Category Archives: Uncategorized

Returning to Our Happy Place

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Life is all about small victories and I feel like we notched one yesterday. Sid, Sloan, Beau, and I walked into the Spokane Valley Public Library for the first time since we moved to Washington. Our delay strolling through those doors wasn’t due to a reading aversion but, as you can probably guess, COVID-19. With our state graduating to Phase 2 in its re-opening plan, the Spokane County Library District found it appropriate enough to welcome back all the book worms.

We finally had the opportunity to go inside the Spokane Valley Library on Monday night.

Although we appreciated the curbside service offered for the past several months, there is nothing like pulling the books from the shelf yourself. I am not kidding you, Sloan and I were counting down the days until the library opened with the same anticipation that she is counting down the days until her birthday (minus the big countdown board). You see, the library is a special place for the two of us. We spent a lot of time playing and checking out books at our local Myrtle Beach library. With the shuttering of the libraries here in Spokane, it did feel like there was somewhat of a void. Call us crazy, but we would have taken the library before Chuck E. Cheese and the trampoline park opened (both of which swung open their doors before the library).

Sloan strolling the empty Spokane Valley Library on its opening day after being closed because of COVID-19.

Yesterday our family pulled up to the library for “opening day” at 5:35 p.m. Although it would close at 6 p.m., we made the most of our short time. Sid got her first ever non-South Carolina library card, Sloan found a “Corduroy” story, Beau pulled books from the bottom shelves, and I basked in the welcoming environment of a public library.

Beau grabbing books from the shelves at the Spokane Valley Library.

We had the whole place to ourselves. It was as if the red carpet was pulled out for our triumphant return to the library…up until the point that one of the librarians told us we had five minutes left before they had to kick us out.

The stack I started making of the books we were going to check out.

Like I said, we made good use of the short time we were inside those walls. We checked out 15 items, including a book just for Sid that allowed her to use her card for the first time. We raced home and after getting the kids ready for bed we read two of our new library books.

We ready “Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse” and “Corduroy Lost and Found” last night.

Thank goodness the library is back open. There will surely be numerous trips, most of them taking place on the weekend well before closing time, in the near future. Don’t Blink.

Homage to Cereal

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The Calendar of Gimmicks told us yesterday that it was National Cereal Day. I marked this “day” by reflecting on the current non-fiction series that Sidney and I are watching called “The Food That Built America.” One of the entrepreneurs featured in this program is John Kellogg, the father of cereal. Did you know what cereal was eventually made for? Well, you might need to Google the question for a more in-depth answer but Kellogg originally invented it as a digestive aid and as a brain food that would straighten a person’s moral compass.

But these days cereal is known as a breakfast food—perhaps the most popular morning staple there is. Although I count cereal as a pretty decent froyo topping, I also primarily recognize it as a breakfast mainstay. I have written a lot about cereal over the years, even going as far as to devote entire blog posts to my top three unhealthy cereals and my top three healthy(ish) cereals. What can I say? I enjoy a bowl of oats in the morning.

Just a few brief peroneal cereal notes…

– I eat a bowl of Rice Krispies-esque cereal pretty much every morning. I say “esque” because I usually consume a generic version. This type of cereal is easy to eat while working at the computer and doesn’t alter the taste of milk so it isn’t weird to drink after the Krispies are gone.

A couple of the Rice Krispies-esque cereals we have at the house right now.

– Probably one of the best wedding gifts we received was a set of cereal bowls. These things are meant specifically for your favorite Cap’n Crunch cereal. Pour as much cereal in the bottom as you want and top generously with milk because you won’t have to worry about anything overflowing.

I love these cereal bowls!

– My dad recently told a story about eating cereal growing up. He said his parents would only provide bland, healthy cereals. Along with his brothers and sisters, they would pour copious amounts of sugar on these cereals. One day they went to their grandmother’s house and she had those mini boxes of breakfast delights such as Trix and Fruit Loops. They couldn’t hold back their excitement and dug into these special treats. But they were disappointed. You see, they had poured so much sugar on the healthy cereals at home that the colorful, artificial, and fun cereals didn’t hold a candle in terms of sweetness.

