tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33261202011-07-08T00:41:19.522-05:00The Allie AlleyWelcome to the little corner of the web for Marc, Deana, Brandon, and Connor!Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.comBlogger401100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-52204380891831618112009-08-28T09:40:00.002-05:002009-08-28T09:52:47.506-05:00The big move is over. Boxes are almost all unpacked. Garage is cleaned out. The work on the gameroom/man-cave section of the garage, plus the new Transformers collection shelves, is in full swing.First, the gameroom. I managed to convince Deana to keep half the two-car garage as a gameroom of sorts. It's coming together nicely. The centerpiece, of course, is the arcade cabinet. Last night,Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-13194801979686651692009-03-24T15:39:00.002-05:002009-03-24T15:53:56.534-05:00Yeah, yeah, it's been over two months. Quite frankly, our lives have been so busy and filled up to overflowing that I've had less time for pretty much everything. But, I've got a few minutes here to rant and ramble a bit, so here goes.First of all, school. March and April are by far the most stressful months of the year for teachers. Pressure is mounting for the upcoming state tests. The newMarchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-10527598214424906412009-01-22T08:54:00.002-06:002009-01-22T09:01:52.905-06:00I think there is something wrong with me. I am actually looking forward to the end of the football season.Blasphemy, you are thinking? Yeah, I'd have thought so too. Let me tell you, I am a fan. I dutifully record each Chiefs and Rams game. I also watch every Sunday, Monday, Thursday, and any Saturday NFL games too. Additionally, I watch the four best games of the week on NFL Network's NFL Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-23164401089261137712009-01-07T11:37:00.003-06:002009-01-07T11:51:06.983-06:00So, I'm over a month late with an update. Unsurprisingly, December was extremely busy. Here are some of the highlights.My love of snow days is well known, and I haven't been disappointed yet. The week before Winter Break, we were out of school for four days! It was mostly ice and sleet, not snow, and new layers kept coming each night. We used this time wisely, of course: mainly we watched Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-36594701556039476272008-11-30T07:54:00.002-06:002008-11-30T08:25:39.943-06:00Well, I said last year that I wouldn't go back out early on Black Friday ever again. Then, I said I'd go out, but not go to Wal-Mart, after the Great Transformers Incident of 2007. Looks like I was wrong on both counts. We did go out, and began the day at, you guessed it, Wal-Mart.Most of the time, Wal-Mart is fairly organized as far as employees go; it's the other shoppers you have to worry Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-28408407378451716132008-11-22T22:04:00.004-06:002008-11-22T22:34:03.359-06:00I just start updating again, and I go and miss a Saturday post. Can you believe it's because we've been incredibly busy? Yup, like everyone else, we've had something to do almost every night.Midquarter has already come and gone. This means, lots of grading at home. Let me tell you, I hate grading. It's one of the reasons I wanted to be a special reading teacher, and not a regular classroom Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-20455700816413042782008-11-08T13:02:00.004-06:002008-11-08T14:19:03.202-06:00This week seemed to go on and on forever. It started off well, but went south pretty quickly.First of all, last weekend, the hard drive on our satellite receiver went out. There go all our recordings and the ability to pause and rewind live TV. I could live with that, but when the replacement was on its way, it stopped working entirely. No satellite at all, period. Luckily I have an antenna for Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-76741599982798656132008-11-01T22:32:00.004-05:002008-11-01T22:39:33.986-05:00Last night Brandon had several friends over for a Halloween Party. Connor was so excited too, and cute as he could be in his Bumblebee costume. (We had to alter a store bought one that was too small!) All sorts of cool costumes, as you can see by the slideshow above. Guitar Hero World Tour was a big hit with the kids. Not as bit of a hit was the Creepy Castle decorating contest. Let's just Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-11669325175247654402008-10-25T13:15:00.004-05:002008-10-25T21:27:56.417-05:00I'm thinking about updating here more. I'm not sure Blogger is robust enough for what I'd like to do. In any event, here are some pictures from a costume party we went to last night! I had most of the costume stuff already, thanks to my awesome Transformers collection. We really had fun with Deana's getup. She has little purple spiders in her hair, and I did the spiderweb pattern on her faceMarchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-55149612482158090872007-02-20T14:22:00.000-06:002007-02-20T14:30:12.997-06:00OK, here we are, it has been forever and a year since I posted anything at all. But today, somehow, I thought of something I could write about. Something that people might find interesting. So, here we go.I miss The Far Side.Today I was reading Dilbert online. Now, don't get me wrong, Dilbert is a good and fair comic. I have laughed at Dilbert many times. It is easily the best comic that isMarchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-1150742874884754942006-06-19T13:47:00.000-05:002006-06-19T13:47:54.896-05:00Wow, it's been 4 years since I posted here? Crazy. Maybe I should update more?Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-859731392002-12-13T20:15:00.000-06:002006-01-23T12:11:10.453-06:00Howdy folks! Welcome to our world. Here it is time for another Holiday season. The snow has been here and gone and now they are saying we are going to have 60 degree weather on Sunday. Unbelieveable! I put out my snowmen and the next thing I knew we had 3 days off for snowdays!!!! I baked cookies for the guys everyday:) The smells, lights and holiday t.v. watching are here!!!!! We hope that you Deanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02326751983588414784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-834819432002-10-24T17:28:00.000-05:002008-10-25T19:21:41.516-05:00I know what you are thinking! "An update? But it hasn't been a month yet!" Yes, that's right! I'm shattering all expectations by publishing a few days early! Actually, I am sitting here bored at school waiting on my late round of parents to arrive for conferences. I'm sure I could be grading papers or something, but it's not like I didn't work today! :)
We got Brandon's grade card today, Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-822445762002-09-28T15:01:00.000-05:002008-10-25T19:21:41.531-05:00OK, so I am getting better about the updates. This time, it was just a month and 2 days, that's 2 days shaved off! When you are hyper-busy like we are, it goes fast.
So where to begin? Life is really, really, super good these days. Almost every day, I think to myself how happy I am. I have a great home, wonderful children, a fantastic wife, and for the first time in a long time, I enjoy my Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-807361042002-08-26T12:37:00.000-05:002008-10-25T19:21:41.554-05:00OK so it has been over a month. It's been HYPER busy.
We're finally starting to get into a normal schedule! Brandon came back a couple weeks ago, and we were so glad to see him. I think he grew about a foot and got 3 times more tan while he was gone! My reasons for wanting him back were more selfish. Connor can't really play video games or Heroclix, and I needed a partner!
My brand new Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-793472222002-07-24T09:16:00.000-05:002008-10-25T19:21:41.575-05:00Reign of Fire was a good movie. Not great, but good. I was expecting more of an Independence Day type of movie, and it actually was more like Aliens. I'd like to have seen more scenes with multiple dragons, and more of the war between dragons and men. There was a few awesome sequences, notably the parachuting scene. All in all, worth the price of admission.
We leave in 2 days for the final Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-788726502002-07-12T13:24:00.000-05:002008-10-25T19:21:41.601-05:00Here we are, all moved in and good to go.
It seemed like it took FOREVER to move. Moving from a 3 bedroom house with a garage and a nice yard to a 2 bedroom townhouse apartment was pretty tough. We had to get rid of so much more stuff even after the garage sale. But, for the most part, we are all unpacked and only a few things are left to be done. I like the new place very much and am Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-782421382002-06-26T17:18:00.000-05:002008-10-25T19:21:41.611-05:00Wow, how busy can we be?
2 weekends ago, Deana's family came into town! We had a really nice visit. I enjoyed watching Justice League episodes with Brandon and A.J. and teaching A.J. how to play Heroclix with Brandon in particular. Oh, and watching The Sum of All Fears with Deana's Dad. And, the steaks for Father's day, and the grilled chicken the next day! I tell ya, we just get into usingMarchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-776496672002-06-12T06:51:00.000-05:002008-10-25T19:21:41.622-05:00I thought summer was supposed to be nice and relaxing!
We have been really busy since school let out. Now that I accepted the job in Halfway, we've been planning our move, looking at new places to live, checking all the options, that sort of thing. We've found a really nice townhouse style apartment, on the north side of Springfield. It seemed to be a good compromise, as it allows me to have Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-773818392002-06-05T12:33:00.000-05:002008-10-25T19:21:41.642-05:00Well, it turns out I was only unemployed for 3 days!
