Category Archives: Families

Breakfast is Important

Posted on by Unsigned Podcast

Do you eat breakfast? Or do you start your day with a cup of coffee as you make a mad dash for work?

My mother was a huge fan of breakfast. She insisted that everyone in the family sit down in the kitchen every morning and eat a proper breakfast. In fact, she believed that sending us all off with a good breakfast was one of her most important duties as a mother. She always got up early and cooked a full breakfast for the family, even when she was sick or exhausted from whatever other events were happening in our busy lives.

I also believe that breakfast is important, but I have to admit that I do not cook a full breakfast most mornings. I MUST have my cup of coffee, but I usually also eat something like an English muffin with marmalade or a couple slices of raisin bread. Some mornings I will eat a bowl of cold cereal with fruit on top. And, in the winter, a cup of hot oatmeal is really nice.

On the weekend I am most likely to actually cook a full breakfast. My go-to weekend breakfast is a couple slices of bacon – REAL bacon, not that turkey bacon stuff – and two eggs, usually scrambled but friend is OK once in a while. I like some kind of side like potato cakes, hash browns or maybe hominy. And just about any kind of bread toasted goes great with my meal. I am allergic to orange juice, so if I drink any juice it is usually grapefruit juice or tomato juice.

What is your typical breakfast?

Telescopes and Learning About the Night Sky

Posted on by Unsigned Podcast

This month and the rest of this year I will be using a telescope and learning about the night sky with my sister’s son. She found a used telescope for sale at one of those thrift stores that she like to haunt and bought if for the kid. Of course, neither she nor my nephew know anything at all about telescopes or astronomy. So she calls me up and asks me to come over a couple of times and show them how to use the telescope.

Now, I had a telescope as a kid and kept it on the balcony outside of my bedroom. I had a great view of the Potomac River from my bedroom and only one tree in the backyard that could block my view. I got my telescope for Christmas from my dad, after we both did a lot of research into the different types of telescopes and shopping hard for the best price. Of course, I knew in advance what the Christmas gift was going to be, but the cool thing is that it was EXACTLY what I wanted!

So, tomorrow night I’m heading over to her house. The least she can do is fix me a free dinner for spending a couple of hours over there. Although she is not a good cook. I don’t think she knows how to do anything but open a can of Chef Boyardi and plop it in a bowl so she can microwave it for 60 seconds. So, on second thought, I’ll order a pizza for delivery to her house and at least I know I’ll be fed while I do my uncle duties with the telescope.

Thats Amore

Posted on by Unsigned Podcast

Anybody remember that old Dean Martin song, “That’s Amore?” I don’t know if it was from a movie soundtrack, of from one of his stage shows – or maybe his TV show that he had for a year or two back in the 1960’s.

I know my mom was crazy in love with Dean Martin – she thought he was the sexiest man in the world. It pissed off my dad sometimes to her her swoon about Dean Martin, but its not like Dean was going to come here and snatch up my mom and run off with her. I think it’s kind of stupid to be jealous of a movie star or famous singer. People need to have pretty people in their lives. It is good to have a good looking person be in your fantasies. That’s what keeps a spring in your step and a spark in your eyes. It’s not like we really want to run off with those people – it’s more about re-affirming the goodness in our lives and nothing to be jealous about.

Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra will always be cultural icons. I just hope that kids in the next generation will see see the movies and TV documentaries about the Brat Pack and hear the songs they sang so they appreciate what it was like to have the crooners and vocalists of the days gone by.

Marble Cakes are so Pretty

Posted on by Unsigned Podcast

So my little sister Felicia got a domestic bug and went nuts in the kitchen last night. She was baking cakes and making tea and frying up fish and all kinds of things like homemade french fries. I tell you, she can cook when she gets motivated. We just haven’t figured out exactly what it is that motivates her. My mom usually has to do all the cooking in that house and Felicia just flies around doing her own thing.

She made a marble cake and brought it over to my house this afternoon. When I got home there was a cake with chocolate icing on the kitchen table and no note. I was a little freaked out about who would have baked a cake and brought it over to my house and just left it there. Hell, if it was my ex she might have put rat poison in it. I was afraid to eat it!

But then Felicia called and told me that she made it for me. I cut into it and poured a tall glass of cold milk and it was really nice. Pretty, too.

Raising Teenagers is Tough

Posted on by Unsigned Podcast

Have you ever noticed that there are very few advice and self help books on the subject of raising teenagers? I always say that the reason is that there are no experts on dealing with teenagers. No one has the magic answer to getting through the teenage years successfully.

It is really hard to deal with kids who are growing quickly, trying to deal with school and their peers, popular culture and testing boundaries. Anyone who can produce a kid that doesn’t end up in jail or pregnant before turning 18 is doing a good job. I know that is a low threshold, but it seems like the majority of kids cannot even measure up to that.