Michael's Mezzanine

Tour of the New York Mets' New Stadium

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:52:00 +0000

Me and the Kitties

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 23:21:00 +0000

Here is an old picture from September of 2003 when Fred and George were young kittens.

Merry Birthday Mike

noreply@blogger.com (Cecilie) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:51:00 +0000

Speaking in Church

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 02:11:00 +0000

I was asked to speak in church today. Here is the opening paragraph from my talk...

My birthday falls shortly after Christmas. And let me tell you, it’s the worst possible time to have a birthday. Everyone is partied out… and gifted out… and baked out… and nobody feels like putting on another production. So I’ve always felt that in the birthday department I’ve been the holder of the short end of the stick. For our kid’s birthdays, Cecilie always puts up signs that say Happy Birthday and plasters the walls with pictures of them. Well, Pyper came to Cecilie and told her she wanted to make signs for my birdthday. Cecilie gave her some paper and Pyper went to her room and spent a long time making her signs. She finally came downstairs to proudly show Cecilie what she had done. She had about eight or nine pieces of paper with elaborate drawings and decorations all of which said “Merry Christmas Dad.” When Cecilie asked her why she hadn’t written happy birthday, she shrugged and said, “It seems like since we just had Christmas that’s what’s important.” And so you can see, Christmas always has and continues to eclipse my birthday. But this year I learned that there is something even worse than having a birthday right after Christmas, and that is having to give a talk in church on your birthday right after Christmas.

Random holiday questions!

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:36:00 +0000

I saw this on Leesa Lundrigan's blog, so I thought I would copy it from her and add it to my blog for fun....

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper - Cecilie does all the wrapping so I only end up wrapping hers.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Real - I take the kids out and cut it down.
3. When do you put up the tree? It varies - mid December.
4. Do you like eggnog? Yes. I remember mom teaching me how to make it.
5. Favorite gift received as a child? A leather jacket that involved a scavenger hunt.
6. Hardest person to buy for? My Dad! When I would ask him what he wanted he would always respond, "black socks."
7. Easiest person to buy for? Cecilie.
8. Do you have a nativity scene? Two.. one made by playmobil that the kids can play with and one on the piano.
9. Mail or email Christmas cards? Email of course - it is the 21st century. Save a tree.
10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I do not recall. I love receiving gifts. Always have, always will.
11. Favorite Christmas Movie? Not sure.
12. When do you start shopping? I'm always shopping.
13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No.
14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Grandma Sugden's cream peas (I miss her).
15. Lights on the tree? White.
16. Favorite Christmas song? Oh Holy Night sung by Jessye Norman!
17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home.
18. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Nope.
19. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star.
20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Eve.
21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Hmmmm... nothing comes to mind.
22. Favorite ornament theme or color? I just like the whole Christmas theme - Cecilie makes the place look wonderful!
23. Favorite for Christmas dinner? The would be the cream peas.
24. What do you want for Christmas this year? Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM (here is the link for all you gift givers)
25. Who do I tag? Lisa, Mom, Kendra, Kerra, Erika, Kellie, Erik, and Bruce.

Happy Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Cecilie) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 03:21:00 +0000

Mike was a good Dad and got into the Holiday Spirit.

A Question Posed by Paul

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 03:51:00 +0000

Here is another post I came across at the Temple Study blog:

Ye Are the Temple of God

1 Cor. 3:16

link

The Fall Of Adam And Eve In The Armenian Apocrypha

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 03:32:00 +0000

I came across a very interesting blog post, The Fall of Adam and Eve In The Armenian Apocrypha , by Bryce Haymond, and had to share it. It really adds to the account of the fall that is recorded in Genesis.

Parenting Styles Inventory

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:52:00 +0000

Cecilie has been working with a "Parent Coach" recently - yes, she needs all the help she can get - just kidding. The "Parent Coach" she is working with is taking a course and needed somebody to work with for her class and Cecilie was lucky enough to become her student. Anyway, Cecilie and I recently completed a little survey to determine our "Parenting Styles." According to the survey my style is:

Care and Nurturance
Strengths: Understands child’s needs; consistently conveys love and care; encourages child’s artistic expression; ensures that family stays connected through traditions, rituals, regular activities; very adaptable to change under duress; “juggles” well

Challenges: Can have difficulty watching child grow up/letting go; may seem smothering; may meet child/family needs and put own needs last; prone to excessive worry; reluctant to set boundaries or enforce rules; easily manipulated, ‘pushover’.

