Author: Family Friendly Daddy Blog

1 Comment Posted on December 22, 2014 infographic, Nostalgia, parenting, Uncategorized

The Ninja Turtle Pinball Machine: Impulse Buying Infographic

Even though Christmas shopping for my son was pretty much complete a couple of months ago, he recently became fascinated by the concept of owning a pinball machine.

In fact, it was the only thing he asked Santa for at Bass Pro Shop.

So in an order to help Santa out, I checked out Target. I’d already found a cheap, tiny made-in-China type of thing at a party store earlier that day; the kind you’d find in the bottom of a box of Rice Krispies.

But it was at Target that I found the perfect pinball machine for him:

A Ninja Turtles pinball machine, on sale for about $22 (from $25); which is more money than my wife and I agreed to spend to help Santa out on this.

My wife and I are strict Dave Ramsey followers. Therefore, every dollar is specifically accounted for. But in addition to our shared income budget, she and I also each have an annual stipend consisting of birthday and Christmas money from family to last us all year.

I texted my wife: “I am tempted just to spend my own money to buy this for him!”

It was the perfect opportunity for an impulse buy. He would be so happy and so surprised on Christmas morning to unwrap that!

But I thought about the gifts we had already bought him, and considered the other mysterious gifts he’ll get from others, and decided against buying the pinball machine.

If he really is disappointed with the “cereal prize pinball machine” he’s getting, he can spend his own money on the Ninja Turtle one at Target; though he probably won’t. He’ll probably spend it on Legos instead.

So I did it: I resisted the urge to make an impulse purchase. I’m almost surprised at myself.

I will close with an infographic that explains the psychology behind an impulse buy:

Brought to you by Marketing Automation Software by Marketo

Leave a comment Posted on December 22, 2014 Health, parenting, Uncategorized

As For Me And My House, We Will Refuse Flu Shots

I’m bored by the conversations about whether it’s a good or bad thing to get vaccinations. I flat out don’t care what other people choose for themselves. Let them argue online about that without me.

But what I am passionate about instead is standing my grounds on my right to refuse a flu shot. I have my reasons for having refused flu shots my entire life, and I’m sure they’re nothing new or interesting to anyone reading this.

Ultimately, I just don’t appreciate the fact that there is pressure from society, businesses, the medical field, and the government to tell me I need a flu shot. I’m too clever of a guy not to question that.

Maybe I’m indeed a conspiracy theorist who believes that the real reason the media bombarded us with the Ebola scare might have been that the government wanted us all to be vaccinated for their own agenda.

(I also question the fact we were never shown footage of an actual plan crashing into the Pentagon on September 11^th, 2001. Most people I know are okay with that… I’m not. And that makes me the crazy one, labeled as the wacky conspiracy theorist.)

“No thanks to vaccinations” is what I have to say.

I also made sure that at my son’s recent check-up, that he did not get a flu shot. My son was pretty happy that his Daddy got him out of that!

By the way, I’m 33 years old and I’ve never had the flu… nor have I had a flu shot. And that information is validated from my mom. She would know.

I find it pretty interesting that walk-in clinics these days are all spending plenty of advertising dollars on “selling flu shots.” I guess there must be a lot of profit to be made off of selling vaccinations that may or may not even work…

What really got me riled up about this recently is when a close family member (who will remain nameless for my fear of outing them with their employer) was heavily (!) pressured by their employer to get a flu shot.

This family member had to put in writing exactly why they were refusing the flu shot; they were told by the deciding committee that the only acceptable exceptions had to be either for personal or religious reasons.

The first two times, this person was denied the right to refuse the flu shot, after having given personal reasons; like explaining to the employer that a flu shot is an unnatural, invasive procedure.

This family member was, in essense, told that their personal reasons were not legitimate enough to merit a flu shot refusal.

It took the 3^rd time before this family member’s reason for refusal was accepted; after saying their body is a temple of God.

For whatever reason, the employer accepted that answer.

This article was also helpful:

Mandatory Vaccines for Healthcare Workers: How to Refuse Mandatory Vaccines and Not Get Fired

I’m not telling anyone whether or not they should or should not get a vaccination, because again, that’s a personal decision and I should have no say when it comes to other people.

Flu shots are right for a lot of people. I’m just not one of them.