One day my dad went over to his grandma’s and she had a pack of mini cereals. However, they turned out tasting a little disappointing.

Do you have a cereal that is especially meaningful and/or tasty to you? If you do, hopefully you celebrated with a bowl yesterday. Don’t Blink.

Fruity Pebbles Thursday Rundown

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Greetings, friends! I hope your March is off to a wonderful start. Speaking of “starts,” let’s begin this Thursday Rundown…

Online Checkout – A lot of people get their kicks from buying stuff online. Now there isn’t anything wrong with that, but I prefer not to spend the money. Instead, I have a different method of feeling the satisfaction of ordering something online but without the cost. I enjoy checking out library books online. You can literally browse thousands of titles and simply tap the box next to whatever you desire. The next day you just go to your local library for “curbside service” and they bring your books out to you. This has allowed us to feed Sloan’s hunger for new books but to be honest, despite the pleasant feeling of ordering online, I am excited that Spokane County Libraries will open their buildings next Monday!

Some of the recent books we checked out from our local library via the online system.

Fruity Pebbles Chocolate – Add cereal-infused chocolate as another candy option for your sweet tooth. This Fruity Pebbles white chocolate bunny I saw at Walgreens actually appeals to me. Perhaps later down the road I will try it but it made me think about other cereal chocolate bunnies I would like to try. What about a Reese’s Puffs bunny? Or a Cinnamon Toast Crunch one? Cookie Crisp? As long as it is not a Raisin Bran bunny, I think I would pretty much be up for anything.

This sounds good to me. But what about other cereal flavors?

Dollar Store Buy – Here is another Dollar Tree hack for those of us with small children. If you want an activity that will keep your toddler occupied for a half hour and is not messy, go to the toy aisle and pick up a Pom-Pom Stick-On Activity. Sloan loves “Trolls” so she chose the Poppy version. The board itself is sticky and all you have to do is place the colored “pom-poms” in their appropriate spots on the design. Both engaging and cheap, your child will be proud of their board after it is finished.

Sloan loved doing this pom-pom stick-on activity.

Nomadland – This week I watched the film that won the Golden Globe for best drama film—“Nomadland.” After I finished the movie I looked up some of the reaction on social media and one person tweeted along the lines of “A simple movie about simple people doing simple things.” In my opinion, that pretty much sums it up. The film follows a lady living in a van who travels around the west working various jobs and living in various communities. It is a slow, no-nonsense production. Do I think it is the best movie of the year? Um, perhaps during a pandemic when fewer movies were produced. What stood out to me were some of the images from the film. Fern, the main character of the film played by Frances McDormand, did a lot of mundane things but it came across as art. Whether she was preparing food, cleaning a bathroom, or driving silently in her van it was all captured in a certain way. If you have Hulu, give it a shot.

“Nomadland” is being called the film of the year.

Marilyn Advice – Every now and then, I share the advice of Parade columnist Marilyn vos Savant. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, she has the world’s highest recorded IQ. This past Sunday someone asked her if freezing food items is actually a viable solution for extending their best-by date. She responded by saying absolutely. Essentially, according to Marilyn, freezing an item will “freeze” its natural process of going stale. Read below for her exact response but this is welcome news to someone like me who swears by freezing food.

It is not a myth, freezing your food will delay it from going bad.

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I appreciate you spending a few minutes on my blog this evening. Enjoy your weekend and please continue to pray for the complete eradication of the pandemic. Don’t Blink.

A Tangible Birthday Countdown

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Last week I came down the stairs to my lunch break and Beau was walking. Yesterday, I came down the stairs to my lunch break and Sid was almost finished with an elaborate birthday countdown sign. Dang, I really do enjoy working from home!

