Two more thoughts...

1. What is the statue of limitations in terms of how long a completed jigsaw puzzle must remain sitting on a dining room table before being dismantled? Is there a formula based on the amount of time it took to complete it? We took three weeks finishing this triangular-shaped balloon puzzle....and now that it's finished, it seems very unsatisfying to put it away. Yet should we keep it forever as a trophy to the world showing what I did?

Two to three days seems about right....just to reinforce to each of us that we achieved a great accomplishment.

(It's kind of like books in a bookshelf. Why do we keep books we've already read? As a tribute to what we read? If we never think we're going to read it again, we should immediately donate it to a library...why take up valuable house space showcasing what we've already read.)

2. Sometimes I worry that we aren't doing enough for food storage.
But then I cleaned out the car the other day and realized we're just keeping our food storage in the car! I probably vacuumed out a day or two supply of Goldfish, fruit snacks and other sundry items that seem to preserve quite well. And better to have it in the car than in the home as it's mobile in case you have to evacuate. Plus, no matter how many goldfish crackers are in the car seat already, it seems like you can always fit more, so storage is never an issue.....

Mark

New Year Musings

Ah, the New Year. A time when things get busier in the toy industry than during the holidays (as we gear up for the NEXT holiday season). As such, my blog has suffered -- this after the potential surge of readership that could have occurred after mailing my Christmas card.

For those faithful who waited patiently for some new content, here we go:

• Noggin, the pre-school channel, is now 24 hours a day. It used to just be 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Lucky me...I got to experience the first "overnight" Noggin as I was up New Year's Day around 4:30 with one of the kids. Yes, there is a market for 24 hours pre-school channels.

• Matthew has no desire to be potty trained. Before Christmas, I made a run to Target and saw how much pull-ups cost! So I've now decided to deduct the cost of the pull-ups from the monthly amount I used to set aside for his college fund. If he doesn't have enough to make it through school, well, it's not my fault.

• Giants vs Patriots....not as good as Red Sox/Yankees, but fun all the same, especially as we get to play the underdog for a change in the Boston/New York relationship.

• Getting a window seat in a row of three on my morning and evening train to the city is very important to me. 95 percent of the time, it means you have an open seat next to you as very rarely does someone attempt to sit in the middle seat. (Across the aisle are rows of two). I'll gladly sit in a row of three close to a stinky bathroom if it means getting a coveted window seat of a three. I'd rather put up with the smell than miss out on my desired seat.

• I feel like I've arrived. We're doing a worldwide Monopoly vote campaign right now (I'll write about that later, but visit www.monopoly.com) and I get to do a radio interview in a few minutes with the largest station in South Africa. I couldn't be more excited.

• My next talk in church is going to be: Lessons from assembling jigsaw puzzles that can be applied to home teaching.


• I think Environmentalism is the new world religion....or at least it's the replacement for organized religion in some people's lives.

• I can now add a new name to list of famous people I've worked with in my odd career: Miss Universe.

I'll try to write some more powerful insights in the next few days.

Mark

Christmas Gifts

A roundup and ranking of Christmas Gifts:

• Ball Pit for Samuel (18 months): I'm a big believer in the "Wow" factor of Christmas morning, meaning when the kids enter the family room, there is that magical "Willy Wonka"-esque feeling of "This is the best day of the year". (I'm also a big believer in presents that are "things you can do/enjoy on Christmas day" - even if they get tossed out afterward.)

So it is with that principle we agreed to let Santa bring a $19.99 ball pit for Sammy, knowing it wouldn't last long. It didn't...the seams popped within a couple of hours. But during those first few hours, it was big, bright, colorful, full of wonder and adventure, so it did its job. Plus....bonus! 20-some odd plastic balls for Sam (who is a ball lover) to still play with.

RANK: 3 Christmas Trees out of 4

• Indoor Trampoline that incorporates electronic game component for Matty (nearly 4): Great idea in theory....still sitting unassembled in the garage in practice. We literally had 5 adults trying to assemble it on Christmas night before we gave up at 1 a.m. in fear that we'd bump into Santa's arrival (or Josh's traditional awaking at 3 a.m....which happened at 3:20 a.m. this year). It actually made me yearn for assembling an IKEA item...or at least to have their instruction booklet. We made it through the first 18 steps, and hope to do the last 12 (for a total of 30....no kidding) before next week. Next time, just get a pre-assembled jogging tramp.

