The Ramblings Of Flanders

I am not a religious person. Or maybe I am. Maybe I am all religions. You get more holidays that way. More reason’s to celebrate, more parties, more fun. You learn new things. Find new meanings in old things. I will try anything.

So I was at work and nothing was going on and I was stuck in a room with nowhere to go. Talk about boring. All there was in this room was me; a guy not talking to me; a computer in which said guy was using; and a couple of Bibles.
So I flipped one open and read a story.

Here is the Reader’s Digest Version…

There is this guy named Job. He was quite the guy; wife, a mess of kids, big farm. Awesome. On top of that, he was a God’s man. He prayed he worshiped. He was all about his God.

So Satan comes along and say’s to God that Job only worships Him because he has all the good stuff. He suggested that if he didn’t have all that stuff, he would curse God. So God took away all his stuff. No more farm, no more kids…

And Job remained faithful.

Then Satan said if he didn’t also still have his health…

So there was poor Job covered in painful sores.

And he remained faithful.

His friends came and accused him of sinning. No way God would punish you this hard if you weren’t a sinner. His own wife, all he had left, said he might as well be dead.

And he was still faithful.

And he prayed for his friends. He prayed that they would be forgiven for accusing him. Prayed that his wife would see his worth.

And God proved to Satan that Job was faithful no matter what. And he rewarded Job for all his faith by returning his entire farm, his kids and healing him. Plus more.

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So the guy in the room with me tells me that it is one of his favorite stories and that he hopes that he would be so awesome that God would recognize him like he recognized Job.

That is all well and good…

But, what kind of sick twisted God does that to a person he supposedly likes? And isn’t it well understood that Christians should block Satan and not let him into their lives? And here we have their own God trying to prove himself to the one person who shouldn’t matter?

I do like that in the end Job was rewarded for his faithfulness. He knew in his heart that he had done nothing wrong. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. That doesn’t then make them bad people. You just need to look in your heart and know what kind of a person you are. If you believe in your heart that you are a good person and you try to live that way each and every day, no matter what happens to you, it will show to all those around you. And you will be rewarded in the end.

What happens to you doesn’t end you.

It is what you become despite it that defines you.

Friends Over

On Friday, my friend Kina came over. My mom was home and picked us up. Kina’s mom brought a huge piece of pizza and Kina split the pizza with me. The pizza was so good. It was a pepperoni pizza. Then we played Polly fashions for a long time. Finally, me and Kina went to church for Jesus’ birthday. All the 5th graders were there. The first thing we did was watched some guys bring in pizza and then we had pepperoni pizza. The pizza was so delicious. Then we all played games. The first game was to blow some bubble gum in a bubble and take the bubble out of your mouth and put the bubble on the tree. Our team didn’t win but that was fine. The second game was to throw a ball and one of the helpers at the church would catch it and the teams could also steal the balls from any other team. The third game was to throw the ball behind your back and make one of the helpers catch it. That game I got bored at because we had no more balls in our bag because we threw them all and another team kept stealing ours from our bag. Then the forth game was the Rudolph game. You had to balance a cup on your nose with a ball in it and go dump it in the bag and the cup had to stay your nose. Finally our team won. Then a guy talked about Jesus and he said how Christmas was about how to give and share. And he told us his life story about how he gave and shared to some other family that was poor. Then we played ping-pong. Then my mom came and picked us up.

When we got home, we watched Eight Crazy Nights and played Polly Fashions. Then we watched The Grinch when mom was going to bed. Then we fell asleep in the middle of that movie.

The next day, we played Polly Fashions until my mom let us outside. We found what channel Ren and Stimpy was on and Catherine watched it. Catherine chased us everywhere outside. Then we went back inside and played Polly Fashions. Then we started playing with my Cabbage Patch Kids. Our Cabbage Patch extravaganza was when the World War 2 was and we were running from bombs with our babies. Then we found a little club house that no one was using. It was like an attic. We played Cabbage Patch kids in the clubhouse and we were pretending like that the club house was a little shack for us to hide from the bombs and it was bomb proof. Then we came inside from playing Cabbage Patch kids for a long time, then we played more Polly Fashions. Kina had a new one that I got her for a Christmas present. So she was playing with that. It was a magnet Polly Pocket. Then we got ready for bed and we watched Josie and The Pussycats. David was making fun of it like a girl.


David making fun of Josie and the Pussycats and singing What's New Pussycat. 


I took a picture of Catherine sleeping peacfully. 

While we were watching Josie and the Pussycats we were having lots of fun.


Kina hiding from the camera 


Kina watching the movie 

After the movie, we went to sleep.

Today we played more Polly Fashions and watched TV. Around 11ish we went outside and played in our clubhouse. This time in our clubhouse we played Polly Fashions for a long time. Then we went inside because my mom had to take David to work. Then we stayed inside and watched TV. Then after my mom got home, we danced around like lunatics and spun around.

