Mans Castle Ending (Last In 3 Part Series)Read Part 1 and 2 Below First

Well my son arrived home today. Great to have a body in the house besides mine. You see a mans home may be his castle but we really don't want a castle we want the home. The thing that makes the difference is a castle is cold and silent a home is warm and loud. I think it takes a couple of days alone to realize how much you miss the kaos and noise of children. As a parent of 2 teenage girls and a 7 year old boy my wife and I's time can be seem to revolve around their needs. It is about to get worse as Nathan starts football this month witch means everyday practice. But as much as we will wine about our time being manipulated, as parents we are only lying to ourselves if we think we would have it any other way. Spend a couple days all by yourself and this becomes very easy to see. We live vicariously through our children. I think that's why you see alot more empty nesters splitting up. We get so used to living through our children when they leave our identities can seem to go with them. Then you are just sitting alone in the castle as the home has left. It doesn't happen over night either. I think we have a shovel in our hands and start to dig the moat around our castle at about my age 42. Alot of people this age are probably like myself. I have a 20 year old out on his own and my 15 and 14 year old girls are not to far from collage. Most people my age are at this point or closer to being empty nesters. Although I still have my 7 year old the house will still seem empty in a hurry. So let me offer this little bit of advice. As I sat in the tower of my castle and reflected the last couple of days it occured to me that we still need to find common interests with the spouses outside of the kids. That way the shovel in our hands can be planting flowers for a home and not digging the moat for a castle. As always let me know what you think and hit a sponsor on the way out as a guys gotta eat.

Mans Castle Day 2

Once again I arrive home to my empty house. Decide I should order pizza and wings for dinner. I am told should be about 30 min. so gives me time to enjoy a shower without having to worry about saving hot water for my girls. 5 min later shower done. Old habits I guess. Well lets see whats on T.V tonight. Cool the Big Break Final I recorded. Hey Nate, Big Break is on.........Oh yea he isn't here. Better save it. Pizza's here cooool!! What to watch while I eat.............Ah the Indy race rerun. Hey Taylor.......... not here either. Hum....What time is it?? Oooh Danielle needs to be picked up from work.......oops no need for that..... I guess it's Superstars and a cold one for me tonight. Might as well watch in bed. When did my bed get that large?? Weird. Oh well gotta love this alone time!! Hope I sleep a little better tonight as I was a little burned out today. Can't figure out why either. Strange. Must have been the dog being fidgety. Love this peacefulness and I better take full advantage and enjoy every minute as it will probably be a long time before I get this alone time again. You men know what I mean. It's great to have nothing but me time..... .....To be continued......... As always let me know what you think and hit a sponsor on the way out as a guys gotta eat.

A Mans Castle

It is said that a mans home is his castle. Never is this more true than when his family is away and he has the whole house to himself. On Monday my wife and two teenage daughters went off to girls camp for the week and my 7 year old son went down to hang out with his grandpa and nana for a few days. This allowed me to come home last night to an empty house. AH the peacefulness. No girls going 90 miles an hour and needing rides everywhere. No dinner to cook, absolutely nothing needed from me. A big smile came to my face as I headed to my room to get comfortable. As I was looking for something comfortable to put on it occurred to me that hell I could just walk around naked!! Not wanting to frighten my neighbors who might glance thru my windows I opted for boxers instead but it was nice to know that should I choose to relax in the birthday suit I could. Next I thru everything fried and greasy that I had in the freezer into the oven, cracked a cool refreshing beverage and turned on the T.V.. Nothing but all the ESPN's, Speed Channel, NFL Network and what ever sports I can find. There will be no "Do we have to watch sports?" "When can we have the big screen?" "Can you please turn that down." My house, my T.V, my time. After gorging myself and enjoying a few more refreshing beverages I flopped down in the middle of my king sized bed and prepared to drift off. No getting kicked, no fighting for a small piece of the sheets, just me and all that room...........To be continued...More tomorrow and as always let me know what you think and hit a sponsor on the way out as a guys gotta eat.

Michael Jackson VS Farrah Fawcett

Well it has been a sad week as two stars have passed away. Both of them shaped pop culture in their own way. Sadly one is getting the short end of the stick as far as coverage and grief goes. Everything is about Michael with very little being said about Farrah except that she passed away from cancer. This Joe has decided to take it upon himself to compare the two's impact on all of us that are in our 40's and 50's. Let us start with Mr. Jackson. Now I was never a fan of his music as I tended to lean more to the rock and roll side of things. This in my opinion makes me that much more impartial in this debate. You see I wasn't a fan but I could respect what he did. He was very talented as an artist. He came along and turned the start up network MTV into his own personal playground with his music and dancing that people were energized by. Talk to me about Michael Jackson pre 1989 and this is my opinion. Now to Miss Fawcett thru this same time period. She was simply every young mans dream. I don't think I know any teen boy who did not have that poster. Not only that she was THE angel on Charlies Angels. Those things don't even touch the main impact she had witch was............come on girls you know the answer..........that's right feathered bangs. Every teen age girl was wearing her version of Farrahs hair from coast to coast. Huge impact. Now we will discuss post 1989. People always busted Farrahs chops but it didn't deter her. She took a role in the movie the Burning Bed. Now this was a touchy subject about spousal abuse. A husband terrorizing his wife. Something everyone knows goes on but didn't want to say anything about. Society's little secret. She absolutely hits the part out of the park. Bringing to light the desperate need to address this problem world wide. Because of that movie and her role a movement took hold. Now she hit her 40's. What does she do?? Poses naked for Playboy to show just how attractive and desirable older women can be. Bravo, Bravo. She did nothing but get better with age.. On to Mr Jackson post 1989. We all know the story here. Who knows how many surgeries, oxygen tents and various other weird things that he started up with. But I could get by all of that and wrote it off as goofy creativity. As a matter of fact it kept us interested even if it was a what is going to happen next kind of fascination. But here is when it ends for me. He hurt children. That over rules everything and anything he ever did. There is no excuse, absolutely nothing can justify taking a child's innocence. NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!! That erases any greatness he had achieved. So I will end this by saying to the one who only got better with age, rest in peace Farrah, thanks for everything. As always let me know what you think and hit a sponsor on the way out as a guys gotta eat.

News

I'm sure everybody saw the news reports on the pilot who died mid-flight last week. The thing that surprised me the most was all the stories about how it was kept a secret. REALLY?? It was kept a secret until the plane landed? The know everything media seemed to be in an uproar over this so I thought I should play devils advocate and make the media happy by presenting the side they apparently think would have been more appropriate..... Ladies and gentleman this is your co-pilot speaking. I would humbly request that you all please stand and salute the body on top of the drink carts being pushed by the stewardesses to the back of the plane, as he was your pilot. He had well over 20 years with our airline and deserves your respect as he has probably carried you safely many times in the past. We can all be comforted in knowing he died doing something he loved. Please be sure and show your respect before we strap him into the cargo bay. As for who is flying the plane that would be me the co-pilot. Although I do not have half the experience the pilot did please rest assured as I have a lot of time in the simulator. As a matter of fact I am 6 out of 10 in landing safely. Although all of my simulator time was in a different aircraft I am thinking 60% is pretty damn good. On the plus side as soon as we can get the pilots cold stiff body off the drink carts all alcoholic beverages will be half price!!! Oh and finally you may want to pull your seat belts extra tight and say any prayers you may have because 60% really kinda sucks....... I think I would prefer the secret. As always let me know what you think and hit a sponsor on the way out as I guys gotta eat. Be back on Thursday!!!!!! P.S. Video # 4 in the video bar is a must see!!

Been Away

Sorry to leave the old blog blank the last few days. I have been working on my novel. Will be rolling again on Thursday. Be sure to tune in as I have alot of stuff stored up!!

Andy

Work Ethic

Yesterday my 15 year old daughter started her summer job. This is something she did all by herself. She bugged her mother to drive her around one day by our house looking for help wanted signs in storefront windows. In this Internet world I was skeptical that people actually still put signs in there windows but low and behold they still do. There is something comforting in that. To know that just as in our youth she can get on her bike and head off to work at the neighborhood store( dry cleaner in her case). Seeing your children take it upon themselves to go earn a buck or two is very rewarding. With this one it doesn't surprise me as she is a very take charge kinda girl. She is smart and I knew she listened to her mother and me about gaining a work ethic. Now her older brother that was a different story. I was sure he hadn't paid attention to anything I said about money. Imagine my surprise when I helped him with his taxes and saw what he made last year and also saw what he had saved. The kid is doing great. At 20 he has turned into a great young man. Way ahead of everyone of his friends. As parents you get a sense of accomplishment like no other when you see your children take head of some of your lessons and apply them to their lives. To watch them turn into adults that other people respect is all we can hope for. I see the respect my son receives from people close to him and I can look at his mother and we both smile and nod thinking we did all right. Now my 15 year old is well on her way on a good path as well. 2 down 2 to go.As always let me know what you think and hit a sponsor on the way out as a guys gotta eat.