Mr. Mom

My wife got a job this week. Yippee!  She’s been doing the “stay at home mom” thing and it’s been working out ok, but especially with the higher cost of gas and groceries, things have been a little snug more often than not.

Yesterday she went in for orientation (first day).  She had to be there at 5:00pm, so that meant I had to take care of the kids after school.  No big deal… or so I thought.  First of all, as I have mentioned in past blogs, my wife is into healthy foods and plans out our entire weeks meals before she goes to the store on the weekend.  Her start date got bumped up a week, so I literally found out Monday night that she’d be working Tuesday night.  Not content to let me feed my children mac & cheese or frozen pizza like any other self-respecting dad, Amy points to a recipe ripped out of a Food Network magazine and says to me, “you can follow a recipe can’t you?”  This was the beginning of my bad night.

I “can” follow a recipe, but there are certain nuances to cooking that I do not excel at.  I can barely even keep my damn grill lit.  This was some frou-frou chicken dish that called for me to make homemade breading, cook them in a skillet with Extra Virgin Olive oil (whatever the heck THAT is) and then bake them in the oven.  My breading was falling off all over the place, but at least the chicken was white and not pink.  I was flustered from trying to get all that done so we had chicken and peas for dinner.  Tomorrow I’ll order in Chinese.

Then, it’s time to sit down and do homework.  It’s only the second day of school, so my 6th grader just had to memorize her combinations, school ID, etc.  But my second grader had to draw and list 10 or more things that had to do with Math.  As a 36-year old male, I could only come up with two.  Time and money.  These things are close to my heart because I have very little of either.

Then it’s get the little one bathed and ready for bed.  This went smoother than I anticipated although I never realized that mom reads to her, sings her songs, snuggles her, sets out her clothes for the next day and has a 20 minute debriefing of the day all before bed.  I think I may have been taken for a ride.

The big one wants me to help her find some songs for her iPod, so I’m off to do that.  Then I have to find some time to get things ready for the show tomorrow and still try to get myself to bed before 9pm. I may not make it through the week.

Send help.

Stubborn as a Mule

As you may have heard by now, the other show I do on our sister station has been re-branded as 92.5FM The JACKASS.  We are having some fun with the Democratic National Convention coming to town.  Regardless of which side of the political fence you fall on, you have to appreciate the Democrats choosing our fair city to dump the millions of revenue dollars they’ll spend.  As we like to say, it’s not THIS party or THAT party… it THE PARTY!  We’re having fun with it and I hope you do too.

I’m sure there are plenty of people who are a dumbass (pun intended) like me who don’t know how the Donkey came to be the symbol of the Democratic party, so I did a little research.

Borrowed loosely from Wikipedia: The Democratic Party itself never officially adopted the donkey symbol but has made use of it. Apparently Andrew Jackson had been labeled a jackass by his opponents during the presidential race of 1828. A political cartoon depicting Jackson riding and directing a donkey (representing the Democratic Party) was published in 1837. Then Thomas Nast used the donkey again in an 1870 political cartoon and it stuck. Cartoonists followed Nast and used the donkey to represent the Democrats, and the elephant to represent the Republicans.

Strangely, the Democratic party in some states use the rooser.  Thank goodness not here in Colorado… I don’t know if I could handle being on 92.5 THE COCK during the convention. LOL.

The WOLF is on vacation for a while as we welcome the DNC to the Mile High City.  If you love it, laugh along with us.  If you don’t… try not to take things so seriously.

Now crank it up and give us a bray!

Shotgun (aka. “The Mule”)

Making the Grade

I very rarely get political in my blog, but I get very irritated when I hear people complain about American schools.  I am married to a teacher and come from a family of educators and criticism of our education system is one area that really gets my blood boiling.

There’s a commercial running on radio and tv right now talking about how test scores are so much higher in other countries than the USA.  That may be true, but the United States is the only country in the WORLD that has a true PUBLIC school system.  Anyone who desires an education can get one, and conversely everyone who desires an education must be given the opportunity.  In many of the other countries listed off in these ads, children are tested for intelligence and aptitude and only the best are chosen to attend these schools.  The other kids are trained to be “laborers”.  Is it any wonder the test scores are higher?  Can you imagine the uproar here in the USA if lower level students were denied an education?

If you’re a parent and you want to see those test scores rise… spend time with your kid.  Get involved in their education and hold your child responsible for getting the most out of the education that is offered them.  America’s schools are staffed with excellent people who are passionate about giving your children a quality education.  By allowing every person an education, the “bell curve” is going to bring overall scores down.  Despite that, the United States of America education system produces many of the top minds in the world.

Grillability a Zero?

I’m one of the few guys out there that actually enjoys grocery shopping.  Amy and I usually leave the kids home for an hour and go for the peace and quiet.  I love checking out fresh produce, finding choice cuts of meat and looking for a good deal anywhere I can find one.  I have been absolutley blown away by how much grocery prices have JUMPED in the past six months.  It’s obnoxious!  It’s getting so a guy can’t afford to get good meat for the grill and that is where the line gets crossed!

So I did a little digging and here’s the main excuse “the man” is giving for the high costs: “Food manufacturers, under pressure for months from higher costs for everything from product ingredients to the packaging, are increasing prices. It started in the ceral isle and it’s spreading.  Sara Lee Corp. will raise prices by 20 percent later this year for its meat products. (That’s Jimmy Dean sausages and Ball Park Franks).  Overall grocery prices are expected to rise 5 percent to 6 percent this year. But some categories are projected to post higher increases, such as eggs, fats and oils and cereals.

Items made with wheat (breads and crackers) and soybean oil (cooking oil and fried foods) are expected to rise so much next year that they’ll boost the cost of cooking at home by up to 4.5 percent – half a percentage point more than predicted just a month ago. So pinched consumers thinking they can cut back by eating at home more will find little relief there. Home cooking remains less expensive than eating out, but the gap is closing.”

This year could go on record as having one of the largest increases in food prices since 1990. For many people, rising food costs plus the high cost of gas is leading to tough choices. Some families are going without meat because of the high prices.  For sure many shoppers are trying the generic products to save money.

It may be time to start clipping coupons.  Ther are many great sites on the web you can Google to get started.  I got an email from someone recently singing the praises of http://theshoppersedge.info.  [THIS IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT] I have not personally checked it out other than briefly scanning the site, but it could be a way to save you some money so we can all get back to the grill…

where we belong!