When I came downstairs yesterday, Sid was putting the finishing touches on this.

As I have mentioned in multiple previous posts, Sloan is, for better or worse, obsessed with her birthday. Since early this summer when we celebrated her cousin’s birthday, she has probably asked us every day thereafter whether it was her special day or not.

This longing for March 17 has forced many premature happy birthday songs in her honor, fits of jealousy at family members’ birthday gatherings, and countless questions about who could be on her guest list in this pandemic era. Quite simply, her birthday is always on her soon-to-be-4-year-old mind.

After brushing off a lot of Sloan’s incessant birthday chatter over the past several months, a page was torn off the calendar yesterday and it was March. I could finally tell Sloan, we will celebrate your birthday this month.

But leave it to my wife for going above and beyond just telling her. Sid took a couple hours yesterday morning to complete a Pinterest-inspired project. Titled Sloan’s Birthday Countdown, it will let our daughter inch closer to her birthday one day at a time over the next 2.5 weeks.

Sloan standing with her birthday countdown.

The board’s centerpiece is a three-layer cake covered in 17 “sprinkles.” Each sprinkle has a number written on it that represents one of the days until her birthday. Since yesterday was March 1, she crossed off the sprinkle with the number 1 on it. Today she crossed off sprinkle 2. And you know how it goes. I guess we are counting up instead of counting down…

Sloan marking off the “1” on her birthday countdown.

Great job to Sid for harnessing Sloan’s enthusiasm for her birthday in an educational and visually appealing way. Tomorrow we will just be two weeks until the big day! Don’t Blink.

Here Comes March 2021

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The start of March 2021 is unique because it begins the same way that February 2021 did: On a Monday. If you remember, I used the opportune timing of February 1 to write a pre-dawn blog post about the month ahead. With March being ushered in under similar circumstances, why not do the same?

March 2021 is here.

In my humble opinion, the fact that March has arrived is good news in and of itself. I often refer to January and February as “the gloomy months” so to be out of those woods is welcome by many. March is a sign of new life, warmer weather, and longer days. This particular March will hopefully also see COVID cases go down and vaccinations go up. I think we can all sense that the pandemic is finally starting to trend in a favorable direction and I am intrigued to see where we will be after these 31 days are over.

This month we will celebrate my daughter’s fourth birthday, a day she has been counting down to since the summer. I will also mark my one-year anniversary working for Washington State University. For sports fans, March brings the best tournament on the planet. This year will be especially memorable after the cancellation of March Madness in 2020.

At the same time, March 2021 isn’t entirely about basking in the longer daylight or celebrating the success of your NCAA Tournament bracket. Rather, a lot of it should be about sacrifice. Lent will extend throughout the entire month so if nothing else we should be focusing on the next 4.5 weeks to grow closer to God and prepare for Easter. When the month concludes on Wednesday, March 31, it will neatly lead us into the Holy Triduum that will begin with Holy Thursday on April 1.

No matter which way you look at it, I think we can all view March as an opportunity. I think it is entirely feasible to enjoy the month itself while still using it as a period of preparation for the major days that will come in early April. Have a productive Monday and get this month off on the right foot—I wish you nothing but the best. Don’t Blink.

Beau’s First Steps Thursday Rundown

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The days are noticeably getting longer and March is just around the corner! I hope you have the same optimistic outlook that I do. Speaking of optimism, I have plenty of it in tonight’s Thursday Rundown so let’s begin…

His First Steps – During the lunch hour yesterday, Beau took his first steps! While Sid and I watched “This Is Us,” our son decided to draw our attention away from the screen and put on a show. Sid and I could sense he was getting ready to walk so I had my phone out. Beau took 5 ½ steps before stumbling to the ground and crawling off with the biggest smile on his face. His first steps came 10 days prior to turning 13 months—his sister took her first steps a single day prior to turning 14 months. To watch Beau walk for the first time, tap here.

