happy christmas

hello there friends family and stalkers. i have been away due of course to computer issues but now of course am back because of my wonderful wife. It is great to have you back too.
A brief synopsis since it has been a while.
1 Christmas was great we spent it with the verry clan at my mother in laws where we ate bacon and enjoyed eachother. great grandma was looking particularly well and Eliot literally shook each time he opened a present.
2 Work continues to be silly yet stressful for instance, on one hand I decorated the whole place with snowflakes probably two hundred or more where made this year. on the other hand there has been unwanted drama about missing pills, random firings, and endless gossip about the above and a host of other topics. while entertaining i think it is eating away at what little integrity I still have.
3 art is on the rise, winter doldrums and normal depression give rise to inspiration. it is a hard trend but the results make it all worth while. some great ideas are out there in my head right now. look for your art in the mail family I am getting on a letter writing kick
4 school does not start until 2010 and will finish in 2012
5 i can't think of any number fives

so...soon the gardellas will descend upon portland havoc will ensue, good havoc.

One last point

Made in...

It is getting to be obnoxious. Every time, "This book looks really cool!"
"Where is it printed?"
"Malaysia."
"Oh [disapproving self-righteous frown]."
And at work of with friends, "So what does Eliot want for Christmas?"
"Well this year we have decided to do something a little bit different... [long, boring tirade about my ideas about US debt to China and the economy's downturn here}."
Reading about the economic woes of our country has lead me to a feverish dislike for buying all things made in China, Malaysia, Taiwan, and any other of the usual human rights offenders (other than the Bush administration because we have to pay taxes). The whole thing peaked when I went into one of my favorite little stores in the old port and spoke with one of my favorite store owners. She said that in order to remain competitive she had to buy stuff that is made in countries with dubious manufacturing standards. She said it is the only way to keep prices down. She never had to do this before and had promised herself she would not.
After this I have been keeping my eye out for US made products. It has been very hard on my eyes. All of the toys, all of the clothing, all of the everything made of plastic, are made in places I would not send my worst enemy to work. Every year I have the habit of sending out hand made gifts. I am guessing from the state of my finances and the state of the retailers I have to choose from this will be a tradition I stick to.
On a bright note I am looking forward to an unparalleled year of snowflake making as I have sharp scissors and no snowflakes left from last year. Keep looking at my blog as I will post photos as much as possible of my dirty snowflakes and the pretty ones too.

Eliot the draftsman

Eliot has been welcomed into the world of markers recently. he has not churned out his most definitive masterpieces yet. we are expecting great things. We pressure him as much as possible to be great and succeed where his father did not. Really he has shown moderate interest in this activity as it does not involve balls of any kind, playgrounds or Olive and Sabine.
Jess and I have been looking into methods and tools teaching at home. there is a great deal of literature out there. i am happy to say the book I am reading now is very inspiring. It is hard to tell now what we will do. We have a friend who have thought of doing this but decided not to as thier child is so appropriate for school. I hope that Eliot is that way about home schooling. It will be ideal if our choice is easy to make because of a clear preference for one or the other.
If anyone out there has read any good material on how to get started early, by all means post it. we are having a great time learning more about approaches to education.

we went on the narrowguage railroad the other day and had a great time. It is going to be done up special for a polar express reading soon so we are thinking about that as a fun winter thing to do. I have been having a hard time finding such activities as the weather has been less than ideal. Two days of keeping any two year old inside is quite a struggle.

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Memorable Moments with Meatsauce

Meals are meant to be interrupted and prolonged for their hillarity I discovered. Eliot demonstrates with his new look which we are calling "Red Steel".
We had a very uneventful day so it was nessesary for me to entertain myself using extreme parenting. We are practicing our table manners for thanksgiving. Just kidding ann and pete

Five days off

I just got off five days off and have been so relaxed. Yesterday I was able to just coast through the day and have nothing at all to do. I went to Freeport with jess and got a comforter and the fixings. We had such a nice time enjoying each others company. Today though, it is back to the old mortar and pestle.

The little guy is doing some art at the table right now so I have a bit of time to blog. This has been a great week. Eliot and I had our first mamaless night yesterday and everything went well. We both were ready to see jess when she returned though. Eliot and I had lots of fun to mask our sorrow.