Dizzy kids

Then Kina went home. After that, I watched Medium and helped mom cook cookies. Then mom and I had swordfish for dinner and it was the best swordfish I ever had in my life. Actually, I never had swordfish before, but I like swordfish now.

Happy Holidays

It’s been exciting around here since last week. On Sunday, we went to Disneyland. The Christmas stuff was cool. The parade was cool. Carolynn wrote a little about it. Here are a few pictures.


Goofy wearing Catherine's Stitch glove.


Holiday Haunted Mansion


Catherine enjoying her hot chocolate


It's A Small World Holiday

We did a little Christmas shopping while we were there too.


Here are our stockings, before our adventure to Disneyland.


These are our stockings after our trip to Disneyland.

We got the house all decorated. Everyone is getting into the holiday spirit. At work, I have been designing a new catalog. I should be done soon. That will be cool. David has been working hard at the PetsMart. He got to be Santa one day and spent the day getting his picture taken with lots of pets. Even Kitty is getting ready for Christmas.


Kitty is getting in the Christmas spirit.

Catherine won a new bike in a raffle at school. Carolynn has her friend Kina spending the weekend. They went to a church party on Friday night. Look for Carolynn's report on her weekend. They start their Winter Break on Wednesday.

Wednesday Is Here

There is nothing too exciting to report. David has been working hard at his job at PetsMart. I hope that he can keep himself from bringing home all the kitties they have for adoption in there. We already have one crazy cat and we do not need more. The kids are fine. They are looking forward to Christmas. We are going to Disneyland on Sunday. We cannot wait to see the Christmas decorations.

So anyways, about the church. First, it is not like any regular church I have ever been to or heard of. They do not have that high pressure, “you believe what we say or else”, attitude that most churches have. They do not preach in a traditional sense. They give lessons. They do not guilt; they do not do any of that kind of stuff like most churches. We started going because I was looking for something the kids can get involved in that would be good for them. They could meet new people and do activities. Moreover, I was looking for something cheap. I didn’t think of church right away because I don’t think getting up early on a Sunday morning, getting all dressed up, and being called a sinner would be a fun way to spend a Sunday morning. However, my friend Dee Ann goes to this one and she recommended it. We go on Saturday night. I wear jeans and tennis shoes. The girls each go to their activities. I get a rock concert and a lesson. Then we go out for Slurpees. It is not horrible. The kids have made new friends. So that is it. No religious fanatics, nothing craziness. If you want to check it out for yourself, here is the website. North Coast Church.

Friday, I get the day off with pay. I have two float holidays because we are supposed to get New Year’s Eve and Christmas Eve as paid holidays and they fall on the weekend. Therefore, we get two other days off in December of our choice. I am taking the next two Fridays so I get four 3-day weekends in a row. How cool is that!?

Only 3 Weeks Until Christmas!

We have been putting up our Christmas decorations. David did the outside lights. The girls decorated the tree and I put some stuff around the house. It’s just not Christmas until there is a sexy leg lamp in the window.


Our Christmas tree


Another Christmas Story... look at that sexy leg! Woo Hoo!!


David hanging lights.

Tuesday, I did something I have never done before. I called in sick to work. I was feeling really sick. It felt weird being home from work when it was still open. It was nice knowing that though I was sick, I would not lose a days pay.

Speaking of work, guess who got a job???? Oh yes, it is David. He is now an employee of PetsMart. He started yesterday.

Yesterday, while David was enjoying his first day on his new job, the girls and I did a lot of running around. First, we dropped off David at the PetsMart. Then we went over to the Kohl’s and got some new clothes for the girls. Check out this video of Catherine in her new snowman sweats. (This video is a new technology for us and this video is just a trial thing I made, so please excuse the horribleness of it.)

Check out Catherine's new snowman sweats.

After the Kohl’s, we ate breakfast at Denny’s. Then we went to the Target to get some Christmas shopping done. After that we got gas and toy cars at the Chevron and groceries at the Albertson’s. Then we came home. We did some cleaning, put the groceries away and listened to some Christmas music. Then we went to the PetsMart to do some shopping and pick up David. On our way, we stopped at Wal-Mart to buy a jar for our Christmas candy. The girls picked out some toys there to give to the Marines collecting Toys For Tots out front. Then we shopped PetsMart. We got a box of presents for our dog, Elvis, and for his brothers and Hercules too. (His brothers and Hercules are my mom’s dogs and our dog Elvis lives with them.) We got some stuff for Kitty too. Then we got some dinner at the Mc Donald’s, or as Catherine says, “Mick-A-Dees”. Then we went to church. After that, when it was late, back to the Wal-Mart I went, without the kids, and did a little Christmas shopping of my own. I like that the Wal-Mart is open 24 hours now. That is the only way to beat the crowds there.

