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first pie is gone. that is a reflection of my success.

i let my daughter mix some water and baking soda in a bowl in the sink after asking my daughter what she thought would happen.

then, i dumped it out and poured some vinegar in the bowl. she talked about how it looked just like water. i asked her what would happen if we pored backing soda in that vinegar since it looked just like water.

she said, "i don't know".

good answer, in my opinion.

she was delighted at all the foam that bubbled up in the bowl.

we ended up emptying out the whole box of baking soda and used up all the vinegar in the house playing in the sink.

i took my nephew with me to walmart to buy some light bulbs and pick up a pizza for dinner. he was nearby at the electronics section playing on the demo gaming consoles.

i came back and he was gone.

walmart is too big for a wild goose chase.

luckily, he has a cell phone. i called him and found where he was.

things like that seem to be an odd contrast to how responsible he sometimes seems.

he was giving out cards to attract customers. he's a barber trying to drum up clientel. at least he was doing something constructive when he wandered off.

well . . . my wife wants me to watch claymore with her. i'd better go. it's generally not good to keep your wife waiting.

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the pies are a success!

taste just like mom's.

thank you, mom.

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the pies are out of the oven. they look good. maybe i over cooked them a little bit. but, nothing major. next time, i'll take them out sooner. i just want to make sure the filling completely congealed.

i just opened a letter from the federal trade commision saying that they sued life lock and made a settlement with them. since i was a former customer, i got something from the settlement.

I got ten dollars and eighty-seven cents.

that wasn't even a monthly payment for my whole family. i guess i can go buy myself a hamburger or something.

cashing the check doesn't take away my legal rights to bring about my own law suite against life lock. but, what ever i get, the trade commission's settlement that i received will be deducted from whatever new award i might get.

yeah-- so if i get millions back from life lock because i sue them myself, they'll be sure to deduct that whopping ten dollars and eight-seven cents from any other legal award i might pursue.

i'll just go enjoy myself a hamburger and hope the cashier doesn't steal my identity from my debit card. trying to sue for more that ten dollars just isn't worth it.

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my mother-in-law just left. she asked us if we were willing to go to church with her sunday.

my wife and i glanced at each other, and then looked at the celling, as if in deep thought.

we answered with silence, but our answer was clear.

my mother-in-law then tried to make some small talk on another subject, and eventually eased on out to her car.

awkward.

if you want to know any of my history with religion, read my original blog at My Dirty Little Secret. i don't feel like recapping any of that here. that would be like reinventing the wheel.

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pies are in the oven. my daughter helped. i think she had fun mixing everything. i let her help because her bother and his friend are treating her like she's a nuisance. i wanted to make up for that by letting her do something exclusive since her brother is having a opportunity to be exclusive, too.

my mother-in-law is over here at the moment. she's taking a nap because she stayed up all night, too, like me. while i was watching claymore, she was at church in a prayer shut in. she stayed up all night with other church members praying and making supplication to the lord. her mother (my kids great-grandmother) is in a nursing home that is near my current residence. so, my mother-in-law was caring for her. she's grown tired from being up all night with no sleep and stopped by our house for a nap. she came in on us making pies.

she's a very good cook herself, so it was a bit humbling to be teaching my daughter to cook a pie that i can hardly get right myself.

but, i think these will turn out much better than my last fiasco. and, i think the ones i took to work tasted good, even though i didn't really get to sample them.

my first pies came out more like the traditional egg custard pie. they are pale comparisons to chess pies and i do not like them. chess pie has something more to it. i won't tolerate any pie that claims to be a chess pie, but is missing that extra "something".

not even my own pies.

while i was getting supplied for my pie, i saw a man with a crown royal shirt on.

i didn't noticed they made those.

isn't that like saying across your shirt, "hi, i'm an alcoholic"?

i want a crown royal shirt.

don't worry . . . I've only had about 1325 milliliters of whiskey in all my life. if you think it through and do the math, you'll see that only makes a few bottles of whiskey. five u.s. cups of liquid.

i'm 35 years old. i haven't even began to start drinking, yet-- compared to someone who really knows how to drink.

and . . . i've never been truly drunk. a bit tipsy, but never drunk in my life.

so, there ya go. let's keep it that way.

melog-20101120.log

i watched claymore until almost 04:00 this morning. awesome stuff! i'm an addict.

i slept in until about 11:30 today.

i have a pain in my back. i pulled a muscle a few years ago in that spot. i'm not so sure that's what's hurting this time. it might be my kidney or something. i may need to check that out. maybe that's why i felt sick the other day. hmmmmm . . . .

my house can go from clean to messy in 60 seconds. my nephew can cook chicken wings like it's nobody's business. but, he left a lot of mess behind. but, if someone cooks for you, i suppose you can at least clean up for them.

but, regardless of his cooking for us, the house gets messy really fast. i almost don't want to ever bother cleaning up.

my son has found a new friend down the street. he's been coming over playing xbox and nintindo games for a few weeks now. they met on the school bus. it makes sense that they would eventually become friends.

my poor little daughter doesn't seem to have any neighbored friends. but, my son just made this friend after living here for two years so far. one little girl came over to play with my daughter, but i don't think her mom was comfortable with us. i think the permanent tan that we have makes her a bit nervous. maybe she's just shy. well, her daughter isn't. i wasn't home when they came by to see my daughter-- my wife was. she seems to think the little girl's mom is just shy. no crime in that. shame though. she may be living her life beneath her privileges by living in constant shyness.

not that i'm brimming with confidence myself, or anything.

i digress. no wait . . . i cannot digress in a melog. it logs whatever i want to say.

and i wanted to say that my daughter is vying for attention right now. she's not getting any from her brother or his neighbored friend. she rides the school bus too, so she wants to be included and can't understand that she's four years younger and her mom doesn't want her hanging around a bunch of rusty, rowdy boys.

but my daughter is only five, and she can command that xbox just as well as two rowdy 9 year old boys. don't underestimate my daughter's xbox-game fu. she can play mechwarrior just as well as they can. as a matter of fact, she's schooling my son's friend as i type this. he's trying to act like he knows what he's doing, because he doesn't want a five year old girl telling him how to play a testosterone filled shooter game.

soon, i think i will go to the store. i'll take my daughter with me. we'll get some more pie ingredients and i'll let her help me make a pie while my son plays with his friend.

my daughter says that she wants to "make science". i think she really means that she wants to get her hands dirty and not get in trouble for it. i think we'll mix some left over vinegar with some baking soda and let her see what happens.

i think we found our nephews "stash" under his air mattress. i told him when he (ugh, i don't want to use the phrase) moved in with us that i don't care what he does outside of my house because i'll give him the liberty of being a grown man. he's 24 and towers me by a foot-- so, I feel awkward telling him how to live his life outside of my personal "domain", for lack of a better work from my vocabulary.

as a matter of fact, i was forewarned. so, i'm not surprised. but, i don't want him to influence my kids and i don't want him to get into trouble or bring trouble to my house.

he seems really discreet under the circumstances. i'll play it by ear. i don't think i'll let him know we know. if he realizes that i'm not too strict about this, then he may take further liberties. best he fear i'll kick him out if i found out. that way, he hopefully won't be careless and leave me with no other alternative. i'm trying to give him a hand up.

i may discuss it with him when he announces he's all set and ready to go back home.

see, his mom knows about it, so he's used to the freedom of it.

anyhow . . .

my back hurts. i hope it's not serious.

later, i'll be watching claymore hopefully. i think i'll lay off the crown for a while.

first, gotta get ready to head to the store, get pie ingredients, and spend some face time with my neglected little daughter.