Rank: 1.5 Christmas Trees out of 4 (which should change to 3.5 out of 4 when assembled)

• TV Show Newhart on DVD. This 80s TV show represented our family's family home evening as we'd all gather on Monday night to watch it. While it's not officially out on DVD yet, there are some companies that sell complete copies of TV series for a very reasonable price. Not sure how they pull it off...sort of the military "don't ask, don't tell", I'm guessing. Seemed to be taped off of Canadian TV. (If you want the web site, let me know and then you can check out all the series that are available) At any rate, MAJOR hit for my Dad.

Rank: 4.5 Christmas Trees out of 4.

• Headphones: I thought I'd get some nice but inexpensive headphones for Kathryn for use at the gym. Didn't realize I ordered high tech ones used in studios with fancy equipment. The plug is long and not standard for music players, gym equipment, etc. Can't return it as I ordered online and opened it. (Anyone want them?)

Rank: 0 Christmas Trees out of 4.

• PlayStation Portable with MLB game for Josh (age 8). We relented and allowed Santa to bring one for Josh. It's awesome, but hard to master. In the end, Josh was back online playing the more simple "MiniClip" games by Christmas night. I think he was a tad disappointed that it's harder to play than he imagined. But in the long run, this will be a good gift.

Rank: 3 Christmas Trees out of 4.


• Jam Pack Jam: This is the new Cranium game for the season. I had read about it in a magazine gift guide (as I spend so much time trying to get toys/games into gift guides, it's nice to see from a consumer point of view that it works!). The idea is you have 14 objects and must try to get 4 or 5 of them into the trunk of an SUV AND close the trunk. If you don't, they all pop out like in Perfection. Simple concept, but it has enthralled all of our kids, plus our cousins, and grandparents who were visiting. The sign of a great game: the "game" mechanic doesn't really matter as they're as happy to just play the 'toy' component....meaning, they're just happy to take turns cramming as much into the car as possible. Highly recommend! It's only about $20.

Rank: 4.5 Christmas Trees out of 4.


• Jigsaw puzzle of NYC subway: I bought this as a gift to myself at the Museum of Natural History on Friday. We finished the 500 piece puzzle in two days. It's relatively easy for New Yorkers as you can quickly determine where each piece will fit in the puzzle ("Oh, that's a Queens subway stop"...."that road is in the Bronx"). I've never seen Caroline and Josh work together so well on a project. In the end, we had 7 people ranging from 3 years old to grandparents racing to assemble it. Who knew? This can be ordered online...I can share the website for anyone wanting it. It's $15 online (shipping extra), and $18 in store

Rank: 4 Christmas Trees out of 4.

Christmas Newsletter - Cutting Room Floor

Holiday greetings to the 6 or 7 of you who visit this site (and welcome to any newcomers resulting from the holiday mailing):

When I started the blog, the goal was to provide a place to create a weekly version of my Christmas newsletter -- as well as to have a type of "director's cut" of the newsletter in December since it can't all fit into the two printed pages of the mailed out newsletter.

Below, you'll find some things that didn't make the letter -- either because I just thought of them after mailing out the letter (which always happens) or due to space restrictions. As with most director's cuts, you'll soon realize that what got left out initially wasn't all that great...hence why it got cut! But to remain true to the objective of the blog, I figured I needed to list them:

• When asked how many children we have, Mark likes to apply the same scientific principle that allows weathermen to declare the "Real Feel" temperature is colder than what the mercury reads, so he'll say "We have four children, but as they are all under the age of 9, the "Real Feel" is like having 8 children!"

• We are constantly disarming Sammy of pens, pencils, etc. otherwise known as "Sammy Weapons"

• One of Mark's greatest accomplishments was to learn self-restraint and not look ahead on his daily Dilbert calendar

• Matthew drinks apple juice like it grows on trees

• Kathryn has figured out the next big LDS commercial venture: General Authority trading cards! Collect the whole set! Learn amazing General Conference facts. Get an Apostle's coveted Rookie card from the first year he served as a General Authority

• Samuel is our Kung-Fu Grip baby as he always has to grasp a toy, stick, or something else in his fists at all times

• All Caroline wants for Christmas are her two front teeth

• In the new house, Mark can no longer play his favorite game of "Find the freezing draft coming into the house"

• Mark fears that all the kids will finally sleep through the night about one week before Josh starts going to early morning seminary.