Today we have been cleaning and baking cookies. We have made gingersnaps, chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cookies so far. We have plans to make snickerdoodles and sugar cookies too. Maybe we will make those next weekend. I have great cookie cutters. They belong to my grandma and my dad used to cut cookies with them when he was a little boy. Now my kids can cut cookies with them.

Finally, someone, I won’t name any names or point any fingers, but someone has mentioned that they thought I might have turned into a religious fanatic or something because we started going to church. That is not true. I am just as religious now as I ever was and I still pretty much feel the same about most organized churches. However, later this week I will explain about the one we have been going to and the reason behind it. I will not do it today though. This is long enough already.

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The Blair Witch Kitty Project

I found this video in my camera. I do not know where it came from. It's a mystery.

Sunday Bloody Sunday….. Is the name of a U2 song.

Not much going on this week. We finally got all the boxes unpacked and most of the stuff put away.

Did you see the video I posted yesterday? Those were a bunch of morons! First, the guy who did the video is a moron for wasting the money on that and second the people waiting in line all night to spend $500 to $600 on a video game system were a bunch of morons. Did you hear people were shot over these things out side of a Wal-Mart? Check out my friend Trisha’s page and the post titled “Oh. My. God.” for a news story about it. These people are nuts. We have a PS2, which I bought recently for $99. Mostly the girls use it to watch movies in their room. We have a Game Cube. We all have our Nintendo DS’s so we can play Animal Crossing. I have a laptop and David has his computer. I do not even know what I would need a PS3 for.

Yesterday David and Catherine went and got haircuts. Here are some pictures.







Carolynn has had her friend Kina staying over for the weekend. Here is a picture. For more pictures see the Ocean View.



Last night we went to church. We had not been since the first time because we were moving. It was Catherine’s first time. She said it was cool because she got to sing songs and color. Carolynn and Kina had fun too. Kina and her family go to the same church.

I changed the videos in the sidebar for this week. Last week we had 80’s videos and in our trivia, we had 80’s Trivia. This week we have David’s Scariest Videos and in our trivia, we have Music Trivia. Click on the play button on the video player to view the videos. Last week I had them set to automatically play, but this week I didn’t want to scare people. Also, I noticed that our website works best if you view it using Internet Explorer.

Today we went to the WIld Animal Park. It was nice to get outside and get some exercise. Here are a couple of pictures.


David and Catherine feeding the ducks.


Carolynn and Kina in a huge bird nest


Playing on the playground

Weekend Fun

This was the best weekend ever because my friend Kina came over on Friday. When we got home, we played outside. Then I saw Kina do gymnastics since she had class. We had Pat and Oscar’s for dinner. We watched The Sixth Sense and put face cream stuff on. We stayed up all night.

Cathreine had to sleep on the couch because we were waching The Sixth Sense. I don’t think she had enough pillows. But she slept well.



On Saturday, we played hide and seek most of the day .Then me and Kina went to 5th grade church. Then we got Slurpee’s and we went to bed early.

Sunday, we all went to the Wild Animal Park. We played at the little park for a while. We drove little boats. It was lots of fun. Then I got a yo-yo. Then when we got home, we took Kina home.

Yummy Candy

Last week or the week before, I went to church. I didn’t go to church this week or last week because we were moving in. But church is lots of fun. I sang and I did little games.

Also I’m selling candy and smencils to raise money for camp. In the candy box there is CRUNCH, BUTTERFINGER, 100 GRAND, and BABY RUTH. Smencils are good smelling pencils. The smencils smell really good plus they sell faster then the candy. I wonder why they sell faster? My favorite candy is Butterfinger, Nestle Crunch and 3 Musketeers. My favorite smencil is watermelon smell.

Jack-O-Lantern Attack

Today we carved our pumpkins.


This is Carolynn scooping out the guts.


Here is David cutting the top off one of our pumpkins.


David carving the first pumpkin.


Our first pumpkin. It features Carolynn's ghost design.


David drawing the design on our second pumpkin.


Our next pumpkin features a Mickey Mouse design.

I will try and get some better pictures later when it gets dark.

It has been pretty dark and smokey around here lately. There have been a lot of fires around here. The other day, Wednesday or Thursday I think, it was the worst. There is still a slight smoke smell in the air, but the sky seems to be clear. Luckily, none of the fires came close to us.

Also, we went to the church last night like I said. It was more like a rock concert about Jesus. Carolynn liked it. We might go again next week.

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Happy Halloween!

1. French- Halloween Heureux

2. Italian- Halloween Felice

3. Spanish- Halloween Feliz

4. Greek- Ευτυχείς αποκριές

5. Japanese- 幸せなHalloween

6. German- Glückliches Halloween

7. Russian- Счастливое Halloween

8. Dutch-Gelukkig Halloween

9. Chinese- 愉快的Halloween

10. Korean- 행복한Halloween