1 Comment Posted on December 21, 2014December 21, 2014 Uncategorized

Dear Jack: Our New House Now Has Electricity & Tile (2015 Hyundai Sonata Weekend)

4 years, 1 month.

Dear Jack,

With our firm closing date on January 29th, we are just about 6 weeks away from moving in to our much anticipated new home.

I would have to imagine that each remaining week leading up to our closing date is going to bring substantial new revelations; like this week, for example…

Our new house now has electricity! It’s alive!

So that means we now have a working thermostat on both the main floor and the upstairs. Plus, we have working light fixtures and ceiling fans.

Our front door is now installed as well; with a working doorbell.

Oh yeah, and the tile is in! It hasn’t been grouted yet, but it’s now laid down. Somehow I either forgot or just never realized that we have tile in both full bathrooms, as well as our laundry room. (I thought it was just one room.)

We attempted to take a few legitimate family pictures in our house, but there just must be something about a Ninja Turtle lovin’ 4 year-old boy that keeps him from making normal pictures.

Therefore, the whole family ends up taking a lot of silly pictures instead. We’ll take what we can get, I guess. It’s real life for us, so I’m not going to deny it!

As is our tradition, we of course drove over to the model house and visited the in-house agent. If for no other reason than checking in with her, to let you play with the snowman (your “baby”) and to check in on your “pizza parlor” (a piece of orange foam) underneath the Christmas tree.

As I mentioned in my previous letter, we visited the main 2 preschools we are considering enrolling you in once we move.

We also took another look at the swimming pool of the brand-new rec center, right around the corner from our new home.

Of course, we had the luxury of driving the sporty new 2015 Hyundai Sonata, equipped with Mommy’s favorite: seat warmers. It also came with a panaramic sunroof. We even got to see a rare migration of birds overhead that was so real it looked fake, like CGI or something!

You enjoyed singing your renditions of some holiday classics in the back seat…

We finished off the weekend with a trip to Big Lots to check out some furniture. After all, we’ll slowly be furnishing our new home as we go.

With us spending Christmas week with Nonna and Papa in Alabama, it will be 2 weeks before we see our house again.

I wonder what will be update on it by then… maybe the hardwood floors?

Love,

Daddy

Catch up on the entire series of the 2015 Hyundai Sonata Weekend. A lot of exiciting things happened!

2015 Hyundai Sonata Sport 2.0T: Family Friendly Review

Dear Jack: Our New House Now Has Electricity & Tile (2015 Hyundai Sonata Weekend)

Dear Jack: Primrose Vs. Rainbow- Finding A Preschool Near Our New House

Dear Jack: Listening to Radio Hanukkah (SiriusXM Channel 68)

3 Comments Posted on December 21, 2014December 21, 2014 parenting, Storytelling, Uncategorized

Dear Jack: Primrose Vs. Rainbow- Finding A Preschool Near Our New House

4 years, 1 month.

Dear Jack,

There are certain assumptions that might arise, with our upcoming move into our new house on January 29th. (That’s the official close date, still Lord willin’.)

One common assumption that people have been asking me is if there will finally be a possibilty of open-mindedness on your parents’ part for our family expanding. To be clear, I’m not hinting any sort of announcement; I am simply saying it wasn’t an option before now.

Who knows? Maybe with a new house in a new city with a new lifestyle for our family, there may be room for… that possibility.

Or maybe I’ll never mention it again.

Another assumption is that we’ll be sending you to a new school, just around the corner from our new house. That would save you from having to be in the car with me a total of 2 hours every day.

Instead, it would be more like 2 minutes.

Not only is that better for your safety, but it’s better for quality time with Mommy.

Here’s why: Where you go to school right now is right next to where I work. But with us moving at least 15 miles south of where I work now (and about 35 miles south of where Mommy works) it’s not really a benefit anymore that your current school is near where I work.

Not to mention, with the move, Mommy’s schedule will be altered to where she can go in to work early and leave work early, meaning that you and Mommy will be able to spend a decent amount of extra quality time together soon, on a regulary basis.

And that’s so important! For that reason alone, it’s worth it to find you a new preschool. Again, there’s nothing at all wrong with your current school, but moving you to one closer to our new home so you can be in the car less and with Mommy more…. those aspects are more important to our family.

