Merry's response was very different, she looked around the table at all of the sad faces and declared "We should watch tv, watching tv makes me happy." Merry did not shed a tear, she did not acknowledge the loss. Merry got in trouble at pre-school this week for the first time ever. Her teacher reported that Merry was not acting as herself and that she was being terribly bossy. I think her sadness manifested itself in her poor behavior at school.

The children have moved on, life has returned to normal at The Old Blue House. The adults are keeping it together and as long as we do not bring the children down I think we have suffered threw the worst of this sadness.

Here's to happier days.

Sunday Skiing

On a happier note here are some photos from our family ski adventure. I do not know why this first picture is so small. It represents how I spent most of the day.
I tried to move them to the lifts this way, they couldn't hang onto the poles and I had to resort to the bum push.
This is an example of the bum push and it works terrific.

We're Back

The Tutu Boutique has weathered another storm. I do not know what happened or why it disappeared, but it is back and I am thankful.

When I called the hosting company yesterday the girl who answered the phone apologized and said there really wasn't much she could tell me because her system was down as well. She said they were aware of the situation, were working to fix it and would send me an email when things were back up.

This morning I had a couple of emails, one from a guy who reads the blog, somehow he was aware of the company we use to host the site, he uses the same company and he gave me all types of good information. He also informed a representative from the company about the situation and he also reached out.

Before I got to speak to anybody, the site returned to normal operation. I do look forward to building a relationship with this contact and learning more about these things that I know nothing about.

WTF!

The Tutu Boutique is down, we are not receiving emails or visitors. The company that hosts the site is working feverishly to solve the problem. Everything they do is down, the girl who answered the phone when I called almost cried, I was not the first to call.

We have a nice little business here on the world wide web and we are hostage to our host. Seems there is a catastrophe at least one time a year. The site went down between 10:30 and 11:30 this morning, this inconvenience has dropped our traffic from 3,000 page loads to 600, from 500 unique visitors to 100. There is nothing I can do about it. I am a hostage to my web host.

The work involved to move the site is HUGE! Other companies crash too I suppose. So patience is the key, but at what price? Is there any recompense for such a slight? We just paid our web hosting fee for the month, is that due back? Should they cut me check for the average amount of money that the site generates everyday? What should or can be expected when the people who you pay to provide you a money making service leave you out in the cold?

This is turning into a whine session and I don't want it to be. I just want my web site back.

Getting it Out of my Head

I was driving home from work last week listening to The Jim Breuer show when he interviewed Joe Rogan on his recent run in with Carlos Mencia. I guess Carlos has a reputation among comics as a joke thief. What impressed me about the story was how thought out, calm, cool and collected Joe Rogan was. The guy has a lot of theories and opinions and is not shy about expressing them.

I know Joe Rogan was or is the host of Fear Factor and a commentator for The Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was also on a sit-com with Andy Dick about a radio station back in the 90's. I knew he was a comedian, I knew of his disgust for joke thieves due to some of his interviews on the Howard Stern show.

I was not aware that 90% of his jokes are written when under the influence of THC. I was not aware of the fact that he has an isolation chamber in his house where he spends considerable time under the influence of hallucinogenics. One of his revelations from this time in his isolation chamber has stuck with me since I heard that interview. Joe Rogan's thoughts on mankind have burrowed into my head and I have not been able to shake the concept.

He stated that mankind is nothing more than an infection or bacteria on the planet Earth and that the evidence for this is the appearance of our cities from an airplane. Cities are scabs on the planet. Places where the stamp of mankind's injuries to the planet are most evident. Then he went on an even crazier riff that also rings true to me.

He was talking about conscience and where reality really happens. He made an argument that reality happens when we sleep and that the time we spend awake is the dream. This talk was in reference to a drug DMT that our brain manufacture during sleep that is the most powerful hallucinogen known to man. When you follow the link on DMT scroll down to the one titled Joe Rogan on Life. It all sounds nuts but like any good conspiracy there may be just enough truth to hold your attention.

If you have some time, follow the links and check it out for yourself.

Hey Now!

Thomas had a doctor's appointment this morning at 8:45, we think he has an earache. David needed to be dropped off at pre-school at 9:00. I took him to school.

David and I walk into the building, we were a little early so the doors into the class room were closed. There were some mom's and their children milling around. When David makes it into the fray he says, as clear as day "OH SHIT"!

Nothing special happened, he did not drop anything or stub his toe, nothing. I started to smirk, I was a bit embarrassed. I put my hand on his head and before I uttered a word, one of the mom's informed me that I should not laugh or else he might think that it was OK.

