Category Archives: Fun

Is it really over?

October 24, 2012Family, FunFamily, Funwarren

I have been pretty lax on writing for the past…oh…3 months or so. It’s all because of soccer. Particularly when we started the season at the beginning of August, we had something soccer related 6 days a week. Even in the middle of the season, we were running at least 5. Since I was one of the middle school coaches for Isaac’s team, I was at every practice with the boy so everything else sort of fell by the wayside. I loved spending the time with Isaac but we are all tired I think.

09_27_2012 016 — Kinda looks like Friday night lights but it’s better…it’s soccer!

So, Monday night was his last game and Wednesday night is the overall last game for the team (we have one varsity and two jv teams). To say the least, we will be dancing when the season ends (oh yeah, except the fact that we are in the play-offs). I am proud of the team for which I was responsible. Our season ended 7-0-2 which is pretty great I think. It’s all in the coaching of course.

Abigail is in recreation league soccer which is much less demanding but that season ends this weekend too! Hooray for freedom. Now we can enjoy the short rainy days and sinus infections we all seem to get! At least we can all huddle under blankets on the couch as a family, watching the weather channel hoping for nice weather…and the return of soccer season.

My wife is a dork

October 1, 2012FunFunwarren

Emily works at one of the year round schools here in West-by-God-Virginia. In general, their schedule is 9 weeks on, 3 weeks off. So, the school recently was out on break. It’s pretty nice because Emily gets 3 weeks for running around doing errands, catching up on appointments, etc. Well…it’s nice for me, but not so much for her. Anyhow, many days while she is off on break, we grab a bite to eat together. Some days she just brings a sandwich and some days we go out to eat at some fast food joint.

Last week, as her break was winding down, we decided to eat at a fast food place. Emily picked me up and we headed out. We did the usual…we ordered, ate, talked, got refills. As we finished up, Emily stood to dump her tray and noticed that she had on identical shoes in different colors. Apparently she had been doing her thing all over town with mismatched shoes!

Evidently that is looked down upon in the world of women. I never would have even noticed but I was assured that other women noticed. I only have three pairs of shoes so that sort of mistake is not ever going to happen for me. Imelda Marcos I am not. Emily isn’t a shoe person either but she does have more than I do…and sometimes accidents happen. Still, the recent gaffe makes my wife a dork…but she’s my dork!

Not another fancy restaurant!

June 19, 2012FunFunwarren

We have a few traditions at the beach. We eat Oreos and Chips-Ahoy cookies. We eat Lucky Charms cereal for breakfast and sandwiches with pickles at lunch. Most importantly, at supper time, we eat seafood at some local seafood joint. Knowing that they have a captive audience, the seafood places charge way too much but usually dress things up a little just to make people think they are getting something special. I guess that compared to eating at home, it is sort of fancy.

Rules? What rules? Not the enforcer this week!

So the last few nights, we have eaten at some pretty nice places. We spend way too much money on food but it is nice to go wild now and then. Anyhow, the restaurants we have been to must seem pretty fancy to the kids I guess. Yesterday Isaac asked if we had to go to any more fancy restaurants. They were deemed fancy I guess because they set the tables with a salad fork and a dinner fork. Two forks = fancy!

What it really comes down to is that we wouldn’t let the kids burp at the table and hang spoons on their noses. That is all it takes to make a restaurant fancy. I guess it is quite a step up from cattle chutes at the local fast food joints we sometimes endure at home. We were wandering through one of the nearby beach stores after supper one night and the kids identified a sign that more aptly summarizes their views on their type of restaurant.

I guess it isn’t supper until the conversations turns to that subject!

Deeper than a holler

May 30, 2012Family, Fun, ThoughtsFamily, Fun, Thoughtswarren

The kids are staying with my parents in PA this week. They finished school a week earlier than Emily so it was a perfect opportunity for them to visit up in Yankee-land. So we delivered them over the weekend and spent some time with family. I always think back to my roots when I “go back home”. I live in a city now, albeit a small one. I have lived in a big city and several places in between. Cities can be fun and all but I am and always will be a country boy.

Sitting on the front porch...just catching up

Ok, so when I go back home, I get to pondering. I don’t want to sound all sappy and stuff, but it’s so simple to enjoy the simple things. It’s dark and quiet where I grew up. Most nights you can hear the whippoorwills and see more stars than you can count. Most days there is nothing better than riding around the yard on a lawn tractor doing whatever you feel like and playing in the hose (does anyone else say it like that?) or sitting on the front porch talking and napping. It is pretty hard to beat living like that I think.

Kids on the garden tractor — Abigail isn't heavy enough to keep the seat sensor depressed!

Anyhow dear friends, it occurs to me that some of you may not have ever heard a whippoorwill’s song. It’s simple but sort of an anthem to country living and you simply must hear its call. My mom and I walked around one night until we got pretty close to one singing so I could record it. Have a listen:

Being kid-less this week also makes me remember back to when Emily and I first met and fell in love (we still are of course, but those first years are so special). Anyhow, as much as I love country living, I love Emily deeper than any holler and taller than any pine tree, tall upon the hill…so, since I can’t sing with a durn, let’s all enjoy a little Randy Travis singing my thoughts to Emily

I’ll take…less money

May 17, 2012Family, FunFamily, Fun, Funnywarren

The other day, Emily and I were working around the yard. I was mowing and Emily was planting a ton of new flowers that we got. Well, actually we got them 3 weeks ago but that’s beside the point. Anyhow, as we toiled away, the kids were doing…nothing. I have seen this trend before and am pretty sure I was not able to get away with that when I was a kid. Sure, I had my goof-off times, but I definitely helped out doing work too.