I accepted the position teaching 5th grade at Halfway, MO. Where is it, you ask? Well, it's HALFWAY between Bolivar and Buffalo. It's 45 minutes to an hour from our house now, but we'll be moving soon, to the north side of town. That will cut the drive down considerably. I'm totally excited about the prospect of teaching in a small schoolMarchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-771788762002-05-31T06:07:00.000-05:002008-10-25T19:21:41.650-05:00Well it's been a couple crazy weeks here in the Allie family. A few items of note:
"I'm so excited about Star Wars I have a rash!"
Yes, that's right, my poor allergic-to-everything body decided that the amoxycillin I had been taking for an upper respiratory infection, stuff I've used since I was a kid, was BAD NEWS! And, starting at my hands, I slowly got covered with a nasty, itchy rash! OfMarchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-765772932002-05-15T10:09:00.000-05:002008-11-22T22:21:04.942-06:00Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-765468762002-05-14T15:00:00.000-05:002008-10-25T19:21:41.682-05:00Just a couple pre-Episode II ramblings.
Brandon and I are going to watch The Empire Strikes Back and The Phantom Menace this week to prep for Friday night. I picked these two out of the 4 for one reason only:
Awesome fights involving Jedi and Sith masters.
Let's face it, the fight betwen Obi-Wan and Vader in Ep. 4 leaves a lot to be desired. I am sure that the poor effects of the time was Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-763431152002-05-09T08:59:00.000-05:002008-10-25T19:21:41.690-05:00I apologize for the lack of updates. I hope to get at least a weekly update from now on so you know what we are up to. It has been a crazy busy time here at the Allie house.
This past Tuesday, I had my most recent of 3 interviews for positions in surrounding school districts. Let's just say that they aren't exactly beating down my door to hire me. I'm going to start looking for alternatives Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-753282592002-04-12T10:50:00.000-05:002008-10-25T19:21:41.718-05:00I had an interview yesterday! I am so pumped up and excited. I feel like I have Code Red pumping through my veins. In fact, I was so hyped up that I woke up early this morning. Early, as in 2:45. It was good, though, I wasn't tired and I worked on getting the last few things installed on the computer. We are, once again, digital camera and webcam equipped. So, expect to see more pictures Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-114256022002-04-03T15:01:00.000-06:002008-10-25T19:21:41.732-05:00Here's a belated rundown of all the cool stuff we did during Spring Break.
First off, we went to the movies TWICE! As a family! The last movie we had all seen together was Monsters, Inc., last November. So, it was a real treat to go! Plus, I saw another movie with Adam, Chad, and Carissa. Here are my reviews:
The Fellowship of the Ring: 10 out of 10! I was spellbound from the first minuteMarchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-110172272002-03-22T14:46:00.000-06:002008-10-25T19:21:41.742-05:00What a crazy week!
Connor was up Sunday night SCREAMING. Not crying, screaming. It was horrible. We called the urgent care clinic and they recommended Motrin. My mom and dad rushed over with the medicine, and 45 minutes later he was far better. Still, it was a yucky way to spend the night.
Monday my motherboard came in! I asked Curtis to come over and we got it all together. Of course itMarchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-108424932002-03-17T20:22:00.000-06:002008-10-25T19:21:41.773-05:00You ever have one of those weekends? One where you have almost no plans at all? One where when you try to remember what you did, but nothing just pops into your head? That is kinda how ours was. Of course, that's exactly the kind of weekends I like to have, so I am a happy camper.
We pretty much stayed home Friday night and Saturday. I went to bed so early Friday night, in fact, that I wokeMarchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-107104382002-03-13T17:45:00.000-06:002008-10-25T19:21:41.795-05:00I am keeping busy working on my resume for the upcoming job hunt. I've already got a slightly modified version of my last resume here, but I'm still working on it. Take a look at it and give me feedback if you like.
I ordered my new motherboard Monday night, it should arrive in 3 to 4 business days. Guess I will have to go one more weekend with no EQ. :(
The kitty litter thing has been a Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-106029852002-03-10T20:41:00.000-06:002008-10-25T19:21:41.840-05:00I'm suddenly in the job market. 'Nuff said.
Yesterday was D-Day. The D stands for "Dubya", as in, the tax check cleared baby! We celebrated by getting some stuff.
Connor got this. I foresee chasing balls around the house in my future.
Brandon got this guy. It changes into a neat-o mechanical cybernetic shark. (Duh.)
Deana got some unmentionables. I would post a picture, but this Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-104747522002-03-06T21:17:00.000-06:002008-10-25T19:21:41.850-05:00What a busy busy day.
