Kirk blAug

I am sure that most of my readers have at least heard something of Mardi Gras. Perhaps you might know of the celebration that takes place every year in the United States most popularly in New Orleans. But it is not exclusively celebrated in New Orleans. In fact, it was not even celebrated originally in New Orleans. In 1702, when French Catholic settlers founded the original capital of Louisiana which is now Mobile, Alabama , they began the first tradition of Mardi Gras in the United States a tradition that they brought over from Europe where it had been celebrated long before. Once the capital of Louisiana was moved to New Orleans in 1723, the major celebration was moved there and was then celebrated by most citizens of the city beyond the French Catholics. The celebration has been spread to many communities in the neighboring states of Alabama and Mississippi, as well as along the Mississippi river going as far as here in St. Louis. Soulard is historically a French neighborhood in St

When someone sneezes, the most popular thing for someone in the United States to respond with is the phrase 'bless you' or 'god bless you'. There is one semi-popular alternative, gesundheit, which references health. While being more secular and thus more inclusive than the religious message that comes with a blessing, gesundheit is less often said. I have learned from following Penn Jillette's public persona that his family says the phrase 'that's funny' in place of 'bless you'. I do like that a bit and I am sure he would not care if I borrowed it as many of the other children in his kids preschool have according to his book , but that is Penn's thing, not mine. Sometime after realizing that there are no supernatural deities, only natural humans who like to think they are gods, I adjusted my habitual response to sneezing to gesundheit. It took me a little while to adjust, so I completely understand why some of my non-religious friends hold to

One thing I like to do, for several reasons, is run. For the past couple months, because Chris started working overnights, I have found the treadmill to be more convenient. It works well because I can go running late at night after the children have gone to sleep and after she goes to work during her on week and, assuming I can actually get everyone napping at the same time, during everyone's naps during her off week. (She works seven ten hour days on then seven days off, taking naps on the off weeks in attempt to catch up on the lack of sleep during on weeks.) Even though I have chosen to take my running on the treadmill, there have been plenty of really good running opportunities outside during these relatively mild past couple of month. It was ideal for most runners. The type of weather that many runners could not pass up under any circumstances. For the past two months though, I did. Tuesday night I was itching for a run. I checked the weather to find that it was a brisk 34° F.

Chris shared an article yesterday from USA Today that shows that at least some women think that the things stay at-home dads do gets them in the mood for sex: Stephanie Dulli of Washington, D.C., says "hearing nice things absolutely is romantic and a turn-on." But she's with the 25% who say "seeing your spouse as a great parent" or the almost 20% who say it's when your spouse cleans the house or makes dinner that gets them in the mood for sex. "There is nothing sexier in the world than when my husband is giving the baby a bath without me asking. … If he takes it upon himself to do the dishes or the laundry, that's such an act of service, and that's another way he shows he cares for me. I find it dreamy." Dulli has two sons, ages 3 and 8 months. The rest of the article is a good read too. It exposes a study that shows that, while marital sex is not popularized in pop culture, most married women find it very important in their marriages. It

One day a couple years ago, while Chris and I were waiting in the checkout line at Target, she noticed that many parents were using a protective lining in the shopping carts. She asked me why I do not have one of those for Jupiter. I half joked that I was trying to boost his immune system, and she and the checkout clerk had a laugh about it. I was only half joking though, because some people really do try to keep their kids in way too sterile of an environment, in my opinion. I think it is a good thing to spread some germs around a bit to keep the immune system on its toes. I do not want my kids immune system to be so weak that they get deathly ill every time they come into contact with another sick kid. Jupiter does not get sick all that often. We have three dogs, sometimes we think that may be a contributing factor. If there is anything that spreads the nasty stuff around the house, it is dogs. I also do not freak out if the kids pick up something off the floor and put it in their m

This does not sound like the most responsible thing to do at the special moment when a baby is born, but then again, who has a clear head at that moment: We’ve heard the stories of those early-bird babies who just couldn’t wait—making their appearance in the car or on the side of the road on the way to the hospital—but it’s rare that the unexpected moment is caught on film. Luckily, thanks to his cell phone camera, newly reigned father, Zachary Russell, managed to capture the birth—and avoid any accidents!—while he was driving to the birthing center. I am glad that nobody got hurt and everything turned out okay, but I do feel a little worried for the commuters that were put in danger here. Apparently the video in question was very popular on YouTube. This is not surprising.

We spent last weekend back in Nebraska. We went to visit because it was close to Jupiter's cousin, Ryland's, third birthday and we thought it would be nice celebrate with him. While we were there I started paying attention to smells. Particularly, in this case, the smell of the laundry detergent caught my attention. I never noticed the difference between scented and unscented laundry detergent growing up, but since we use scent free laundry detergent at home, I am now noticing it. My mother happened to wash some of our clothes while we were staying at her and my father's house for the weekend. Our packing job was somewhat sporadic due to some unexpected health issues, so we needed to do some washing. My mother, being the extremely gracious host she is, would not let us spend our limited time doing laundry, so she offered to wash a few things. She washed my son's pajamas because we did not pack more than one set. Then, while I was out doing something else, Chris gave her