Seeing an opportunity for a lesson in life, I asked both kids to drag themselves away from their books (yeah, I know, I could have worse problems than kids who read) and come outside. We have a number of outdoor chairs that we never use. We never use them in part because we never clean them off. The other part is we hate mosquitoes but that’s not the point of the story. Anyhow, I asked the kids to get soap and a brush and scrub all of the chairs.

They fussed and whined. There were ants and spiders on the chairs…and dirt too! After a bit, I got irritated and grabbed a chair, ants and all, and told the kids to “grow a pair” and just carry the chairs to the driveway. Isaac knew what I said and smirked, but I had to explain that phrase to Abigail. Yeah, I got a lesson too…keep my mouth shut!

Anyhow, they got going and had a lot of fun with it I think. Towards the end, they were negotiating for payment. I didn’t really have payment in mind when this all started. I had to laugh at their conversation though…”We’ll do it for a dollar a chair”, said Isaac. “No, I’d rather do it for 25 cents a chair.” Back and forth they went a few times but they settled in on 5 cents per chair. There are only 6 chairs so they were looking at 30 cents each. Heck, with that sort of deal, I could be persuaded to pay! I gave them each a buck for the humor. Well, 70 cents for the humor and 30 cents for the work!

KYD means KFC

May 9, 2012Family, FunFamily, Funwarren

It’s been a long standing tradition that every May, we gather and watch the KY Derby with Emily’s people. Well, really we gather to eat KFC chicken. We usually spend three minutes researching our favorite horses and then cheer for another two minutes. We cheer…vigorously which is quite exhausting. Try cheering solid for 2 minutes about a horse. Of course, after all of the excitement, we need to re-fuel so we eat derby pie.

Even when we lived in KY and TN, we upheld the tradition, even if it was just the 2 (then 3, then 4 when Abigail was born) of us. When we moved back to WV, we petitioned the gang (yes, they are a gang) to add a new part to the tradition. For the last few years, on Derby day, we also wear “fancy” hats.

I take great pride in making my hat each year as do most of the gang. Abigail made ribbons for the hat-wearers for the best hats. I am proud to say I won 3rd place this year. My hat was…well, you tell me. I don’t know what it was other than Derby-worthy.

Those drunken women at the real KY Derby have nothing on our hats…and we aren’t even drunk!

The most interesting Warren in the world

April 13, 2012FunFunwarren

Look who got to meet me!

The most interesting man in the world...and that guy from the Dos Equis commercials

Stay thirsty my friends!

Up North

March 28, 2012Family, FunFamily, Funwarren

A week or so ago, we went to PA to celebrate my Grandpa’s 98th birthday. That was fun and we got into all sorts of things…

We opened some late Christmas presents

We unloaded 3 tons of wood pellets for my parents’ pellet stove

Isaac even helped

but definitely needed a break!

We climbed trees

Played some football

Had a great party with Grandpa

98th birthday party for Grandpa — Cake is good no matter how old you are!

There were leprechauns

We hunted Easter eggs…full of money!

We verified that Isaac is growing and hide-and-seek isn’t as easy as it used to be

So, although it wasn’t nearly as green up there, spring was about to hit and we had a really great time! When we stay home, we never seem to be able to do so many things on a weekend. We needed a break after the short vacation!

Need a job? Take a number…

March 26, 2012FunFunnywarren

So I mentioned in the last post that we took a trip to PA to celebrate my Grandpa’s 98th birthday. It’s a bit of a trip – 6 hours or so and we never leave until after work. That puts us in pretty late. We always stop at a particular truck-stop right as we get off of the interstate and start the hour and a half trip through the dark and windy roads to Tionesta. Needless to say, we are sometimes a little goofy at that point so you can only imagine the hooting and carrying on we did when I saw the job application for the truck-stop. I guess you take a number and you’re hired.

I’d say it’s a pretty tough place to work so maybe the only way they can get enough people to staff the place is to take absolutely anyone who can pull a ticket. I don’t know but I have to tell you, I still chuckle when I look at this picture!

You’re welcome Landau

February 27, 2012Awesome, Family, Fun, WVAwesome, Family, Fun, WVwarren

I just thought I would take a chance to tell Landau Eugene Murphy Jr that he is welcome. You see, he had the privilege of singing with my daughter on Friday night. I suspect it is a night he will never forget.

For those of you who don’t know Landau, he is a West Virginian who recently won the tv show, “America’s Got Talent” (Seriously, click the link and watch the video!) Abigail sings with the Appalachian Children’s Chorus and they had their annual benefit concert on Friday night. This event was a pretty important one because all of the money from the event benefits both the ACC and the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia, an organization that takes care of and helps place children no longer living with their biological parents.

The Clay Center in Charleston was pretty much packed on Friday night and we were not disappointed. Landau got to sing a few songs with the ACC which was so cool. Oh yeah, he sang a lot on his own too. He’s really a great performer. He sort of became famous for his dreadlocks and his perfect crooner voice. As Howie Mandel noted, what better way to bring back Frank Sinatra than with Landau’s look. I couldn’t agree more. I think he is equally or maybe more talented singing Motown though. He has a great deep voice that is a delight to hear.

More importantly though, he is a really sweet spirit. Before winning the show, he worked as a car washer in a coal town in WV. In his spare time, even then, he worked with the Children’s Home Society to share music with the kids in their care. This concert was a perfect opportunity for him to broaden that work and bring more attention to those children.

He is funny and uses physical humor like a pro. Maybe someday he will have the opportunity to sing with Abigail again. I am pretty sure she would be delighted!

My Home Among The Hills

Life in WV!