House Notes

Well, we've been in the house for nearly 8 months. And I think we're finally to the point of feeling "we're done" with major renovations, etc. It helps actually having pictures up on most of the walls. Now the last touch is waiting for our new couch to arrive in about a week.

Some random notes:

1. After 8 months, I still can't remember where the silverware drawer is. I continually go to the left of the dishwasher to find silverware, even though it's never been kept there. It seems like the logical place for some reason, but it's really over by the store.

2. After 6 months, I was still trying to turn off the light in Josh's room with the light switch even though the light switch is linked to an electrical plug instead of an overhead light. I finally outsmarted myself by moving Josh's lamp over to the other side of the room so that the switch does, indeed, turn off the light.

3. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get a toilet to stop running? This is the new toilet in our main upstairs bathroom. It didn't run with the old toilet, but has already run since we've had this one installed. The plumber adjusted it once, and last week, we had them install a new 'flapper' as they said that was the problem. But it still runs for about 8 seconds every 15 or 20 minutes. It drives me crazy. I'm open to solutions.

4. Speaking of solutions, my Swiss train watch has an issue now, too. The hour hand has gotten pushed ahead somehow, so that when it's 10 o clock straight up, the little hand is about 1/4 of the way past 10 o clock. It's off just enough to be annoying.

5. Don't ask me if you have turn the key left or right on the front door to unlock and lock it. It continues to be trial and error every day. I should learn that.

6. My favorite touch that was added a week ago was a great sunset picture that my Grandma painted at Laguna that features me and my 3 siblings. It's just the right set of colors to match the gold color of our family room.

7. I'm still learning the art of tip-toeing around the house at night without waking up kids. Haven't mastered all the creaking floor boards.

8. One thing I don't like is the light switch in the play room upstairs. For some odd reason, it's over in the opposite far corner from the entrance. So you have to turn it off and then navigate a completely dark room which can be deadly with toys on the floor.

9. One thing I liked in the old house was that when I heard strange noises, I just thought it was the neighbors in our 'duplex-style' house. So I could just discount it. But now when I hear noises, I have to investigate because it might actually be something!

That's it for now. I have to focus this week on the "YEARLY" Christmas Newsletter, so I probably won't write until I have that finished.

Mark

Cooperstown

Josh and I took a road trip last weekend to Cooperstown, the mecca of baseball fans. He and I have been planning it for several weeks, and he was definitely excited!

When I got home Thursday night with the rental car, he wanted to go outside and 'check it out.' At 2 a.m. on Friday morning, he was too excited to sleep anymore and asked if I'd come lie down with him. He was definitely ready to get up when the alarm clock went off at 4:45 a.m. He said something to the effect that this was going to be the greatest day of his life.

We hit the road around 5:20 a.m. It's a long drive -- about 4 hours straight up to Albany, and then back down along rural roads for the final hour. The fall colors were beautiful....I like to say they were a brillant, subdued hue, a little like the colors you see after it rains on chalk drawings on the sidewalk and they all run together. I really forget how beautiful New York State is....it's much more than Manhattan. I really want to explore more of New York State.

One note about "Never Lost", which is the Hertz GPS system. It's very good and helpful, but sometimes it just doesn't have a common sense feature. After reprogramming it for "Shortest Distance", it took us along the east side of the lake instead of the west side (which makes more sense and are wider roads). Yes, it was shorter as the crow flies, but not what I would have taken.

We made it to the Hall of Fame around 9:45 a.m. and found parking on the street (there's no parking lot and it's just a really small town.) We spent the first couple of hours looking for answers to the scavenger hunt quiz that they provide for kids -- with the prize being baseball cards, so this was definitely a "Josh activity". Some of the answers were really obscure. Quite honestly, I think it could have been done a little better. It was kind of like taking a test that didn't focus on the real learnings but pulled out very random facts. But Josh liked it. After finishing the first one, we did the second one, so he could get both sets of free cards. Then we did the Scouting one, so he'll get a Scout patch. That one was better....each question tied to a point of the Scout Law. "A Scout is Friendly...speaking of Friendly, Wrigley Field is known as the Friendly confines. Find the exhibit on Wrigley and ...."

