Good Morning and hopefully you got a good night's rest!

By about 8 most nights, I'm pretty much out of it. That's what happens when your alarm goes off every morning at 3 a.m.
So, about 7:30 p.m., it's time to get the troops ready for the bedtime ritual, which usually involves a lot of arguing and, sometimes, yelling.
Coming off the summer bedtime of about 9 p.m., the school-time sleep schedule appears to start too early for these three children.
Here's how it goes:
7:30 p.m.: "OK, guys, time to get ready for bed. Let's get a quick bath and put on the pajamas."
Five seconds later (spoken in unison): "WHY? WHY?"
7:40 p.m.: "OK, it's time to get ready for bed. Everybody upstairs."
Five seconds later: "It's TOO EARLY!"
7:50 p.m.: "Really, guys, lets get moving upstairs."
Five seconds later: "Your not going to bed why should we."
8 p.m.: "All right, enough fooling, up."
Five seconds later: "WHY? WHY? WHY?"
Five seconds later: "Move it."
So, after getting everybody bathed and dressed, the dance continues.
"OK, everybody's teeth brushed?"
"NO. No. No."
"All right, brush teeth."
A little while later, everybody's in bed. It's time for the 'Good Night's'
"Wait, I didn't brush my teeth."
"ARGHHHH!"
It would be kind of funny if it didn't happen EVERY NIGHT. Then again, it wouldn't be so, I don't know, interesting?
Eventually, everybody gets to sleep. Eventually.
Soon, it will be time to start it all over again. Maybe, I'll try some soft music tonight (although I don't know if this one would work for me).

Good Morning and welcome to what's supposed to be a pretty good weekend!

Well, we can only hope. This morning was pushing 30 degrees and there was some frost on the windows. Hey, maybe that will be the end of the cold at least until October.
By the way, as the days turn warmer and the sun shines brighter, how do you convince children it really is time for bed.
When the winter months are in full swing (or full dreariness), it's easy to get them to go up by 7:30 p.m. Hey, it's dark out. It's time for bed. Brush the teeth and get under the covers.
Now, though, the clock doesn't matter. It might hit that 7:30 mark, but it looks like noon. The arguments can be brutal. All you're trying to do is create a morning that can go a little smoother. Instead, you have a fight at night then a fight in the morning.
Any logical person would see if you have to get up early and put in a full day of school, it's probably better to go to bed a little earlier. Instead, children have no logic. They live by the moment. They don't care about tomorrow, because today is still alive.
Hey, maybe those brains have it right?


By the way: Il sole, la luna, i fiori non ha bellezza confrontata a voi.
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Good Morning and welcome to the bleary eyed!

A long weekend was tipped off by a long night of the Oscars. The question here is how to do you explain all these things. Things that don't seem to make much sense.
First, you have to look at the sun, the clouds and the stars. See them shine and know there is more out there than just a blade of grass.
Then, make the best of any situation you can. Go to work. Pay the bills. Play with the children. Eat good meals. Read books. See movies. Watch television.
That is, unless the television is tuned to the Oscars. Sure, there are some good speeches and some interesting fashions, but, for the most part, the Oscars are boring TV.
In a world where GM is laying off 47,000 after getting an influx of government money, I want to see song and dance, not a costume designer rattling off a list of names.
In a world where we are stuck with an unending war (and unending wars all over the globe), we need escapism. This year's Oscar show gave us some, but was still bogged down in slower than slow moments.
Also, somebody please tell me why the show needs to stretch on longer than three hours.


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Good Morning every people!

