Author: Family Friendly Daddy Blog

Leave a comment Posted on July 20, 2014 parenting, Storytelling

Patience Is A Virtue… That You’re Still Working On

November 2, 2013 at 10:06 pm , by Nick Shell

2 years, 11 months.

Dear Jack,

Two weeks from today, you’ll turn 3 years old. Today Mommy picked up a few Hot Wheels pick-up trucks as party favors for your very small birthday party coming up; the theme is “Trucks.”

The intention was for you to receive one of these party favors yourself, at the time of your actual birthday party.

Yeah.

You convinced Mommy to let you “just hold” your favorite truck out of the bunch, a brown 1987 Toyota.

That’s right, you carried it, in the package, all day, out in public. We went to your school’s Halloween party today, with each member of our family having to hold your in-the-package pick-up truck at some point.

As you were receiving candy and prizes from your teachers along the way, there we were carrying around a packaged toy.

On the drive home tonight, you announced, “Somebody said I can open it.”

You’re unsure of exactly who it was, of course. Being that the only other two people in the car were Mommy and me, it really made the “somebody” a real mystery.

By the time we walked in the front door, Mommy left it up to me. The ridiculous compromise we settled on was that we would let you open your truck, but we had to keep the package in tact and “pretend” to open it in front of your birthday guests so it would seem like a surprise to you too.

Patience is a virtue… that you’re still working on. But hey, so am I. Honestly, who’s not still working on that one?

It’s so hard to hold back sometimes, even though the timing just isn’t right yet.

I know I’ve lived that lesson more times than I wish to count.

The good news for you is, I don’t see a lot of repercussions with you privately opening your own birthday party favor two weeks early.

No one ever has to know, especially since we managed to open the package without tearing it too badly.

Love,

Daddy

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Leave a comment Posted on July 20, 2014July 20, 2014 marriage, parenting, Uncategorized

Dear Jack: New Infographic- Success is Not Just Hard Work — Your Social Opportunities Could Shape Your Future

3 years, 8 months.

Dear Jack,

There is (and should be) a certain amount of undeniable pressure as your parent to ensure you have great opportunities throughout your life; if not better than what I’ve had.

While it may sound petty or pretentious that I’ve been mentioning our goal to move into “a house in the right school district” here in Nashville, it’s something I feel I need to take seriously. I want you to have exposure to the best education and technology as I reasonably can.

I was one of the first in my family to get a college degree; that was a pretty big deal. But these days, it seems the 4 year college degree is now the high school diploma of 1981, the year I was born.

In other words, I realize for you to really get ahead in your career, Mommy and I are responsible for making sure we help you take advantage of the social opportunities you encounter along the way; as well as the ones you purposely seek out along the way.

This new infographic below, “Success is Not Just Hard Work — Your Social Opportunities Could Shape your Future,” points out some of the social opportunities that can really enhance your future and career:

Environment, technology, finances, culture, and lifestyle.

Now that I really think about it, these 5 particular elements are crucial to furthering your career.

For example, you can have a college degree with an MBA, but if you’re not extremely familiar with the culture you live in, or if you don’t live off a strict budget, you can still totally be set back.

So I take it upon myself, as your dad, to help you obtain a healthy balance of these social opportunities.

After all, the school system (as well as most universities) don’t value the importance of teaching their students how to do a personal budget.

But coming from your Mommy and Daddy, who just a few years ago were $58,000 in debt, and who are now in the positive enough to be “snowballing” the down payment for our new house, I promise we will teach you the value of a budget.

I agree with the title of the infographic: Success is not just hard work.

We’ll teach you everything we know, Son.

Source: SocialWorkDegreeGuide.com

Leave a comment Posted on July 20, 2014July 20, 2014 marriage, parenting, Storytelling, Uncategorized

The 1st and 2nd Half Of My Marriage, So Far

I have now been married 6 years. That time frame can be easily and interestingly divided in half.

The first half of that dichotomy was where as a married couple, my wife and I had not yet learned the hard way regarding finances.

We kept digging ourselves deeper in debt, on top of school loans, cars, and our nice wedding. Those were also the days we still ate at restaurants, too; which sucked up around $80 each week.

Also during that 1^st half of our marriage, our son was born, and we moved away from our big city full of good jobs (Nashville) to my small hometown, where it was difficult to find a job at all.

And now for the 2^nd half:

Three years through our now 6 year marriage, we moved back to Nashville, got good jobs again, and a year later, were finally out of debt. We’ve been saving our money ever since.

And let me tell you, we are not the same people we were before. We were forced to learn to become tightwads.

So now here we are, married 6 years, and the 2^nd half of our marriage, in hindsight, has by default, been better.

These past 3 years have gotten us to so much better of a place in life. Granted, it’s contrasted to the first 3 years in which we lived in ignorant bliss.

In theory, life is more fun when you’re unaware of your responsibilities and the consequences of poor decisions which you didn’t realize were poor decisions at the time.

It’s sobering to realize that life has to be so much more serious than I had planned for it to be. I used to be so carefree.

The important thing is, my wife and I had each other to depend on through all we’ve learned together so far.