We toured the museum exactly how you are NOT to do Disneyland, according to the kid Disneyland books. Specifically, you shouldn't shoot around the park like a ping-pong shot out of a cannon. We'd see something on the 3rd floor, then he wanted to see the art exhibit on the 1st floor, then remembered something on the 3rd floor he wanted to see, then back to the 2nd floor, etc. throughout the whole day. But it was fun and I let him choose to agenda and make the decisions, so I just went along for the ride.


Lots of great things to see, though it wouldn't be too amazing if you weren't a big baseball fan. But Josh is, so it all meant something to him. They had just finished putting up the 2007 World Series exhibit, and he loved seeing that.

We had lunch at a diner-like restaurant up the street -- chicken nuggets, fries and hot chocolate. Then we went back to the museum, but by 2:30 p.m., he was worn out. After the requisite visit to the gift shop, he wanted to go check out the hotel. He walked into the Best Western and said he wanted to stay there for 2 weeks. (Funny, I was thinking how it was below the standards of most hotels I stay at during business trips). We got to room 207 and he wanted to unpack and claim spaces, choose his bed, etc. Then he wanted to swim. I really don't like swimming, but the water wasn't horribly cold, so it wasn't too bad.

We went to the Pizza Hut in the parking lot for dinner, and he was basically falling asleep (he kind of gorged on bread sticks). So he wanted me to get him home quickly and I thought he'd fall asleep. But after 10 minutes, he was OK again, so we rented "Everyone's Hero" (an animated film about Babe Ruth's bat) from the video store in the parking lot and watched it on my computer. He was asleep by 8.

It snowed overnight and it gave the area a quaint little Christmas feel to it. It continued to dust snow for the early morning. After our continental breakfast, he decided against the morning swim (YEA!) and we got to the museum when the doors opened at 9 a.m. There wasn't anything new to see, but he just wanted to see it all again. And once again, we went from floor to floor in no particular order.

Finally, around 11:15, I suggested we head home, and he was very relunctant. He knew there was nothing else to see, but he just didn't want it to end ("Can't we stay another night?"). It was almost like admitting defeat. But he agreed after we said goodbye to the gift shop one more time. The drive home was fine (the snow disappeared and it was a beautiful fall drive). We dropped off the rental car, took the train from there to home, and Kathryn picked us up at the station after being at soccer.

All in all, it was the absolute perfect trip for Josh and me. It's really fortunate we live so close to it and it's such a passion for Josh. I think we'll both have memories for a long time.

Home Repairs

I get a real sense of satisfaction...almost a runners high, if you will...when I get "home to dos" crossed off my list. Partly because I rarely know how to solve them going in, and partly because it seems like there's never a fast fix.

But I'm doing pretty good lately.

When we turned on the furnace, the blower (aka "fan") seemed to be malfunctioning. When the furnace would turn off, the blower would still blow. I kind of put off calling for help, thinking it might be something that could just fix itself on its own -- or that I'd figure out a solution.

It was very gratifying to learn it WAS something...some timer mechanism that was busted. The part was a mere $25 and the total fix job was less than $150. Thrilled to pay it as I now have worry-free heat!

The same day that was fixed, the dishwasher started to leak. But I've learned to not rush to call a repairman on clothes and dishwashers. We've been wrong two or three times before. Alas, waiting was the right call, as the leak seems to have sealed itself and it hasn't been a problem sense. Saved the cost of a house call.

I've struggled with our wireless router ever since we got the Mac updated at my office. So I bought a new Apple router (the other one was Linksys) because the old one had had its issues other times, too. It didn't solve it at first, but after calling Apple, and being told to unplug everything for 2 minutes and restarting, it worked perfectly! Did we need the new router? Maybe, maybe not, but I have worry-free wireless now, and that's worth it!

One of our newly installed toilets "runs" every 15 minutes or so. I bit the bullet and am having the plumber come back to install a new flapper. Having it run is like a Chinese water torture (thinking of wasted money and water), so it's worth my piece of mind as I know I'm not capable of simple plumbing repairs, despite what people say.

Lastly, the tire light came on in the car this weekend. Often, I assume it's probably a mistake and forget about it. But I've learned from experience and arranged for the service station to immediately check it out....only $22 later, we have a screw removed and a tire patched.

Yea! Like I said up front, it's a great feeling to get these off my list!