I informed her that I did not teach him the word his mother did and that I thought it was kind of funny. I wanted to tell her to go suck an egg, I refrained. The other mom's were stunned that I threw Heidi under the bus, I could tell by the looks on their faces. Heidi may or may not have been the influence for the expletive, in reality it may have been me. If I had to bet I would put the finger on Grampy, he does not restrain his speech around the whipper snappers.

Today I got a look into the world of mom's and I was exposed to some of the pressure that they put on each other. Did that mom really think that I needed her lesson, what benefit did she derive from telling me not to laugh. She made me feel small, she attempted and succeeded, for a moment, to make me feel uncomfortable.

There is an old saying about advice that goes like this "Wise men don't need it and a fool won't heed it" When pressed I turn into a fool and will not listen nor employ your words advice. Is stating the obvious advice?

I want to poke her in the eye. How's that for mature?

Oops!

I was entering my jogging stats, I pressed the wrong button and The Tutu Boutique blog got really messed up. I went to another blogspot blog copied some of their css code and inserted it where I thought it should go. This is what came out, this is so much better than where I was before, but still not quite right.

Monday I will reach out to my template guru and see if we can not get things back to normal.

Dance Recital

There was a large audience on hand for the recital.Primaballerina Merry had the largest gallery consisting of Grampy, Thomas, Dad and David.
The show started with some long stepping.
Thomas could not contain himself, he had to get involved.
Next they performed some excellent skipping.
Finished off with a perfect first position.

Blogversary

Steve, thank you for your generous offer to help with the overhaul, but after mentioning it to the boss and thinking it over, I have decided to let the inner sissy shine. I do not need a new layout or format, The Tutu Boutique is part of me and I am sticking with it.

It is Sunday morning, Baby Einstein is watching my children and I am reflecting on a year in the blog-o-sphere. Blogging has been a terrific hobby, I have had a chance to experience different perspectives and characters. There are families all over the country whose window I have had a chance to peak in.

We are all different however there is a common thread that ties the blogs I read together. That thread is the journey of parenting. Some are further down the path than others, some are just starting out. Some face special challenges, some have lots of kids, some have one. We all love and want the best for these children, we all use blogging to work through issues, that when we toss them out there we find are universal. We are not alone, there are others in the same boat, dealing with the same circumstances.

There are writers who expose themselves to us unabashedly, their fears, joys, misgivings and questions on display for all of the world to experience. There are Dads simply trying to chronicle the adventure of raising children. Developing an archive for their children , a place where those children will be able to look back and get an idea of what dear old Dad was thinking.

More times than I can count I have read stories that filled me with emotion, sitting in front of the computer I have laughed, I have cried, I have been confused, I have felt hope and despair. This little window, perhaps is not so little.

The act of sitting down, typing out the issue I am struggling with, usually shines a light on the solution. Generally I have a solution to the problem I am blogging about before I hit the publish button. I do not consider myself a writer,but I have come to rely on writing to help get through. It has been eye opening this blogging and I am happy that I got involved.

This blog is for me and my children, however you are all welcome to come and have a peak in the window of The Old Blue House. If you see or hear something while you are peaking inside, remember you are welcome here and your two cents is appreciated.

New Look?

This blog is going to be 1 year old tomorrow. This is the 256th post since its inception. I am tired of looking at the Tutus and Ballet slippers. I am thinking of switching out of the sissy landscape and into something which more closely represents me.

The blog has been successful, it has gotten Googles attention and driven traffic to the store. When I started out our traffic came from Yahoo, only a small number of people found us through Google. Now our traffic is dominated by Google some days 79% of our visitors find us there. This is a good thing, there are many more people searching in Google than there are in Yahoo, I have the numbers to prove it.

Traffic here at this blog is far less than stellar. The number of visitors remains constant, constantly low. There is a group of regulars that webs and flows depending on who continues to blog and who drops out. This number hovers around ten, then there are always fifteen to twenty more who find it looking for tutus or stories about snots. Twenty or thirty people a day, that is it. I will never be a blog super star, sad words, I know. So if I am not blogging for the masses why not change the look and the feel to something that looks and feels more like me?

David aka Wrongside

David has been exercising different expressions of control and manipulation. These exercises never end the way David hopes. They also make life very uncomfortable for Mom, his sister and his little brother.

His favorite game is the "I do not want too!" game. If you try to force the issue you get a temper tantrum. Now that he has achieved a level of comfort with the teachers at pre-school they get to play as well.

When Heidi walks into the class to pick him up she carries with her a bit of uneasiness. She wonders if David tormented his teachers the way he torments her. Most days he is good, some, he is not.

Yesterday after dropping Merry off at pre-school Heidi brought Thomas and David to the birth to three center. The birth to three center is a place to play, David and Thomas have a great time playing there, there are other kids and toys, what is not to like?