When I think of the “for better or worse” part of the marriage vows, this is the kind of stuff I think about.

The challenges we’ve conquered together (like learning how to strictly manage our money) weren’t fun to live through, but they made us better people.

So really, it’s not “for better or worse.” It’s for better and worse.

And in the strangest way, I actually see the romance in that.

3 Comments Posted on July 20, 2014 Uncategorized

Review Of Dandies Vegan Marshmallows By Chicago Vegan Foods

I beg you to stop reading this review if you don’t want to learn what marshmallows are made out of and why a strict vegan, such as myself, won’t eat them.

Last chance…

Okay.

Marshmallows are made from the leftover skin, bones, muscles, and tendons of slaughtered animals. The particular ingredient is typically labeled as “gelatin.”

That explains why when you take leftover Thanksgiving turkey out of refrigerator the next day, there’s that Jello-like broth surrounding it.

As explained in this reputable article on the website Organic Authority explains, the leftover collagen, the soft protein that connects skin, bones, muscles, and tendons of slaughtered animals are used to make gelatin.

From there, the gelatin is used for not only for marshmallows and Jello, but pudding as well.

If you are a strict, kosher-keeping Jew, Muslim, or 7^th Day Adventist, you can’t in good conscience consume marshmallows, because unless the label specifically says that the gelatin is from a kosher fish or cow, then it must be assumed that the gelatin is derived from pigs.

Therefore, there is a target demographic for Dandies vegan marshmallows by Chicago Vegan Foods. And I am obviously part of that demographic…

I honestly couldn’t tell the difference at all in taste or texture. And… they’re kosher, vegan, and non-GMO, as seen on their label.

You can use these for anything you’d normally do with marshmallows, like roast them over a campfire.

I think it’s awesome that there’s a brand out there that is clever enough to make kosher and vegan marshmallows for all interested parties.

And in case I needed to say it, my son loves them too!

So, maybe you learned something new today. Just don’t ask me where “artificial vanilla” flavoring comes from…

Whatever you do, don’t Google it…

(Secret: Doing so will probably lead you right back here to my blog.)

4 Comments Posted on July 19, 2014July 19, 2014 movie reviews, reviews, Uncategorized

Disney’s Planes: Fire & Rescue- A Family Friendly Review

Today my wife and I took our son (age 3 years, 8 months) to his 2nd movie in a theatre: Disney’s Planes: Fire & Rescue.

As expected, he loved it. Though, strangely, when I asked him what his favorite part was, he answered that it was when Dusty Crophopper crashes.

I personally definitely enjoyed this sequel more than the original.

Whereas the first Planes movie seemed more like the “plane version” of Cars, Planes: Fire & Rescue actually serves more as a spin-off of the first Planes movie.

I appreciate that Planes: Fire & Rescue picks up with the protagonist Dusty Crophopper moving on in his career. He leaves behind his career as a racer and decides to pursue obtaining his certfication to become a fire and rescue plane; in the majestic setting of the very fire-prone woodlands of northern California.

(As I learned from sitting through the movie’s ending credits, actual fire and rescue officials from Sacramento were consulted for the making of this movie.)

I felt the characters and the plot line in this sequel/spin-off were much interesting and original. It sort of reminds me of the difference between the two Captain America movies.

While the concept of death is not typically addressed in the Disney Cars/Planes universe, it definitely is in this movie.

They don’t shy away from that theme; as heroes of the fire and rescue team, they must be willing to sacrifice their lives for others. Death is not simply alluded to in Planes: Fire & Rescue, it’s very much a present concept throughout.

I believe that part of the reason it is rated PG instead of G is because of the undeniable theme of life and death; even though there are no shown “deaths” throughout the movie; they are only referenced.

Language and sexual content are not an issue. There are of course “vehicle-related” substitutes like “Chevy” being used as a curse word, for example.

Also, one scene features an “oil and gas bar” named Honkers, in which the sign contains the headlights of a car lit up, as to parody Hooters; though there are no “topless” waitresses, as suggested in the original Cars movie in which race fans “flashed” the race cars by turning on their headlights.

But obviously, only adults would even recognize those brief references. I can’t see any of those examples actually being perceived as offensive.

So in other words, Disney was clever enough to splice in a few subtle references to make sure that Planes: Fire & Rescue had just enough “oomph” to earn a PG rating.

By now, it should be common knowledge that PG rated kids’ movies make a lot more money than G-rated kids’ movies; likewise, PG-13 rated non-kids’ movies make a lot more money than PG rated non-kids’ movies.

(That explains why nearly every PG-13 rated movie contains its one token “f-word.” It ensures that more profitable PG-13 rating.)

In summary, our family loved seeing Disney’s Planes: Fire & Rescue on opening weekend. We had a great time! I seriously doubt your family will be disappointed either.

As you can see from the photo collage above, my son and I spent this morning building planes out of Legos in preparation for seeing the movie today. And of course, he had to take his two Planes toys with him to the theatre.

Thanks for reading my family friendly movie review of Disney’s Planes: Fire & Rescue. About a month from now, I plan to review the new (PG-13 rated) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.

Will it be suitable for my son? Let’s find out… next month.

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