I'm not sure how accurate the survey is. The full results of the inventory are pasted below:

Results for Parenting Styles Inventory September 2008

The inventory that you and Mike took revealed that you both compliment each other very nicely! Your dominant style is Personal Guidance and Mike’s is Care and Nurturance. You both have Practicality and Results as your secondary preference. These preferences reflect individual personalities and your compatibility as a couple is evident. The most effective parenting comes with the integration of all of the styles. You both seem to have them covered! I have included a little description that gives some details about the various parenting styles. Have fun!

The Four Parenting Styles

	Mike	Cecilie
Practicality and Results	28	28
Reason and Expectation	19	21
Care and Nurturance	31	21
Personal Guidance	22	30

Personal Guidance
Strengths: Has lots of projects, ideas, dreams for child; teaches self-reliance; quick decision maker; multitasker; guides and directs child; comfortable with complexity, change; encourages personal growth; not fearful of child’s future.
Challenges: Order and structure in personal and child’s life; balancing personal and parental responsibilities; child may perceive distraction and uncaring attitude; child may lack predictability and structure; communication with spouse/kids for personal freedom.

Practicality and Results
Strengths: determined and persevering; energetic in child rearing; emphasizes efficiency; assigns meaningful chores; ensures that children are competent and capable; level-headed and rational in arguments; effective mediator and mentor; makes family time a priority.
Challenges: May appear controlling by the child; can be too strict a disciplinarian with unrealistic expectations; uncomfortable with uncertainty/chaos; may take on the peacekeeper role at the expense of others not learning how to mediate and resolve conflicts; impatient with no results; own industriousness may mean other members of family do not have to contribute; focus on time lines may not consider human limitations.

Reason and Expectation
Strengths: Undaunted ,even welcomes arguments; a thinker parent values dialogue; usually calm, objective under stress; sets boundaries well; usually facile at analysis of situations/problems and thoroughly addressing and executing solutions well.
Challenges: emotional detachment seems cold/distant; habit of challenging assumptions appears non-accepting; may be perceived as ‘lecturing’ too much; can be perplexed by emotional needs and expressions.

Care and Nurturance
Strengths: Understands child’s needs; consistently conveys love and care; encourages child’s artistic expression; ensures that family stays connected through traditions, rituals, regular activities; very adaptable to change under duress; “juggles” well.
Challenges: Can have difficulty watching child grow up/letting go; may seem smothering; may meet child/family needs and put own needs last; prone to excessive worry; reluctant to set boundaries or enforce rules; easily manipulated, ‘pushover’.

Navigation

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:06:00 +0000

After one too many wrong turns, I finally decided to splurge and buy a navigation unit. My trusty companion is a Magellan Maestro 3225 that I picked up from Costco.com for $149.97 a few weeks back. It does seem rather frivolous in some ways to have such a device, but it is has already come in handy. Last night we picked Rohan up from the airport. When Cecilie pulled up to get us, half the kids in the car were exclaiming, "I have to go pee." I know - what a shock. Of course there are restrooms at the airport, but there is no place to stop longer than it takes to toss your luggage in the trunk and climb in your car. While we were loading an officer was yelling at another car to "move it" so we felt extra pressure to be on our way since we were in the exact spot the car wanted to pull into. This meant a detour was involved. Recall that a couple of weeks ago I had been to an airport hotel where Lance was staying and manged to get completely lost getting to the freeway. With my trusty new companion I had absolutely no fear about taking a detour so the kids could relieve themselves. We quickly found a McDonald's and put their facilities to good use. Once we were done the navigation unit quickly put us back on road (the right one this time) and we were home in no time. I must confess that I jumped the gun on one of the turns I was supposed to take, but she (the unit has a female voice) quickly steered me back on course.