I had this awful chest thing that made it not so fun to breathe and that finally has begun to clear out. I took the week off from my usual late hours and shenanigans so as to get better and my body thanks me for it.

Jess took some very nice3 pictures at her company’s symposium. She is really talented. We have been enjoying the task of resorting all of our photos, it is neat to see how much the little guy has grown up. His whole look is new since he started losing his baby fat in his cheeks.

That last post was one of my lamest. I just have been without things to post. Eliot is having a great birthday week. jess and I are doing wonderfully, work has been fine even for work. Life in general has been as smooth as cheap beer pretends to be.
I am very excited to have a sleeping 2 year old in the other room. He is very quick these days and despite his stubby skinny little legs can run quite fast. Definately faster than you would guess for a shorty. He officially has inherited my head. The doctor confirmed it. he has also apparently inhereted my girlish figure which is to say the figure of the pumpkinheaded character in that movie about a halloween man trying to be a santa man. write if you can remember what I am thinking of.

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Bum sitting at work riles me all up

Tonight after all the pill pushing was done some of my co-workers and I sat down for a nice serving of political bullshit served up hot and steamy from our two vice presidential candidates. It seems that with each national political event I grow more attached to local politics. I love voting and being informed. It seems the debate forum is lacking. There is no debate fact checking on the spot and I know that the vast majority undecided voters are not going to go out of their way to investigate any of the things these people are saying. They will just elect who they like best because it is easier. I am nervous for Eliot's world.
I, on the other hand, have been having a great week with the family. The trip to the Cape was fantastic despite the horrible weather. We got to the Heritage Plantation and rode on the giant merry-go-round with the little guy. We also got to see the offending croquet wicket.
Jess and I are going to go on a date type thing tomorrow as well and we are both looking forward to that let me tell you.

I was over at Leah and Steve's house wen the little one was there. He arrived on Leah's birthday just in time to be freaking cute.

Leah and Steve's Big Day

otady Leah started in on her labor. We were all very exited to hear the news so Eliot and i went over to beth and Dylan's to get up to date updates and share the excitement. I will post some video of the moments over there while we awaited news. It was a great time.

WE HAVE FINALLY BEEN DINE HITCHED

Jess and I got married last weekend and had a fantastic time doing so. It sounds crazy, having fun at your own wedding, but we did. I would say it was the best party/ wedding I have ever been to. I hope to have anniversary parties just like it until death do done us in.
I am exactly like a gazelle in that regard.
The food was amazing, it was served up with perfect timing (I got to jump the cue). No one complained about anything because it kicked ass.
the Half Moon Jug band also kicked ass. They were the perfect band and with Clara singing a beautiful song she wrote for us we had amazing music at the wedding. Clara's song was the perfect gift and Glen played us in brilliantly with his horn.
The guests were all moved by the service, readers and readings. John did a fantastic job leading us through a quaker style wedding. Many people stood(more than I thought would actually) to share stories and well wishes for and about us. I would recommend this form of service for anyone. John had strongly recommended it and we can see why in retrospect. For many these unrehearsed shared words brought extra meaning to an already lovely service. Again thank you John Eder!
I know I am forgetting lots of things that made this the perfect wedding, I just thank everyone for being so generous and kind, so many came from so far away. It was touching to know our families and friends are so present in our lives. we love you guys and look forward to celebrating many more milestones in the future(hopefully also with lobster and steak).

We are ready(kind of)

Tonite was a fun one. Jess and I spent all our day together saw loads of friends and family and enjoyed a public market together. It made me realize how much I wish I was able to keep her home all of the time. Soon we will be able to do this though after I get my nursing degree.
The wedding plans are going off well. i have a small army of friends who gratiously have offered to help with the setup on sat. it shouldu be perfect. I am realizing we had not looked at our guest list as carefully as we thought. we had not made follow up calls and there may be some troubles do to my negligence. Hopefully all will go smoothly though. There is a 30% chance of rain which all the family keeps telling me to stop fixating on for it will bring bad luck but I just have been obsessing over it anyway.

As all of you all know Everything has been hectic. we are planning and preparing for the party of the century. It is all very fun though in an insane way. i have rekindled my love for verse. i always used to read it when I was in high school b ut since have forgotten it. Now that we are planning our vows I have had an excuse to reread my favorites and it has been great. Every day my eyes finish hurting from being planted in books. Sadly I began to late. I started with compilations by longfellow and have ended with favorites by tacky wedding planners.

