Work and the New Economy

The "middles" have taken on new responsibilities since the "olders" have gone off on a crusade to California. It is like training the olders all over again. Grumbling, mumbling and "that's not fair" or "this is her job not my job" and "if I assign it to you it is your job". Of course, with the cow Brr is stacking up a nice pile o gold because she is milking early morning and night. Baba is also starting to want to milk and yet she does pretty good @ 1 "shilling" an egg gathered & cleaned. Our economy is booming! ;) (We don't pay for basic family-care chores.)
Change to all of the new responsibilities takes mental effort until they feel more like they can do it or want to and so I instituted a little monetary pinch of golden fairy dust-it seems to help. =)

Old Time Music Ozark Heritage Festival

I have a fun, interesting, and varyied life. One part of that life is to be the creative director/editor of commercials which encourage the surrounding communities to come and participate in the signature festival of West Plains, Missouri, the Old Time Music Ozark Heritage Festival. Luckily we don't have to travel far to tape the festivities for the next year. It is lots of fun to be there and to edit video. =) (click on the title's link to get to the commercial)

I love playing with Lego Blocks!

I really love playing with Lego blocks and creating things, well, okay, it's usually spaceships and having "good versus evil" battles. Here is a ship I made from lego blocks not long ago. I like to go over all the details of engines, guns, escape pods, symmetry (including color when I can), landing gear, speed, etc. Of course, my ship never lasts as the children wish to play with my creation or they need one of the pieces from the ship for their own creation. When I use a lego piece in a way they never thought of before it becomes more valuable to them as it spurs more creative things in them.

A Wonderful Father's Day

I had a most enjoyable Father's Day. It was very beautiful outside. After church we went out and grilled some hamburgers. Princess 2 had setup a chair for sitting complete with a fan via a 100 ft. electric cord from the house, umbrella to keep the mighty sun off my head, and a glass of water to sip as she took over the cooking duties at the grill.

The hamburgers were tasty. I just had to remember not to fill up on the main dish because we had a whole bucket of home made ice cream waiting to cool us off.

I am a blessed Father. :)

From Page, to Squire to Knight?

Thinking I could persuade the younger prince and princesses not to have any ice cream because I had just finished cleaning up all the dishes, I said, "You can only have ice cream if you wash your own dishes."

Benj quickly piped up, "I can do that. I know how to wash dishes. Joseph let me when I was his page!"

The Western Ride

How about a wonderful ride in a wagon? This fun picture was drawn by Swoop. She and her sister are out for a friendly drive in the wild hills around the castle. I always try to scan in these images before they go to far from the castle.

Kris the American Idol

So we traveled to Conway, Arkansas last weekend for a Society of Children's Books for Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) conference for the Queen and we saw all of the "We love you Kris!" signs in almost every business's windows. The courtiers all thought they were talking about me and said so. We had not been following American Idol at all, but we eventually figured out what it was all about. Then this morning I read that he won. Here is a legitimate link to the full song: No Boundaries (It is pretty catchy, but I am told it is not his "best" song.)

Way to Go Kris! ;)