I must say that I think this unit will strengthen our already strong marriage. Why, might you ask? I'll tell you why. Getting lost has resulted in the few times where Cecilie and I have felt frustrated with each other. I get a little worked up when we get lost, and Cecilie doesn't have a great appreciation for my juvenile antics when we get lost. Trips will become a glorious thing - OK I'm getting carried away now (we do have six kids), but you get the idea.

Sunday Nap

noreply@blogger.com (Cecilie) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:06:00 +0000

Peace

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:47:00 +0000

I'm sitting here on the front porch enjoying the peace and quiet of the outdoors. It is amazing how beautiful the outdoors are. Spring is wonderful with all of the blooms and wonderful fragrances floating in the air.

Pyper just arrived home from gymnastics class and is doing cartwheels up the driveway. Solveig is attempting to do the same. They are so cute.

Pool Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 05:42:00 +0000

Lastly

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 01:10:00 +0000

As Cecilie noted, tonight we had a lesson on journal writing. Rohan had the idea that we could make posts on the blog. As you can see from his post his enthusiasm quickly faded when he realized that coming up with more than "this stinks" required some effort. It is amazing how much effort it took to come up with "this stinks". Now that he has put up the post he wants to delete it, unfortunately he did not realize at the time up clicked the "Publish Post" button that an email would go out to the entire family. I'm certain that he will one day redeem himself.

As for my day... It started out feeling rather achey since I had to shovel lots of snow yesterday. Today would have been the perfect day to work from home, but unfortunately I had left my laptop at the office Friday.

This morning I listened to a talk given by Elder Bruce R. McConkie. I have not listened any of his talks since I was a missionary. I was amazed at his sense of humor and on his eloquence in speaking. His father-in-law, a Smith, had told him prior to his marriage, that in the beginning all were named Smith until they sinned. Elder McConkie wondered what that meant as far as his daughter becoming a McConkie was concerned. It is wonderful having an iPod to listen to these talks and devotionals on. Tomorrow I am expecting my noise canceling headphones to be delivered. They should increase the quality of my commute.

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 01:07:00 +0000

Here I am in deep thought reading Freakonomics, my Father's Day gift. It is a very interesting read so far.

Creative Web Site

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Tue, 07 Jun 2005 20:44:00 +0000

A 19-year-old kid won a Webby for a unique website that he created. Do not visite the site if you have a dial-up connection, unless you don't mind waiting for 30 seconds or so for each screeen to come up. If you have a fast connection click here.

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Mon, 06 Jun 2005 01:22:00 +0000

Here is a picture of my "Big Bathroom Idea" work outfit. As you can see it has many layers of mortar, adhesive, grout and paint. The end is finally in sight. I grouted the tiles Saturday and all I have left is to connect the drain on the tub and put in the sink, toilet, mirror and trim. This has certainly been quite the project. I have learned much along the way and better understand why my neighbor who does this sort of thing for a living was so adamant about getting the walls flush and plumb and the floor perfectly level. It sure saves you time on the finishing. Even though I was fairly religious about doing good prep work, I think that I would be even more religious the next time. It is really looking good at this point and I can say that it has been worth all the time and effort.

Dad's big bathroom idea

noreply@blogger.com (Rohan) — Sun, 08 May 2005 17:05:00 +0000

My dad had this big bathroom idea in March 2004. He has been working for thirteen months and he can't stop doing it on saturday. He wakes up puts his mesy pants on eats breakfast and gets to work. He started by riping out the old tiles with a sledge hammer. Next he ripped out the tub,toilet and the sink. After that he ripped out the ceiling and floor(that was also during general confrence so every now and then you would hear a big crash and you would miss a few words). Well now he is working on the tileing and you don't hear a big crash or boom.
The end of big bathroom idea

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Fri, 17 Sep 2004 22:54:00 +0000

Abigail begins her birthday celebration.

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 15 Sep 2004 23:51:00 +0000

Arn't I cute!

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 15 Sep 2004 23:48:00 +0000

Wow just look at us moving in on the seals!