Here is a screenshot from the video I took of Beau walking for the first time.

Special Beyond Words – When our family visited Myrtle Beach for the holidays, we had the opportunity to see our spiritual mentors, Tim and Kathy McCormick. They showered us with gifts and one particular item had more value than I can express. Tim and Kathy presented us with a mass intention card for Feb. 27. In simple terms, this means that the Eucharistic sacrifice at that mass will be offered for our family. Why Feb. 27? That was the day that Beau was baptized (the McCormicks are his godparents) and Sidney was welcomed into the Catholic Church. We love you, Tim and Kathy!

What a precious and valuable gift.

#PalouseUnity – Last fall we launched #PalouseUnity, a joint public health campaign that included WSU, University of Idaho, the City of Pullman, and the City of Moscow. The goal was to combat the spread of #COVID19. Because the campaign was so successful and visible, we brought it back in 2021 but on a grander scale. When we launched yesterday, our community coalition had grown to TEN organizations. Healthcare providers, city chambers, and even an electrical equipment company were all on board. Holli Sampson from the University of Idaho and I have had the pleasure of running point on both the organic and paid social media coordination of this digital-heavy campaign. Working with the social media managers of these various organizations has been fun and allocating the increased resources we have for this phase has also been a noteworthy experience. I will keep you posted on how it continues to go!

The creative for this portion of the campaign are images of community members from the partner organizations.

John Harvey Kellogg – Sidney and I are in the middle of a great series on Hulu called “The Food That Built America.” It traces the origins of food brand giants like Coca-Cola and Heinz. Another brand that is featured is Kellogg as well as the man behind the name, John Harvey Kellogg. Let me tell you what, this guy did a lot more than make cereal. He was a famous doctor and by all counts brilliant. In some ways his ideas were genius and in other ways they were misguided. He followed a very strict health regimen and lived to be 95 which was quite old back in 1943. If you have a moment, read his Wikipedia page.

John Harvey Kellogg was a pretty interesting guy.

Meme – I had a high school math teacher who always had a “joke of the day.” He would put a comic book strip transparency on the overhead projector at the beginning of class. They were usually pretty corny. I feel I do the same thing, only mine is a “meme of the week” and it comes at the end of my rundown instead of the beginning. I digress. If you are a parent, I am sure you will be able to relate to this. I sure do, but most of the time it is my daughter giving me the wrong foot for the shoe I have out in front of her.

I can relate!

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Close out your February on a good note this weekend. Wish you all nothing but the best and look forward to catching up next week.

What Makes a Mexican Restaurant Truly Stand Out

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I am notorious for saying that all food at family Mexican restaurants tastes the same. I am very predictable in my ordering habits as I usually order two enchiladas—one beef, one chicken—whenever we eat at a sit-down Mexican restaurant. I have scarfed down hundreds of enchilada/rice/bean platters in my day and, to be honest, whether I am eating at Azteca in Spokane, Fiesta En Jalisco in Missoula, El Sombrero in Walla Walla, or El Cerro in Myrtle Beach, my main course doesn’t taste that much different to me. Credit it to a taste bud deficiency on my part.

However, although I usually don’t detect a lot of taste variation with my enchiladas, there is a part of the Mexican restaurant dining experience that does stand out to me: the chips.

Chips are very important at a Mexican restaurant.

A Mexican restaurant can have an immediate impact on me based on the quality of the item that is brought out the moment you sit down. You better believe that in my eyes, not all chips are created equal. The perfect basket of tortilla chips can make me your customer for life.

So what makes that “perfect basket” of chips? Well, let’s start with temperature. If not piping hot, they better be at least warm. The illusion must be given that they just came out of the fryer, even if someone just popped them in the microwave for 20 seconds before bringing them to your table.

Second, thick chips win the day. I know many people prefer light and delicate but I want something that will allow me to dip it in salsa with minimum breakage. Third, let’s not forget about what should matter the most—the taste! A chip that is perfectly salted and very slightly seasoned with that fresh fried taste is the way to my heart.

