Dad of Divas

One Dad's Quest to Regain Control of his Kingdom

Manly Monday #16 – Land of a Thousand Festivals

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You have heard of the song Land of a Thousand Dances? I live in Wisconsin, and during the spring to early fall, especially in Northeastern Wisconsin, I would tend to say that we are a bit unique (at least in the number of States I have lived in – 3) to have the distinction of what I would call the land of 1000 festivals.

Now, I am a Wisconsin transplant, I did not grow up here and I have only lived here for 2.5 years, but I have come to find that I am surrounded in these months with opportunities to party! This may also lead to some of the unfortunate distinction of Wisconsin being names as the #1 alcoholic state in the nation. People here like their beverages I guess. I have seen this somewhat in my experiences…but I digress.

Anywhere that you turn, you will find a festival. Be it any one of the following:

These are just a few of the festivals listed at Wisconline . There were actually 150 events listed from August to December alone. Now I am not saying that this is a bad thing, far from it. On the contrary, there are festivals for anyone and everyone and it truly brings tourists to the area which is great for the local economy, but some of the festivals as you can see above can at times be silly or even quirky to say the least…and there are many that are simply hometown great events to being the community together as well.


So My Question for the Day?

  • What type of festivals do you bring your family to on an annual (or regular) basis?

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Manly Monday #15 – Strangers in the Night? How Do You Sleep With Your Partner?

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I have found that as my wife and I have become more comfortable with each other through the years that our sleeping habits and the way we slept together changed. When we first started living together there was the inevitable cuddling and holding of each other to now we still touch (be it back to back).

Much of this change has been the temperature differences that J-Mom and I have. I enjoy the cool feel of sheets while she is usually always cold…go figure!

Recently I came to find that there are people out there that have actually been researching how the way you sleep can be indicative of your relationship as a couple.

The following blog (http://nstanosheck.blogspot.com/2008/04/sleeping-positions-of-couples.html) does a great job at analyzing a number of the most common sleeping patterns and what they mean. For J-Mom and I, we tend to be Zen sleepers, but I can say that when we first were together we were much more prone to use the loosely tethered sleeping style.

Who would have known that how you sleep says so much. I don’t know how a lack of sleep (especially with kids) fits into the picture of things here…..

When looking into this phenomena a bit more, I found another articles that you may find interesting:

I also found numerous articles that talked about the number of people that are sleeping in separate rooms away from their partners. I find this to be a bit strange, and I cannot understand why people would do this (unless their partner sleeps in such a way that stops them from sleeping soundly).

My question for the day?
What type of sleeper are you and your partner?
Has this changed over the time that you have been together?


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Manly Monday #14 – Movies With Youngsters

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My almost 4 year old (Diva-J) has in the past year become much more interested in watching movies, especially with Mom and Dad. We have primarily had her staying to the old Disney Classics, but there have been a few times where we have strayed outside of the genre and allowed her to watch other family friendly movies.

We have found though that once you get past the Gated animated films (and sometimes even then) with a 4 year old, you sometimes are spending more time answering questions about the movie than watching the movie.

Imagine the situation – You are watching Charlotte’s Web and every 3-5 minutes your watching enjoyment is interupted by interspersed – “What…”, “How….” “Why….” or other such question (you fill in the blanks).

How do you deal with this? I try and calmly answer the questions and remind Diva-J to watch the movie. Yet as this coninues, patience can start to run thin (if you know what I mean).

So for now I think we are sticking to the tried and true favorites until she gets a bit older, and I am working on that patience issue that I was mentioning.

So my question for the day:

– What do you do, or have you done to make watching movies with the family enjoyable for all?


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Manly Monday #12 – What Is Your Self Image?

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I was reading an article the other day on MSN which stated that many men are as self conscious as women about their self image.

Thinking about this, I have to say that sure, I would love to have six-pack abs, but is that going to happen anytime soon? Well…this seems like a catch 22 to me… unless I can quit working, get a personal trainer and buff up and don’t forget get me some time alone to do it…well wait, I need to spend as much time as possible with my kids and wife… as I said a catch 22.

I have a friend who purchased one of those P90X systems, and swears by it and it has really allowed him to buff up, but the challenge for me is finding 90 minutes a day to work out…do you have that much time.

So am I conscious of my image, I guess somewhat… I want to look professional at work as well as healthy… as I said I may never have the six pack abs, but as long as I have my health and my family, that is all I need to be happy!

So the question of the day?

What about it guys…any basis for the article? How self conscious are you about your self image? Ladies, you?


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Manly Monday #10 – Dairy Farming – A Manly Profession

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Think about starting work at 5:00 AM and working everyday until approximately 7:00 PM with a baby on the way due any day (as she was already 14 days overdue). This was the case with the Manager (Kirk) of a local dairy farm that I recently met on a tour of the facility.

