3-Function Remote Control

Tired, so tired.

Finally, we are moved out of our compartment and into the nice townhome. We went shopping today for shower heads, door locks, and remotes for our garage door opener...stuff we had no reason to buy before.

Fun!

Sleepyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Nora's dad

My baby girl turned 3 yesterday. I feel bad that we weren't there to see her; she's staying with grampsa Mark, who is keeping her while we are here trying to pack up for the move.

I would have figured that by now, I'd be a better father than I am...at least more knowledgeable. But by the time I have one thing figured out with her, she's onto something else...always a step ahead...just enough to keep me uncomfortable, and trying to learn different ways to relate, guide, love, and discipline her.

I think she's turned out all right so far. A little more daredevil in her than I am comfortable with, though. She listens most of the time, and is very sweet and sympathetic. She's not very cuddly...5 seconds on my lap is too much, but if I see her first in the morning, then she is. She's thrilled when I come home from work, but only for a few seconds :)

I might not see her today, either, because we have a lot of moving to do. We're closing on the house this morning, and then the race is on to get everything out, and the place cleaned up by 10:30 tomorrow...or else! Or else, what???

Oh well.

Wish us luck! So little to do and so much time!

Wait a minute, strike that, reverse it.

Thinking about forever

Hey everyone. Here's my latest entry. It's nice to know I have at least 2 readers :)
Thanks Becci and Heather!

I had a cool experience the other night that I wanted to share.

As some of you may know, I'm down to one last living grandparent, and she's not doing particularly well as of late. Ramona and I stopped by the other night on our way to Hudson, and spent about 15 minutes there. Nora was having fun running around and giving lots of hugs to her great-grandma. We had to leave, and I looked at Nora in the car, and I was just thinking about how she never got to know two of my grandparents, and may not remember my grandpa Petersen, who died last Christmas. I was thinking that I hoped she's old enough to remember my grandma. I was just pondering that for a while, and then a song came up on my iPod..."Thinking about Forever" by P.O.D.

The lyrics go as follows:
"Time goes by and God knows I try to carry on with life
Decide not to hide feelings inside, even though they hurt
Sometimes, I forget to remember you
It's easy to lock away the pains, don't want to relive it through
But I stay strong, you taught me how to move on in this world
I married my sweetheart, even got a little baby girl
I wish you could see her, I swear she looks just like you
If you can hear me, show me a sign, please send a butterfly or two."

At that EXACT moment, a butterfly flew right in front of our windshield and kind of hovered there for a couple seconds...it kind of seemed like it was all in slow motion...and it wasn't like we were in some woodsy area, it was 694 in Oakdale, and as anyone who's been there knows, it's pretty open without very many trees around.

Needless to say, I noticed the perfect timing of the situation...enough to know that it could not possibly be a coincidence (I don't believe in those, anyway), for me to be thinking exactly those thoughts, for the song to appear on the shuffle on my iPod of 4000 songs, and for the butterfly to appear at exactly the right moment, not 30 seconds earlier or later...RIGHT ON CUE. I was a teary eyed for a few minutes after that, and then I said to Ramona, "I guess this means Heaven is real!"

I've always wondered if people in Heaven can see what's going on down here. My grandpa Skramstad always said that he believed that they see only the good things that happen to us. I have to believe it now, in my mind, there's no way I can believe otherwise.

Another incident that was very meaningful to me was when Nora was about a year old, just able to start talking and had a vocabulary of about a dozen words or so. I was watching a home video of my grandpa, who passed away in 1998, and Nora just sat up, pointed at the TV and said "Grandpa!". I was stunned, because I don't think she had ever seen a picture or video of him before, and she never said that to perfect strangers. She said it in a way that seemed to say, "Hey, I know YOU!!". I asked her "Do you know grandpa??" She wouldn't answer me, but she said it with such intent and such conviction, I honestly believe that she knew what she was talking about. I choose to believe this was real as well. I like to think that she played with my grandparents in Heaven before she was born.

For me, however, it's not the same...not the same as if they were here, playing with her, and me being able to see them playing together. The fact that we can't do that, makes me angry occasionally, but I'll now hold on to these two specific incidents as proof that they are watching her, and that has to be good enough for me...I'll have to wait until we get to Heaven to experience the real thing.

Maybe I've been hanging around too many weddings for the past 10 years, but I'd like to raise a glass in a toast...please join me. "To someday being able to experience the real thing in Heaven for all eternity!"

**CLINK**

Moving on up

The family and I are moving on up! JUST LIKE THE JEFFERSONS! Except we're moving to Blaine, and it's not a DEE-LUX apartment in the sky, and there won't be a maid. But we're moving on up! Hopefully this house thing will work out and we will be able to get outta Scotland Green and into the house in a reasonable manner.

I love my new digital camera. I did sell the old A700 which 95% of my pictures looked like crap, and my new Canon S2IS is wonderful, and 95% of the pictures I take are awesome!

I'm now the second one in our family to get a decent motorcycle burn. It's great, because at the end of the day, it's painful and I can't walk! Plus I'll probably get a scar. On the bright side, it kind of looks like a smiley face! Cheaper than a tattoo (and you don't have to try to figure out the accent ((sorry, just a Herve Villachaise joke there!))). Sue me if I spelled that wrong, but I challenge anyone to get that right without looking it up. Right now, it kinda looks like a marshmallow from Frankenberry cereal. Technically, in the cereal business, they're called Marbits. Thank you General Mills corporate shoots!