Fourth, any basket of chips must be accompanied with a decent salsa. For me, I prefer a smooth and flavorful salsa over a chunky and tangy one. I enjoy anything that is spicy so if the salsa at the restaurant is going to make me sweat I won’t take any offense. Extra points to all restaurants that offer a red salsa and a green salsa.

Finally, I am a stickler for chips that are bottomless. I need to eat a basket right when I sit down followed by one while I wait for my food followed by one with my dinner. Servers who bring my table more chips before our current baskets are empty receive public recognition, a 5% increase in their tip, and the honor of knowing that we will likely be coming back to the restaurant.

Happy National Tortilla Chip Day, my friends. Is there a Mexican restaurant that you feel has the absolute best chips? Please tell me about it! Don’t Blink.

A Creative Hack to a Timeless Toddler Problem

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Dressing your toddler can be one of life’s more stressful daily tasks. I am not making this up. Getting your kid to cooperate when it comes to clothing them can drive even those with a saintly level of patience bonkers.

On days that Sloan goes to school, I dress her. Because she wears a uniform, getting her ready can be a pretty elaborate process. Elaborate processes and 3-year-old attention spans don’t really mix. There are some mornings when we battle each other. Despite my stamina being depleted after these mini wars, Sloan always seems to have plenty of fight left in her when Sidney takes over for hair styling.

Knowing that feeling exhausted and frustrated by 7:30 a.m. wasn’t ideal, we sought a creative solution to our problem. Credit Sid with the stroke of genius…

With the new game that Sidney made up, we are as happy as Sloan is in this photo after we get her dressed.

Like any toddler, Sloan loves YouTube. However, her taste for content might be a little more sophisticated than most her age. She watches vloggers and reviewers to the point that it drives me nuts. With that said, this torture has had an upside.

We are now successful when it comes to getting Sloan ready for school because we pretend that she is on her own YouTube channel. During one particularly defeating morning, a switch flipped in Sid’s head and she drew Sloan’s attention to her imaginary followers. It was all over from that point…

Sloan would turn on the invisible camera and start narrating her hair routine. Sid would be her sidekick and biggest fan as she tamed our daughter’s wild curly hair. As my wife worked her magic of encouraging and imagining, I looked on in amazement.

Okay followers, now we are going to spray my hair. And now we are going to comb it…

Well, as you can imagine, it didn’t take long before I started playing the angle. Sloan’s YouTube channel now just doesn’t feature her hair routine but it also features a dressing segment too. She eats it up and I don’t mind feeding her viral ambitions one bit.

Now that she is on a “YouTube channel” she is much more cooperative and happy when we get her ready for school.

If you have a toddler who is high maintenance when it comes to getting dressed, you can either spank them or make them feel like they are the star of a YouTube account with a billion followers. I prefer the latter. For those of you looking for a fresh solution to an age old problem, turn on your imaginary camera. Don’t Blink.

Sloan’s First Sledding Experience

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Growing up in a place where it snowed a lot, I went sledding all the time. Lucky for me, my family lived right across the street from a park. Even better, this particular park had lots of hills. My friends and I would spend hours sledding down the numerous hills as we would race, build jumps, and modify our sleds for optimal speed. Our moms would have to drag us inside at the end of the night.

Once I became an adult, the allure of sledding went away. Walking up steep hills, freezing my butt off, and beating up my body no longer had an appeal. I went many years without sledding until I took Sidney back in 2016 when we made a trip home during the holidays.

Sid and I after a sledding experience in early January 2016

A half decade would pass before I would go again. This past weekend, I took Sloan sledding for the first time. With the conditions perfect and my sister’s family up for a playdate, we met at one of Spokane’s best places for sledding.

Prior to heading to Holmberg Park, we bought this sled at Lowe’s.