As a Rotarian, I was able to visit a Dairy farm about 45 minutes away from where I live. Now when I say a dairy farm, this is the mother of dairy farms with approximately 4,000 cows being milked 3 times daily. All of the milking is done electronically on a rotary conveyer that can milk 80 cows at a time, and they are able to get about 80 pounds of milk out of each cow per day.

These numbers mystified me. Kirk mentioned that all of the cows are artificially inseminated and they typically will have 12 cows birthing per day. Can you imagine – 12 births per day! They even had a coloring system which told workers which cows were pregnant or not. The babies you see to the right had just been bor within the last hour of this photo being shot.

This farm was the cleanest farm that I had ever seen. They are the only farm in Wisconsin and one of a select few in the United States that uses all waste products from the animals as well as from the local community to feed what is called a digester. This cement enclosed structure is basically a bacteria laden energy making machine. All of the waste form the cows as well as other by-products from companies throughout Northeast Wisconsin are fed into the digester and is turned into raw energy that is sent to the power grid as well as 22 days later solid waste is removed to make a product that is very light to the touch and makes great lawn fertilizer (little to no odor) as well as bedding for the cows. (See below)

This is grueling work and definitely not a profession I would ever see myself doing. I saw my great grandfather and how hard he worked on his farm and know that being a college administrator is fine for my way of life. I salute the hard work of farmers for what they do and contribute to our society.

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Manly Monday #9 – What’s in a Name

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The idea behind Manly Monday is that you talk about what it means to be a man, or a dad, or portrays something manly (in however you define this). This does not mean that you need to be a man to write a post so ladies out there…I encourage you to try this out as well…
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I have been thinking a lot lately about the reasons that people choose the names for their children. For us, our girls’ first names were ones that we found in books and ended up choosing from a long list of contenders. We read many baby books for both pregnancies and found that we had a much easier time agreeing on girls names than on potential boy names. We also found many other girl names than boy names that made it on our list (our boy list was very small to say the least).

The middle names that we chose were family names, and for Diva-J there was not much of a though on it as J-Mom really wanted her middle name to be that of her fraternal grandmother. For Diva-PJ, I wanted her middle name to be that of my maternal grandmother who is my last living grandparent.

Both of the names that we chose came to truly fit our kids and we cannot think of our girls having any other names. I think that most (or probably all) parents would also say this…it’s not just us.

With the birth of famous babies like the Jolie Twins, and others, with unique names, I really question how and why people choose the names that they choose for their children, or why they got named what they did.

For me, whether I was a boy or a girl my parents had chosen more popular names, and growing up I found out that I would have been a Stephanie if I had been born female (I can’t see myself as a Stephanie…so I am glad that I was born a man).

So now I turn to all of you. What is in your name? Why did you name your children the names that you did?

Thanks for reading and have a great Manly Monday!

Maniverse #8 – The Best/Perfect Way to Mow A Lawn

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As I am always being told that I am not mowing the lawn the right way by J-Mom, I really started wondering recently whether there is truly a “right” way to mow the lawn. In the past I typically go around the exterior and then work my way into the center. Recently I have tried Diagonal cuts across the lawn and like how it makes the lawn look at the end of the cutting (so maybe I will continue this).
Seeing that I am definitely not an expert on this I decided to do some research on the topic to see if there truly was a right answer to the question or not.
First I started at http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle/id-1840.html for a look at what they thought. In a nutshell they break down proper mowing technique into:
  • proper height for grass types – I did not know that you needed to have your blade at a certain height based on whether you had Fescue or Bluegrass, etc…Did you??? Not that I even know what type of grass I actually have…
  • Safety in mowing

Second, I visited http://www.allaboutlawns.com/lawn-mowing-mowers/how-to-mow-your-lawn.php and found out a few other tidbits of wisdom:

  • Proper balancing of the wheels of the mower is important
  • Make sure to empty your bag frequently
  • Proper maintenance of your mower will assist in overall running of the mower.

Finally, off to http://home.howstuffworks.com/how-to-mow-your-lawn2.htm which provided even further interesting information:

  • Mow in overlapping horizontal or vertical lines to get the most out of your mowing time, never in circles or spirals. (DANG IT…I am mowing the incorrect way…Don’t tell J-Mom that she was right…though she will probably read it here)
  • Most experts also advise changing directions every couple of mowings. If you’ve mowed in horizontal lines for a few weeks, change it up and mow in a vertical pattern.
  • Mow across hills — never up and down.
  • Never pull a push mower, as this also adds to the risk of slipping under the blades.

So this definitely was an interesting venture into the unknown. So my question for you is how do you mow? What practices have you found to be best in your household?