So, does that cold air that was blowing through the windows last night mean it's time to pull out the air conditioners for another year. It's always a balance at this time of year. Sure, it's been cool at night, but that humidity that blanketed the area during the afternoon yesterday may have meant another blast of air conditioning.
That's really the last piece of summer that goes away. You can hold on to the dream of lazy afternoons in the sun all the way until the air conditioners come out of the windows. Then, it's only a short road until the heat starts to come on and we get the cold, grey doldrums of winter.
Of course, I have to remember what somebody much smarter than me once said: "What do you expect the weather to be like? You live in Pennsylvania."
Hey, at least our baseball team is still playing, so, it's still summer. Right? Right?
Well, I guess not.
So, instead, let's get a couple dozen pumpkins and carve them out. It's really the best way to celebrate October.
Or, maybe you could have the best of both worlds:


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Good Morning red-eyed Phillies fans and those of us who gave up in the seventh inning!

So, after watching the Phillies for all these years, you can get a feeling about a game. Sure, the players change and all, but the uniform stays the same.
There are games where things just keep going wrong. The Phillies don't get a key hit, they make a boneheaded play in the field, they bring in Chad Durbin.
So, when the Dodgers took a 5-3 lead in the sixth inning of Game 4 of the NLCS Monday night, it was time for bed.
Hey, I was dozing off anyway, so, like somebody smarter than me said Monday morning: "Tonight's game doesn't really mean anything. Why don't you go to bed early and get some rest?"
Sure, sounds like a plan.
So, even though I was going to ignore the sound advice, it was in the back of my mind when Jimmy Rollins, Jayson Werth and Chase Utley went down without a fight in the seventh inning.
OK, if the Phillies big guys can't get it done, it's going to be a loss and a tied series.
By the time Shane Victorino and Matt Stairs (MATT 'freakin' STAIRS!) sent the ball into the California night, a soft pillow had me snoring. (Well, I don't snore but that's an argument for another day).
Well, I guess it's better I didn't stay up or, faithful readers, this would be about oranges or pears or something.
Expect that Thursday.
So, since it looks like the Phillies may be actually headed to the World Series, here's a blast from the past:


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Good Morning everybody who stayed up to watch the Eagles-Cowboys game and everybody else who's a bit smarter!

Yes, the Eagles lost to the Cowboys on Monday Night Football last night. Yes, it was an exciting game that ended with a frustrating play. Yes, it was on way too late, though not as late as it used to be. Yes, times have changed.
I remember staying up way too late to watch Monday Night Football with a bunch of people a case of beer and a couple of pizzas. The games, back in the old days, wouldn't start until 9 p.m. and they would stretch until 1 a.m.
For the most part, the games would be boring, but it was more about getting together and having a little fun. Every once in a while, something exciting would happen on the television screen.
The turnaround didn't seem too bad back then. Of course, time changes all that.
I learned to hate Monday Night Football (and, by association, Hank Williams Jr.) when I started working in newspapers. Now, Monday Night Football wasn't about pizza, beer and people, it was about waiting forever until the game ended. Then waiting again for a quick story, then waiting again until a longer story came through.
It was bad enough during a 'normal' week. When the Eagles were playing, though, it was pure hell.
An Eagles Monday Night Football game meant being in the office sometimes until after 2:30 a.m., most of the time spent waiting and waiting and waiting.
Now, the games are over at a relative decent time of midnight and I don't have to wait for the story.
Still, when the alarm goes off at 4 a.m., midnight isn't such a good idea.
Hey, at least there was a reason to laugh last night:

10 Iggles Not Smart @ Yahoo! Video

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GOOD MORNING, DELAWARE COUNTY!

Why is it the one thing you can never put in reserve is sleep?
You can make enough food to carry through a week. Put some in the freezer and it can last much longer.
You can get extra work done one day and take it a little easier the next (although for some, you can do no work today, no work tomorrow, no work the next day, then complain you're much too busy).
The chance for sleep, though, is here and gone.
If you for some reason have a restless night (be it nightmares of a George Bush presidency or whatever), the chance to 'catch up' is gone.
It's not like you can sleep later on say a Sunday, then stay up late Tuesday and be fine.
No, you might feel refreshed Sunday, but by Monday that's all gone.
A late night Tuesday then ruins the rest of the week.
Those zombies in every horror movie now aren't really the undead, they are just sleep-deprived people wandering the streets looking for a pillow.


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