There are 3 really nice schools near our new home. We liked Spring Hill Academy, a Christian place, but they don’t have any openings for you right now.

So now with that one easily eliminated, that leaves us with two main contenders: Primrose Schools and Rainbow Child Care Center.

We drove up to the parking lots of both of them this weekend while reviewing the 2015 Hyundai Sonata; just to get an idea of the drive time from our new home.

Mommy is taking you to visit them both this week, during open business hours. I wonder where you’ll end up. They’re both wonderful schools, from everything Mommy and I have researched.

Of course, whichever school wins your tuition also wins reoccuring free publicity here on Family Friendly Daddy Blog, as the new school will serve as part of the setting for our family’s narrative.

Just this week, I wrote both Dear Jack: The Glory Of Classic American Holiday Sweaters and Dear Jack: The Lego Hospital You Built At Your School; both of which took place at your current school.

Where we send you to school is a big deal to us. In fact, much of the incentive to move out of our townhouse was to get into a better county where we could get you into a better school.

When you live in Nashville, it matters to your education and future based on where you go to school; unlike where the small town where I grew up; where there was just one school.

Love,

Daddy

Catch up on the entire series of the 2015 Hyundai Sonata Weekend. A lot of exiciting things happened!

2015 Hyundai Sonata Sport 2.0T: Family Friendly Review

Dear Jack: Our New House Now Has Electricity & Tile (2015 Hyundai Sonata Weekend)

Dear Jack: Primrose Vs. Rainbow- Finding A Preschool Near Our New House

Dear Jack: Listening to Radio Hanukkah (SiriusXM Channel 68)

2 Comments Posted on December 21, 2014December 21, 2014 Uncategorized

2015 Hyundai Sonata Sport 2.0T: Family Friendly Review

My very first impression of the 2015 Hyundai Sonata Sport 2.0T was that it is a man’s car. My theory is that Hyundai wanted to design a car for men who like driving a tough car, but who are now hauling kids around.

And if that was Hyundai’s plan, I’d say they did an excellent job.

All week, the guys I work with, as well as my guy friends I have seen this week, have approached me after seeing the car: “Hey, is that the new 2015 Hyundai Sonata? That thing is sharp!”

They already knew more than I did about the Sonata, which tells me: Men are attracted to this car.

That is the official concensus of the modern dads I know after seeing this car.

As I drove it around this week, with my son in the back seat, I have to admit: I felt like I was pretty big stuff.

The sharp angles of the rear view mirrors, the “ninja throwing star” wheels, the extremely low ground effects on the front… all very nice to look at and to drive.

Here’s a “2 minute walk around” of the 2015 Hyundai Sonata that I made, by the way:

Now that I’ve established the demographics that this is a man’s car, which doubles as a very effecient family car, I want to point out what my wife and son thought of it.

My 4 year-old son’s favorite features include the panoramic sunroof and the fold down back seat. Each day as I’ve dropped him off at school, I let him crawl through to the trunk, where I lifted him out.

It’s a fairly large opening, since the entire seat folds down.

My wife’s favorite features included the heated/cooled seats in the back, the over all comfort level of the interior, and the user-friendliness of anchors for the car seat.

Another feature that I definitely appreciated was that I was alerted one morning when one of the tires was low on air.

So I stopped at the gas station and filled up the low tire (like a boss), being able to see on the screen that I had put enough, in real time.

Those are my thoughts. I’m curious to know what other guys who have driven it have to say. I really don’t think I’m wrong in my synopsis, though.

Like I said, it’s a car for men who like driving a tough car, but who are now hauling kids around; a perfect marriage of sporty and practical.

I hope you have enjoyed my family friendly review of the 2015 Hyundai Sonata, which is manufactured in Alabama.

Come back again soon!

As shown: $34,460.00.

MPG: averages 26.

Catch up on the entire series of the 2015 Hyundai Sonata Weekend. A lot of exiciting things happened!

2015 Hyundai Sonata Sport 2.0T: Family Friendly Review

Dear Jack: Our New House Now Has Electricity & Tile (2015 Hyundai Sonata Weekend)

Dear Jack: Primrose Vs. Rainbow- Finding A Preschool Near Our New House

Dear Jack: Listening to Radio Hanukkah (SiriusXM Channel 68)

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: