Fur-licious

We've been thoroughly enjoying our furlough here in the Jones casa. Yep, me and Adro have both been on a temporary layoff the last four days. Tomorrow is a paid holiday. We return to work on Monday.

But we've been enjoying the heck out of the time off.

Happy New Year to everyone. Stay safe out there tonight. Me and Adro are going to stay in and quietly celebrate here in the new house while watching a few movies.

What do u call a pizza buffet that's not a buffet? Pizza hut's buffet on broadway in wichita. Waitress brings u 1 slice evey 10 min. What the hell is that?

Bella Boom's B-day

A couple photos from Bella Neuteboom's birthday party two weekends ago. Great party. After the cake and ice cream, Evey and Grey started following each other around this loop in the Averill's house. Then Rick started doing a Donald Duck impression every time the kids came by, which just slayed them both. They couldn't get enough of it. The middle two photos are them laughing at the Donald Duck voice. The other two photos are of Bella enjoying some cake and Bella feeding her Grandpa J.P. some of the cake.

It does occur to me that the end of the 00s is right around the corner. In honor of this event, I'll be listing a few top 10 lists. Top 10 albums, movies, TV shows, etc. If you have any suggestions, shoot me a comment.

Tomorrow is my last day at work for a while. We're off the 24th and 25th, then we're all furloughed again for the following week. I'll return to work Jan. 4th. Hopefully I'll get some stuff up here in the time off...

Four more shopping days...

I can't believe Christmas is already here.

I also can't believe the 00s are almost over.

Where does time go? How did I get here?

Evey as an elephant -- the video

Last week I posted some photos of Evey deomstrating her elephant call... here's the video!

Some original Evey Jones art

I haven't really challenged Evey at her art at all. I just hand her the crayons and let her scribble. She's 3, after all.

Maybe I should try to focus her more. Somewhere along the way, Evey learned how to draw a face. I didn't show her. Maybe she picked it up at daycare? Maybe you taught her?

Regardless, it's an early flash of brilliance. Notice how Evey avoids the common
"smiley face." Her face is more stoic, not quite sad, not quite happy. Introspective.

Looking for the perfect Michael Jackson Christmas gift?

Of course you are!

I still have a few copies of my first every full-size comic, "What Would Jacko Do?" I have approximately 10 copies left of the original 100-issue print run. Don't hesitate! Email now!

If you're one of the next ten people to buy "What Would Jacko Do?" I'll include an original sketch of Bubbles the Chimpanzee!

For just $4 you can own this piece of Michael Jackson non-HIStory! I'm standing by to take your email NOW!

(I also have ONE T-shirt left! It features the front cover on a white T-shirt. Size is large, $15 gets you the shirt and the comic.)

Makes for a great stocking stuffer!

Minutes away from taking Adro out on a date

Where are we going?

The basement.

And no, "The basement" isn't the name of some cool, hip, new underground club in Kansas City. It's really OUR BASEMENT.

Adro had a great idea today. Judy is babysitting for us. We get Evey in her pajamas, kiss her goodbye, open and close the garage door, and then... lock ourselves in the basement. MOVIE NIGHT!!! I'm excited. My boss, Ed, cracked me up when I told him my plan. "Wow, think of how far you've come... you now have a babysitter so you can... STAY IN!"

I think we'll watch Tropic Thunder, then maybe RocknRolla, if Adro is still awake.

I'm scanning some stuff right now for my "Seth's Got Tix!" blog. Check out my ticket to the Thom Yorke show! Man, that was an amazing show. I need to do a huge write-up on that show someday, so I can totally lose all my readers.

My Boulevard Wheat is dry. I've timed it, I can go downstairs, refill my beer, and be back upstairs in one minute...

Will's pics of Evey

Will was in town a few weeks ago and snapped some shots of Evey. Here are a couple.

Where the wild thing is

Here are some shots of Evey, uh, celebrating her elephant towel after a bath. Actually, the photos are from two different nights. When she's in this elephant towel, she just goes crazy. But, for some reason, Evey \believes that elephants make a sound that goes, "neigh! neigh! NEIGH!!!"

Don't worry, I've got it on video, too...

Ear update: Hearing is almost back to normal. Went to a specialist today, just to be sure. He said there's still fluid in the ear, but no permanent damage. He thinks it'll resolve itself. If not... he suggests maybe lancing my eardrum before my next flight...

Birthday song

Evey gets a birthday serenade at Casa Agave in Lawrence.

Birthday girl!

Today is Evey's 3rd birthday! (And it's my Grandpa Nick's 84th birthday!)

Happy birthday sweetie! You're growing so fast!

Pancake breakfast, thoughts on biscuits and gravy

Took Evey out for a pancake at Hy-Vee this morning. This is the photo I snapped of her with my camera-phone as we waited for the food to arrive.

Qualities that I think makes a good biscuits and gravy:

• First and foremost, the gravy has to be HOT! So hot it can warm my soul.
• The gravy should not look like paste. Smooth gravy is not necessarily best. I want to see some texture that shows me this stuff was actually made by someone.
• Lots of sausage.
• It should have a little kick -- a little bit peppery.
• The biscuits need to be giant and fluffy.

The b&g at Hy-Vee was just "OK." The b&g at Anthony's in Eudora is pretty awesome.

She likes balloons!

I've told you this before, but... Evey really likes balloons.

She tells us that for her birthday, she wants "five balloons." That's all she wants. Balloons.

Evey's birthday is only days away. Now you know what she wants. Balloons. And any comics with Steve Ditko art.

I can't believe she'll be 3. It goes so fast. And she's literally growing before our eyes. She got in the tub the other day, and I was like, "what the heck? She got taller?" Something about seeing her with that static background, I realized how much she had grown in recent weeks. Uncanny.

Not much else to report. I haven't been blogging much lately. I think this is because 1) the office is easily bypassed on my way to bed each night (at the old house, I had to walk right past the computer to get to bed) and 2) the office is the one room in the house that isn't "finished" yet, and I think that if I'm in here, I should be working on the room, not typing on the computer.

More later. I have to work on this office...