Fame in Philly

We travelled to Philadelphia this weekend to celebrate my grandfather's 90th birthday which happened to fall on Friday the 13th this year. He was born on Friday the 13th as was his wife, my aunt, one of his great great grandchildren, and me. (My father-in-law was also born on Friday the 13th.) My grandfather could have had an entire hour dedicated to his life story about how God has taken care of him over the years, but you'll catch just a brief glimpse of that here.

This is not my television debut in Philadelphia. My photo has been on the news twice before when the reporters covered the same story with a different angle. This is, however, my first interview on the news in Philadelphia!

Happy 90th Birthday, Pop-Pop! Proud to be one of the fellow Friday the 13th-ers in the family!

(Print version can be found here.)

A Perfect Party

As you know, String Bean turned two this week. Today she had her birthday party. Had we invited all her friends and fans our house never would have held everyone, so we had to limit it to family and babysitters.

The morning started out with String Bean taking Pop (grandpa) to her favorite park. With the two distractions gone, Mr. Bean, my mom (Nana) and I were able to set up for the party and cook lunch for everyone. Mr. Bean assembled his famous homemade lasagna the evening before and prepared most of the green bean casserole. Mr. Bean also put together an awesome slide show of String Bean's Second Year. He got the garlic bread ready while my mom and I spot cleaned, moved furniture, set the table, laid out the buffet, and decorated with photos of String Bean.

String Bean and Pop arrived home from the park and while Pop took a bath, String Bean took a (very brief) nap. When she awoke, Nana gave her a bath while Mr. Bean and I took care of last minute details.

Auntie Carolyn showed up early to the party since today was String Bean's fitting for her flower girl dress for the wedding. My mom made the dress and had to do some last minute hemming, but wanted to be sure the length was correct first.

Guests began to arrive at 11:30 and lunch was served at noon. Just prior to eating and saying the blessing, String Bean lead the group in singing the "Choo-Choo Song" which introduces everyone in the room. String Bean was the perfect hostess.

Following lunch, we watched the slide show Mr. Bean had made. It was a hit. By demand of the cousins, presents were opened immediately following. Ama and Grandpa tuned in for the present opening via Skype and enjoyed seeing everyone and everything String Bean got. String Bean enjoyed opening the gifts and loved everything she got (which was evidenced by her playing with every toy this afternoon).

We ate ice cream and cupcakes while String Bean made a mess.

It was the perfect party and we are happy that String Bean is loved by so many!

The Principal's Office

My cousin-in-law, Ginger, writes a blog talking about some of the reality shows out there that you're probably missing. The way she writes about them, it makes you want to see them to catch all the jaw-dropping moments that simply can't be missed.

Just such a show is airing as I type this: The Principal's Office. It is on TruTV (a channel that is not available on Ginger's local cable, or she'd be blogging about this instead of me. That means she's also missing Operation Repo which is a shame, but I digress). It is all about the shenanigans high school-ers try to pull over on their principals. Having been a teacher myself and heard some of the craziest excuses for the reasons kids do what they do, I can fully appreciate what these principals are going through.

What is even more impressive is the way they keep a stern voice and straight face when dealing with absurd situations like the girls who violated their school's cell phone policy. Their reason? "We have tickets to the Maury show today and we were excited about it." Or how about the kid who likened riding his skateboard in the school cafeteria to kids riding their bikes....*chirp, chirp*....Yeah, no one rides their bikes in the cafeteria! Probably my favorite was the girls who got in a fight and while in the principal's office hurled insults like "Gap-toothed trailer trash" at one another and insisted that they would have another fight if necessary. Don't get me started on the kids who get caught on surveillance camera and still lie about it....THIS is our future, America!

Why do I watch reality television? To feel better about myself. I look at these shows and realize I'm pretty normal.






P.S. Ginger is an unemployed editor looking for a job. If you have a lead for her, let her know on her blog!