I had the day off school (kind of) and attended an educational technology conference here in town. Lots of cool stuff; boy would I love to teach in a Smart Board equipped classroom. Too bad our school system is about 5 years behind the pack when it comes to technology.
I got to pick Brandon up! That's always fun. He said this to me when I saw him after school: "Hey, doMarchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-103753392002-03-04T13:59:00.000-06:002008-10-25T19:21:41.860-05:00Hello to all! yep it's me. Can you believe it? Well, I just wanted to wish everybody a Happy March! Hopefully, this means that spring is on it's way.
All is well here. Connor is on his 4th ear infection yuck! But his eating habits haven't faltered by any means. He loves to eat! And if you take a bite
you better give him a bite of something. He drank milk from a sippy cup for the first time today Deanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02326751983588414784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-102106252002-02-27T22:07:00.000-06:002008-10-25T19:21:41.875-05:00Just a quick ramble before bed:
The "good side" of frying your motherboard:
1. Added incentive to finish tax return. Thanks Mr. Bush and CO., in advance.
2. I actually read a book in less than a week. I think that is a record. No, it wasn't a kid's book. There weren't even any pictures.
3. Good chance to tune up and optimize Brandon's computer.
4. Downloaded and can play the Magic Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-100843562002-02-24T19:56:00.000-06:002008-10-25T19:21:41.887-05:00It was another busy weekend here in Allie-land. On Friday night, we celebrated the end of the week by going to Blockbuster to rent movies! Rant mode on: Blockbuster won't take more than one free movie rental coupon per day, so we had to leave with just one. We made it up to Brandon by taking him to get his movie after his soccer game. Then, we got McDonald's and headed home.
Deana and I Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-99882252002-02-21T21:43:00.000-06:002008-10-25T19:21:41.898-05:00Well! What a crazy few weeks this has been. The latest on the computer front: the cable modem is fixed! We had water in our line which was causing the internet and TV to be all whacked out. The cable guy fixed it. However, when installing some RAM on Monday night, I fried my mother board with a static shock. Ouch. There's about a $100 mistake! When Dubya sends me my tax check, I can buy Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-97601872002-02-15T10:28:00.000-06:002008-10-25T19:21:41.909-05:00Just a quick post from school here. Our cable service is out, and there isn't anyone available to come fix the connection issue until next Tuesday. So, no updates for a while. Also, no internet games, downloading anything, or checking email. Lame.
One quick story: this morning, Connor crawled into the bathroom while I was finishing my shower. I got out and he stayed in there and pulled the Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-96611552002-02-12T18:24:00.000-06:002008-10-25T19:21:41.927-05:00I'd like to post about all the stuff that happened at work these past two days. But I'm not going to. Told it too many times already, sick of it. It was lousy, let's leave it at that.
Yesterday morning, Brandon found a note from the Tooth Fairy under his pillow. Apparently, the Tooth Fairy had conferred with the Valentine's Day Fairy (or is it an elf?) and they decided to pool their Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-95910292002-02-10T20:01:00.000-06:002008-10-25T19:21:41.947-05:002 big events for the day:
Brandon lost another tooth! He had been working on it all week. Here's what happened as he told me this morning. "I was eating my biscuits and there was something crunchy. I tried to chew it but it was too hard so I swallowed it. Then I thought it was my tooth. I swallowed my tooth!" Our score so far: Tooth Fairy - 5, Brandon's Digestive System - 2.
Connor justMarchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-95659382002-02-09T22:30:00.000-06:002008-10-25T19:21:41.961-05:00Today was a big day. First off, Brandon woke me up at 7:45 wanting to watch TV. Good dad that I am, I had already set up the timer to tape the premier episode of Power Rangers Wild Force. I put him off for 15 sleepy minutes. Then we watched a full hour of Power Rangers. As I type this, Brandon is watching the tape for the 3rd time today, this time in bed in his room. By the way, Power Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326120.post-95547792002-02-09T14:17:00.000-06:002008-10-25T19:21:41.985-05:00Hello everyone and welcome to the Allie Alley. I read about this Blog thing and it seemed like a good way to easily update my friends and family on what we are up to. It's been since November since I posted new pictures; that's too long, I know, but Publisher stinks. Anyway, due to the ease and simplicity of blogger.com, I'll keep on top of things much better. At least, that is the plan!Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00842073785587732047noreply@blogger.com0