After purchasing a sled at Lowe’s, Sloan and I drove to Holmberg Park. Home to hills that provide the same thrill Clark Griswold experienced in “Christmas Vacation,” I wasn’t easing Sloan in on bunny slopes. We met Miranda, Jay, Mikayla, and Johnny and got right after it.

Sloan at Holmberg Park.

Sloan can be a scaredy cat in some respects and fearless in others. When it came to sledding, she was the latter. I invited her to get into the sled and she didn’t hesitate. I let her get in front and I sat down in the back, curling my legs around her to make sure she wouldn’t fly away on her first run. After a push from Jay, we were zooming down the hill. The adrenaline from 20 years ago filled my body again combined with the parental instinct of keeping a 3-year-old safe when traveling down what was basically an ice track at a high rate of speed. When our sled finally came to a stop, Sloan was hatless but other than that still in one piece. I half expected her to be crying but she just had a surprised look on her face.

Sloan preparing to sled down a hill at Holmberg Park.

There was no looking back after that. Along with the numerous other children and parents at the park, we took several more runs down the hill. Although we never wiped out, we did spin out and had a couple close calls where we almost collided with other people on sleds. By the time Sloan started complaining about being hungry, not going to lie, I was a little relieved that we had an “out” to conclude her first sledding adventure.

Sloan had a lot of fun sledding with her cousins and really appreciated her Uncle Jay pulling her.

Not that it wasn’t fun—because it was a blast—but I didn’t want her first sledding experience to be characterized by a nasty spill or other traumatic experience. As I took off her snow clothes at our car and basked in the enthusiasm she still had in her voice, I was thankful for a memorable sledding debut and her growling stomach. Don’t Blink.

Temple Thursday Rundown

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Hello, my name is Brent and I am a blogger. Thanks for joining me for another Thursday Rundown. If you don’t mind, I would like to get started…

Best Valentine’s Treat – Sloan’s preschool class had its Valentine’s Day party last week and our little girl made out like a bandit. Her classmates spoiled her with cards and candy but there was one particular treat that took the cake. Take a look at this festive Valentine character. Juice box body, Smarties arms, Jello head, chocolate feet, and a chocolate heart for his…well…heart. This had to have been a Pinterest hack but it sure turned out nicely.

This Valentine treat character was very well-done.

Valentine’s Fail – Transitioning from a well-executed Valentine to a botched one, this cake made me laugh and cringe at the same time. I took a screenshot from the TikTok I was watching of a teacher shedding a tear because of the incorrect usage of “your” (should be “you’re). I sure hope no one bought it.

This is a tough pill (or cake) to swallow for an English teacher.

Shirley Temple – A couple weeks ago I shared an image from the @historydailypix Twitter account and I want to do the same tonight. In my mind I have always viewed Shirley Temple as a young curly-haired girl who never aged. However, this photo shows her beyond her child acting days and it really showcases her natural beauty. I love seeing old pictures like this.

Shirley Temple had always remained a child actor to me.

Movie of the Week – If you are looking for a Netflix movie to watch this weekend, I recommend “The Dig.” It is set in the late 1930s and tells the tale of a local archaeologist who is hired to dig in the mounds of a rich woman’s property. After a fascinating discovery is unearthed, the film focuses on the expansion of the project and the ramifications it has on the original archaeologist. It is beautifully shot and contains superb character development. I recommend it.

You will probably enjoy “The Dig.”

Crazy Lost Pet Stories – You hear about pets who were found years later at locations hundreds of miles away from their homes all the time. It is basically in the same clickbait category as centenarians and lotto winners. With that said, these pet stories never fail to amaze me. I heard of another one today. A cat from Texas who disappeared from his home in 2017 was recently found in an Arkansas neighborhood more than 600 miles away. Nobody knows how it happened but the feline is said to be in good health. Yep, must have not been close to his nine lives.

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That will be that for tonight. Thanks again for your readership and I hope you have a nice night. Don’t Blink.