Manly Monday #9 – Fathers as Dream Makers

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You know, I have always seen myself as someone who encourages others to do what they can and be what they can with the gifts that they have been given, but as I have assumed ther rolw of being a father I have found this to become even more important.

In my past post about the importance of fathers I talked about all of the important things that I think of, but also what others have said regarding the importance of being a Dad in today’s society.

Since writing that post, I also started thinking about the importance of a Dad being someone who inspires and creates dreams for his children. What I mean by this is that I hope with my girls that I can instill in them a sense of wonder and allow them to have BIG dreams that can be achieved (while others may not be achieveable). I hope to make them see the world through large amazed eyes, and allow them to experience the world around them as if everyday is a special one to be cherished.

Do I do a good job at this now…I don’t know about that… I want to, but I also think that at times I get caught up in my own world that does not allow this dream making to occur, at least not to the extent that I would like. Much of this goes back to the whole issue of time and not feeling like I have enough of it to spare or at times even share, though I know I should.

So, again, how do I make dreams occur. First and foremost I have to listen to my Divas and know what their dreams are and then by knowing I can work to make them come true. Second, I have to be present, I have to be around to be active in my divas’ lives, so that they will know that I am there for them and that they can rely on my to help them to achieve what they hope to achieve. Finally, I have to be willing to take a chance on my Divas… making their world a bit unexpected (well…at least somewhat unexpected).

So what about all of you… how are you dreammakers for your children?

I look forward to your comments on this one!

Manly Monday #7 – Problems with Temperature Control

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Is it just me, or do men and women come with different temperature controls? (I guess in reading this, there are some truly interesting ways in interpreting my question….I wasn’t think of numerous meanings when I posed the question…but now I guess I can see a few).

My main reason for this question is an observation that I noticed over my 10 years of being married.

J-Mom and I are on completely different temperature controls. When we sleep I will be the one throwing off covers or looking for ways to cool down my pillow, while J-Mom will be the one who will be in her thickest PJ’s until mid summer.

So why is this a fact? Are there medical reasons that this occurs? Do men have better circulation? I do not know the answer on this one. If there are any medical types out there, maybe they can shed some light. The only thing I could find on Google was a study from 1998 that showed that women had an average core temperature of approximately .4 degrees and a hand temperature that showed women with hand temperatures 3 degrees less than men.

Now this issue of temperature control can definitely be a problem at times. Picture this, your wife is cold and wants to snuggle. Well… the issue, it is mid-June and you are dying of heat and are just trying to find a way to cool down. So what does a husband do? Tell his wife the truth? Take one for the team and remain warm (even though you wish for find relief from the cold)? I think that for me, I would snuggle… I find that once asleep I tend to roll toward that cooler zone… so I find it in the end.

I sometimes wonder whether there should be a bed that regulates these temperatures? Something similar to those expensive comfort select beds. I think this would be wonderful, maybe comfort select could make an add on to their product and I would love to be a product tester .

Well… though these temperature control issues may be bothersome at times, there still may be something to the old adage of cold hands, warm heart… no matter what temperature we are on the outside… as long as our inner temperature is warm toward others we are definitely going to be living our life for the better!

Good luck finding the temperature control of your relationships!

Manly Monday #6 – A Tribute to A Great Reporter and Devoted Father

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I thought I would use today to focus on Tim Russert. As all of you probably know, Tim passed away last Friday at the age of 58. This seems so young when I think about it, and makes me really think about the fragility of life, especially with my parents and other family members that are now older than that.

Anyway, I have always respected the work that Mr. Russert did. He brought a human factor to reporting and to politics and made people really come to better understand the important issues that surrounded politics in an era when people continually were becoming turned off to the dad-to-day BS that politics has somewhat become.

Mr. Russert was hard hitting and he was always willing to ask the hard questions. People said that if someone wanted to be elected, they had to be on Tim’s Meet The Press show on Sunday Morning…it was just that simple. Tim was beginning to be known as a political force in his own right, and he took this all by stride and at least from the outside looking in, seemed to do it always with a smile on his face.

From the viewers perspective, Tim looked like he would be the type of person that you would simply want to get to know. Someone that would go out of their way to help you. Seeing that I have never met him in person, I don’t specifically know that this is true, but it is the image that he portrayed.

I will miss his political commentary, especially this election year. As I mentioned earlier he was able to demystify the most complex of topics. I can still remember the white dry erase board he had in the 2004 election when they were trying to make sense of Florida – Low tech all the way, but very effective.

Outside of his public persona, much has been said of Tim as a father. Tim was a devoted husband and father and this at times will be the lasting that any of us Dads will ever have. I once heard that the testament that a person leaves is not in wealth or in fame, but instead in what they instill in their children. It seems from everything that I have heard that Tim, learned well from his own father and passed on this knowledge to is son…which is all that could ever be asked of a man.

My and my family’s hearts go out to the Russert family.


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