Yesterday, David decided that he did not want to go. Heidi left him in the foyer of the building while Thomas had fun. David did not fold until nearly 45 minutes into the stay when he decided playing may be better than sitting in the hall.

Heidi and David's teachers have developed a plan of action to break David of his manipulative ways. If David decides he is not going to go along with the program, David is going to lose a right or privilege that David likes. Heidi brought this idea home last night and so far it is working.

Last night I asked Merry and David whose turn it was to go to school today. Merry answered Davids and David immediately announced that he did not want to go to school. Heidi, hearing this exchange jumped in with these words for young David. "You will go to school and you will behave yourself. Your teachers will report to me whether you behaved or not and if they tell me you did not behave you will not see your skis for five days." This got Davids attention "OK, OK I will go to school and I will be good Mommy". We shall see.

R says Rrrr

I would like to thank the three of you who de-lurked, I know you guy's though. I was hoping three or four specific lurkers would come out of the wood work. They have been by but neglected my offer. A couple of them have been by 50 or 60 times and never said hello.

Wendy, here is your Cosmo the shaker is full and in the freezer, there should be enough for two more when you are ready.

Croutonboy, we got Sam Adams Light, Boston Ale and Bud Light, what do like? I go for the Sam Lights myself, I got you one. Those are in the fridge.

Anonymous, I will go down in the basement, get it and dust it off. Be careful with that though.

My next order of business is a question. How do I slow down the growth of my four year old? Merry, will be five in March. I was helping her put on her socks the other day and I was surprised by the size of my little peanuts feet. Somehow the little pudge of a baby with cheeks strangers could not help but pinch is turning into a long and lean little girl.

This morning at breakfast she explained to me all about elephants and their behaviors. We were discussing getting a baby one as a pet and I mentioned that the animal may have a hard time going from room to room because our doors are to narrow and Merry looked at me like I was crazy.

"Daddy, elephants need to be outside so that they can take dust baths, dust baths keep them cool and keep the bugs away."

David added that we could keep him in the yard, "Our yard is very dusty". Thank you David.

All this from a girl who can not remember what an R looks like for more than five minutes. This is an entirely different topic that Heidi and I have been wondering about. She can remember why an elephant needs a dust bath but she can not remember what an R looks like.

It is not for a lack of trying, her face crinkles up her brow furroughs and she looks up and says she does not remember. Being a member of the computer generation she runs to the fridge, finds an R puts it into the Leap Frog alphabet singer and proclaims, "It's an R, R says Rrrrr, R says Rrrr every letter makes a sound and R says Rrrr" accompanied by a little dance with a pirouette at the end.

Her ability to find the answer makes me proud, her inability to remember what an R is makes me a little anxious. Heidi has lots of similar stories, the details of which I do not remember, but after hearing them I am left wondering about dyslexia. Probably nothing to it, but I still wonder and there is a tinge of concern.

Here is another opportunity for you lurkers to come in and say hello. Help a brother out with a word of advice about pre-schoolers and their letters.

When You Start

I have been looking at the blank page for nearly ten minutes now wondering what to write about. What is the process to continually come up with content? I don't have one. I write about my life and what is happening in it.

When I started this blog I had a list of generic parenting topics that I wanted to comment on, having covered that original list in the first three weeks finding new topics has become more and more difficult. I struggle with how much of my life to put out there and whether or not anybody cares. Does anybody really care if I went to a BNI meeting? Does anybody care if Heidi and I are starting a new business? What is missing in this blog is the universal, the topics that touch us all as parents and caregivers.

We all deal with diapers, sleepless nights, temper tantrums, crawling, first steps, first words and sentences. We all find ourselves catching our breath as the little being we have created develops into an individual. A person with their own thoughts, ideas and mannerisms. This development is a gift that we should cherish, Heidi and I are currently watching Thomas our 11 month old baby turn into a little boy and it is bittersweet. It is nice to be done with infants, however, watching a baby grow is witnessing a miracle and I am sad that we are leaving that part of our life behind.

I am excited about the next stage in our families development. We had three children in four years, Merry has attended her first year of pre-school and David will follow next year. There will be leagues and games and classes and camps. Interests will come and go, they will learn to read, write, add and subtract. They will discover bullies and cliques, vanity and modesty, pride and shame, pandora's box will be open before them. Their innocence will begin to erode, slowly, over time they will become teenagers. This is too much.

What will the future hold for the family in The Old Blue House? Heaven only knows, whatever it is we will address it and continue moving forward.

This is an example of what happens when you start, if you don't start nothing happens, when you do start it gets done. If you have been putting something off get going.