Who Would Have Thunk?

It is so very perfect to look back at pictures like this before we are to be married. A flower and a bee. Jess' pet bunny. The WT party. It is all just perfect. I am hoping none of it is used in the toasts that are going to be made because it is just to predictable. Jess and I are meant for each other. Who else would be seen next to a crazy man dressed in black long underwear and wings other than a crazy woman dressed in full flower regalia? One has to love the prophetic nature of this photo not to mention the excellence of the costumes themselves.
We are closing in on the date. We have been looking over options for vows. I have a collection of a dozen or so love poems carefully culled from about two to three hundred I have read so far. It should be great.

It is time to create some art

I have started in on doing carvings. We have precious little room so my workbench is too short to get sharp tools out of reach from the boy. He got his hands on hands on my open utility knife today and earned himself a timeout. I really was the one who deserved the time out though. I felt so panicked and horrible. i almost got physically ill as saw him start darting across the room holding the tool. I cannot wait to get a workshop.

A bachelors party to end all bachelor parties.

What do you get when you add twelve men, one rack of pig, three ducks, a swimming pool, and booze? The last supper of Hef? No! My bachelors party. Thanks to some great pulling together of culinary marvels, knowledge of decadance, and support of my wonderful friends I had a great bachelors party. It was very touching to have twelve great friends there to support me in my hours of need prior to the wedding month chaos. Thank you guys and I will never forget the last supper of my single life.

My ID has been revealed. i hope you all are not dissappointed. i gained a taste for blood while campaigning

http://www.amazon.com/When-Twilight-Burns-Gardella-Chronicles/dp/0451224752/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213827941&sr=8-1%C3%83%C2%83%C3%82%C2%83%C3%83%C2%82%C3%82%C2%A2%C3%83%C2%83%C3%82%C2%82%C3%83%C2%82%C3%82%C2%80%C3%83%C2%83%C3%82%C2%82%C3%83%C2%82%C3%82%C2%9DThe gardellas secret

I just finished reading a book about an adventurer

He went from the top of the Amazon to the bottom. He said that raising a daughter is scarier. I really want to go canoing for a while. I think Jess does too.



We are Planning a fab wedding and the response list has been amazingly over-whelming. I hope I did not leave anything out. I have resigned myself to one fact though, I am going to have a freaking good time.

Privately I think it is going to even more fun than a carnival. I also think fried dough sucks but don't tell Jess or she won't share hers with me next year.
I have a snazzy suit to wear and we have made a killer menu. The location could not be better and there are plenty of trash bags if it rains. What is better yet I am marrying the best mother and girlfriend ever. We are really excited.

Ths is my mother and mother in laws' birthday.

Happy birthday to you both. we appreciate you since without you not only could we not have enjoyed entry into this world but we could not have experienced our own child. He is lucky too for having such wonderful grand mothers who so clearly adore him. You both bring such different things to the table as grand mothers Eliot will benifit as your children have from the input you have over his young life and many years to come.
I hope this year brings you both good health and wonderful surprises. Mom I am sure you feel extra lucky to be gaining amazing daughters in law in Trish and Jess. Pat you better feel lucky to be getting a son in law like me who is willing to operate (sometimes successfully) your grill, lift heavy objects up and down your stairs, and help you steal rocks from the beach. Jess, Eliot, Dexter, and I love you both and hope that you did not try to light the proper number of candles this evening, what with global warming and all.

Summer of Pan

I have been getting loads of stuff done on my days off. Tonight the project is to work on some of the prints that are supposed to be shown at Zarra's in August, finish writing the addresses on the cards, and do a bunch of tests for Jess. It should be fun...
Political events are picking up momentum. Tonight Tina Smith is having a barby at Chicks and I may attend depending on the status of the projects in an hour or so.
We are so lucky to live in maine. Every day as of late is more beautiful than the last. Drinking them in is essential to get one through the winter.

Tim and Trisha

this is wedding season but this summer the season is particularly wonderful for the gardella boys. we both have found the perfect women to watch over us. Tim and Trisha'd wedding was fantastic. we had a great time and I have so many pictures and videos I have realized there is no way to show enough on this here blog. I will just have to ask you to imagine the perfect wedding followed by a fantastic party.